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A-Jay

Walmart Special - - - - - - - - - - "Simple But Effective" WolfyBrandon

I took my 20 month old daughter fishing for the first time and she loved it. I went to a small pond. She touched her first bass with both hands. She spent most of the time throwing rocks in the pond, but it was really great having her their with me. When it was time to leave, she threw the biggest fit crying at the top of her lungs. I guess I have a new fishing buddy now. Cheers!

Your brain. Trust me, once you figure it out what is on the end of your line doesn't really matter. At that point it's just matching gear to weight and bait to cover/structure/conditions. Also, you're probably going to need to fish deeper than you're used to or comfortable with.

On Deck rod and reels Veritas 7'11'' H-XF with Revo Rocket-Flipping Loomis GLX 7'5" MH-XF with Revo MGX- Froggin/Lite Flipping ABU Garia 7'6'' MH-MOD with Revo STX-Cranking ST Croix Mojo Bass-7'0'' MH-XF with Revo SX-Spinnerbait/Jig Duckett 6'6" Med-Mod with Revo STX Jerkbait/small squarebills Loomis NRX 6'8" MHXF- Revo Premier- Texas rigged

Well I asked her how she felt about it and she told me to do it- she says I've been working hard and deserve it! Trigger was pulled like 30 seconds later lol. Can't wait to receive my new 2016 Feelfree Lure 11.5 in lime camo!

Water temps are now hovering around 45 degrees up here. The big lake trout are coming in to chase smelt schools on their spawning mission. Blade baits are one of the most consistent producers of both lakers and smallmouth bass. But I really don't know of any species that cannot be caught on blades. The problem arises with the hooks on most of these blade baits. The trebles and double hooks on most commercially available lures are not the strongest. Lakers will literally crush most trebles and double hooks. Very powerful jaws. Similar to the salmon as well. Smallies are less powerful, from a crushing standpoint, but a sturdier hook will not be a deficit with this species either. Sure, you can switch out the trebles for better quality, but therein lies the second problem - snagging on the bottom - which can become expensive over time. So, I've gone to a single Siwash hook on these blade baits and have not had a single laker crush or twist the hook. It also significantly reduces - not eliminates - bottom hang ups. I go one step further and crimp down the barbs on these hooks. A similar requirement is mandated in some Canadian Providences. I was skeptical about doing this at first, envisioning loosing more fish than I land. But that has not proved to be the case at all. Last season was the first I tried this out. It has proven itself time & time again, catching many lakers and smallmouth bass. No going back to regular trebles and/or double hooks for me ever again! And for smallmouth and/or largemouth bass, this should prove to be a positive approach, which, with all species I've encountered, facilitates hook removal and reduces harm to the fish for us CPR folks. Here's what this mod looks like:

One more won't hurt. Jerkbait Special ✅

Hey Guys, Haven't been on here in a million years but, since I've been away I've had some luck. All these fish were weighed and released. The picture at night was at Chickasaw Gardens. 7lbs 2ozs This one was at Cordova Country Club. It has been reopened as a soccer golf course and I have yet to be spoke too while fishing there. 5lbs 4ozs These two were in south haven behind the McDonalds near Snowden grove. 5lbs 11ozs and 6lbs 10ozs Also, Memphis National golf club has huge bass in it, 7+, but they are usually caught on large swimbaits. They don't mind if you fish, just stay out of the way of golfers.

I know how to detect the spit out better than the take!

My cousin's bird dog had puppies last week, and he's giving me one as a retirement gift! I've been an avid upland hunter my whole life, and I've shared the field with many great dogs, but I've been unable to have one of my own for the past few years due to deployments. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited!

I used to be a pretty fanatical bass fisherman. Would really work at studying conditions, lures, presentations and tactics. It worked. I caught more and larger fish then than I do now but there is one huge difference. I enjoy fishing more now than I did back then. It used to be about 'success' now it's about enjoyment. I love being out on the water on a beautiful day. I love bass lures. I love casting them I love getting bites. and I love catching them, but not at the expense of enjoyment. I'm getting old, and I don't care.

My partner and I traveled on Sunday. Fished Monday, Tuesday , Wed and returned to Jacksonville on Thursday. After 3 grinding days on FP-13 our totals were : Day 1- 18 LMB Day 2- 25 LMB Day 3- 12 LMB I cannot explain why the bite was so slow as April has normally been our strong month. On day 1 we fished eel grass edges all day and only found smaller males, but did weigh and photograph a spawned out female for a tourist that was 8.14 in the grass. On day 2 we pulled back and slung traps all day randomly over the vast shell bottom flats which produced more and better quality post spawned fish. Figuring we had a game plan for day 3 we started on the flats and never found the numbers or quality that we had expected. The more I think I know about our sport the more the LMB show me I do not. R/ Chris

I love fishing in the spring, spinnerbaits with a fling! I love pitching in the brush, Rat-L-Traps in a rush! I love that big bump when ya flip by a stump! I love flying across the lake, the sound a 2-stroke makes! I love fishing in the grass, kicking bass's axx! I love Hawgs on a bed, trying to hit em on the head! And I love twins

Well the fishing today was great, but the catching sure sucked.. Haven't had the yak out for quite awhile and finally found some time today.. Was hoping to slay the green things but I get to the spot only to find they sprayed every piece of vegetation out there.. Bleh.. Not sure if the bite sucked because of the spraying or it was just an off day.. Got a few on the whip so that made me feel a bit better.. The few fish that were around responded well to several forms of topwater..

Nice! But since you live on Florida's fabulous treasure coast, shouldn't you be....wait for it.... Fishing for the Halibut? <drops mic>

Location is a better strategy for big bass. Once you have that, cover, bottom composition, physical structure of the area, and cover will dictate what bait is best, or will even work. No sense tossing a treble hook hard gill in a slop field, when a frog, jig, or punch rig is more suitable.

Nice job Gstewart!! I got lucky this morning early, caught 2 good ones on back-to-back casts, I mean the exact same cast too! That's about 12 lbs. of bass combined, 5.5 and 6.5 lbs These fish were both pretty skinny, I assume they just got through laying eggs.

Jigs

Hey guys. New to the forums, but was pleased to see such an active Buffalo/WNY thread. I was down at the Erie Canal overflow pond in Ellicott Creek Park on Tuesday. Spent about two hours there and walked away empty handed. I was throwing tube jigs, finesse jigs, spinnerbaits, cranks, and when things got real desperate I threw on some nightcrawlers but still couldn't get a bite. However, yesterday I went out for steelhead with my friend on the Catt and we couldn't keep the Bass off of our line. We actually had to head to a feeder creek off of the Catt just to have a chance at catch steelies. Hopefully the weather warms up soon and we can start the flip flop fishing.

To be honest it's not that special. I think it catches fishermen more than fish. I own all the Keitech products and I have cheaper plastics that catch more and bigger fish. That said, Keitech lure's design is superb and action is great but for some reason I still have more production using other brands. Last summer I was sight fishing and there were a few hogs cruising around weeds. I drop shotted, swimmed, and t-rigged some fat impacts right in their face and none would take. Then I threw a cheap Luck-e-strike minnow, ($3 for a pack of 20) and bam caught 2 bass back to back in the same spot. I no longer buy into the hype. I do like Keitech products but it's just not that special to me.

My nephew is 2 today, and last week I took him and his 4 year old brother out, but we didn't catch anything. But man was he proud of "his pole"

I cry and scream at the top of my lungs when I leave a lake myself...ohh the pain.

Basically you are paying a master at his craft to carve by hand a piece of art that is not only beautiful, but swims and acts as close to a real fish as possible. It is simply more than just carving a piece of wood. Would I pay that much for a lure? No I wouldn't. But I can understand why people do. It might just be a collectible to some, but there are actually people that fish with them and have caught some very nice fish with them.

Anything under 1/4 of an ounce calls for spinning gear IMO, though I can pitch a 3/16 ounce weight just fine on a typical jig/pitchin' stick. Even some 1/4 ounce baits, such as balsas, cast poorly on casting gear. If you need 8 pound test or less, use spinning gear. I also throw lighter suspending jerkbaits on spinning gear with 15 pound braid and a fluoro leader. I would say you should own four or five spinning setups and probably a dozen casting setups and you'll be covered. Can never have too many really.

Big live bait fished properly is probably as good as it gets. If not live bait, I've caught more 5-6lb Largemouth on jigs w/craw trailers or T-rigged worms than all else combined.

They aren't the same fellas. Same design, different plastic, different molding process. If you're catching more fish on a certain variation it's because you have it tied to the end of your line more often.

Spinning gear isn't absolutely necessary but it can make things a lot easier. It just depends on how you like to fish and what techniques you mostly use.

Most of the big bass I've caught have come on baits that were slow moving. Jigs and big worms are the baits that have caught the biggest bass for me. Mainly because big fish in lakes that I fish mostly seem to stay under the heaviest weeds they can find.

It balances right where the hook keeper is. It was hard to balance it with my finger

Fished for an hour tonight, but the bass moved out a little deeper into four to eight feet of water holding tight to cover because of the cold front. Three of the larger bass were caught where i hooked the 24.5 inch bass last month. Water clarity is down to a foot so I used a coppertruse trd and a bulky 1/4 ounce black and blue jig with a black zoom super chunk trailer that I borrowed from a friend since I'm out of jigs. Eight total with most being only eight to twelve inches long and the largest was only fourteen and a half inches. About half of them ate a jig and and the other on the Ned rig.

Shimano Alde 50mg. This reel will complete my 50 series collection and will be joining a Core 50, Chronarch 50e, Curado 50e, and Scorpion 1000xt.

You should be able to find a Daiwa tatula below retail online. Great reel

So if I am not mistaken the new Antares DC is just a shade over 7 ounces if I am doing the conversion correctly? Also it appears that the frame is a bit smaller and hopefully more palmable over the previous generation Antares DC? When it arrives if you could take a few photos of it next the older Antares and also confirm the weight. Of course I want to know the casting capabilities of the reel, but I think that goes without saying!

Most people believe any bass can obtain double digit size, TP&W biologist have observational data showing not all bass can obtain that status. They've shown 7-9 lb bass that never grew beyond that weight & 10-11 lb bass that never grew any bigger. This is why the Sharelunker program only selects 13 lb bass as their breed stock. Their research also shows the males genes are just as important.

Yeah forget the steel leader, spool up the whole reel with cable

Getting bit is the easy part, detecting strikes is what separates the good jig fisherman from everyone else. What Catt was discribing I call controlled slack and that varies depending on a lot of factors that only time on the water can define. Everyone gets upset when I say most big bass jig bites go undetected, it's true! A jig isn't a mouth full of soft plastic for bass 7 lbs and up, it's a gum drop that gets rejected quickly if you can't detect it's in their mouth in time. Tom

You can't say they're one power lower than rated because there's no definition or standard what 1,2 or 3 power, med, mh etc is. That's the problem. Across the board Dobyns tend to be on the lighted end and st croix on the higher with everything in between. None of them can be said to be "right" though.

This question is sort of like asking if big boobs are better than small boobs. Either way they're still boobs

I dont know if this counts but i bought these gun cases at cabelas to store my reels in to keep them from getting damaged when traveling...

It really depends on your skill level and equipment. There are people that can throw everything on casting gear. Others prefer spinning for their own reasons. I use a mix of both so I can throw small light baits effectively even in windy conditions.

Snaps, yes. Swivels, yes. Snap-swivels, never. Each has their applications in bass fishing. Anytime a split ring is provided for line tying, you can safely replace with a Duo Lock snap. Swivels are good for lures that twist in the water, like spoons and inline spinners. If you MUST use both, use them like this, just tie on a Duo Loc, and attach it to the swivel:

Its personal preference, some do perfectly fine on all BC or all spinning. But for me I want to keep with the "best tool for the job", each type of setups have their strengths. Lighter weight baits and dropshot are things that tend to work better on spinning.

I choose the Pad Crasher because it's cheaper and every bit as good as the Spro. It's a softer body which equals better hookups (not that the Spro's are bad either). I live up in the land of the toothy critters though and I've caught hundreds of fish on both, but I've had some that get shredded on the first hit when a norther or muskie attack it. They just aren't built to handle that. Given that the action, durability, catch rates are almost the same, the cheaper one is the better value.

Today while fishing a local river, I found another misplaced stocked trout just like last spring. Hardest lipless crank strike I've ever experienced, I knew what it was before I even saw it even though trout aren't supposed to live there. I think someone is stocking privately somewhere along the river, so I will be back with my kayak to find out! Thank you VA "navigable waters" I didn't have a cooler with me because I was bass fishing, and didn't have time to run home before work, so I disguised it as my lunch and kept it in the fridge in the break room...

I wear one too. I find it very convenient to roll off the lake and immediately go rob a bank. No wardrobe change needed!

These were caught within a few days of each other both on a swim jig with a rage craw, left one went 4.7 and the right went 5.7, not sure why the right photo is turned but she's there..

Two toads from Lake Gaston this past weekend. These 2 anchored a big bag that helped me jump from 14th after day 1 all the way to a second place finish. If I could have just made one more cull on the first day I would've probably won the whole thing . The big one was 6-1, the other one was around 5. Both caught on a @Siebert Outdoors Dock Rocker jig .