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Finally able to hook a Michigan Brute! She weighed 6.26lbs

Today my friend and I spent 5 hours on the river here in Morgantown in kayaks. We had more opportunities at musky than bass over 12", which is typical. I caught a musky on a finesse jig (watched it eat the bait when I was swimming it in), my friend caught one on a spinnerbait, I lost one on a spinnerbait, and had one follow it to the kayak but I wasn't figure 8ing because well I was fishing a spinnerbait for bass. We did catch two smallmouth between 1&2lbs and several largemouth and spots around 8-11". The river here is seriously infested with them, it's not even a surprise anymore to hook one. I caught my first musky in August last year, and today I landed my 20th!

The day started a little slowly with me targeting spawning areas and only catching small bucks. Moved to prespawn areas and it was the right move. Using a jerkbait, small plastics, and a Ned rig, put together a 20.03lb limit and also caught my new PB wiper of 11.2 pounds on the jerkbait. One of those satisfying days where I was struggling and made an adjustment that really paid off.

Retired so I got plenty time on my hands At 66 I'm raising a 10 yr old grandson & a 12 yr old granddaughter. I'm a teacher who is patiently teaching 7 students ranging in age from 10 to 35 how to consistently catch bass. I"m PE coach who is currently coaching 15 boys ranging in age from 8 to 18. At Victory Baptist Church Director of building & lawn maintenance I'm mentor who is currently mentoring life lessons to 10 men ranging from 28 to 45. Myself & 3 sons operate all audio, video, & recording equipment. Jack of all trades; can't find someone to do it call Tommy T!

Back in 2005 I set out with a new friend with the goal of catching a hybrid striped bass over 10 pounds. Our first trip, we drifted live shad less than 100 yards when I caught a 9lb 4oz wiper. I thought it was going to take no time to beat that 10 pound mark. Now in 2017, I'd never caught one bigger than that fish, until Thursday. Fishing the same lake with a 127 Slender Pointer when I caught an 11.2lb monster.

I'm a behavior modification specialist.

Caught some fatties Thursday, part of a 20lb bag for the day.

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 fail to see why anybody would regard trolling as evil or cheating. And, if you think it doesn't take old fashioned skill to be successful trolling, you are sadly misinformed. I don't do it for two reasons. It bores me to death. And, Ive never taken the time to learn to do it properly, probably because it bores me to death.

retired UPSer. Now I run a registered medical marijuana grow in Rhode Island. I grow for Pediatric epilepsy patients, an MS patient and two cancer patients. These people were all referred to me by Hasbro Children's Hospital period they don't pay a dime for their medicine, it's my way of giving back. I've also been doing some consultation work for entities looking to set up commercial grows in Massachusetts

Caught a big crappie on a Ned rig my first cast Thursday. Then a new PB wiper on a jerkbait later that day, 11.2 pounds.

The 3/8 OZ head with the 'long' bill is a fan favorite. Fished Low & Slow (Right on or almost on the bottom). Slow Steady pace retrieve with an occasional stop to re-acquire the bottom has been best for me. Remarkably snag resistant. Almost any 4-7 inch slender plastic works. Some Swimbait / boot tail baits do not track well. Did I mention fish it S L O W .. .. .. . . . .. . . . . . . A-Jay

It is my opinion that braid casts a little differently on baitcasters in the back yard than it does when wet. I believe it tends to spin off the spool more when wet (and heavier), sometimes contacting the reel posts (within the reel). This can cause loss of distance compared to dry. So I keep it a little farther down (not as full) on the spool as compared to my mono fill point. I also find myself having to do "softer-gentler-smoother" casts with braid than mono, which can be really "whipped" on the cast. Some braids do this more than others. I look for braids with what feels like a harder, smoother, finish thinking they may not absorb as much water. But I have to admit that my whole idea on this subject is not backed by hard data, just by what I think I've observed.

A nice Laker and a Giant Musky Cheers All big fish are treated with care and released to fight another day!

Here's a wise old/senescent bass, clipped from some video I shot yesterday. He/she is not long for the world -no longer able to capture prey. It defeated amazing odds to reach this state. It's size? About 16" long, and about all that pond could afford her -not terribly fertile. Even the bluegills are small, and the two are certainly related. A given bass could be very wise, having figured out a prosperous lifestyle, but not necessarily the one with the most growth potential in that water. An Ecologist would call this a trophic "false peak". I photo and video many bass with hook-bruised or mangled jaws in my public waters that receive a parade of anglers almost every day of the week. But I also shoot many with clean undamaged jaws. "Smarter" in these cases could have to do with avoiding anglers, or predators, or finding the top trophic peak. But it's all for naught in terms of getting BIG, if the water can't support it. In many, but not all, waters there are individuals that by capabilities and no small amount of luck are able to break the normal trophic limits of a given water body. They then have access to larger prey items too large for the vast majority of bass. Those are your BIG bass. Smart? Maybe. But "smarts" is only part of the formula. And I wouldn't discount the sheer amount of luck involved.

5" because it's been most productive for size and numbers for me.

So I'm at my in-laws place in small town Minnesota.. I swing by the local walmart to see if there's anything good in the fishing clearance section. Oh they just had a few racks of KVD cranks for $1.50 a piece.

I own many Lightning Rod Shocks.....IMHO they are not a pure fast action, nor a pure moderate action. Moderate fast would be the best description of them IMHO. They are............also IMHO, the best sub $100 rod on the market for throwing reaction baits with braid. I fish them right along side many higher priced name brand rods, as well as custom built rods, and they hold their own. I use the 7'6" H rod for big deep cranks, swimbaits, A-rigs, and as a back up punching rod. I use the 7' MH rods for frogs, swimjigs, chatterbaits, ripping lip less cranks out of grass, ripping square bills out of grass, running deep cranks on deep grass lines, silver buddy style blade baits. and fishing Biffle style wobble head jigs I use the 6'6" MH for all of the above in close quarters work. I use the 6'6" M for topwaters, jerkbaits, and close quarters small square bill work. I use the 7' M spinning rods for drifting and dragging drop shot rigs, and small jigs in deep water And I use the 6'6" M spinning rods for skipping weightless plastics under docks. They are no slouch in the sensitivity dept. either. One season while I was waiting for my custom rods to be built, I fished with these rods exclusively. Not only with all of the above reaction baits, but I used them for pitching/flipping jigs and soft plastics, and just about every technique in the book. I never felt underequiped and caught the same amount and size of fish I always have. I have even won several tournaments using nothing but these rods that year.

Greetings from a new member. Raided a nest the other day with a Keitech Swing Impact Fat, slowly retrieved on the bottom. I don't have a scale to weight her but she was heavy enough to bother my recent hernia surgery

Wow! Good for him! A 19 year old kid casting swimbaits to a giant and landing it! I can think of a lot of other unproductive things that 19 year old kids can do instead of that.

Fish my way down the east coast of Florida, and back up the west coast through the panhandle. Alternating between freshwater and saltwater. largemouth, peacocks, reds, trout, snook, jacks, cobia, permit, kingfish, sailfish, tarpon, sailfish, sharks, tuna, snapper, grouper...

Own a retail store specializing in organic, locally sourced farm products. Also own and operate a handyman business.

Standard golden pond shiner.

It catches more fish if you call it a bladed jig

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.

I think golden shiner

Good riddance! They don't work anyways!

I'm a power fisherman. I don't finesse fish...ever. It's just not fin to me. Until today... Our bass are in the first week of postspawn, and the bite was tough. Fished about an hour and only got bit three times, nothing consistent. So, I got in the new bag of goodies I picked up at the tackle store the other day, and had hid in my boat so no one would see this sissy stuff. I pulled out a little ultralight with four pound test line, I use to bream fish with a couple times a year, and tied on a little mushroom jig, and a TRD in peanut butter and jelly (AKA "Turd sandwich"). I proceeded to put about 20 fish in the boat over the next hour, before my dad, who was in the back of the boat, finally decided to give this newfangled bass catching machine a try. We fished another half hour, until we lost every mushroom jig I had in the boat, then we went home. There'sno need in fishing without a Ned rig. We totaled over forty, most between 14 and 16 inches, with the biggest being a hair under 20. Fun stuff on an ultralight. Fun enough that I'm fully converted! I just wish someone would have posted about the Nedrig sooner.....

Try a double bladed buzz bait. Hold your rod high and go as slow as it will go. Use a trailer hook. Swap the blades so the bubbles are on the inside. Lean your head to one side and grin but not too much. Really this works. Have fun and post pics.

Retired from City Water Works, 30 years. now I do general carpentry work with a friend, everything from building barns to interior painting.

Most likely it's a brand variance. Almost all brands, makes, and models have different tendencies. This is why you hear some speak of this brand or that brand leaning one way or another as that is how that particular line of rods was designed based on whoever was behind the design. If they lean heavy most of their rods will probably lean heavy and vise verse. Also the only Lightning Rod Shock listed as Moderate Fast on Berkley site is the MODEL # SHC661M .

KVD line and lure conditioner reel snot java line conditioner yum crawfish scent trout magnets in various colors yum dingers 3" pumpkin pepper and green pumpkin pepper 4" morning dawn and tin foil yum pulse watermelon red trout magnets were bogo for 1/2 price and the Yum were $2 each with 5 or more last but not least is the Kastking 10L dry bag formy canoe fishing

You catch too many fish drinkin' beer and gettin' sunburned.

LOL. I agree about ditching the fluoro leader. I don't tend to use a lot of flurorcarbon, even thought people tell me I'm "missing out" on... something. I'm not sure what. I use braid a lot and a mono leader for things like drop shotting and Carolina rigging. I do have a couple reels with mono, too, but I use about half mono and half copolymer for presentations I don't use braid for.

We have 19 pages of Q & A on jig fishing at the top of this forum page.... I hate to lose jigs and you don't need to lose them every outing. The OP is new to jig fishing and using a good style Arkie Jig that shouldn't be snagging a lot. Catt has some excellent advice and I will add that anyone who can work a Texas rigged worm with a bullet weight through the same structure /cover without hanging it up should be able to fish a jig through the same stuff. The problem is usually too heavy of a jig and letting it settle down on the bottom without controlling the line tension, losing contact with what the jig is going through. This should only happen if you get a backlash and have lots of slack line, shouldn't happen during a retrieve. You will in time develop a technique to free snagged jigs and T-rigged bullet weights. My method is similar to Catt and first try not to allow the jig to get snagged by working it through cover or rocks carefully. If the jig stops I almost always know it's going happen and first shake the rod tip with a little slack line to free it, works 90% of the time. If shaking it doesn't free the jig then I use Catts technique, if that doesn't work I change angles if possible and try the opposite direction or directly over the snag. On a good day the snag pulls back! Tom

Un-pressured big bass are a lot easier to catch than pressured big bass . No doubt in my mind . Call it smarts or whatever .

I had my 3 year old using the Ned rig last weekend. His first time fishing, I was casting for him, but he would reel it in, I would have to keep reminding him to go slowly, but we did have a bass grab it, unfortunately dad didn't set the hook good

They're smart enough to keep all of us fully occupied.

If the bottom composition will tolerate it I almost always hook the little dude up with a Ned. The action is persistent and it doesn't matter what he does with it, fish will bite.

Analytical chemist. Not the most fun job in the world, but it's ok.

A 10# braid with an 8# fluorocarbon leader is plenty.

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

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

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

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

I don't know if this counts because they didn't cost me anything, but... now I'm on TW looking at trailers

I'm a Firefighter.

Caught my first bowfin in a few years at a pond that I've been fishing at for over a year. I didn't even know that they were in there. He absolutely crushed the whooper plopper. I had to replace the rear treble and split ring because of him.

Full House. A-Jay

Yo-Zuri Hybrid is a copolymer blend of nylon and fluorocarbon, bonded not coated. The combination results in a line which is stronger than most with an equivalent diameter. #6 has a width of .010" and a breaking strength of 11.9 lbs. The line is noticably more manageable than pure fluorocarbon. WHY IS YO-ZURI HYBRID™ BETTER THAN OTHER FISHING LINES? •Strength : Because of the blend of nylon and fluorocarbon our line breaks at a much higher test than listed (see chart). •Stretch : Hybrid has a lower stretch because of the addition of fluorocarbon. The nylon allows for cast ability. This gives Hybrid more hook setting power. •Sensitivity : The fluorocarbon blend transfers activity or “feeling” much faster than regular fishing lines. This increased transmission speed allows an angler to feel and react to more bites. •Wet Strength : Hybrid doesn't absorb water and as a result retains 100% of its dry knot and tensile strength. Regular fishing lines can absorb water which can weaken line up to 30%! •UV Resistance : Hybrid's fluorocarbon qualities allow it to resist UV light which can weaken line and shorten its durability. Hybrid stays stronger, longer. This Hybrid durability allows the line to last four to five times longer than regular fishing lines. •Casting Distance : Hybrid's slick finish allows it to easily slide through the guides causing little resistance during the cast and increases distance. The nylon qualities of Hybrid allow it to be softer and more supple line for distance casting. •Low Visibility : Hybrid's blend of fluorocarbon and nylon allows it to have lower light refractory which means less visibility underwater. •Abrasion Resistance : The hard, smooth outer feel created by the blend of fluorocarbon and nylon of Hybrid helps resist abrasion from rocks, wrecks, snags, or sharp toothed fish. Pound Test