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These were caught a few weeks ago on my birthday. They pale in comparison to Ajay's tankers lol but those river smallies pull like a champ. Caught a bunch and lost a bunch.

Got two for ya.

The whole time I'm out fishing I think about what the bait is doing and what i'm feeling on the bottom, or how the bait is performing. Is it working like it should. Do I need more weight or less weight. What type of bottom is it hitting, wood or weeds, sand, or rock. Keep the line out of the pad-V. Are any weeds suddenly moving on their own. Have I hit the rock wall, or has it cleared the weed lines. When it comes to the hook set, the thinking just stops. From the slightest bump, to a line moving off, to the line changing speed on the fall. At that point I go on automatic pilot, and the hook set starts. Its all reaction, and instinct, at that point, and its always the same. The hook set is something I never think about. Its all speed and reaction! I live for that moment in time, regardless of fish size!

So I haven't gone out for smallmouth in a very long time and it was way overdo. We took off on the Niagara river today.. was super slow at first with 3 hours with no bites then finally started hooking up.. 2cnd fish of the day was this hog.. or hog to me. 4 lb 1 oz dark beauty.

6 lbs 23 1/2" long Chrome W/blue back RattleTrap

My tournament partner and I fished a tournament on Stonewall Jackson Lake (WV) on Sunday and we won it with 16lbs. We had never been on the lake before, and spent more time on the trolling motor than anything else, putting together a pattern as we went! Most of the fish came on a whopper plopper 130 and a strike king 1.5 and 2.5. Felt good to whoop up on some locals who didn't expect much from the college kids in the aluminum boat

Hey guys I caught my PB just a few days ago and sadly I don't have a scale. I do have a measurement and he is measured at 21 1/2 inches, girth was around 16 inches. A angler stop by to complement me and said it was not a 4 lb but a 5LBer. I really think he is a 5 lber and he is the biggest fish I caught (My PB). I don't have any scale so I don't know the actual weight. Can you guys please tell me how many pounds does he look like he weight? I would like to place his weight with what the majority says. Please give your honest thought positive or negative. Thank You! Length 21 1/2in, Girth 16in

Poorly

I don't know what colors bass prefer, I do know what colors I prefer, the problem is we don't agree! Tom

Good question. I've definitely experienced more bites and hooksets when I canNOT see the fish than when I can. So probably when I can't see. That said, it's fun when I CAN see the bass engulf the bait and set the hook!

5 1/4 lbs 21 1/2" long Chrome W/blue back RattleTrap

A lot of people seem to fish for ego gratification. I don't have any time for that. I fish for fun. I'll tell anyone exactly where I fished and what I did. I often post reports on a local forum. Recently, I ran into a husband and wife fishing in one of "my spots". They recognized me from my reports and told me that they've been enjoying catching fish there because of them. To me, knowing that I helped someone else enjoy fishing as much as I is gratifying.

Are You Better with Successfully Setting the Hook...When I'm getting bite! Really don't matter I fish crystal clear marshes where I see em & cast to em I fishing 15-25' offshore structure at night

My hook sets are best when I don't see the fish also when it's at more of a distance. Those short distance strikes for some reason always get me. Guess it kinda catches me by surprise and instead of what I probably should do, swing for the fences, I usually give kind of a quick tug to one side or the other or a quick tug upward, depending whether I'm Texas or Carolina rigging or fishing a jig or chatter bait or whatever else really. Gotta get passed the excitement of the short distance strikes.

Where having the right gear in your hand at the time, rod, reel, line & terminal tackle, definitely contributes to hook set success (or failure), whether or not I can 'see' the fish take the bait, might not play that big a role for me. The act itself is at this point is pretty much 'automatic'. Of course, one can never account for how the fish strikes the bait or where / how my offering may be situated in the fish's mouth. I don't miss much, but it does happen. A-Jay

Sometimes with subtle twitches and sometimes with short but hard jerks trying to move the lure as little as possible but throw water as far as possible .

Went fly fishing today, Still fairly new to this type of fishing i was hoping to land a rainbow trout on it. I ended up going to the river with some slow current and had a few fish eat my fly but not for very long. But the fly ended up getting hung up and snagged after trying to set the hook. I use everything trick i knew and it still wouldn't come loose. After many attempts, I gave up and accepted defeat. I broke the line and it caused me to lose my fly and float. I headed back home and grabbed my other rods and went to the lake instead and it was totally worth it. I got a rainbow and two large mouth bass. Rainbow: Weightless trapper dropshot hook paired with a PowerBait Floating Trout Worm, Color: Bubble Gum. Bass:Weightless 3/0 Gamakatsu Offset EWG Worm Hook paired with a Yum Dinger T-RIG,Color:Watermelon Red Flake. My reel was having a hard time pulling in this "grass" little did i know there was a huge hog on my line. I don't have a scale but she felt quite heavy and seemed like a good 5-6 pound bass. She was feeding up for the winter, That's for sure.

I have Hughes Net. It sucks!

I agree with above. Satellite internet is all I have available as well and I do without because its not worth it. Its expensive, they cap the data at around 10 gigs.

First day with my new Pflueger president XT reel and I hooked on to this huge pike. Reel performed flawlessly. Caught him on my new white chatterbait with a white Keitch minnow trailer.

They do look sweet, the 2000 weighs 5.6oz ?

It's all good. I'm a newbie myself to bass fishing. About 6 months now. Lots of great folks and info on here to get you pointed in the right direction. Must be at my likes limit for a little while. Wouldn't let me like this comment for now. Heck you won't even be teased about catching dinks. I haven't been anyways. We're kinda like a family of bass anglers here. Amateur or pro or anywhere in between.

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Congrats on that Beautiful Bass and your new Personal Best. It's really hard to determine a weight from a photo. But that a good one for sure. And I have to ask, what's up with blacking out your face ? A-Jay

I must have a wizard like 6th sense when it comes to color selection. EVERY color I choose, get's bit, and catches big fish in every body of water I fish. OR................ color doesn't matter. I really don't know, or don't care if it does. I carry around different colors of stuff to basically satisfy my own tackle buying fetish, because having a box full of black jigs, black worms, and white crankbaits is boring. I know right off the bat who's going to be a non-factor at a tournament when the first question out of their mouth is "what color are you using?" instead of 10 other things they could be asking that are way way more important.

Couldn't have said it better! Mike

I can relate. The waters I fish have very little visibility. Maybe a foot deep and about a foot or so out from the bank. The only time I have seen the bass and tried to cast to it, it either just looked at my bait like nope not today or just turned its nose up at it so to speak and swam away. Little to no sight fishing experience here or opportunity to do so.

If I see the fish before I cast, I absolutely have a better hook up percentage, I have plenty of time to think about it and get the timing right. The PROBLEM is when one comes rocketing out of no where and smashes the bait when you least expect it. At that point you might as well be smashing my knee with a hammer!

Companion reel is here. The whole combo weighs less than my Stradic 2500. Balance point is exactly on the locking nut.

Former active duty Marine from 2000-2006. Did artillery electronics repair for 3 years and MSG duty for the last 3.

Very nice and particularly Bronze Bass ~ Congrats & Happy Birthday You Old Dawg you A-Jay

Went to ole Wally World again today and picked up a new electronic scale. I've been needing a new one for a little while now so I got an Ozark Trail that'll weigh em up to 50lbs. Like I'm gonna catch a bass that big...lol. Also picked up an Arkie 3/8oz Missouri Craw jig and some SK KVD Perfect Plastics 4" watermelon red flake Rodents with the coffee and salt scent. Hoping to still get out tonight and try em out. I can wait til tomorrow if I absolutely have to though...lol. ?

Got a nice 36" muskie tonight while casting a bone whopper plopper 110 hoping to catch a nice wiper or smallmouth after a little rain rolled through. I ended up having to get in water, grab the fish, and slide the fish up the bank to keep my lure and the fish, She broke me off right as I was landing her. Not real proud of how I handled her, but better than swimming off with a whopper plopper treble sealing her mouth shut. She swam away strong, I got in river with her for the release, tried to take debris off her without her losing too much of her slime. Definitely wish my line didn't break, I would of done my best to keep her from touching dry ground.

That extends to the "budget" level of gear too. Daiwa is knocking it out of the park right now with $50-$100 rods, and reels. My newest budget friendly spinning combo is a Daiwa Aird-X 7' M/F rod paired with a Daiwa Revros 2000 reel. And I have honestly never been more impressed with a $100ish combo. That rod is every bit the equal of MANY MANY companies $150 rods, and the Revros reel has instantly displaced my old stand by "best bang for the buck" reel..the Pflueger President. I have replaced ALL of my Abu (Vengeance's, Vendetta's, and Veritas's) and Berkley (LR Shock's) rods with Aird-X's and have some of the new Fuego rods sitting here waiting for reels. I think the casting rods are going to get matched with Fuego or Tatula CT's, and the spinning rods with more Revros's, RG's, Fuego's, or the new Legalis LT's

That's insane man! I hope I have such luck... idk how to walk a bait so I guess it's time to learn.. might have to do some research but this popper sounds fun

Very up and down time of year for me. Skunked on Cherokee a couple weeks ago. Went to Norris yesterday expecting another bad trip, ended up getting several solid fish tossing a 3/4oz football jig on bluffs, and steep channel swing banks with laydowns. Pulled up a good fish on a flat late in the evening with a buzzbait too.

Buzzbait by a pretty wide margin. Which has been great because I love to throw buzzbaits.

Dont get stuck in a rut . Dont be afraid to use poppers as aggressively as you can . I try to spray water as far as possible .

The city of Champ-yinz.

1.5oz tungsten 4/0 Hack Attack Flipping hook Strike King Rage Menace just a little bit of chartreuse JJ's 7'7" H White Ice 65lb Hi Seas Braid 8.0:1 Lews Super Duty punchrd through heavy cheese mats (which I've never done before) wherever I could find them. It turned a local lake that notoriously stubborn into a big bass factory every trip this year. It worked in multiple lakes. This is now my grass mat go-to.

The fish are still acting funny. Junk fished to catch my first bluegill of the year, half a dozen crappies, and 10-12 bass. A couple in the 3# range.

Good to finally have an excuse for not being able to skip a Senko...I must be using the wrong colors...

More crappie Lots of pressure bites tonight. Good practice ?

Agree that Daiwa spin reels (check out their BG or new Exceler) at the $100-$150 price point are better than what Shimano offers. FYI, In addition to Daiwas I have two Ci4 Stradics so if you spend $200 and up, then it gets more competitive.

It's been a consistently inconsistent year for me. Several baits have had their moments. Only one that really has been pretty stable is my trusty homemade bladed jigs.

Weightless texas-rigged stick worm cast to visible cover. I know, I know...conventional and boring. What can i say? It works.

I was on a shallow bite all summer .Fishing visible shoreline cover with 8 inch worms and buzzbaits was my best pattern .

Almost exclusively ribbon tail worms- all sizes. Went back to fishing like I did in the 80s and it paid off.

My drags are per set so I don't touch them during the fight. I learned not to horse the fish in too quickly too by letting it tire out. I also have a problem with bigger fish and my hook set not being strong enough by my rod not having enough back bone. After all you had two fish on. I switched to a copolymere line because of less stretch.

Pickerel are my frog nemesis. 50lb braid and they slice right through it. It got to the point whenever I fish a particular lake near me, I use 4inch steel leaders which are just enough to not pull the frogs down. It's not ideal but saves money and me throwing a tantrum when I lose another lure.