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I was very excited about this bait when I first saw the sneak peak on FB a few months ago. Even more excited when I got the heads up they were available (thanks @00 mod ). Bait looked great when is showed up in the mail, everything I've come to expect from SG baits. It was extremely realistic yet it felt like it would really hold up to some abuse. So today against my better judgement, I got off work at noon after working a 12 hour shift and headed to the nearest pond just to give it a test run. First couple cast I just did a straight retrieve and the bait just looked awesome, might not have known it was fake if I wasn't the one that put it there. Only downfall was it stopped swimming at very slow speeds. Next cast I cranked it fast a few times and stopped, WOW! The bait kicked out to the side and just hung there like a gill that knew it was being followed and trying to find somewhere to get away. Couple more quick stop and go turns and I let it hang for an extra second at the bank and a fish smashed it but didn't hook up, game on. Couple cast later I had one pull the line tight but didn't get the hooks (not a lot of bigger fish in the pond so I wasn't surprised or disappointed in the bait over these fish, more excited by the action than anything). 5 minutes later I ran through some kind of small bait fish that scattered so I did a couple quick crank-turn-stops and then let the bait hang, Yahtzee, fish on! Not a big one, but man am I excited by what I saw in this bait, and for only $14?! It's basically like a multi-jointed swimmer/glide bait hybrid all rolled into one package. At just under 2ozs and 5" long, it's not a huge, intimidating bait for someone looking for some entry baits either, but I don't think any seasoned big bait flinger is going to be hard pressed to talk into this bait if they see the action of it. I know I'll have more headed my way shortly!

For the last year I've been looking out my window at work at nothing but skyscrapers. Not that there's anything wrong with that as I appreciate architecture. But, let's face it, it gets kind of boring looking at Trump Tower everyday. Well, they moved my department from the SW corner of the building to the NE corner last Friday. The fog has been real thick and or clouds and rainy since the move. It finally cleared up today. This picture doesn't do it justice and I'll see if I can get some better ones. Come summertime the beaches will be full and the boats will be moving around. Already saw a guy trolling for salmon last Friday. In August they have the air and water show at North Ave Beach which is the first jetty you see. They practice on Thursday and Friday and I will have an eye level view of the jets as they go thru their maneuvers. It's going to be tough working under these conditions. This is the view of my building from the Lund. The tall building in the middle is the John Hancock building. I'm on floor 28. and another view from the Lund leaving Diversey Harbor

Thanks again for the prayers & good wishes. I'm home from the hospital after 8 days in & feeling pretty good. I have this week & next on an automatic feeding tube then evaluated by the surgeon. I am able to swallow & can eat small softer meals ok. Still waiting on the pathology report results to determine if I will need 2 more months of chemo. Either way I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Glad to be alive but missing my prespawn smallies for the first time is rough.

Every time one of these "pick one" threads pops up, all I can even think is "Dang- sure am glad I don't have to!!"

From a fish catching perspective my advice would be to skew the budget toward the Rod for bottom contact rigs especially finesse. For cranks and other moving baits you could make the argument for skewing in favor of the reel . This game is filled with all kinds of enthusiasts. Some like rods or reels or hard baits or..... To each his own. Find your own way and enjoy.

Myself, I can't feel the difference between a $400 rod or a $100 rod when they have similar ratings. Everyone is different. What matters to me, has no bearing on what matters to you. Pay for what you value and don't let others tell you what you should like.

Hey everyone, Let's get a look at your favorite Smallmouth pictures! What was your set up when you caught it too? A lot of you have been fishing this winter, and a lot of you have had good fishing so far and spring weather. Me, and a lot of people up north, haven't been so lucky! It's been cold until recently and now it's been raining for 3 days! So let's see 'em guys! I'll start.... 2.5" Cabin creek tube, St Croix legend tournament bass 610mxf, Pfleuger President reel.

Both of these were taken using my St. Croix LTB 6'10" ML/XF throwing a drop shot 1 with a Berkley Bottom Hopper Jr. , the other with A YUM Warning Shot or Kill Shot. Caught on St. Croix Legend Xtreme 6'6" M/F throwing a Rapala Shadow Rap Deep Caught on Rapala Shadow Rap Thrown on 6'6" Legend Xtreme M/F and Xcalibur XCS100 thrown on a 7'2" LTB M/M Probably another week and I'll be able to get out on the river and chase some toads again! Super pumped! One last one that wasn't from last year but still one of my favorite smallie pics

I had a chance to get my new Shimano Scorpion 70 out on the water yesterday. I really wasn't expecting to catch any fish and didn't, but I wanted to test the castability of the reel. I had the reel mounted on a 7' MF St Croix Avid X. I fished a Green Pumpkin Fat Ika with a Gammy 5-0 EWG hook on 12lb Abraz-X. I started out with 2 brakes on and the SVS setting on 1. First off the reel felt solid in my hands. The only other 50 sized Shimanos I've fished are the Core 50 and 2015 Aldebaran 50. The Aldebaran puts emphasis on being purely lightweight, so comparing the Alde to the new Scorpion is not practical. This may be vulgar to some, but the Scorpion balanced and palmed as good to me as the Core. The Scorpion weighs a little more than an ounce more than the Core and it was tough to tell the difference in weight while casting and flipping. Now onto the casting. At first, with two brakes on and the dial set to 1, I wasn't impressed with the distance or smoothness of the cast. After 20-30 casts, things seemed to settle in a bit. The casting wasn't any farther, but I didn't feel any 'resistance' as the line came off the spool. As I flung the Fat Ika around the pond more and more, I decided to start messing with the brakes a bit. I took one brake off, leaving only one engaged, and set the dial to 3. There was a noticeable increase in casting distance and efficiency. I got more distance in the casts loading up the rod the same as I had earlier. Flipping the Ika 10-20 feet was effortless and required very minimal thumbing before the bait hit the water. I normally have a Metanium DC on this rod and the casting distance with the Scorpion rivaled the Met DC (worth noting that the Met DC isn't really a pure casting machine). I was getting 100+ foot casts reasonably loading up the rod with the Ika. I wasn't making "World's Longest Drive" casts, but was casting for practical distance without fear of a backlash. Considering the amount of fishing I do in the summer months, I like working Ikas and Senkos from shallow-ish to deep water and this amount of casting distance I can cover more water or have the boat be a little further from the strike zone (anecdotally important to me in clear water). This job is normally reserved for my Mets, but the Scorpion palms so much better to me. Given the casting distance I was getting with the Scorpion, I'll be taking my Met XG on my next trip to see how the casting distance between the two compare. As far as the Core 50, I wonder if Shimano had the Scorpion 70 in development when they went from the 09 Aldebaran/Core to the new 2015 Aldebaran. The new Aldebaran is a marked departure from the previous generation and left me scratching my head a bit when comparing old to new. I think the new Scorpion is closer to the old Core than the new Aldebaran. It's likely the Scorpion will replace the Core on my rod rack/reel bag, but there is still something magical and enchanting about the Core 50MG7. I don't know how to explain it. It's like a 60's Era Shelby Mustang - there's tons of stuff out now that's better, but there's just something special about it. My one gripe about the Scorpion is the length of the handle. This may be because I fished two Metanium XGs most of last season and they have a slightly longer handle with larger grips. But with the Mets when I'm burning the bait back to the boat it feels natural and the rotation of my wrist doesn't feel like I'm exceeding the radius of the handle. When I'm burning one back with the Scorpion handle, while 100 percent solid, the handle feels like I'm cranking on a Zebco 33 from my youth. I see a larger aftermarket handle for my Scorpion coming soon as they are available. The knobs are a departure from normal Shimano fare, especially if you've never fished the new Aldebaran. Also worth noting is that I never hooked onto a fish during my first 90 minutes with the reel. I expect it will perform the same as the other X-ship equipped bait casters and the drag remains untested. But as far as casting goes, the Scorpion 70 exceeded my expectations in distance and smoothness. I will need to see how the reel performs with a fish on before I make a final determination, but I really like what the Scorpion has going on right now.

Well my fishing has came to an end for this week and possibly until next january. I will deploying for 7 months to the middle east. But did manage only 1 today. She came in at 5.88lbs and had a bellllly on her! Crushed my 6xd with my new hooks i landed her with ease. Buddy had made about 20 casts to this point while i fished the other. We turned the boat i made 1 cast on the point ye was fishing and caught this girl. Here is a pic of my watercraft also. Dont need glass to catch bass! (But i still wish i didnt sell my bass boat when i moved overseas). Anyways as always love bassresource and cant wait to get back to slay the fish again. If i head out before then of course i will post a report.

So, for a long time, I have considered having a rod built just for me, to do precisely what I want it to do. Well, I recently made up my mind, that the next rod critical to my full-spectrum arsenal, was a swimbait rod to handle the upper end of what I want to throw. So, having made up my mind that I wanted to go custom, there was only one person I wanted to talk to. That helpful guy that's been building people their dream rods for years, and servicing our reels to better-than-new condition, Mike, at Delaware Valley Tackle. I cannot stress enough, that your builder, is your best friend in getting the rod of your fantasies. You gotta have a vision, and have someone on the other end who gets it, and Mike GETS it! Awesome guy to work with, and his rods are simply amazing. For my project, I wanted performance first, comfort and balance was important to me. I had envisioned a simple, classy, but with a sophisticated finish, rod that I would not need to upgrade ever. I think I chose the right guy. Thank you, Mike, for an amazing rod. Your attention to detail, and the quality in your work, is mind-bending. I haven't stopped fishing this rod since I got it, and it is KILLER! Wooo Weeeee! This rod's gonna be in my hands for a lot of hours, and I couldn't be happier!! If you're on the fence, just call DVT and chat with Mike, you won't regret it.

I've done a lot of bragging on my grandson Aiden & his bass catching heroics, well this is my other 9 yr old grandson Evan Trace. After his first full year of competing in gymnastics he entered the Louisiana State Championship competions on Saturday. He brought home 4 silver medals, 3 bronze medals, & a trophy for 3rd OVERALL!!! Plus he brought home the team trophy for highest team overall score of 62.1 (6 events=60.0 plus bonus skills) with a whopping 11.2 on rings!!!

Last night was absolutely beautiful out on the water in the kayak, couldn't get much better than 70 degree air temps and was absolutely stunned to find the water was 71 degrees! Managed to get 1 mac daddy crappie on the spinnerbait! Shortly after a chunky spot smashed same spinnerbait and then his skinny little cousin said he wanted it too! bait was a 3/8oz terminator t1 gold/silver blades with a little homemade skirt i tied on!

Heck if I know what it is. Just couldn't resist.

There are things that describe bass habitat better or more fundamentally than "natural" and "reservoir". From your comment about flow I suspect you are thinking "river run reservoir" where fish activity is greatly influenced, even dictated, by flow. You'll have to assess current as you see it of course, but I doubt that enough water moves through that little forested res over short time periods to greatly influence the bite –on any regular basis anyway. The wind will likely also move those mats too, and this might affect a bite. Otherwise, look at clarity, depth, and cover. Factor in where prey species spend their time. After that it's about the conditions and circumstances at work (trends to hourly). Pick lures that fit. In the present image, I see shallow water and good clarity. Looks like bass could potentially use the whole place. At least they can explore it all and find the most advantageous places to feed. You and the bass are essentially looking for the same thing.

Took 3 days off work to hit the water. Went to usual cranking pattern and managed one baby 3.5lbr (dont know if i should post mine lol after theirs). Buddies though killed it. I tried all the cranking areas and couldnt buy a bite. But they found em! Not sure on their weights. think the bass are moving into spawning areas now so the deep patterns arent going to pan out as well. I inow they dont all spawn at once but seems to me most have left the deep water areas. Going again tomorrow so we shall see. Never mind the date lol obviously not right.

Man I cringed when I saw those big fish being held with fingers in the gills Don't want to be that guy but if I had a fishery like that close by, I'd be babying those fish so much. Back on topic, I'd love to catch a few "baby", 3.5 pounders this weekend. Your big girls normally move up shallow first, so that's probably why they were on your normal deep stuff. Find that first drop into the deeper areas that lead into spawning pockets/flats and I bet you get right back on them.

I've never had much issue with hooking them that deeply inside the mouth. It's very common to get them on the outside of the gill plate though. Pinch your barbs down to minimize damage and ease removal. Fish in cold water aren't jumping or thrashing around as much anyways.

I prefer this mold. http://www.barlowstackle.com/Do-It-Screw-Loc-Worm-Nose-Mold-P337C55.aspx but you can also use this one. http://www.barlowstackle.com/Worm-Nose-Jig-Mold-P217.aspx I like this hook in a #2 or #1 http://www.barlowstackle.com/Eagle-Claw-Jig-HooksbrStyle-500BP-Lil-Nasty--P3244.aspx This will give you a better idea of what the hooks look like.

This..............^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Mine are locked up out safely out of my kids reach. But every chance I get I expose my kids to them to take the curiosity away. My 11 year old daughter has shown zero interest in them, but my 6 year old daughter is daddy's little helper come time to clean them, or go out to the farm to shoot. She has shown great attention to detail when cleaning, when it's time to clean the AR's (NY compliant of course), while I clean the bore, chamber, and BCG, she takes care of the lower, buffer, and charging handle...........and I'll be darned it she doesn't get them spotless. When I sit down to reload, she's often right there with me handing me stuff............I often put her in charge of lubing the rifle cartridges before I re-size them and she does a perfect job. When we go out and shoot, she's already gotten bored with her Crossman BB/pellet rifle and her favorite is the 10/22 with a red dot sight on it, she loves to hear those 22 rounds bang the steel plate or break clay pigeons from 20-25 yards away. She's an even bigger brass hound while were shooting than I am, for every hand full of brass she finds, it's treat from the store, like an ice cream cone or something on the way home.

A white and a black frog will do all it needs too. Any variation of those colors will work. I throw the Cricket poppin pad crasher, white belly.

I try to match the cost of my reels with the cost of my rods. I've often said I would never spend $200 on a rod or reel and now I find it hard to spend less than that amount for a rod or reel.

I am having a hard time finding anything wrong with 24lb Gliss.

Mr Clean, Magic Eraser. Makes them look like new.

Take up golf. I doubt he would post pics on social media of himself holding your balls.

My advice to you is stay away from any of the other boats out there. There are a lot of crazies on the water. This is what I tell my son, when you get near to another boat, cut back on the speed and keep as much distance between you and him as possible. This applies double to jet skiers. They want to get close to you to jump your wake which is ok but they are in general careless drivers. No wake zones are just that . Go slower than you think, like go very slow. Don't forget to put the plug in, remove the tiedown strap before launching the boat, PFDs for everyone, raise the motor before backing down the ramp, lowering the motor before starting and reversing this procedure when taking the boat out of the water. Keep an eye on gasoline consumption. Outboards use a lot of fuel. Running out of gas on the water sucks. Boating is fun but mistakes cost real money.

To start with, any jerkbait I have in my box has the middle treble removed. This reduces the damage to the fish (especially the eyes) and has shown no negative impact on my hook-ups. Then - and a lot of people tell me I'm crazy for doing this - I crimp down the barbs on all my treble (and single) hooks. I loose very few fish doing this. And it makes removing the hooks from the fish (and your hand) a whole lot easier. I guess it's just not that important to me anymore to land every fish. But I do OK.

Thanks guys for all the feedback. I'm definetly going to look at the lews because I love my lews spinning rod. I will let y'all know what I chose after tommorow

Sniper.

Berkley Trilene Big Game, in assorted lb test.

You know, lots of times crappie jigs serve well to finesse bass when they need a light touch. I mentioned on this board bass fishing with an ultralight at times, in relation to a question about a high modulus ultralight rod. One person who answered started with "If you're going to handicap yourself by bass fishing with an ultralight rod..." Problem is ultralight weight, small lures are all some of them will bite. My biggest bass last year was caught on a small plastic worm whacky rigged on an ultralight. It didn't look like it had ever been caught before, and I'd been through its hangout many, many times with bass jigs, topwater, and pretty much anything else you'd throw on a bass rig. It was a heck of a fight -- the bass did more dragging than I did reeling, I think -- but I eventually wore it out and landed it. I didn't weigh it, but it was of a size I'd not have tried swinging with a M/F rod. I'm also convinced that there are a lot more large bass available from shore than we generally realize. About half my lifetime fishing experience has been from a boat, and I'm currently repairing that boat with new decking etc. However, I'm not as urgent about it as I might be otherwise. I'm finding that I'm primarily a shore fisherman, meaning, even from the boat, I would fish the shore. The boat was just a way to fish from the other side of the shore, and to more easily parallel the shoreline. (Still, there's a nice matte of vegetation accessible only from boat that I want to hit this year with frogs!) Just some random thoughts. Regards, Josh

I don't believe by any stretch of the imagination they know exactly what they are eating. It is surface activity and small enough they can eat.

When I bought my first Calcutta 100A it was $190 which at the time was expensive for a reel but that was 35 years ago. That reel is as good now as it was the day I bought it! A quality reel should last a lifetime where a quality rod is subject to breaking any day! What that means to me is I would buy a quality reel first then the rod.

Figure out if you want right or left hand retrieve! I'm a righty who came from spinning gear (left hand retrieve) and could not get used to right hand baitcasters. Picked up a cheap left hand Diawa Laguna for $30 at Gander Mtn and I'm hooked (I think ).

Abu Garcia veritas 2.0

Lol you have to be a Hoosier, we don't grow em that big here

Fished the North lake in Garnett for about an hour today from the bank. I started out fishing a wiggle wart and didnt get a bite in 30 minutes. Switched to a jerkbait and started catching them on the exact same casts that they were ignoring the crankbait. Caught 3 in about 30 minutes and had a good one come off before i got a look at it. They all looked fat and healthy.

On most forums the shimano worshippers took great pains to bash the Spinfisher when it was re released. They made a point to bash the brand and claimed they were purposely cheating and lying. It all stemmed from the error of the Penn rep in his rather casual description of the seals and the reels designed purpose on a youtube video. The reel isnt water tight it is water resistant. Its not a Van Stall, ZeeBass or Penn Torque that are all designed to be "skished", thats a style of fishing some fools like to do in new York where they use the reel completely submerged while they do their best imitation of a seal in white shark invested cold waters. When the earliest reels came on the market some "reel experts" found that one seal in the spool assembly was often not installed correctly. It was a simple fix to simply loosen 3 screws push the seals edge inward and then tighten the screws. Its a great reel for its designed purpose and for the money. It isnt a $800 Van Stall and doesnt offer what the Van Stall does at a cheaper price. The real problem is a lot of people demand that it is and treat it like it is, then cry when it doesnt perform like it is. Go to alan tani's forum where the "reel experts" hang out and give each other advise. In the spinning reel sub forum you will find an entire tutorial on how to maintain and pre treat the reel to insure it will give you a decade or more of faithful service.

Holy Moly!!!!!!!!!! Those are some beauties. Every member of BR should throw in** and we buy these lakes and shut them down to the public and make it members only club. ** Redline Robert, you will need to bankroll the lion's share of this investment, but you may pull rank and kick others off a spot at any given moment

Those are some beasts! But calling a 3.5 pounder a baby, well, that's the almost the average size of the big bass winners in tournaments where I live.

The Aetos, the Elite Tech Smallmouth rods were fantastic and since they are gone the Aetos get the nod.

Check out the Shimano Citica

For starters I would recommend taking a look at the Lew's Speed Spool LFS Series Casting Reel. At $ 100.00 it won't break the bank in case you find that baitcasters are not for you. I have a couple of these and feel that they do handle and cast very well.

Here are 3 more of my swim jigs. Pics of my other jigs I will have to pull later from the home computer. Allen

FWIW............you guys can keep all your "realistic" looking plastic craws. Even in gin clear water, I find that things that look nothing like a "real" craw out fish those pretty fisherman catching craw baits by a wide margin.

I throw all 3 on MH/F. Never had an issue doing so.

I don't understand. Is he a guy who lies, cheats and disrespects you? Or is it a friend? Landmines in his yard? Drill holes in bottom of his boat? Put lead in his water? Lots of things you can do....get creative.

It would take a miracle to replace the lost talent on this team and Sanchez is a terrible foundation to build upon.

I learned to accept them, truth be told I am happy to just catch a dang fish....any fish:)