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Put my newest rod- st. Croix triumph x, to the test today. Asked my dad to go with me and he did, ended being a great time. Went out to a small pond (10 acres) with just my spinning rod, a casting setup for squarebills, a few bags of plastics, and some crankbaits. The weather was overcast for the most part, with little wind and incoming rain. Pretty clear water, about 4 feet of visibility. Fished from about 12 to 4. I get there and meet dad. He needs a rod (short notice trip) so I give my new one. He rigs up with a Texas rigged manns jelly worm in motor oil and 3/16 oz weight. I'm watching as he plops it into a little pocket and we both see the line jump. He sets the hook and brings in a nice 2 1/2 pounder on the very first cast. a giant in this pond (mostly stocked with panfish for kids to c&r) and one of the biggest of the day. So i I rig up with a KVD 1.5 in gold sexy shad and get to casting. Before long, we both start catching small 3/4 to 1 lb. bass that are stacked up on the bank. We work our way over to a large dock and are still catching them pretty good. We get to the dock and action slows down as the sun comes out. He gets a phone call and has to leave around 2:30, so I'm left with the pond all to myself. Around 3 storm clouds move in and the bite starts up again. I switched to a baby brush hog and get this: Taped it at about 15 1/4 inches. Good fish for this pond. Then the rain starts. It pours for about 20 minutes, slacks off, then comes back about an hour later. Around 4, the thunderstorm really comes so I start moving back towards the truck. i fish one more stretch of bank with a trick worm. Standing in the middle of a downpour, I hook into something nice: I estimate about 3 pounds. After this one, I think I may caught about 2 more, then had to get going. All in all, it was an awesome day of fishing. We caught about 20 between us and spent some quality time together (can't beat it).

I fished two lakes Saturday in Northern Wisconsin. The first one, had tons of boat traffic that made fishing difficult. Fortunately, there are hundreds of lakes in that area and we moved to a less congested lake that had minimal traffic and we hammered the smallies and largies.

Falcon treated us pretty good this weekend: Day 1 9.1 lber on a 6XD 25 inches long and 17.5 was the girth! Day 2 was pretty tough, nothing worth taking a picture over. Day 3 gave us a couple of studs!

'Water clarity' is very quick & very easy to appraise without the need for any special device, which probably lends to its disproportionate preoccupation. Secchi depths can range from a few inches to depths of more than 18 feet, but regardless of the water transparency, several other independent factors determine 'available light' and therefore "Underwater Visibility": > SKY CLARITY (cloudless - partly cloudy - heavy overcast) > SUN ANGLE (midday - twilight - midnight) > WAVE ACTION (flat calm - rippled - sharp chop) > LURE DEPTH (surface - 5-ft - 10-ft) > SHADE (open sunlight - stippled shade - under a dock) Roger

Went to the local Gander Mountain to take advantage of the the closing sales. All baits and line were 40% off. I originally was planning to restock on hooks but they had a lot of stuff I liked on sale. They had at least 30 spools of Smack down for 40% off so I may go back and buy a few more also got a couple spools of mono for leaders. I was also pretty excited to find that Spro Rat. I've been wanting to try one for a while and I snagged that one for $15.

It's going to be hard to do all of that with one rod....I wouldn't want to make a habit out of trying to get fish out of pads or other heavy stuff with the F5 rods...But I also wouldn't want to throw senkos, light spinnerbaits, 1/2oz traps, etc on the F6 or F7 rods. There's not really a substitute for a powerful rod, if you need it you need it...But heavy powered rods are not as versatile when it comes to lighter or moving baits. I can't really make a recommendation since I would use multiple rods for all that stuff. ...and to get us back on track, heres some MB/Shimano for you . Black Jungle Deep Cranking w/Citica 200E that I swapped 5:1 gears into. Was swapping hooks on some FF Shads.

I caught a few crappie today jigging craw imitations for bass.

Officially landed in Oklahoma City on May 23rd and this Canadian boy has been going crazy. Trips to Academy, Dick's, Walmart and Cabela's so far and it has been incredible!! Just wish someone would have warned me that the monkey turns into a gorilla quick. Yield so far has been 2 whopper plopper 90's, 15 bags of zoom flukes (academy 25% off is killer), falcon bucoo rod, one knocker spooks, xcalibur squarebills, yum dinger's and rogue's at dick's....buy 5, get 5 free. I am now scared that the US funds I brought will run out within the first 2 weeks of my trip. Lol. Might have to send out an SOS.

Took off work yesterday & fished, then fished again today at one of my fav small lakes. I've been dying to try one of the 6th Sense cranks I got during the holidays. Had a pretty good 2 days with about 30 bass total. Caught a few on a Baby 1- also, but the 3 biggest all came on the Movement 80x crank. Caught a 3'15", a 4 lbs even, and then this beauty this evening. She weighed 9'4" and was 24" long. Released back to the water. Needless to say, I'm digging this 6th Sense shallow crank. EDIT: Decided to add a little info on the crank. Let me preface this by saying that I usually have really good luck at this lake burning & pausing a Baby 1-. This 6th Sense crank has a wide wobble & a lot of thump. I mean a lot! Kinda makes it hard to burn, so I was having best results using a medium retrieve with sporadic pauses. On 15 lb Invisx, I'd say the bait ran about 2 - 2.5 ft deep. Thanks to fellow angler & bass resource member Dennis (who I just met on water today) for being there & was nice enough to get a few photos. Sorry Dennis, I don't remember your user name or I would tag you.

I always thought that was a list of gentlemens club's that catered to chubby chasers...

The Holiday Boat Traffic Insanity was job security for me of a long time and I was smack dab in the middle of most every one. However, those days are done. And as a retired human I'll leave the water to those souls who can't be out there all next week. Like I will be ~ A-Jay

A casting rod is fished with the guides pointing up, and the reel sits on top of the rod. It has a knob that goes between your fingers for a tight grip. A spinning rod is fished with the guides pointing down and the reel sits under the rod. There is no knob that goes between your fingers on spinning rods. The two rod types are meant for different types of reels. Casting rods are for baitcast or spincast reels, and spinning rods are fished with spinning reels.

For years fished tournaments, 3 or so per month. Full sized boat, 80 + miles per hour, all the bells and whistles. Did quite well at it too.Downsized to a Gheenoe, switched to small waters, carry 1/10th the tackle I used to (still use the best rod and reel combos I can afford). Am catching more bass and larger bass than ever. Won't post results because I would be called a braggart or liar or both. Over the decades I have learned what lures to use when, where, and how. So I truly believe knowledge of lures is as important as knowledge of how to catch fish. It all goes hand in hand. Have also become addicted to snook. Same thing applies - what lures to use on what tides complicates it even further. It all comes down to your overall knowledge, including boat handling, something not previously mentioned. The list goes on. Takes a lifetime to learn this stuff and all of a sudden you are an old man and health prevents you from going as much as you used to. Life can be a bi**** but you learn to make the best of it.

Busy day on the lake today, at least until the rain pushed the pleasure boaters off for a little while. Caught 41 bass in 4 hours, on trick worms before the rain moved in and then buzzbaits in the rain. The better fish are starting to move out onto the main lake stuff now, but still a few back in the coves mixed in with lots of buck bass. Best five weighed a very nice ~17 pounds, anchored by a 5.36 pound lunker that hit a buzzbait. Second biggest bag I've ever pulled out of this particular lake. The finesse game changer buzzbait did most of the damage before it broke, then a cavitron kept on catching them. Also made a go at catfishing for an hour or two later on, got a couple hits but didn't connect.

I figured the ultimate test would be to take it to my old favorite pond. I hadn't caught anything big out of it for a while, like I thought all the big fish were gone. I think I have a new favorite bait....solid 4 1/2-5 pounder.

My first 17 summers were spent at a cabin on Balsam Lake, WI. I learned a little about bass fishing, mostly stuff my brother, best friend and I figured out through trial and error. Moved to Montana in 1964 and started chasing trout instead, continued much less frequently after coming to Colorado in ‘73. Spent 2 years in the Bahamas fishing the island tidal channels, most for snapper and jacks with an occasional barracuda. Fast forward to 2017 and the bass bug has found me once again. My favorite bait in ancient days was topwater, most often Hula Popper, some Jitterbug and injured minnow and pre-rigged plastic worms. Last week we were camped at Pine Lake State Park in Eldora, Iowa (pretty lake, seems like it would be good with a boat or kayak). I had my gear with me in case I had time to try my luck, and I had bought a 7 day license. Ended up only fishing for a little over an hour. Tried several crankbaits (Rapala shad and minnow) with not a nibble. Switched to plastic swimbait and got a couple of follows, but no strikes. Then I tied on one of the small BPS poppers that I’d been using in the ocean. Tried several different retrieves, finally a fairly fast crank with jerks to create a commotion and I got a good strike, then landed 2 fish in a matter of minutes. They were small, only 10-12 inches, but they hit that popper hard, and I was as excited as a kid with his first fish. I just wish I’d had more time, and a way to get off the bank. Now I’m ready to get that fishing kayak and go for more. It may not seem like that much for you guys who get to chase bass regularly on well supplied lakes, but for me it was a trip in the Wayback Machine to a great period in my life. Now I want more than I'm afraid Colorado can give me.

I'm in good shape and already figuring out what I'm going to spend the money on, because as Buck Perry stated, "Knowledge is the key to success" - not tackle. -T9

Academy has 300yd spools of #20 and #65 Power Pro for $9.99. And they have 300yd Sufix for $19.99 http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/powerpro-20-lb---300-yards-braided-fishing-line#repChildCatid=116662

Haven't used the others, but if you go with the SC Mojo rod, you won't be disappointed. I have three of the casting rods and just recently added the 6'8" MXF spinning rod. I use it with a stradic fk for poppers, light jerkbaits, wacky rigs, and ned rigs. It's been great. The mojo rods definitely fish above their price point. Caught this with it last week.

LM can have red eyes at times too. There was recently a thread on it.

You arrive at your next bass tournament and the director hands everyone two packages of 7" green pumpkin straight-tail worms and announces you can use any hook or unskirted jighead, but you're limited to only the two packages of worms he gave you. How confident are you that you'll finish in the money? Bait or bass knowledge... what do you depend upon to catch your bass? oe

Nothing amongst bass anglers is standard and water clarity falls into a debatable topic. However there are sceintific methods to measure water clarity or turbidity. A Seechi dish is 1 method and turbidity meter is another tool. The Seechi disk is a pie plate size round disk painted half black and half while lowered down into the water until it can't be seen, that is the depth of light under whatever conditions that prevail. Turbidity meter measure particulate suspended mater that defuses light that reduces the depth of light. Bass anglers use terms like stained and that can be similar to tea colored water that is generally clear with a stained color. Off color can mean nearly anything like greenish looking water from suspended particulates like algae. Muddy water is another confusing term, usually means suspended soil particulates from wind wave action or rain run off. Whatever the terminology being used bass live in that water and can see very good or good enough to find prey that is trying to hide. Lure colors are more of a trail and error factor that only the bass can determine under what circumstances face them. The simple truth is we don't know for sure how bass see and process colors or how broad their color spectrum is. Tom

Got 3 days on before and will likely get one day after. Perfectly content to give the fools one day to be on the water. I've already seen enough stupidity to know I didn't want to be out there today.

Rumor has it that they're going on a fishing honeymoon in June

Looks like the next challenge might be trying to get your kid back from the state.

I tell them to breathe through a straw...

was born wheezing, so it's been a part of my life from the beginning. an on Advair 250/50.have albuterol when it gets tough to breathe. this year it's been tough because the pollen count has been through the roof.causing my allergies to trigger attacks. thankfully have not had to got to ER. people ask what it's like to have asthma and I tell them to close they're mouth, pinch nose shut and breathe. they understand a little more after that.

Very nice, well done!

Welcome aboard! @Jar11591 shows the differences well. Spinning is an easier method than casting, which requires a lot of practice given the nature of casting reels and backlashes. It can be frustrating to learn, but depending on your techniques, rewarding at the end. I'm proficient in both, but use spinning more.

Yeah, one thing I learned is that if the rescue doesn't work on the first pass or two, it's not going to work and requires a full fledged breathing treatment. Regarding your feeling today, don't hesitate to go back. Trust your gut. You know how you feel and the ***** of asthma is that it really does kill people every year, even though most of us consider it an inconvenience. EDIT: regarding the pneumonia diagnosis, see "trust your gut" above. Could save your life.

Got out of work at 11 pm Friday! Fished from 1am to 7am few fish! Slow night but got a few! First night mission of the year felt good getting out

Rod and line choice is dependent on lure weight and cover. You can pitch with any combo.

@davecon I understand & agree with what you are saying! The first question is "after being handed two packages of 7" green pumpkin straight-tail worms, how confident are you that you'll finish in the money?" That question eliminates any farther discussion of lures does it not?

I had pneumonia about a month ago. It was almost a month before I felt like I wasn't constantly trying to catch my breath. With having fluid, I'd say pneumonia is probably a pretty safe bet.

Certainly is scary not being able to get a full breath, and that's why I finally made the decision to go to the ER yesterday. They told me because my inhaler has not been working and they didn't here any wheezing that this may not be asthma related. They found some fluid around my left lung which made the doctor think possibly pneumonia. They prescribed an antibiotic and discharged me. Now it makes sense that this wouldn't be caused by asthma because my whole life my inhalers always worked in a matter of minutes until this latest issue that's been going on for a couple weeks. Every breath has been a struggle and I haven't been able to even fish because of it. It sucks that I missed the hot pre-spawn action but health obviously is more important.

Yep it's all over the front page. It's only good once per account so trying to decide on another Chronarch, Metanium or Aldebaren...probably all of them on friends accounts.

The flip lock expands out a little extra when you flip it down. You were probably getting a better seal with it than you are with the screw in style. I had the same issue with my old johnboat and it stopped when I went back to a flip lock style.

XL Big Green Egg. Everything from tri-tip to steaks and pizza. Wife is going to make some rustic bread next. Very easy to maintain temperature and kind of foolproof (me being the fool).

I think the point of the question is if you had to choose one, knowledge of bass and their habits is better than a new boat filled with tackle. You certainly don't need high-end gear to catch fish. Yes, with knowledge and experience we learn different techniques and the best gear for those techniques.. No one is saying having the right gear is not an advantage. It certainly adds to the pleasure for most of us. I can (and have) catch fish with Walmart gear from my old tin boat or with high-end gear from a shiny new 20' bass boat with 250 hp. Why? My knowledge of bass and my experience catching them. You can't buy that.

Best 5 fish 20lbs probably. Caught 40 plus pike/pickeral.

Picked up this gem on Friday, I'll float her for the first time tomorrow. Gonna do a little river trip.

There are a slew of methods used to fish iive bait, but my favorite by far is "Free-Lining", which involves no float and no sinker. Any live minnow may be used as bait such as a shiner, shad, sunfish, chub ~ ~ ~ The reel drag should be set as usual to about 30% of breaking strength, but your reel remains in free-spool with your thumb rested lightly on the line spool. You'll have no problem distinguishing the swimming action of your bait from the attack of a bass. In many cases, when your bait sees a prowling bass it will go berserk, which in my opinion is the greatest part of live-bait fishing. On occasion (not all the time), we've had frantic shiners skittering across the surface to escape a bass in tow, only to end in a whitewater explosion! Roger

Since when is choosing the right tackle not considered knowledge ? Go ahead and make it harder on yourself if you want to but experience should tell you what to use when and where ! If you don't believe that, good luck with your fishing cause you are going to need a lot of it !

Lack of reports is because there is nothing to report on. Oh..............I have been fishing a bunch BUT Silver is in the WORST spring funk I have seen in 30 years, and I am not sure what's going on. Grass is green and healthy, water temps are pretty stable, water is clear and clean.............it's like everything is gone. Places and locations that have held bass for 30 years this time of year are void of life. Other areas that hold bass in the summer/fall/winter are dead, and the only place I can see any signs of life on my electronics are in 30+ feet of water, glued to the bottom, smack dab in the middle of the lake....And I have tried fishing for these fish with nothing to show for it. I have been SKUNKED 6 out of my last 8 trips, and when I am not getting skunked all I am catching are random small males off the few beds I can find. Often miles apart. I have fished every thing I know...grass, docks, wood, rock, points, on the bank, offshore, power fished, finesse fished, I can barely even catch a few rock bass right now. I don't know what's going on.

That's a Viscious Fishing logo in the eye.

My suggestion would be to look at 8' swimbait rods. Tom

Heh... It doesn't stop then. Trust me. Set your budget, get something in that price range, and go fishing... $60 is plenty to get a good enough rod to catch fish. People on here like to obsess about equipment, but you can be a productive angler with faaaar more modest stuff.

Abu Garcia has a couple rods (Veritas, Vengeance) in that price range that are decent. Berkeley's Lightning and Lightning Shock rods are perennial favorites.

The #1 key to consistently catching bass is between your ears not between the folds of your wallet!

Spotted bass, smallie largemouth