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Finally caught my first fish of 2018. Too bad it wasn't a bass. It was a decent catfish though. Weighed about a pound and a half or better. Didn't put it on the scale but it was kinda fat. First catfish I've ever caught with an artificial bait. Caught it with a crappie jig head with a small piece of Ol' Monster on it. Not what I was hoping to catch, but it was nice to catch something for a change. Caught it in a little bayou up the road a little ways from the house. I feel like there's got to be some bass in it somewhere just haven't found them yet. May have better luck the closer it gets to the spawn if there's any in there.

I'm glad they found him. My condolences and prayers go out to the friends and family. While I've posted the news article on the site as a matter of protocol, I will not announce it nor broadcast it on our social channels. I don't feel this is the type of thing for soliciting a click in order to drive up our traffic numbers. This is also why I have instructed everyone on the BR staff to refrain from sensationalizing the story, and/or contribute to the spread of rumors during the search for Nik. While there are other bass fishing sites that seek to exploit this story in the name of a dollar, I hold myself and the staff accountable to higher standards. The focus must be on Nik's grieving family, and the bass fishing community, as this affects us all. Some things are far more important in life, and don't deserve to be brought down by gossip tabloids. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to Nik's family and friends.

This year we are starting a new series of jigs. We are going to release a new custom color each month. This month is the Chris Craw. The series will be available in the Extreme (Trokar) Dredge (Owner Deepthroat) Grid Iron (Owner XXX strong hook) Swim Jig (Mustad Ultra Point) (http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Chris-Craw-1619.htm

When I was learning to cast a baitcaster I watched a bunch of videos. In one the instructor took his wallet out of his back pocket and placed it in the armpit of his casting arm. He stressed keeping your arms/elbows close to your body when casting overhand, and if the wallet fell to the ground during the cast it showed you weren't using proper casting form.

Well that Pflueger President combo I ordered Monday from Cabela's was on my doorstep today with the standard shipping. The rod is a nice surprise, it has the feel that it will be nice for pitching plastics.

This is Mojave, our White German Shepherd. We rescued her 3 years ago. She's not too fond of the boat, but she goes hiking behind the house with me every time I go. She also protects our house from dangerous intruders But is more often than not found somewhere not far from our daughter

Denny's

Aww man- I figured out it’s easier to skip from a bass boat and at the same time I found out it’s harder to explain to your wife you bought a bass boat...

So I got both of these over the holidays to compare since I got good deals on both (20% off at Dicks for the Daiwa, 20% off at TW Blackfriday for the Okuma) with the intent to only keep one. Here's a quick take on both. Daiwa Tactical Backpack - It is pretty lightweight (guessing 1-2lbs), and about the size of a normal backpack. It comes with and holds (3) 3600 tackle boxes that are accessed from the side of the pack. The best thing about the storage system is that they slide into and out of a pre-installed rigid plastic rack system. What I mean is that the 3600 boxes aren't stacked on top of each other, so that if you take the bottom box out, the top 2 don't fall down, or if you have heavy tackle boxes, they would weigh down the bottom box making it hard to take out. The leader spool holder is attached by velcro, and it can be moved to either side of the backpack. The sunglass holder is nice, but not necessary IMO, my sunglasses are going to be on my head or around my neck, I have no need to put them in a backpack. It has decent storage options and comes with little plastic cases inside the top compartment which are stored vertically in pre-stitched pockets, nice for small terminal tackle or split shot size weights. There is one thing I cannot figure out, there is an open container thing on the upper part of the backpack, called the Booger Box (I think). Okuma Nomad Backpack - This thing is huge, I mean it's about the size of a European style backpacker. It's also very heavy without any tackle, I'm guesstimating 10-12lbs. It comes with and holds (2) 3700 boxes, and (1) deep 3700 box which are accessed from the front of the pack. It also has tackle box dividers, but they are not rigid like the Daiwa. They're made of foam insert, covered in nylon material and are flexible and attached inside the backpack walls by velcro, basically they're not all that functional. Removing the bottom deep 3700 box, with nothing in the tackle boxes was noticeably cumbersome, since the weight of the top 3700 boxes was applying pressure downward, creating some resistance. The main compartment is huge, again because the pack itself is very tall. It doesn't come with any other tackle boxes, but this main compartment would fit 3600 boxes stored flat if needed. The pack has a very sturdy handle on the top, and a cross chest buckle on the chest straps ...necessary because this thing is going to weigh a lot when loaded. Overall I like the Daiwa more, mainly because of the weight and size. I'm primarily a bank fisherman and trek some distances to get to some spots, and while it would be nice to carry an abundant amount of tackle, I think loading up the Okuma would be too cumbersome. I keep all my tackle in 3700 boxes, and that's the reason I wanted to check out the Okuma, but my work around with the Daiwa will be to create little fishing kits in the 3600 boxes depending on the conditions. Edit: Here is Daiwa's response on what the Booger Box is for: It is just an easy access accessory box. When you are tying on a new rig, setting down a few hooks or weights.... Just a tray to hold small product instead of sitting it on your lap while you re-tie

I already know where the shallow water is...it's on the bank! Now I wanna know where the deepest water is & then what structure connects the two. At least that's where I'm gonna start, y'all can do what y'all want ?

Where do the creeks run through these two is #1 in my opinion.

Picked her up this week... - 2018 Ranger Z520L w/G2 - G2 w/ upgraded power steering and hot foot - Atlas hydraulic plate - Ultrex 112 - (2) Solix 15 Mega's (1 flush at console, 1 on BBT mount at bow) - Humminbird 360 - (4) Northstar/X2 31 series AGM's - tilt steering and dual trim levers

A red and black jig is really good early in the year in stained to dirty water for me, before the spawn. I've also done well on a homemade red/orange/black with a red blade, bladed jig too.

Only 2 fish Monday, but they were both nice ones. First one just barely missed 6 pounds at 5.92lbs, on a Savage Gear Shine Glide 185, love that bait. Tuesday I took a member of the Kansas State University fishing team with me. We had a steady day, catching fish or two every half hour for most of the day. Most every fish we caught was in the 3lb range but Zach's first fish of the day was 5.08lbs. It's been a good year already.

KVD Line and Lure and here is why: Line & Lure is a special polymer blend that becomes part of the fishing line it is applied to. Other line treatments you find on the market are primarily silicone oil and solvents. Silicone oil only temporarily coats the line and solvents can damage line. Silicone oil rapidly comes off the line (on your hands and in the water), requiring re-treatment of the line after just a few casts. The special polymers in Line & Lure are hydrophobic (water repelling) and very slippery. It doesn't allow water to draw back on to the reel spool, which eliminates the line drag that a "wet" spool has. It also protects the line from wearing out as quickly as un-treated line because it resists the abrasion that wears line out. It contains no oils or solvents as in Reel Magic that can build up and collect dirt like silicone/oil treatments will.

Back in the 80's Bassmaster magazine had an article by Rick Clunn that broke down a lake in similar fashion . I tried his system and it just didnt work for me .

I did lol. I got the zone idea from him but I tried to go in to a little more detail and apply it into a full year instead of just the fall transition. Some of it came from KVD's 6-season bass strategy too. Also been reading in-fisherman's book on bass location, series 2. Tried to take parts from each and make my own thing into something I can use and understand. I bought my first bass boat two years ago, but the electronics on it are out-dated. I am going to upgrade this spring so the answer is No I currently do not use much electronics other than to read the water temperature and very vague details about the bottom contour. I absolutely love Bass U and have watched as many seminars on there as I can. I have caught a lot of fish over the last two years, but that's with spending two, sometimes three days a week fishing. I have never been in a situation where I have a time constraint on locating fish like tournament fishing will present.

Reel Snot is a good one too.

I use a rod rack from Field and Stream. I got it at Dicks. It holds 16 rods.Here is a picture from Dicks website.

KastKing Rack

As long as they can convince anglers their latest buzz word is a must have there will be no plateau!

A musky jitterbug has somewhat of a cult following by big bass hunters. I've caught bass on musky choppers and bucktails. You could fish them or sell them. If you're wanting to target bass, I'd probably sell them and buy bass swimbaits instead of musky baits.

I can't swim but I always wear an inflatable pfd from the moment I leave the dock. I fish alone most of the time and it's my one and only life line if I go in. I'll only take it off during lunch breaks or in super shallow water. Lots of good points have already been mentioned about cold water, wind, clothes, getting tangled in weeds, being miles away from land etc... One thing that really stuck with me is I slipped off a dock once into about 2 fow and my feet sunk into the muck bottom past my ankles and it felt like I was completely cemented in. I had to use my arms to push off the dock to get myself out. I don't care how good you can swim if this happens and the water's over your head and there's nobody to pull you out and nothing to grab onto you would be really screwed really fast. I really think a large percentage of people who drown know how to swim they just overestimate their ability. Falling into a lake is not the same as a leisurely swim in a heated pool.

I think it is unnecessarily complicated . Id have two zones the main lake and the creek arm .

I've never even heard of most of these guys let alone watched an elite event. I'd say I've got a good chance at last

That’s a Bullhead or a yellow belly. Nice chunky too!

Just about any Mexican restraunt will give you fried ice cream and sing "feliz cumpleaños"

White and Chartreuse

66 degrees outside today, figured I would night fish. Not bad for January

When I find a lake on Google Maps I search for it on the internet just to see if anyone else has fished it and what their experience was like.

You are right! Different browsers. Thanks to all for your input. I will just put up with it. No major problem. Thanks again to all. Sam

Gotta say Dwight, your photoshop skills have really improved!

In case you weren't aware, Circuit City closed in 2009.

Yo-Zuri is hybrid not FC line, largest dia line per lb test on the market. Whoops forgot to get off the soap box. Tom

Whenever I drive past any water I'm checking it out .

I just ordered mine yesterday and scheduled it for a March 4th pickup date ... just as spring starts to hit here in Washington. They also added an additional 2 year warranty on the outboard bumping it to 5 years.

Any color will do as long as it's white!

I just ordered one last night, my first boat. BPS said they don't expect them to start rolling in until March.

Netbait Baby Paca Craw and a "Red Swamp Craw" from the Tidal Potomac River.

Academy's H2O series should fit your needs ?

Berkley lightning rod. Not the shock. Go to ffotackle.com and you can have one for about 30 bucks

In clear water, Red fades (to black) from the visible spectrum of light most quickly of all colors as you go from shallow to deep. However, in muddy and brown-stained water, red can actually penetrate farther than other colors like greens and blues. This tends to make red a good color for visibility in the lower stretches of river systems, and in tannic waters that have a rich, brown-ish stain. Culprit worms in "red shad" laminate (black on top, red underneath) are classic bass-catchers; no reason why red jigs shouldn't be effective too, especially where you have red crayfish in your area.

Received my HPH glide gizzards last wk. 3 of the 8" and 2 of the 6". Pic looks like **** cuz it has to be shrunk. I don't understand is everyone having to shrink their pics cuz it doesn't look like it?

8 month old thread so this isn't going to help you now; FC line is too difficult to manage and no advantage when skipping jigs, change to mono like Big Game and change the line often. Use a side arm casting motion and start with shorter casts about 30'. Tape the spool, 1 tape wrap, after pulling about 30 yards of line works great with braid and may help with FC or mono, I use Teflon plumbers tape when teaching someone to cast a baitcasting reel. Tom

Got a couple crappie today. Water was frozen in a few places. If you guys could keep the ice up north that'd be great......

A pair of jigging spoon flatheads that will make some good dinners for my buddies parents. We caught them one after the other off the same spot, first my spoon got smacked, then his.

I'm rooting for Seth Feider's mustache

just got this free T-shirt in the mail

Try a little more spool tension and a little less brake. Don't try and throw too hard also. That used to be my biggest issue. I'd try to throw super hard to get it way under. I've learned that it doesn't take much to get a jig far under a dock.