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On my way back from Tennessee I stopped in southwest Virginia to stay the night with my grandparents who live close to South Holston Lake. My friend who lives here said he was catching some smallmouth on deep diving crankbaits so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it. Only had about 3 hours of fishing time but it was a blast! Definitely will try to spend some more time on the lake in the future.

'RoLo' is the duonym for 'Roger & Lois'. My wife has been my faithful & steadfast fishing companion since 1964. When we first got married, Lois unleashed a steady stream of questions about fishing. Today however, she commonly outfishes me; so I might have to rebrand to “LoRo” Roger

Iv'e been hitting one of my little gem ponds recently trying to get the 6-8lb'ers that lurk in this small bow. It gets mucky in the summer and sometimes you're limited to what you can throw. Yesterday I caught a 3lber on a frog and found an open pocket of water near the bank and threw a swimbait and a 5lber crushed it. Today I made a quick stop and threw the frog again and another 5lber hammered it thru the muck. Only one bass from there today but I'll take it.

Freedom is good no matter how you look at it. A-Jay

Personally I believe it's a big pile of BS, of course that ain't gonna stop me from purchasing the same bait in several eye catching colors.

Shimmy, Ol' shake'n'bake moves i put on defenders during my Division 1 football stomping days. When i didn't successfully shimmy, i got hurt since they were all 5 times my size.

@wdp: I'm not divulging my age, but my birth certificate IS written in Cuneiform. Heck, when I was born there was no history, just news. I can go on but I'm too modest to mention I hold the patent for dust.

caught 13 this past evening in about 2 hours. the biggest about 4 1/2 couple more 4's and a couple 3's the rest dinks. sure was fun tho!

The color YOU can see the best... oe

I havn't checked in, in a while. Here is what I have been up to. And photo imaging.

Try a chicken nugget .

Do not invest in tackle :........... are you friggin nutz ?!? Tackle is love man.

They're known as Wild Turkeys, but they're not too wild in Lake Wales, FL. That's my trailer tongue in the foreground That's my Honda wheel in the background Roger

You need to get past the idea that having the right bait is the key to catching bass. You can throw every bait ever made but if you aren't putting them where the fish are, you will never get bit. The lures you own will catch fish when you fish them the right way, in the right place.

One of the lagoons that we fish has a lot of wind blown thick, soupy weeds and algae that piles up that provides some good cover for bass. There are a few small breaks in it and because it's so dense it's generally a pain to fish. But we all know it's fun to toss a frog over cover and have the bass come crashing through the crud even if the hookup rate is low. So the other week I'm fishing the frog over this gunk and get a pretty good hit. I wait a second for the fish to take it downward and set the hook. It feels like a decent size and has a pretty good fight. I'm fishing over elevated railroad ties, through the gunk and then over weeds so I yell to my son to bring the net. We never reach way down to the water with only our hands from an elevated position here in SC and the attached picture shows why. Instead of a nice, big bass a small alligator hit my frog and he wasn't about to let go anytime soon. When I got him near shore he just sat there on the weed bed with the frog in his mouth and wouldn't let go. So I picked him up out of the water a bit and that just made him mad. He spent nearly 5 minutes spinning and thrashing until he finally had enough and let go. This wasn't our first encounter with a gator. Last month when I was reeling in a 4 pounder a 4-5 foot gator made a bee line for the bass as I was reeling it in. On this lagoon it was about a 5 foot drop from the elevated railroad ties to the water. As I go to bring p the fish my rod tip snaps. My son grabs the net, lays on the ground reaching down as the gator comes barrelling towards the bass. My son bopped the gator on the head with the net and scooped the fish to preserve my catch. The small gators are a nuisance and you try and fish around them. But when the big gators show up we usually move on to another lagoon. Whether you're catching them or not it's always exciting fishing here in the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Hey guys, Just gotten back into fishing recently, and I have upgraded all my gear. Super excited about the Alabama rigs! But my best advice is: fish where in areas where the size fish you want to catch are. The amount of sized fish you wanta catch being in the waters you fish, are more important to me than what's in my tackle box. Trophy manage your ponds before you trophy manage your tackle box is my advise

Not today. P.b... stoked

Not trying to burst your bubble but I think what he's trying to imply is Northern Strain Largemouth don't get that big, period, for a number of reasons. Also...you said the old man told you a fable of a fish. It sounds like this was from a long time ago. In which case even if it was a 21lb fish, it's dead now. Now I'm sure there are still teeners swimming around that are absolutely worth pursuing, and I'd loooooooove to know what kind of stuff is swimming out in the middle of Wachusett reservoir that hasn't ever seen a lure before. But I think the 21lb bass is likely a case of a lying scale or lying fisherman. The real question is by how much? A 12lb fish exaggerated to 21 is still a fish I'd spend serious time on if I knew where it was. All that being said I like to think there are still fish somewhere in the state capable of breaking the state record. Whether they can actually be caught is another story. There are just certain fish that will never see a fisherman unless the state regs change.

I dont have a lot of clear water experience . When I do fish it I tend to go natural . Crawfish colors have worked well for me . Stained water I use a lot of chartreuse and white colors like fire tiger and Sexy Shad . Also , crawfish colors have worked well for me

If you search this website for Chronarch MGL, you'll see that I've been a big fan of this reel ever since it was released. I've now got 4 of them and I love this reel. Probably the best all around performing reel I've ever owned.

Well sir, you need to get your wife on these forums because you've been a wealth of knowledge for me, I can only imagine what she could teach us!

stopped by dick's sporting goods and the lucky craft hardbaits were 2 for $12 and yum plastics were $2 each if you bought 5 or more.... had a $10 rewards certificate too so all together i spent $13 for 2 LC jerks and 5 bags of dingers!

I only use a few colors, no matter the water color: Green Pumpkin Black/Blue Brown/Orange Dark Purple (Junebug Typically) I've never seen a water color those 4 colors didn't work in

Mine is fairly self-explanatory, when I signed up here I was ready to take a break from my normal screen name that I use that was based on the nickname I received playing college basketball, mudgedaddy. I thought up something semi-original, but alas it was already claimed by someone here on BR. Since my creative side was already burnt out on the original attempt, I figured what the heck I live in Wisconsin and I'm a guide so let's combine that and WIguide was born. Creative genius at work... I know...I know

Most of the lakes across the northern half of the country are classified as 'dimictic,' meaning they turn over twice a year, once in spring and again in fall. The spring turnover is more a science technicality than a fishable event like the fall turnover. With surface ice and temps in the depths gradually increasing to 39 degrees in the deepest water, while not truly stratified, the waters also aren't thermally uniform. Shortly after iceout, when surface temps rise (usually quickly) to 39 deg., they are, and all water at all depths can mix freely making for homogeneous temps, pH levels and oxygen content. ....and I prefer my turnovers to be cherry ?

I like crayons. Can't beat crayons AND stickers! This book is going to be awesome!

Yep, been catching a few nice ones in 2 to 5 foot of water on a 1/4 once crome and black back trap along some grass.

To ensure I don't get the CPS Twistlock in my knot, I always thread my plastic bait onto the CPS Twistlock first, THEN tie the hook to my line.

I caught a dozen bass , walleye , white bass crappie and a flathead today using the Dredger10.5 .I catch more fish close to the boat with these Dredgers than I remember catching with other cranks . They seem to hold their depth longer .

We lived a few years on the shore of Lake Walk-In-Water, FL where the wild turkeys grew accustomed to seeing humans. This gave me a chance to get a few closeup shots I'd never get in the wild: Roger

I'll admit to getting hooked once ~ ONCE - a LONG time ago. Since then, every fish hanging on treble hooks gets the Net and / or Boga Grip (or fish gripper) & hooks are removed with a pair of pliers or in my case hemostat type; never my fingers. A-Jay

I've had two Maglite D-Cell flashlight since the 90s... They'd been relegated to to basement duty as all the new LEDs kicked their butts... But I've never quite been ready to toss them, just because I like them. A couple weeks ago, I got a bug up my butt to see if could find an LED bulb swap for them. Last time I'd looked they were either too expensive...or they just sucked. Initial looks where they replaced only the single bulb with a single LED...still sucked. I stumbled on this: My old 4D Maglite with the 36 LED, 1100 lumen converter in it. On a couple of flashlight forums (yeah...who knew?)...with positive reviews. You lose the ability to focus the beam, but at 1100 lumens, who cares? So for $26 delivered...I ordered two. They arrived Tuesday, and popped them in quick, waited for dark (fricking late here, this time of year) and tried them. They light up my whole front yard, or the whole back yard*...so I was right in thinking that the ability to focus the beam was unimportant. If I had more old Maglites, I'd buy more. Screw crenelated bezels, you can crush skulls with these things. *My yard is 200 ft x 300 ft.

Yessir I appreciate your concern for this fish health. As we take a lot of pride in our fisheries. And overs here we go the extra mile to ensure the fish is as healthy as possible. The fish was either in a live well , or weigh bag (for a very short time while walking in and out of the marina) full of water. And revived in the tpwd holding tank. She was out of the water for maybe a minute max. I just wanted s certified weigh. We didn't have a scale or ruler in the boat.

I have 8 Baitcast reels and love them, But I hate spinning reels I have 2 and they stay in my rod locker. When I want to throw light lures and be accurate I break out my Zebco Omega Z03 Spincast Reels 7 seven-bearing and smooth. I put a lot of fish in the boat with them and you can say what you want it's what you put in the livewell that counts.

Strike King Rage Craw is almost all you'll ever need for a most excellent jig trailer A-Jay

Vertically is how I always rig my trailers like the Havoc Pitboss, Devil's Spear, or Rage Menace. It looks more like a fish swimming, and it fights against the natural action of the bait less.

6.5# on a h2O model M blue/char crankbait. Falcon lake.

[June 19, 2017] (Monday) -----Conditions----- Time: 8:00am - 2:30pm Sky: Clear to Partly Cloudy. Wind: Slight Wind from the North Water Temps: 54-64F Water Clarity: Clear (5ft+) -------------------- Headed out with a friend from work and his son. I managed to catch 6 bass, I believe he caught around 8, with one being a nice 2 lb 12 oz - 17" Largemouth, and another being a nice 2 lb+ Smallmouth. It was a great day... we both caught numbers & size even though we had to cut the day short at 2:30pm. 1st Bass = 9 & 3/4" - 0.37 lb (06 oz) 2nd Bass = 11" - 0.53 lb (08 oz) 3rd Bass = 18 & 3/4" - 2.69 lb (2 lb, 11 oz) (Guessed ~3 lb, but it was skinny) 4th Bass = 12 & 3/8" - 0.84 lb (13 oz) 5th Bass = 17" - 2.34 lb (2 lb, 05 oz) 6th Bass = 13 & 3/4" - 0.95 lb (~1 lb) Currently have plans to fish again tomorrow (21st), and possibly pickup where we left off... WolfyBrandon

When I was 24 I was night fishing a farm pond with a girlfriend and using a spoon with 5/0 hook.I felt a bump and reacted instinctively and jerked .But it was only a few feet out and the spoon came out and hit me in the right eye.I spun around and sat down.I reached up and gently pulled but it was in deep.I cut the line and had to hold the spoon up because it was pulling my eyeball down from the weight of it.We were both kind of in shock.She drove me to one of those acute care type clinics and when the doc saw it he made a face and told me to get to a hospital.Duh!!. Anyway I was in surgery for 5 hours.The impact of the spoon detached the retina, destroyed the lens and damaged the iris.A doctor who was one of the best in the state did the surgery .He apparently didn't think he could save the eye but tried anyway.He agreed later it was a miracle that the eye was saved. I just had a recent eye test, and with correction, the eye is now 20-20!.I'm very thankful. I also got a small hook stuck just like the first post.I just rotated it around and gently pulled it and it slipped out.No sweat- if you've been hooked in the eye nothing else is a big deal!!

A couple of weeks ago, I hooked myself for only the second time ever (the first was over 35 years ago). I typically am pretty cautious when handling fish caught with lures featuring multiple treble hooks, but I must have been a little sleepy when the 4th cast of the morning resulted in a bass inhaling my Pop-R. I brought him to the boat, I reached down & lipped him and started to lift him. As I did, he shook and drove one of the trebles into my left thumb. I pinned him down to stop him from moving, unbuttoned him & released him (I could swear I heard him giggling as he hit the water). I looked at my thumb expecting to see a bloody mess, but instead found the treble had slid between my thumbnail and the cuticle, past the barb of the hook. No blood and as I suddenly realized, no pain. I removed the treble hook from the lure and attempted to manipulate the hook back out. Unfortunately, the nail bed prohibited me from the "hook pop" trick for removing hooks embedded in more meaty parts. I could turn the hook 90 degrees in either direction, so that the point was either under the nail bed or pressed up against the outside of the thumb. I figured the best bet was to create an exit hole & pop it back through. As I thought about it more, I guessed popping it back through would make it bleed and cause some pain where I thumb the spool on my baitcaster. It wasn't even 6 am yet and I didn't want to ruin a whole day of fishing, so I made an executive decision. I cut the treble so that about a 1/2" of the hook was exposed through the nail. With that done, I had complete mobility with my thumb, no pain and a way to still remove the hook later. I stayed out on the water until about 3 pm with no effect on my casting or reeling, although I did land the rest of my fish left handed. When I got home, I started to manipulate what was left of the hook to poke it through, but chickened out. I drove over to an urgent care center, they numbed the thumb up and backed the hook out without damaging the nail bed. Once the hook was out, you couldn't tell one was ever in there. No blood, no entry mark, it was as if nothing had ever happened. There was a little swelling that evening from the trauma of backing the hook out, but by morning it was as good as new. The positive was that it renewed my focus to pay attention when landing fish with multiple trebles hanging out of their mouth. I know some folks look at this as a reason to smash barbs or not use trebles, but once every 35 years is a pretty fair track record, especially considering it was completely avoidable and only happened due to a moment of carelessness. Any one else have an interesting self hooking story? Here is what it looked like after I cut it and continued to fish.

Lures & Baits are essentially tools & solutions to "problems" You'll be giving yourself the best opportunity at success when you use the right tool for the job. Occasionally there may be more than one. Then you get to fish the one you like. But in most every case, your lure needs to solve at least one (but often more than one) challenge. Could be but is certainly not limited to, getting deep, staying shallow, Staying on top, working effectively in cover, suspending, needs to be loud, needs to be quiet, needs to flash or rattle, needs to be subtle, and I haven't even mentioned anything about color or patterns yet. Those choices seem almost endless. So if you look at what "problems' you need your bait to solve, that could help lead you in the right direction as far as what baits to get & fish. Of course, this will most likely require you to learn a bit about each type of bait you may be interested in; including how, when, where & why it's used. Enjoy. A-Jay

We are outside of Urbana. We've been fishing small lakes for the past few years and hope to spend a lot of time at Shelbyville now that we can get out on the water. I'm from Peoria originally so you can bet we will be over at Banner Marsh too.

DSG has the powerbait deal up again. 4/$10 and a $10 rebate from Berkley. Go get yourself some free worms.

Goodnight Scale, that's awful. Seeing that makes me want to go purchase a Boga Grip.

Tatula SV fits nicely on my DX744C

Didn't expect to throw a wacky rig this early, but got 4 like this...

I have so many plastics to use up, but I can't seem to put the black buzzbait down (just a hair under 20", although not sitting on the board quite right...):

I am not in the MOST OF US CLUB either. I use Berkley Trilene XL, and I really did not see any benefits using any of the 2 conditioners I tried, KVD being one of them. Added expense and work with out any returns. The only thing around my boat that has memory issues is me