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Just added to my already massive bass fishing library. BASS' s 13th year anniversary book. Reprinted articles of their magazine from 1967-1980. Select articles of course. Hootie

uh oh...

Come on BR get with the times ~ That's the New & Hottest rig going and Pros have been trying to keep this one under wraps for a while. Well, the cat's out of the bag now - Introducing "The Dufus Rig" Sure to be ban in most every Tournament going. A-Jay

It's a largemouth. Nothing about that fish suggest a spotted bass. Little largemouth just have little mouths. Spots look way different and even feel rougher than a largemouth.

Flipping... In his boxers...

The honest answer is you just have to play around with the various components and come up with a system that works for YOU. A perfect example is David Fritts and David Wright, two of the absolute best crankbait anglers to come out of the Carolina's (combined 16 FLW wins and $1.7 M), yet their approaches to crankbait tackle are almost completely opposite. Fritts likes a flexible ("soft") glass rod with a low stretch mono line, while Wright prefers a stiff rod with only a bit of softness in the tip, a sensitive graphite rod, but then compensates with "stretchy" softer monofilament. I've tried both setups and there are advantages to each. The only thing I've found that absolutely didn't work for me was using an x-fast rod action. Beyond that, just use what works best for you and ignore the rest. -T9

i'd prefer mine in a loch ness monster pattern

A little memory isn't a bad thing. Without it, your line would spring off the spool. The more you fish with it, the less memory is an issue.

Berkley Trilene Big Game Line mono 15lb TW gets 900 yds for $9 or $1.00 per 100 yds If you by 1lb or 3lb bulk spools it's often even more cost effective. In comparison Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Line 15lb - 200yds $ 25 or $ $12.50 per 100 yds Useing 2 shots of KVD line & lure conditioner before each trip helps all mono out. Best bet is to Change out the top shot BEFORE you think you need to - for $0.50 cents (or less) it's a good piece of mind. A-Jay

T'was a lovely morning. While not exactly a super productive outing, I was able to track down a nice drag runner.

The Stutter Step from Bill Lewis Outdoors Rat-L-Trap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flT86shxEEQ

Looks like a dink largemouth to me

I think Glenn has a video about that rig...

The Bill Lewis Stutterstep looks pretty cool, I want to see how it looks in the water, if anyone knows of a video let me know.

Here in the Outer Banks, most people make a 40 mile run to find pelagics.... We have found quite a few over the past two days within sight of the beach! I absolutely love it, catching these fish is comparable to no other type of fishing I have experienced. Lots of king mackerel and mahi, the one sailfish, and a few false albacore that have a very shiny belly that works well rigged on smaller trolling lures, the sailfish thought so! I think I could rig a ballyhoo in my sleep now too. So here's the story with the sailfish, I apologize if this fishing lingo is on another wavelength from bass stuff... We had all of our rods out, 9 of them, when one of the long riggers pops and we can see a huge bull mahi thrashing and jumping behind the spread. My brother grabs that rod and my other brother then tells him that he's crossed in the bird that we troll way behind everything else, but after sorting things out we now see that we have two very respectable mahis hooked up. I get ready to pull in the other rods when the short rigger to my right pops but goes slack. I quickly point the rod at the water and freespool it for a few seconds when I hear my brother (who is sitting on the t-top of our boat watching everything unfold while fighting his fish) say "he's got it!". I engage the reel and to our surprise here comes a gorgeous sailfish out of the water right in the middle of it all, and continues to jump 6 or 7 time before it peels 200 or so yards of line off the reel. So now you have middle brother on the t-top fighting a gaffer mahi, younger brother on the t-top fighting a mahi, older brother on the deck fighting a sailfish, 6 lines still in the water, dad trying to steer the boat, and mom trying to take picture of the whole thing. I start cranking in a line with my free hand while the sailfish is still running, and my dad scrambles to clear the others. One mahi comes off and the other one wraps in 2 daisy chains of squid. Somehow we gaffed that one and got it in the boat, and a few minutes later we were able to get the leader on my sailfish, I picked up a rag and grabbed the fish by the bill, brought it in the boat, and we got a photo before it started beating the life out of me. Quickly took the hook out and lowered the fish back in the water, I held it in the current for a few seconds but the fish didn't need it, she was already trying to shake free from my grip. Let her loose and watched her swim off to fight another day! This shows the colors of a mahi pretty well, they fade almost instantly when you bring them in the boat

I've got that book. I admit I haven't looked at in years. I got it passed down to me after my father passed away over 30 years ago. I also got a copy of the In-Fisherman book from him, "Largemouth Bass Handbook of Stategies" which was autographed by all the original authors including Al and Ron Lindner.

If you can find deep hydrilla right now, it's bound to be loaded with fish! I can't find anything deeper than 8-10ft.

Big Game doesn't let me down.

Fishing is all about problem solving. To us, a Kahle live bait hook, attached with a square knot, and a egg sinker may look odd, but it might have been all the person had, and of it got that bait to where the fish are, it probably got bit. Clearly, it got hung up, so that's the next part of the problem to be solved. It's seeing things like this that make this site so useful and satisfying - our members can skip all the trial and error.

That's what she said

d**n....I been winning tournaments on the Dufus rig for a couple of years now. No one else knew about but me. I gues that's over....THANKS!!!

My experience is on a baitcaster and I don't have a issue with memory. It's so inexpensive I will respool all my reels before the heavy fishing of spring each year. I would think if it was a heavy line like a 20+ lb test memory could be worse but I only use 12lb and it works pretty much for a season kept indoors when not in use. Again it's such a inexpensive line it's not a issue if you wanted to change it say 2 or 3 times a year. Sometimes mine gets changed when I feel like it has taken a beating more than normal. I recommend it as it is a very good mono especially for the $.

All my deadsticking is done accidentally . I'll be preoccupied doing something else and a bass picks up my bait . Maybe some day a light bulb will go off inside my head .

If you give me the coordinates to the deep hydrilla i'll go out and take a first hand look so i can give you the proper technique.

I have caught the majority of bass in my life deadsticking.I would say at least 80 %.But I usually move it in 30 seconds if nothing bites. I used to fish a deep hole in the middle of the day in the summer this way.I would use a giant manns jelly worm with no wieght.I cast into the hole and would leave it sitting there as long as I could stand it.I once caught a fish( 6-7 pounder ) that picked it up after 15 minutes.I caught several bass around that size that way in the same hole.

Largemouth.

Here's a tidbit I posed in another thread: Since you mention you aren't having luck on plastics, what kind are you using? If you try a 4" GY Senko in green pumpkin and don't catch a fish within an hour of fishing it properly, I'd find some new water. You might also try some top water lures such as poppers, frogs, buzzbaits, or spooks. You can get some cheap knock-off versions to try out at DSG or Wallymart.

The first time I saw salt in plastics was as a kid when Gene Larew owned the shadrack inn on Table Rock. He must have been making them there at his house.. They had salt everywhere in the bags. He believed that the salt made the fish hold onto the bait longer and eventually came up with a way to inject the salt into the bait . Other people must have thought it worked too because they copied it and it ended up in a lawsuit as I recall. I don't think Mr. Larew lived to see the outcome of the suit ,but I drive past his old place every time I go get in my boat and can't help but think of the history made in that place.. Wish I had some of those old plastics.

Another vote for a largemouth. I have seen many dink largemouth with a smaller head like that. It's almost like the head doesn't keep up with the growth rate of the body.

Ok man good luck but I would seriously consider asking guys on here and researching your position on that. Oil and grease are very important parts of reel maintenance! It's not about how often you do it. Grease has different viscosity than oil.

I wasn't interested in that bait until I watched the video. Add another one to the list of baits I'll be trying.

fish calculators are ridiculous. Just don't even bother. Buy a scale and save the trouble. I had a 10.10 that was 27.5 inches lenght and 19 inch girth. Calculator puts it over 14 pounds. That is a HUUUUUUUUUGE difference. It is hard to believe that fish has a 20 inch girth...

If you held the dorsal up we could see if it's connected or closed the mouth we tell where the jaw ends. Spotted bass are named for a black spot at the base of the tail, no spot. I would say it's a largemouth bass without any evidence to indicate otherwise. Tom

this has been huge for me this season. obviously i like buzzbaits. they are fun and i catch quality shallow fish at dusk/dawn so it was hard for me to put them down in search of a deep bite. over the winter i saw a video when pete gluszek said this exact same thing. it's been an off shore game changer for me. when working offshore i follow two principles. #1 Catt mentioned, work uphill. #2 angles are so important so don't only work uphill. work parallel, 45 deg angles, perpendicular, and everything in between. get creative. do not only cast perpendicular to shore. add in the early/late bite is just as good in the deep abyss and you have yourself some fun dancing with big girls while learning structure.

Stanton is a Freak of Nature - he hit several Real BOMBS ! A-Jay

Jig bite is on! 18.5" fat largemouth and 32" northern

Following this subject...would a Palomar knot be better?

I know where you're talking about, and yes, do yourself a favor and fish it. Stay up that right arm where you'll launch. Not necessarily a ton of fish, but there are some nice ones up there that don't get near the pressure that the rest of the lake gets. Will take you a bit to figure out the best areas, but should be great fun. Bring a small stick for white bass, too, as they sometimes pile up in that creek. -T9

Hey A-Jay.... Waaaaiiiit for it.... WACKY year round! Oh, and drop shot.

Welppp...now we just need it to be able to stream live tv and we can all turn our mortgages in and live on our boats. No reason to go home.

You did the right thing. I would have struggled not to get into with him . Hats off for keeping your cool. Any marine mechanic worth your time will have gas and a battery on site. (most likely will have a lot more than they need of each). He told you to take what you didn't want stolen..and you did just that. I would have done the exact same thing.

Word is and don't hold me to it but rumor on the pro page floating around is $1800 for the perception pilot and $2600 for the radar with ruder and pedal drive. $1700 for the ATAK 120. Again this isn't solid but it's been the most consistent "rumor" even to us Prostaff guys. Im contemplating selling my ATAK 140 for the radar 135 and a ATAK 120 for the creeks and rivers I hit.

Update for those who care: I called the "gentleman" this morning and asked him to have my boat ready in the lot where I can pick it up. He said, "Is this about the gas and the battery?" I said, "yes, I don't appreciate how you spoke to me and the lack of customer service." He replied, "and I don't want to be your gas boy," He wanted to go round and round but I refused. Anyway, fine, he doesn't have to be my "gas boy" but he's not getting any business from me. I'm picking up my boat this evening. The odd thing to me is that ALL he had to do was hook up a fuel tank and battery and charge me a few extra bucks and this could have all been avoided (I live out of town so this should have been a reasonable concession for him).. NOW, he has...well, not an enemy but certainly NOT a friend.

There are two things I'm over the moon about. 1- anything Z Man is releasing 2- the FeelFree pedal/troll/coast module that you can use with any of their pass-thru console boats. That's a GAME CHANGER for me!

Go with the Scorpion 1000xt. They are incredible reels and you can always swap gears to something faster. TT did a review of both and the Brenious did not fair that well. I have 2 Scorpioin 1000xt one that has the stock gears and one with the Brenious gears. They are fantastic. Also the stock bearings in the reel are quite good. Out of the box the Scorpion is a great reel that can do a lot of things well that I think you will enjoy.

Caught a nice one yesterday afternoon !! Caught in a football jig on a hump in 15 fow. 8lb 4 oz..

I will take a closer look in a few hours. Initially the intersection of the salt creek and the creek to the left and a 3rd smaller creek bed looks good. The creeks intersect to create a point, flat and hump. Moving up the salt creek where the words south right of the h and fork left of the k are located you have 2 other points that intersect the creek bed that need to be explored closely. Those are the types of areas I prefer, good with potential for big bass. Tom

I use the 130 the most, I have the 90 too but like the 130 much better. I have been doing very well on the perch color, but the belly is white so any color with a white belly I would imagine would produce the same results. I am also going to be getting the Loon color (black belly) for some night fishing. The 130 might seem a little big at first but you'll still catch 1 pounders on it all day. I fish it on 40lb braid on my jig rod (7' 2" heavy fast). It's 1 3/8 ounce so it casts a mile. I can spool my Conc. A on a cast with it. Also @CavScoutA21 I personally don't ever use trailer hooks. I feel like if they are short striking then that is them just telling me that they like what I am using, but that there is one thing that is throwing them off a little. Maybe it's the blade color (spinnerbait), the retrieve speed or cadence, the size, the color. I feel I can usually change something to make them commit instead of using the trailer.

20 lb braid. Med heavy or heavy rod. Any type of reel. overrhinking the plopper is like over thinking a senko. But overthinking is the purpose of this forum I suppose.