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You can't beat nearly a 100 fish and a few studs on your last trip of the year.

Just caught yesterday here in Indiana. 4.77lbs

November on Lk St Clair. A couple of stud smallmouth.

Today was my first day home on Thanksgiving break from WVU. My little brother and I headed to a local lake with kayaks today, and boy did we make the right choice. The fish were suspended chasing bait all over the lake, we threw single swimbaits on jigheads and deep diving jerkbaits underneath schools of shad, and we caught a few small fish doing that, then I decided to tie up the 'ol A-rig. Fishing one from a kayak is definitely a unique experience, but boy did it pay off. I landed 18 bass today, 15 of which were on the A-rig, two of them over 6lbs, and one double hookup. My best 5 went 18.65lbs, every fish besides the two giants fell somewhere between 1.5 and 2lbs, who knows what my limit would have been if I had found some 3 or 4lbers! 6.68lbs 24" 6.37lbs 23"

I used to fish for bass exclusively but found enjoyment from multi species and techniques. Topwater tuna fishing is my favorite.

Maine Largemouth 9 lbs 1 oz 23.5 inches long 19.5 inch girth Aged at 19+ years old Vermont Smallie 4 lbs 13 oz

Make sure to carry as light as possible so you can have space for water bottles and meal replacement bars,sandwiches, etc.

A-Jay, im diggin the canvas prints. Ive got a few fish that ive wanted to replica mount but no good place to really display them. This however is a great idea! Where do you get the prints done? Also, third pic from the left, is a beautiful pic. Ive seen it here before and for whatever reason the angle and fish are striking! Well done.

My jig questions are answered by Mike at Siebert Outdoors. He is a sponsor, is very knowledgeable, has always helped me out with making sure my orders have went out ASAP, and has thousands of jig combos you could come up with.

A Daiwa SV103 would pair nicely with that rod. Should balance well, is bulletproof, and can handle anything you ask of it. It's super user friendly, and just a fine crafted piece of machinery. It's aluminum so you can use it in the salt. Smooth, versatile, built to last, and a joy to fish.

LOL ~ Every Chance I Get ~ ! A-Jay

When your parents pass away, YOU become the "old people".

There's two votes.....

i was 10 years old before i found out that my name wasn't "you little sonova******"

Everytime someone asks me this, my reply is "Yes it is, and that's a great question - always ask it."

I live in GA, temps can hit 100+ and in the summer, any dark carpet makes one very much hotter to fish out of. If you tried to give me a brand new 21' Ranger with dark carpet and told me I had to leave that carpet in it, and fish in the summer with it, I would refuse the offer. Up north, I'm sure it's a little different, but in the southern sun, not even dark grey, blue, red, etc is going in my boat, been there done that one time, cost me a bunch of time and money, won't happen again.

My local waters are home to a good number of large predatory gamefish besides bass. They are often holding right alongside or at least in close proximity to the bass I'm often targeting. They are going strike at my baits at some point. There's no way around it. Might as well roll with it. Here's a few from this season. A-Jay

Hi everyone, I'm new to this website, and this is my first post. I have been fishing since I was about 5 years old and now I'm in my mid 60s. Although I was an avid bass fisherman for many years, like so many others, I have returned to my childhood love of fishing for sunfish, primarily Bluegill and Redear Sunfish. Lucky for me I live close to Lake Perris here in southern California that has world class trophy-sized Bluegill in it. The Florida coppernose sub-species was stocked here way back in the late 1970s and they have adapted very well, spawning and growing to unusually large sizes due to the very fertile lake that has abundant aquatic insects and lots of thread fin shad for the fish to feed on. I like to fish from a float tube, but occasionally go out in a boat to fish. We used very light tackle and 2 lb test on our spinning reels because of the clear water, and fish with tiny hand-tied jigs or spoons. Large fish are released to help keep the lake a trophy fishery.

So I went out bassin yesterday afternoon for a couple hours. It took a while to find some players, but meanwhile, the perch were out on the field to play. I caught the two biggest yellows I have ever seen. I've caught a lot of big perch growing up in CT, but not quite as big as this. The bigger one taped out at 18.25". I couldn't believe it. I measured it twice to be sure. I don't have a digital scale, so I used the 60lb Boga I had with me (LOL). It teetered near the 3lb mark, but didn't quite reach 3. And as luck would have it, my GoPro wasn't running! I could swear it was, but I was very disappointed when I got home to review the footage. I'm new to the GoPro, and already I want to throw it in the garbage. Anyway, I went on to find some bass in an area which is usually unfishable, due to the weeds. Water was gin clear, and 63 degrees. No big bass, but I did finish up with a legal limit (which were all released), biggest 3 were 15-16". I hope to go back soon to where I found the bass. I think I can drum up a much better bite if I had more time.

I knew a guy that had a black Stratos with black carpet, seats and all the metal was gold trim, beautiful boat. The boat was impossible to fish out of and the highest maintenance color imaginable, everything contrasted including water spots. Tom

Fair Enough. As one of the younger and routinely very successful posters here, your solid & well earned reputation is a great way for you to be a steward for good decisions. The PFD is definitely one of those. The Law is one thing, but I do honestly believe you understand what The Right thing is. This will be the last time I reference this in any of your threads. Please know I thoroughly enjoy your posts and hope to continue to do so. A-Jay

Maybe you will experience it one day !! This time of year you can find them stacked up and it can get good in a hurry,. You find a spot like I found and maybe you will BELIEVE !!

I'll give about 10 days for pictures of both to appear in the Show Off Your Stuff thread

I saw the 18lb thing at the start and I was like dang of course Everythingthatswims caught a state record haha

Oh, like the non-Ci4 ones. The FH, FI, FJ, FK line. They are great reels in and of themselves, but are not as light as the Ci4 ones are. I believe the gripe with them is a lack of part's availability as they get older, but the FJ's at the very least are still good to go and I have seen them go for around $100 if you get lucky.

Nice Bass ~ And the A-Rig from the kayak had to be pretty cool. btw - I pulled this one up for your viewing pleasure - Please watch it. You're little brother would probably appreciate it. Congrats on the excellent outing. A-Jay

Very nice fish for sure. I will echo Darren and say wear a PFD in the cold at the very least. I have an A-rig that i rarely throw so i may just have to do it if i get out tomorrow.

That's the one, it had a 6.3:1 that shifted to 3.8:1.The XLT Plus is one of my favorite series of BCs, I caught my first 10+ lber with my XLT Plus, my PB with my 521 XLT Plus and many big mommas in between. Pretty much built to last a lifetime, they came with interchangeable spool system and of course, Flippin switch. I still have both reels and my Cardinal Ultracast 62 spinning reel...... geez, I'm starting to sound like my Granpaw.

Excellent fish! Hey, you're young, please wear a PFD!! I won't let my sons go yakkin' without wearing one. Sorry, my fatherly instinct kicking in

There used to be a 2 speed ( 2 gear ratios ) in 1 reel, it was during the XLT Plus series by Abu Garcia.

i can only hope to become half of what they are. I'm truly blessed with such amazing and loving parents.

I discribed the reel set in a post on this site called "Oldschool Horizontal Jigging". This type of hook set works for me when the jig is cast out and the line is more horizontal than vertical. As Catt noted you must keep controlled slack or slight tension on the line to know what's going on with the jig at all times. Controlled slack may not be the best term but it's what I call it. We all miss strikes, hopefully not many. From experience teaching friends to jig fish I see them miss most strikes, they go undetected because of not enough experience with controlling slack line and rod in the wrong position lack of consentration. What you develop is a sense of when strikes should occur by visualizing where the jig is, what depth the bass are and the type of structure you are fishing, high % strike zones are important to be on your toes. Tom

If you're looking to add rivets to hold a support structure, I'd go buy a cheap riveting tool at harbor freight and some large pop rivets. Pretty cheap and if you're coating over them with truck bed liner anyway you won't have to worry about leaks. Otherwise bolts will work too.

Ha, I just noticed your location. Probably talking about the same lake. Lake Conway. I haven't been in a few weeks but have you tried around the pad steams, those usually produce in the fall. I'd throw a spinner bait, fluke, or swim jig thru the pads to see if they in them chasing shad.

Spinnerbait tip . Go small when bass quit hitting regular baits . The bass will know its there . I've seen them charge a tiny bladed bait from yards away in murky water . Buzzbait tip . Squeeze the rivet with pliers to keep it stationary and make it squeal more . I also like to squeeze the lip of the prop and rivet with needle-nose pliers to create tiny grooves . Also bend the those lips for maximum contact . Crankbait tip . Use baits that dive a couple of feet deeper than the water depth and keep them tuned . When a crankbait goes straight and ends up directly below the rod or even under the boat then you have a good one . Crankbaits that dont run straight I do not use . Those baits are delegated for areas where its highly likely they will get lost , like below a large dam . Texas rig tip . The lure must be kept straight or it will twist line . Hooks are the main culprit , i bend them slightly to get the worm to lie completely straight . River Small mouths love big grubs buzzed on top . Large waves , both natural and man made will start a chain of events in the food chain and bass take advantage of it . If you're on a waterway with barge traffic be sure to be onn a good spot when one goes by .

Wow, it been almost three weeks since I have been to the bend. The last couple on months have been tough for me. Fished Wednesday and started off a little slow till about 9. Figured the moon may have affected the morning bite. Went looking deep and found a couple of small schools. Ended up with around 20 or so and 15 nice crappie by 2. At around 3 till 5 o'clock I caught a fish on every cast. They were crushing a 5xd in sexy shad. No big ones but all were between 2 and 3 lbs. Fat.... Fat....Fat !! Should only get better with the next front cooling the water down. Should get them schooled up better.

Thanks for the info I will pick some up and give them a try.

Fished a football jig for a solid 2 hours around a ton of rock and boulders and Adventually it got snagged down there. Was worth it, felt everything on the bottom.. any other bait would've been gone long before 2 hours!

If ya can't fish a jig cleanly though any cover ya can't fish a jig! I use both for flipping/pitching/punching all types of cover

Make sure the garage door width is wide enough between finished inside dimensions, 10' minimum if you plan to back the rig into a single garbage door opening. Tom

This isn't boat length advice, plenty of good already given above. Keep a couple things in mind when planning/designing though. Regarding materials, often it makes sense to work in multiples of four feet. If you go from 24' to 25' it might be cost effective to just jump to 28'. It depends on the situation. Just something to look at. As @Fishing Rhino said its important to pay attention to inside dimension. That is dictated by wall thickness as well as space taken up by the overhead door. Also in some instances, depending on grade at the rear, your foundation wall may extend several feet above finished slab elevation. It's only going to make a 3"-6" difference typically but if you're tight on space it's worth paying attention to. Lastly, it is easy to change a floor plan but when you move walls around you also may be changing roof pitches and how the roof lines tie together. It can easily be a non issue depending on the plan but it can also make a big difference. I apologize if I'm preaching to the choir on that, I've just seen some pretty major problems come from moving a wall 3' so I wanted to throw it out there.

You can build it cheaper the first time than you can the second time. Personally if I knew anywhere from 26 to 28 was the "yea it fits" length, I would be at 30 if I had the room to do it.

46' with doors on either side. Drive straight in and park/un hitch and go straight out the back door. One can dream can't he?

Keep in mind, there are two dimensions regarding the depth of a garage. One is the outside dimension, the other is the internal dimension. Most building dimensions are external. Ideally, you should be able to garage your boat and have at least three feet to spare. That will allow you a foot and a half at each end of the boat. My Z-8 will not fit in my 24 foot deep (external) garage on our lot next door. It would be close if it were two feet deeper, but it would fit. Problem is you need some one to tell you to stop when your motor is about to hit the back wall. Otherwise it's back up, stop, get out and look, then get back in the tow vehicle and back up a few more inches. I had to do that with my Z-7. The garage attached to our house is 34 feet deep. That's where the 8 goes now. For the Z-8 which is just under 21 feet plus motor and jack plate, plus trailer tongue when folded. Since you are in the designing stage, I'd opt for 28 feet deep. Yes, it can fit in less space, but I think you'd be happier with a couple of extra feet, if the budget allows.

I tie a lot of smallmouth jigs in 1/16oz up to 1/4oz but the 1/16oz and 3/32oz with a #2 hook are my best producers in cold water. Last week the water temps dropped to 49 degrees, a 1/8oz black and purple bucktail with a tiny paca chunk was a killer.

I cleaned up my fishing room. I use a spare bedroom for my hobbies. My work desk, a gun cabinet I converted to hold my reels, and a couple of rod racks. My grandfather made the cabinet almost 70 years ago. The other side of the room with my "Wall of Fame" This is the walk-in closet where I store my tackle boxes and lures.

My dorm is pretty much a bass room currently

I like the old Team Daiwa s rods.

J Francho has sold all of his drums, bought a banjo, and is moving to Nashville to try out for the Grand Old Opry.

Looks fantastic. I have mine underway as well. Thats what northern winters will do to you. Not as complete or nice as yours. Planning to get an airbrush kit and start doing some painting when funds are available. I have to get an outlet in the ceilng for my shop light yet. My rods are all on a rack in same room just not pictured. Its coming along nicely. My little man cave and my boys love to be in there.