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Seems everybody's an expert fisherman nowadays posting their fishing exploits and equipment reviews on youtube. The challenge of catching fish takes a backseat to gaining a following. Were it not for the editing process, their fishing trips would be just as boring an uneventful as mine Just an observation.

I hate the suggestion to wait to feel the fish. If the frog is gone, I'm setting the hook. Think about, a bass blows up on a frog, and the frog is no longer there, where is it most likely to be? In the bass' mouth! Why give him extra time to wrap up in the cover or spit the frog out? Unless I'm being plagued by smaller fish, I'm hooking 70-80 percent of my bites. Bending the hooks a little helps, and so does shortening the legs, but the day I stopped trying to feel the fish, I was hooking and landing way more frog fish. Having the right combo, and especially using braided line, makes all the difference in the world too. I'm using a 7' 3" H/F Ethos Micro with a 8.0:1 BPS Titanium 8 reel spooled with 50lb braid.

I prefer the unboxing videos myself....nothing cooler than seeing somebody open up tackle.

Expert and whitwolf don't go In the same sentence. Now If you master the art of simply getting out and enjoying the water time whether you're fishing or catching I might just make It there! Kmac, well stated!

Yea there's a lot of fishing going on...not much catching!

You want the Fluke to Twerk instead of Twirl.

I like to pop the lure and continue the retrieve as if the bait is trying to escape. However, when you are on an aggressive bite I suspect the "bumps" are just bluegill, crappie or shad.

Only the bass know for sure

For some reason that Pokey Whatever hasn't really caught on up here . . . . A-Jay

You are the man! I hit the pond this morning and Tried the Fluke with the weighted hooks for about 45 minutes with no luck. So I Pulled out my phone and followed your instructions. Threw the fluke on a 3/0 Gamakatsu. I have fished this pond 3 times and no action besides a few nibbles. I throw the fluke weightless as you instructed worked it following those instructions. 3rd cast! screen capture uploading images Thank you so much man. I cannot tell you how much i appreciate it. Just amazing how a few tips like that can just turn the bite on!

All the fancy gadgets and gear make fishing more fun, but without knowledge and skill it is of little value in my opinion. I agree fishing public water that is heavily pressured generally requires greater skills. Of course plenty of video and good editing can even make guys like me and Slone look good!

Especially before, during & immediately after the Spawn - and then it really seems to taper off quite a bit until about mid-September. btw - I'm definitely in that crowd . . A-Jay

On Friday my father and I went to Clinton Lake in Illinois, it was our first time there and we did some scouting. I launched on the hot side ( nuke power plant cooling lake) by the no wake zone. We got there around 9am and with the water temp being in the low 90s we traveled up river to colder water coolest we found was 85deg and with mid day coming fast we fished the shallows and shadows throwing crank baits/ warms/ plastics. I put on a Rapala Shadow rap #7 with a 7ft Abu Garcia Veritas rod and Revo STX reel with 30lb braid and a 6ft 10 floor leader with in 3 min of casting in 2-6ft of water in shadows I got this sucker 19.25"

From Texas used as brood stock. Beautiful fish!! From the site where I found the picture: " This is a 15lb+ fish caught earlier this year by a fellow TFFer "Bassbuster". Since Justin caught the fish, Mike has had it in a small brood pond with another similar class fish also caught earlier this year. Even in the small brood pond he was unable to entice this fish into biting again and had to remove it via sein to relocate it to a larger body of water. He successfully bred one or both fish this spring and now has fingerlings. Talk about genetics!! In any case, I thought I'd share the picture of this rare beast. To the best of my knowledge only a few fish of this size are caught annually across the globe, and a large percentage of them are coming right from our own backyard!"

Congrats on your pb. If you practice catch and release you can catch em again. Nice catch!

They will still be well ahead of the novice. They spend so much more time on water they can search without electronics. But they would gripe the whole time about not having them. ?

The fish are still on a hot frog bite. Been catching about 35 a day and fishing seven days a week. In the morning I throw the frogs over matted surface weeds and later on switch to skipping them under main lake docks. On Saturday I entered into a small tourney and took second place and a small check skipping a junior pad crasher and using a wacky rigged senko as a follow up bait. Frusterating part is we only lost by half a pound, and I hooked a kicker that looked to be 3-4 pounds that would have won it. The rule sheet stated that we could keep any size of bass with no limit on numbers, so we pre fished for numbers throwing the ned rig. On the tournament morning we were told that they changed the rule so we could only keep five bass, so we had to learn on the fly where the size was and what they are biting. Luckily I already knew they were on frogs, but I didn't know were they were or what my partner should throw now that we had to target better size. We started out the tournament fishing thick surface grass on main lake points, picking up two good fish in the first fifteen minutes on the senko. Then the bite shut down on the grass, so we started skipping docks with the pad crasher and only managed two more good ones over the next few hours. While driving back to the weigh in with only four decent fish and a little 1 pounder in the livewell we decided to make a few casts at a spot on the way back. Second cast and I hooked a solid fish on the pad crasher, which ended up putting us over third place into second. Sure glad we made that one last stop and got second,

Many years ago, I tried flukes and had same experience -- I honestly didn't throw another fluke for years. Rigging straight was only a small part of my issue. I was trying to 'swim' them -- like I might a swim jig or paddle tail. Flukes are the killer bait when you AREN'T trying to 'swim' them. Toss 'em weightless and let them settle and spiral and twist and whatever they want on slack/semi-slack line. Retrieve them with jerks and pauses. Neither you, nor the fish, will care at all if they are twisting, twirling, spinning, etc. Throw it weightless and jerk the slack line -- vary your jerks and pauses...and hold on tight I do, at times use weighted hooks, but again...I am not trying to swim them, so an unpegged texas rig works better for me than weighted hook --- it allows more 'erratic' action for me

They "twirl" because they are not hooked exactly straight.

Your wife is right. No matter what the facts are, she's right. You should have figured that one out by now...

Caugh this 6lb 1oz on a texas rigged trick worm

The newest addition. I am now officially running with a fearsome fivesome.

Decent one this morning, 19", 3.92lb, plasmatail on a shakyhead: EDIT: Actually, now that I look more closely, I think it's the same fish as this one, from June: If so, in a month it has gained 4oz and moved north about 1500 feet along the same shoreline, but a little deeper; the fish was in good shape and I couldn't even tell it had been caught before.

Wait...what?

I'll do one of two things on the same retrieve. I'll either stop the retrieve if I'd been reeling fairly fast, or speed up if I'd been reeling slow. No love. Replicate and do just the opposite. If I still don't get bit, but the lure and retrieve were producing, I'd just stick with the pattern and chalk it up to a fish that was unwilling to commit. If the bumping is the only response I've been getting, I'll either downsize or change colors. In Florida, try switching colors first. For some reason they can be very color selective.

I will usually keep it at the same pace. I will make the same exact cast again with either a faster retrieve and then a slower retrieve.If I dont catch the fish I will change colors. They are "bumping" the lure because something is off and making them not want to commit. A lot of time I will go through with a finesse presentation after I missed fish on reaction baits.

Good job... -T9

1. You don't need to change out hooks, but I would routinely check to make sure they are sharp and sharpen them when they dull. If you run the hook point lightly over your fingernail and it doesn't leave a scratch, it needs to be sharpened. Some hooks need to be sharpened right out of the package, others after a few fish and most after snagging on a rock or log. You can get a fine grit sharpening stone that will fit in your pocket for a few dollars at a sporting goods store. I use the diamond file on my leatherman. There are plenty of videos on youtube about how to sharpen hooks, I think Glen even has one. 2. 3. This has been discussed to death and you will still see a new topic every week on the subject. All the threads end with "budget baits work, but sometimes premium baits are just better." On a tough day a senko might out fish a yum dinger, but on average to good days you probably won't notice f a difference. I would keep a bag or two of GYB senkos for those tough days, but otherwise use cheap baits to save money. 4. I like gamakatsu when I can find them on sale. Lately I've been using eagle claw lazer sharp and feel they are a great value for the price. 5. Instead of focusing on a percentage I would focus on budgeting your money. At the beginning of the month set aside some money for fishing, it would probably be $20-$50 since you don't work. You can buy whatever fishing gear you want, but when the money you set aside on the 1st is gone, you are done buying fishing gear for the month. If you want to make a big purchase such as a rod or reel you would need to save the money from multiple months. Unless you are using 1oz weights, forget about tungsten vs lead until you have more money.

I have done that with kids and with adults who call me over & ask questions. I even spent about 20 minutes with a teenager showing him how to skip the Senko's I gave him so he could at least hit the docks on either side of the greenbelt areas as he walked the lake. However, I hesitated doing that with this guy because I was concerned about him taking it as an insult. I didn't want it to come across that I felt sorry for him so I was going to come over and teach him how to fish. I learned years ago that when you have success at something and offer unsolicited advice (to adults), a lot of people take it the wrong way and accuse you of being arrogant. Instead I try to smile & be friendly and if anyone asks how or for help, then I'm more than willing to open up. Kids are different, they are getting advice whether they want it or not...

Got home earlier today from The Bend so I figured I'd give yall a report. Friday: Started off fishing 20-25 ft deep on a point in mill creek and picked up 7. After that it got tough and me and my partner only managed to catch 3 more fish. 10 total with 4 keepers. Saturday: Ran to a different point in mill creek and started fishing deep and got into some schooling fish. We managed to catch 22 fish on topwater. Once the topwater bite stopped we ran numerous points/ledges/humps in mill and buck creek and picked up 20 more fish. 42 total with 15 keepers. Sunday: Ran to Six Mile and only picked up 1 fish there(5 pounder). There was a boat on every spot we wanted to fish. Decided to run back to Mill and finished the day there with 12 more fish. 13 total with 5 keepers. This morning we fished until about 10:00 am and started off in Mill where we caught all the schooling fish. They were not schooling but we fished deep on a point and caught 12 fish with 7 keepers on 10 inch worms. The wind really blew the last few days which made it hard to stay on a spot and fish. We caught most of our fish on a dropshot and on top water when they would school. Other than this morning when we caught fish on big worms a drop shot was the only thing they would bite. We tried jigs, trigs, deep cranks, and flutter spoons and the drop shot out produced all of those. Totals for the trip were 77 fish with 31 keepers. We caught tons of 2-4lb fish just couldn't get the big bite. For our second time ever on Toledo Bend I think we did pretty good. If yall have any questions feel free to ask or you can DM me.

Fixed that one for you ~ A-Jay

The bane of my existence right there.

c or d will work. but make sure you get them balanced. makes a big difference. d will last a little longer.

carlisles or goodyear marathon radials. the best tires for trailering, period. I sell these at my shop. and use them myself. either one will be good.

Slone the older I get the more boring and uneventful a appeals to me! Generally speaking, eventful costs me money...

These response cover how I also select my weight type. Additionally, when presenting a bottom bait to a soft or grass bottom, I usually use small lead. Hard bottom or penetrating cover - it's tungsten. Tungsten is very hard - lead is soft - the extra sensitivity tungsten offers can be applied advantageously. The size to weight comparison between lead & tungsten is significant. In most cases Tungsten is 40% smaller than the same weight in lead. When combined with braided line, tungsten's size & sensitivity differential has helped improve many of my presentations especially deep & / or in heavy cover. A-Jay

Not a big fish by any means, but it was my first caught on my homemade Musky A-Rig (there's always an element of pride in catching a fish on a lure you made/tied)

^This! Anyone can catch a decent bass on a boat with decent gear,let's see some of these "pros" fish from land on public waters and see how well they actually do.

I have spent thousands of dollars hitting a little white ball into a small hole and no I am not talking about my ex wife

The Okuma EVX series fishing rods have been redesigned for 2017. Get a sneak peak at the new features now!

Well glad you guys shared that. I don't feel as bad for last Saturday. I didn't get skunked but it sure was slow. And I had on and off again cloud cover with a light wind I was thinking it was going to be awesome. Got on the water went to one of my better points to the drop off threw a little old Zoom utail motor oil chartreuse tail worm and it was on they literally ripped it's tail off and finally I set the hook in a roughly 2# LM. The next 8hrs my partner hooked a 11inch LM but other than that the fish were holding steady nothing seemed to perk their interest. I chalked it up to learning and it was very nice out there temp wise so no loss enjoying nature.

my life story

For cranking I would get a david fritts perfect crank speed stick and a lfs speed spool in the low gear ratio I am a huge lew's fan and I have used most of their stuff under $150. Very good product and amazing customer service

This is one of my favorite pictures on the internet. I can't not look at it without laughing. You have to look very closely to fully appreciate the craftsmanship that went into making this! LMAO Not to mention the Alabama shirt, hat and lawn chair!

I thought about this, this morning. We've got cops getting killed, civilians getting killed, and act of terror happening at home and abroad, and people are worried about catching imaginary creatures

I unintentionally did something like that this spring. I was pulling into a spot off the end of a fishing pier where there was a sharp drop that came up onto a spawning/feeding flat. We'd had a good warming trend so I was sure the fish would be filing in and out of that area. As I pulled up, there was a dad and 3 young boys that seemed to just be exploring along the bank and woods. I heard one ask his dad if they could go fishing, to which he responded it was too cold, the fish wouldn't be biting. I proceeded to catch 11 fish in my next 11 cast and a few more after they slowed down. His kids were spellbound and were more excited each time I set the hook, dad didn't look thrilled at all however. I didn't mean for it to happen, but I have to admit I did take the "It's too cold, the fish won't be biting", as a sort of personal challenge.

Grooved side plates are what I meant to say...sorry. The frame is original and Abu 6000 models before 1964 did not have date codes stamped them. I will post pictures if I can for better assessment. Thank you!

Get to know those who actually fish your area. Join a club or find local fishing forums so you meet someone who can show you where to fish and what to use. Reading or watching videos, will help, but actually fishing with someone who knows what they are doing can be much more effective.

I swear every one of my friends, and coworkers under 50 has that app, I refuse to download it.