Leaderboard

I am home for spring break and the onslaught has begun... I expected to have a tough time today, but we did surprisingly well for the conditions. Blue bird skies, cold, and high barometric pressure. I think the only thing that saved us was the wind! Between my two brothers, my dad, and I, we landed 31 largemouth and 16 pickerel. Most of the fish were caught on a Vision 110, a few caught on some LC baits. I also landed two on a 1/2oz red rattle trap, and one on an Alabama rig. Four people in the boat throwing expensive jerkbaits and not one bite off despite the hefty number of fish that have quite the criminal record with high end jerkbaits. Edit: Water temps ranged from 48 to 50 degrees. No fish over 2.5lbs today but there were plenty of them and they were pretty! This fish weighed 2lbs flat, the reason I am holding it so far out is so we can appreciate the proportions of this fish's body, not to make it look big!

Everytime I get on this thread.

The bait monkey got me again...he is so strong and I am weak...went into bass pro to check out the sale, not really impressive but I did find more than I anticipated. The bucoo Sr was from tackle warehouse I just got it in yesterday so I snuck into the picture.

Two special Rebels. I'll put more Information In the preserving history thread.

Plus this other guy in the black & red jersey. ?

I recently purchased a few Dobyns rods (Fury, Champion) all of which are great and feel amazing. Very happy with my purchase the one that really is the most surprising is my Fury 735C. I initially bought this particular rod and intended to use it for what it recommends on the rod frogging, small swimbaits, and flipping/pitching. I was pleasantly surprised as to how much flex the tip had especially for being a Mag Heavy. The rod is 7'3" Mag Heavy power Fast action and is rated for 1/4- 1 1/2 oz lures. At first I thought there's no way a rod this stout can handle 1/4 oz but I was not intending on using it for lures that light anyway so I did not pay attention. After getting the rod however I feel that not only is it stout enough to get fish out of some thick stuff as you would be fishing when fishing a frog but if the time calls for it and I know the fish are in there but won't bite on the bigger baits I feel confident to size down and actually do some "finesse" fishing in the the thick stuff, not using light wire hooks or anything but a smaller bait and a small weight. This rod not only has the backbone you would expect with the Mag Heavy power label it carries but also has the tip to throw some lighter 1/4 Texas rigs accurately and a good distance as well. The Fury series has not disappointed yet with its feel and action. Same also applies to the Champion XP series. After handling the rods it is safe to say that yes the power does feel less then what it says. But I wouldn't say a whole power lower like some people have said I would say it's half a step down maybe even less then that (the champion series however feels spot on with its power rating). The rods feel good in the hand I personally added some U40 cork seal as I like the feel it gives me but the naked cork as I like to call it they use feels great, balance well, and are sensitive which the fact that the gods are comfortable and balanced just adds to the sensitivity. The actions are great not to stiff and not to "whippy" and the warranty is on par with the famous St. Croix warranty. Dobyns rods have a No hassle replacement warranty just send your broken rod to them with a check Fury $50 sierra $60 Champion $70 and they will send out a new one if they find that the rod broke because of defects in materials or workmanship they will refund the check. They also have an upgrade program to trade up to a higher level rod. The customer service is friendly and will answer all your questions even help you pick out which rods will be best for your applications. I even talked to Mr.Dobyns himself when trying to pick out which rods would be best. I hope this little review helps answer some of the questions about Dobyns rods that have been popping up lately in the forums that even I myself had about these rods. Thanks to all the forum member that kept recommending Dobyns to me I'm glad I went with them

Anyone remember this StrikeKing spinner spoon lure? Hootie

So Timmy Horton spoke at The Illinois Smallmouth Alliance event in Elmhurst, IL last night. He was at Bass Pro Shops event in the morning, got on a plane and was at our event by the afternoon. He could not have been a nicer guy. He talked and took pictures with everyone, spoke about his winning the tournament, and bass fishing in general, and answered questions from the audience. After he gave his talk to the crowd, he literally gave us the shirt off his back. The jersey he was wearing was the same one he wore when he won the event at Lake Okeechobee last weekend. He signed and gave it to us and I auctioned it off to the highest bidder which brought in $300! Timmy Horton Tim speaking to our guests Timmy with the high bidder for his jersey Timmy Horton and myself

I got to meet KVD by chance once at Table Rock while my wife and I were there on vacation. Nice enough to talk to me for a few minutes and take a picture with my wife and I as well as sign a hat. Very cool experience.

The weather here has been up and down lately. 70's one day and 30's today with wind. Threw spinnerbaits, swimbaits , chatterbaits and cranks. Only bites came on a crank. One 3lber and one pushing 6lbs. Gotta get out there for those pre-spawn big bites.

here is my line up 7'6 jdm zillion paired With c0ncept (c) 7'4 tatula paired with c0ncept (a) 7'2 tatula paired with lew's tournament 7'1 envy glass paired with ardent elite 7'2 phenix M1 paired with ci4 2500 7'2 phenix M1 paired with stradic mg

Returned 3 ice tip ups I didn't get to use and turned it into this.

Longer rods give you two benefits: More casting distance and more leverage on a fish/bait. However, the more you maximize these two things, the more you sacrifice accuracy in casting (placement) and subtlety and the ability to hide the rod when you're trying to sneak out of the house to fish-under-the-guise-of-running errands. Think of it in a context outside bass fishing. Surf fisherman use really long rods because they need to sling baits a loooong way and want to be able to quickly tighten a long length of line with a whip of the rod tip in order to set the hook. But, they have a pain in the butt hauling them around - or sacrifice a bit of sensitivity to use multi-part sticks. The same fish could be caught from a boat positioned more closely with a much shorter rod of the same power. I started with 6' rods, went to 6'6, and then to 7'/7'6. For most of my kayak fishing, I wish I had kept the 6'6s just because they were the best balance (to me) of casting accuracy and portability. I thought bigger was better, but it wasn't true for my tastes.

Went to Bass Pro to meet KVD & dad gummit, the bait monkey got me. Couldn't resist RES on sale & also succumbed to a Stutterstep. Plus, Bass Pro is only place local to get chrome/black baby 1 minus. Well on my way to appearing in an episode of hoarders.

I was waiting on my wife to get out of the movie theater, I so I hit up DSG and gander mountain. It's her fault, she left me to my own devices! After seeing the comments on the jawbone sunfish in another thread I thought I'd give it a try. Won't be a big loss if it's junk.

Ok buddy, don't pay too much attention to color, sight is only one of the senses bass uses to locate prey, when sight is hindered other, and ultimately more important, other senses take it's place, bass doesn't need to see the bait in order to strike it ( repeat it until you get bored and when you pull out a crank from your box and begin asking if that color works repeat it again ), when you fish water with poor visibility it's more important to select baits with high hydrodynamic signature ( fat ), with rattles ( bass can also locate silent cranks in low visibilty water ), with strong vibration, those attributes are by far much more important than the color of your bait. How do I know ? Oh well I caught my first bass ever from a pond with water so muddy you could literally plow it with a Rapala Original Floating Minnow silver black back, the absolute "wrong" bait for those conditions and it caught the fish.

A few Walmart clearance items: hooks for $1 a pack, KVD's for $3 and a Rebel for $1.50.

Homemade ones, with a Pit Boss or Rage Menace rigged vertically. A rigged Pit Boss.

SW ULTIMATE MONO XPS TNGST FINESSE SHAKY PRO JIGHEAD FINESSE TRD FINESSE TRD DROP SHOT RIG BRWN BACKPACK JIG/RATL CHUNK JIG/RATL CHUNK TENDER TUBES FISH WEIGH SCALE 3700 STOWAWAY-OPEN LURE WRAP W/ SCENT What do you guys think? Any tips/ tricks you guys know of that can help me and other bank anglers?

I've toyed with the idea of a fish finder as well but haven't done it yet. How did you do your transducer, is it a through-haul? Speaking of passing the time, I went to Bass Pro today to check out the sale. I didn't go crazy but I did find some nice deals I couldn't pass up. I've been looking for a new kayak net for a while and they had these guys marked down to 10 bucks from 17. They were too long for my liking as a kayak net so when I got home I sawed off a couple feet from the handle and put the grip back on (picture is after I modified it). They also had some Zoom plastics marked down 25% so I thought I'd try some chunks for my new jigs. They had some scatter raps down about 25% as well so I grabbed one. And get this, Seaguar Smackdown Braid....marked down almost 70% OFF. They had 10, 15, and 20lb 150yd spools for just 12.88. The higher strengths had been picked clean but I figured I'd stock up on some 15 to use on my spinning reels. I've never tried it before but I've great things about it, and for that price I couldn't say no.

I own 3 Stradic's, 2 are the Ci4 2500, They have been reliable and have given me zero issues. I bought a new Diawa Ballistic Ex 2500 last spring and IMHO would rate it above the Stradic's. Smooth as silk with a better drag. I plan on getting another Ballistic in a couple of wks.

Well actually, the longer the rod the more leverage you give to the 'fish', and take from the fisherman. Would you rather battle a 500-lb tuna with a 5-ft rod or 10-ft rod? The 'length' of a lever is only half the equation, the other half of leverage is the location of the 'fulcrum'. When we want to pry a heavy boulder from the ground, we find a long lever then place a rock fulcrum close to the boulder. When it comes to fishing-rods though, the fulcrum is on the angler's end of the lever, where increasing the length of the rod gives the fish more leverage and power. The only reason a short rod may SEEM less powerful than a long rod is because short rods are generally offered with a thinner blank and softer spine. So in order to get a true picture of 'length' as it applies to 'power', we need to compare different blank lengths of similar diameter & backbone. Roger

KVD is a Salemen , he was talking about his jerkbaits how he had all of them painted a dark Char so he could see the action of the bait when he made 50 & 60 Yard casts , sounded good . He's got good eyes if he can see 50 & 60 yard casts with his bait 6 Ft deep , sounds like a salemens lie to me , He's worth 10 billion dollars but i won't buy nothing just because he has KVD on the package our the bait. That just Me if You love his Stuff i'm glad for You but i'm not buying nothing just because his pictures on it.

Quote: "Lucky is the guy where the fish are on the structure the first time he hits it." -Buck Perry

Classic!

I've shipped quite a bit of Mega Strike and never had a complaint of it being damaged.

Can't stand using fluorocarbon fishing line.

Nice!! Sounds like a fun time! Good to know the wind didn't turn the bite off. I don't throw a chatterbait nearly as much as I should be lol. They catch quality fish and are good here in So FL. Where you using a trailer on it or throwing it bare? Did you see any spawning beds? The finger canals off US27 are loaded!

i have always been jealous of guys that are proficient with electronics. every time i've tried, my fishing seems get worse rather than better. the word that comes to mind for me when i think of electronics is "distraction". i always spend too much time with my head in the graph and not enough paying attention to what is going on around me. wish i was better at it but i doubt i ever will be. maybe this thread is a start though.

Seems to me that's gonna be a hard thing to find. Anything big enough to stand in is gonna be hard or impossible to carry by hand. I've fished outta a 12 ft jon boat for 20 yrs now. It's easy to load/unload from the back of my truck. And all I need is a battery, 30 lb trolling motor, seat cushions & my fishing gear. Plenty roomy when it's just me, but cramped with 2 people. Not too stable for standing either. Another option is is one of the little 10 ft plastic pontoon boats like a Pond Prowler or Bass Raider. There's a whole thread on here of people who really rig those things up nicely. Those little boats are stable & you can stand up in them, plus they have nice comfy seats that sit up kinda high. But they are really limited for space, especially with 2 people and fishing gear. And my experience is they don't steer the best with the trolling motor. Good news is both options are relatively inexpensive. Good luck in your search.

Just Messing With Colors , The Green On The Top Is A Color Shift Green / Gold Its Shot Over Black. Mike

@RoLo excellent points #1: understand what structure is, how to truly identify it, interpret it, and then fish it effectively. If one were to look at some of my deep water offshore structure you would not find any bass. Why? Because is pre-spawn/spawn! #2: cover; I can not tell y'all how many anglers randomly fish grass flats instead of fish the structure under! #3: timing; just because you don't get bite does not mean the bass aren't there or you tied on the wrong lure. When you drop buoys or mark a GPS ya don't do it directly over where ya gonna fish! I don't know how y'all mark a stop but I'll have 3-4 buoys or GPS waypoints each is where I position my boat allowing me the hit the structure from different angles.

scored on (3) 10'' MattLures Dead Twitch swimbaits for $30 each !! at the tackle expo in Long Beach ,Ca today i stopped by the American Tackle booth and was given some stuff to try out , (2) sets of MicroWave casting guide sets , one is the standard casting guides and the other is a Micro guide set plus a spool of Bushido flourocarbon , 16lb. line feels pretty good , very smooth , not much stretch , pretty supple for that lb. test , i'll see how it works out !!

must be for bluegills

I agree with Scaleface. Finding a compression point or expansion point in contour lines is child's play. But oddly enough, there's a high percentage of anglers who simply do not believe that it really matters that much. Even seasoned anglers I've known are easily distracted by primary points, chart-labeled hotspots and eye-catching cover "above" the waterline (i.e. Step 2, before Step 1). In any new spot, I spend a great deal of time sounding the bottom with 3D sonar before ever wetting a line. My wife can attest to the boring waiting periods while her husband is making figure 8s & tossing buoys. Trust me when I say, once you have found a site that you deem structurally superior, you have already located a holding site whether you make contact or not (keep coming back). More times than I can recall, I've been able to foretell the event well in advance. Needless to say, "Cover" is next in command, but since cover is much easier to pinpoint than structure, it doesn't carry the same importance. As Becker once said: "Too many people know where I live". Roger

I'd love to be retired in Florida.. unfortunately. I'm not near retirement. I could possibly retire in Florida. But do my job... Nope. I mean I could but I'd rather be cold than hot (while I'm working , which I spend most of my awake hours doing) , I can always layer up and then take them off as needed. In the heat I'm helpless.. what am I do to? Maybe a wet towel on the neck.. I would never consider it ! Perhaps my career choice and juvenile decisions left me in a path where I will never retire in Florida. But, I'm going to still get a torn up thumb.

If it was seal-like in the way it moved, it was an otter. Beaver dive and surface, but not that gleefully. Of course an otter's going to eat fish, but I'd prefer to look at what you're seeing as the sign of a healthy ecosystem/fishery. If there's a variety of fish-eating wildlife (and other, non-fish-consuming species) around the body of water, it means there's enough fish to keep them there. I'm sure an otter's not apt to have any more impact on the fishery in a year than a few anglers do. I'm no biologist either, but I get a chance to interact with some of the fisheries biologists from our state every month... And they are always quick to remind me that culling some bass is actually good for a fishery. So, the otter's take could even be a help to keep the population balanced and healthy.

The collective knowledge of a forum like this is truly awesome.

ARDENT -----> EEEEEEEWWWWW !!!! as we say in Spanish: Guacala !

LS was decent. Good numbers on a jerkbait. Wouldn't touch anything else, especially nothing on the bottom. Had a customer from the UK on board and he took to fishing a 110 like a champ for someone who's never fished a jerkbait, or fished for/caught a Bass. (Not a chance I was having him fish the Ned). Wind sucked there too but was able to dip out of it nicely.

Yup, it's a good length.

Musky size Heddon Crazy Crawler mouse, 1940's worth about $350! Tom

Decided to try out the new Live Target swimbaits, (blade on shad is not included) only downside so far is that they reak of chemicals. Also picked up 2 Crazy jigs, 1 Crazy Blitz (chatterbait football head) and 3 of the elite series for the trokar hooks.

Kind of a slow day with post cold front conditions but I did manage to catch one pretty nice one on a LC 78DD pointer.

still have one. right next to my silver minnow spinner.

Shad don't change color just because the water is darker or clearer. I fish the Bandit version of Tennessee shad in stained water all the time and it works very well.

Better ask me which of my reels I don't like.

My local wal-mart had watermelon red/pearl stanley ribbits for $2 a pack and culprit worms for $1.50.

I hit every Wal-Mart I drive by.Every one of them is completely different in what they carry.You never know when you'll find it.

Every bass fisherman should have a good scale along with a tape measure to measure the length and girth of a big bass. Never underestimate what you can catch from the bank, since people catch big bass from the bank all the time, and many of those bass are in the double digit category.