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Went to the thrift store today expecting to find the usual Shakespear Spincast from 1990, but came across this, only $15! Mint condition, buttery smooth, I honestly dont think it has even been spooled! Preserved just for me What have you guys found at thrift stores/yard sales?

more field testing today. fortunately dad was willing to help. these trips are always so special to me. gorgeous day here. hope y'all were able to get out too.

Having fun with a Gan Craft jointed claw 178 SS.

Caught yo-yoing a RES on a shallow point. My biggest of the year to this point and also a new personal best for the particular lake. Also had my first double of the year and it was my first ever smallmouth/white bass double, same bait and retrieve on a different spot.

Everyone has a personal preference on these situations. Most of it depends on your fishing style. If I ran into this I would have 2 jigs tied on to cover this. I normally do anyway. If its chunky rock I'd throw the G2 Football head. 3/8-1/2 for the shallow. 3/4 for the deep. The brush I would throw a Brush jig in the Grid Iron due to the XXX strong hook. It will hold up to the heavy line if your throwing braid. The thickness of the brush/bush will effect the jig size also. If its a thick bush you might need that 1/2-3/4 jig to squeeze through the branches. If the water is clear or the fish are skittish I would not hesitate to throw a Sniper Jig in any of that in a lighter weight to help keep it from digging into the chunk rock. Basically small hops off the bottom. That is how I would approach it and fish it. Many would say throw an arky head. I would not argue with that either.

I did some crankbait shopping and snagged some MIA Normans to stock up for the up coming year and beyond. Best part was the price, 3.97 apiece. Pretty good deal. The dark packages are the ones made off shore. Catt, you might notice the Nsx models which have several of already.

We can always go back to "leaderboards," where the big fish of the day are nailed to a plank. I get it, but rather than go after the tournament guy, who is penalized for dead fish, why not seek to educate fisherman, conduct research, collect data, and learn how we can really protect the resource. No, too hard. Poking holes hurts them little fishies. OK, I'm done ranting and raving.

Or Cluprit's moccasin colors

I personally like the dock rocker but if your in weeds or heavy cover I'd go with the brush jig but which ever you choose may I recommend the Dredge series. Since switching to that owner deep throat hook my hook up ratio has went way up. I've found that you still have to set the hook but with nowhere near the force and the hook is buried. Mike is here on the forums and I'm sure he'll be along to help.

Little brother showed up today.

Pike bait....

My honest opinion? If a bass is going to eat a duck, or something the size of a duck, he probably could care less what color it is. He's probably hungry/angry and just wants to attack the animal/bait.

Mike it sounds like you know the answer to the decline. Too many bass, too many catfish & not enough forage fish (bream). Your small lake almost mirrors many of the ponds that suffer the same problems. You probably need to thin the herd by removing all bass under 15" & getting some of the catfish out. Adding bream fry like gills would help too. Good luck correcting the problems.

Guess I have to update this now 6.65 on a homemade 1/2oz football jig in my namesake color (from the Siebert's Storm Series).

Finally got 1

I was catching bass in less than 4' and some in less than 2' Friday with 55 degree water temp. The "big mammas" were eating. Saw several shad schools at a distance in less than 3' depths with the 360. Water to dingy to visually see them.

Enjoyed the 74 degree Ohio weather yesterday, caught a few bass, but this bluegill almost ripped the rod outta my hands!

My biology lecture today got cancelled so I took it as a message from the universe telling me to fish. I headed to the magic lake with my friend to kayak fish for the afternoon. It was slow when we got there, but eventually I stumbled upon a decent jerkbait bite, and once I figured out the cadence they wanted it was GAME ON! I landed 29 bass, most on the jerkbait, a couple on a popper, and one on a jig. I anchored my kayak in one area and landed 15 bass on the jerkbait without moving! Most of the fish had the front hook in their mouth, they were big fans of the fancy bait from Japan

Doesn't look like a bad load out. I'd throw in a chatterbait and a baby 1- crankbait if I were beating the banks.

Whichever one untangles first from the mess that is my lipless box.

My friend and I went out on the river in kayaks again and did a lot of blade bait jigging. This time our friend who lives in an apartment nearby came with us, so we put some fish on a stringer for dinner after we got off the water. All of the fish came on 1/4oz blades, we caught lots of sauger, 3 walleyes, a big perch, three catfish, and I caught one very small spotted bass. Hopefully the action continues! For size reference, the walleye is just over 15"

Aluminum+heat+bass=not good

good stuff!, and all can be spot on,.... but did you ever consider that the bigger fish, that you've caught in the past, are becoming coherent to your presence? If you have been fishing this place for over 40 years, YOU are the top predator to them, not some snaggly toothed old gator. lol,....Ok, I cant be sure. BUT. I do know this.,... on my "home" lake. About fifteen years ago, I had to completely change the way I fished it, as I went stagnant fishing there for a while. Seemed the methods I grew accustomed to using there weren't working as they once did, almost as if the fish actually knew that jig and pig, was a rouse. So, I changed my offerings from a J&P to a worm, from a spinnerbait to a squarebill, jerkbait to a soft one,.. etc. And this did work. I was back in good graces with my beloved hogs,... I since moved and its been a few years since I've been back there. This year it's all due to change though. My "new" fishing buddy is due some hogs, so im gunna put him on some of what I call my "pig pens". And my old "home" lake? is right up in the top 3

Down the hatch picture of the jig. Probably would have lost her if it'd been later in the year and she was pulling harder. The hook was only through the soft skin in the roof of her mouth.

I'd rather have the one without the Trokar hooks. They're a nightmare to fish through water willows and cut a huge hole in the fishes mouth making it easier for them to toss the bait.

cheap pair of polarized glasses. especially with the spawn fast approaching in many areas

@Advantage and I fished Bourbon County State Lake Saturday while @basshunter0731 and his son were on their boat. We didn't catch any big ones but lots of largemouth and spots on jerkbaits, jigs, and spinnerbaits. Jon was catching them good on a wart but it wasn't working for us.

My brother submitted a DNA sample but with the last name of Thibodeaux we are deeply entrenched in Louisiana history. This is my great grand parents Terence (1876-1962) & Edmonia Thibodeaux (1876-1968).

We spent the weekend at Wolf, second boat on Saturday and first on Sunday. Not may boats out either day, the cold weather must have kept everyone at home which is alright by me. Saturday was fish on from the first cast. The morning saw a lot of wipers and green bass while the afternoon had quite a few smallies out of shallow and deep water. Sunday was absolutely on fire, we pulled up to the first spot and didn't move the boat for over a hour. We hammered a giant school full of wiper, white, green, and brown bass. Did the normal hot water laps after that.

My oldest son has asked to go fishing the last 3 days in a row, and I'm not one to say no to that! The great weather has them active, he even caught his first 2 bass ever without any help!

pretty nice one this evening. first time out using a design i've been tinkering with. it's a start.

You guys had a Day ~ Congrats. That field work looks exhausting. Perhaps you gents should go fishing to help you recover .. .. .. A-Jay

Non-boater.

Thank you everyone for the feedback!!! I did a lot of reading and research and watched multiple videos and took the plunge!...bought Costa Cortez Blackout with Copper glass. Let the sight fishing begin...thanks again.

Good info. I live in WI as well and was going to add the Ned rig to my list of things to fish more this year. But a lot of the lakes I fish, like you said, are heavily weeded. The ones that aren't I would be fishing pretty deep. 10" worm is one of my go-to baits for mid-summer fishing!

i get those all the time too. it's a gift. ;- )

Man I've been on a budget so long my dreams are affordable

Had some fun guys out on Saturday. Ended up being one of two boats out until probably 10:30-11. Turned out to be a beautiful day and caught some good fish. Surprisingly the moving bait bite was consistent even when the wind died down and the sun was high. I couldn't buy a fish on a tube or swinghead but those guys were catching fish all day on a Wobbler or swimbait. Had fun with some nice Wipers too.

I truly thought after the cold front hit that the bass would have had lock jaw. But it seemed to be just the opposite. I wish more of the over slot bass would have come out to play, but all in all a great day on the water!!!

Since the Savage Duck is a topwater bait, the fish likely only sees a dark silhoutte from beneath so color won't be as much of a factor as action/noise. Maybe in clear water conditions a white vs black belly could make a difference but anything from the waterline and up, the fish will never see.

Apparently I got wind of the Walmart sale just a little late.

I need to stay out of the LATEST DEALS thread and self-impose a time out. I was pleasantly surprised how good these look and have to give them a try KVD Magic Ochos have been hot around here and figured I'd give flukes a break and try Damiki Definitely have enough jerkbaits now. Maybe. Hopefully. Never really spent much time with buzzbaits and figured this year it's time Definitely didn't "need" this but I found it with a nice steep discount and figured my drinks and lunch will be extra cool now.

Dicks seams to have megabass on sale got this guy for 13.97. Vision 110's were at 18.97. I'll be going back on payday to get a few

Here is what I acquired the past month. Needed to get more spinnerbaits and cranks. Grabbed the Berkeley 110s because they were half price.

Went to the Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Show in Oaks today. Told myself that there was nothing I needed as far as baits but maybe I'd bring home some hooks and weights. Yea, but when they offered all 3 packs for only $12 how could I not buy them. It would have just been wrong not to make that purchase.

You all weren't kidding about Wally World, under 50 for all this stuff.

Strike King 3XD all day.

I just got the 7'6" ML/XF Legend Xtreme drop shotter in and wanted to try it out. We hit a local pond and I had five fish on, but they all came off. I was thinking is was the rod being softer than my UMBX's and it wasn't getting the hook in (a buddy landed a 7lb toad with the same rod in my boat last year), I was thinking it was the mono leader because I forgot my fluoro in my boat and I NEVER use mono. I almost, almost, almost blamed my equipment. Then I broke my weight off and I realized I didn't run my tag end back through the hook and it was dancing with the hook sideways and every time I really got into the fish the worm popped out without any hook catching. This whole time my six year old put five fish on the bank on a ned rig. He skunked me and I am totally fine with that! He even caught this deformed looking thing:

My first of the year The one time I didn't have my fishing license

The balance and feel in your hand is similar, however the Sierra is much more sensitive than the Fury. That is a big jump up in the line. Seriously if I just handed you a Sierra rod and you were not aware of the price you would expect the price to be double what Gary sells it for. You mentioned the Savvy series. That series was one of the biggest sellers for Dobyns, He has said numerous times he does not personally believe in micro guides but customers hounded him for a micro series. So before there was a Sierra (only been around about 1 year) and before there was a Fury series, there were two top tier Champion lines and two Savvys. He was being hounded for a rod series below $250 and that became the Savvy's. He liked the Savvy standard guide rods a lot. He has said he will leave the Savvy Micro rods alone because the customers that want it are still buying it. He was messing around and came up with a blank he could make more sensitive and lighter and that is how the Sierra rods came about. If you had one in your hand you will see the precise way the guides are on the correct side of the spine, the guides are perfectly in line, and the attention to detail in the rods finish is top notch. The rod is very comfortable and well balanced. In your hand it will feel super light thanks to good blanks, no over powering fancy finishes that deaden the rod and good quality components. The Fury line was another answer to a LOUD roar from dealers and customers for a rod below the highly competitive $150 mark. I think he said it took over two years to develope a blank and final rod he was satisfied with. The Sierras ended up falling in the same cost range as the Savvy and were more sensitive, so he dropped the standard guide Savvy rods. The price on the Sierra is about the same as a Savvy so it makes no sense to have both. Give me an email at fishnkamp@comcast.net. I have a neat way to get questions answered directly from Gary Dobyns himself. It is way cool to hear from the master wizard himself.