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Caught my PB spotted bass at Folsom Lake last night! 2lb 13oz. 1/2oz Jig with Sweet Beaver trailer. Fishing in about 20 ft of choppy water.

Chunker from yesterday, going back today to finesse some bigger ones that followed but wouldn't commit.

The only smallie to show up on a five-hour river float today (but I'll take it):

Had a decent weekend, not a quantity weekend, but did well on the size.

I love using Zoom Super Flukes, especially under docks. However, it seemed that with weightless Texas Rigging the hole where the hook goes through the fluke would eventually get tore up and allow the hook to poke through too much ruining it's weedlessnes and it would start fouling a lot on weeds. I saw a video on here posted by another Bass Resource'r that showed using a medium Owner CPS Twistlock to nosehook the fluke like a Banjo Minnow. It seemed great so I tried it. However, I lost 3 CPS Twistlocks because the opening was just too big for the hook. They weren't lost fighting fish, just during casting. Since I didn't want to change the hook or Twistlock size I had to find a way to keep it on. Owner CPS Twistlocks aren't cheap, so I wanted to avoid losing them. I thought about it and tried putting on some Heat Shrink Tubing on the hook first, then adding the Twistlock, and then putting the rest of the heat shrink over the hook and cutting the excess heat shrink. We tried it out today and if worked great. Caught a lot of sunnies and largemouth including this 3.5lber. Didn't lose any more Flukes or Twistlocks. Also, for some reason this seems to be more weedless than any other way I've tried rigging Super Flukes, including T-Rigging. What you need: 1.) Zoom Super Fluke 2.) 1/8" inch Heat Shrink 3.) Owner Twistlock CPS - medium size 4.) Hook of your choice (I like 2/0 Owner Mosquito Hooks)

Had to share this one. Nobody would believe me unless it was on video.

I'll see you at the line twist thread.

Well, Today was one heck of a day. Started out with my frog and switched to weight less senko and the game was on, They were loving the june bug senkos. Here's our catches of today, quick catch and release. I landed what felt like a five pound 18 inch bass and the fight was quite hard getting her into shore but i won.

I havent caught a big bass all year . This one was almost decent . I went old school . 8 inch blue Jelly Worm .

I nailed this 5-5 brute at 8 PM tonight on a black/blue 3/8 Strike King Hack Attack jig w/ Rage Menace trailer in green pumpkin.

Got out at daybreak today. Lake was slick calm. Pulled out the booyah on my froggin rig. Nothing for 1/2 hr. I turned my head,and when I looked there had been a relatively small blow- up with no noise. Very subtle . As I pulled up to check I felt pressure moving to the right and then realized it was a heavy fish. Fish never tried to jump .It weighed 7.3 pounds. Other than the big fish,I caught 5 more on various worms.One was really cool because I caught it on a late 70s vintage 6 inch grape Mann's jelly worm. Day sha vu!!!

Followed closely by the "Wind Knot" thread!!

We done!

Also consider the benefits of financing. I was offered 2x length of boat motor warranty for financing over cash, and no penalty to pay off early. No brainer.

We got our All Star Game swag from Wilson Ball Gloves today: Two shirts, a cap, and a bobblehead of Shigeaki Aso. No, Aso isn't an MLB pitcher from Japan. He's Wilson's Glove Guru. He's a Master Glove Maker, responsible for many of the Wilson models. If you're a top MLB ballplayer that wears the Wilson brand and your glove needs new laces, replacement leather, or you're breaking in a new glove he'll fly out to your city and work on your glove. Anyway, it was a cool gift package - but it's not the A2000 glove my son was hoping for. I'll have to try and come up with another creative photo and see if we can win the big prize in the future. FWIW, I've entered this #WilsonWednesday giveaway 5 or 6 times before and this is the first time we won anything. We did win an MLB Play Ball shirt and gift package last year.

Up or down; seam or no seam...doesnt make any difference. The reason you are experiencing line twist is you dont have the bait straight on the hook. Meaning, the bait isn't perfectly in line with the hook. I like to use the seam as a guide while rigging to make sure the worm is perfectly in line on the hook. And make sure you enter the worm, both first and second time, perfectly perpendicular to the bait. Ive taken out buddies who aren't as into fishing as me and i know they are thinking im too anal about rigging my plastics but somehow i always catch more fish than them.

Had some fun with a TRD and my conquest 50 today

using a Ned Rig in shallow water this 6 pound drum nearly pulled the rod out of my hands when it hit. this guy was fun on an otherwise slow day.

This past weekend was a busy one for me as I was bouncing around all over the place. I did get over to spend some time with my girlfriend who was feeling the urge to fish. I never need my arm twisted to do that, so I hauled the boat over. Last winter I saw a lake on google maps that I had never fished before only 15 minutes or so from her parent's house so we set off on an adventure to explore it. Upon arrival, things were looking good, it had some bogs that looked to have some water under them, lots of grass, some deep holes, and some stumps and downed trees. Conditions were not the best though, post frontal, bluebird skies, a light breeze that seemed to be blowing in circles. Things started off on a good note, as Mikalila had her first fish in the boat (baby northern) while I was still pulling rods out of the box. Things slowed drastically after, but we seemed to catch fish in spurts, I don't know if we just happened to run across a productive area, or if it had to do with the switching wind or what, but you'd catch one or two and it'd be followed by a long stretch of nothing. Most of our bites were coming on a frog, and all 3 photo worthy fish were caught on one. We lost a few others that got us wrapped up in the thick stuff and we couldn't get to them before they pulled off. Overall, this little lake has some potential, and I look forward to going back under better conditions and seeing if that lake has more to offer. Sunday, on the way home I stopped at a lake closer to my house that I usually fish quite often, but haven't had the time to get over there lately. I've only been on it once this year and that was early spring. I spend the little bit of my time fishing off shore structure with jack squat to show for it other than a few tiny and I mean tiny fish and a nice northern than liked the look of my jig. I decided to move in and fish some shallow slop in my last 40 minutes or so and was rewarded with 3 keeper bass one of which was a big momma! 20 3/4" and 5 lbs 3 oz. my first 5er of the year but hopefully not the last, they aren't exactly common around here. It was definitely a quality vs. quantity weekend, that's one of the best parts about fishing though, you never know what could happen the next cast.

This ties in to fishing, I swear. I happen to be a Baseball Dad and a baseball coach to my son and every now and then I look out for giveaways, especially with Wilson Ball Gloves because they occasionally give away $400 baseball gloves. One of the promotions they have is Wilson Wednesdays where you submit a picture. This week they were giving away a custom A2000 special edition All Star Game glove. This is the glove they gave out to MLB All Star players that wear Wilson gloves. Anyway, this afternoon I get a message on Twitter from Wilson. I didn't win the glove but I did win some shirts and All Star swag with the picture below that we took at one of the lagoons that we fish. It's been blazing hot hear lately and other than a few two pounders the other day we haven't caught much so the pic was truly our best catch of the day. Here's the Twitter link from Wilson: https://twitter.com/wilsonballglove/status/885597763437723648

Got into some really big bluegills over the weekend. Had a blast with the ultra-lite tackle, and we were reeling in gills this big every cast.

The lake I've been fishing has a thermocline fluctuating between 10 and 15 foot . Reccently most of the fish have been showing on the sonar 8 to 10 foot . I'm not going to pretend to know why . My best guess is that is where the most O2 is at . In early June I was catching a lot of post spawn fish down to 15 foot . They have moved shallower with warmer water temps .

Getting back on topic what this thread should focus on is how external noise or sound affects bass behavior. Would you fish from aluminum boat without any carpet or rubber pads on the inside bottom to dampen sound? If you believe noises made by anglers dropping tackle boxes or banging around inside the metal boat then you should believe bass are affected by sonar pulses. Bass hear/feel sound through there lateral line nerves. Tom

Welcome to BR! Sounds like you haven't yet been introduced to my "friend" below....he welcomes, you, also:

http://www.barlowstackle.com/Do-It-Football-Jig-Moldbrwith-Wire-Keeper-P3029.aspx

If you want it for free then it goes without saying they or a certified daiwa repair center will have to do it. They arent going to just take you at your word. Theres a listing of service centers on their website. If you have one locally just have them get it for you. It's not an expensive piece to order yourself. you cam always call brian at the tackle trap and see if their repair guy has one.

The only downside for side imaging (and this is the reason I do not have it on my kayak) is that the transducer needs a clear shot to either side. You can't block the side view with part of your kayak. This usually means that the transducer has to be completely below your kayak where it is subject to hitting rocks, hanging up in wood or collecting weeds. I currently have the Tarpon 130x with the OS pod. Having the transducer protected inside the transducer scupper is really nice for the type of fishing I do. I can scoot down a rocky shallow river without the fear of having the puck sheared off. The catch of course is that side imaging is not an option.

Rage tail Structure Bug

Thread Update... hit the water at 7am. Caught 2 nice ones in the first 30 minutes on a Boyd Duckett Walking Popper using a walk the dog retrieve near small patches of isolated lilly pads... around 10am after the sun got hot I switched to a BX Minnow working a quick darting retrieve. Third cast another keeper hit it hard on a secondary point in about 10ft of water...When I unhooked and released him I noticed a small tail fin on my casting deck.. after investigating i came to the conclusion that the bass spit it up. It looked like a tiny bass tail.. switched to a weightless fluke in green baby bass color. Hammered them the rest of the day right from the bank all the way out to open water around 15 feet.. Most productive day I have had in a few weeks.... Don't feel like I solved the suspensed bass riddle but I took what was given and tried to adjust accordingly... Appreciate the support..

I'm going tomorrow. Can't take it anymore! Going deep and in the lake until October. Don't care what I catch. It's time to bite the bullet and learn. If I gotta idle for three days looking that's what I'll do.

I buy and sell a ton of rods, I've had rods in cardboard tubes arrive broken, I've never had an issue with PVC. If I sell a rod, it get shipping in PVC and packaged correctly. Sure they can break pvc but I think it happens a lot less frequently.

Underspin with 4-5 inch swimbait?

On my Rapala line clippers there is a knife and a backlash tool that has a hook like the bottom tool in that pic. I won't leave home for fishing without it.

Saving Private Ryan http://mentalfloss.com/article/65611/15-fascinating-facts-about-saving-private-ryan

All true. My experience is Douglas seems to have more fish and Cherokee has better fish. That may just be me and my abilities however. Both lakes can be very difficult when it gets hot and the fish move deep. Both lakes have smallmouth, if that matters to you, and Cherokee probably has gets the nod here, both in numbers and size. btw Neither of these lakes are clear water lakes. Both are stained with visibility of 2-3 feet this time of year depending on weather. one tip for both lakes, if you see a mud line created by wind or waves, fish it thoroughly.

Cherokee isn't really polluted (no more than other lakes in the area anyway), the water just has more color to it, especially up the lake. They're very different lakes, Cherokee has more of a mix of things, bluffs, channel swings, transitions, long points, and tons of humps and islands. Douglas just seems like miles of gravel and clay banks that all look the same. Both have quality fish, I don't think there's really an answer to which one is better, they're just different. One thing for sure, they can both be very tough lakes to learn, especially this time of year.

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ When it's all said & done there are three basic factors that you'll need to address regarding the gear you have & the techniques you want to fish with it. 1. Can you effectively / accurately cast the rig with it ? The weight you use plays a role here. 2. Can you effectively detect a strike AND then set the hook ? ML spinning gear spooled with Six pound test is often a solid rig for reel setting a small, exposed drop shot hook but you may find it a bit inadequate driving a beefy worm hook through plastic (if you Tex-pose the bait) and then into the bass; especially on a long cast. 3. Can you effectively fight & land the big bass you're undoubtedly hoping to catch, up & over or through the cover you're fishing (if any) ? My experience here says that you'll have some problems. But I think you already know that. So like many of us did in the early stages of our fishing, you can try what you've got. Perhaps catch a few and perhaps lose a few along the way. Eventually, you may end up making some modifications to either your gear or your baits so that the above factors are less of a concern which would probably improve you're overall success and satisfaction quite a bit. Good Luck A-Jay

A good swim jig fish from yesterday.

How important are your eyes? Do you use them on a regular basis?

I'm a little overwhelmed by all of the types and colors of artificial frogs there are! I was in my local BassPro and Dicks the other day with the intention of buying a couple of frogs but my brain melted with all of the choices in brand and color. So my question to you guys and girls: what is your favorite brand and color of frog, and then part 2 of the question, why? What makes one better than another? Gregg

Robert, I watched the video again when I got home and will say of all the ones on how to tie the FG knot, this may very well be the better video!

Booyah Popping Pad Crasher in Cricket Frog if I could only have one. They're easy to find, affordable, and they work.

Pad Crasher and Poppin Pad Crasher. Easy to walk for me and gets hit more than any frog i've used.Bullfrog and Dart frog for colors.One has a light belly one a black belly.Bass cant see the top of the frog.Belly for the bass and the top for the fisherman.

Poppin pad crashers

I consider myself lucky. Yes I married the most beautiful woman god has ever great and yes she is my fishing parter 90% of the time and yes she catches more fish than me 99% of the time. That's not the reason I consider myself lucky though. Six months into college I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. A cantaloupe sized tumor was in my chest pressing on my wind pipe. A few days later and some radiation my back pain went away, mentioned it to the doctors and they found more cancer in my bone marrow in my hips, thighs, pelvis, tail bone, and spinal fluid. I was lucky because I was put in Devos Children's hospital. I went through hell for 6 months, in a week out 2, chemo radiation, spinal taps, bone marrow taken out and checked. It would've been worse if I would've been put in the regular hospital. I was the oldest there (I just made the cutoff), while there in the oncology department, it was all sick babies and kids. Kids who would never be the same because of their illness....but every single one of those kids had a smile on their face and everyone of them laughed. I'm lucky because I survived yes but I feel I'm lucky because I got that reality check. I don't let things really bother me anymore. Life's too short! Life isn't about the material things, its about making every day count. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. I don't always walk on cloud 9 but not much rattles me, I rarely get upset. I'm lucky because of my experience at a young age. Who knows where I'd be if it hadn't happened. I've always said if everyone could experience what I did the world might be a better place. Kids are awesome and don't let big things or small get keep them down. I hug mine a little tighter every night. I am the luckiest guy!

My two favorite frogs are a Booyah Pad Crasher in Bullfrig and a Scum Frog Trophy Series in Watermellon Red.

Booya pad crasher bull frog color Why It catches fish also my pb 7.4lb

I do believe that micros result in a longer cast, but probably more important is the fact that lighter guides give a faster, more sensitive rod. There are disadvantages. They freeze up more easily than larger guides if you're fishing around 32F, and they will not pass just any knot. You have to be more careful about the knot and the pound test of the line and leader to be sure the knot will pass cleanly. I build all my rods today, and all have micros.

Menards is number 1. When I moved from Eastern Iowa to Kansas city there were no Menards nearby. Now we are finally getting a few in the area. I will drive by a Home Depot and a Lowes to shop at Menards.