Leaderboard

For the second day in a row I arrived at a full boat ramp to find a tournament taking place which meant TUFF fishing, plenty of boat wakes, and a good bit of pressure. We found a couple pretty brown ones though!

Fished this afternoon and had the best numbers since spring.. Caught 17 ALL on the little lucky strike tequila worm. Fished a spinnerbait and whopper plopper too for an hour or so with no results. They love this little worm. The funny thing is they are in wal marts bargain bin. I think they are 1.99 for a pack.

Caught this 3lb 10oz largemouth while kayaking on the Gasconade River in Missouri yesterday. Biggest river largemouth that I've caught.

Been having a rough go of it prior to this week. Largest bass I've landed in a month at 3.2 right before the bottom dropped out. And then a montage of the others landed this week. I did unfortunately snag a turtle, however it was only just his fin webbing and I think he was more scared than anything. I'm really not sure if he took a nibble at the crankbait or I missed a hookset and snagged him.

Not a giant, but my first popper fish. Caught on a black Yamamoto Shibuki Popper.

A few from the last week:

I've been fishing out of an old 16' Bass Tracker for years now, she's served me well, (in fact, I'll be keeping it) but I've been wanting to try out a glass boat for a while now. So, after combing through the craigslist adds and facebook for a couple months, I came across a pretty nice 2004 Skeeter TZX 190 and ending up taking her home: Got my first trip out in it yesterday, ran like a top. Way different to drive than a Tracker! After a little porpoising, then swamping the back after slowing down, I started to get the hang of driving it pretty quick. So far, I'm very happy with it.

They were little but the numbers were ridiculous.

Wife was out of town, so the girls had to settle for meat (tri tip) and potatoes.

Took the slender pointer out today for a trial run...I stopped counting once I hit 20 smallies on a dropoff from a saddle. They were really on the feed today. Nothing huge but did lose one that was probably around 4 lbs...hopefully run into more of those next week. Still waiting for the weather to cool as our air temp was in the 70's with the water in the high 60's.

Gary (Ghoti) made these beautiful rods for Keri and I! We absolutely love them. Great action, superb sensitivity, and quality craftmanship. The designs, handles, and threadwork are exactly what we wanted (note the Batson components). Awesome cork handled! Well done!

Little early morning top water Pike. Excuse my dad's thumb.

Fishing the morning fog. A-Jay

Hello all Those are Definitely Lee's lures. I own Mimic Lures. We stamped all the fiber board lips for his baits. I think that bait was called the Skinny P.

Braved the 40 MPH gusts yesterday , Caught some nice ones on a weightless trick worm in the back of protected pockets. Would have loved to fish the windy banks but 4ft waves are no ones friend.

not exactly a pic but a couple from this year, the last fish hooked was a 4.16 the sd card was close to full and stopped recording halfway through the fight also not trying to promote myself here just thought this was a little cooler than a picture

I look after a particularly good or bad day, but I never came up with conclusive results. Moon may play a part, but I think it's a small part of a much larger equation. I fish when I can, not when some chart tells me to.

Lately my 11 year old son and I have been fishing where my Dad lives in nearby Sun City Hilton Head. I've been pulling out 4 and 5 pounders every weekend as well as 2 pound Crappies. My son's personal best is just under three pounds and he's been frustrated watching me catch some bigger fish. He's had his share of 2 pounders, but not the 4 or 5's he's been craving. So my mission every weekend is to get him his PB. I tell him what I think will work best under the current conditions and advise him on technique. If I catch something decent I immediately have him use that same lure. But he's an impatient 11 year old... So we're out yesterday and we've caught a few Crappie and some smaller bass. He had some hits on a beetle spin but it can be a difficult hookset with that small hook and bigger fish. So I told him, "Throw that big green and white spinner bait." Nope. He's having none of it. He's bummed out and doesn't want to fish. "C'mon Matt, put on that spinner bait and throw it right over there." But he'd rather sit and not fish. So I grab the spinner bait, threw it exactly where I told him to throw it, and on the first cast pulled in a 4.5 pounder. And I felt bad about it. I really want him to get his PB. And no, he wasn't happy either. But he was mad at himself and not at me. Maybe next time he'll listen to the Old Man. (But I have to admit it was pretty cool calling that shot. Kind of felt like Babe Ruth in the '32 World Series there for a moment.)

105 yards of Kastking 30lb braid and 330 yards of 30 lb Daiwa Jbraid. I can recall there being some discussions about Kastking braid here and there so I wanted to get to the bottom of all of the questions for myself. I went ahead and purchased 500 and something yards of 30lb metered braid from them. When I was pulling this off I did notice how loosely woven it was even for a four strand line. The packaging did say that the diameter of the line was .25 mm just shy of .001 of an inch. I spooled A shield 6000 size reel and to my surprise that large spool that I believe was rated to take 400 yards truck just 105 yards of the Kastking before it was full. This is not a small spool. This is also the same sport that I had previously put on 330 yards of Daiwa Jbraid (adv thickness .27mm, .02mm more than the adv kastking) and had extra room. Out of curiosity and my disappointment I measure the diameter of this line and it came out to be almost twice the thickness as advertised (.45mm instead of the .25 claimed). Needless to say I gave them bad feedback and a bad review which upon they sent me iMessage stating that they would refund two dollars if I were to keep this line. Seeing as I'd rather have my $20 back rather than a spool of crappy line I returned it anyway. Upon receiving it they offered for free if I were to remove that bad feedback, a spool of 10 pound braid green braid. After receiving the braid once again I measured it and it came up to more than twice the diameter of what they were advertising (.009 inches vs .0039). I was mostly curious about this line because of the price and social media advertising they've been doing. But I'm afraid I was simply left rather frustrated with false claims. This is usually what happens when a company tries to simply rebrand completely inferior Chinese knock off products rather than too choose to have a quality product that's made in China. There's a huge difference between the two.

Ben - Why waste your time bashing them for what you perceive as "deceptive", even though there's nothing wrong with the line? Either use it, or just ask them for a full refund and be done with it. Either way, you'll be happier than just griping about it on the Internet.

Can't say about the lower diameters, but the 50# I have feels very slightly bigger than 50# PowerPro. Indeed the specs reveal the same. The only thing I've noticed is after prolonged use, it fades a bit, like every single braid I've ever used. I prefer the internal centrifugal brakes on the Assassin. On a budget reel, I'd rather deal with a more hassle free brake system. Set it and forget it. Just adjust the spool tension for the weight of the bait.

The Shimano has been great until I switched to Fluorocarbon, It seems I miss the initial bite and it isn’t until I lift the rod til and feel the weight, by that time they have spit out the jig. Maybe it’s the fact I haven’t fished fluorocarbon and need to get used to it. It may just take time and practice.. That’s what I was thinking. It’s about a 5 hour trip but well worth it in my opinion, I was planning on making a little vacation out of it. I’m going to end up waiting til spring, it’d be pointless imo to get a new rod and not use it on the northern Wisconsin fisheries since they will be iced over. Nothing worse than buying something new and not being able to use it!

Agree, sounds like you need a better hook set next time. Yes, braid will give you that over mono... no stretch. But you need to keep tension on the line as it it much harder to feel a light bite if there is a bow in the line. Also, as the fish gets close lower your rod tip when you feel her coming up. If she's gonna jump she'll jump, but by lowering the rod close to where you are it may not be as high. Also, you found the right everything so I would duplicate what, how and when you did what you did. But give her some time. Good Luck Mike

I have no idea but good luck . I would go with a heavier baitcast rod and reel and make sure I get a good hook set .

Ok, how many of you have the tools, knowledge, and ability to measure micro-millimeter line sizes? Nope, me either. Did a quick search, and this is a copy-paste job of the same post on other sites. Looks suspect to me. First time poster and this is what he posts, with lots of allegations about "cheap" products with no proof? The line size was different than expected? That doesn't mean it's "cheap". There's nothing still that says the line is bad. Kastking stands by their products, and welcomes reviews, both good and bad. They don't ask people to remove bad comments, nor try to "bribe" them. That's just plain trash talk. Seems like this guy is just trying to troll. That said, I haven't personally used their line. But I do have the Assassin reel and I'm very impressed. I've used it all season long without any issues. I honestly didn't expect such a good reel for the price.

It depends on when, where and conditions, but the fewer rods I have rigged up, the better day I'm going to have. On familiar bodies, sometimes I tie one lure on, and cut it off at the end of the day. Sometimes, a minor adjustment on the fly depending on what's happening on the water. The whole make 10 casts and tie something else on just doesn't make sense to me. Now if I'm fishing a new place, I will rig maybe 4-6 rods, while I try to figure things out.

Finally got on a few yesterday. I fished a small tourney? Even though I didn't place I still caught fish. I had a limit quick but when the top water bite stopped it started getting tough. It felt good to get a few bites!

This is an easy one . . . . Just get both! ?

frogg toggs. after trying several other brands, they are the only ones that keep me cool in summer and they are not ridiculously expensive like some.

Since you're from Wisconsin if you're within driving range head over to the St Croix facility and you'll be able to acquire discounted St Croix rods.

The traditional roller support transfers road, trailer shock and vibrations to the engines lower unit. The newer designs balance the heavy engine so weight isn't rocking back and forth on the boat transom. There are several designs, some more expensive than others. The least expensive and simple is My-Wedge, the other types are engine make and model specific. Tom

I am a fisherman for life, I will always be a fisherman, It's not something I do, it's who I am, Fishing is not an escape, it's where I belong, Where I am supposed to be it's not a place, But a lifelong journey, It's a passage my grandfather showed me, And one that I will show others. Keep A tight line! Andy " Cooch" Cuccia

Pair of bald eagles hanging out in the trees at a local lake.

@PAbasser927 I didn't know bass could fly, Today i learned something. I've been rainbow trout fishing for the past day and not so lucky catching them so i went back to bass for a bit. I got to try out some new lures and had a blast caught a huge bass on a lip less crank bait on something i have never caught anything on. But he got off my lure maybe the hooks were to small/powerful fish/etc. But we did catch a few nice fish on a lipless and square crank bait with my sister. I caught something before heading home, I believe it was a pickerel and i lost my red lipless and all i could think of in that moment was taps, I think i need to invest in steel leaders.

On a day where the bite was tough, this was the ONLY fish landed. It came on a cast where my brother rainbowed his line over a branch and this little guy jumped out of the water to grab his senko as we were trying to undo the mess. Unconventional, but kept the skunk away nonetheless!

The urge to buy a reel named after a Wu Tang lyric became overpowering and I figured I would pick up the one I thought was the coolest looking. I have been using Alphas SV/loomis CR723 IMX as my all-around rod, but have wanted to move it over to topwater/jerkbaits and replace it with a slightly longer rod. I got the Steez from a guy on TT, it was in great condition for the price and now I guess I need to figure out what rod I want to pair it with.

Just as an FYI, the mojos are not made in Wisconsin but rather made in Mexico. The premier is the cheapest rod that is made in the US. With that being said, the mojo is going to a much more sensitive rod as it has the SCIII graphite vs. the SCII. Also, the rods that are discounted at the store are factory blemishes, often like a blemish in the epoxy on the guides or something very minimal. So if its do-able, Id say try to get into Croix and check everything out!

WRB, I don't think a new bass fisherman needs high-end gear to be effective. I don't think an expert needs it either. Today's rods, reels, and lines are extremely good at almost all levels. I do think mid-level gear is often a better value than entry-level gear in performance and durability. With that said, some of today's high-end rods are amazing in weight and sensitivity in my opinion. They are outside of my budget, but I generally hold my own with my more budget friendly stuff. Some of the better rods are a joy to use and make a long day on the water more enjoyable. It's hard to put a price on that. I agree with Team9nine that sensitivity is a quantifiable measurement. I also agree with Catt that there are folks who can't tell the difference in an old glass rod and a new quality graphite one, other than they might notice one is a little heavier than the other. For those folks, one rod is as good as any other.

Thank you! Figured since I’ve watched so many Bass Resource videos I’d join the community.

Can't answer the question, but welcome aboard!

Huge congrats bro! Nothing like your first glass bass boat. Get some better pics though, it looks sweet.

I use Frogg Toggs for all my rain gear. Their stuff is very affordable and after a few years, it seems to be quality.

Nice looking rig. Enjoy!

I went out and caught 3 more. A two pounder and a sub one pounder on a trap, and another two pounder on a spinnerbait. 5 fish day. Better than a no fish day. I'll take it.

Yes. A good frog. My 2nd favorite behind live target. Pad crashers are soft and collapse well. Don't take on water as easily as most brands. Good frog for the money in my opinion.

While I don't condone it, I do know of a dock owner who sunk an old bedspring frame under his dock and would "harvest" baits on a regular basis.....

I have a new to me (1984 aluminum) 16' bass boat. Its got 55lb on the front and 40 hp on the back. Not sure the draft but it is extremely light and sits fairly high in the water. I was looking to run the outboard to keep it fresh and the closest place without restrictions is the Shenandoah. The Riverton boat landing is about 30 minutes from the house. Can that area be navigated with a boat? anybody know the depths and current? I haven't been but the section that bends under 66, is absolutely beautiful and I am pretty sure I have seen boats there.. I also know there are tons of shallow areas and boulders along the river, but if I can find a safe stretch and stay in the channel I would love to have a spot that close (even if the fishing is so-so).

Thanks for the info; Nitro, DC, and Crank. I really appreciate it!! since the Shenandoah is know for wading and canoeing, I am really having a hard time finding any information about boating. I am sure there are plenty of better places to fish ("should have been here yesterday"), I mainly need a place somewhat close to the house where I can run the outboard motor. I would hate for the motor to rot-out from lack of use. However for the electric motor, I can go 30 minutes in every direction and hit an "electric only" reservoir. I also have kayaks, which I can hit the north/south forks and Rappahannock. I am thinking about hitting Lake Anna, but that is a longer trip and the boaters down there can be just as dangerous. I am familiar with Aquia and may stick with that on the not quite as windy days (the wind never stops there). I will be very cautious when leaving out of the ramp and when approaching overpasses, those are excellent tips. I will probably stop at each overpass and really mark the territory bank to bank, so I know without a doubt where to cross and where to avoid. I see there is a ramp at the Front Royal Golf Course upstream from the rt 66 pass. Does anybody know about this ramp? Looks like it is past the hazards mentioned.

Alot of south Florida guys swim worms along the edges and I have done that as well with good results. FROGS...... I live and die by the frog. I have no issues throwing a frog all day long in south Florida. I don't care if it's a blue bird sky or pouring down rain. Big bass can't resist the sound of the paddle legs on a buzz frog. Last saturday I fished a major canal out on the alley. I used a frog from kin to can't (for you urban folks, thats kin see the sun and can't see the sun). Hung one of my biggest bass ever for a brief moment. But for the best bass go with a frog...... a loud frog! Go big or go home.