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decided to take a few casts after work and got this 5lb on a black buzzbait on the second cast.

Got out for a few minutes this morning, a rare event for me. Pretty uneventful, figured I missed the morning bite. Decided to revisit a spot that gave me nothing earlier. Dropped a crankbait right on this one's head, as soon as it hit the water she was on. Fought like a champ, 4.1lbs. Had to wade out to knee deep water to pull her out of some reeds. This is basically the only true access point to this pond without walking around through the woods(which I'm not going to do during snake season).

Didn't do a lot of fishing on my days off this week with the holiday, but I still made it out for a couple shorter trips to avoid the crowds. Took my son out again on Monday, and my parents (Papa and Nana as my son calls them), went along with us so Lake could show them his fishing skills. Tuesday was just me for a few hours in the morning. I got started off with a bang, sight fishing this one with a wacky rigged 4" stick worm as she cruised the shoreline.

Once a month on my local reservoir we are allowed to stay on the lake till midnight (normally we are given the boot one hour past sunset). So I always try to take advantage of this opportunity as "night fishing" appears to be largely frowned upon in Maryland. Last night it was cool and raining (had to break out the dry suit for the first time this year). With the cloud cover obscuring the moon it was dark out there but still there was enough ambient light for me to make out the shoreline and the trees. I tried some surface presentations but outside of one suicidal green sunfish no deal on top. So I go back to the one technique that always seems to work at night. The trusty black & blue jig. I was finessing it through the deep weed edge about 15' down and felt that little "tick".

Here is a story worth sharing from last night. Made a quick trip over to a local lake to play around more, trying to dial in a finesse setup and presentation. I catch several solid fish and am happy with the way things are shaping up. I'm working my soft plastic back near a steep shoreline when a bass comes up from the deeper water at my feet and sucks in the bait. I see the fish, set the hook and the line snaps - broke right at the leader knot (braid/fluoro). I'm bummed a bit because it looked like a nice fish, but it's not totally unexpected as this combo is on at least it's third trip without a retie, and has probably accounted for landing about 60-70 pounds of bass over that timeframe. You simply have to retie every so often if you don't want this to occur - no knot or line type lasts forever. I sit down to retie, quickly realizing I don't have any leader line with me. So I'm about to do one of those fun experiments where I get to learn something - I tie a duplicate bait on, now going straight braid. This all takes a few minutes, but upon retying, I stay sitting on the grassy bank to keep a low profile (just in case) and cast my bait out to the exact same spot. Retrieve the same way, and get bit again in the same manner. I set the hook, get back up to play the fish, and promptly land him. Remove the new bait from his mouth, then look a little closer and sure enough, deep in his mouth is the first bait with about 2.5' of fluorocarbon tag line streaming Exact same bass, very next cast after breaking him off minutes before. How often does that ever happen? Anyway, I go on to catch a lot more bass on the straight braid setup, including the largest of the night. The fish simply didn't care this go round. Here's a few pics.

Surprise August Laker Measured 30". I felt awful having to remove her from the Lake, but she had 2 treble hooks deep in the gill plates, and had already fought a 15 min battle up from 80 feet to warm surface water. I was trolling in 80 fow after seeing some marks in the 50-60s and got curious. So I let out a Rapala DT20 with 200 yrds of 8lb fluoro line out. I thought they were pike or deep SMB, never thought I'd run into one of these in August.

In the evenings, I dress up like a spider and fight crime.......

Forgot to unplug the on board battery charger and towed a 50ft extension cord 40 miles.

The US2 is compatible with most any 2d capable unit with the right adapter. It does not offer side or down imaging for any graph. If you want SI/DI on the trolling motor you will need to use whatever company's trolling motor SI/DI transducer. My opinion. A boat is a tool and a platform used to catch fish. The boat rigged with tools such as fish finders, gps/mapping/SI/DI etc and shallow water anchor(s) can make the "job" of locating and catching fish less difficult. When thinking about rigging the boat, you need to think about how you plan on fishing. Are you going to fish shallow and beat the banks? Are you an offshore fisherman? Are you a bed fisherman? Will you be targeting species other than bass? Will you be fun fishing? Will you be tournament fishing? Will you be fishing alone or with a partner? Will you be fishing small or large bodies of water? Are the lake(s) you fish already mapped? Base your purchasing decesions off the answers to these questions (and probably a few more). Don't skimp on the trolling motor. If you are primarily a bass fisherman, more than likely you will spend 90% of your time on the trolling motor and not the big motor. Seems only fitting this should be of highest priority. Shallow water anchor(s) are great for bed fishing, for picking apart docks, and a must for panfishing in shallow water. As far as graphs, If you plan on fishing deeper than 4 foot of water, then spend some cash on a graph that has gps/mapping. Side imaging is a great tool for locating and identifying structure. Not a must, but IMO well worth the cost. So, before saying no, evaluate your situation and set your priorities. As far as the Triton. Can't say I've heard anything bad about their aluminum rigs.

i have a problem..... the first step is admitting it right? snagged a barely used 3:16 baby wake in ayu, pretty stoked to try this one out!

Still on a solid bite here in Indiana. Picked up a few more on a short trip Monday before a line of storms moved through the area. Cooler weather also has the crappie bite picking up, so trips have been back and forth between those two species - hard to pick one over the other. Good problem to have

Visited a couple more friends this Sunday in Virginia before I came back to WVU. One of which was a minority not often seen in Virginia.

My Father In-Law and I had a record day of doubling up on Saturday. Three times we doubled up on Smallmouth and then we had a double when he caught a Smallmouth and I got a Redbreast Sunfish. We were using Zoom Salty Tubes and finesse TRD's

Nice fish ~ So how many states are you wanted in ? A-Jay

My mom's side of the family is mostly farmers, with one of their specialties being watermelons. My cousin said their 4 acre patch was ready to go so I put my request in, was rewarded with a dozen monster super sweet watermelons. I've given half of them to friends, but I'll greedily guard the rest, with my life if need be, until I've consumed them all. This giant was almost 30 pounds, and I've eaten almost all of it in 4 days.

The late summer berry hatch is on! Never got an official grass carp on a fly rod before (caught one, but it was hooked outside the mouth), managed to entice one to eat an egg imitation and get an official first on the fly. Just a little guy, but still took about 5 minutes to land. Found a huge school of black crappie in a tiny brushpile off the front of a deep dock too. Hammered them for 20 minutes before I got tired of catching them.

I cashed good with a little over five pounds on Monroe last time I went there (big cold front), and also with 2.5 pounds on Morse (50° water with 2-3 inches of visibility, plus a cold front and over a hundred tournament boats) No tournament experience on the others, but as the other two were exceptionally bad conditions don't necessarily go off of those. It really depends on the season like team9 said and also the current weather.

That is extremely tempting and the kind of thing that makes me regret looking at this thread.... .....aaaaaand I bought one. Thanks...I think.

Caught my first fish on our "new to us" bass boat that my brother and I have been restoring all summer. It also happened to be my PB! Tipped the scales at just over 3.5 lbs. Great way to break in the boat!

to all in Irma's path be careful,she's not pretty. I'm on the east central coast of Fl., Melbourne to be exact. and hope everyone in the path gets ready or out of her way. keep in touch,if anyone needs anything let us know. if we can be any help.

To all our friends in FL. As hurricane Irma approaches, please take the evacuation recommendation seriously and don't wait too long to do so. Life and limb are more important than any possessions you may leave behind. If Harvey taught us anything, procrastinating can have very serious consequences.

I was an original member years ago, after going into the service I had no time to be on here, I'm back glad to be back...hello ladies and gentlemen..I'm Andrew

granny Naylor from Holton in. is 105 years old and can still cast a pole . and if you ask here how she is doing ,she will answer , JUST AS AWNRY AS EVER!!

Huh? I've never run into this with FC. Braid, yes. The only thing I run into is fishing jerkbaits in VERY cold water when I use long pauses, like over 30 seconds, and the line sinking. Normally, I use pop-pop-pop-drag, and wait about 10 seconds. No issues with that.

Nope, lake trout are open all year, three fish limit, any over 12".

Been using fluoro for a dozen years. The products from Seaguar don't exhibit poor knot strength when properly tied. For instance, I generally get more than 6# breaking strength from 6# Invisx. I've demonstrated this using a scale at many a seminar. I don't find issues with casting either, though ability probably comes into play. You can't be sloppy with knots or casting.

Kicker I agree with some of your sentiment, but you brought up a related issue that I just had to shed light on. Years ago, while serving in the military I started fishing competitively and was very successful on the local level early on. This led me to have ambitions of becoming a professional angler. This is where I met a guy who is now one of the top Elite pros. I was consistently beating him back then which makes me reflect on what could have been every time I see him on TV, magazines, or tackle displays. At that time I had a new wife, a new baby, and was basically halfway thru a successful career with a decent retirement. I was literally one signature away from getting out of the Army and throwing all those years away. I quickly learned this was all going to come at a price. I almost lost my new wife due to the time spent on the water which was required of me to get there. After talking with a few people in the industry and learning of how difficult it is financially, and of how long it takes to get there, I quickly chose my family and career over those aspirations. In an earlier post I mentioned I personally knew a couple elite pros (and another FLW pro). I won't mention their names to protect the guilty. The aforementioned person is one of the top pros the other is down the ladder a few rungs. They have many of the same sponsors but that is where the similarities end. Having the same sponsors some may believe they get the same perks from them, not necessarily true. In any professional sport, the higher you finish the more publicity you get, but there are other things a person must possess. Companies do not give a full sponsorships to one-hit-wonders. It's where you finish consistently, image, professionalism, attitude, and a few other things. If you have the "complete package", a pro can expect to receive more from his sponsors, but their expectations of you increases as well. Sponsors require you to give them publicity not only from their name/logo on the side of the boat and mentioning their name at weigh-ins that airs on national TV but from actually using their product and appearances at boat, tackle, and outdoor shows, TV commercials, magazine ads etc... It is nothing more than a product advertisement game. Advertisements on TV are extremely expensive. Sponsoring a fishing pro is relatively cheap in comparison. Whether on or off the water, the top pros usually have the cameras on them during the tourneys for extended periods of time, and at times for a much longer period of time than a 15-30 second TV commercial. Near all equipment sponsorships, to include top boat and truck sponsorships usually range from company cost, discounted prices, to free depending on who the angler is. Entry fees may also be paid in full or partial, again depending on the angler. The bigger the company name the bigger the perks. Take KVD for instance, he is not only a great angler but also a giant media draw no matter where he is. I would bet that there isn't a bass angler in the world that doesn't know his name or recognize his face. For this reason he could finish last in every tourney and still have full sponsorships with any company. He was in a slump for a few years but still maintained ALL his sponsors. Another case in point is a fairly recent Classic winner in the field that still places well in the top 50 and an occasional top 12. I bet 5 out of 10 people could not call him by name if he was standing in front of them. He has sponsors but not many, which is possibly because he has a bad reputation among his peers because of attitude. I believe if he could change that one single thing, his sponsorships would change along with it! There are many other well-known anglers who haven't won a tourney in years but still maintain great sponsors because of their image and the fan following they have (Skeet Reese, Gary Klein, Boyd Duckett). On the flip side, there are those elite anglers that don't usually do well and don't have great sponsorships. These are the guys who have their own businesses or are independently wealthy and pay their own way. As mentioned many pros guide on their home lakes to help pay their bills. Out of the 109 or so Elites, 60-70 of them struggle from year to year to stay. Many are not married, have no kids to feed, some even still live with mom. They choose that lifestyle to be able to afford to compete on that level. Being a professional in this sport isn’t an easy game or lifestyle, they have to remember sponsorships is what pays the bills. Being a jerk on the water to fans and other fisherman, especially when there is a high likelihood it will be caught on camera, can cost them those sponsorships and eventually their livelihood!! Just so you don't think I am BSing--I'm in the picture.

Keitech 2 for 5.00 again DSG

Have a little time off this week, headed up to Newton (again). Had a pretty good time, caught quite a few. These were the best of the ones I got in the boat. The biggest one was really fun, back in a cove and threw the crank bait near a corner. When it hit the water it landed right on top of a school of shad that reacted explosively, which seems to trigger the big girl who then slammed the crank bait before I could turn the handle. Of course, after release I threw back into that corner again and landed the monster bluegill........ Then I took the shot at the ramp of the moon. It was a pretty awesome moonrise.

Agree with BCline--this one made the wife and I nervous also so since we have some family and friends in Ohio that we has been discussing about going up and seeing them this seemed like a perfect time to do that so we put the Doxie dog in the car and left Wednesday morning and drove through to Ohio. Very glad to be up here out of the storms path. We pray for all our friends in Florida that are not leaving please be as safe as you can. hopefully will see you all in a few

My wife and kids left yesterday. I have work requirements keeping me in Florida today, but will be watching this storm closely for the next 48 hours. I have grown up in the southeast and weathered many bad storms, but this one has teeth and got me nervous.

I am less worried about them hitting my lures but more excited that they might be feeding on the stockers and getting nice and fat.

I was leaning towards leaving but Im hearing theres no rooms for 500+ miles. ( and this is 4+ days before it hits) They are saying it will move by quickly which will potentially drop less rain.So Im not worried about the lake coming up very far. Weve still got our camping gear if we have to get out. Hopefully it wont come to that.Many of us in the jax. area are staying.Next 2 days we'll be battening down our hatches. Pray for us,and the whole state .

I understand the Elites do it because they are not allowed to use a net and although the FLW allows nets, lots of those pros swing them in for time savings but there's no doubt it's not good for the fish either from bouncing off the console, gunnel or floor causing impact damage and slime removal plus dangling them by the hook shaft ripping their mouth only to grab them and jack their jaw sideways. The "pros" don't do a very good job on fish care IMHO. When I had clients in my boat I always hand landed anything over a pound and explained proper fish care.

I've seen it happen a few times, but it's usually more like break them off in the morning, go back later in the day to the same spot and catch them. I've been going straight braid with the little rig quite a bit lately and haven't seen a noticeable drop in productivity.

Not actually my house, but, something like that. Lane is a city in Franklin County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 225. Lane was originally called Shermanville, and under the latter name laid out in 1855. It was renamed Lane in 1863 for James H. Lane, a leader of the Jayhawkers abolitionist movement, who served as one of the first Senators from Kansas.[7][8] Lane is the site where in 1856, John Brown (abolitionist) and 4 other of his followers hacked 3 pro-slavery men to death with broadswords near Pottawatomie Creek. The event is commonly referred to as the Pottawatomie massacre. Lane was a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

Just ordered a NRX 852 spinning rod. Also got a Tatula 6:3 to use a workhorse reel/beater.

River fishing usually picks up as the water cools in late summer. Feeding river smallies can always be found shallow.

Depends a lot on time of year at all those places. Morse, 12 pounds is solid most of the year. Geist, 12-15 pounds through the summer to win, 18+ in the spring. Monroe, so variable...8-10 pounds to cash, 12-18 to win. Raccoon, some days 9-12 pounds wins. Late fall or early spring could be 12-18 pounds.

I'm a big fan of civility on the water and have very rarely run into issues with other anglers. The ones I have, have typically voiced the "well, I spent money on a license..." logic. The problem with this logic is that you could extend it to whatever end and use it to justify all sorts of crap behavior. Arguing a "right" to interfere with someone's work on the basis of paying a small fee for access to public water is akin to standing in the middle of a road, during a parade and justifying it by means of paying taxes and it being public space. As much as it sometimes hurts to suck it up and move, the logic against it is crap and largely serves to justify being a jerk. With that said, pros also shouldn't act entitled to locals. I also think this "problem" is a matter of perspective. Is it more important to you to not back down and puff out your chest, or do you look at fishing as an opportunity to learn? (obviously this is if you aren't also competing in a tournament that day) If I'm on a spot, and pros start pulling up, it's reinforcing my strategy and giving me an opportunity to watch their technique from a distance understanding that they're likely better than I am at what they're doing and I'm going to take a bunch of notes and appreciate a free learning experience. Might this keep my line out of the water? Sure, but it's going to make me better. I am not fishing to fill my freezer, whereas that guy is fishing to fill his freezer, pay his mortgage, put clothes on his kid, etc. Frankly, the misconception that pros make a fortune only makes this problem worse. Half that field, or better hardly make real money after you take into account travel, housing, maintenance, etc. These guys likely guide every free weekend they can muster just to cover entry fees. Most folks don't realize how financially backwards fishing tournaments are run. Most of the prize money doesn't come from a sponsor, but from massive registration fees. The sponsors may cover production and logistical costs, but those anglers are all PAYING thousands of dollars for each tournament entry. So, imagine if you work in sales and pay for your leads, and on them, the old school Domino's Noid shows up and destroys your presentation. You probably aren't going to make much money, and you probably hate the Noid. Don't be the Noid.

people like us should avoid things like boating, and fishing, and the water.

Thank you guys...great group of individuals.

Not a fishing goof, but I have a pelican case I keep all my tools and such in for work. One day I decided to throw a 24oz can of energy drink into my already overly full case. And then decided to bump it down two flights of stairs. Sugar water all over all my tools. It took me three days to clean, dry, and re-oil everything. As for fishing, well, I fish out of a kayak and I like a lot of coffee in the mornings. My yak is pretty stable, but I was fishing a crowded area and didn't want to pee over the side. But I had a wide-mouth gatorade bottle on me, so I used that, nice and stealthy. When I was done I dumped it down the scupper hole. The scupper hole with a plug still in it. Still up in the air if urine is a fish attractor, but I did pretty well that day.

Fifty plus years ago when I was a senior in high school, my uncle was kind enough to allow me and a friend the use of his lake house and boat for a week of crappie fishing on Kentucky Lake during spring break. Aside from our fishing gear, we decided it would be a good idea to bring some cigarettes and a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon quarts – the latter being purchased with a fake I.D. My friend also brought a Zippo lighter he had lifted from his dad’s lighter collection. First day on the water we had caught several nice slabs and decided to take a break, enjoy a beer and have a smoke. That’s when the trouble began. After finishing a beer my buddy decided to have a smoke. Unfortunately he had not checked the Zippo to see if it had any lighter fluid in it before he left home. Undaunted by his inability to light the cigarette he proceeded to unhook the fuel line to my uncle’s Evenrude and added gasoline to the lighter. After re-installing the fuel line, Robert leaned back in his seat on the Alumnacraft and touched of the lighter to ignite his cigarette. He apparently had not noticed that aside from thoroughly soaking the cotton in the Zippo, he had also doused the front of his shirt and jeans with a potentially lethal amount of gasoline. He was successful in lighting his cigarette albeit turning himself into a human torch at the same time. Had the lake into which he jumped not been real handy he might not be with us today.

I picked up an E6X last spring and it's a great rod. Very sensitive and has plenty of backbone. If you're trying to stay under $200 this rod is definitely the way to go

Zebco 33 Platinum, 4.1:1 gear ratio, 5 stainless bearings, aluminum frame, continous anti-reverse, mirco fine drag control all for $35.

Long awaited, can't wait to hit this one honey hole where the bluegill are big and abundant and the bass feed on them heavily!

Went out tonight bank fishing a local pond from 7 to 8 pm and caught this 6+ on my last cast, as the sky became dark. I was tossing a Menace grub, and at first I was hopping it back slowly. I caught a bunch of dinks that way, kind of finessing the bait, because in the summer here fish are often shy. But on my final cast, just for the hell of it, I burned it back really fast -- and this pig slammed it hard!

I like Northstar, Dirty Jigs, Lockjaw and 6th Sense.

Pee to the leeward side.