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Since there are so many unique subjects on here I thought I would post a milestone of my own. Since we lost our daughter I've had to learn to bake....not my favorite but I have been forced to eat healthier due to one of life's bumps. Yesterday I made "spelt" bread which is what they call an ancient grain and supposably still has a lot of good things in it with a lot of good side benefits. Also doesn't have such a high gluten content. Well......I should of have baked it for a couple more minutes but the stuff is awesome. Also didn't seem to raise the blood sugars much either. Fingers crossed. Note: I'm almost positive we don't have many bakers on here but it is winter and more time for odd topics. Tight Lines all......after all some people like to carve (smile's).....I like to eat...but have many limitations.

They are officially site sponsors now, but there's currently no discount available. They're very affordable baits to start with though.

"How To Cast A Light Bait Farther" > Longer Rod > Lighter Line > Lighter Rod Power (ultralight spinning gear can handle 2-lb line) > Slower Tip Action (e.g. moderate fast) > Cast Downwind Roger

The first 8:1 reels I bought was Tatula R 100 because I wanted to recover line faster when jig fishing making 40+ yard cast to get better hook set and control of big bass at that distance. The reason is I realized the 100 size spools didn't recover line fast enough at a long cast like my old 4500C reels did. Measuring the IPT was shocking, the 100 size spools dropped 50% @ 40 yards, the old 4500C dropped about 15%. With the smaller spool reels you need high speeds to off set the loss of IPT unless you make short 20 yard casts. Tom

Although the first responses to Flippin’ weren’t too positive, it didn’t take long for anglers to realize its effectiveness. The technique was winning nearly all of the early tournaments in the west and even though anglers hated this form of tule dippin,’ what they didn’t realize was this form of fishing was way more than just a technique. Read on here ~ Parts one, two & three http://bassfishingarchives.com/western/1255 http://bassfishingarchives.com/western/flippin-a-concept-not-just-a-technique-part-two http://bassfishingarchives.com/features/flippin-a-concept-not-just-a-technique-part-three A-Jay

A fast reel will work better for most of the baits you mentioned, especially jerkbaits, frogs, walking baits, and poppers. The fast reel helps to pick up the slack for a hookset, which is important for the baits I mentioned because they are all slack line techniques, so you will usually be setting the hook from a slack line. As long as you can force yourself to slow down (not everyone can) you can use a fast reel for anything. The only real drawback other than that is that the speed of a reel is inversely proportionate to the amount of power it possesses, which is not always important. But you will work your arms off throwing a deep crank on an 8:1 ratio reel all day, so they are not by any means a catch all.

A friend of mine took me out to a couple ponds this morning. I decided to focus on throwing a Mattlures bluegill, as I am dipping my toes into the swimbait world. I quickly landed a smaller fish (my first Mattlures fish, and first of 2017). Feeling confident, I threw my bait past a fallen branch and *Wham*, stuck this pretty lady. Talk about a rush! I can now officially say I'm hooked on swimbaits...

The new girl at Taco Bell .

Thank you for your input on what you have seen with Pradco (Booyah) on the site. It shows me that you are really engaged and paying attention and we appreciate that very much. I wanted to give you a little background on Booyah so that you can understand what we were doing. A couple of years ago, Pradco was a big supporter of the site with several of their brands...including Booyah. They have a whole new marketing team in place and we want to show them how impactful BassResource can be for them. So, what you saw, was a “courting” period, if you will. It looks like they will now be coming back as a paid partner in 2017, so what you saw helped. This is great news as it allows us to continue to provide this site to you and the other avid bass anglers free of charge. Please remember, anything that you can do through the site to support our partners will help us to continue to provide as well as update BassResource for our followers and members. Thanks again for your input and engagement!

Owner provides some very good info for choosing hooks and rigging: http://www.ownerhooks.com/basshooks.htm

You never mentioned a budget. I am going to make a few suggestions in the "under $200" price range. If your budget allows you to spend more then look at the same rods in a Champion series instead of a Fury series. There are two Dobyns Fury rods to look at. The first is a Fury FR765 FLIP. It is a nice flipping stick that is rated for 1/4 to 2 ounce. I doubt I would push it that far but it should handle up to the 1 1/2 punched. If you truly want to punch more, than they have a rod called the 805 Flip/Punch and that should work fine. It is rated as a 5 power rod( pretty beefy ) 8 foot long and is rated for 3/8 to 2 1/2 ounce lures. Those two rods cost $109 and $119. The Champion series is a higher end rod with a more expensive, lighter more sensitive blank and some better components. A Champion DC 805 Flip/Punch rod rates for the same weight of lures and costs $260. Another option would be to go to IROD and look at the Irod Genesis II IRG7114P “Bub’s Punch Rod. It rates for lures weighing between 1/2 and 2 ounces. It runs $150. If I went this route I would call out to Irod and discuss your intended use with them. I have done just that. Before I purchased my Irods I called them and they were happy to help me select the rod that worked the best for me.

I don't bake but I have a good friend of mine that does. You wouldn't know it though. A U.S. Marine with 3 tours in Iraq. He saw a lot of firefight. A self proclaimed gun nut. Mechanic by trade. We call him Corporal Cupcake. I'm convinced he could make a great living selling his cupcakes. But he wants nothing to do with it. I think he does it more for mental therapy than anything else. He just caught the fishing bug last year at 40 years old which also seems to help with the PTSD Me, I like to cook meat, make jerky etc.

I think you may be surprised at the number of guys here that cook/bake, less and less guys are playing the weaker gender and not being able to feed themselves

The small diameters are great for open water panfishing.................for anything else it sucks. It has the abrasion resistance of wet toilet paper.

The point of oval/tear drop split ring is to prevent the line/knot from getting caught in the open section (where the split ring opens up). When your line is there, there is a chance that it can snap due to it rubbing against the wires. with oval/tear drop split ring, this is prevented.

Walk off 75 yards of the mono you have on and top off with braid. No need to spool lots of braid that will never see the light of day.

Welcome' I also fish a lot of clear water lakes, a couple of which I can see bottom in 15ft. I shy away from hard baits and stick with small, soft plastic baits in natural colors. I'm a tube freak when it comes to soft plastics and a 2- 3in. tube in pearl or smoke with pepper flakes does well on most of those lakes. For hard baits, as already mentioned, the fish can see your bait from farther away and have more time to look it over. Downsizing and speeding up your retrieve helps to put you on more level playing field.

Big game

Hundreds of thousands of fishermen have fallen for the " FC less than nylon stretch " myth.

Here is our “Day on the lake” report for Tues. the 31st. This was our first trip of the year and the very first time we have ever been to CC lake. We only fish for bass unless a crappie or some other stupid fish gets in the way. (And we don’t consider channel fish since they don’t have scales!!) haha Late start and in no hurry to get on the water.... since the air was still colder early in the morning. By the time we arrived around 9:15 it appeared everyone that was going to be fishing today was already here. (about 11 other boats minus the one that put in, couldn’t get started, and ended up leaving.) Guard shack said there was 11 the day before also. Started the day heading up toward the warm water outlet. Mainly to see how many boats wanted to be in the same small space and then surprised that there was only 3. The end of the jetty was around 53* to 55* and warming heading in. Stopped for just a few min to throw a few traps and cranks. I was just not comfortable here. My wheelhouse is dirty, shallow water, with some sort of structure. The water at the outlet had about 8+feet of visibility, was deeper then what I like to fish, and even if fish are biting in a spot I still prefer to find an area away from others. So we set out to find exactly that. Headed North towards the bridge, hugging the left bank to avoid the eagles that were hanging out, thinking the water would be more to my liking. Made it to the bridge to find 1-2’ visibility. Trees that started in about 1 ½’ to 2’ and extended all the way out into the lake to around 10 or so feet. The water here was 47 deg. and an added bonus of no other boats. Starting shallow and working our way out: first bass came in 4 ½ feet, Soon after I picked up three more in a 50yd stretch. All four were just shy of 2lbs. We kept slowly moving farther out fishing deeper to 7’-9’ with no more fish. We now had our pattern set for the rest of the day. From this point on we run and gunned tree lines coming off the bank but only fishing the 3’ to 6’ range. Every place we stopped we picked up at least one if not two or more fish. Other than my dad’s single rattletrap fish all of the bass were caught on a 3/8oz jig… He caught the biggest that went 3.69 lbs Overall we had a good day. If I was to change anything it would have been to just show up earlier to get those extra 2 hours that we missed. Oh… and it would have been nice to know beforehand that there is good size rocks "on top" of the boat ramp, so I would not have accidentally taken a ¼”x 3” chunk out of the skeg. I would also like to thank Ondrejka for kindly answering the few questions I had when researching for this trip. Thank You.

Can you run a green bean harvester or a dump truck? If so, buy a plane ticket, fly out here, and you have a job...................oh, and in your free time I'll show you everything you need to know. You'll be sick of catching bass by the end of the season.

No one ever mentions this as a option, but if your free on weekends, join a local Bass Club as a co-angler. My area there's Dozens of clubs, most of which take on new members religiously. Even if you don't want to fish competitively. Say a club has 6 tourneys a year, look at it as a chance to get on the water from a boat and learn from guys who've been bass fishing for years or decades. There's a bunch of high school aged kids who fish Club tourneys just as a opportunity to get on the water and learn. Youll have a lot lot of fun!

Greetings Guys, For the past 10 years or so I was doing a lot of saltwater fishing and those of you in the same boat (no pun intended) I have grown tiered of the regulations and the expense for such a small reward. So I have put all the saltwater gear aside and busted out the freshwater gear and some new gear and this past summer got back to lake and pond hopping again. I'm looking forward getting back to Thousand Islands, Salmon and Oswego rivers and all the lakes and ponds in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and Maryland areas.

Safe to say that most bass fisherfolk like a 2500 size reel. Me, I prefer a 1000 size. I like small and light reels and have zero issues bringing in bass. 6.6# bass in my avatar was caught in a thick brush field with a 1000 on a 5'9" M rod... Closest president to a 1000 is a 20, I believe, then the 25 series.

When a part is shown as "ASSEMBLY", it means that the part comes complete. At least that has always been my experience with Shimano.

I use a 7'6 XH Kistler Helium for punching. It has micro guides and a moderate fast taper. I've also used it with weights as small as 5/16 oz and thought it worked fine. It's certainly a bit overkill for flipping sparse cover with smaller weights but it works.

3/8 to 2 oz is a huge gape Others will no doubt disagree but in my opinion when fishing heavily matted grass I want a rod that allows me to turn the bass's head & get her coming up in one motion on the hookset!

$100 or Less Spinning Reel Shootout Abu Veritas Shimano Casitas Vs. Diawa Tatula Diawa Exceller The New Shimano NASCI reel Advice on Vintage Spinning Reels? Can we talk about finesse Casting rigs? Shimano curado green reel This thing is insane...! Best bang for the buck Baitcaster around $50? New vs Old Budget reels http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/185930-new-bait-caster/ $200 or Less Best baitcast reels? Curado I vs Chronarch E which is the better reel? New Shimano Ultegra HG FB Spinning Reel -- Bass Pro Tatula SV? CI4 VS 70 Shimano Curado 200I Question My CT Type-R is here, but... High End Shimano Metanium DC Reel Initial Review Impressions Diawa SV103 Metanium MGL vs the Field Tatula SV TW 'sneak peak' Abu Garcia Morrum ZX 3600

The idea of an Extra-Wide Gap hook (EWG hook) is to accommodate the bait and have enough leftover throat to hook the fish. On the other hand, 'straight shank' and 'offset' refer to the shank rather than the point. Technically speaking, the word 'offset' was originally used to describe the offset between the point and the shank (lateral offset). A 'kirbed' point was offset to one side, while a 'reversed' point was offset to the opposite side. Today however, the word "offset" typically refers to the shank of the hook, a Z-bend used as a trailer keeper. Trailers can also be retained with a shank-barb, screw coil or (you guessed it) superglue. Nonetheless, many anglers (count me in) believe that the line-of-pull of a 'straight-shank hook' offers a better hook-up ratio than an offset hook. This notion in fact, gave birth to the 'rebarb' hook Roger

Keep nanofil away from rocks and teeth just like is needed with braid. Dont use the knot(double palomar) Berkley recommends its not very good with the line. If not using a leader retie your knot after about 5 fish.

I guess I went on a buying spree last couple weeks too: *** Defy Black 7-0 medium heavy spinning rod. Keitech Easy Shiner Swimbait Booyah One Knocker Rayburn Red Rat L Trap Echo Stumpknocker 600 yds Yo Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft 12 lb. Vicious XACT 14 lb and 8 lb. Couple weeks back I bought Pflueger President 6930, Pflueger Trion 30 and Shimano Sahara. I had some money in my PayPal account. It gone!! Deer season ends Feb 10. Hope I can catch a few nice days to get on water after that. It's trap season on Gville.

For general use I like a 6-3 to one reel especially for small to mid sized cranks, traps, spinnerbaits, wake baits, chatterbaits, and popping type topwaters. I just do not want to physically slow my hands down that much to fish them correctly. I do believe there are times I want to burn a bait but a small crankbait or trap can be overfished in my opinion. For baits like a Zara Spook or frog I want a very fast reel like an 8-1. I do not fish the bait that fast but rather I want to bring it in fast and rapidly cast again in the case of a missed blow up. your 7.3-1 is a good compromise for all of the above and if I were only fishing with a few rods I would set my arsenal up that way. I have over a dozen rods in my rod locker. So they are setup according to uses and what reel ratio and line works best for those techniques. Baits like texas rigs plastics, carolina rigs, jerkbaits and minnow baits do not matter since all the reel does is pick up slack. You move those baits by either dragging, hopping, or jerking the rod.

Don't worry about it. I use medium powered spinning and casting bass rods for big 10-15 pound channel cats all the time, and I have yet to break a rod. I even once caught a 38 pound carp on a medium lite rod, although I was way out gunned that time it still did not break my rod. And they are always pulling double duty on all of the other species to, the only thing I pay attention to is which rod is best at what lures. For instance, I have a 7'medium fast spinning rod that serves as a general purpose bass rod, and excels at wacky rigs. This rod also is used for throwing weighless cutbait when bass fishing for catfish. You will find that you can go quite a bit beyond the rods suggested weight range for lures, and rods do not break on fish unless they are previously damaged, high sticked, or are being used to dead lift the fish into the boat.

The way I do it the first time for a reel is(you only have to do this once) i reel 75yards of braid on my spool then I tie my mono back to it to and fill my spool completely full to my liking. Then I reel the line onto a spinning reel I have rigged up, then to another spinning reel, then back on the reel I want and the backing will be on the bottom and you will have the perfect amount of backing on for the amount of braid you want(since you already filled the spool to your liking initially). Then from then on out all you have to do is pull your old braid off and put 75yd of new braid on and it is perfect again

Plus or minus 8 weeks and things should be warming up. I still hope to get out and try ice fishing, but won't cry if I don't.

I go to a lot of lakes that have largies, Kentucky spots, smallies and walleye. I never change rods because of species. I have rods that perform certain tasks. The lures being thrown decide which rod is being used. For instance if I am throwing small to mid depth cranks, traps, square bills spinnerbaits. in other words baits that have either treble hooks or are reaction baits. I like a rod that has a bit softer tip so a moderate action tip is preferred. It protects the bait from being pulled out during the fight. If I am throwing bottom baits I prefer a rod that is a fast or extra fast ( depending on the manufacturer ) to get maximum power and sensitivity. There are some rods that fit both categories fairly well so if you are going to fish with one rod it makes it a good choice. St Croix Premiers are an example of those. Some of the BPS Tourneys and Extremes were like that. My Powell Max 6'8" is a great example of an all around stick.

Picked up some lures bogo free at fishing show and also bought a 90mm Zillion handle and ZPi Sic bearings Molix Sculpo cranks Molix RA shad paddle tail Nories Spoon tail shad

I put a lot of time in on clear water fisheries. One body of water in particular is extremely clear and deep, inhabited by only smallmouth, pickerel, and baitfish. You can see boulders and logs on the bottom in 25' of water. My favorites are usually finesse presentations. Ned rig, wacky/ neko rig, drop shot, shaky head. For hard baits a walking bait and a spybait in natural colors get the most bites for me. Long cats and light line are important, but being stealthy (no splashing/ being noisy, etc.) is importanter.

Just do what we ALL do.Buy every hook ever made on 3/0 4/0 and 5/0.Then only use 20% of them 50% of the time. 4/0 or 5/0 straight shanks for flipping/pitching.3/0 or 4/0 twistlocks for worms.4/0 belly weighted for swimbaits 4-5 inch.4/0 EWG because you'll need them for everything. Oh and buy OWNER hooks.

Usually stopping and starting it makes it reverse. Try switching it on and off a few times. I bet it will run one way some times and the other at other times.

My Dad was WW II Sea Bee VET, served on D-Day, the Mediterranean Sea, & the Pacific! My oldest brother was USAF mid 60s, my middle brother was Army late 60s Nam, my oldest son USAF late 90s, & oldest nephew retired last yr Senior Master Sargent USAF.

Odd that this post is in the Fishing Tackle section. I've also noticed that almost all Youtube fishers present their day's fishing plan in terms of the lures they'll be trying. As if all they've ever read or watched in terms of fishing are infommercials. (Can't blame them entirely as that's what pays the bills in the fishing industry -media included). It's as if the answers are all tied to lure choice. Lure choice is one of the last and final decisions -after you've decided where and when to fish, and what the conditions and circumstances are (trends and immediate). Then we can talk about rigs, lures, and... colors. Ditto on getting some on-the-water help. In the meantime, it's time to do some reading. Good basic ones are the In-Fisherman Handbook of Strategies. All the editions are good and cheap on Amazon. The latest are the Critical Concept series, but don't overlook the earlier editions. Good place to start to ballpark bass across the seasons. Then read up on those seasons, about water bodies and how they respond to environmental conditions, and on bass behavior, which is the link between bass and their environment. There's a lot on this site in the articles library. Confidence is earned. If this fact doesn't scare you away, you are on your way to gaining it.

People on here will tell you that bass do not care if braid is directly attached to the bait even in clear water. I would love to take them on some of the bodies of water that I fish so they can show me that.

I fish mostly clear water for smallies. Senko type stick baits work well in clear water. So do suspending jerkbaits. Actually, any lure will work in clear water. Clear water extends the strike zone so fish can see the lure from farther away. Clear water makes a stealthy presentation more important. Staying farther away from the fish, and making longer casts is important.

Bass Pro "sale".

None of the above. Ever seen someone that had their jaw cut off because they got gum cancer from that stuff? That's a hard pass from me.

The 17th is what Bass Pro told me yesterday as well, so now that you have read it on the internet twice, it has to be true.

We've all been in those noob shoes at one point. In fact, when I lived in the Bay Area I used to fish the Delta from shore all the time for stripers, catfish, and largemouth. There's tons of access points by foot. Second, don't assume that someone's catching fish or is a good angler because of how they dress, what boat they fish out of, what tackle they use, etc. Why not just go on over and watch what they are doing or strike up a conversation (assuming they are nice enough). Actually see if they're having luck and maybe how they are fishing. Bet they'll be happy to share some tips. Last, I agree with the two posts above though maybe not tourney fish just yet. But do fish with others who have more experience than you do. Learn a few new techniques but don't go hog wild with rods and reels until you are sure it's something you want to invest in. As a shore or kayak angler you really need one good spinning outfit and one good baitcaster - though you mentioned heavy cover so you might want to get a MH rod and a H rod (stronger line). GL!