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Yesterday at work my boss man gave me some books he thought I'd be interested in. He was right. I've only just begun reading when I can, so I've still gotta lotta reading to do. The books are: Largemouth Bass from The Hunting and Fishing Library, Proven Strategies For Catching Bass Special Edition from The B.A.S.S., Secrets Of America's Best Bass Pros by Tim Tucker, Lures For Lunker Bass by Bud Andrews and W. Horace Carter, Trophy Bass An Angler's Guide and Angler's Guide To Bass Patterns by Larry Larsen. If I'm not on here as much, been limited lately lots of things going on, it's because I'm all eyes in these books and/or out attempting what I've learned.

Evening before last I went to the smaller pond in my neighborhood. Had a green pumpkin/chartreuse belly Strike King S Toad(used a black Sharpie to color all of the belly leaving a trim around the edges chartreuse) Texas rigged on to my spinning rod with an 1/8oz bullet weight unpegged. First cast with it this 1lber chomped it down. Lowered my rod, reeled the slack and set that hook. Didn't know til I got him in that I had hooked it through the top of his mouth and out his eyeball. Was pretty tough getting the hook out. I thought I was gonna pull his eye out through his mouth with the hook. Fortunately that didn't happen, unfortunately his eye won't be the same. Getting the hook out turned his eyeball inward and I carefully used the hook point to turn it back right so he at least looks kinda right. The eye is still kinda sunken in but he is ok. He swam off quickly upon release. Don't think he'll see like he used to though. You can kinda tell in the pic below that his eye isn't exactly right and kinda sunken in. Never done that before. There's a first for everything though. You can kinda tell in the other pic that I felt bad about jacking his eye up. Wasn't purposely done. Happens to us all at some point I guess.

Tough fishing yesterday. Some dinks and a couple 2-2.5# fish.

Fall is finally here in AZ. This 4 lb bass took a Zoom Trick Worm - Candy Bug - tail dipped in Spike It Dip-N-Glow in Chartreuse/Garlic in a foot of water right off the bank. She was busting shad near an inlet Some fun metro pond night fishing!

Got one about 20.5 inches flipping into brush with good current, water a little stained and 66 degrees

Agreed, not trying to be a jerk, but if you're fishing prepared baits, you're not targeting big catfish. You may stumble onto one, sure, but that's going to be the exception. Live or FRESH cutbait is going to be king if you're truly targeting larger fish. I'd target big catfish with lures over prepared baits, it's a lot more productive than most folks realize. I used to intentionally target flatheads with a deep diving crankbait (discontinued Storm Lightning Shad), and did so with quite a bit of success. Big catfish are predators, and mainly fish eaters. Put a lure in their vicinity and there's a good chance they'll let you know about it. 20lb blue on a power minnow. 14lb channel on a brush hog 15lb flathead on a craw fatty 12lb channel on a shakyhead 15lb flathead on a jigging spoon 40lb flathead on a jig 14lb flathed on a jig 25lb flathead on a jig 21lb flathead on a Ned rig 65lb flathed on a jig 12lb flathed on a jig 11lb channel on a bladed jig

There is a big difference between the Rattle Trap and the Red Eye Shad . When the RES is allowed to fall , it still has a wiggle and tics , the Rattle trap lies on its side . The RES is one of my favorite deep water lures because of that . Traps nor Spots were the first lipless baits . Bayou Boogies and Pico Perches are much older . Heddon Sonics may be older too .

Navy Seabees MCB 5 1969-71. Viet Nam, Philippines

I organize close to the same way. Just on a larger scale. Got one of these walls for plastics, Hardbaits, and spinnerbaits/terminal tackle. Ike gave me the inspiration.

Holy smokes you guys -- I can count on one hand the number of bass over 4lb I catch per year, and none of my smallmouth make it into that group. Here's my own modest contribution to the Digitally-masked Costume Party and the Smallmouth-Fest going on here (a little under 3lb, from back in July):

cedar is a good wood so is basswood.

Absolutely not problems with Cavitron buzzbaits ? I do however throw 1/2 oz only! & No your Whopper Popper aint gonna out fish it!

I much prefer the RES to the original trap because of the fact that it shimmies on the fall instead of spiraling. I catch tons of bass ripping a RES off the bottom and letting it settle back down. Also really like the Booyah One Knocker (formerly Excaliber XRK50), when the bass are wanting a straight retrieve around rocks and grass I seem to do better with this one.

I've never had one get worn out really quickly. They tend to hold up for dozens of fish for me, unless I do something stupid (see below).

Stopped at Holloway Outdoors on my way home yesterday and picked up a replacement 3/8oz Dirty Jigs Tackle green pumpkin swim jig for the one I lost last weekend. I believe in a prior post I referred to it as a Dirty Jobs Tackle swim jig. Oops my bad! Also picked up a pack of Zoom green pumpkin Z Hogs. Used the Z Hogs shortly after I got home tied on my spinning rod with an 1/8oz bullet weight unpegged and caught a couple dinks. Didn't take pics, but they work.

I think my UL casting combo is "finished", so I thought I would post it. It's a PX 68 with a DIY spool and BFS Air bearings. I have it spooled up with 4lb Trilene XL. The rod is a Kuying Teton UL. For a $50 rod I am really impressed with it. It will throw a 1/16 inline very well, but my thumb is not yet up to up to it with how low I have to run the brakes to get good distance. For now I mostly use 1/8 inlines and spoons and with the brakes at 10 a slight flick of the wrist sends them both flying. For the most part I have only used it for white perch so I wanted to try and get a larger stocker trout with it this year to see how it did. For the last day or so I have been trying for stockers with it. I ran through maybe a dozen inline spinners, spoons, and micro cranks without a single trout and only two hits total. At dusk today I gave up and decided to tie on popper and see what my little rod could do. That bass was maybe in the 1.5lb range at best, but it is by far the biggest fish I have caught on this combo. The rod was great, the top section was bent double keeping the pressure on and the backbone was way more powerful than I thought it was. I would have lost against any kind of cover, but for open water I feel totally confident with a fish at least a bit bigger then this guy.

Looking forward to the report...in the meantime I'll just go catch another musky.

I had stored one of my favorite Lew's spinning reels in my car during this year's hot spell in Richmond, not giving it much thought about damaging it in any way. So you can understand my confusion when the reel stopped working on a fishing trip last week. I took the reel to Wayne Knabe of Powhatan, Virginia, who does repair work and he knew the problem at once. Seems the heat buildup in the car caused some of the grease to "melt" onto the anti-reverse cylinder causing it to fail. Wayne showed me the "Do Not Grease" words written on the cylinder when he removed it. Wayne blew out the cylinder's area with a spray cleaner; wiped it clean; put the reel together; and she works like new. Never had this happen to me in the history of the world. Now storing all reels in the house to avoid the excess heat. Just thought you all would like to nice story today.

It's hard to fathom getting cabin fever in the summer, but it makes sense. We start our vehicles on in the winter for them to warm up, you guys start yours in the summer to cool them before driving. What a difference a thousand miles or so makes. BTW, I hate ice fishing (snooze fest, and a lot of work) ?

i just wish my fishing buddy would go fishing with me. he has been battling some health issues this year. we have such a good time too.

I always try to put my buddies on fish by suggesting spots to hit, techniques to use, or baits to switch too. Sometimes all the help is for nothing. They just don't get it!!!!!!!!

Was able to finish out the regular tournament season on a hot streak with two wins and 3rd. No pictures from a win on the Potomac since the fishing was tough and I didn't expect to win with a small limit. Took 1st on Conowingo with a decent limit of smallies on spinnerbaits. Finished up with a 2-day tourny on Deep Creek...Got 3rd with a mixed bag of SM/LM, mostly on jerkbaits.

Hey guys, This winter my friend and I are going on a 6-week trip to the coastal area and expecting to do some saltwater fishing with our baitcasting gear. I've got a lew's tournament MB, and he's got a curado 70. I used to fish spinning reels primarily, so saltwater was never that big of a concern to my mind. However, now that I only have my baitcasting reel with me, I'm becoming wary of the splashing that the reel receives whenever the spool rotates (which doesn't occur in spinning reels). It just seems inevitable that water is going to migrate from the spool into the two sideplate areas (on both the palming side and the handle side). In freshwater, that's not an issue. However, I can see how it could be a problem with saltwater. Given that, is there anything I should do to my reel to "saltwater proof" it before going fishing? Also, what is the best way to clean a baitcasting reel after a saltwater fishing trip? Do you guys have any products or procedures that you would recommend? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Most true SB rods are geared towards treble hook baits. They're labeled fast but are somewhat moderate fast action, which is a good thing. For jig hook style baits like hudds you should get a true fast action especially on long casts. I use P-line cxx and izorline XXX for treble baits like the bull shad. Braid and fluorocarbon for jig hook baits.

Great tips from the master, Hank Parker!

As long as it's not a magnesium reel, a rinse with clean water immediately after each outing in the salt and laying out to dry should suffice. Follow up with a light cleaning and lube after your trip and a deep cleaning over the winter. For regular saltwater use, I vary the deep cleaning process slightly.

"When you've got a lake that doesn't have a lot of structure, what structure is there is going to be productive"

Okay, now I'm dying to know if the OP has caught any fish on a lipless crankbait in the past nine years since he posted this!

We have to modify our lipless cranks like the pros. First, upsize the front hook to a size 3 Gammy Extra Wide treble hook. Then, if you are fishing in structure or grass, remove the rear hook. This minimizes hang ups. You need three colors: bluegill, shad and crawfish. This will cover all three seasons, with the summer being left out. I thought the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap was the first of its kind. Glad to read about the other one that preceded Bill's invention.

The largest that will fit through the holes in the Ram base. Stainless with nylock nuts. No longer than necessary.

Take the side plates off, remove the spool and inspect for any water inside and wipe dry. Lightly oil the bearings and spool shaft ends, if no water is inside and reassemble. If salt water is inside you need to clean the reel throughly or have it serviced by DVT or whomever you use for annual service. Tom

You guys seem a little sensitive . . . . . Don't despair, I'll be sure to file a full report complete with full details, Pic & perhaps a little video. A-Jay

'05 Crestliner CMV here, with an '05 Johnzuki 140...I update electronics periodically, along with batteries...everything is just fine...

I think I would last about 30 min in neoprene waders during the summer around here. I have a pair of softshell pants that do great with the thorns, but the urge to wear shorts is so strong. I will check out the tick stuff, I have an OK system now, but I always want more. A buddy of mine does a ton of bio field work and he swears that the trick to defeat ticks is to wear a pair of XXL pantyhose, pulled up as far as you can get them. Tuck a undershirt into the hose, then tuck your shirt into your pants and cinch you belt down tight. That just leaves your head and upper chest vulnerable, but they are easy to check throughout the day.

I'm a straight fluoro guy for a lot of my rods, especially spinning. One trick if you do get a bit of twist ( which is gonna happen eventually with spinning rods), is to cut off your bait and let most of your free line behind the boat to troll it along for a few minutes. This'll untwist it fairly well, then just reel up, retie and off you go again.

I got into the pike thick this fall too Jeff lol. Some days they were pretty big, but most days they were the usual snakes that just annoy you and wreck tackle. One day I broke off two really big ones so I adapted and switched to a beefier setup with a leader and caught the next 3 - one being the biggest one I've caught in 11 years. I winterized my boat and put it into storage earlier this week, and I'm glad I did. Last year it was super warm into November, but most years that aint happening. I got some hunting to do now anyways. Good luck to those that are still brave enough to fight mother nature. I don't ice drink anymore so my next showing won't be until April 2018. On a personal note, I did manage to finally end a 16 year muskie drought. I broke through with 8 this season.

Love throwing big worms. I have some 10.5 inch worms but prefer the 12 inch mag ol monsters. They will catch all sides of fish.

I used to think 12 inches was a big worm and now it’s one of my go to sizes

Last time I was in AZ, it was mid october, and basically indistinguishable from summer 3 months prior in the place I left! "Fall"...ha! I hate it too -- fishing is supposed to be fun.

That Jeremy guy who asked the question sounds like a pretty cool guy! ? Thanks @Glenn thanks Hank Parker.

I'm finally enjoying the payoffs after surviving a miserable summer of 120 degree weather that forced me to remain indoors most of the time. My cabin fever hits hard every summer, but at least you have ice fishing in Michigan during your winters. I miss that stuff.

You poor thing 75-80 must be tough! ? Chance of snow tomorrow here in Michigan.

Saw that white stuff flying this morning...is the (non-ice) season done boys? My fall was not productive...at all. Very soon it will be time to switch species. Thanks Punch for starting this thread for 2017. Probs my favorite forum to see what was working and what was not in local waters. A few seasons ago I complained that MN had the weakest showing in these forums, especially when compared to the number of fishermen and bodies of water we have in our state. We've turned that around and its been awesome. We are so lucky to have what we have in our beautiful state. Fun to share notes as we enjoy and explore it.

A wiring harness and light kit is around $50 at Harbor Frieght. It’s the exact same brand that Autozone and Pep Boys sell for $70. I did my son’s trailer in about an hour and a half. Use the old wires to snake the new ones through.

The toothpicks worked! I do want to get some sort of tool I can keep in my tackle bag. I have had normal screws that were tightened by a dry, warm thumb that were a bear to get loose with a wet, cold thumb, so I want to have a tool of some sort.

When I fish, I ain’t got time to feed pb and j is one of my favorites, but like you I like salami and other meaty sandwiches. For some reason, I phase out eating altogether while fishing. It’s after the fishing I suddenly realize I’m hungry. ?

got something in the mail from a member yesterday really stoked to throw this

Took advantage of the Kistler sale. Got a fourth to get 50% off but it's for my dad. Also, figured it was time to jump on at least one of the current bait bandwagons...

Nope, it was preceded by the Spot.

i use lip less crank baits all the time on a river here in IL, my favorite situation to use them would be when the bass are on weedy flats, and ripping your bait through the weeds gets some good reaction bites, i was also looking at the strike king red eye shad and from what i found is that they only make a 1/2 ounce, my favorite personally is SPRO aruka shad