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My last fishing report was about a PB on a drop shot... and here is another! Went out today to my local tidal creek off of the Potomac. Tide was incoming when I got there, and according to the other anglers on the bank, bite was good. Partly cloudy skies, temperature in the 50s. I threw a bunch of different baits - started with chatterbait and t-rigged craw, moved through lipless, swimjig, and senko. But my only success on the day came on a drop shot thrown on a 7' ML *** on a Shimano NASCI reel, rigged up with 10lb braid to an 8lb mono leader, using a 1/0 Gamakatsu drop shot hook 2' above a 1/8oz. tungsten drop shot weight. I threw a roboworm for a bit, but caught my fish on a Zoom Z-drop in green pumpkin, with the tail dipped in chartreuse JJ's magic. I hooked into two fish and lost them when they jumped (I am wondering if the ML rod isn't enough to set the hook). My third fish felt like a snakehead by the way it was fighting. Fortunately I had a friend there who was able to help me land it. Ended up being my new PB at 5.3lbs! Couldn't be happier!

Recently got some of these. Yes, they sent me some to review. And before anybody starts pizza get and moaning about us mods talking up our sponsor's products, allow me to say this. If I get something I like, I will talk about it. If I don't like it, you wont here about from me. I don't like to bad mouth anybody, or their products. What I'm going to do is give my opinions. Opinions are based on experiences. We don't all have the same experiences, so our opinions are necessarily different. The fact that a particular bait doesn't work for me, doesn't always mean the bait is junk. It's much more likely I don't know how to fish it, or it's the wrong time of year, or wrong body of water for that particular bait. Lots of reasons to have no success with any bait. I also believe in sharing. Just last week I sent out four packages to different Bass Resource members, containing an assortment of baits I received from various sponsors. If they send me multiples of anything, I'm going to send some to somebody, with the caveat that they write a review as well. This time I picked four guys who posted in the military service thread about their service. Got a twofer out of that. I get to say thank you for,your service, and the sponsor gets their product distributed further, and maybe gets a good review. Everybody wins. So, about the frog. I like frogs. Who doesn't. Top water Bass fishing is just about as much fun as you can have with your pants on. And frog fishing is my favorite way to fish on top. So, for me, there aren't really any bad frogs. Just some are better, in one way or another. I didn't catch any fish on the frog. Didn't expect to. It's still winter here in Illinois and the water is cold and murky. I just wanted to get out, away from the rod building bench, and take a little break. I threw some finesse stuff for while, with no succes, and while looking for something else to throw came across one of the baits Pradco sent me; a Booyah Pad Crasher frog. No weight was given on the package. My scale said 0.52oz. There's a small, flat weight in the back end. I'd guess it's around 1/8oz. Maybe a hair more. I didn't take it out to weigh it. I did try to knock it out. I slung it into a chunk rock bank several times, trying to knock the weight out, and did not manage to dislodge it. Not saying it couldn't be done, but I didn't manage it. Plus one for,the Pad Crasher. The bottom of the front features a nice ramp from the middle of the bottom to the hook. This makes it very easy to "walk the frog". Plus two. Even easier if you trim the legs a bit. The fine rubber strand legs are about 3.5" long. Nice movement in the water at rest, but long enough to slightly hinder walking the bait. The nice ramped bottom makes it easy to walk, and should make it easy to slide up on a lily pad. Plus three. The frog will take on water. Almost all will. It's easy to squeeze out. But you won't have to do that as often with this frog. It has an extra hole, higher up in the back that allows water to drain. A nice little addition, somebody should have thought of sooner. Plus four. I made maybe fifty casts, and the Pad Crasher landed upright every time. Not all frogs will do that. Plus five. Now the minus. The hooks. It has the standard dual frog hook. This is a stout hook. I could not bend it by hand, and I'm not a puny little geek. I'm a big, strong one. It took two pairs of pliers to bend the hooks points out a little bit. Like almost all frogs, the hooks are bent in slightly. Designed to make the bait more weedless. In my opinion, this means it's designed to make it more fishless. Bending the hooks out will increase your hookup percentage. A lot. It comes in a smaller size. I don't have any of those. Yet. Available in a dozen colors on TW, for $6.69. That's at the lower end of the price range for frogs. Another plus. I have a 3700 box full of frogs. About 80% of them are Ish's Phat frogs. I wont be throwing any of those away, but I will be making room in that box for more Pad Crashers.

Again!

Fishing for bass on beds is one of the thread subjects that can & often does inspired some heated debated and has closed up more than a thread or two in the past. As a younger human I was all about it. Where most all of my angling lessons came from the bank, seeing the biggest bass I would most likely see all season 5 feet away was always very exciting. And even today, the site of an oversized super fatty camped out in shallow water, still hears me utter the obligatory "WOW" ! - But these days, I choose not to target beds directly, instead prefer to move out a bit to look for staging fish. However, and this is something that can't really be overlooked, I fully understand that when looking at the big picture, catching a ripe, pre-spawn female in 10 ft is not all that different from targeting the bed fish. This fish may have been on a bed 10 minutes prior and just moved or may be simply waiting to move up in 10 minutes. So being fully aware of this, I am not under the illusion that when I'm using this technique, it is not somehow interfering with the spawning process; because in reality I most certainly am. Just because I may not have 'sight fished' to catch this fish doesn't erase the fact that that there is some unnatural interruption to the whole deal. Now what effect this has on a population in the long run, can't say. But bass fishing has been going on for a while. It's had it's ups I downs. The bass still seem to be there despite all of this and if history is any type of guideline, will continue to somehow manage to be there again next year. So where it's legal, go for it if that's your thing. In the end, Bassheads are gonna do what they do, and so are the bass. A-Jay

Got out this past weekend and hit a flurry of good ones on a point next to a channel swing. Caught 5 in a matter of 25 minutes that went for 22lbs. Had a 5 and a 7.5 three casts apart. Everything came on the megabass vision 110 in ito natural

I don't fish beds. Not for any ethical reason. Don't wish to get into the "ethics" of the situation. There aren't any. If it's legal, it's legal. It it isn't legal, it isn't legal. End of story. I don't do it because the big fish on the bed is too hard to catch. The little fish on the bed are fairly easy to catch. I look for beds, in season, and then fish the closest drop into deep water for pre and post spawn fish. Both of which are easier to catch than bed fish. Sitting on a bed for an extended period of time, trying to catch a large fish I can see, and who can see me, is, for me an exercise in frustration.

This is a very sensitive subject that some guys get really emotional about. I see both sides of the argument, but since there's no laws against it, whether it's "right or wrong", is going to depend on the fisherman's moral compass. It's very exciting to be able to watch the fish and see how they react to a bait and to try to get them to bite. Then there's obvious concern about things like if a bunch of fish are caught off beds in tournaments and taken to weigh in, those beds are most likely lost. If the lake has a healthy population of fish, that may not be an issue though.

Best deal was probably the pflueger presidents at $30

I went to a local reservoir today in search of a jerkbait bite. My friend was out there recently and crushed them, the water was 50-51 degrees when he fished and fish were up shallow cruising and cooperating well. Today when I got on the water, the temperature was 46 degrees, clouds prevented the water from heating up and it only got to 47 by the time I left. The bite was tough, I had to fish really slowly and I couldn't really make sense of where my bites were occurring and why. On top of that, there was a rowing meet taking place, so there was a significant amount of boat wake that I think negatively affected the bite. I caught 11 bass, most of which were about a pound. I did find two studs though, a 4.18 and a 5.24. Both big fish came from the mouths of coves in about 10 FOW, and I tried to duplicate the bite but it didn't happen. I was fishing a vision 110, and pausing it for 5-10 seconds at a time was the only way I could get bit. This was my first time catching numbers of fish working a jerkbait slowly so I'm pretty happy with it!

Yeah, I've done near 10' lengths off my garage door tracks with weights and a static ruler as well as 15' lengths along the floor with a force gauge and a taped in place measuring device. Have also done 24 hour creep tests at 50% line rating. Used micrometer to measure all diameters to 4 decimals, plotted all points (stress vs strain) on a graph and compared multiple samples adjusting for diameter (tensile strength). All fun stuff. You get some nice graphs, but you can't pick out yield points from the curves. Nylons tend to always stay in the elastic region (based on measuring permanent deformation after elongation testing and creep measurements) while fluorocarbon goes all over the map depending upon specific sample. It actually takes very little force in some cases to generate permanent deformation. Some low stretch copolys do better than fluoros, and you end up with a mix of results. The real question to me seems more around our ability as anglers to actually be able to detect small differences in line elongation. Can you really tell the difference between a line with 16% "stretch" and a line with 13.5% "stretch" at a given force, or does knowing the data from your tests beforehand bias your perception otherwise? I'm personally not sold on "stretch" as a key metric for sensitivity unless taken to the extremes like comparing braids and super lines (2-6%) to monofilaments (20-35%+). ...and I too totally appreciate the tests like what FryDog did. I love the quest for data and answers, even if the ultimate outcome is somewhat limited or subjective. It's why I've spent so much time doing the same thing myself

Found out my Cabela's had the swing shad for $2.49 a pack. Had to stock up. Also picked up some 1.5 flats and weighted hooks.

I think the complaints are funny. Would they rather we not have any of their products, and lie? The fact is, most fishing companies aren't out to make a crummy product. Some do a better job than others. Some are good enough. Some are excellent. A good deal of what is displayed to the right is all very good stuff. Some, I've already been using for years. Some have changed my mind about their stuff, once I got to use them. Nice review on the frog. I've been using the Pad Crashers for a couple years now. They are a solid bait, good fish catcher.

So, the transition is complete. Time will tell, but the initial return has been nice! A new PB smallie for me - 5.82 lbs! Daiwa Tatula CT!

I fish for trout with bass pattern swimbaits.

Just as prey items don't take new form/color after dark

I'm a recreational fisherman and stock hooks work well enough for me . If I have to replace them i use inexpensive Mustad or VMC round bends . Some lures require short shanks because the hangers are to close . I fish hard baits a lot and dont see need to mass replace the hooks .

I throw the same lures at night that I throw during the day!

I'll admit I'm not a classically-trained scientist and this test could be done with a more sophisticated approach and equipment I'm sure. But the reason I decided to conduct this test in the first place was because I bought all kinds of advertised "low-stretch" fluorocarbon, but when I used those lines, my instincts were - that these lines stretched as much or more than monofilament. And having fished all of these lines in the test (I was actually hoping to find a true low-stretch fluorocarbon) I have to say that the test results were extremely close to my on-the-water experience with each of these lines.

St. Croix - Avid Series Spinning Rods (AVS70MF)

Try Yo-Zuri Hybrid. I use either 10 lb or 12 lb on the baitcaster I use for squarebills and smaller cranks. As close to best of both worlds when comparing the advantages of mono or fluorocarbon and fewer of the disadvantages. A lot of guys on this site use that particular line with good success.

So should be the last Walmart I go to because my wife will kill me if I keep going. I found an Abu Garcia Vengeance 6'6" MH/F as my beater rod for my time in NC for work. It was 25 dollars. I also picked up Manns 1- for 2 bucks each, 2 Strike King Shime Sticks Black Blue tip 1.50, 2 Rage Blades Tour grade black blue 3/8 for 3 bucks, 1 Z Man Chatterbait 3.97, 1 Arkie Jig and 1 Booyah Baby Boo Jig and pack of 1/4 oz gremlin bullet weights. All total 57 bucks.

Aiden is 10 yes old, this is his 5th yr, caught his first bass on a fluke. This is also his 2nd yr with a baitcaster!

Finally my Walmart had some decent stuff in clearance. I picked up this light action Abu Garcia Vigilante rod for $18

You're getting notifications of "Likes" from posts you made 3 years ago

I'm straight braid as well. No leaders, they're unnecessary and just ad another complication that can go wrong. No backing either, straight braid to reel with a little electrical tape to prevent slipping. My fishing life is so less complicated now and I love it. My hookup rate is much improved, I almost never have a backlash but when I do, it's simple to pull out and I don't worry about lack of stretch. I fish with the drag a little looser, problem solved...if there was one.

Hmmm.... I've fished shakyhead, cranks and topwaters with a 14" or longer tag line just to prove to myself the bass don't care. I haven't thrown a traditional Texas-rigged worm in nearly a decade, or a Carolina rig in nearly 2 decades. I honestly can't remember the last spinnerbait fish I caught. I've spent days not setting the hook on fish just because I wanted to see how long they'd hold certain baits. I only have a single bait caster at the moment spooled with mono, and only 1 spooled with braid (frog rod). Everything else is straight fluorocarbon. I haven't used any type of scent or spray in nearly 30 years.

Don't forget there is another component between bait and hook that you can downsize to get a different effect as well. Guys always talk about hooks but forget about the split rings. It doesn't take much weight savings the change the performance of a 1/2 oz and under bait.

No. I don't fish to fish on beds. IME -years of observing on small waters- it's a destructive practice. I get to fish a fair amount and just don't need to make a vulnerable male bass's job any tougher. I choose not to participate. Will it impact populations? Not necessarily -esp on larger waters, and esp in the S apparently.

Bass do not morph into a new creature because the sunset!

One problem with the Academy website, they often mislabel things, at least when it comes to fishing tackle. That jerkbait is labeled as floating, but is actually a suspending bait. The bait you're looking at from Ebay is just a 110 mm blank, probably from Predator or similar website, and then painted. They may be very nice, or if they don't get the right amount of paint and sealant on them, they might sink tail down, might float, you can't ever really tell. I have a bunch of custom 110 painted blanks that a friend does for me and they work very well.

I'd use it for jerkbaits and topwaters like you said. I picked a few up for a steal a few months ago and they're nice rods for the money.

Good thing so few of you guys mentioned rivers. Bass hate rivers. They especially hate the St. Lawrence, Niagra, and Susquehanna rivers. There are absolutely no bass in them. Might as well not even bother fishing them.

I've had good luck with a big black colorado blade spinnerbait

That's one of the top reasons to use a leader with braid, bank or not. I want to be able to break off cleanly and not disturb the spot.

I don't know if it's blasphemous, But I can never bring myself to leave any tackle behind in the truck. Even if I'm fishing a swamp out of a kayak that's 100% covered in pads and vegetation and the only thing ill be doing is froggin and punchin...I still have to have my three tackle boxes of jerk baits and crank baits in the boat. I don't know why...It's my tackle and i feel warm and fuzzy when it's with me. makes me feel like gollum sometimes. "My precious!"

You're good - the point is to go fishin' and do some catchin' - size is secondary! I've posted some photos of real small dinks with my new gear but by golly they had genuine fish slime on 'em

Those Arashis were a nice pickup.I love that crank.

My oldest was about 6 months the first time he went in the boat, edit courtesy of @buzzed bait His first time meeting a fish. This past year was the first time he'd really fished, he was 2 at that point. I started him with a Zebco Dock Demon rod and 20 size President spinning reel. Now he's 3 and gotten pretty good at reeling, even has several solo catches under his belt and looks like a seasoned vet while posing with his fish. Our trips are always short, when he's done, we're done. I try to make sure they're his idea as much as possible and that wherever we go has a very healthy population of readily catchable fish. I feel like I'm doing something right because barely a day goes by that he doesn't ask if we can go fishing. Going to be time for him to graduate to a little better rod than the one he has.

Jon and I ventured out to Linn Valley for the first time yesterday. It was slow like I expected, but we had probably around 2 dozen fish with my green one being the largest.

Relative to stretch, testing shows that it is not whether it is flouro or mono, the stretch is associated with specific line characteristics. So forget about that attribute of FC. Everyone has their own opinion, but there are a few characteristics of the lines that are not opinions, but are scientific facts. One is that FC sinks since its specific gravity is 1.5 times that of mono or braid. therefore it sinks better than the others, and is not suitable for surface lure casting. Another is that braid has almost if not zero stretch, and a much smaller diameter for the same pound test as mono or FC, so it is good for situations where you want max sensitivity, or ability to feel subtle bites. And if trolling or long casting, due to its small diameter, it will more easily allow you to go deep. It is my opinion that FC is less manageable than mono or braid for both spinning and bait casting setups, but that is not universally agreed to Some can make it work, and others, like me, cannot. I will use it only for very specific applications, and at the lower pound tests. It generally is quite stiff and harder to manage than the other lines. I don't think many will argue that FC is more fragile than the others when trying to free a backlash. When it gets a little kinked , it will break. Braid takes specific knots to hold properly. It is slippery. Same to some degree with FC. Lubricate all knots with all lines, but FC is really sensitive to not doing so. All lines have their strengths and weaknesses. I personally think that FC has too many weaknesses to justify it in most applications.

St Croix premier series rod, pro Max bait caster (casting combo) Cheap walmart $30 spinning combo Pfluger president Reel (spinning) getting st croix rod for spinning within a month

Eastern Mass we iced out last weekend as it was in the 70s for 2 days but this weekends frigid temps skimmed the ponds and lake back over.I just want to go fishing! Love this thread idea by the way.

Club tournaments , I always gave the non boater plenty of opportunities . If we were going down a bank we took turns making first cast at cover. It was a fun competition and him or i better make the first cast count because it is open game after that . Three anglers won tourneys from the back seat of my boat . I didnt care who won as long as it came from my boat . I also won two times from the back .

So here's what I'd say mine is.... I hate jigs. I really have given them a good shake. I probably have 10-15 great Siebert jigs that just hang on a peghook on my bait board. I don't use, and won't use Flouro anymore other than the occasional leader. Which I'm quickly eliminating leaders from any of my fishing...which segways into... I use braid for EVERYthing. It's strong, casts well, has almost no memory. I used to use mono, and for a brief time flouro, but I lost some GREAT fish that wouldn't have been lost if I used braid. So I made the switch and the confidence is reassuring. I'm right handed - exclusively use left hand reels, I guess a carryover from my left hand spinning reels I love spybaits, and I love the quality of Duo Realis spybaits, but I realistically almost never catch anything with them Out of ALLLLLL the lures in my arsenal and tackle bags, I really only do consistently well with about 7 of them. I've considered just getting a small tackle bag and just only carrying the ones I know I'll catch with, but I haven't yet brought myself to that level of I-don't-need-ism.

The ice has been gone for about a week or so here in central Michigan. Not sure on the water temp but I'm itching to get out and give it a shot. Head south A-Jay open water all over!

Spring time is such a fun season in Michigan - Both weeks. A-Jay

I had to have one more jerkbait... It's only one more. I swear. And my gf told me that it was OK ?

Got in the Lauda, X4 and TDZ yesterday already got some good fish on them