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Chronarch MGL on Smoke rod using paddletail yo yoing off bottom. Right at 18" little over 3 pounds I freed this robin from some braid that it got tangled in. Knotted around its neck and both feet/legs it was in a perdickerment. I only had long nose pliers with wire cutter so it wasnt very easy being gentle around its neck took about 45 minutes to get all braid off of it. It looked away camera shy and all.

Most anglers try forcing jigs through cover which is all wrong, ya gotta finesse em through. When you feel the jig starting to load up...stop! Release the pressure, pull up until you feel heaviness again but apply slightly more pressure, then release; repeat until the jig breaks free. You want the motion to be similar to & as fast as working a shaky head, you're just applying more pressure each time. Once the jig slips free...ya might wanna hold on...tight! Will work with all jig types

It catches more fish if you call it a bladed jig

I have introduced a few hundred 6 to 8 year old boys and girls to bass fishing using a split shot rig on spinning tackle. It takes about 5 minutes to show them how to cast and tie on a hook, rig a soft plastic 4 1/2" curl tail worm. You will be surprised how fast the learn and numbers of bass they catch. I rig up using round 1/8 oz split shot about 14" above a size 1 straight shank light wire worm hook, 8 lb test mono, bulk 100 bag of oxblood red flake Roboworms weedless hooked on medium spinning tackle most if the dads have for trout fishing. The key is doing this during the Spring with good weather where you know some bass are located. Let the kids fish at thier own pace after making a cast and showing them how to do it. Good luck, well worth the effort. Tom

Congratulations to Dominic Montalto for catching a 16 pound,12 ounce bass while fishing from the shore in Florida.His bass is one of the biggest bass caught in recent history and was close to breaking the official state record.He released his bass so she still has potential to grow even bigger than the current state record.

I'm Batman! No retirement, no healthcare and my boss treats me like &#@%!

For starters, be sure to use a streamlined jig with a spire-point jighead (swim-jig) and low-swept weedguard (avoid weedguards that form a square corner with the jighead). When your jig stalls in cover, instead of bulling it thru the sticking point, coax it gently by applying and releasing pressure until the jig makes it to a clearing. In addition, drop down to a 1/4 oz jig or less to negotiate a troubled bottom. Roger

Found this little guy floating/swimming lazily on his side. I scooped him up out of the water to snap a quick pic, and he flopped out of my hand. I thought for sure he was dead, but I put him back in the water and he swam away. Definitely the smallest bass I've ever "caught". And I also saw this one cruising rip rap for shad, two casts and he took the lure.

Nothing. I'm retired. But, when I had a job, here's the list. I started out as the general manager in a production woodworking shop. Did that for seven years. The next four years, I made wood clock cases for a company on Cape Cod. Grandmother, grandfather, wall and mantle clocks as well as making kits for them. After that, I did this for twenty some years. You'll notice the wheelhouse before (above) and after (below) I rebuilt it. After lobstering, I made fiberglass race car bodies. These cars are not painted. The color is in the gel coat.

I am a firm believer that a job or career should "satisfy" a person. It's the only way to make it through life because... let's face it... sometimes life is a grind. I will turn 50 this year but when I was in high school my parents made me take the AIMS test. It tests aptitudes on a variety of subject matter and at the end spits out a list of careers for which your personality is best suited and explains why this is so. I said yeah BS and went about my life choosing my own path based on my own set of criteria. When I was 33 years old my wife and high school sweetheart died from cancer. We fought it tooth and nail for a year. Her death was horrible and devastating. But.... it gave me the chance to look at everything in my life and make changes. After all... I had a fresh slate so to speak. I was a graphic designer at the time. It satisfied part of me but I was still mentally exhausted when I got home each night. Not to mention long hours and low pay. But it was fun!! I made a list of what I liked about my job and a list of what I didn't. Boiling it down I like working with my hands and I like the satisfaction of making something work that was broken. I am an introvert and so I get energy from working alone. A friend suggested watchmaking. Today I am a certified watchmaker and have been working in a Rolex dealership for the past 14 years. I get to work on the world's finest time pieces and have the satisfaction of seeing the watch running at the end of my day. I love it love it love it. I go home and have energy for hobbies and life in general. Now the story comes full circle. I found my AIMS test folder the other day. And wouldn't you know it... watchmaking was listed. Wow. If I had only payed attention I could have done this much sooner. I'll put the link below. Look into it or something like it. Good luck. -Danny https://www.aimstesting.org/faq/

I can't wait for the 7.8...

I work for a not for profit organization. Our goal is to keep disabled and developmentally disabled individuals in the community rather than going into nursing homes or institutions. I worked in big business for many years. Made companies lots of money and felt empty inside. Then I got laid off. That was when I took a look at my life and decided my next job had to be different. I help people now and its a great feeling.

If I had to pull my boat to Mexico, I'd have to apply for citizenship because I couldn't afford to pull it home and I sure wouldn't leave it there.

It's an old Bomber A model, the smallest one had that shallow running lip.

Snuck out after dinner and hit a local pond before dark. Caught 4 including these 2 big ones. One was prob around 5 and the other had to be close to 7. It was really long. Everything hit an Academy popper really close to the banks. Not bad for about an hr of fishing.

A little Plopper at dusk. I hit a few on a Rage lizard too, but the lizard bite isn't on yet.

First cast. Hung the bottom and lost lure. The end.

I would go to Toledo Bend and teach Catt how catch big bass. Tom

Got my best of the year yesterday. A hair over 4.

Got out again today although it wasn’t until about noon. The light & variable winds looked & felt a lot more like a 15 Kt Easterly Cold slap in the face. Either way it was tough sledding until about 4 pm when the winds let up. After doing nothing with a tube & an assortment of jerkbaits, a rage bug on a little football head got me on the board. After that I relocated & found a few smallies that were finally interested in my jerkbait. Bite only lasted about 30 minutes but I was glad to have it. Weekend looks like a washout but I’m going to try and wedge in an early morning trip tomorrow before the deluge. A-Jay

I am retired USCG, but I'd like to suggest the PFT Field. Professional Food Taster. The hours are reasonable & I think there's a decent dental plan, but the lunch breaks are very short. A-Jay

I knew right away it was a bomber. Besides rapala they are my favorite cranks.

My evening outing tonight was a carbon copy of last night. Struggled to get anything going for largemouth, and with about half an hour of daylight left pulled into a smallmouth spot and caught a couple more good ones over 4lbs.

Try not filling the spool quite as full, closing the bail manually and give the line a tug, line conditioner (LCD l&l) and consider 15-20# braid.

Caught using BPS black buzz bait. I didn't weigh her, but she felt about 6.5 lbs. She fought like a 1 lber; no fight when I dragged her through the grass... must be weak from spawning?

I work for a private contractor remodeling homes. Often looked down on by people with an abundance of money... As if I'm a dirty peasant. But if it wasn't for people like me they wouldn't have a home to live in or a car to drive ! Work, family and fishin.

Thanks everyone for the interest and nice comments on my baits. Here are some new ones I recently finished for a member.

Why is that hard to believe? I don't remember anybody saying bass were line shy until the companies who sell FC lines told us they were!

Sunday 7:00-12:00, Wind varied 0-15 ENE, bright sun, total clouds, brief showers, water dropped some, clariety clear on the flats, stained in the canals, no current. I picked up Dave (Canesfan) early and we went to Lox road ramps. We fished the spoil bank on the flat side from east to west. I started with a HB Frog and Dave started with a Chatterbait. We had no action on either of these baits. After 20 minutes I switch to a zoom u-vibe and started catching right away. The action was slow but steady throwing plastics. The bass were not big but willing to play. After drifting for several miles along the spoil bank we went to the north weed wall on the flat and caught a bunch in the small pad clumps isolated on the flat. We began running out of water in the thick weeds so we headed back to the spoil bank and caught a bunch more. We threw u-vibes, senkos, beavers, and trick worms all catching fish. We ended at noon catching 28 bass between the two of us. The largest were in the 2 pound range. It was a fun day with the wind helping us stay in stealth mode, and off the trolling motor. Also a lot of bass were caught on long casts since the water was so clear and we didnt want to spook them. Vegetation in real thick in some areas and with limited water its hard to get around in some areas. Before leaving we went to the main canal and fished the drop off ledge and the deep water. Neither of us got even a bite in the canal. The flat was where it was at on this day.

I liked your idea of using braided line with a fluorocarbon leader. In fact, I would make only one small change, I'd ditch the fluorocarbon leader! Roger

You definitely can !??? I've had much success hopping it off bottom and pulling it though weeds. Lol this notion that you HAVE to use it like a spinner bait makes me chuckle. Even if that was "how it was intended to be fished when it was designed " there's more than one way to skin a cat brother . Chatterbaits are awesome. I like the "freedom" versions where you can swap hooks .

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ I've been very fortune to have been to my own personal Bucket list local - Lake Baccarac In Mexico. And I'm pretty sure that if I did some how manage to do 30 straight days there - my mind would explode ~ A-Jay

i started with bmx (Hutch, GT Mach 1, GT Pro Performer). i prefer the dirt to the pavement now days. i love this thing. a bigger smile comes to my face when riding this thing than when fishing my favorite combo. wouldnt give up fishing for it though.

Ummmm.... It's impressive regardless of circumstances! Seen as how the world record is 22+ pounds. And bass have been confirmed to get 25 + lbs... This is not far fetched to me at all... Seen as how it is a FLORIDA bass and a very high percentage of "huge" bass in this country are Florida strain.... I'm gonna guess 28" ? Lol My PB was 24". I doubt I'll ever bust it in Ohio. Maybe I'll come down to Florida and do some bank fishing soflabasser style. Kudos to the kid . Right place right time. Happy for him .

Yes plenty of pictures and he's officially in the TrophyCatch Hall of Fame Club.It makes me happy seeing a young man catching a bass that big from land in Florida and hope the state record gets broken either by him or a young man/woman who just fishes for fun.

Thank you! Another hoosier here as well. Nice to see someone from at least the same state.

Looks like a golden shiner. A lot of lakes by me are full of them.

It has caught your eye Raul, you KNOW what you must do!

I do very well in an area just like that just after ice-out. It's a large, secluded cove with water between 4-9 ft and the main stream comes in there. But that bite only lasts a couple of weeks then it's out to the main lake where the bite can really vary from shoreline areas to deep drops. I fish the shallow areas with a jerkbait, soft swimbait like a Keitech and spinnerbaits. When I have to go deeper for them a blade bait in either silver or gold, depending on cloud cover, works well. And a jig is never a bad idea.

Tackle Supply Depot. 15% off, storewide. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Code: EASTER15

I'm in western maine. Starting to see water along the shorelines on most lakes and ponds. Looking good forward to this season. This would be a productive topic to keep going as the season opens up. Once ice is out, obviously the water is really cold. In the smaller ponds, where are the best spots to target? Shallows where the water should warm faster? Freshwater inlets?

First bass I've pulled out of the Grove in a loooong time.

Consider flattening the barb on the NED and probably others. Makes it easier to remove gut hooked fish.

IMO, if you already have road runners, pair them up with 3" grubs for some fun action! At least with grubs, it's a constant retrieval and nothing can be easier than that. Ned Rig can call for a little more patience and involve a couple nuances (potentially) like rod shaking, for example. Just my 2cents. In my experience of taking kids out fishing, grub fishing rarely let's me down. If I had to use a bobber and use artificial, a 2.5" Gulp!Alive! usually gets some takers too. Good luck!

Probably a good idea. Issue I found with my boys is that they wanted action *now*, so when I tried to get them on wacky rigs, drop shots, etc., they didn't like to express patience, LOL. The Ned will be less sit-n-wait, so likely to work better than patience-needed techniques.

And for all you guys who think bass care about line visibility, people caught fish on those old ropes! Our current superlines are far thinner (and stronger) than that.

I was exactly your age when I got hired as a service technician to repair restaurant equipment. I was always mechanically inclined, but I had no idea these jobs even existed. As you already realize, the physical stress took a toll on my body and I had to retire due to a back injury. At the time I was hired, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. Like so often happens, the job found me. Just because you might hear of a job you might be interested in, doesn't mean you can get someone to hire you. Keep your mind open and find someone who wants to hire you first. Give whatever job you can get a chance. You may find a career that you may have never considered. If it doesn't work out, keep looking.

Newest pick up. Daiwa Tatula SV with a 7'3" Daiwa Tatula Elite Brent Ehrler rod

I launched just after daybreak and was loaded up and gone by 9:15 because I had other stuff I wanted to do today. Caught a bakers dozen of smallmouth and a giant pike. Best five smallmouth just under 21 pounds. The big girls are chewing.

My first bait casting reel was a Langley Target, no level wind with 12 lb black Ashaway Dacron line, 5'3" Connolin hollow glass bass rod, the year was 1955. The Langley reel held 50 yards of 12 lb Dacron line and I could cast all 50 yards. No level wind, no brakes met you learned to control the line with your index finger and thumb, lessons I still use today. My second reel was a Langley Lure cast that has a level wind with Ashaway 12 lb camo dacron line on 5'6" Connolin bass rod in 1957. In 1958 Ashaway came out with Diamond Back line a hybrid braid and that became my new line! I still have the reels, the rods are gone. First spinning reel was a Zebco Cardinal 3 early 60's with 6 lb Royal Bonnyl monofilament line on Fenwick 6' trout rod. First free spool baitcaster was Abu Ambassaduer 500 red reel, also early 60's with 14 lb Royal Bonnyl mono, 5'6" Eagle Claw bass rod, still have most of my reels over the years. Tom