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Ive always been a all spinning type of guy. I flip, punch, topwater, and crank with spinning gear. Well last week my girl gifted me a 7ft berkley lightning rod and a 2016 shimano caenan, i wasnt too excited but i decided to take it with me on a fishing trip today. It changed my whole perspective on baitcastin gear, it made flipping and punching 100% easier. I feel like i was way more efficient with my casting and i was more accurate. Im a beleiver now. That being said, bait monkey has me by the throat and i need some new reels.

This is pretty Funny A-Jay (otherwise known as Gaffy Shortstick)

Injection molded soft plastic can get over heated during the molding process causing the plastic to stiffen. Re heating the plastic and letting it cool is a annealing process that works. Boiling water in a large pan, take the pan off the heat and put in about 20 worms, let sit for a few minutes, then take the out of the hot water and lay straight on a flat surface like a cutting board to cool. The worms should be softer and straight after annealing for years. Store the worms laying straight in zip lock bags with a few drops of glycerin and pure anise oil. Tom

I was loaned an Imakatsu Aventa Crawler to try this past weekend and I really gave it a serious try. The bait is huge, 4.5" long and 1.3oz. The closest thing to it is a Pompadour, which is "only", 3" and 3/4oz. I knew there was a shallow spot with several large boulders that the bass ambush shad as they move in and out of the creek. Maybe this fish had missed it's last meal and decided it was going to make sure the next thing that swam by didn't get away, maybe it was just having a bad day, either way it was an awesome strike.

When middle aged men on a fishing forum are talking about it, it's not remotely cool anymore....just saying.

Upgrade those trebles from stock to these ~ Put a # 2 on the front & a # 4 on the back. You'll be glad you did. A-Jay

#1: Understand what structure is, how to truly identify it, interpret it, and then fish it effectively. #2: Understand what the predominate prey species in your lake is and how that species relates to structure with each passing season...morning, noon, and night. With those two I can confidentially fish anybody of water. One should always fish to their strengths!

I finally got a chance to get back up to Toledo yesterday. Fished from daylight until 4 and put 60-70 in the boat. I found fish stacked up in 22 ft of water and every once in awhile they would move on top of the ridge in 13ft and feed. Caught them all on a swimbait and a dropshot. Can't get a crankbait bite to save my life! Biggest was only 4lbs, but it sure was fun to finally find a few big schools again.

This is interesting, amazing the amount of stuff that had been lost fishing

I wasn't previously aware of this bait.........My wallet is going to be mad at you pretty soon

Because.............magic..............that is all.

The bulk of fish I've caught in the past 2 weeks have been in 6' of water or less and either in current or in adjacent flats including an 18" 3+lber in 2' of water. You're going to want an anchor. Basic shallow water techniques - tubes, grubs, craw/jig, spinnerbaits and shallow cranks can be very productive. Find any maps you can and good luck!

Nearly every bass angler starts off with 1 rod and reel plus a few lures. Today multiple rods and reel combination seem to be the norm, in reality you can only fish 1 at a time. When you go fish lakes for the first time take the rod and reel combo you catch the most fish with. Today you can research fish reports for nearly any lake in the country and determine what the locals are using to catch bass. You more than likely have something that will work, if not buy it locally when you get there. I traveled all over the country on business trips and only used 1 bait casting outfit and a small tackle bag, caught lots of bass everywhere using Texas rigged worms and jigs. My tackle bag had 12 lb Big Game mono, needle nose pliers, sun screen, small flat file, 3/0 worm hooks, 3/16 oz planted bullet weights, 6" straight tail and 7 1/2" ribbon tail worms, 7/16 oz jig and #11 pork frog, all in purple and brown colors. If I needed anything else I would buy it locally. Tom PS, today you couldn't take that bag on a airplane!

Don't go fishing on a holiday weekend. There are damned people EVERYWHERE. Went to check out some new lakes on some less traveled gravel roads in the AEP lands today and found 6 or 7 that were very nice - but no shore access. They had boat ramps, but the shore all around was choked with chest-high and higher brush. Nowhere to cast. So we checked out our usual places - nothing but campers. Son of a *****.

Wow. $5400 for a carbon boat seems like a steal. I looked hard at them, but then ended up buying a new Ranger.

This is no longer true, I have a new PB found lure. While fishing Saturday, I saw something near surface of the water. I motored over to it and at first thought it was a dead bluegill attached to some kind of fish stringer. As I reached down for it, I realized it was a medium sized hard body swimbait in bluegill color (Jackall Gantrel Jr.). Great lure, it even fooled me. Took it home & it cleaned up well (before & after pictures below). In regards to the poor soul who lost a $30 swimbait, I am 99% sure it wasn't one of the other two serious fisherman on the lake. Since I found it close to a green belt area that is accessible to the public, my theory is that a knowledgeable fisherman who doesn't have lake rights snuck down here to do some fishing and hung up the lure on something. If it was another homeowner or a guest of a homeowner, most likely they would have jumped in a boat and motored over to retrieve it. I do get this is Orange County, but a $30 floating bait is worth some effort in retrieving.

Google maps satellite

and if you fish with REAL senkos ( real GYCB ) sometimes not even that !

I've been talking about this technique on here a lot. For me it has been so much more effective. When you fish these it literally takes zero skill. You just work your worm however you want until you feel pressure and just reel the fish in. It's that simple and it's totally weedless. I've tried tons of different hooks and I recommend the Gammy light wire worm hook in 2/0, 1, and 2 if you're going to fish those new Keitech leeches. Step 1: run down through the nose like a T-rig. Step 2: pull hook through the worm up to the eye of the hook Step 3: rotate the hook and find the place on the worm it needs to enter so it will run naturally Step 4: texpose it right to the point you just feel the hook coming through Step 5: go fishing If you run this with a 1/8oz weight you can fish it in any weeds up to the point of needing punch gear.

You are going to need an older vehicle to meet that price. Look for a Corolla with low miles. Not sure which years, but I was told there was a period of several years when Toyotas were being made here in the USA that they weren't very reliable. My '88 Camry had 325k on it when I junked it. My '94 Sentra had 294k when I totaled it. I did nothing to the Sentra but change oil, tires, brakes and rotors. Same for the Camry except it didn't have a stainless steel exhaust system so it required new muffler and exhaust a couple times over its life. The automatic transmission in the Camry was starting to slip when cold. I never touched the transmission fluid. Sentra 5-speed never needed work. As luck would have it, I just helped my daughter get a vehicle. What she wound up with was a 2003 Forester with just over 136,000 miles. Total with everything came to your budget. Rebuilt title, but we got lucky and happened upon a small, local dealer that specializes in Subarus. Doesn't advertise. Strictly word of mouth from happy buyers. Three generations of families buy from him. Apparently Subarus need the timing belt changed at around 170k miles, but otherwise are very reliable. Daughter got to drive it in rain the first day she had it and loves how well it handles wet roads. She also has a 3 year old so safety is paramount. It pains me to say this because I work in manufacturing and take extreme pride in doing a great job, but I would hesitate suggesting any American made vehicle. My '04 LaSabre was the nicest car (and most expensive new) I've every owned. However, the $179k miles (when I had to get rid of the LaSabre) on the more expensive American made car cost me more than the total monetary output of the 614k combined miles on the 2 previously mentioned foreign made cars. A sad reality that depresses me as I would prefer to buy American. To be honest, I would buy a Hyundai before I'd buy American.

Lunky Bottomfish #2!

I is be Something . . . A-Jay

Red Fishin' Hole

I don't believe any cars are easy to work on anymore. With that budget, I'd look for an older Honda or Toyota that has been taken care of

Raider has 17 kids that he knows of. He daisy chains these kid carriers behind his Harley. What a site to see when he takes the whole gang to Dairy Queen

Different sized hooks is not really a "Must" - it's an option. I do it because I believe the up sized front treble increases my hook up & land ratio - especially on crazy jumping wild smallies. The stock size but shorted shank EWG treble on the tail helps reduce hang ups in the cover that I often throw these baits but still maintains a solid hook up & fish landed ratio. Oh and . . . .Magic too. A-Jay

The fact is only one of those cases I didn't know it was private property. It was a situation where I was just over the property line and a year prior the property was not posted. The other cases I will be completely honest, I knew it was private property but in my youth I wasn't as law-abiding as I am now. I did stuff I would probably regret if I had landed in jail for it. But since I didn't I don't regret the experiences. And like I said, never got into an argument and was always polite about it. One thing about me, when I'm caught doing something I admit it and am apologetic about it. I'd make a bad career criminal.

My little brother drove to Morgantown this weekend to visit (fish) and our goal was to get his first musky. I took him to my spot yesterday evening and this morning, a couple follows but no dice. Today we were fishing a pile of laydowns and he sets the hook on what we thought was a catfish.....the fish jumped and chaos ensued! 12lb mono and a sk bitsy flip with a zoom ultra vibe speed craw!

Good luck Crusty and have fun.

Not sure if/what you're asking, but welcome!

I love being able to see how the bass are all different shades of green, white, and black depending on where they came from. Obvious lateral lines to faint ones. Another reason to keep at it. Gotta Catch Em All.

Try this link.... Ned Rig Resource -T9

Fish the vision 110 on light tackle and light line, especially in clear water. The lure is unique in certain circumstances.

Glenn's video is a good start and covered the basics. The centrifical brake knob is also called the spool tension adjustment knob and important to adjust it as Glenn demonstrated. I like to start beginners learning to cast a bait casting reel with a moderate action crank bait rod and 1/2 oz casting plug. The slower action rod is more forgiving with the release point and starts the spool spinning slower than a fast action rod. Also learn how to remove a backlash because they will happen, see the videos. Taping the spool line with about 50 yards of line works good, especially with braided line. Buy a 1/4 lb spool of Berkely Big Game 12# mono and don't worry about loosing line when learning. Good luck and welcome to bass fishing. Tom

The water here in NEPA is starting to cool off and the smallies will be feeding up. I wouldn't worry about not having a depth finder. I've caught all my fish without one. Visible points (ones above water) usually indicate points under the water. Just try not to get spun out by the size of the place or think its too complicated. And don't forget to get some pics of your catches and post them here.

Each is equally effective in the right conditions and retrieve. It's a loaded question.

With NO Electronics to help you find Deep water structure or GPS Mapping to help locate potential fish funneling contours ~ your "Plan" may be akin to looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack. Of course you may bump into one but when you don't know how the bottom sets up - fishing "Deep" water techniques like drop shot, deep cranks & a Blade bait can be tough sledding. Besides it's big water and there will be little in the way of running & gunning from point to point while you're on the row . . in the wind. With that in mind, the shallow water option may be a more productive approach. Finally, Gundog's advice to "Bring An Anchor" will save your day if you're rowing around in a jon boat in a stiff breeze. 50 ft of line will help too. A-Jay

They put too much line on the reel.

Greta! Let us know how you like it! Jeff

He will probably be running for president in 4 years. lol

4/0 EWG Offset Worm Hook. I fish Gamakatsu, Trokar and XPoint.

My husband does random noises too. I refer to those as his fish call. The louder the bigger the fish.

Run your braid thru a slip sinker, grab the tag end & drop the sinker in a bottle of Spike It Garlic Black dye. Pull as much line thru the sinker that you think you need to color. Now you have stealth & scent that doesn't smell like a Sharpie.

I find that the Booyah Pad Crasher is hard to beat. I've bought a lot of different brands but always end up with the Pad Crasher. For toads, I get consistently good results with the Zoom Horny Toad in white.

It depends on how you hold the rod and reel. You obviously don't use a 8' swimbait rod and round reel that can't be held by palming the reel. You don't run the line over your index finger using a casting reel unless your hands are very large, mine aren't. For me I rely on my index finger and thumb to feel the line to detect the slightest strikes. No rod ever made can transmit the feel strikes better then your finger tips on the line. The foregrip allows me to hold the rod in a position where I am in control, the rod is balanced, the line going over fingers during the lure retrieves and know exactly what the lure is doing, even in total darkness. Tom

Thank god we dont have gators. Couldnt imagine rolling up on then while fighting or eating.

I wear 2 at a time,one on neck one on head. keep 4 in the boat.when the 2 i'm wearing get's hot I take the other 2 out of the cooler were they've been on ice and replace. rotating every couple hours. works great in the hot Florida summers. or anywhere it's hot.

Broke down and bought my first one the beginning of this year and I now own five of them. I can't believe I waited soooo long..

Here in the Northeast in Western Maryland I have been doing fairly well on a local reservoir. Yesterday I went out with high hopes (I am always an optimist and that helps with fishing!) but caught nothing. Had one on but he got off before I could set the hook. Another I set the hook too soon and missed him. No fish today but that's why we call it fishing. Don't get discouraged. Talk to some local anglers if you know any and see what works for them or start up a conversation with someone you meet at the lake and see if they will give anything up. I am more than glad to share what I have learned or know works if they ask. I want everyone to enjoy the fishing! The specific honey holes maybe not so much. Where did I catch that big one? Answer: In the water. Experiment with different lures and check out the resources on the website (Bass Resources) as there is a wealth of information there to read. Good luck and keep us posted with the pictures!!!

If they're chasing bait fish. Why not try a shad like hard bait ? I like the rapala 07 shad rap . In my experience it works better the more stained the water is. But the choices seem almost endless walking through a bass pro shop. If whatever you're trying isn't working. Step out of your comfort zone a little and try something new. Ya never know..