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I got a call last night from a guy who said he had my combo. He found it that day, but hadn't been back to that pond since. One of his friends who knew he found it texted him a picture of the note I left there with my number yesterday, so he called. I met him this morning and got the rod and reel back! He said he had been praying he could find the owner because he knew someone would be missing it. He wouldn't accept any money, and he wouldn't tell me his favorite charity to make a donation to. But I am going to take him out fishing on the local lake soon. It's good to know there are still honest people in this crazy world we live in.

The Rage Magnum Bug & Rage Swimmer "Sampler" just arrived. Thank You Siebert Outdoors A-Jay

Our new house has a basement so I'm working on a fishing room down there. Here's the start of my organizing.

If the person in question caught the fish legally and paid his/her license it not my business what they do with their catch.

I have a spare bedroom with a walk in closet that is my "tackle shop" I lined the walls of the closet with shelves and all my lures are in 3700 & 3600 size Plano boxes. One of the good things about not having kids is that they aren't taking up room in the house that could be put to better use?

Fenwick Fenglass 8 wt. rod, a non-branded Chinese reel from eBay, a bright orange fly line and a bunch of bass bugs and streamers.

You should have cast a line out and buried it in some dirt and rocks... Sorry, I couldn't resist. That thread was too funny. Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a nice setup that any fisherman would love to have back if they lost it.

^this I'm not 100% sure but I'd be guessing they'd be very similar to the last gen Mojo's. If you're wondering why they have so many rods around that price point, take a closer look at the rod forums here. Even with the pinned rod posts, there's at least a handful of posts every day about people wanting a rod in that range. Sure people ask about more expensive rods as well, but the majority of people who are looking to spend $200+ on a rod already have an idea what they are going to buy.

well i finally lined them up and snapped a group photo! also included my little grid of what's matched with what.... it's in order Top to bottom on the list goes left to right on the pic.

Walkers and poppers are about the only topwater I throw other than buzzbaits. If you're anywhere around smallmouth, you're at a serious disadvantage without a walking bait IMO.

With rain comes cloud cover and water surface disruption and sometimes wind...that creates ideal conditions for topwater fishing. Buzzbaits, prop baits, walk the dog type baits, poppers/chuggers, etc etc etc. Sometimes the fish still won't commit to topwater but will hit subsurface/wake baits like One minus, Footloose, etc or spinnerbaits or bladed jigs burned just under the surface. Just experiment with any or all of those types of baits and find out which ones the fish want and that fit your fishing style.

Some swimbaits I've picked up recently

*sigh* Yuki Ito- whyyy must you torment me so????

He was mimicking what is look like on some fish finders.

My partner and I had an AWESOME final day on Kentucky Lake. We were very worried after our first stop yielded zero bass, and then finding the fourth place team (who ended up winning) at our second spot where we had started on day 2. Turns out, Colorado (the winners), and ourselves, had been fishing the same >5acre >5feet cove every day of the event, with lots of big fish coming from it. We were fishing the same water with a different technique. I threw a 3/8oz chartreuse and white war eagle spinnerbait, and my partner would follow up with either a senko or shakey head. The Colorado team was throwing floating 5" chrome and silver jerkbaits!!! I couldn't believe it, but we watched them do it, and they caught some nice ones. On the final day, we could tell the lake had dropped about a foot, and the bass were no longer in the bushes like they had been. So we pulled out to the mouth of the cove and fan casted with the spinnerbait, and a big bandit squarebill. We put 4 in the boat around 2-3.5lbs before leaving, and the Colorado team in the back of the cove was catching some very nice fish. We caught our 5th keeper at another location and pretty much thought we had done all we could do. My partner and I said we would go fish some rock bluffs for smallmouth and just have fun on the final day. On our way to the bluffs, I said "lets hit that spot we fished this morning one more time". We pulled into the cove and I started working the same area with the spinnerbait that the 4 fish came from in the morning. A fish crushes my spinnerbait and after a few nerve wracking moments, we netted the 5lb largemouth. We were ecstatic! At this point we decided we would hang out at this spot for a while longer. The mouth of the cove produced no more bass so we moved into the back of it. There was a small stickup in about 3 FOW that I caught a decent fish off of on day 1, so I picked up my drop shot rod and tossed to it. The line started swimming towards me so I picked up the slack and leaned into the fish. It wouldn't move, I didn't even think it was a bass. I chased the fish around for a while on the troling motor and then she jumped, another 5lb class largemouth! She ran back to the stick I caught her off of, and wrapped me around it once. I stepped on the trolling motor and managed to get the fish out of the stick. A few jumps later we slid the fish into the net! We caught a few more fish in the cove but none that would cull. We decided to head back early to get our fished checked, because unfortunately the 85-90 degree water is rough on bass in the livewell, no matter how hard your pumps are running or how much ice you can keep on them. We lost 3 of our 15 fish this week. I will say that running back early did save one of our five pound fish, she was having a hard time but once we parked in the shade and got ice on her, she recovered. The weigh in was a nail biter! We brought in an 18lb, 9oz limit of bass. They weighed from 12th to 1st and since we were 10th, we had to watch everyone else weigh and hope our weight held! We sat on the hot seat for a few places, but Colorado bumped us out with a 16lb, 11oz bag of fish, a mere 12oz over what they needed! Once we got to the top 4 boats, we just knew we were going to get bumped. 2nd place on day 1 had a 7lb advantage, and 1st had a 9lb advantage. We were stunned when both teams failed to bring a limit to the scales, I think each had 2 or 3 fish. A 2nd place finish was way more than I had expected, and even though it was such a close finish, I was happy to see the Colorado team win. They are both very respectable people, also, they fished the same event last year and didn't even weigh a fish! We talked with them for a long time after the weigh in about the magic cove and how many fish it produced. What was even more shocking, is that the fish they were catching in the back of it, were huge smallmouth! I know that no one could have predicted that the winning pattern would be fishing floating jerkbaits in the back of main lake coves, catching smallmouth! We learned a lot about the fishing industry this week. B.A.S.S. did not interview us until the final day when they pretty much had to, because we don't have jerseys covered in sponsors. We were almost the only team there that didn't look like nascar drivers with logos all over everything. Half of the boat captains had wrapped trucks that matched their wrapped boats! We talked to a team that didn't make the final day cut who said "well, there's a local tournament in the morning, and the entry fee is "only" $250 so we are just gonna fish that!" But it proves that anyone can do it. It's not about money, it's about fishing. I am going to try to do some sort of "road to the national championship" story on my blog, covering everything from out first (of three) state qualifying event, the state championship, and the national championship. That may take a while but I will post a link to it when I finish! Don't worry, we never forgot to have fun. Because that's why we fish.

[ August 4th, 2016] - Day Before My Birthday 12lb 0oz, 39 Inches WolfyBrandon

I can't believe this still comes up as a topic. If it's yours legally do what you want with it. If it's someone else's legally stay the hell out of it. It's none ya ____ business what they do.

If you buy a license and fish legally it is your choice to keep or release any legal fish caught. End of story.

Good conditions today. I decided to try and go big with a 10.5" worm and got this on my 2nd cast.

Since 1973?

Actually, unless it was one hellava deal, he probably did you a favor.

Chances of catching a 10 pounder that being a largemouth bass is only possible if bass that size are living where you fish. IF your lake has Floridia strain LMB the odds are greatly improved. Northern strain LMB at 10 lbs is equal to Floridia strain LMB at 13 lbs. My personal bench mark is 15lb FLMB to be considered a trophy size, 13lbs or teener is the Texas Share a Lunker benchmark, let's go with that. What are the chances of catching 10 lb Smallmouth or Spotted bass? Obviously 10lbs is too high a benchmark for both smallies and spots, so let's change 10 to 7 lbs. Everyone can play when the benchmark is achievable. Most anglers over estimate bass weight, 10 lbers become 7 to 8 lbs when weighed. Tom

How deep is deep? I know of some deeper lakes, but there's no fish out there. You're going to have to head to the Ozarks to find deeper fish. The population in the lakes around here just aren't dense enough for fish to need to go offshore in any numbers.

that's really awesome man! glad you were reunited!

Fished Stetson Pond in Pembroke for the first time Sunday afternoon with a family friend's son who's finishing his chemotherapy and loves fishing. A lot of it is shallow, with docks and one weed bed. I managed a little Sunnie, a little Larry, and one measuring 17" with a good belly on it. My scale was dead, shame on me for not checking ALL my gear before leaving. My large bass came from a whacky Senko right under a pine tree in the water. All my catches' colors were pretty light/faded. Evan didn't catch anything but still had fun. He used a craw jig and some shallow crank baits. JG233 and I rented a boat at the Quabbin Reservoir yesterday at 0600 sharp, our first time fishing it. I started with a ned rig, jointed smallie flavored Rapala, and a T-rigged Kreature. My Rapala and Kreature produced nada, but I got one and a half on the ned (knot failure ). A few REALLY SLOW hours went by with no action for either of us. I switched to my ole-faithful T-rigged Zoom and, for the second time, a drop shot armed with a Z-Man TRD. I got two nice smallies straight away, then nothing for a couple more hours. Derek landed a nice smallie on a wacky Senko (?). Later in the afternoon we started back, working a shallow shoreline covered in shade. Derek landed a good handful of little smallies on the wacky. I managed two little guys on a wacky rigged 3" Senko. Overall, I landed a 1-6, 1-11, and 1-14 (FRESH batteries in the scale!). The smallie that broke off was similarly sized to the three that made it in the boat. One thing was different though, none of my catches really hit the baits. All I felt was a slight change/heaviness on the line.... something normal for Summer smallies? Overall a great day at the Quabbin. We caught some good fish, saw two bald eagles, and two otters. Boat rentals are $46/day with parking - a bargain for good smallmouth fishing....

Witness protection bass fisherman?

The PP is the rod you want. It's hard to explain the rod until you own it, but it's got a great tip. Next choice would be the TV if you wanted a shorter rod. I sold my TV because it's too close to the PP and the PP loads better because of its tip. Don't ever waste your money on the j&w rod. Nobody cares for it at all. The EMTF is rated as medium power so it's a no go. This chart should help a bit.

Speaking of circuit protection, you can spend $10 on a marine circuit breaker or $60 on a Minn Kota circuit breaker. I have a MK in my current boat and a $10 breaker in the last boat which, tripped from over amping, but not before wires had melted and a plug and receptacle fused together. Had the circuit breaker not tripped, I could have had a fire in the boat. .

Like forgetting to put the plug in your boat everyone will lose a rod tip sooner or later. I have lost the tips when rolling up the window and not realizing the rod tip was outside of the car. And then when I slammed the well lid on one of my G. Loomis rods and broke off the tip. I also broke a rod in half when I forgot I had it hanging in a rod holder inside my SUV and I opened the passenger side rear door. It made a loud crack. Then there was the time I took my wife out in my boat and forgot to put the plug in. That was interesting, especially since she can't swim. I think people heard the yelling and screaming as we took on water up and down the river. Then there was the time when I got a bad backlash in my spinning reel with the line in the gear so I unscrewed the cap to remove the spool to unwind the line and had the cap pop out of my hand and into the drink. So far I have lost only one rod/reel combo out of the boat in all my years fishing. Too deep to try to get it so I had a fun time replacing it. If you have an hour I can tell you about all the baits I lost in the water and trees. Live and learn.

camoflage it by not coloring the line solid like,....mark it just a inch or so staggered so it breaks up the color of the braid,...adding green and brown to the equation is even better for clear waters

That albino blue is cool . I caught this flathead on a crappie sized jig and grub . Not fishing for any speices in particular , just trying to get bites .

I use primarily the wide gap hooks because it allows me to skin hook my baits and allow for easier hooksets. The wide gap hooks are also a must for rigging thicker baits.

Caught a baby flathead today on a Pit Boss flipping grass, first time I've ever done that. I've caught all three species of cats on lures, but I don't fish many lakes with blues, I've only caught them on jigs and plastics. I caught an albino blue on a small, paddletail swimbait this summer. I caught my PB flathead on a finesse jig this spring as well.

Opinion on lucky craft ? Are they worth it? I can't speak for every bait Lucky Craft makes, but my modest LC Jerkbait collection is based on results. "Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess." A-Jay

Try bass fishing at night.

I feel privileged to have you comment your opinion. Seem to be a popular dude on here. I've read some of your posts long before I joined this site. I noticed you live or are from Michigan. Ever fished in Muskegon ?

I would add a circuit breaker to the positive wire and connect it to battery 1. Next make your jumper to run from battery 1 negative to battery 2 positive. Now your negative wire coming from up front can run to battery 2s negative post. Minn Kota makes some good circuit breakers but so do others.

It's just part of the game.

I tried using electrical tape on a casting spool and the braid was slipping on the electrical tape! This was by the time I was almost done spooling the reel so I had to unspool all of the braid, then went back to using mono backing. One thing if you're using braid is to set the brakes pretty high at first and see where your threshold is where it starts to bird nest. On zero break freespool my bird nest rate it close to 100% so just keep in mind you may need to have some brakes set.

I got a decent fish from city park today. im gonna bring my bush knife next time so I can clear a path. or wear long pants and boots. I had shorts and flip flops on. But I found a area clear enough and got that 1 and a dink.

I use both and find no difference in hook sets with either.

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Interesting first post. Some days we get them & some day we don't. Keep at it. They'll bite eventually. They always do. A-Jay

Zoom, Berkley, Culprit, Bill Lewis, Strike King, Rapala

On my reels with a shallow spool I will use 2 wraps of electrical tape on my spool first, and then tie on my braid with an arbor knot. I also tie an overhand knot on the tag end so it can't slip. So far it hasn't ever been an issue. I still do the mono backing on certain reels that have a more normal spool capacity. Since you're new to fishing I would suggest learning first with a mono line in the #10-12 range. That way if you do get a birdsnest that results in having to cut your line off, you aren't out much money

@fishnkamp bingo on spooling with braid, and the awesome story! That sounds like a hell of a trip.

Red head? Brave man!

Well I did not figure all of it out a once but I originally would fill less than a third but when braid and especially the better Fluoro came out I figured it out quick. When one fill up can cost $30 bucks it get expensive with 12 to 20 rods in y our arsenal. The nice thing about braid is I have braid on some of my reels that is 5 years old and working fine. Here is a funny story. My wife is ADDICTED to smallmouth. This April we drove 14 hours west to fish Dale Hollow Lake. While fishing we were catching a lot of smallies in the 5 to 7 pound category on Ned Rigs. These are small 1/10 ounce mushroom shaped jigheads that you attach a TRD Ned bodies (picture a 2.5 inch piece of Senco) made by ZMan. We both fished them on G Loomis 6 foot light action rods. They rate 1/16 to 5/1/6. So we are about 15 foot off of a 30 foot rock bluff wall. The smallies are holding tight but suspended down about 15 feet. I notice, on the depth finder, a huge school of big fish directly under the boat and these are hanging tight to the bottom. I was sure they were catfish. The next minute, as my wife was retrieving her lure back to make another cast, she was interrupted by a major jolt on the rod and it was on!! She yelled to get the net that she had a huge smallie on ( this lake is he home of the world's largest smallie ever caught, a 11.15 pound smallie). I reach up and loosen her drag so we do not break a $350 light action rod. All I did was sit down at the console as she fought and landed a 6 1/2 pound catfish. All the time, I was laughing and she was running from the front deck to the back deck and back up front again. That fish pulled drag and three times that uni to uni knot went out thru the guides. Here is a picture of the typical smallie we caught that week and the cat she caught. I love it when my wife smiles from ear to ear. We only dated for 10 years and only been married 28 years. It still gets me when she is smiling like that !!!

I have two of each, you will never have a problem with durability. Do you want a lighter reel or one that feels more stable? Nothing that light feels stable/sturdy.