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only got two this evening, one 2 1/2 and this right at 5 lb lady!

Caught this 19.5 inch, 4.2 pound largie on beautiful Lake Geneva (WI) on Monday.

Last September my wife and I moved, part of the draw of the house we picked was a retention pond in the back yard. It was kind of pretty, with ducks and geese and best of all, no neighbors! My wife was so happy for me to have a place to fish, but honestly I didn't think it would hold fish. I checked it out, saw a couple of little bluegill and figured ok, maybe I could go catch a couple of stunted gills from time to time. First month of the house and I never fished it. When I finally did go down to fish it, I did so more to say "Yeah, I have a house where I fish in my backyard" than really catch fish. Then I caught my first fish, a bluegill on a fly rod, and the thing was an absolute slab. I proceeded to catch several more, and also had something huge break me off. Turns out that there are huge bluegills, 10+ pound carp (I'm going to get one soon here), and bass. For example, last night I just walked around the pond, maybe 20 minutes, and got 4 or 5. I never guessed this pond would produce 4-5 fish like this in a 20 minute around:

My oldest grandson Dylan, First year wrestling award and all district first team! Way to go buddy! Proud of you!

When my knot connecting my braid to my backing starts showing up on a long cast, it's about time to change. I've got some reels that have had line on for 4 or 5 years or more. Can't say I've ever had a spool of braid go bad on me. -T9

It's hard to get a good pic without a bad glare, but I finished my little pop-x display that I have hanging at work.

My first DC reel. Her partner in crime should be arriving today.

I got out for a couple hours earlier... Caught a few bass... And noticed some catfish prowling the shallows... So I decided I was going to catch a couple gills and use em for bait.. well I ended up catching some brutes on some crappie nibbles. They were thick too.

I have a Cleveland Browns colored rod and a few Brown and Orange jigs to match. This way I can be disappointed on the water too

I see several reasons to purchase a craft like this. If you are a shallow water or a river fisherman, being able to cover some distance on the water can be important. In a river, paddling a kayak against the current while it can be done, is not always easy. Being able to motor upstream and float back to your put in place is a great advantage. Having a jet motor and being able to travel the shallows where prop boats can't go is also huge. As someone who regularly floats rivers, being able to get off the water quickly when a storm comes up is important. I can defend a purchase like this because I just purchased a boat that does a lot of the same things except that it can hold 2 persons. Mine is like a jet powered canoe on steroids. It's light, only weighs 250lbs (without the motor). 16ft long, 4ft wide. Unlike a kayak, I have a trolling motor and oars. I can run shallow rivers, and I won't need another car to shuttle me. I can get 10 miles up or down stream in 20 minutes. That's a long way to try and paddle especially going upstream. To get where you want to go you have to have the right craft. An $80,000 bass boat can't go where this boat (or a jet kayak) can go. I paid more for just the jet motor on my boat than that entire jet kayak costs. For someone who wants to fish small lakes, the jet kayak is not for you. But for a flats or a river fisherman, It might be just the right tool for the job. My river fishing craft. A Towee, Rivermaster with a Tohatsu jet motor

the only advantage of flouro is visibility that i know of, mono will work for anything, ive used it for everything from dropshot to punching/frogging, are there better lines for some techniques ? sure, but for all around, mono cant be beat. personally i like stren.

During the last few years I've been filling my spools all the way with braid so I never have to see that dreaded connection knot! I might be dead before I have to refill my braid spools Roger

When the color is fading after a year or so, or even sooner if you need to, tie the braid off on a tree or something an walk off to the end on the spool. Cut that off, walk back to the first spot and tie that on your spool now, then reel in the rest. You'll have "fresh" braid that you haven't used now.

I'd go with Hi-Vis Yellow braid, especially in stained lakes. That way the bass can follow your line right to your lure Roger

Caught this one a while ago and was wondering what you guys think it weighed since I didn't weigh it.

Dude, 10 years. I'm not even mad, that's amazing

I use and love the owner welded snap. The #2 or middle size is the most useful for bass fishing. If you plan on running a 10XD or any of the magnum plugs then the largest size would be best. I run the #2 on plugs up to a Norman deep little n. I don't run the Norman DD22 but you could use the largest or middle size. I find they are easy to open and close and I have never lost a bait due to the snap. They are not cheap for what they are but the best I have found as I don't need pliers to open and close them like the speed clips.

I don't own any colors that haven't caught bass... Purple , orange, yellow, lime green, pink , white and everything in between. Profile, action and timing outweigh color by about 9 yards (; In other words whatever your team is I guarantee you can make a laminate senko with those colors and catch bass with it.. from blue and silver to purple and yellow...

Baby bass is NY Jets colors, green and white

I think you will run out of money before running out of good deals. After trying some great equipment, I decided that I wanted quality over quantity. That said there are certain techniques that don't require the best of the best.

Dicks has them on sale, $10 each when you buy 2. I'm planning on getting a couple this weekend.

Thanks for the report. Was thinking of going there Thursday but not if those crappie are still shallow pecking at everything. @Hi Salenity is going to upset if he finds out you're messing with his pet kitties.

Awesome man. I got my very first top water bite yesterday but miss hook on whopper popper 90. I miss top water action.

Fished La Cygne on Sunday. It was a fun day, especially if you like panfish. The crappie are still in beast mode there. Spent most of the morning figuring out how to get baits past them and to the bass. I ended up with around a dozen bass, mostly on a black and blue jig. Three of them were (barely) keeper size, all right at 18", heaviest was 3.25. I also got to test the drag on my nasci spinning reel when a 25" flathead hit my shakey head.

It's possible you feel that way, only because you hear it all the time. Straight braid is all I use, so I'm not aware of what I might be missing Roger

Have you tried braided line with no leader? Roger

I have a feeling that after this thread and the girlfriend joining to give her 2 cents, the OP is going to have lots of time to go fishing.

I'll give my advice....whatever you decide to give your kids to fish is up to you....but.....1)Do NOT plan to fish yourself. TRUST ME!!!! It will only frustrate and irritate you. It is about them when they are with you. 2.) Do NOT get discouraged if they want to leave after 20 minutes. Kids do not have the patience to sit for hours not catching fish if the bite isn't on. Even if it it is, they get bored after an hour. Welcome to fishing. Have fun with your kids but explore this great sport on your own, too.

1.85X +/- .02 depending upon brand specifics, but who's counting

I can't count past 3 when I'm fishing. Once I catch my fourth, I can't remember it was my third, fourth, or fifth. By the time I get my tenth, I can't remember if it was my fifth or twentieth. I caught I think 4 last night in the pond on my property, but it could have been 3 or 6. I can't remember. And since I can't remember it was probably not 3. I actually tried once to come up with a system one year and it was a giant fail. I just can't count when I'm fishing, unless they are in the livewell. Even then I've surprised myself, open it up and you ask yourself how 2 fish managed to get out without you noticing, or fishing alone who put 3 extra fish in there behind your back?

If I know there's a fish, I may hit that spot more than a dozen times.

That's the spirit. I'm with you. LOL. My sons are going to inherit a lot of nice equipment.

Depends on when you're fishing for them. Typically, they will only be in the shallows during low light conditions. Early evening through early morning is your best time to catch them using things like jerkbaits, crankbaits, and lipless cranks. You can still catch them during the day, but they will be a lot deeper(20-40 ft.), and you will have to switch to much slower presentations like blade baits and spoons jigged off the bottom. A gulp minnow on a jig head worked slowly along the bottom is another daytime presentation that can put fish in the boat.

Although I have no experience with the combos mentioned, I regret having 10 nice combos instead of 6-7 bad to the bone combos. Just my opinion. I feel that nice equipment makes fishing even that much more enjoyable.

Sorry to hear that you trashed it. Step one is turning it around. I fish more that i should and have only had one reel i had to replace the braid in two years. I look for a little fray and then turn it around. I use the entire spool with braid though and depending on what i am doing i cut off a foot or so on retie.

Stick with the sniper in 12# only drawback is topwater

i like yellow, but it won't match my reel

Rig your worm straight, push the hook point completely through the worm then pull the hook point back into the worm until you can no longer feel it when you slide your finger along the worm. I prefer the 3/0 classic spider head. oe

Seems we all agree that there is no constant. In truth, all of our most productive targets are stored in our subconscious minds, so we can usually tell when somebody lives there. On average, one pitch will do me, but if it's a classic lair that gives me that gut-feel, I'll keep hitting it from different angles until I'm convinced that no one is home. Roger

If you place great importance on color, then your favorite color will work far better than mine Roger

The garden pest.

Some interesting history there. The Zoom Original was the reintroduction of the 'Original Zoom Worm,' a finesse worm they first made over 40 years ago, but in some of the newer Z-3 color patterns, only in the original shape/mold - hence "original." "Better than salt" is just a phrase they put on their packaging. It stems from a lawsuit that Gene Larew won claiming patent rights on the addition of salt to soft plastics. After winning the lawsuit (1997), they filed infringement notices to all soft plastic manufacturers notifying them to either pay for a license to continue to use salt, or cease adding it to their baits. Zoom chose to initially stop adding salt and came up with the slogan for their packaging instead. They later reverted many of their non laminate color options to the salt formula under a licensing agreement. However, the original Larew patent has since expired, and companies are free to use at will again.

Talk to the woman herself. Not a bunch of crusty old fishermen.

If I really think there is a bass there or if the guy running the trolling motor is messin around and I'm waiting on him then I'll put in there a few times otherwise if there is plenty of other targets then probably just once.

Holey Land 5/7/17, 6:30-noon, blue bird skies, wind NNW 10-20, temps 70's, Water clairity gin clear, WT 74*, current strong to the east. Pick up Dave (Canesfan) early and went ot the ramps at first light. We ran east half way down the east canal. I started with top water, with no action. Then went to a white crank bait with no action. I then went to a U-Vibe and picked up fish steadily. The wind and current kept increasing , so we moved to the west canal. We caught fish on both sides of the canal. There were a large group of buggy owners camping along the canal bank. We then ran to the north canal and ran all the way to the canal reduction. We caught some nice fish along this stretch, and the levee blocked the wind for a while. We finished the day at noon We caught over 20 bass with the biggest in the three pound range. Dave lost a few nice fish in the pad fields. With blue bird skies, an almost full moon, high water levels, gin clear water, brisk winds, and strong current, it was a pretty good day.

Hot streak still rolling... Took another win up on Conowingo yesterday with a 5 fish limit weighing 19lbs 4oz. These 3 certainly helped the cause. Water was really muddy from recent rains but the flipping bite was great...It was a single rod day and I probably caught 30+ keepers throughout the day. My co-angler also go 3rd in the Co division with around 12lbs, good day all around. Flipping a Black/Blue Rage Bug into the nasty stuff accounted for every single fish for me, definitely need a restock now!

Picture of grandpa after a day of walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods.

Last night I tied on a suspending jerkbait and and began casting into 4 feet of water. I only took two casts the whole evening, the second of which produced this 6 pounder. It is good to see some fish moving up shallow.