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For me fishing deep is a marathon. You can fish a lot of great places but not get bit. Sometimes you just don't find them in the area or if they are there they are not biting. Sometimes if you see them you can trigger one and fire up the school. Other times not. If you watch major league fishing the guys are always talking about how there has to be good fish offshore. In that format their time is limited like most weekend fishermen. Those guys know they can spend hours offshore chasing ghosts. And they know more than I do for sure. I know they can pick good structure but that does not guarantee them success. Thats why most stick to the shallower bite for the limited time they have. I too am from a very shallow water area. Deep fishing is tough on me too but even a blind hog finds the slop from time to time.

First and foremost keep in mind that brakes on a bait caster are not intended to combat poor technique or eliminate the need to thumb the spool.

Skills and Strengths?? Hmmm, that's a tough one! Now, if you were asking for 'weaknesses', I could fill the page. Roger

Thanks for the list. You reminded me that I needed to order a couple of Doug Hannon's books. In doing so I realized that I hadn't heard of his passing. He was a real inspiration to me and I tried to mimic his approach when I was first learning to target big fish. Anyone who has caught more than 800 bass over 10 pounds deserves a special place on my bookshelf.

MLF formate is geared for catching numbers of keeper size bass because the quantity of bass is unlimited, time is the key factor. The MLF anglers don't have advanced notice to where they are going to be fishing therefore can't study the lake or lake zone before launching and only get 15 minutes to study thier GPS and make a quick run to whatever area interest them to determine a starting point based on past experiences, aquatic weeds, docks, water temps and color to confirm what they see on the sonar unit. If the contestant is unfamiliar with the lake they may not know what type of bass to target. Structure is the 1st thing they look at on the map, then they try to determine what depth to start at based on breaks located at high % spots that support their primary skill set. Structure, breaks, cover types and seasonal periods are factored in the 1st 15 minutes and then adjustments made as they fish by eliminating unproductive water quickly. Everything Catt has talked about is being considered by the MLF pro... under a lot of pressure to catch bass quickly. We can take our time, study maps, know where we are going to fish and what type of bass we plan to catch on tackle put together before we launch and go fishing. Lesson learned with MLF is be versitile and make adjustments quickly if you want to catch numbers of bass. Tom

I promise you they aint "randomly" fishing anything!

My wife and I and our family plus daughter in laws mom went to Disney World this last few days and just got home yesterday. Really were blessed from above about the weather and just the trip in general. Everything went so very smooth. Just missed the ugly stuff (rain and wind) going down. Did have some around Atlanta and it took almost three hours to get through this area but were worried about snow coming home and it was clear sailing and knocked three hours off coming home. Did see many unfortunate ones in the ditch. Anyway....first I would like to apologize on not being able to find the name of the lake by Disney world a previous fisherman had talked about with the free john boats to use at this park. This park is awesome and so were the people running it. We went down to the dock and the lady said at the gate there's a LOT of fish in there and she wasn't wrong. Also told us that bread was good for the big gills and such. First we tried catching bass with the kids....the trip was all about them anyway....Well not a sniff from the bass but there were panfish everywhere....everywhere. Tried some stuff on the gills and no luck at all...so put a piece of cheeto on a hook and bingo....grandson had a fish. Caught a couple more but cheeto's were tuff to use on those panfish. Daughter in law brought banana bread....WOW. Stuff stayed on the hook for #@!$ but with a little spit it would last a couple seconds longer. Everyone got fish...even the daughter in laws mom caught her first fish ever...was cool. The really exciting part was when some "moby" bass tried to steal the gills off the hooks. This happened several times. Was awesome....thank you for info previous writer. P.S. Walt Disney world was tuff on this ol man.....legs and feet are tired.

There's really only one way to find out .. .. .. .. .. and that's the fun part. A-Jay

Although I can & do fish jerkbaits on casting gear, hurling then into a stiff breeze all day (which seems quite prevalent early & late season) isn't best case scenario. I use spinning gear for the vast majority of my jerkbait presentations. The Main benefit in my eyes is the ability to make long casts using light line STRAIGHT into the wind. I catch a lot of decent smallmouth this way. A-Jay

last year i had no clue how to fish, i was throwing a frog on 1" of ice in a kayak. The next week i caught my first ever pickerel when 99% of the lake was frozen, except a 2' by 12' section by the dam realease

Just some simple wire tying on some really nice jig heads I've purchased from @Siebert Outdoors and @cadman They're nothing flashy, but they catch some fish. The black and blue (Carolina blue) is what i caught my PB/biggest fish of 2016 on.

Lol right.. I was gonna say do you know what a drywall patch costs ? Alot less than that ignorant turd makes in half a minute. P.s . I wish he would have hit a stud.

Terminator hybrid blades did exactly that and were briefly popular, discontinued now. You still had to crank them pretty fast but they were more stable than a regular spinnerbait once you break the surface.

I used to fish a lot back when I was much younger. I would roam the hills of Ohio searching for that elusive farm pond or coal mining reservoir, and brag to my buddies about the one-that-got-away. I rediscovered fishing this past summer and I'm in the process of gearing out myself and my sons in preparation for the 2017 fishing season. I've lurked here for a few months, relearning, and absorbing as much info as possible to up the odds of me catching my first bass in over 30 years. Love what y'all have going on here. I can't wait to post up pics of that first fish. My grin will be so big I'll need a wide angle lens. Cya, Jeff

I thought I'd be fun to share the stories and conditions of our best day of 2016. Here's mine: Late March, private lake in the Poconos, Pa: it was the first set of warm days in early spring. Four days of sunshine and 70*+ weather. I arrived at my honey hole with winter gear tied on (ice was only two weeks prior), but quickly found the bass schooling and demolishing bluegill in the shallows. A 1/2oz Bass Pro Chatterbait boated me a 7-2, two 5+, and dozens of 3-4lb class bass. The action was non-stop and everywhere. I live for those days! Share your story!

2017 master catalog!!!! This should keep me busy for a few hours.

It was early June of 2000. My buddy talked me into night fishing. We left at 8pm and fished till the sun came up. It was one of those nights where you caught a bass every other cast and I didn't realize how long we were out until the sun came up. My wife was not impressed with the story seeing as she was 8 1/2 months pregnant and I had no cell phone. Still for bank fishing it was the best night ever.

Spend the winter practicing your pitches. When I got my first baitcaster, I got a casting plug and practiced pitching to past the time over the long winter and by spring I was a pitching machine.

Ummm, Did you ever try a floating rapala just after ice out? Slightly twitching it on the surface as in a dying forage? Over cover this can, and has, produced huge bass. And it has worked over drops in late fall as well. Maybe you have not tried it, or have, and it didn't work for ya. But, its worked for me. Then yet, in my younger years I was a bit crazy and would break ice at the ramp to get out to open water so I could fish. Not many others were out there then, and a perch patterned original floating rapala was one of the 3 lures tied on before I even got to the ramp. It may not be a pop-r, spook, or frog, but a "topwater" technique just the same.

I'm all thumbs. How come the names I get called aren't as nice?

Seasons and the type of river can have a big effect. Generally, look for active fish at the heads and tail outs of pools and in/around riffles as the water warms, typically using current breaks and live vegetation as points of interest. From late fall up until pre-spawn, you're going to be keying on slower, deep holes with some kind of structure or at least large current breaks where fish can stack up in slack water while occasionally slipping into current to feed (points, oxbows, and some islands can be great examples). Pre spawn indicates a move toward shallow flats with moderate to moderately slow current and often gravel bottoms, or feeder creeks to spawn. Pre-spawn/spawn can very a lot depending upon th body of water and the quality of spawning areas available. This is kinda the Cliff's Notes version, but it should give you some basic ideas on which parts of a river to fish and which to pass by based on the seasons.

Just let it happen.

I have a FK 2500 and a ci4 FB 2500. Both are great reels, but the ci4 FB is clearly better. Just as solid and smooth as the FK, but 20+% lighter. When you have been fishing a DS nice and slow all day, you will appreciate the 1.6oz weight difference.

@bigturtle Gear ratio doesn't really matter. Ipt is what matters to most people. The want an 8:1 for more line pick up. The new tatula takes up 83cm which is 32.6 ipt. The sv103 7:9:1 takes up 33.6 ipt so even though the gear ratio is slower it's actually faster.

Welcome to the forum! I grew up near Wilkes-Barre, but also now reside in Philly. You're in a great place for the outdoors. The north branch Susquehanna isn't too far (I try to get there at least a few weekends a month), and you're right on the Delaware. If you don't own a fly rod, pick one up and head north. The tailwaters of the Delaware down into the main stem are killer trout waters.

Yeah CLEMSON!!!!!

I don't think it matters. I've used 8-15# mono backing for both 12 & 15# fluoro. I just use whatever mono I can buy super cheap at Wally World.

I use a classic G. Loomis GL3 SJR842 spin jig rod for smallies. 7 foot, med power, fast action. landed my largest smallie ever on this rod:

They call me "Hitch hiker" cause I'm all thumbs

Wal marts MO is to tell vendors that for Wal mart to carry their product, it has to be the cheapest available option, undercutting the vendors margins, and every other store selling that product. That's the "secret" to Wal marts low price (s).

I asked if they could give the weight of these dots/strips, so for any interested here you go. Thank you for the email. Suspend dot/strip weight:1 dot = .2g/ .007oz and 1 strip= .25g/ .009oz Happy fishing! Storm

Here are a few of my son.

Yes, although TW has had his Zebco on backorder since Thanksgiving. But it's frozen here anyway, it doesn't stop him from asking where his reel is almost daily.

Well ~ I'm Hosed Then .. .. .. .. .. A-Jay

5wt. fly rod, black or olive woolly buggers and balsa, foam or hair poppers. You'll have a blast!

I was kayak fishing this past summer and hooked a good one on a rod with BG line. The fish took some drag and went under the kayak and pinned me against a dock. The bass was jumping under the dock on the other side of my kayak and I was fighting it with the rod stuck in the water. I had to put my thumb on the spool and yank the fish back out. It was about 5.5 lbs. That's my best testimonial, but I've caught maybe 10 fish the last 4 years over 5 lbs, a few 6, on it with no break offs.

My favorite monofilament for bass fishing is Berkeley Big Game,which I mostly use from 8-20 pound test. Also use this line for multi species fishing and it had helped me land sharks that weighed several hundreds of pounds each.

My grandson Lachlan on his first fishing trip with me. It was a two thumbs up day for us. This was the smallest 'gill he caught that afternoon.

I have both a 1000 FJ and a 1000 CI4+. I have yet to fish them both side by side, but the CI4+ is just insanity light, almost to the point where it had me wanting to add weight to the butt of my finesse rod to move the balance point back a bit. After a day with it I changed my mind and now want to replace all my spinning reels with them. I was hemming and hawing about getting a 1000 reel for bass and @Darren was a huge help in pushing me over the edge and I am glad I listened to him. If you really want a 2500 reel but are unsure about the weight, take a look at the Okuma AV-30b reel. It is about the size of a 2500 FK and about the same weight. For $40 you can see how you like a reel in that weight range and will end up with a rugged "beater" reel that could last decades of sporadic use or years and years of constant use.

I'm not qualified to say whether Fish Attractant is Magic or Placebo, but until I catch a bass with barbels, you won't find fish scent in my boat Roger

Watch this. It answers all your questions (even the ones you haven't asked yet!):

Thats awesome it doesn't get any better than that! I bet you guys can't wait to hit the water.

How do we know they are bass? Seems like something a pike would do in my opinion.

" Well if you want to do things the easy way you're never going to learn anything " Barney Fife .

I can BS with the best of em.

As everyone else said you certainly can. Use the tips they gave you. Now...Flipping with a baitcaster doesn't require a disengaged reel..It's all line.The reel stays locked. Pitching with a baitcaster is all thumb. It'll take a while, just keep practicing you'll get it. If you have a specific question just ask Mike

17 lb test trilene xl is only .015 inches . That is thin .Diameter is more important than published lb test .

Hi, sounds like you are only using 1 o-ring so that the hook lays parallel to the worm. Use 2, criss-cross them, then put hook through them.

My newest combo. Dobyn's extreme HP 745 and Daiwa T3 SV. Going to use it for frogs.