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Bass don't have hands, set the hook anytime you feel anything different and wait, swings are free. Best strike indicator is any slight line movement or added weight when using Senko's. Tom

Congratulations to Jordan Lee – 2017 Bassmaster Classic Champion ! Coming from well down the leader board, and not allowing mechanical problems with his Outboard on this final day, derail him, Mr. Lee over came the largest deficit in Classic history to win - Pretty Awesome. I enjoyed the heck out of this one. btw - Quantum wins another one. A-Jay

More generally the bite on a soft plastic is tap-tap. And here's my tip: Loose the weight, the action of a Senko is best when fished weightless.

whats a 5ft6 rod for? The 1970s

Had 30lbs today and my dad had 14lbs in our club tournament. Our best 5 combined was 33lbs. I had 3 fish between 7- 10lbs jump off. My big fish i caught was 9.5lbs. Lots of tournaments coming up, but I'd be willing to share some info with y'all by pm if you want it.

Got out on the local reservoir yesterday. While the water was still only 45 degrees the female largemouth are already hanging around the spawning flats. The other day I was catching males in 3-4 feet of water around laydowns. Yesterday, with the cloud cover, the females were also in 3-4 feet of water but not tight to any wood cover. I think they were roaming around looking for something to eat. A 1/2 ounce jig with a Tiny Paca Craw swum along the bottom with frequent long pauses did the trick.

Yesterday 3/ 25/17. Not a giant, but it's a start. Chatterbait with Zoom Superfluke trailer. Hootie

Nine dollars is outrageous for a Trap .

The weather here has still been 40's one day 70's the next. Went out and threw cranks and swimbaits. Had 3 or 4 fish come unbuttoned on both lures but did manage to land 8. Biggest was a chunky 5 and a half lb girl.

Perfect for those times when a Keitech 2.8 is just a hair too big! (0.05")

not again, please do some research! Tom

Not to mention his first day struggle with 8 lbs... wow. I think the overlooked story might be Steve Kennedy, he came oh-so close.

If I catch a bass on my first cast and then don't catch another for a few hours, I figure one of three things: That bass is a blabbermouth & told all the other bass to run (swim) away once he was released; That bass has eaten everything, including other bass, who lived anywhere near him; That bass is a social outcast, no other fish wants to be near him & he only hit my lure because he was looking for a friend.

Detecting bites & strikes while using different techniques & presentations is part if the process of learning how to effectively fish. So simply choosing a bait, tying it on and casting it out there is only part of the process. Fishing it properly to illicit a strike & then actually detecting it, are both something that takes some time for each angler. Some longer than others. I would not call this process of learning “unfortunate” by any means – more like at least half the fun. Don’t rush it – just go fishing and pay attention. The BR members who are kind enough to offer you advice here, many of which have decades of experience & knowledge, have all gone through the same thing at one time or another and manage to somehow put it all together and catch bass. You will too. There's no secret or special 'way', just what works for each basshead. Like KVD always says “It’s all about attitude”. A-Jay

You're getting pretty good at these carvings..very realistic.

If you purposely don't bring a scale with you, you will never know if you have a new PB.

"Traps" expensive ? Whada ........ ?

Give it 5 years and people will swear it's the best crankbait around and they'll be going for $20 on ebay

No more Walmart bargain posts, ok!? Please, Virginia Walmarts completely ignore all other states. In FAAACT, I bet they even check this site for deals elsewhere and decide NOT to follow suit. Please!!!

Brand names like Bomber, Bandit, Bill Lewis and Norman crank baits have good hooks, run good out of the box for decades, $5-$6 price range you can't go wrong. Tom

My new PB!!! Shaky head creature bait. Missile baits d-Bomb. 5 pounds 14 ounces!

I went to a Sportshow...

Not saying the Tatula CT isn't better, probably is...but are you all basing on your experience with the PQ 2? Or just because it says Daiwa and Shimano on the reel. I really think you shouldn't make claims unless you used the reel too.

Thank you guys- I'm not a big poster but always check in. I think Glenn and his wife have done a great job over the years....I'm a big fan! z

This is the very first video showing the brand new RageTail 2 3/4" Swimmer. Big-O gave us an exclusive look. Check this out!

Topwater.....pistol gripped short rods for great accuracy around a lot of cover or docks.

I throw mostly a Rat-L-Trap. Got hooked on that brand years ago. Hard to convince me anything is better but I have patterns on Super Spots and Red Eyes that are productive. I'm a river rat and have settled on the 1/4 oz. Mini Traps. Feel it's the all around trap size for me. Ive posted this many times. And this is only my opinion. Not gospel, and not trying to push it. But if I were to only have three with me it would be a chrome with black back, chrome with a blue back and a gold with a black back. If I had to start out buying a few those would be it. Dont know now where you are looking but most Traps are $4.99 - $5.50. In my area Wally World has little to nothing. Buy the patterns you want on line. What's nice about a Trap it's easy to fish/ swim it to match contour. Just try it. You could check Wally World for some. The Spots were $1.50 and Traps were $3.00 on clearance sale Check it out. I believe Rapala is doing away with the Rattling Rap. See they have been on sale also. The $1.96 bin at Wally has a lot of these Spots in it also. The patterns do float my boat but they will catch fish.

A little late in responding, but yes, it's him. Got it straight from him, face-to-face.

Stanley Mitchell was 21 when he won in 1981 Bryan Kerchal was 23 & the only amateur to win Great finish none the less!

The Tats are a good deal especially on the auction site deals. I'd stop short of calling them bullet proof and are not diy friendly if/when the time comes. For bullet proof look for left over Shimano e or g series. That's still a little over stated but more applicable than with the tats I think.

If that were the case it wouldn't crank smoothly. Sounds like the drag is backed off all the way. It's the only way the handle can turn without the main gear, pinion and spool turning.

I currently have a 130g saltwater tank, with a 40g sump underneath Here is a overall shot. It has more coral and fish in it now, but still has the same set up. 2016-12-20_09-31-18 by Shawn D, on Flickr 2017-03-18_08-02-33 by Shawn D, on Flickr

Put a safety pin through the eye hole and close it.

I have one of those too that I can't wait to toss this year. I have heard that smallies in particular are very curious fish, maybe because craws are a staple in their diet, especially River fish. To the results, I found that some baits showed a wider frequency range, while others had a more narrow range. Some baits were centered on the top of the range while others were centered on the bottom. Haven't analyzed the results fully yet, but the biggest test will be on the water. I will say that comparing the RES, RES 2 Tap, XR 50, Bill Lewis Trap, and a Rattling Rap, they were all in the same frequency range, so that must be pretty important. Now of course some were louder, different rattle sound, but the frequencies were pretty consistent across brands. One thing I didn't do was test multiples of other brands to see if they were more consistent than the RESs. This was a really interesting experiment, now I will let the fish finalize the results:)

What a freaking amazing classic. I believe he's the youngest ever. Nine years older than I am and won a bassmaster classic. Unbelievable comeback.

I buy all of my reels from eBay, including my 3 CTs. Those sellers on eBay are legit. Most of them are retail stores that just also sell items for cheaper on eBay. Never had any issues. They've all clearly been brand new reels. Triacetackle2016 and departureoutdoors are two I've had great transactions with. Departure got me my ct from Cali to FL in 3 days.

Last year, tournament after tournament, at the final weigh-in I would ask myself "why didn't I choose Jordan Lee?" I have believed in his abilities and potential since I first saw him on the college trail and I truly believe that he will be both a Classic & AOY winner multiple times in his life. Yet tournament after tournament, I would find a reason to choose someone else in his bucket. I never claimed to be bright... I finally wised up and took him this week in bucket C. Wow, 56-10 on 12 fish. What a performance...

I use mono to prevent the lure from over running the line and fouling the front hook. Jerk bait have a diving bill for a reason, FC line sinks in front of the lure on longer pauses, can't see any reason to use it. Sunline Armillo Defier 11lb has very little "stretch" for mono line and good for jerk baits. The majority of my hooked bass happen working the lure. Tom

The smaller females are hitting the banks so that's always my sign to start throwing a bream colored chatterbait. I caught three fish in the 3.5 to 4lb range. I didn't get a picture of the first. I had a hell of a time getting her released. Oh and Go Ducks! First Final Four since before the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!

Shoot down 93 and hit Squam Lake. A-Jay

The good news is that there are about a dozen threads in this forum detailing exactly that

Got on my first frog bite this past Tuesday. This was the 2nd biggest out of the dozen that I caught. My friend was too far away to keep the bigger one out of the water that long to take a pic. All these came on a white R2S frog, the original version.

Got about 3 hours in tonight after the wife got home from work. I caught 2 or 3 small spotted bass and 1 little smallmouth. Definitely not great but much better than going to get groceries!

Its literally called the Pro Qualifier 2.Not sure you can get any more accurate than that.

Just like the prior pq the gen2 is a good value at retail and even better on sale. Probably not going to unseat any name brand models from their current spot in the marketplace.

Hey all, this is totally legit. Kevin personally asked Glenn to let us all know he's doing this and to take a look.

Nope. Those guys are hardcore; they use JJ's on everything.

I can't imagine it's any better than a Tatula CT for $100 on the Ebay. I imagine it's a good reel though.

Nothing wrong with Storm at all.

Id take a lews mach 2 combo and spend the rest on my kid