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The bite was pretty good this morning, we caught 4 keepers, doubling the number we had caught in the past two days. I was lucky enough to catch three of them, and they just so happened to all be different species. Easter Trifecta

There is a little one acre pond tucked away that I fish about once a week. There are a ton of 2.5 to 3lb fish. I've never caught of seen anything really big, but I know there is at least one pig in there. I absolutely crushed it tonight. I caught a good fish on a Ned, Neko, Split Shot, Senko, Drop Shot, and Spinnerbait. I cast a Senko, I let it sink down to the bottom and I left it there for about 20 seconds dead sticking. I feel two taps, reel down and hammer it home. It's completely solid. No head shake, just brute force pulling back. I'm telling my buddy I've finally got the pond monster on and right after it just goes limp. I'm standing there staring at the sky, my rod starts dancing again, a dink picked it up. I go put my Senko back on the hook and I notice my EWG's point is nowhere near the body of the bait. That fish had the hook point bent about 30 degrees out. In all of my years of bass fishing I've never had a fish actually straighten out a hook. I will land that fish soon and it's going to be awesome Still a great night though.

Had a late evening supper with the famly so I missed my fishing window .Almost . Heard the frogs croakin in numbers for the first time this year. So I only took one frog outfit and one small booyah pc. Got 2 blow ups and 1 fish. The fish that missed was the better of the two.

Got out on the Mississippi on Friday with my dad for our first trip of the year. Had a blast and was pretty happy with the results, being that I've never fished that pool of the river before. Boated around 20 in 6 hours and lost a handful of others. Hoping to head back tomorrow and learn a little more before our tourney this weekend.

sun is actually shinning in Indiana ,went out for about 1hr and a half the lake was calling! caught 13, the biggest about 3 lb also found some mushrooms. good day!!!

Look at the bright side,at least you cleaned the spinning rig.

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.

New Avid X with a Shimano Citica

Try not to let them jump . Hold the rod low when they start going upward . If your using soft plastics with the hook buried , set the hook harder and do not hesitate . I went through a period where I was losing a lot of big bass . I was trying to muscle them in like some of the pros do . Now I dont get in a hurry unless its needed , like trying to get them out of cover . I watched John Murray play those big bass at Toledo Bend .Thats the way to do it .

If youre fishing a crankbait, there isnt a whole lot of need to "set" the hook like you would on a jig or worm. With a crankbait, when you feel them load up on the bait, you simply reel faster, or you could try a sweeping motion that will dig the hooks in better. With a crank its all about pressure and keeping that fish pinned and the line tight. With a jig or worm, generally once i feel the bite or bump, i will reel down and see if i feel pressure. If it is heavier than normal, i set that bad boy. But just realize that sometimes fish are going to come off regardless of what you do. It is just a part of fishing.

I believe a Zebco 33 in like a 30 30 rifle , more fresh water fish have been caught with a 33 and more deer have been killed with a 30 30 than any thing else. David

Downtown Morgantown is producing some fish right now, bites are hard to come by but it is always like that, very tough fishery for sure. My friend and I are fishing it 3 days in a row, today was our second day out. So far we have caught 4 bass over 12". Tuff for sure but it definitely makes you a better angler to stick it out and keep your head up. Won't have long tomorrow but we should be able to get the kayaks out for a little while in the morning before the storms roll in. I have class in the green building to the left of the spinnerbait line tie!

another one of my barn wood projects for my wife. the quilts are hers , she does that for a side buisness

I posted this in the Southern Bass Fishing forum but thought this was a better place for it. I finally got out in the Northern VA area to do some fishing this weekend and had a blast. I rented a jon boat from Fountainhead Park on the Occoquan Reservoir and slapped on a little Minn Kota I brought from down from NY. With no prior knowledge of the lake, I just dropped in and started going. It was slick calm and overcast for the first 2 hrs of the day and they were smashin' topwater. I thought the bass might be spawning because they were so shallow (literally waking the surface). All the fish were in such good, healthy looking condition that there was no way they could be yet. Boated 12 for the day and missed a couple others. Half of the fish were 3+ pounds, including a 4lb 11oz and 4lb 7oz. Would've been a good day for the GoPro. Hopefully the BFL on the Potomac goes as well this Saturday coming up!

Just had this happen to me a few weeks ago. I was extra careful to look behind me as I was casting near some trees while out on the lake. What I forgot to do was make sure that my son, who was sitting right behind me, was also not casting at the same time. Snagged his line and was greeted with a nice whack to the back of the head as his rod slammed into my noggin. The results, as you can see, were not pretty. I gave up and went home - cut it all out and just started over.

Finished the newest combo. J-Dream and Dream catch.

Point well taken. In my case though, if she's a Hippo I'm going to back-off on the drag, which makes it extremely difficult for any fish to find freedom (It feels like cheating). Since I've been doing this for years, I should warn of the 2 disadvantages > Never reduce drag tension before the hog is out of heavy cover (sometimes that's never) > After every big fish you must remember to re-tighten the drag-setting (It becomes 2nd nature). Roger

The problem is , I cant tell a dink from a Mama so I have to duck the occasional flying bass .

Lol your first sentence.. I just pictured him setting the hook like that on a total dink and it goes flying out of the water

All the SC3 st croixs are nice rods. The reels are all well built. Comes down to features, preferences and deals. As for the friends advice, smile nod your head then check here.

Set hook with authority! Ya gotta turn that head on the hook set & get em coming towards you in a single motion! Do Not Wait! At the first sign... Set hook

I just slow down gradually. If you come to a sudden stop the back of the boat will drop down quickly and the drag with slow the boat while the water you were moving continues forward and comes over the back of the boat.

The opposite is 'not' true for casting gear. The fish is always fought with the rod, never the reel. In saltwater, casting gear is called conventional gear, where the fish are big and strong, and where it's even more important to pump big fish with your dominant arm, and take up the slack line with your reel hand. I'm right handed, therefore every casting reel I own is left-handed ('ditto' spinning & conventional gear) Roger

Well I gotta give @Siebert Outdoors credit, they sure make a heck of swim jig. First time I've ever tried one was tonight, I caught 2-1 1/2 to 2 pound bass, then promptly threw it over a tree branch and broke the **** thing off went right back to siebert and ordered a replacement and 2 more!

To cold in the basement so I set up a temporary area in the front room that keeps expanding. Allen

We had a small group of friends down at Table Rock this past weekend for a buddy "tournament" that we ran MLF style but still only tracking our biggest 5. @gardnerjigman had never fished Table Rock before, and after this trip, he's completely spoiled. We never caught fewer than 30 fish in a day, both managed 5 fish limits each day, including several solid fish in the 3-4 pound range. I was concentrating on channel swings at first when we got to the lake Thursday around noon and managed to find one little cut that they'd corralled shad into. I did alright for myself there, but Coty would have had a high teens bag by himself, all on a 3/8oz underspin and 3.8 Keitech. He caught the 3.68lb smallmouth, and 4.20lb largemouth on back to back cast. It was pretty unreal. Friday we fished around Aunt's Creek. Caught fish about everywhere we stopped and were able to duplicate the small pockets where the channel swung in, again with the underspin. Didn't catch quite the quality, but Coty had another high 3 range fish along with several solid 2.5-2 3/4 pound fish. Towards the end of the day we ran back near the ramp and found fish busting. Fish everywhere on the graph and they were pounding the underspin. All barely short of just barely keepers, but still a lot of fun. Saturday, we started around KC, but the torrential downpours seemed to shutoff our underspin bite. We managed to get a small limit before running to Aunt's. I started throwing a jerkbait and about the time the wind started blowing, they started really eating it. I ended up catching our 2 biggest fish of the day, a 3.68 largemouth and 2.90 spot that looked like it was about to explode. The fish had stuck to the channel swings or close to steep drops, but seemed to have moved to gravel or sand banks or points. We ended the day with 13 3/4 pounds, less than half a pound from second. Sunday, We decided to stick it out in KC because it seemed the better quality bite was there. Started out the morning hot and heavy, but mostly smaller smallmouth. They really wanted the jerkbait, so I kept feeding it to them. It was dead calm, and the bigger ones didn't seem to want to move for it. Finally got a little ripple on the water, and I quickly boated 3 keepers before we made a short move to a point I'd wanted to fish if the wind started moving towards it. It was a good call as our biggest of the weekend literally tried to swallow my jerkbait. It had been a tougher day, so we were feeling pretty good, but really wanted another quality bite to feel like we had a shot. Then the sun came out, wind died, and so did the bite. We went a couple hours only culling up a little with a 2.5lb smallmouth on the jerkbait, but still had a 2 pounder to get rid of. Decided to try to the little pockets again to see if there was any magic left. Very first one, Coty got slack lined on his underspin and put the one we needed in the net. We ended up with 14 3/4 on the day, which gave us the win by almost 2 pounds and big bass for the weekend with my 4.14lb fish. I've fished The Rock for a long time, never seen her show off like that before, it was a blast.

Lol no sir ! Cuz I stuck her pass the barb with the slightest pull !

Ive really come around to braid with a fluorocarbon leader. You get the invisibility benefits of fluoro, and the hook setting power of braid. Ive been experimenting with it for the last few months, and have had good results. Im late on the leader train, but it really does work.

As much as I wanted to mention braid as being a shortcut to solid hook-sets, I've been overly vocal about braid and decided to give it a rest. Thanks for filling that gap Roger

A solid hook-set is a combination of Timing and Power. Mechanically speaking, a faulty hook-set is when the hook fails to penetrate 'beyond' the barb. It's vital to master the hook-set, because on a day when you only get 5 strikes, you have zero margin-for-error. It's no fun casting for several hours, only to experience losing a fish. Roger

For me fishing a crankbait, once i feel that pressure, its almost natural for me to sweep that rod back. Its not really a hookset, but it increases that pressure and you'll know real quick if you're hung, or if youve got a fish.

I'm new to the baitcaster scene, and to a lesser extent bass fishing. Recently moved to Missouri from the Seattle area. Spent about a week at the local tackle shop testing out the various rods. The shop owner who has spent his entire life fishing bass told me that it is his personal rod of choice. I always fall on side of skepticism when it comes to people selling things but his shop/ services came highly reccomended by a former coworker who has won Missouri bass angler multiple times and is succcessful in the tournament scene. My first day on the water with zodais was nothing short of a revelation. I only wish I had discovered it earlier. I could cast that thing a country mile and it's so light it felt like an extension of my arm. I was worried about the warranty but I figure if it doesn't break during 1 year of heavy use (3-5x a week) then it will be fine in long run.

the fish were chewing my slammer up top slow twitched! missed a good fish, caught a few dinks and ended the day on a chunk!

Last Thursday I got out for 2 and a half hours in Southern NH and was locating fish on my Lowrance in the 10-14 foot range. I didnt see any activity from bluegill up shallow so I fished a brown/purple jig painfully slow on some deeper drop-offs. The only bite of the day was this chunky, 5.5 pound largemouth. Not a bad way to start the season!

Flipping is really only for very close quarters and heavy cover, so it's pretty specific situations that you'd be flipping. Pitching is a longer distant cast but still very accurate and quiet if done correctly. Pitching to targets is one of my favorite ways to fish.

Nice one! I stopped by A1 today before Easter Dinner for about an hour. I get there and conditions couldn't be better, upper 80's and STRONG winds blowing right into the dam, they were very active. I got 4 on a swimjig pretty quick and then moved down the bank looking for more action, all my bites came left of the spillway though. There was a dad with his two kids, and a group of guys fishing live bait near the spillway. Seemed like everyone was catching them. All my fish were cookie cutter 2ish lbers. They were all a little skinny which I thought was weird for how actively they were feeding, I would think they'd be stuffed with bluegill. The wind was brutal and whitecaps were smashing into the shore, I ended my hour with the whopper plopper to see if they had any interest in topwater yet. Got one to go after it and saw him do a halfhearted jump after it but he missed. Had to go after that, wish I could have stayed longer but I'll be out tomorrow in my kayak. Might jump around a few places but I plan to be out all day.

Fished Mound City between Easter lunch and bring caught slightly off guard by the storm that pushed through late afternoon. I caught my first few s-waiver fish ever on some of the weed flats, and I also got my biggest bass of the year at 21" that came off 15fow on a brush pile. The deeper brush pile fish were picky at best and getting fish to react took rotating between a carolina rig, power shot, and a ned. Water temp was 64. -Jared

I like the bass part anyway. Hope those 'shrooms werent the psycho kind!

Just giving heads up since TWH will not do gift cards online as I just checked it. (Excluded Brands) http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/saleexclusions.html but if you call them and ask, They will do it. I have been successfully for the last three phone calls.

And spools! I was able to get some dual bearing worm gears,and chrome frames from my friend in Sweden,. With Simon's involvement with these small reels look for some new goodies to be coming up in the near future

They might be un catchable. Cruising pre spawn females can be VERY difficult to catch. I would try to fish for something you can't see, unless one of those big ones locks onto a bed.

Look like playground slides to me? Bass love slides. It's a little known fact of bass behavior.

I recommend the St Croix Gold Star + Upgrade Plan. I've used it and have been a satisfied customer. http://stcroixrods.com/service-warranty/service-warranty-policies/ As for rod a recommendation - your interest in finding a stick that will fish both 1/8 & 1 oz well may be a little optimistic. Either way here's a couple of killer sticks that feature Fuji® K-Series Concept Tangle Free guides with Alconite® rings and polished frames. Ideal for super braid, mono and fluorocarbon lines, the sloped frame and ring “shed” tangles before they become a problem. TBC71MHF / JIGS/BAITS: A super rod for searching open water with big spinnerbaits. It’s also ideal for jigs, worms and working heavy cover. This Rod is rate as Fast. TBC71MHXF / SWIM JIG FINESSE: Excels with swim jigs and smaller jigs worked in heavy cover. Its unique design combines a very powerful butt section with a light and sensitive tip. This rod is rated X Fast. Good Luck A-Jay

Got a couple fish yesterday! Fished 4 ponds all day! It won't allow me2 load the other pics

"Is A Spincast Reel Legit?" Don't get caught with one in Polk County, Florida. The "Spincast Police" are everywhere!!

use what works for you........the fish don't know or even care what kind of reel you're using.what matters is that you're fishing.

Its a skill and deals with muscle memory. Your thumb will grow a mind of its own after you have used every curse word you know and learn a few new ones.

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

http://www.barlowstackle.com/Do-It-Hidden-Eye-Brush-Weedless-Jig-Molds-P263.aspx Barlows Tackle usually lists the other hooks that will fit in a mold. Allen