Leaderboard

Had three follows today in addition to catching this fish, thinking she was around 40", very thick and by far the strongest of all the muskies I have caught, this one making the grand total 22.

You might want to visit the owners, tell them your story, and reconfirm that it's okay to fish their property.

A good little female all loaded with eggs on a Rage Craw.

4/18/17 Here's a pre spawn smallmouth from Quabbin Reservoir. I'll post about this trip in the near future, but right now this bucktail jig and I are headed back to the Q.

Send me a PM with your real name and mailing address.

This is huge. A lot of folks miss out on quality careers in sales because it isn't the traditional "If you want to make money become a Dr or lawyer" route. I opted out of law school and do not regret it for a minute. If not for the weird back injury nightmare, I'd have been swimming in free time while still making great money for the past three years. As of now, I work a 4 day work week and have an absurd amount of flexibility. I am much happier than 80% of my lawyer friends. Part of what kills people, drives them crazy, or otherwise just makes them miserable is the idea that pursuing a job for the sake of making money, or at least the idea of making money, is what enables happiness. It is exactly the wrong solution to the wrong problem. Money is totally a renewable resource. You will always make more (though, learning how to make it efficiently is a very valuable life skill because...). Time, on the other hand, is not. You will never be able to create "new" time. So, really, any job that provides you with time and the freedom to do whatever you want with it is a job worth creating. This is what is never taught in school, and probably the most important lesson I've learned regarding creating a meaningful life.

New toy! G Loomis Glx 844c MBR. Pairs up quite nicely with the Chronarch D7. Can't wait to get it out on the water!

Boomerang Snips. Worth every penny.

First 4 pounder of the year. I was reeling in a small bass and this fish came out from under a dock and swiped at the fish I was fighting. I landed the small fish, released it, and tied on a LC 1.5 and swam it right beside the dock. Bam!

Zebra mussels.

This is a new mold that I poured/injected last night. It is new for this year and I can't wait to try it on a swing head.

I'm a wild man. I use the knife on my Leatherman or the knife in my pocket.

Just run it across some rock. And save your clippers for the mono!

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

Throw both sizes and see what works best for you. I've seen smallmouth bite on the Pointer 128's, so it's really a matter of what the fish want to bite on.

Retired Sales and Marketing Manager. After 41 yrs I had enough. We now live full time in a motorhome just meandering around. Mike

Got a yellow Heddon Sonic that has been killing bass for 3 decades.

I don't have that kind of luck. if it were my outboard, it would have slung a piston out the top of the motor like a bottle rocket. said piston (bottle rocket) would have flown al the way back to the ramp, busted my windshield and burnt my truck to the ground. glad to hear it is not going to be a full rebuild for you.

Absolutely. I look at my career as an investment. If I work 40 hours a week for the next 8 years, I'll have the rest of my life to hang out with my family and get some fishing in.

This is a clear case where asking permission is better than asking forgiveness!

X2 on the Fiskars. Thats what I used to use before I lost them and ordered a Rapala kit with braid scissors. The Rapala scissors work really well too.

Boomerang snips are excellent, but there something else you may not even think about: Kid's Fiskars scissors from Walmart! They really do work well.

There is no cheaper legitimate frog than the Booyah Pad Crasher. For less than 6 bucks you get a frog that has everything you need: Quality components including hook, skirt and body. Its heavy enough to cast long distances on baitcasting gear unlike scum frogs, and the bodies hold up to a lot of fish. Jigs are jigs, you're gonna pay $3/4 for one. What I do is buy BOSS heads and I make my own skirts. However they also offer banded skirts for pretty cheap, to build your own. If you don't want to go that route, then I'd buy seiberts. Just a real quality jig and it is on the lower end of the price range when you compare them to like dirty jigs or other brands.

I received this beaut earlier today. It was smaller than I expected, as you can see it next to my Steez. Now to find a rod to match

Thought it was time to get in to the BFS game. Got these in January I believe. Don't really know why I haven't posted them. Megabass X7 Criffhanger and Megabass Kirisame both paired with Aldebaran BFS. The Kirisame is really cool. The blank is a solid piece of graphite, very unique.

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

Caught a bunch of shorties and as the kids called them" pickles". The gambler TZ SWIMMER on an 1/8 jig head is really good for kid fishing. Everything eats them!

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!

You always need another rod.?

!!...Ask permission and take your Dad.

They're falling for your wiles, laddie! Keep throwing sweet nothings at them and they won't stop! You might need to call Larry Dahlberg and give him some tips on Muskie fishing!

My Grandfather worked for a stock brokerage most of his life and preached two things. The first was dividends and steady growth. The second was whatever you have left over at the end of the month when the bills are paid, keep half for yourself because you have to have a life, and save the other half. Best of luck to you.

You should invent something, you could call it the yawl.

Bass are starting to bed here, most of them aren't locked on yet but are staying very close by to swept out beds and come back within thirty seconds when spooked. Water temperature is 67 degrees with two feet of visibility. Got out yesterday for an hour and caught 9 bass sight fishing with half of a zinkerz. Crappie are also moving up onto the docks, the males anyways. Last Saturday I caught a dozen crappie all over ten inches during the morning for a couple hours fishing docks with minnows, despite the water being stirred up by a tournament. Females were still staging out on the first break into deeper water, but I left them alone since I was looking for a meal and would prefer to eat the males than the egg laden females.

Went to a stone quarry owned by a family friend today. Crystal clear water, 15' visibility. Fished around 6:00pm & caught 2 around 1.5lbs. 1 on a Basstrix paddle tail rigged on a 1/4oz swimbait hook & the other on a small Berkley Swim Shad (I think?). It was windy when we caught them. 20 minutes later the wind died so we had glass calm/ultra clear water & we couldn't get a bite. First fish I've ever caught on a swimbait of any kind, definitely boosted my confidence in them

that's all i use ( kids Fiskars ) , and they cost about $ 2 ... * i use the blunt tip ones

^^^ This Mike is about as cheap as I have found for a jig that has any quality. The price he sells them for along with the quality components and the obvious deliberate care taken when making them make Mike's a very hard value to beat. Sure you can find cheaper jigs and catch fish with them but you also get what you pay for. The materials are subpar especially the hooks not being near the quality. As for fishing the rivers I have nothing to offer as a suggestion I don't fish rivers. But lots of reeds, weed flats, and sand I have fished plenty and the Dredge Brush Jig has worked well for all around use.

Lonnie, your wife and my wife need to be introduced. Roger

First off welcome to the forum! Siebertoutdoors.com for all your jigging needs.If you dont want to order online the Strike King jigs are reasonable.As for frogs Scum frogs arent badly priced and the Booyah Pad Crashers are the best bang for the buck if you ask me.

A decade is too long to assume anything... good chance the ownership has changed. And if not, they likely won't remember you. Research it online first (county tax appraisal districts are mostly online these days) and either call them or swing by to ask permission again. I would NOT just start fishing... around here it would likely end in a confrontation with a gun involved.

Living in central Florida, we're dealing mainly with shallow, weedy lakes (eutrophic dishpans). For several years I spooled up with 65-lb Trilene braid, but eventually found it to be overkill. Today I flip, weed-probe and punch all day long with Sufix 50-lb braid. Rest assured, the instant I find 50-lb braid to be inadequate, I'll immediately switch back to 65-lb braid, but I don't expect that to happen Roger

Give the rage menace a shot ! Last year when I visited Michigan we were fishing some sand flats with sparse vegetation and the menace was the meal ticket on a swinging jighead.

Any time I see a fish swirl, have a fish miss a bait or follow a bait, I follow up with a senko.

Followers? Try a slightly different color or blade size.

I am now a sheepdog in retirement, and I'm thankful I have my health to allow me to enjoy it. I now get to do all those things I used to do before or after work, on days off, took a day off or vacation on a daily basis. To those of you already retired or soon to be, congratulations!.... you don't need me to tell you this, but you earned it. To those who are in the middle of their career or just starting out I'd say retirement isn't necessarily for everyone, but it does give you something to look forward to while following life's path. Continued success everyone, JB

If I could have black and blue and Missouri Craw or similar, I'll catch them if they're eating a jig.

Your problem is the model of reel. On their round reels the level wind doesn't disengage for casting so it takes a lot more weight to get it going. That reel won't cast anything under 1/2 oz very well especially right out of the box.

By all means Kyle, give financial investing more than lip service, get the ball rolling NOW! I've spent many years studying technical and fundamental analysis which is not only rewarding, but very engrossing (10x angling). I've been exposed to IPOs, bonds, precious metals, currencies, options, warrants, you name it. You mentioned 'options' Kyle, and I feel obligated to respond. A stock option is a wasting asset! I've played options for many years, and as enticing as their leverage may appear to a beginner, playing an option is merely placing a bet, it is NOT investing. In my opinion, an excellent vehicle for the beginning investor is an ETF (exchange-traded fund), which unlike a mutual fund is a no-load fund (no front, interim or back load) that charges an expense ratio typically under 1%. U.S. stock index ETFs sport the lowest beta and the best historic performance over the long-term. Roger

New Avid X with a Shimano Citica

With my $2 garage sale toaster oven, I have found that 15-20 minutes set on 350° is good. White and chartreuse no more than 15.