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My biggest of 2015 was over 10lbs on a 4'' swimbait in a neighborhood pond in the Orlando area . I'll be hitting up that area in March to try to find more giants.

I really dislike being a grammar Nazi but I will be here. Why are people too lazy to know the difference between two, too and to? You say your son knows "to" much? What does that mean? Does that mean he knows two much or too much or to much? Two is the number that follows one and precedes three. Too as in excessive - he knows too much (think double "o" as in excessive - more than one "o"). And to as in "he's going to the lake". Easy - don't be lazy.

Agreed ~ and I'll go on to say that I don't want to feel anything about my casting reel at all - ever. Just collect the line quietly & smoothly while I fish please. A-Jay

I don't know about y'all but when this dumb Cajun gets a bite it travels up my line, down my rod, to my fingers, which I feel long before it ever reaches my reel. If ya waiting for a bite to reach your rod ya late!

We are extremely excited for Wes and his accomplishment. Here are his details with his permission to post. Here is my story: There was no epic battle with climatic finish. There was no bravado, no yelling or touchdown celebrations. This is a story about two knuckle heads doing voice impersonations while swinging 1lb spots into each other. This is a story about my iPhone dying, very bad cell service, a lot of luck and most importantly my friends rallying around me. In this story, the Department of Fish and Wildlife went above and beyond their call of their duty to provide guidance to two guys who weren’t prepared for what transpired that day and who didn’t bring enough cold weather gear. This is a story of one leftover Christmas ham sandwich and one pending world record spotted bass. This story starts back in November. I was originally suppose to get out on the water the last weekend in November up to the lake but,my wife pulled my yard pass on account of bad behavior and put me on landscaping duty. As a result, I had to reschedule the trip. I will never forget the look on my wife's face when I showed her the amazing fish that Paul Bailey had caught that weekend. She apologized several times but still didn't pull me from landscaping duty. Fast-forward a month later. I finally got back out on the water on December 27, 2015. My former tournament partner, John and I were running late to get up to the Lake; so late that literally we only fished for four hours or so. The day was an uneventful. After about an hour we finally started catching some dinks. We moved spot to spot catching a small fish here and there. About 2:00pm we pull up to a SSDD spot. At that point I mentally kind just checked out. I mean I was full on sitting in the old-man chair, sandwich in one hand jig rod in the other dragging a jig on the back deck. I make a cast and I get bit right away. My drag slips and I boat another dink. I remember that was odd and realized I had not adjusted my drag since my last trip in November. I adjust the drag and make the same cast. This time my sandwich is in my mouth, water bottle in between my legs and I get bit. Again my drag slips and now I am like "great, my reel is jack". I quickly reel up the line and see the color of the fish. I tell John get the net. She made one dive and with four full turns of my reel she was in the net. The whole ordeal was a whooping 8-10 seconds. At this time, I am still grubbing my ham sandwich and John tells me "Hey bud, she is big. She is a Double and might be in contention for the world record." I stand up and see her and immediately and get his live-well going. At this point I am concerned about the fish as I do this with all of my big fish. So we get her in the box, I text my friends for help on what to do. While I am waiting for cell service for my text to go through we hung her on John's cheap mustad scale and she bounces between 11.4lbs and 11.05lbs. The scale eventually settled at 11.05lbs on the water. At this point, I remember all the issues Paul had with trying to get his fish submitted. Then I began to worry about what I was going to do because like Paul, I was not willing to kill the fish just for a record. He did the right thing I planned to follow suit. Just then my phone gets reception and my friend tells me he has two certified scales was now running across the lake to get the certified scales. This whole time I was pretty much just in shock and I felt bad that he was going to come over 3 hours to meet me. I squeak out One last call to my amazing wife that I won't be home for dinner. It is now 3:30pm and my phone has died. He boarded our vessel and checked out the fish. Unfortunately, he didn't have a certified scale. The reality is it is not part of their job at all. Their job is to protect our California wildlife resources and prevent related crime. So here we are unprepared on all fronts, in the dark and the temp is dropping into the thirties when we finally see headlight coming down the hill towards the ramp. At this time it had been 4 hours since he left his house. Tim gets out of his car and walks me through everything I needed to do. It as at that point I realized exactly how out of his way he came. He literally left the warm of his home and his family to drive in the snow on his day off 4 hours away to help me, (who he had met twice before) potentially beat his world record. I literally had to say it out loud to him and John for it to set in, for me to realize exactly what a stand up guy he is. Tim walked me through all the steps that I need to do just to be able to submit the application for my fish for a world record. In the end, she settle at 11.00lbs even on Tim's certified scale and was released back into the lake. In the end, I was highly unprepared. I have amazing friends who rallied around me to get help when I needed it. My Setup: The fish ate a 3/4 oz football jig from Siebert Outdoors in a custom color I had him make. Mike is a great guy who offers a quality jig at a reasonable price and will make any color pattern you request. Check him out at Siebert Outdoors. The rod was a Dobyns 744c DX paired with tuned 100 Lexa. I apologized for not responding to people who inquired about my fish several weeks ago. I wasn't ready at that time to tell my story and I really didn't plan on telling it today. I will never forget that day and I am ever grateful for what everyone did to helped my very unprepared self. California has some amazing fisheries and I am confident the record will be broken again. Tight lines.

Last night was like any other night before a big fishing day. I was off the following day and I knew I could spend time prepping the boat, sorting tackle, etc. Just a few hours on the local lake enjoying time to learn new area patterns. Then I decided I wanted to try something. I hadn't bank fished in so long. Since my intro to the sport in 2011 I've been bank fishing for some time before I purchased my bass boat. It seemed as if I forgot the simple ease and pleasure of a stroll around the banks. I unhooked everything from the Jeep and picked one tackle bag and a couple rods. I decided to hit up 3 of my favorite ponds and boy did they miss me! Seemed as if nobody had broken the glassy surface of these small waters since I left. Almost like the prodigal angler had returned. The absence of fishing pressure on these private ponds was bliss. I felt like the new Classic champion out there. No fueling the boat, loading, unloading, plotting on the map, just cast after cast and getting some nice winter bass. Just felt like I had to take a day off of the boat, a day off of thinking of how to please sponsors, a day away from thinking like a pro mentality. It felt like a vacation from the norm and it felt good. I must say that the joys of casual bank fishing are things I won't ever take for granted and make sure to do as often as possible for sure! Tight lines... Joe

It all depends on whose hands the reel is in period! Everyone's "sense" of feel is different as is their brain's ability to interpret what's being felt. In my wife's hands it would not matter what line, rod, or reel was used because what was transmitted up the line, down the rod, to the hands would be lost by the brain. The reason is not due to a lack of sensitivity but a lack of experience in her brain as to what to feel for. Subtle vibrations that I would feel would go unnoticed by her. Y'all wanna talk "science" then "sensitivity" of lines, rods, or reels is the wrong word, all three transmit vibrations which are felt by our hands. As I mentioned earlier ya should "sense" the bite long before it gets to your reel!

There seems to be very little science in bass fishing, considering how technological it is. There is clearly a lot of engineering that goes into fishing equipment, but little of that seems to filter down to reviews. Reviewers of bass fishing equipment seldom provide accurate comparisons across brands. Contrast that with automobile or bicycle reviews. Reviewers of bicycle wheels, for instance, may measure weight, rolling resistance, aerodynamics, rigidity, and sensitivity across brands. Rod reviewers, manufacturers, and retailers rarely mention even the weight of the rods, just that they are "extremely light weight" and "super sensitive." A new reel in the line up may be described as "more sensitive." We should just take the manufacturers at their word? Or believe some random guy that just spent a fortune on a piece of equipment and tried it out a couple of times? Give us more science. More data. Better reviews. Please. We deserve that because we spend a ton of money on this stuff.

FIxed that for ya

Bad year for me fishing. I got out more than ever, just didn't get my butt out early in the morning or late at night. So that definitely may be to blame. Also, we had a tough winter here in the NE last year, so weather may have impacted the fish. I personally think it affected the deer and the bass negatively. Enough excuses.... I caught my biggest bass this year, a paltry 4lb even bass on a terminator spinner bait casted parallel to a dock. I love these spinnerbaits and I just retired one in my favorite color and tied this on. On my first cast the spinnerbait hit the water flat, making a slapping noise like a beaver tail. A Bass hit it instantly and the fight was on. The fish jumped near the boat and I saw something fly through the air. I get the fish unhooked, take some photos and release her. Then, I look down at my line to see if I need to retie and realize that the"something" flying through the air was half the spinnerbait. The spinnerbait wire snapped at the line tie. 100% catch ration on that little bait.

Drave 90mm handle

I'm a Boca dealer. All you need for a reel is ABEC5 for a reel. The sustained speeds aren't there to benefit from 7s. Of course there are other good brands but counterfeiting is a problem in the industry. Super Tuning has nothing to do with bearings. It's a process of polishing of internal parts. Lastly, Spool spin times are meaningless in the big picture. I can get 30sec free spool from most reels with properly cleaning and lubrication. If you'd like advice on improving your specific reel, contact me and I'll tell you how to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Stop being the sucker and move on. Something tells me you're in love with a hole and not the person. The pregnant line is the oldest trick in the book

I saw a lot of this on another forum, but I haven't seen an all-encompassing post on this site for it. 2016 looks to be a huge year for Shimano, and a handful of Hagane styled reels will be coming out. Here's a list with pictures. -Shimano Curado 70 -Shimano Scorpion 70 -Shimano Aldebaran BFS -Shimano Stille 100 -Shimano Casitas 100 -Shimano Metanium MGL -Shimano Caenan 150 -Shimano Antares DC -Shimano Bantam Rods

skipping under docks... I can do it 1 out of every 3-4 tries and by that time I've scared off the fish. Almost always back lash too.

Two 8.5lbers. One on a SK 10XD crankbait & one on a LC SKT Mag 105 crankbait.

I need to improve my confidence level and decision making when what I'm using isn't working. I'm always second guessing myself that I have the right bait tied on. Example..If throwing a T rig for a 1/2 hour and not getting bit I fight with myself... Should I just change colors, go to a different shape and action plastic (worm to maybe a craw) or tie on a jig! Or throwing a spinnerbait..Should I change the blade configuration, skirt color, or just put it down and throw a sq.bill! Drives me crazy!! Like all of us I have my "confidence baits" but when they're not working, I just stand there for a while saying to myself "Ok Mikey now whattca gonna do???? Mike

I'm the same way with a Carolina rig ~ but if you haven't already, just try D/S with a SK Rage Craw. Don't need to "Fish it". Use it like live bait. Toss it to a likely spot and leave it. You Will Get Bit. A-Jay

I can't catch fish on a dropshot, just can not do it. Not sure if it's just not an effective option on our lakes or what, but I'd like to get better at it.

Finally a new Antares 4X8 DC, will be all over that.......

Just pre-ordered a Curado 70HG and Curado 70XG! Supposed to ship out the week of the Classic!

Lew's Speed Spool LFS.

My Berkley Lightning Rods are more than 2 decades old, I have caught literally thousands of fish and most of my 10+ lbs big mommas were caught with them and they are as firm and crisp as the day I bought them.

On sunny, breezy afternoons in the early spring I like to throw jerkbaits for smallies. This big mama weighed 5.8 lbs. and ate a Pointer 100.

Here she is! Another St. Johns River bass. I posed the Berkley 2 inch swimbait in her mouth for the photo. She had actually inhaled it and it was well hooked into her tongue deep inside the mouth. You can see the 2 inch swimbait I posed in her mouth... this fish was close to 2 feet long! Skinny, but long. I guessed her weight just over 9 pounds. (no scale in the boat) In another time of the year fattened up this one could have been in the teens. I still kid my buddy about this fish because this one is a back of the boat fish- in my own boat too- but I gave him the front casting deck on this day 12-24-2015, and he had all the good new water spots before me, and as we passed this area where the specks were boiling up he was telling me to cast into that spot he had just cast to and got nothing. I grabbed my 7' ML rod to go for some of the specks boiling up in that spot already rigged with a 2 inch Berkley minnow lure swimbait... So as we past that spot, I was casting back to it and on my last cast back to it I snagged a branch and jerked it free and just let it free fall and counted it down one-one thousand, two-one thousand and it just stopped. I reeled in the slack and felt the resistance and instantly set the hook not sure if a fish was on or not. Then it took off. My 7 foot ML rod doubled over, my shimano 2000 reel with 10 pound sufix braid screamed! Fish on! It took about 5 or 6 minutes to get this fish in to the boat. Between my buddy and I it was the biggest bass either of us had caught in 2015 and both of us had 8 pounders under our belt, but this one was a little bigger. I was not exactly prepared when this one hit. I had switched up to some light tackle for speck fishing when she hit. But man that sufix braid line saved the day! Here is my second biggest bass of 2015, an 8.4 pounder also caught in the St. Johns river: And this is what I caught this one on- a 3.5 inch Zoom swimming super fluke, Jr. rigged weedless with a stinger treble hook:

8-0 on my picks so far! not confident on picking either game next week. Should be awesome football. Peyton looked sharp. Brady vs manning will be the talk of the network all week. 4 best teams in the league next week!

Hey..look what happens when you catch the ball Denver...good drive! i agree Kubiaks system is the so pedestrian and boring i just cant see it working post peyton era

6.6 lb last april...SK Rodent green pumpkin red flake. 3/8 tungsten 3/0 gammy ewg. Pitching it to cypress trees.

only 19 inches, but had a bowling ball in its belly. little 3 inch swimbait on a scrounger head.

A 7" MS Slammer in Hitch color caught me a very thick, bug-eyed old gal that went 6 on the nose.

Crazy deal on Shimano Zodias that I found locally. Literally under 2 for 1 So I don't feel too too bad...Couldn't help myself.

My fishing partner and best friend has been a part time multi-species guide for 24 years. Over the last ten, he kept trying to get me to join him, as he was turning away business because he didn't have enough time to do the trips. (we work full time jobs). He kept insisting that I was fully capable and I needed to just get to it. One of the things for me was a trepidation regarding a USCG Captain's license. It is required when you fish navigable waters. I hadn't had to do any serious learning and take a three hour exam in thirty years...that was a concern for me. Finally, I just said okay and threw myself into the course and the exam. Three years later, I'm doing great. It's hard work and a lot of prep of tackle, boats and expensive licensing. It costs me roughly $1200 a year for a MD guides license, boat license and insurance every year and that doesn't include boat and trailer registration fees. (and I'm sure I am missing some other expense...that my wife will always remind me of...LOL) Then there's fuel and maintenance and start up and replacement tackle and ramp fees...get the picture? It's funny when some people scoff at how much a trip costs, believe me, we are not getting rich. Anyone that is an avid fisherman and thinks that it would be a dream job has never done it. It is hard work. The charter Captains I know that are full time work their butts off. For me, once I'm fishing in the black (that what we call it when we have done enough trips to cover our licensing overhead) it is a fun way to make a few dollars doing something you love to do. Every once in a while, usually over cocktails, my buddy will ask, "well, do you love me or hate me for getting you into this life"? I always answer, "yes".

You said awhile ago that the guy she went back to wasn't good for her. Did the thought occur to you that she's not good for you? Then think about it.

I catch fish on a rat and MS Slammer all the time in KS. You could fish that little Spro Rat 30 on standard gear no problem. Don't be afraid, I promise the fish aren't.

Yeah, the rod I have is a St Croix, but I have other St Croix rods older than that, and have not felt this in those. I have a old, 42 years old, shakespear, fiberglass rod, I have kept for sentiment, still has the 42 year old reel, and I fished with it a few years ago, and it still feels the same!

Bought a $30 Spro Rat. First cast, got it stuck in some low hanging branches. Broke my line by straight pulling, which made the branch (and the rat's tail) bob up and down. Then saw a huge bass jump out of the water to eat the rat and pull it down in the water where I've never been able to retrieve it (or the fish).

You sure your 8 for 8?

The Cardinals aren't playing the Patriots. It's Cardinals at Carolina and the Patriots at Denver.

IMO the role reels play in Rod balance is way over played. For one thing the reel is right at the fulcrum. Secondly each persons grip is a little different. Sensitivity is positively affected by a lower weight to rigidity ratio. If MG is as rigid aluminum but lighter, in theory it should aid sensitivity. Sensitivity can't be measured and the human element can't be accounted for do its all personal preference in the end.

I agree, I think he's saying that magnesium transmits vibrations better than aluminum. I have reels made of both materials and never really noticed a difference one way or the other.

Don't know the weight or length but I caught it on New Years Eve in 34° weather on a Rapala BX Jointed Shad

6.3 pounds caught on a watermelon red producto tournament worm.7 inch.

7.2 Pound Largemouth: Caught on corn while grass carp fishing

If you want an exact measurement, use a tape measure and walk off the line from point A to point B. Adding a line counter to a low pro fishing reel is nonsensical.

Texas rigged rage craw with dirty jigs punch skirt. Didn't get a weight but my 10.5 boot is there for reference

By old lady you mean like in her 70s?

Shaky Head using a Zoom green pumpkin trick worm on a jig head next to a metal dock on the Historic James River. Weighed in at 4.5 pounds.

Don't get love and lust mixed up brother. Move on quickly. Run forest run. she wants to string you along, she's in control so she thinks. DNA TEST, WHOS THE DADDY.

Dude... I called it hours ago. Look at my last post man, DON'T GET CAUGHT UP IN THE HEAD GAMES. Cut contact and move on. If she comes to you with proof she is pregnant and IT IS yours (make sure) then strap on you big boy pants and handle your responsibilities like a man.