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my 9 year old grandson , I do believe I have him addicted. 37 degree here in Indiana this morning, he goes out and catches a 2 lb bass

Well I was lucky enough to have this guy come to a light rattle on Monday morning after throwing the kitchen sink at him. Shot him at 35 yards.

From a previous thread & should be a sticky! Good evenin' folks, I may be about to open a SERIOUS can of worms with this thread, but what the heck.....here goes anyway. Being in the blank distribution business, I get asked A LOT about the construction and makeup of the various graphite rod blanks that I sell. And, I have to say that whenever somebody asks me about modulus I just cringe! Here is why; It seems that about 90% of the folks that email me want to know what the modulus is of the blank(s) they are considering buying. When I ask "Why do you want to know that" they can't really give me an answer....they're just convinced that higher the IM rating is better. Here is how the conversation usually evolves: Mr. Customer: What modulus is that blank made from? Andy: Well, if you must know, it's about 40million Msi Mr. Customer: What does that mean? Andy: Well, it means the blank is made from the material you have come to know and love as IM6 Mr. Customer: Oh, that's too antiquated...I only fish with IM7 and higher. Andy: Really? Did you know that the difference between IM6 and IM7 is not the modulus it's the tensile strength? Mr. Customer: Really? Andy: Yeah REALLY! Mr. Customer: Eh Hhhmmm....erreer, uh, oh....well uh....well Bass Pro Shops says... Andy: Forget Bass Pro shops...let's look at the numbers (at this point Andy whips out his trusty data chart that illustrates the differences between the different fibers that actually have IM designations). Here take a look at this. This comes from a chart put together by the folks at Hexcel (http://www.advancedcomposites.com/technology.htm) The number on the far right is the modulus of the fiber, and the number in the middle is the elongation to failure or stretch. Hexcel IM4 600 40 Hexcel IM6 760 40 Hexcel IM7 780 40 Hexcel IM8 790 44 Hexcel IM9 920 42 Mr. Customer: You Mean all this time I thought I was getting a higher modulus fiber with the higher IM rating, when what I was really getting is a fiber that stretches more? Andy: Well, in some cases you are, and in some cases you arent. The fact is though that the difference between IM6 and IM7 is nothing in terms of modulus, and compared to IM8 it's only slightly higher. Wow...look at that IM9 actually has a lower modulus than IM8...go figure Now, many companies are using fibers with a much higher modulus, like 57 and even higher, however these fibers don't necessarily use the IM ratings. So, whenever you see a fiber with an IM rating...BUYER BEWARE! THE HIGHER THE IM RATING, DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THE HIGHER THE MODULUS!!! The point is this folks...just because you have a blank made from a high modulus fiber, doesn't means it's a good rod! And vice versa, just because you have a blank with a low modulus...even the original fiber blanks were made with (33 million) doesn't mean it's a bad or outdated rod. It's all about what the designer does with it. I know there are some of you that may already know this, but judging from the amount of calls I get on a daily basis from folks who ONLY want IM7 or IM8, but can't really tell you why, I have to believe they don't really know what they are talking about at all. They've just been sucked into the marketing machine that leads people to believe that the higher the IM rating, the lighter and more sensetive the material, which is not always the case. Be forewarned that there is A LOT more to graphite blank construction, performance, quality, sensetivity, weight etc... than just what modulus the fiber is. There are lots of other variables like flag patterns, and wall thickness, and resin systems, and mandrel design....It's all about the talent of the designer, and what he is able to do in terms of the sum of those variables...not just the friggin modulus! Whewww...ok I feel better now... My aforementioned explanation of modulus and IM ratings is by no means meant to be anything more than a brief primer for the folks who didn't realize what the differences with the IM ratings were. I hope this clears things up a bit, and I hope that some of you will chime in on this as well. Oh, here is a link to the Hexcel page for those of you who want to investigate the matter further. Do a search for IM6 and you'll get some interesting info. (if you're into that kind of techie junk). [www.hexcel.com] [www.advancedcomposites.com] Now, this gives you some ammunition...next time you stroll into BassPro, and some yahoo tries to sell you a rod based on it's IM rating, ask him to explain to you why the higher IM ratings are better. When he replies by sayin' that the higher the IM rating means more sensetivity, less weight etc....just tell him that you have a blank at home made from IM2000, and see what he says. Regards, Andy Dear Lamar Manufacturer

Don't Whizz into the wind. Don't tug on Superman's cape. Don't pull the mask off the Ol' Lone Ranger and Don't mess around with Glenn . . . . A-Jay

There are ethics, or rules to live by, in outdoor sports and we need to be sure we pass them on. I have tried to teach my kids that how they behave is just as important as their accomplishments. The types of things I try to observe and teach are 1. Respect other people's property and don't tresspass. Respect and obey game laws and creel limits. 2. Clean up after yourself. Everywhere. And take care of your stuff. 3. Pay your fair share. If you are going in someone's boat, buy the gas, food and expendables. 4. If you kill something, do so humanely, quickly and then eat it. If you practice catch and release, fight the fish as quickly as possible and handle it as little as possible. 5. Never make fun of another person's stuff or circumstances. Nobody care's how much expensive crap you have. 6. Slow down and don't leave a big wake when you pass someone on the water. Especially kayaks. 7. Respect other people's preferred fishing style. It takes skill to be good at any type of fishing, including bait fishing. Listen and learn. All knowledge gained crosses over and helps you be a better angler. 8. Don't spook the fish. Be quiet. 9. Don't crowd or cut someone off. Respect their space. 10. Keep things in perspective. Fishing is supposed to be fun. Unless you make a living fishing, it ain't that big of a deal. What are some other rules to live by while fishing?

It's how I've always done it. I don't care who designed it, the manufacturer, the material, or its intended purpose. I know what I like and what I don't.

@GrumpyOlPhartte I'm a dumb Cajun, I go by how it feels in my hand! That post & the one @WRB mentioned by Gary Loomis need to be a "sticky" or in "The Best OF"!

Probably right, what else is there to do in Cincinnati.

@A-Jay caught this cool screen grab from my last video. Almost looks shopped.

Last December, we had one day where the air temperature dropped into the 40's & I had to wear a jacket...

Things we do to try to catch a trophy fish. I know what ya mean, Monday I had minimal feeling in hands and feet even with arctic socks and boots. Upstate New York 28 degrees snowing and windy.

Many years ago an old Yankee told me this. If you want to make a living, do something people need. If you want to get rich, do something people want.

Just got back from Cincinnati Bass Pro Shops. Since they opened at 6:00 am, I assumed the store would be cleared out by 8:00 am....WRONG!...That place was crazy. Checkout lines were stretched all the way back to the escalator. All I wanted was a spool of line, some bobber stops, and a pack of jig trailers. Not standing in line for that. Then I happened to notice the line in the fishing department had about 5 people in it. Got my stuff and got the heck out of there. I think everyone in Cincinnati is at BPS today. Hootie

Don't feel alone... ? Mike

I have a St. Croix Legend Elite jig rod, and so far I'm very, very happy with it. I picked it up at a massive discount exchanging a broken Rage series. The best I can tell, the only big difference between the Elite and Extremes are the grips. If you like the full cork handle (I do for a lot of presentations), the Legend Elite is a great $380-$450 rod. However... if you're fishing mostly from the bank, I'd suggest putting some of the money towards a kayak or Jon boat if possible. A high end rod will, in most cases, serve you well wherever you're fishing, but a big part of the appeal comes in sensitivity in deep water/current/feeling changes in bottom composition, and to me, the money would be better spent getting off the shore and onto the water. I'd consider exchanging the Avid X and through the warranty getting an Elite/Extreme/Tournament and putting the rest toward a used kayak.

They're a great group of guys there very knowledgeable and helpful. and for a smaller building it's packed to the walls with a lot of tackle you won't find in any place locally but there. I'll tell you this bass fest 2018 which I'm assuming will happen best time to go. Lots of items on sale, giveaways and pros and reps. My profile pic with my hero mark Zona was at this year's bass fest.

I make it a point to remove and save all the Katsuge hooks and split rings off all the MB jerkbaits I break, and then just keep a small box of these parts with me for changeouts and repairs. So far my broken parts inventory has outpaced my replacement needs. Not sure if that's something to be happy about or not

300 bass is a lot on the stock hooks! At my last tournament weekend I went through 12 hooks on the same 110 I was using over 4 days. The spotted bass were vicious though and every single fish seemed to mangle them. #6 is the stock size, the #4's will be too big. I would give the Nano Finesse trebles a shot, either #5 or #6 (I've heard they run small, I'd have to see them to be sure). Thicker hooks like the ST-36's are a bit too beefy for my liking on the 110, whichever replacement you choose make sure it's a light wire. I use #6 Katsuge still, but it seems to be harder to find them now...I bought them in bulk from MB-USA a couple seasons ago so I still have a decent stock. I've heard MB-USA doesn't sell them in bulk anymore though. When I finally run out I plan on using the Nano Finesse trebles as replacements.

Maybe he is more hardcore than his grandpa LoL.

Got some Thanksgiving bass today, 16 of them plus a few nice crappie. Lower numbers, but better size with most of them measuring over 15" and the best five going 14.9 pounds. All jerkbaits, mostly the vision 110, but also a couple on the staysee 90. Fishing steep dropping banks and steeper offshore spots. A surprising bonus was getting my staysee back today, I had hung it about 8 feet underwater on a branch that comes off of a tree sitting in 19' a few days back, but the wind was a steady 15-20 miles an hour and my trolling motor battery was dead. I tried to get over to it with the outboard, but the line got into the prop so I had to shut off the motor, and while unwrapping the line from the prop my line broke. Obviously I couldn't find it in that wind, so I gave my only staysee up for lost. Came back today just fishing, not even looking for the staysee, but happened to see it shining up from the branch. So I grabbed my pole style lure retriever, put some light chains on it, and tangled the hooks up with them and pulled my own $17 jerkbait up. Not a bad Thanksgiving all around, caught some good bass, found my jerkbait, and ate some good food at the end to top it all off.

Fished this morning for 2 hours and caught 17 bass, 4 where largemouth bass and 13 where peacock bass.

Can't beat a plastic worm

The Golden Rule! Tom

I heard about a kid who didn’t have a scale, but still called his fish a DD...?

Remember to set your scales back 10 pounds tonight before you go to bed. Hootie

Never take a picture holding someone else's fish.

Happy thanksgiving!!!!

There's soooo much more that goes into a quality rod than the arbitrary "specs" on material. You'll get more helpful advice by posting about the application and budget then sorting through the suggestions.

Hi, Thanks for asking. Typically I prefer people ask for permission, but I'm pretty easy-going. You asked, permission granted. There....easy!

If a bass hit a certain lure (say a topwater swimbait) but didn't commit, why would the angler immediately switch to a different type of lure (say a worm) for a followup attempt at the same fish? I've seen/read about this numerous times. What's the rationale behind trying a different lure as opposed to the one that almost got the fish?

Today, I got out of class at noon, headed back to my apartment, and hooked up the boat to take her home for Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately, my brothers will be keeping her in VA for the winter, so I will once again be kayak-bound! On my way home, I drive by a place called Mount Storm. Mount Storm has a power plant lake on top of a mountain, at 3600' elevation. It is a very unforgiving place, all the flags up there are tattered from the wind, the trees only have leaves on one side, and the gas station up there has the windward side door blocked off to entry. My route happens to pass within 2 miles of the boat ramp, and even though the conditions were less than ideal, I had to give it a go! Dropping the boat in was a task, I pulled the keel up on the bank, but had to get a rope and tie a cleat to a tree so it wouldn't drift away while I parked my truck. Air temps were in the 30s, and although the forecast said it wouldn't get below freezing, the ice on my reel would say otherwise. I don't know what the wind speed was, it was no less than a sustained 20, and the gusts were pretty intimidating. I stuck to the protected side of the lake and stayed close to the ramp. When the fog would clear, I could see waves hitting sea walls on the far side of the lake and launching whitewater a pretty good ways upward. I ended up landing 5 largemouth and 2 smallmouth, all of them in the 1-1.5lb range. I used a SK 1.5, a vision 110, a 1/2oz jig, and a ned rig. I only had a couple hours of daylight so I didn't really have time to put together a pattern, but the wind was blowing so hard that my pattern was just to fish what was fishable! I've fished in 30 degree temps a pretty good bit, but the wind made today absolutely brutal. I started with fingerless big wool gloves, but had to switch to full fingered gloves, because the wind would suck the heat right out of my fingertips. I like getting out in extreme conditions, because since I do fish tournaments, it's nice to have some experience in rough water and nasty weather for when the time comes! @Bluebasser86 fishes in these conditions every time he goes in the winter but it's a big deal for a southern boy like me. My fingers barely made it through holding those fish for a photo! And that's a smallmouth in clear water on a 1/2oz black and blue jig. (it was too cold to even think about putting a trailer on another jig and retying) That smokestack is probably the best visual I have for the wind (I was idling that's why my trolling motor isn't locked!)

Thank you for all of your hard work and time that goes in to this forum for all of us. I am going to join my first bass club and begin tournament fishing at the local level. Can I use the bass resource logo on a jersey or is there a process needed in order to do that? I am new to the game and just wondering how it works thanks!

I was younger...(much) and I would go fishing in the mornings before everyone would gather around. Back then (45 plus years ago) I lived in Oregon and you used to be able to catch steelhead in the streams in November until genetics were changed. Now it's much later. Thanksgiving now is a blessed day with kids and grandkids and friends.....my oh my. Wonder if I'll get to teach them bad habits.....

I'm not leaving LSU for the NFL ?

We have all made mistakes and most of us learn from them, but how do you know your making a mistake unless someone helps you learn. I say be helpful to others, not confrontational or judgmental and certainly not violent.

I wish that blowing you off is the worst that can happen. If you've been following these forums, you'll see that there are many fishermen who carry firearms. Most people HATE being called out for their bad behavior. If flipping you off is the most that they'll do to you, you are very lucky. Things can quickly go beyond words and get dangerous. One of my rules is not to scold anybody for their behavior. You aren't going to change them, you are just going to make them mad.

Like iabass said, they inly say that because they are not allowed to advertise the sale for those brands. I've bought stuff from Diawa and other "excluded" brands before and they always apply the discount anyways.

iabass8 is correct I have purchased Daiwa and Shimano rod reels from TW during the sale and got discount.

No, they don't.

These are all great standards to follow. I would add: Be prepared to launch when It's your turn. Get ready in a staging area and don't block the launch. Be a giver and not a taker.

It’s not worth investing in a casting reel for light work. The reels that can truly handle light items well are expensive. The rods that are light and sensitive enough will cost a bunch too. Spinning setups are great I use finesse a lot on my spinning setup. I am just as confident casting and pitching a spinning reel as I am a bait caster. Also the spinning reel with light line is a blast. My largest fish in each of the last tree years has been on a spinning finesse setup.

spro bronze eye or spro popper for me just cant beat them

St Croix Avid

Live Target

Wow folks! Thank you all for so much information and opinion; all much appreciated! You have given me lots to think about and many ideas. I'll be doing a lot of homework on some of the areas mentioned. We will see what our thoughts are over the next year whether we are serious about making a change like this. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Ranger sells more than the rest combined at this point. And the TX line of aluminum boats is a big seller. As a side note, I'm currently a Ranger owner. I'm sorry you feel I was ripping a company. I'm not. I wanted some discussion on the topic that is productive. So far, I'm seeing personal type replies that don't address what is happening in the bass boat industry. No haggle is fine when competition is healthy. That competition has been greatly reduced with consolidation and elimination of these brands. Consolidation is nothing new. In fact, to a large extent, consolidation back in the Genmar days is what got us to this point anyway. Lets look at Legend Boats, recently bought by BassPro/ White River Marine Group. A highly thought of bass boat and known for it's very high standard of quality. Do you really think that translates into the Nitro mantra? I agree with you Fishing Rhino. That was my point in my original comment. Why go thru all that pain as a company to figure that out in the end. Pheonix and Skeeter are licking their chops to make big inroads for market share.

I use leaders on all of my braid combos. I've tried the fg and never have been good enough to make it work. It just unravels or slips every time. The Alberto has always been my go to. I've never had failure at the knot. It is easy to tie and just works.

Sifuedition, while you’re on the Tackleware site, I’d suggest taking a look at the Powell 3D Max line of rods. On sale at roughly $15 more than your current two candidates. They are very good rods and might be what you’re looking for. I have a 734 and 735 paired with original green Curados, that I had tuned up about 5 years ago. I can chuck a plopper 110 and 130 a mile with them, not to mention frogs, buzzbaits, various other top water and bladed baits. BTW, Bassresource released a video on the new Curado rods and made mention of the new reels if you’re interested.

How much is rest, relaxation, and getting away from it all for a little while worth?