Leaderboard

Small lakes have been a little slow with this weather and lack of rain, but managed a couple dozen this weekend including this guy - score another one for finesse fishing

Took my dad out for a quick trip to Clear Lake last week. Timing with the weather (cold front) was terrible considering how great it's been, but we still had a great time and caught a lot of 2-4 pounders. Every fish was thick with a big ol belly. Should be a great spring considering the ridiculous amount of bait in there... Even saw a bobcat that couldn't have cared less about us being right there

Sooo today was another day for a personal best for largemouth. I started out the morning great! This small lake I have found recently holds tons and tons of big bass.. started off using buzzbaits around 6:30 am .. first fish blows up!! Boom 4 pound 8 oz fish.. about 20 minutes later another!! This one topping 5 pounds .. I'm getting excited now. I keep fishing about an hour it's near 7:30, I caught a few more in he 2-3 pound range. I'm pretty happy as i float around in my canoe. The sun is coming up soon so I get one last top water and then switch to a senko.. well things couldn't be any better until..... I went to stand up in my canoe and for the first time ever... I slipt and lost balance and whoop there I go. In he water, phone ruined. Rods and tackle box etc fell over , everything was just soaked, luckily I was only in about 2-3 ft of water as I was casting into a deep hole from shore. So now I'm ticked.. took me a hour or so to get everything , got my rods first before they had chance to get really wet. Don't wanna ruin them.. well after that bad luck i decided screw it I'm not going to stop now so I changed clothes and fished on.. I had this feeling though, gut insinct. I throw out my senko.. about 3 seconds into the fall I feel the smallest "tick" so I set the hook and boy she set it back. Drag just starts peeling off ! I was so happy. About 5 minutes later and a huge tail walk across water. I pulll out a. 5 pound 15 oz beauty! 21.6 inches long fat as ever.. my old PB was 5 14, still haven't hit that true 6 pound mark but I know she is in lake... somewhere. Sorry I don't have any pics as my phone won't turn on now after being wet today at least we have this story ! Till next time, tight lines

Fished my favorite little stretch of river today and had a nice day. Light rain showers scared most people off so I mostly had the stretch to myself. Turned out to be sunny out and combined with the solitude it was beautiful. But, the bite was slow. The first fish was this one on a keitech paddletail, it was probably around 3 lbs? I had to look it up and I think it's a mountain whitefish (I'm fishing an offshoot of the Columbia river). The bass bite was slow. Showers stopped, wind slowed and the sun came out and I was able to start getting bit on a grub on a jighead. Caught a few small smallmouth and decided to drag a jig and trailer. I'm reluctant to do that at this spot because it's easy to get hung up on the rocks (any tips for jig fishing the size/shape of rocks in the pics? Football head doesn't seem to help). I only got maybe two bites, but one of them was this nice smallmouth. Not sure the weight, but I think it was the biggest I'd caught. May be 2.5? MAking a hard hookset into a jig bite is so satisfying. Looking for that feeling again is addicting. Was awesome being able to see the fish come up in the clear water and having the place to myself.

Fall has definitely made its arrival... Look at the build on these fish! FYI these 3 would weigh 10-11lbs together

There's definitely two sides to this coin. On one hand you have the guys that won't even consider gear outside of certain select brands and only their flagship top of the line products. Then you have guys that think super low budget gear is just as good and there is no reason to spend money on those items. In reality you do get what you pay for most of the time, and while the returns get less as you go up the ladder in price they are still there, to not acknowledge them at all is just silly. I think most of us here fall into the category of "buy what you can afford". There are plenty of great options at all price ranges and all budgets. All will catch fish, but not all are equal in performance. The backlash you got seems extreme and completely unwarranted, but the "If you're spending triple digits and NOT getting 3 combos you're doing it wrong" comment I think is probably what set people off. Sure you can absolutely get 3 combos for a hundred bucks and do great with them but to say upgrading beyond that is "doing it wrong" comes off poorly IMO.

Gulf coast Amistad ( 1/2 of the lake is in US ) Falcon ( 1/2 of the lake is in US ) El Azúcar ( right across the border from MacAllen/Hidalgo TX ) Vicente Guerrero Las Blancas El Cuchillo ( near the town of Cadereyta, NL ) Pacific Coast El Salto Bacurato ( Baccarac ) Aguamilpa Central Mexico Calderón There were some really famous big momma lakes several years ago which I used to visit but over exploitation nearly wiped them out, I've heard rumors that at least two have made a comeback: Cajón de Peñas in Jalisco ( Pacific ) and San Lorenzo in Tamaulipas ( Gulf ) The catch here is ...... don't come now, don't come until Feb - April, at those lakes it's time for the spawn, besides, lakes are at lower levels because water was drawn for irrigation for winter crops ( winter and spring is the dry season, there is practically no rain during those months ). If I were planning a trip to catch me a few biguns I would pick El Azúcar or Bacurato.

Last tournament of the year is over with. Here's the biggest fish I could muster up out of the city pool of the 3 rivers in Pittsburgh. If you're familiar with how the 2005 Classic and 2009 Forrest Wood Cup tournaments went, you'll know that this fish is pretty good sized.

Gambler EZ series is probably the most durable paddle tail I have fished with especially around grass since they rarely get twisted or torn up easy. I would make sure that you put the screw lock in the center and don't screw it all the way to the top, I like to leave a twist and then make sure I get the point right in the middle, I screw up swimbaits if I try to use certain hooks. Mustad has that pin which tears up everything with only a few fish, any keeper you have to push seems to never stay locked, or fixed pins on hooks like zman trigger hooks etc. The 2 best swimbait hooks I have found for EZ's,Charlies Dippers, Grass Pigs, any paddle tail is the Owner twist lock beast hooks, also VMC has a good swimbait hook, You may not be going big enough on the hook, too small can be a problem. I never go smaller than 5/0 even on the smaller EZ or 4" Keitech style etc. One option is adding a pinch weight to the DOA Long shank Hooks, you can completely change the action by adding or moving weights. I usually put a tiny weight on the nose to make it more weedless then pinch of a few pieces of lead for the shank. Hard to find a better swimbait than the Gambler series, or if you find the Charlies version or Bitters it is essentially a RI dipper in different packaging. If durability is a concern, Keitechs are soft and so are most ringed swimbaits with exception of the Kalin's Sizmic shad which are kind of hard plastic for some reason, work the same as all others like BPS speed shad etc..But tails get bit off easy for some reason. Keitech USA and most soft swimbaits are from same molds, just different scents and bags, colors, texture...Thinking about it, I don't think brand matters for swimbaits since they are all clones these days, EZ swimmers are different, so is the Culprit Version which has become a new favorite & comes with hook and Jig head, never bent, and they last really good. Hope that helps, I think when fishing grass, try to find a video of the swimbait you are using and see what the company suggests as hook size, Havoc Grass Pigs catch fish for me as good as any & $3.00 hard to beat. To save money, plus you are in FLorida, spend $50 At Bitters baits online or in orlando and free shipping, 2 bags for 5 bucks, all his baits are made in same factory and molds as other brands, they have a skinny dipper, also a few kind of original baits but he has florida colors and just crazy good deals where $50 can get you 20 packs of baits to last all year. Florida shiner a killer color in stained water.

@StrikePrince, That top fish might be a pikeminnow.

Can you walk the dog with a spook type lure? If not, its easier to learn on them first. Walking a frog requires a more subtle twitch of the rod, and some brands do it better than others. Your swivel idea may help with walking the frog, but may not be great for when a fish takes your frog and buries in the slop. Practicing in open water, it shouldn't take long to get it down.

My bag went for 3.71. That weight alone would have put me in 26th in the '05 Classic with just my one day of weight alone. Had I put up that number all 3 days, I would have had 11.13 pounds. Putting me around 5th place in the Classic.

There's a whole lot of exclusion in the rules you listed. That's fine, but it might be tough finding competitors. My favorite tournaments have always been team format, best five by 3 pm. Standard fishing rules apply. Simple.

Some frogs are just not born to walk well even if you are using an easy one like say a spro, sometimes they just want to pull to one side more than the other. One thing that helps me when I cant get that side to side barely moving walk going where the frog glides side to side naturally is making sure I have extra slack in the line, then just gently snap the rod and not pull at all. Practice with spooks and also a pencil popper like a chug bug first, once you can walk a walker and a pencil/Popper it will help you get the frogs right but it is not always easy unless you have a good frog and sometimes some are just not made right and need tuning. The Spro Bronzeye shad is probably the easiest to walk, so are the popping frogs, some hollow bodies like a few from scum frog are not meant to walk, so if the nose is high, maybe that frog is more a chugging style. Bigger frogs are also easier to walk at least for me. Keep at it, Walking a frog and getting it right each cast is not easy, I dont care what anyone says, it takes the right rod, feel, and frogs will never perform like a walking bait, I find the goal is to get the frog to just walk/glide slowly while barely moving forward. Focus on not pulling and always snapping the rod with extra slack in line. Slack is key. I used to think walking a frog was over rated, but once I started to get a steady cadence, I have noticed I tend to catch more fish. Also hollow bodies are meant to be fished slow, you can be erratic, change cadence, but I do much better going really slow, You can move a spook fast and catch fish but Frogs are an adjustment for sure. You will get it. all major brands are good from Booyah, KVD,Scum Frog etc. Really cheap frogs fill up with water if you dont perform surgery with glue, once out of balance they wont walk well. some expensive frogs fill up as well but you can seal any frog and fix them.

You are sort of correct and sort of off base. Fact: it is more expensive to have a custom built using the same components as a factory rod rather than buying the factory rod from a retailer. The only exceptions is that if you can find blanks and components at a very deep discount or either know a guy that will build you something for dirt cheap or can do it yourself. Fiction: Rarely does one build a custom rod verbatim to what that of a factory rod is. Why go custom? Usually I would say the number one reason is pickiness. Someone may like a companies factory rod except they wish it had different guides, perhaps cork over a foam handle, maybe they prefer a full handle vs a split grip, or maybe they want something in a specific color scheme or length. Most people that are wanting custom rods are likely those folks that have fished a good amount of factory rods to know where the their personal preferences lie. I will start with this statement. Getting a custom rod is not like getting a rod from your favorite retailer where you might get free shipping with the purchase of x $ amount . You also are going to have to pay the builder for their time/labor/msc supplies. What does shipping, labor/time/msc supplies = ? That is up to the builder, but figure $25 for shipping, a good $75 - $100 for labor and a few more bucks for supplies. That takes you pretty north of $100 off the bat and you have not purchased a blank, guides, reel seat, handle grips, etc. You would hard pressed to get a "decent" custom built rod for under $200. I would say expect to pay $250 and up especially if you are wanting to build on a decent blank with decent guides. Another thing to consider is warranty. Factory rods usually have some sort of warranty. Maybe 3, 5 or 10 years and they also usually have a replacement cost associated with it assuming it was determined to be your fault for the mishap. Customs will have whatever warranty the blank carries. Break a custom, and you will be out a rod much longer than you would a factory rod as the builder will have to build another while salvaging what they can for components. There are good and bad aspects of custom rods. They aren't for everyone but are perfect for some. I fish a combination of customs and factory rods. I like both and can appreciate aspects of both. One last piece of advice to consider. Custom rods usually have various labels on them such as built by and built for. This sort of stuff doesn't seem to go over so well should you decide to sell the rod down the road for whatever reason. Would you want a rod with someone else's name on it? Just a few things to consider...

LaCygne fish are starting to get chunky. Caught several of these footballs on Saturday. Once I found the schools, shad color senkos worked the best. My gopro died and is being "fixed" by their warranty dept, so I'm stuck with taking selfies for now.

Hello Larry and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ I haven't been to them all but I've been to the Best. And you're right, it is pretty simple. In fact I'll be there again in 36 days & a wake up. A-Jay

Radioactive isotope. Enjoy.

Like jar said, start with a spook. The spook is the easiest lure to walk, and once you can walk one lure, you can walk all of them with slight modification to the cadence and the force of the twitch.

The stuff you have looks like some seriously thick stuff. What pound test is that? With monofilament, the thicker it is, the more memory it has. A thin diameter monofilament like Trilene XL should never look like this. I assume you're using a spinning reel? If so, I recommend Trilene XL in 6-8lb test. The stuff is limp, has very little memory and is plenty strong. When I am using casting gear with monofilament, line memory is a non-factor.

My biggest in 5 years, but definitely not my pb, I guess him around 5, my scale died when I grabbed it to weigh him.

Spooling mono line on a spinning reel to prevent loops and twists. 1. Mount the spinning reel on the spinning rod so it hangs down. 2. Run the filler spool line through the guides, top to bottom. 3. Open the bail of the reel and tie the line onto the spool, use a arbor knot, close the bail by hand. 4. Lay the filler spool flat on the floor label up. 5. With the rod tip about 5' above the filler spool start wind the line onto the reel while running the line between your index finger and thumb tip with very light pressure. 6. Watch the line closely between the rod tip and filler spool, it should not start to twist. If it starts to twists flip the filler spool over so the label is face down and continue filling the reel spool. 7. Fill the reel spool to about 1/8" below the top of the spool rim, do not over fill. You are done and ready to fish. Preventing loops. Do not operate the bail by turning the reel handle to engage and flip the bail, flip the bail by hand! Untwisting twisted line. Cut off anything tied to the end if the line and let out about 100' of line behind your boat at walking speed, drag the line for a few minutes, reel the line back onto the spool. If you do this every trip after fishing your line will stay in good condition and be ready for the next trip. Tom

I'll be on Rayburn his week for the Keith Combs Slam. Gonna need 28lbs+. After that I'll be back on Toledo. As some of you know, I'm doing a little guiding on both lakes. I do electronic sessions and fishing trips. If anyone wants one, feel free to PM me. Fishing should only get better!

I've found in the past, that manufacturers understand their warranty process better than the random members of a message board on the internet...

Does anybody have any experience with this lure? It seems similar to a Lucky Craft Gunfish. I just saw some at Sierra Trading Post and they normally list for $14.99 but STP was selling them for $7.99. Normally i would have just scooped 2 or 3 up but was with the wife who already thinks i have too many lures...lol.

When someone asks me to duplicate a production rod, I tell them to just order it and take the money saved and buy a reel. I refuse to build what can be bought over the counter.

We had our club "classic" tournament on Saturday on the city pool of the 3 rivers, here in Pittsburgh, PA. Only the top 20 guys in our club qualified to fish this event and it was our highest payout event of the season. If you're familiar with how the 2005 Bassmaster Classic and 2009 Forrest Wood Cup went on these waters, you'll know it's a dink-fest. So a 15-17" fish is a giant. My partner and I prefished the weekend before, and my partner fished again on the Thursday before the event. We weren't overly confident, but we thought we had a game plan figured out. Well, it ended up raining for about an hour on Thursday night, and this muddied the water up and totally changed the fish for us. After not getting anything in the first two hours with our original game plan, we switched to fishing the various bridge pilings in the river. We eventually came across a bridge piling that had millions of little fry everywhere around it. Upon pitching a bait at this particular piling and reeling back up, it spooked the little fry and made them act frantic. Immediately, 4 smallmouth came up and started snatching up the baitfish. This tripped me off on what I needed to do to get these fish to bite, and that was to stir up the baitfish that they were hanging around. So I backed off, and started throwing squarebills and 2.8" Keitechs and burning them through the schools of baitfish. This pattern started to produce for us and got us all the fish that we weighed in. I was the last person to weigh in, and I believe I ended up around 8th place. My fish got put into a weigh bag and I walked them down to the water to release them. Upon reaching in to get my big fish out for a quick picture, I saw something that I had never seen before. My biggest smallmouth (around 15-16" in length) had my smallest smallmouth (12.25" long) in his mouth and down to the back of his throat. How this happened, I don't know, but I was shocked to see that a smallmouth this small could fit a fish this big into its throat.

I used a homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog for the majority of the summer and did very well. Far better than I've ever done with a regular hollow body frog. It's basically a weedless Whopper Plopper and how can that not be a winner? After experimenting with several frogs and o-rings and 3 way swivels I found the best to be a Spro Bronzege Frog, size 4 VMC 3 way swivel, and actual Teckel Sprinker Frog replacement tail. I caught a lot of fish, only had a few hit it and not catch them, and can't recall losing any fish on the retrieve. I tried Booyah Pad Crasher Jrs, Spro, and Snagproof Phat frogs. I gave my lucky Spro away so I'll be trying a Booyah Pad Crasher next. The Snagproof sunk as did the Booyah Pad Crasher Jr. This lure also seems to work well at any retrieve speed. Finally my real Teckel Sprinker Frogs arrived and I tried them out on 3 trips. I've found that fish go airborne for this lure, something that they didn't do for the homemade model or many of my topwater baits. Very exciting and thrilling, however the hookup ratio is deplorable. I've probably had 15 hits and only managed to catch 1 fish and it was a northern. I did bend the hooks out but still had a dismal hookup ratio. I also had a nice bass hit and got it about 2 feet before it threw the lure. Maybe the hooks aren't sharp enough. The Teckel Frog also seems to be very speed specific. One speed is best for it, not too slow or too fast because it won't run well. It does also slowly take on water and has to be squeezed to drain the water, something you don't have to do with the Spro. Maybe the fish are going airborne because they are trying to get the lure out of their area rather than actually attempting to eat the bait. Scores - Teckel Sprinker Frog: 1 out of 5. If it hookup all of the bites it has it would be a great producer. But it hasn't. Maybe I need to switch color or something. I don't know but it just can't seem to get fish onto the hook. I will continue using it, maybe I can see what's up. If I change color and if starts producing maybe the color was just off enough. Or I need to sharpen the hooks. Homsmade Teckel Sprinker Frog: 5 out of 5 The homemade lure is flat out a fish killer. Goes everywhere a regular hollow body frog goes but covers far more water faster and gets fish to bite and gets them in the boat. I think before the homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog I could count the number of hollow body frog fish I've caught one one hand, with the homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog I usually catch 4-5 fish per trip. Winner is definitely the Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog. Only fish I've caught with the Teckel. Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog

I found this slideshow a few months back when I was trying to do more research on vegetation. It gives some basic info about each vegetation type. The slideshow starts with shoreline vegetation and moves out from there. Hope it helps a little https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/how-id-grass-and-fish-it-effectively

congrats on the new P.B.!! I think we have all had one of those days at some time in our lifes. nice to see the good nature you gave to it, WHAT A STORY FOR THE REST OF THE FAMILY LATER IN LIFE. what we wont do to catch a fish !! great story!!

I ordered from lurenet, bomber FAT A's, rebel crawfish cranks, and from Rapala. I'm removing some baits out of my tackle box to give others a chance in the pool. I rotate baits often. im getting free shipping so I'm still above the dollar menu at Mickey d's. when I was a kid I sold my lunch to buy fishing stuff.

I've never been able to walk a frog with any consistency. Occasionally it happens by accident, but, like you say usually all I achieve is making the frog bob up and down as it goes. Happily, the bass don't seem to care, so I have decided I don't care either.

I will be there on those date along with Chad & that whole posse. I have no first hand knowledge regarding any of the other Mexican bass fishing destinations. A-Jay

Ah cool. Thanks for your service. My buddy just started at Shawnee. Was gonna go out to Hillsdale today but heard Clinton was pretty rough, figured Hillsdale would be the same. Had a pretty consistent bite at Gardner.

Congrats on the new PB and sorry to hear about the phone. That's the definition of bitter sweet! I kayak fish sometimes and the smartest investment I ever made (be sides already owning an inflatable PDF) was buying a water proof phone case. Even though I'm super careful not to "field test" it, I never launch with out using it. Don't ask me how I know it "works"...

I use 10 lb suffix elite now and haven't had a problem

I agree 8lb.mono is the max I use on spinning gear. Anymore and I go to braid or switch over to casting gear. While Stren works well, I personally have had better luck with Trilene XL on spinning gear.

Owner Beast with the new larger Keitechs would be my recommendation. You may also want to pick up a bottle of Mend-It to get a little more longevity out of them.

I second what crypt said above. The Gambler Big EZ is my go to. I usually get at least 7 fish out of each. Sometimes if i have the patience i will even use mend it on them and get a couple more or use them as jig trailers. I've also recently started using the luck E strike hollow bodies with good results. The zoom swimmin fluke is also very durable but a little too small for my liking. For hooks i only use one, the Owner beast both in weighted and unweighted versions.

been using Gamblers for years and have no problem catching more than 6-8 fish before changing out. also using owner twist locks they are great for swimbaits. use heavier gauge wire model. if screw locks won't work try using Gamblers swim bait hooks or Owner's rigid hooks. they are a little shorter but are really stout.

Shimanos are among the simplest to work on. There's no magic or secrets in any of this. It willingness, experience and a few tools. I'll be happy to tend to your reel service needs if you like. I extend a 10% discount off labor to members here. Just supply screen name when sending reels.

While I like the Slither Jig, I do not like $8.00 pike bite-offs....so back to 4.5 inch tubes. Hard to tell if it matters anyway.

I have one of these reels as well! Absolutely stunning! I got mine from TW during the Memorial Day sale back in the spring. I have a Luvias as well...(mine is a 3012H) and I absolutely love the reel. I have mine on a Legend Xtreme spinning rod and have been putting it to good use. They are amazing reels and best wishes with your new setup! I ended up getting my reel from a place in AL that had it for $199 shipped at the time with a free Daiwa hat. Since then, the price of the reels on the same site has gone up. That looks awesome! I never thought they would match up like color-wise that but they look great. Best wishes with the new setup.

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

Got two for ya.

I've caught fish on mine. I have the middle size grey bat. If you like the Pompadour, you'll like the bat. It's actually not as noisy as I expected, but it gets their attention.

The Lews super duty sale got me...But for 100 bucks I figured I'd try a lefty baitcaster.

I know you said $100 and, yes, I'm gonna be "that" guy that suggests a more expensive reel...but...you can get a Tatula SV on eBay for $132.95 free shipping. That puts you in a reel that is on par or better than many reels in the $200+ range for only $33 more than you are talking about spending. Of course you didn't mention the type of fishing techniques you want it for so maybe the SV spool isn't as important, but just FYI. Of course right now at Academy you can almost get two CTs for that money so perhaps that is more to your needs.

Congrats!

Good story, and even when you do get over that 6 pound wall, you will never forget today's adventure!