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I hate being as big as I am because in pictures every fish I catch looks so small hahaha.

Fun last hour of sunlight and then a tank just after sunset...all bass released to fight another day.

Agree with what you're saying, especially the part about Zman in all this...and the part about most people not caring. I understand that modification and evolution is the nature of the game. Makes some of us sound like curmudgeons. Look at it from the other side though when we constantly have to listen to/read people complain about their hooks are too small or weak, they're always bending out, it won't work in my weedy pond, The problem is it always gets hung in brush - what about a weedless version, my 3/16 oz head works fine, and I can then throw it on my baitcasters, why can't I just use any jighead, etc., etc., on and on. Gets old listening to gripes from people wanting to modify the system to fit their needs, but who don't seem to have even a rudimentary understanding of the original system, and that all these "problems" were never problems to begin with. They only arose when you tried to do something with the Rig that the system was never intended to do in the first place.

Caught this one on a Popper last night right at sunset.

Sensitivity strarts in the hands & continues up to the brain. Let me explain it this way! I could put any high end reel on any high end rod, spool it with braid for maximum sensitivity, tie on a Texas rig & then give it to my wife. She could not "feel" any difference if I had rigged it up on a Berkley Lightening rod! Why? Cause what is transmitted up the line, down the rod, through the hands will be lost in the brain. She doesn't fish & would not be able to interpret what she is feeling.Even for the average angler a certain amount of "sensitivity" is lost in the brain. Watching your line & rod will definitely help ?

You guys are awesome, did a gift card to tacklewarehouse.com and he was surprised and very happy and said it's basically the only site he ever orders from. Also gave him Monday off to go fishing since I would rather be at the race track anyway! Thanks so much for the help!

For the first time in my life I have been humbled enough to bring me to tears. By my fourteen year old niece, that along with her 2 sisters and mom, is currently living with us. She asked me if I would adopt her last night. Her biological dad is a piece of filth that may talk to her once every 2 years. Her former step father, molested her a year ago, and she called him out on it. The family has no income coming in until her mom finds work. Child support and "justice" are both tied up in the justice system. That is not for discussion on here or at all. I'm just giving background, and honestly could care less to hear any opinions on the justice system or government. If thats all you have to comment about them stay off my post. Cause frankly i DO NOT want to hear it. Anyway. I'm doing all I can to help support them as well as my 4 children and my wife and I. It is difficult, however, I have been extremely successful at it thus far. For her, to ask me this brought me to tears. She said it would be awesome cause she would be my adopted daughter. Then proceeded to explain in a manner in which only a child can and brought me to tears. I am no saint, I am far far from a saint. i am a arrogant, conceded, biker with a loud mouth and very extreme views on various things. I have my vice(s) that keep me going. I am a sinner that is a total mockery of life and society. I live my life on the outskirts of society and subscribe to the laws of my brother bikers. My group of friends are some of the roughest most hardcore people this small country town has ever seen. My appearence is enough to scare most people away. I try to be good. It just doesn't always work out for me. Yet somehow I'm good enough, for this child to ask me to be the father figure in her life? Somehow behind this rough, tatted up exterior, through the beard and piercings, this child has found something that I myself can't see? What have I done that would allow me to have a compliment and honor like this bestowed upon me? Whether, we legally adopt her or not is honestly up in the air. However, I told her that regardless she is family and always will be such. If she wants me in her life as that, then I will happily do so, be it "officially" or not. So I guess my family has grown again. I truly am blessed for reasons that are unknown to me. Also, I'm coming back home next week. I'm dragging up on Friday as of now. I'm staying and partying with my biker brothers at the bike rally at my campground this weekend. (That's my 2 day vacation for the year) Afterwards I shall be back home for a little bit.

Yup, that's all it is. Whenever you log in from a different device from the previous session, or clear out your browser before logging back in, you'll see this. It's a means of letting you know of a log in, in case there's an unauthorized use of your account.

More crappie Lots of pressure bites tonight. Good practice ?

Silhouette theory is bogus, but contrast isn't - they're not the same. In your example, lure color becomes irrelevant because the fish is stuck underneath the bait, and the only source of light (at night or under low light conditions) is from above. As such, all baits which are opaque will silhouette and shadow the same. Once a bait goes subsurface, and when you have stronger light from above, contrast comes into play, and so does bait color. In these instances, light often gets reflected/scattered off particulates in the water, and light can actually come from nearly any direction. Additionally, the bait relative to the fish and any background can be extremely varied. In these cases, bait color, and especially contrast can play a big part in getting bit.

The complaint about bending hooks and the "need" for beefier Shroomz hooks illustrate Team9nine's point. If you are using light gear with light line and have your drag set correctly, you will never bend a hook. I have caught bass over 8 lbs and catfish over 15 lbs on Shroomz hooks and never had one bend. These fish pull drag of course, but that is why you pay for that feature on a reel. You spent a lot of money on that rod & reel, let it do its job to help fight the fish instead of horse it in. However, if you decide to "customize" a Ned rig and use heavier gear or line and set the drag at a point beyond what it should be, then you may bend a hook. You can choose to solve that problem by using a beefier hook, but that ends up creating other problems with the presentation. The solution that doesn't create other problems was to not make your customization. What ends up happening is folks start throwing 1/4 oz Big TRD's on 15lb test with a baitcaster and then chime in that those Ned Rig aficionados must be fishing on some loaded lakes, because the results this "customized" rig get are nowhere near the other Ned Rig claims. Well, you can use a lawnmower to trim a hedge but if you do, don't complain to Toro that you lopped off your foot...

I raised 3 sons that are not mine while I never adopted them all 3 call me Dad & call their biological father just a sperm donor. Anyone can father a child but it takes a real man to be a Dad! Raider

Finesse fishing and "a beefier hook" don't really seem to go hand in hand to me. I haven't seen one in person, but that keeper looks like it would be extremely difficult to get a Zman bait to stay up on to me.

Never really watched my rod tip, almost always run the line between my fingers. The *ticks* and the *thumps* are the easy ones to detect. If you've never set the hook on instinct or just because ~something~ didn't feel right, you're missing fish. Even on treble hooked baits. I don't fish cranks, but I do fish jerkbaits a lot. Once in a while, after a pause and before jerking again, I'll find the line wrapped around a hook or something. That was a fish that ate and rejected the bait and I didn't feel it; baits don't usually foul on their own. On certain days, I never even feel the bite, and the fish is just there when I get to jerking the bait again. Lucky! Once you really attuned to your rod reel line bait setup, it's easier to instantly find when something isn't right. That something is usually a snag or a fish... (Yes, I've set the hook on snags many many times too.) P.S. If you want to practice *losing contact* with the bait, find a riprap and fish it with a jig or a texas/ florida rig. Warning: You will lose baits.

Clear water, stained water, muddy water ..... any color is fine as long as it's ---> BLACK.

So much for thinking out loud As I was telling @A-Jay It's just the voices in my head...The Predator will no longer be owned by the bank after next month. She will never be worth more than she will be, this spring. Soon the market will be riddled with 1875's and 2075's. If I think with my head, she will be up for sale in the spring. If I think with my heart, I will be buried with her.

I have a friend who has an Impact and know two other guys who have them. No complaints from any of them that I have heard. One thing I like about the Impact is much narrower gunnels than most Lunds...I don't like that dead space around the outside of the boat. Rumor has it that a certain Lund Predator may be for sale soon...I migh call that guy if I were looking for a boat.. I'd also check out the new Crestliner Bass Hawks if I wasn't in a hurry to buy this fall.

Jacob, if a teenage girl has asked to be a part of your family, you, sir, are a hell of lot closer to being a saint than you would have us believe. Now, can we please talk about the government?

Sure - No doubt, having more tackle means you have more options, and more specific ones at that, but the drawback is it cost you a lot of money to buy the baits, then likely the different combos to fish those baits, plus you have to haul all of it around to the lake each trip because you feel like you might end up needing something you left back at home. In addition, you're going to have a lot of decisions to make. Just in the shallow water you'll need to figure out whether to throw a spinnerbait, your new Teckel Sprinkers, a Plopper (what size and color?), maybe a Spook or a buzzbait,..how about a Senko, or a Pop-R. Don't forget your pitching outfit, and be sure to bring plenty of Rage Craws, beaver style baits, some brush hogs, the newest punching deal, and try them all, because you just never know which one they'll like better today...and we haven't even made it out of the first cove yet...oh, and don't forget the Ned outfit! One thing is for sure, you'll have the love and appreciation of the tackle manufacturers I just want to go out fishing for a few hours, have a good time, and catch some bass. So, lets use @bagofdonuts example. You bring 4 outfits and a huge backpack to carry everything to the lake with you so you can "cover all your options." I grab a single rod/reel outfit along with a pack of my favorite color Zoom flukes. In that bag of flukes, I throw in a couple EWG and dropshot hooks, a couple bullet weights, 2 scrounger heads, 1 underspin body and a split shot or two. The whole thing goes in my back pocket. Now, when we arrive at the lake, I start by tossing my weightless fluke along the bank, next to laydowns, in behind docks, and along the weeds, basically covering some shallow options. If the weed growth is thicker, I can twitch the bait over the moss and let it settle in holes, work it through pads, etc. If I get some halfhearted swirls in the weed openings, I can simply add a bullet weight to my outfit and now pitch the holes and work it slower, or do the same around laydowns and bushes along the bank. Otherwise, no bites, so I start moving out a bit. By pinching a split shot on the line at the head of the bait, I can now fish down a few feet into the opening of docks, the deep ends of laydowns, or the deeper weedline edge. Put a fluke on one of the scrounger heads, and I can now work the bait like a crankbait, paralleling docks and weedlines, fan casting the flats, or throwing out into deeper water and counting the bait down to various depths. I can even rip it and let it drop trying to trigger bites like a spoon or Trap. Not as aggressive, rig it dropshot style and pitch the deep weedline or very ends of docks, finessing a few bass along the way. If a group of schoolers comes up, I'm ready, going back weightless or tossing it on an underspin. If it turns out we need to go deeper to catch them, I can peg the bullet weight above the bait and fish it like a Carolina rig, dragging the bottom. If it's brushy down there, back to the Texas rigged version with the bullet weight, working it through the limbs. If the fish are even halfway active today, I've done a pretty good job of covering all the available depths and speeds, around most every cover option the lake has to offer - all with a tackle pack that fits in my back pocket giving me supreme mobility and less hassles - and cost me almost nothing. I probably have caught my share of fish, also. Of course, this is just an example and not all encompassing, but hopefully you get the idea. You don't need a lot of tackle to effectively fish a body of water and catch some bass.

2012 F150 FX4 with my '04 ProTeam 175

Is is now 7 1/2 lbs caught it yesterday at hunnington run resv. in spotsy co. on a wacky rigged senko. green pumpkin with red flakes.

After 13 years, I finally decided to use my walleye boat for it's intended purpose. Years ago, I thought I was gonna walleye fish, so I picked up some gear. I hate trolling, so nothing ever came of it. Heard stories that the fish have been committing suicide, so I rounded up 2 rods and rodholders and set out for 70'+. Didn't get the boat in the water til about 1pm. Was done packing up to run back to the ramp by 4:30. 12 keepers, 12 short and a big white bass. Heading back out early tomorrow. Hope to be back by noon.

There was for a short time a thread by Matt Allen using the rods deflection for strike indicator I thought was a good topic. The basics are when a very active bass strikes we all detect it, when a less active bass strikes we often miss it and I agree. Using finesse presentations like a drop shot for example the rig has a normal resistance that bends your rid tip the same when you move the weight, let's say that is 2" bend for this discussion. If for any reason your rid tip bends more then 2" that often indicates a bass has the lure in it's mouth and is sitting there, I call this a pressure bite and you need to instantly set the hook. The nothing bite can also be detected when the rod tip go straight in lieu of it's normal 2" bend, this indicated the bass has the lure in it's and moving towards you, reel fast and set the hook. Matt's point is you can see the difference in rod deflection but can't always feel it and I agree if you don't feel the line with your finger tips. Thoughts.... Tom

Wow. Craziness. I had been wanting to try a creek again that receives literally between 16,000 and 250,000 king salmon plants each year. I'd tried a few weeks ago and had hooked one but it had popped off. The spoons I had been using where slightly too big though. After classes yesterday I stopped by Walmart and was surprised to find that they had a 2/5 oz firetiger glow Little Cleo. Pricey, but probably still worth it. Picked it up, rigged up my gear, and drove the 45 minutes out to the creek. Just like the last time, hundreds of King Salmon could be seen porpoising up the creek. Anywhere from 3-25 lbs. They wouldn't hit spoons or spawn though. The sun finally set and that seemed to trigger some of the bigger salmon. Some big tanks started splashing right around the area I had been frequently casting to. I tied on the glow Little Cleo and charged it with my headlamp. Pitched it to the other side of the creek mouth and began working it back. About the 5th cast and my rod started ripping extremely hard! I could barely set the hook when the giant fish tore off literally 200 yards down the side of the Lake shoreline. I tightened up my drag a bit and it seemed to help. I gained more control, or so I thought. The fish kept screaming drag and took off like a freight train in multiple directions. I had to tighten the drag just a little more. At last I had it perfectly dialed in and the fish was tiring. Thankfully, a man offered to help net the fish and I gladly agreed. After several unsuccessful attempts, the man was finally able to lunge the net under the massive fish. I thanked him and was grateful my 15 lb fluoro had held. The male King weighed 18.43 lbs and measured 36 inches. I'm still kind of shocked about it. Hard to believe and crazier to experience. Fish On.

Well I haven’t messed with these forever, but I got to cleaning and dusting and thought I’d share some of my older projects (pre-children) Some more detailed pictures This is the paint job on the second one (F/A-18F Super Hornet ?) The fades were were done free hand and then the tiger stripes decals were laid on and sealed.

I use Zman stuff, plastics and ShroomZ. Don't need their new jigheads though because I fish all lightweight stuff on finesse outfits. I don't need heavy wire hooks for what I do, and am perfectly happy with the original wire keeper version. I fish the style, not the bait.

I don't go be the advertised depth. I swim them until I hit bottom and adjust accordingly. I didn't know such a thing existed. I think I might have some lead tape laying around too! Jigs, t-rigs, and spinners are main ammo for me. But this time of year I take advantage of the dying weeds and the fall feeding with cranks too. Jerks and tube jigs also. I keep my fishing pretty simple. Not a ton of tackle or baits but tons of fun!

Same ones I throw the rest of the year. Brown/green pumpkin Black/blue Black/purple Green pumpkin/orange with a few strands of chart.

I don't know about cranks but I was cutting and altering the lip on Rapala jointed J13 floating minnows 35 years ago to create what are now called wake baits. Now that I think back I should have applied fo a patent!

Sweet mother of mary that's good stuff T9. There should be some kind of 'best of' thread with this at top.

This is only my 4th year bass fishing and the first year since I stopped a few years ago when I got sick. Picked it up again now that I'm healthy. This is something I learned on my own very quickly this year. It's like my brain and my hands and arms are perfectly in sync. I'm setting the hook before I'm even comprehending that I felt or saw the bite and that I'm setting the hook. Remarkable stuff.

Got a nice smallmouth this evening fishing a deeper flat on the river (8-10') with the rage tail menace. Water temp 75 and current pretty swift

Someone's gonna get one heck of a sweet boat . . . . . A-Jay

Our job is to get him to the edge...whether or not he makes the leap is up to him...

Don't push him over the edge. ?

I used to dread dragging senkos in weeds b/c the flat head hangs up so much. yes they like the popping free but sometimes it definitely not what they want. then i saw the tip to put a glass/plastic bead on the line. ur senko will slip thru weeds like butter.

Round 2. Back by noon. Yes. Have a bag full and going back tomorrow.

Long time ago I fished with Hula Poppers and loved them. I hadn't bass fished for 50+years until this summer, so I hadn't even realized that they had fallen out of popularity. I'm planning to try them again soon. What we had the most success with in Wisconsin back in the early 60's were the black, the coach dog, and leopard frog. We usually fished them early morning and evenings until after sunset, casting close to shore and working back toward the boat.... pop, pop, pause - pop, pause - try different rhythms on the retrieve.

If your rod tip moves 2" and you can't feel it, then you need to see the doctor!

Took the boat out for a couple of hours before dark yesterday and found some fish located in about 10 feet of water holding in submerged grass. Started throwing a walk the dog bait. Began working it aggressive with no luck so started slowing it down with softer twitches, no bite. On the next cast, I was working it about halfway down and got a text message so I paused my retrieve to glance at my phone and boom. A nice one blew it up as it was sitting still. The light bulb went off. Next cast I started twitching it to walk it three or four times and paused. 3 or 4 times and paused. Boom. Another blow up. Caught three more on the next three casts. Ended up catching 8 or 9 in a short span by working the bait and letting it pause. All of the hits came when the bait was paused. Fun evening to be out on the water.

LOL. I have somewhat opposite story in that I was spinning, then I went casting, and back to spinning for 95% of my fishing. Have told it before and it is entirely a personal preference, should not fall into the "spinning stinks" or "casting is the best" argument because xyz... So let me say that you can do almost everything with casting gear. I did find I liked it better initially. I am down to one casting setup, well, two in that I've got one Chronarch 50e and two rods. A MH and ML. The ML loads great with really light soft plastics. I honestly found I could throw most everything with it that I could on spinning. The reason I went back to mostly spinning is simply that I have less issues with it - especially skipping, windy conditions, etc. I will say that I set out to conquer all that with casting and did pretty well. It just got to the point where I ended up asking myself if it were truly an advantage to use casting. My answer was no. So to your question, it seems you're getting the response that you might actually want...casting. You know when you flip a coin say three times over a couple choices and when the flips are done it tells you what you really want.

I would appreciate a paid day off to fish... oe

So. Many. Cheeks! Yum!

Black and Blue with a Rage Blue bug or Black Blue Craw. Bama Craw is another one of my favorites with a matching Bama Craw Rage Craw.

I don't think she has seeing through his facade. She just see the real him. I am the same way. I have been hurt, and screwed over a lot in my life. Because of this.I have developed four differnt personalitys. Work sees the some what serious one. Family sees the one that is quite, and only says things to make them happy. The general public sees the rough and tuff one. While my close friends, and the old lady see the real me. As for adopting the girl. I cant say if you should or not. I will say this though. I have a famlily that other then a brother. I am not related to. That i thought for 12 years was my family. They took me as one of their own. When they didnt have to. They never adpoted me, and I still view them as famliy.

MY take is that you put up that gruff and tough exterior to hide a kind and caring heart. A defense mechanism if you will. She has obviously seen through that façade. Good for you, and good for her. Count your blessings, and be thankful that she was able to touch your heart.

1985 Toyota 4Runner. 5 speed. 4 cylinders of fury. Rubicon gets a little work too

Some Goods eats right there ~ Congrats and Good Luck on the next one. A-Jay

I used to dread fishing weeds until I tried a weightless Zoom Trick Worm (candy bug). I like slowly dragging it along the bottom and discovered that it hovers effortlessly above vegetation. When dragging along sometimes, often you encounter a vertical patch of grass; you just finesse tug it through and that's when you also get a lot of bites too. I fished a swimjig with a paddle tail trailer for the very first time last Sunday and caught a nice bass within 15 minutes. I was surprised how well that cut thru vegetation and will use that more as a search bait for weedy Ponds ditch the weight on your TX rigged worms and see if you get similar results. Bonus feature of the weightless trick worm is the initial deadly fall too!