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I should have included a picture. Here is a picture to give you an idea of what the Pads look like.

All this snow is giving me withdrawals so bad that sometimes I just need to get them out to look at. Hit the Chicagoland Expo last weekend and looking forward to the show in Madison at the end of the month.

This is what the bait monkey managed to squeeze out of me this week....now if I can find some open water to throw this...

I ordered a bunch of skirt tabs online and got some great jig heads from @cadman and have been wire tying a couple here and there. I really like these 3 here that cover my go-to colors, let me know what you think!

When I die, this is what I want the path the the pearly gates to look like... beautiful picture

Yo-Zuri will punch Strens lights out then steal his girlfriend. Yo-Zuri is way stronger than rating, it is very abrasion resistant, and fairly limp in the smaller diameters. Brian.

I fished Housen yesterday from 9-5. Only boated 12 fish with a 4 lber the biggest. I dropped one at the boat between 7-8 lbs. All fish caught on TR junebug baby brush hog in 12-18 fow adjacent to creek channels. I fished 6 mile and Housen today with 2 fish caught. It was rough and tough. I will be at them again tomorrow.

I was back on the"new to me "pond today. I fished 3 hrs with only one pickerel & two lmb.I covered lots of cover and made many casts.About 1 pm they started liking an LC100 real good. The sun was way high in a cloudless sky.8 lmb in an hour started off and ended by nice pickerel in 6 to 7 foot depth. The lmb averaged about 2-1/4 lbs with the large around 3 1/2lbs It was a great day over all with the catch at 10 lmb==4 nice pickerel from 21"to 23" The pick pic shows the LC out of sight . She wanted it. WT just barely broke 40 deg one time. The shaded coves still had ice. My seat is 14" wide Nice trip home and I stopped at my local pond to watch the sunset in the brisk temps along with one eagle,two blue herons,several geese and one turtle up for a breath of air.I love it. Aside from the ice on most ponds now this is my favorite time of year. Its quiet ,peaceful and the fishin is a bonus.I actually show signs of being depressed about mid March when the cold water period ends. C22

My best day for size was 5 largemouth between 43-44lbs down at lake Baccarac in Mexico with my buddy Jeff. All fish were caught deep in 20-25 fow working different baits up a rock slope.

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.

Just getting started on editing my GoPro vids, I get to involved in the editing process plus this year I took 2 cameras. So its takes a while to go through all the footage even with a 3 year old tugging at my arm to come play. ha Sixto was our guide for the entire trip and he knocked it out of the park to put us on BIG fish or as he called them !SUPER GRANDES! He was a fun guide and spoke English pretty well. I would gladly use him again! First Video shows how we got there. This time we decided to fly private with the owner Terry Hollan out of OK City on his 4 seater BeachCraft. It sure made customs and traveling a lot easier! Note: Be sure to watch the videos in HD to really get a good view. Everything was filmed in 1080p First Video is of us flying, shots of the lake and lodge as we flew over it and some footage of the wonderful people that took care of us for 6 days. Second, how about some fishing! Another perk to flying private was being able to get there early and have an extra 1/2 Day of fishing added to the already 4 days planned. We got to fish about 4 hours caught about 30 fish all together that afternoon and we had 5 that went over 5# Here is the first full day on the water. The 1:50 mark has the big bass of the day coming in at 7-13 Here is Dad landing a 8-11 on Crankbait! As I edit the videos I'll keep adding them to this page. I should have our first full day ready to go tonight. We did catch two over 10# this trip. I feel Baccarac is really heating up to only get better. Right after we left someone caught an 11# I have plenty of good pics, unfortunately I didn't get every !SUPER GRANDE! on the GoPro, I'll be sure to add them later.

Conditions are so good right now that I made the 3hr round trip from my house to lake Anna for 2 hours of fishing at sunset. Plenty of herring around again so I caught a few dozen of those and headed out. Got into some small wipers that kept killing my baits and not getting hooked, but I did manage to land 6 stripers and 3 wipers. Mostly on live herring but 2 of the stripers were caught on a 3.8" fat swing impact. Lots of fun! The coolest thing that happened was when I could see my weight and herring on the fishfinder, then watched a fish rocket up off the bottom to it, my rod tip started vibrating when the herring got nervous, then WHAM fish on. 23"

This is my home lake

My best day of fishing was with a guide in Michigan on a small lake. First time fishing jerkbaits. My 2 brothers and I caught 20 smallmouths. A 6, a couple 5s, a couple 4s and some others. Beautiful fish in an overcast and chilly day. I'll never forget it.

Reviving this thread. Anyone brave the cold or the 60 degree days? I went on Canandaigua lake in the kayak and caught one smallmouth in a channel by the city pier guessing 9 feet deep. It was 55 degrees and sunny!

Yep more trips to the tackle store, colors, sizes ... The trick is getting the finicky BIG ones, kills me to see a 9 pounder on bait while I get a 15" tossing lures, OK enough crying Going to try the night bite tonight Ken

This is a good start. Starts at 0:11 and happens a lot throughout the song. I'll try not to "ruin" this thread with a bunch of death metal. But yeah, these guys are pretty good. Canadian thrash with some fantasy thrown in. Two horns up.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that MAYBE the OP was asking for opinions on: topshelftackle.com plastics

Thank you both for the advice. I'm gonna hit up bass pro shops this weekend and see if there are any local tackle stores around. And Go Noles!!

Stanley Ribbit or Rage Tail Toad, fish em like a buzz bait!

Buy a Loc-R-Bar

Why the blacked out spro package?

Why look for an alternative to the TRD on that mushroom head when it's already a proven success? I personally like the idea of having that specific head and using a specific bait with it(TRD) so I don't have to drive myself crazy with different options and think something else might be the key. It helps me focus on what I'm doing more than what I'm using. That said, I have not heard of a better bait for this particular jig head as of yet.

You have got two choices. Either keep trying by thinking outside the box regarding your lure selection/presentation or try some live bait.

they "grease" the robot bearings with a special cologne.... the fish go crazy for it!

I throw 1.5 oz. jika punch rigs that I make myself out of bass hooks, split rings and trolling weights. Creativity and problem solving are what created the rigs we commonly use now. Have at it, see what works and what doesn't, and report back!

The borrow pits are located on either side of, and in front of the airport runway. I used to fish that lake all the time for walleye, but haven't been there since they closed the ramp years ago. I haven't heard from anyone about the fishing, but it used to be great. I'd imagine that any walleye that are left will be very large by now. As for tackle, my favorite was to throw a chartreuse marabou jig/shiner combo. I'd just toss it out and let it go to the bottom and bounce it back to the boat. I also caught a ton of walleye on shad raps and rattle traps. I saw many guys trolling with crawler harnesses as well and catching fish. Oh yeah, be ready for a big flathead at any time. There are some really big catfish in that lake. Good luck.

Tournament Pro G on sale for $149.95 with free shipping from American Legacy Fishing right now. Just added an 8.3:1 myself.

Hey guys, I am a urologist. Really. And if you're between 40 and 80, get the PSA blood test and the finger. Please. Once a year. I do. And no, I am NOT practicing my prostate exam on that fish in my profile photo. It's just an optical illusion. (But I think I heard somewhere it relaxes them.)

If it were me: Dobyns Savvy 734 casting rod ($179.99) and a Lew's Tournament Pro G Speed Spool casting reel ($199.99). That will leave you $20.02 to spend on some decent line. If it were me and I could come up with another $60, I'd buy instead a Dobyns Champion 734 casting rod. Love 'em.

See, this is what I need to motivate, the mockery of strangers. I started the other night, but quickly ran out of Tupperware. Hah, that is the last of it to be packed away. Before I got into fishing I was super into shooting and reloading. Now, I have only opened my safe once in two years, and then just to oil them. That little press is going to become a tying station. That is how I got into this mess, I sold a single rifle, not even a super nice one, and blew it all on fishing stuff. A $500 gun is just getting started, but $500 worth of tackle is like a shopping cart full of stuff.

My newest rods and bait caster and few other random things I got tonight.

My take ? It's a whole lotta ....... FC doesn't sink like if it were a ton of bricks, in the same manner that nylon doesn't float like if it were a friggin cork, so the theoretically added diving depth unless proven scientifically is just a myth, also, as with nylon and copolymer the line diameter varies from brand to brand and from type to type.

The folks I would want to fish with would Include Catt, Mike Siebert, AJ, Dwight Hottle, Marty Burns, and Sam!

2 issues come to mind.... 1. If the pads are thick like water shield it will be difficult to bring weight out of water at end of presentation. 2. The increased diameter could pop open bass mouth on hookset

Does that mean 2 fingers?

Most anglers fish em like a swim jig, I drag em on the bottom letting the head impart the action. I'm experimenting with these

You pay to fish for spawning crappie?

Scott Martin and Glenn May are probably my two biggest heroes. Brandon Palaniuk and Michael Iaconelli are up there as well. And heck, I'd go out with any of ya'll. And have a blast. Even Raider

My new Helium 3 just got here Im waiting on one more rod, then I will post a pic of the fleet in the "Show off your stuff" thread.

https://store.baits.com/product.php?productid=125&cat=38&page=1 4/0 EWG Gamakatsu specially made for GYCB

None of them, famous bass fishermen don't impress me too much. I'd rather fish with guys from here, or my buddies. My dream day of bass fishing is when my kids get old enough/interested enough to want to spend the entire day fishing with their old man. At ages 6 and 11, I have learned to not push it much past the first few "daddy can we go now" , I don't want them to hate it.

I've had good luck using Rattle Traps, my son landed this 5 pounder on Monday using one. They seem to be hit or miss though, either they're getting attacked or completely ignored. Ken

My dad or my grandfather. Because neither can fish anymore and we had great memories fishing when I was a kid.

Not a single day but a buddy and I had a terrific 4 day fishing trip to the White River below Bull Shoals, Bull Shoals, and Beaver Lake a few years ago. We caught brown and rainbow trout, walleye, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass, stripers, white bass, and wipers. I caught new PB's for Brown Trout, walleye, and striper. Probably had a new PB spotted bass too but I didn't weigh it. My buddy caught his new PBs for Striper, smallmouth, and wiper. It was just an incredible trip and we seemed to catch fish everywhere we went.

Super lowballed a seller on an auction site expecting some back-and-forth and to my surprise he just accepted with no counteroffer. So I guess $20 slide swimmers really do exist.

First and foremost, no offense taken. At the end of the day, I don't really care the personal opinions of anyone here about their fishing choices. I'm good with what I know and what I do. So take this as a friendly discussion from me and shedding light from a different angle. I see dying bluegill (sunfish) more often than you'd think, in pads/slop and open water. Come fish the midwest northern waters where Northern Pike are ferocious predators and are predominately the apex. So much that it can create a tough situation when targeting bass. You'll see fish with razor slits all over them from pike swiping at them. The fish may get away initially, but sooner or later they rise up and if you've ever fileted a live fish, they'll move around for quite some time. The image below is not even in the dead of summer when the slop is at it's worst. (Wisconsin) I fish some pretty dense junk in the summer/fall months as do many others here. The water below me in that picture is probably 20 inches deep with your random holes that drop to 3-3.5 foot. Some areas get to 12 inches that I fish regularly and catch nice bass. There is enough areas of where the pads separate to open water allowing you to do the side to side (spook like action) with any slop bait, (frog, mice, LT Gill etc..). Is the new gill the best tool to use, maybe not. But it's exactly that, a tool. Often I see bluegill and even bass getting stuck up on these giant weed bogs simply chasing/being chased. You can bet when teh frog bite is dying and if I see any signs of gill breaking surface I'll be tying one on. The water is clear enough in the lake that they can certainly see differences in profiles and maybe that fish profile triggers a big bite. You can only eat so much frog legs and mice turds. When I referenced spook, I meant the purpose of the bait is to replicate something similar to a fish at surface struggling and/or fleeing as is this new LT gill. I did not mean it was to have an exact walk the dog action. I personally will never throw this Gill in open water when i have a box of poppers, wake baits, cigar baits etc...that simply do a better job because it's the better tool for the job. I'm sure the gill would get bit too if presented correctly. Good discussion, just don't think it's gimmicky. I see it as a new tool, a pretty tool at that and I have a nice collection of high dollar swimbaits that are mesmerizing to me. The new gill could be all solid black or white and it would probably produce the same, but that's not Live Targets deal. Their selling point is realism...and they do a d**n good job if you ask me.

I really don't have a partner, when dad and I went I paid for everything, just a little right back atcha for all he did for me, when I do go I look at it this way, I'm going with or without you anyway, if I have an open seat and I invite you, it's yours to enjoy, if you feel compelled to chip in because you had some great up-bringin then ok, but you wont hear me ask about it or expect anything for it. Only one rule, no alcohol.

I sometimes use a rock-climbing chalk bag clipped to my belt to hold my fishing stuff. It keeps hooks out of your pocket and it pretty convenient to access stuff. They also usually have a elastic loop on the side to hold small pliers.

^^This^^ Tackle: If it can't fit in a pocket or be clipped to a belt, then it doesn't need to come with me. 1 rod - 1 reel. It's all about mobility from the bank for me. Simplicity in tackle allows that. -T9