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If you'd asked the old guys that question back in the day and showed them the high speed reels of today, they would have asked a similar question. How do you catch fish moving the lure so fast? I think, most guys would catch more fish if they could slow down. A few lures need to be ripped, but there are many many baits that are most effective fished slowly.

There are 2 types of gear snobs...The 1st is the guy that has to have the latest and greatest and assures you that he's got the advantage because of his high-tech gear. The 2nd is 'old school' and thinks anything made after 1995 is just 'new-fangled marketing hype', he assures you that he can catch as many fish with his old gear as anyone else. Believe it or not, both are right in certain ways. There IS a fair amount of marketing hype to sell the latest and greatest stuff. On the flip side, advances in rod/reel/lure tech CAN make an already competent fisherman more efficient/effective/capable. At the end of the day, fishing success is mostly determined by the person holding rod...Whether it's the latest and greatest or an old classic is of little importance. This post was made in good fun...Not taking shots at anyone

I think the old timers were catching the slow fish and eating them. Leaving only the fastest fish to breed and pass on their genes. Now we're faced with a population of faster fish. Tyler

My guess -- either Raider or bigbill

When it starts to rain just take your pants off... side benefit is most other anglers will give you a little more distance on the bank. oe

Along with reel gear ratios getting faster, so have many of the newer lures and presentations. Even for slower presentations, a faster reel can equate to more casts/fish. The other thing to consider is that to us old farts, catching is only part of the enjoyment of fishing. Only by slowing down will you discover the true joy of the experience grasshopper.

At 73, I suppose I'm one of the "old guys". As a youngster we fished for food. I was so poor that if I didn't catch fish that day, we might not eat. We were "dropshotting" when I was 8. We were "flipping " when I was 16. And we were "Ned Rigging" when I was 17. Funny how all those were "invented" by the pros. We had no names for those techniques but just knew what worked. Your BRAIN is your most important piece of equipment if you thought for yourself more and not just follow the "pros" advice, you might discover somethings that work really well Carry on, Young Bloods!!

All my reels are 4.7:1. I don't lose fish because of the reel! Where in the world did you ever get the idea that a bass is a fast fish? He's an ambush predator and prefers to lay in wait and exert zilch in energy in order to eat. Don't believe everything the media, paid by the manufacturers tell you is true. Don't think what pros, who are paid by the manufacturers, do or say is true FOR SURE.

Quite simple ya young whipper snapper! We used our brains I knew more about structure fishing back in 1970 than most do today!

Show of hands, who wants to hear Zona drop some coded references to BR threads on the next Live???

HAH! @A-Jay! Secret revealed! ...with apparently lots and lots of Photoshopping.... Fess up Zona. Who are ya on the forums?!

99% of those guys aren't handed a boat...It's one of the myths of pro fishing. I've heard a few different types of deals that the pros have for their boats, but they are paying for them one way or the other. That little ride he took cost him some money for sure. That particular tournament had very high river levels, such that you could make the run to the dam in a glass boat. Many fisherman took the risk of running up in hopes of doing well and making some money. As the river dropped, it got harder and harder to get up and back. Miller did well in that tournament, might have even made the top 12 cut if I remember correctly...Probably one of his best finishes. Not saying I would have done it, but I can understand why he and others did.

Check out this video with Mark Zona and Glenn - and see what he says about these forums! Thanks Mark!

Hey BR! So, I was fishing the pond in my Florida community behind my house, and I got one cast in before I saw a bolt of lighting less than a mile from me. Unfortunately for me, I had walked from my backyard to the other side of the pond so I had to run back in the rain. But, luckily, that one cast in front of a reed patch with a 10.5 inch black ribbon tail worm yielded me this hog. Any chance you could give me a weight estimate? I didn't bring a scale since I figured i'd only be out for a short time because of the storm. Oh and by the way, this bass is definitely my new PB. Just not sure how big…I have no idea what I was looking at in the second picture LOL.

Y'all need to shut this thread down! The youngster will figure out how us old guys caught bass!!!!!

Yep, just put a butt whipping on those guys. Coming back from 20lbs down and winning by I think 20lbs......Yep fading into the history books, but they keep having to write new chapters because he isn't done yet. Also shows how much respect those guys who fish against him have for him and the passion and drive he has for the sport.

Don't knock that shaken' hand. My buddy's palsy puts a unique twitching in his zara spook. He can draw a hawg up from the deep in the high noon sun to slam that sucker when ain't nobody catching fish.

Oh yeah, that´s what the sticker says: "high speed". Forgot "shakeyheading" at 19

Caught well over 100 fish yesterday. Had 20+ over 4lbs and my big one was 7.4. Had one I figured was 11+ come off about 10 ft from the boat. Still sick over it!

Flat bottom will draft shallower and ride rougher. It won't track as well at slow speeds because there is no defined keel. Deep v will handle rough stuff better. Won't draft as shallow. Welded vs riveted you'll get all sorts of responses. Riveted boats flex. I have never seen a warped hull on a riveted boat, I have on 2 welded hulls. I have heard of rivets shearing off on boats that get beached a lot in the sand. People claim rivets will leak. I've owned 2 riveted boats since 2004 and never experienced any leaks, and I don't baby my boats. A modified v will give you a shallower draft than a deep v and will track better and ride better than a flat bottom.

Zona is a great host on Bassmaster Live! This also explains why he brought up the subject of KVD winning another event/AOY at the St. Johns event, he must have read that one thread here

At $100 I would look into the Duckett Ghost line of rods, they are great rods, very sensitive and light. Sort of in the middle of your price range ($120) I would look into the Mojo Bass. These are high quality rods that are technique specific, and they are backed by a great warranty from St. Croix. For $150 my pic would definitely have to be the Daiwa Tatula. These rods absolutely amazing, you can feel everything your bait comes over and they absolutely will not break. If you want to spend a little more on your rods, these are the ones to go with. I hope giving you a few options helps you out. I own all of these rods and I can say you won't be disappointed with any of them.

Congrats! Biggest I could get in the boat was 8 lbs 5 oz. today. Lost two in the same size range. Caught over 15 this afternoon, lost count. Not sure what my problem is this year. Maybe the tennis elbow is worse than I thought. Never played that game lol.

Oh dear, why do I always hav to explain everything, can't you just figure it out on your own ?it's called witchcraft, that's how we caught fish, skin of a toad, eyes of a newt, feather of a raven, egg from a dodo, stir well, shake vigorously after and presto ! There you go, a 10 lber. Where ? Don't see no grumpy old fellers around .........

Exactly, and if they ever televise jug fishing we'll see the pros telling us why a Prairie Farms milk jug is better than a Deans. And when to use a full gallon , 1/2 gallon, or really lighten up and go with the 1 quart to really finesse jug fish.

The pros say what their sponsors tell them to say.

Cain poles ,bobbers and alot of beer!

Remember that the REALLY old guys used to catch them on cane poles. For you youngsters that is string tied to a stick!

Persistence pays off after being blown all over the place by big north winds for two days. 11.33 caught in Indian Creek at 19:00 on Sunday. Flippin a beaver style plastic with matching punch skirt weighted with 1/2 oz tungsten. Sorry its not a better pic. Cold and tired and still shaking at this point.

My great grand children will be able to enjoy my current stash.

No, it's a straight sale.

Nice job! Where y'all at? I can't even open all them texts on my other phone. Caught over 15 this afternoon. One of them was 8 lbs 5 oz Hope to meet y'all for supper tomorrow night. Please let me know what time.

Rules of fishing: 1. Bait your own hook 2. Clean your own fish 3. Tell your own lies I'd say 8-10 would be a safe bet! Hog tho!

Do you have the length/girth measurements? It's hard to guess weights just from pictures without any measurements, but my guess would be 9-10 pounds.

Beast, no matter what. Beast. Congrats!

Grab a case of beer and throw out some juglines. Might not help your confidence, but it's a good coping mechanism.

Now we are faced with super fish who know chartruese from watermelon green. Require red line the goes invisible quickly. Underwater microphones that play taped baitfish noises to spur into biting. .........

Everyone gets there pants in a bundle about fronts! If you know how to fish after a front you can do well! I had some darn good days after a front. Like the post before me said SLOW down and move a bit deeper.They will get tight to cover and tend to not school as heavy. For me the wind is the big factor! If she is blowing it can be hard to fish and have boat control. If if warms up fast after a front then they will get active that much sooner.But if the front drops air temp 30 degrees and a slow warm up,then I would say 3 days at the worst for them to move back to where they were before the front.Now spring can be a whole new ball game ( pre-spawn ) PS- Down size your baits too!

Here are a few, the 2 amberjack went back free, the bigger one was well over the 100lb mark. And that wasn't even the biggest one I hooked, but the biggest I managed to stop.

No salt in Colorado, but i'll definitely be going back to Florida!

Good Luck, stay safe. If you need anything (care packages etc.) let me know.

Sadly or maybe wonderful depending on how you look at it I have enough plastics to last my GREAT grandchildren for a good while!! Sir-Fortunately- you do have the dreaded fishing plastic hoarding disease--do not try to fight it--just enjoy it!!

When I am on largemouth water the first thing I reach for is a skirted jig but when I am on smallmouth water the first thing I reach for is a tube. I would expect your finesse jig combo would also make a good tube rod. I have tried to force feed smallmouth bass on my local rivers skirted jigs with inconsistent results but it always seems like they will eat a tube.

Yea I don't think I'd want to be the coangler in his boat that's for sure. It must be nice to be handed a boat so you can just treat it like that, makes a poor boy like me cringe..

Season's?? Oh Man we're talking years over here! Mike

First fish of the year worth mentioning. Pulled from the meramec river this evening on a black/blue rage blade.

I'm a die-hard braid guy, but I have seen the benefit of using a FC leader. If you're like me.............after using braid for so long, you will HATE FC as main line. Even the best stuff, IMHO, handles "different" than braid, and I just never liked it as main line. I tie my leaders to the braid with the Alberto knot, it's stupid easy to tie, and has been bomb proof. Here's the when/why I use a leader: #1 Drop shotting...............100% of the time I use a leader..........I do not like how limp braid is for this. #2 Fishing docks, or other super snaggy cover............if I am hung bad, I need the ability to break off so I don't have to in and get on top of what I am fishing, when using straight 30-50 lb braid, you'll pull the boat over to what your fishing before you break off............plus the added abrasion resistance of FC leaders is a plus around the wood/docks/rocks that are often coated with razor sharp zebra mussels around here. Since I bounce back and forth from fishing grass, to fishing docks all the time, most of my jig and plastic rods will have FC leaders on them 100% of the time. It's totally un-needed for fishing grass.........but I don't want to have several rods rigged up with the same stuff when bouncing around, so they all get leaders. #3 Throwing reaction baits (other than top water) ..........My home waters are loaded with pike and other toothy critters.......their teeth cut braid like a hot knife in butter, with a FC leader I stand a better chance of getting my baits back, and I just don't get the bites or the performance out of my baits I want with steel leaders, so FC is my only choice. This is what I tie straight to the braid: #1 Frogging/top water................no exceptions, 100% of the time tied direct to braid. #2 Punching grass mats .............that is if I am going to be doing that exclusively and NOT fishing docks/wood/etc, which happens just a few times a year, because even on a day when I am punching grass, I'll always still hit some docks, and/or deeper less thick off shore grass beds.

Must have made out with Raider

The 12 inch mans jelly worm I like black berry for where I fish with stained water.