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No clue ~ But you could save 15% or more by switching to Gieco. A-Jay

Won a few swimbaits in a raffle this week. Got my first one in the mail today, a WSB rat. Wow is it a big bait! Next to a 7", 3oz Deps 175 for scale. Hope to get it wet soon to see if I can find any big mommas putting on the fall feed bag.

4lbs, 15 oz. If you count the number of scales, divide it by the month the fish was caught, add in the number of tattoo's on the arm in the photo, it allows you to make up whatever number you want. I would hazard a guess that nearly all anglers overestimate a bass's weight by at least 25%. A while back, I spent a few outings guessing the weight of every fish I caught & then weighing it. It was pretty eye opening and helped get my estimates closer to the truth.

One reason I like fishing ?

Did some fishing early this morning and this afternoon. Within the first 30 mins of being there, throwing my black and blue 3/8oz chatter bait with a watermelon red flake super fluke trailer, I got a massive hit. Bam! Set the hook! Oh wow it's a big un! I was pulling and reeling and it didn't seem to put up any fight but the weight felt like 8lbs or better. Kept pulling and reeling and finally it surfaced and I was like "you've got to be kidding me!" It was a freakin' big turtle...lol! First turtle I've ever caught. I did catch a little dink later on. Things just haven't been working out the greatest for me lately.

Caught a bucketload of dinks walking the banks under the midday sun. Who needs neds lol? Mama, just killed a bass. RIP.

didn't catch many but all bites on a jig. Around 11 o'clock I left the other rods alone and practiced skipping the jig with the BC. getting pretty good as long as my thumb complies. This is a 3# with a 4# head, as you can tell they haven't really started feeding up yet.

Got out twice in the last 2 weeks, including last monday pm..Total of 20 fish caught,18 on some variety of plastic worm.Caught the most on a 4 inch lucky strike tequila worm ,including the pictured fish. Theyre biting better than the summer, but not as good as true fall. They seem to be hungry for nothing but worms. I did get a couple today on the small zoom fluke . Had one fish break off when I had a backlash and was trying to pick it out. Tried to hand line the fish in but he broke it.

So, I started taking video notes on fishing trips this summer because, well, it's easier for me to talk to a camera than take the time to write things down when there's a bite on. This past Sunday I got out on the Susquehanna after some crazy weather (90s earlier in the week, the morning I got on the water the air temp was 35 degrees). I wasn't sure what to expect since I've seen this turn fish on in the fall, even though it usually means a rough day any other time of the year. I had kind of a mixed day and tried more to fish for larger fish and get notes than go super finesse trying to pull numbers. Ultimately, I got on a few patterns and was able to get some of the catches on video. One of my favorites was the hatch pattern later in the day/evening. There were several mayfly, a tan caddis, and some sort of gnat/small black fly hatch going on as the sun started going down that saved my day in terms of smallmouth fishing and lead to several 14" and a 19" smallie to close out the day. The last section of the video is little but me talking as current brought me back to the ramp, so if you just want to see fish, you can bypass that part. However, if you want to hear me ramble about patterns, there's a solid 8 minutes of it that may or may not be as useful to you guys as it is to me. More than anything, I'm glad I was able to get out. I've been having back and neck issues again, and that can make a day on the water feel like rolling the dice. Getting on the water on good health days has been a nice therapeutic escape from medical craziness Oh yeah, there's a surprise musky in there that almost stuck a size 2 treble hook in my hand, too!

I knew he was doing this and not fishing I almost P'd my pants

7 lbs That is if i had caught it.

I just wanted to thank the Mods for leaving this thread open. It's been one of the most entertaining things I've read on the site all week.

This past week I was in Bemidji, Minnesota, for the BASS College National Championship. It was an awesome experience for sure. In addition to competing in the event, I got to take over bass nation's snapchat for the first day of the event, received some cool new products, and met several pros (including Jordan Lee). The fishing on the lake where they had the event (Bemidji Lake) was not exactly something I am glad I drove 1300 miles for. We placed 44th out of 90 teams with 5 fish for two days, a total of 9lbs and change I believe. That alone should be a statement as to how tough the fishing was. Tough fishing doesn't bother me, it's the fact that we were so crowded, that when you fished something, you would probably be the 5th-10th boat to do so on that particular day. There was one area of about 5 acres of water, that I guarantee 30 boats were sitting on during the 2nd day of the event. My partner and I found good fish in practice, and had 4 good waypoints that we knew held fish. On the first day of the event, right after blastoff, there were 4 or more boats on each waypoint! And this is shallow water flipping/frogging! A few boats did put together some respectable limits, and they surely earned them, especially the leaders who pretty much blew it out of the water, even with only 4 fish on day one. I am looking forward to competing at these events in the future, hopefully we will have a little more room next time, feeling crowded is the worst way to fish a tournament IMO. I will say that there are some PHENOMENAL fisheries in Minnesota. Every place we heard about had nothing but good reviews from other anglers (aside from the lake the tournament was held on). My partner and I fished Cass Lake, about 10 minutes down the road from Bemidji, and it was absolutely stellar all three times we went there. Shallow water, heavy vegetation, up close and personal with heavy rods and straight braid, it was a blast! You would pretty much have 12-14lbs within the first 5 bites you had, the fish up there are built like footballs! There were also thousands of crawfish all over the bottom, the water had about 10' of visibility so you could see them scurrying around when the trolling motor spooked them. Here are some pictures of some Cass Lake studs!

I actually switched from Geico to Progressive to save money. Lol

Trying to equate fall shad migrations to a pond, or even a natural lake is difficult. The information is still applicable to any body of water in that the bass will follow the bait fish (no matter the type). The difficulty you are running into is the fact that following whatever the forage is in that pond becomes a catch 22 because the forage doesn't go anywhere, so there is no need for the bass to 'follow.'In a natural lake, the baitfish have some room to move and it's usually to the inside weed line, or the spawning flats used in the spring. Because there is no need for them to follow the bait around, it's just a matter of feeding when they need to or feel like it. Unless you have a magic lantern, figuring when that is is a dodo shoot. My advice is go for reaction strikes and cover water. If they're active, you'll know right away. If not, you can still pick off a fish or two. Just don't expect more than a few bites for your efforts.

Storm makes some pretty good pre-rigged swimbaits. i like the 3" version the best.

Hey everyone, We adopted a puppy, she's turning 5 months next week, and I want to take her fishing with me every time I can. She's small, weighs about 11 or 12 lbs right now, and is at that stage where she's very curious about everything. I want to take her and make sure she enjoys being out on the water. I'll be bank fishing, no canoe rides for now ... Any tips to help getting her accustomed to going fishing? I grew up with a dog that was terrified of water and I really want her to enjoy it. Here's Ripley, the wee devil

hi all, As some of you know I have a new boat on order, and will pick it up in the spring. I put my old boat for sale on craigslist a while ago, and after a couple of false starts I sold it this A.M. It was actually kind of sad to see it go, My wife and I had a lot of good times in it during the last 10 yrs. So good news: I don't have to store my old boat over the winter, and I have $$ towards trolling motor, electronics for the new boat. So bad news : The weather has been really nice up here this fall but now I have nothing to fish out of. So good news : Come spring We'll have a new boat, and be much more comfortable out on the water all day. So bad news : it's going to be a long Winter!!!!!!!! Jim

I have not shown my baits in a while. Fun hobby.

I'm the opposite, I prefer to buy used for most stuff so I am less ticked at myself when I inevitably damage it.

Never said it was alive...

Cabela's bargain cave has the Pflueger Presidents marked down $20. They have a 6920X and a 6935B listed. www.cabelas.com/product/bargain-cave/fishing/reels/pc/105591780/c/105740280/sc/105742980/pflueger-reg-president-reg-spinning-reel/1254609.uts?slotId=0 $5 shipping if you spend $99 or more.

You just pick them up laying on the mud. Tom

That's ok. He got a loaner......

Usually not the units, per se. Definitely level out the transducers. If you have the feature on your units, use "keel offset" to standardize depth between them. Also, sounds like you might need to take them out of auto depth range or even auto sensitivity. New units and processors are much better and pretty smart, but not perfect.

I love all my bucoos, more so than rods that cost 50-75$ more. They are incredibly light, and the soft tips transition into plenty of backbone.

Friendly Reminder to check your local walmarts. I just bought 8 Daiwa Jupiter rods for $5 a piece.

15ft? Lmao I was right next to the shore. Every single picture my foot is right next to water. I just layed the fish down on the ground and left to get some chipotle and came back as quick as I could. The fish was out of the water for 30 or 40 minutes she's fine.....

Yelp that'll be the one! It's in an old marsh tackle box somewhere ?

As a real estate broker of over 20 years experience, allow me to give you some advice. In a sellers market, deal with the listing agent. You'll have a better probability of getting the house you want. Yes, this means dumping your agent, but let's face it, this is business, nothing personal. If it was a buyers market, you wouldn't be posting here. You'd already be in a house.

Congrats on the PB and sorry for the red carpet welcome mat we laid out for you as a new member being a bit stained. I'm not going to be throwing any stones at you since I've certainly unintentionally treated some fish with less respect for their longevity than I should have before I knew better... take a couple pics and weigh her as quickly as you can (<60s) and the likelihood of her surviving is still quite high. Best of luck chasing a new PB.

I'd say 4lb 10 oz.

5lbs easy lol I know what I caught!

60% is about what they're overpriced to begin with.

Since last report: I have been out of action sick for almost 2 weeks, but between my last report from my tournament win on Conesus on Sept. 14th and getting sick 2 weeks ago I went out 5 times. One was Sat. the 16th of Sept. on Silver I got to the launch at day break to find 25 boats in the parking lot ready to blast off in two diff. tournaments that I knew nothing about or was not in. I found places out of their way to fish and caught 5 good fish goofing around until noon and then headed home. The next day, Sunday the 17th of Sept I went to Conesus..........same thing, place was mobbed with other tournaments going on, and I did the same thing I did the day before on Silver. Stayed out of the way, goofed off trying new/stupid stuff, caught a half dozen good ones and called it a day before they all returned to the launch at 2 or 3. I then fished Silver on Tuesday night, Sept 19th for 2-3 hours and it was a very good evening. I caught a limit of smallmouth and a limit of largemouth with the best five combined over 20lbs I had errands to run on my day off on Thursday Sept 21st, so I never got to the lake until mid-afternoon, and it was SLOW. I don't remember much other than it was a grind all afternoon/early evening to get a limit of average sized fish. I then fished another clubs team open tournament on Silver Sunday Sept 24th, and finished in the middle of the pack. I went back out after the tournament to lick my wounds, and ended up catching a few fish better than anything I caught all day in the contest, with the highlight a 5-8. Then I go sick, and didn't return to the water until today, Oct 5th. nosdog2 and I spent most of the day out there on Silver and it was a GRIND. Between the two of us we put a dozen or so fish in the boat all day. He got one early, and then mid to late morning we put another limit or so of decent fish in the boat. Then the slow times began. At one point we had a 4+ hour stretch mid-day (which included our lunch break) without much action other than fish short striking,a dink and a few coming off. I called an audible and we switched up what we were doing for the last hour or so we had left to fish, and in that last hour we caught most of our better fish of the day. I got the last minute rally started with a solid 5-2, and we both put decent fish in the boat shortly after that. It's been 10 days since I been out there, and I think we have entered my least favorite time of the season. The dreaded summer to fall transition period.

Started today on the big flat at the mouth of Negreet. Picked up a couple small fish that were schooling on a trap. Moved to La Nana and found a spot where a creek hit the main creek and the water dropped for 5ft to 30ft in the feeder. Threw a sexy spoon and got nailed by a 3 pounder. Moved towards the back and found some fish schooling on shad on top so hung out for an hour or so casting at blow ups. Picked up another 4 or 6 small fish on the trap and one more keeper on an Alabama rig. Being from Houma, these were my first two fish on a flutter spoon and an A-rig so that was pretty cool. Might change it up and head to Houssen in the morning and throw a buzz bait around lily pads. I bought a few of those Cavitrons from the constant recommendations on here. It's amazing how squeaky they are right out of the box and how slow you can reel them.

Matzuo

telling someone they are doing something wrong because they don't want to fish with crappy gear (yes, it does catch fish) is a bit offensive IMO. and on social media you will get bashed for less than that. I don't think you are doing it wrong by fishing with $15 dollar combos but youre definitely missing out!

The visible spectrum is lost by wavelength as you go deeper, starting with the red end (longest wavelengths), with blue penetrating the farthest, extending as deep as 600 meters in very clear water. Red can be lost in as little as 35 feet even under good conditions in the ocean. This is why I don't feel that color is as important as shade... light and dark shades of colors are probably more telling than the color itself. This photo that I took in 1990 at Little Cayman is in about 35 feet of water. You can see the color brought out by my strobe, but the light of that fairly powerful Nikonos strobe didn't carry much farther than 6 feet, and everything beyond that is just blue and green. The only noticeable colors you see are quite close to the light source. Those objects showed no color before the strobe flashed. Scuba divers often carry a small light with them even on daytime dives to see the real colors on the reef.

It's really that simple. Clearer water is, clearer.

Still have a Hone R battery operated hook honer, just don't use it anymore with today's needle/knife point hooks. Agree it would be perfect for the Johnson spoons hook as long as the steel doesn't bend easily. OP, give the spoon try. Tom

A-jay with words of wisdom not only for home buying but for life

The good news is that it looks like you can cast every square foot of that pond so that gives you the opportunity to throw just about any bait, anywhere. I fish a ton of small lagoons here in SC and what I have found the past few weeks is that the bass are cruising around a lot instead of hunkering down in one area. Afternoons between 2 and 5 have been great times to fish lately, whereas in the summer 6-9 in the evenings was best. They are also hitting on baits different than in the summer. In the summer T-rigged Senkos, trick worms, jigs, frogs, buzzbaits, crankbaits, and the Whopper Plopper worked best. I couldn't even catch a cold with a crankbait. But lately my Purple Tiger Rat-L-Trap has been crushing it with both LMB and crappies. I've also caught 5+ pounders with an 8" worm that I found on shore one day. But lately except for the Whopper Plopper none of my summer baits have produced in the last 3 weeks. For me it ended up being fun throwing stuff I haven't thrown in a while and actually catching good sized fish on those lures. So what I'm getting at here is if nothing is biting on your go to baits try some of the stuff you normally don't throw and see what happens. You have an advantage because you can pretty much cover the entire pond. In the mornings and evenings throw some top waters over and around the mats. But the rest of the day throw everything and anything everywhere. My experience here in SC tells me that the cooler water in these small ponds will have the bass cruising around looking for their next meal. Whatever you do cover lots of ground. Fan cast from one spot and if nothing is there move around. When you get to the end throw on a different bait and repeat. If there's bass in there you'll eventually run into them with the right bait. Take advantage of the small pond.

In 2007 (housing crunch - bad) my wife & I both retired from the service while living in NJ. We planned on relocating to MI. I drove back & forth from NJ & MI 3 times that summer and looked at over 70 homes in 8 counties ! All of this while selling our current home in NJ. Additionally, I worked through a complete remodel (and I mean complete) so that we could compete with all the new homes for sale in the area. After a ton of trial & tribulations, we sold our home and found & purchased our current one here in MI. It was a very challenging time in both our lives. But that's when you find out who you are and what you are capable of. Everyone's King of the World when the there are no hurdles in front of them but once those hurdles start to pop up and then they turn into walls - what then ? You adapt & over come that's what. You'll succeed because of what you can & are willing to do - not what you can't or won't do. Good Luck. A-Jay

Johnson Silver Minnow is a weedless surface or sub surface swimming spoon. Upside it's very weedless as long as you keep reeling it. The downside it has the dullest hook imaginable and must be filed/honed sharp before using it. The spoon was designed to use a split tail pork trailer so any soft plastic that resembles a split tail trailer works good or split a 4" straight tail worm about 3". Tom

Daiwa Zillion HLC 1514 & Shimano Chronarch G 151HG

Finally, for now, The Expendables, Daiwa PMF100 on a Daiwa MHF rod, Daiwa PL100 on a Daiwa MF rod and a Shimano Bantom BX100 on a Lew's MHF American Hero rod: What is not being shown are The Ambassadors (ABU vintage) as they are not along on this trip.

You guys are all assuming that he wants to go with a spinning combo. For Baitcasting I would recommend something like a used Aldebaran BFS + used Major Craft Belkei. Probably gonna be a bit more than 250 USD though...

I'm still stuck in the 50s. My newest reel is over 35 years old and several of mine are over 60 years old and they still work like new. I grew up at my grandfather's Three Rivers Boat Dock & Resturant at the confluence of the Holston, French Broad and Tennessee Rivers in Knoxville, TN back in the 50s and 60s. Seemed like most everyone used Mitchell's back in those days. These are the Mitchell's that I've inherited and purchased and salvaged from the garbage dump over the years. My first reel was an Airex Bache Brown Model 3 that my grandpa gave me. I didn't get a Mitchell 300 until about 1960 when I saved up enough money to buy one. This is a picture of me and my old half bail Airex back in '57. Boat races at Three Rivers Boat Dock summer of 1959.

Newest member of the arsenal.