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I don't think I have ever heard someone complain to a ranger because there is to much debris in the water. LOL.

I hope not to come off as a @#$%, but if you can't bear to lose a hook and a piece of plastic, you might want to try another hobby. You start fishing 'gun-shy' and you will miss fish; you worry a lot about losing gear and your head won't be in the game and you'll lose fish...and more gear. I guarantee I'm not the only guy on here who has more than one day a year that I lose $30 or more in 'stuff'.

Easiest Question Ever~ A-Jay

Of the pictures in my phone, two stand out in my mind. First is my old PB, and one of my first swimbait fish. Caught in January, it was also the first time I had to knock ice off my rod guides. Suffice to say, I became a believer in chasing trophy sized bass during winter. The second, is a flounder from summer '17. The fish completed my first solo inshore slam (Trout, Redfish, Flounder). I just think it's a cool picture...

Oh boy, if I gave up after losing one little jig head and a plastic bait, I'd never be on the water long. You gotta get a longer fuse!

Fresh out of the packages. Tatula SV TWS 8.1:1 and Powell Max 3d 795. Already sealed the cork with U40 and spooled up with suffix 832 50lb. Got this whole setup for what the reel retails.

we lost my wife 47 year old sister this week believed from the flu bug , she survived a major stroke at 42,she was a true example of what love and friendship was meant to be. I had the honor of getting to do her services . the topic was love. this is one of the reasons that I am proud member of this forum. because you members love your passion for your sport as well as each other and I don't believe I know a better Buch of friends. thanks to all of you for not loosing this great value!!

Epic day today out at the hidden spot here in arizona. Biggest bag of my life 30lb 10oz. My previous PB bag was also out here. 27.5lbs. Finally beat that. Epic day. 11 bass caught. Strike king 6xd in chilli craw and an unknown brand my buddy had in tilapia were the tickets today. The picture with my buddy holding the small bass and the big one was one of our serious culls lol. We ended up culling a 5lbr out too later.

This happened Monday, in Virginia. 3rd straight warming trend day after a ton of cold weather. Same fish, 2 pics. 24" 9.3 pound Florida strain STUD. My PB and most exciting fight in my 1 1/2 years of bass fishing. Underspin jig head with a 3.8" swim bait with boot tail. Still in shock! Tight lines.

We were on a pretty good school of perch in 30 FOW through the ice... The bite suddenly slacked off and about 2 minutes later I popped this big girl, who ate a 1/12oz spoon tipped with a waxworm! Was quite the battle on a little ice rod and 6lb test. Measured 23", decided we didn't need to bring a scale while ice fishing (WRONG)! Certainly didn't expect a fish like this! I probably should just start targeting panfish because that's how I catch big ones.

This is not what you want. This a catfish rod. The cheap rod that people start with is the okuma guide select. This not a swimbait rod

This classic bass fishing documentary from 1973 is very good. After 11:00 it shows underwater footage of undetected bites on crankbait and spinnerbaits.

Unless you’re the boss.

The debris you filed a complaint about usually holds the fish you're trying to catch.

This is my first attempt at photographing hook points under a 50 power microscope (Nikon SMZ645). I thought it would be interesting..... These are 5/0 wide gap worm hooks......Gamakatsu, Owner, Trokar, VMC

://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow Slide 16 is a familiar face. Good luck to you @everythingthatswims Dang it link didn't work. Can someone please post a link that works, admittedly I'm an idiot! Lol

Went out yesterday to the hidden gem and caught my 4th bass over 8lbs. Best 3 fish went 8.4lbs, 6.11lbs and 5.1lbs. To hard to hold all 3 lol. 8lbr was caught in 2ft reeling lipless crank in a tilapia color along rocky bank. The other 2 were caught reeling super slow on bottom in 8ft. They were crsuhing it but were all hooked on outside of mouth. Had 4-5 others crush too but they didn't get the hooks. Will edit video later and post.

stopped on the way up north last night at my favourite local shop, passed up on an i-slide 185 in ugui. but i did pick up a lucky craft real ayu 178 i think the chartreuse tail looks pretty awesome with the ayu pattern.

I’m already there Mike, I get fish the Delta all year long! Lake Okeechobee is my other pick cause it’s the only other place that fits the criteria.

Sturgeon Bay or KY Lake. Sturgeon Bay because of the trophy potential, not only with bass but walleye, perch, musky, pike, salmon, and brown trout. The scenery is beautiful. There is something very humbling about fishing a body of water that you cannot see the opposite shoreline, and has the potential swallow you up in an instant. The downside is the winters and, having to pick and choose your windows of opportunity to fish based on the wind. KY Lake because of consistency. I have fished a myriad of lakes in the south/southeast, some multiple times, and KY Lake has never disappointed me.

Burro I agree on the weight, by a lot of standards it’s not an awfully heavy reel by the specs. But compared to most any other bc reel in my rack it’s gonna be heavy enough that I’d notice the difference. That’s why I’d like to see the design concept for the frame make its way to other reels with other materials. But I’m also going to wait and see how it’s reviewed once it’s released and how it does in the field for anglers here before I pass judgement. With the 5.x:1 ratio available JDM in right and left retrieves it should be a killer option for a powerful cranking reel though.

I'm with ya ~ while that place is 'one of a kind' (for green bass), I could have just as easily noted one of the semi-insane brown bass factories I get to frequent at this local - nothing wrong with flying under the radar though. A-Jay

Uhh! That's a hard one! Toledo Bend Reservoir! Why? The bass fishing capital of the world! 190,000 surface acres with 1,200 miles of shoreline! Ya can fish any type of structure, in any type of cover, with any technique & catch!

Okay that helps, so this is a "swimbait" rod you are after then. In that case you will be doing a lot of casting. You say you don't want to get fatigued by a longer rod. It may seem counter-intuitive, but this is the opposite approach you need to have for these big lures. Most swimbait rods you see are long (most are up around 8') for a very good reason, you need that length for the rod to load up and cast these lures, if you have a short rod you are going to be hurting yourself, both in casting distance, and probably in a literal sense. When I got my 8' rod for throwing 5oz huddlestons and similar swimbaits, my first thought when using it was not "wow, I wish they made this in a 7'2"....it was "wow, I should have gotten the 8'6". You need to let the rod do the work, with a short rod these big lures are going to make YOU do the work and you will wear yourself out. Check out some of these, they are pretty good beginner options: http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Okuma_Guide_Select_a_Series_Swimbait_Casting_Rods/descpage-OGSA.html http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Daiwa_DX_Swimbait_Casting_Rods/descpage-DXB.html http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dobyns_Fury_Casting_Rods/descpage-DFC.html If I may ask, which rods did you check out in person that seemed "huge"? With advances in rod making many of these longer swimbait rods are actually fairly light.

I am going fishing this weekend. The bass will be biting along with other species of fish.

I don't own any jig rods under $200 so can't recommend a rod in your price range based personal use. Catt was testing Irod IRG 744C and gave it good marks and now is testing a Falcon rod, don't recall the model number. I do own a few Gen 2 Irods ( frog & swimbait) in your $150 price range and they are well made. Tom

Pike and musky are pretty good at untying those knots. Not sure how they do it not having fingers and all...

P.S. Hope your not using over 6# fluro right now.

4lb 7oz on 5" Keitech and 5/0 owner flashy swimmer. Missed the first bite and she hammered it again. Lights out

is this dude for real?

I fish Toledo no depth finder usually. I usually stay in Indian Creek. Which means I need to get up there and check it out soon. Getting that time of year. Had to run to many for work but unfortunately my boss said me going to take a look at Toledo is a waste of company resources cause I was in the work truck. Pshhhhhhh

Poor weather, ponds being partially frozen, and being sick has kept me at home most of this month—only got out twice. Got my first bass of 2018 today.

I wouldn't call the FG simple... Simple implies the entire knot is easy to tie from start to finish. I'm pretty good at knots, and have 99.9% success with the double-uni in both fresh and salt, but I could not get the FG to cooperate whatsoever with thin diameter braid and line up to 15# test. No doubt some, like you, are adept at tying it, so kudos to you and your success.

Something like these https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/registration-college-bass-season-opener he actually on front page of college bass master. https://www.bassmaster.com/news/photos-2018-college-central-tour Congrats we might have bass master champion here,don't forget us @everythingthatswims

Back to back uni works for me.

Glide Bait bug has been biting hard i will post pics when i get them in but i have ordered a gan craft jointed claw 178, savage gear shine glide 7" which is being custom painted in a yellow perch pattern, a duel hardcore ninja glider and 4 glide bait blanks that i intend to try my hand at painting. EDIT: So my birthday is Saturday and we decided to celebrate tonight, my gf and parents went a little overboard. My amazing girlfriend got me a Rapala Canada Concept Ti basically the highest end rod rapala canada makes, it's a 6'4" M/XF which will be used for poppers and jerkbaits. i have paired it with my t3 ballistic and some 40lb j-braid. Then there are my parents, they know that i have been saving for a garmin striker plus 5cv so the decided to surprise me and pick one up, i cannot explain how stoked i am to be able to install this and map my whole lake.

Please oh please dear God send them some warm days...

Mayan Cichlid. AKA atomic sunfish. They are hard fighters. My area is loaded with them. Supposed to be great eating although I never tried one.

Toledo is throwing some serious curveballs. My spot that was stacked with fish yesterday was vacant today. I tried it multiple times and I searched around nearby to see if I could find where they went to. On the bright side, I did discover a couple deep spots. Not a ton of fish, but some bites, and "some" is about all I have been finding, and from what I've heard, that is the case with most at the moment. I caught one really nice fish today on a spot that has serious potential, but it was the only bite I got there. I am hoping that some more fish of that class move in!

Toledo has been tuff. Today was my second day on the lake. We put about 15 in the boat, which was a significant improvement from day 1 when we boated 5 and only 2 were over the 14" mark they need to make for the tournament. Very strange place compared to anything I've fished. Most places you can find a couple trees on the bottom to fish, but here the whole bottom is trees! The areas I've gotten bit in are extremely small, and it's weird because the fish seem extremely active and cooperative in those places, but you can't pick off one or two anywhere else. Mainly have two "spots" at the moment, and it's like a 3-5 casts per fish guarantee there, I caught fish on back to back casts a couple times! But then you run all over the place trying to find something similar and won't even get a sniff. Size is my main concern right now. I was worried that the fish I am on aren't big enough, but today I pulled a 4lber off of a place that had been kicking out fish that were only flirting with the 14" mark. The other area I found produced a couple 2.5-3lb fish, so I'm hoping there are a couple big girls nearby. Only way to find out if the size is there would be to open fire on them and I'll save that for tournament day. I like playing the numbers game anyway, keeps my confidence up. On the bright side, the small fish I am catching are shaped like absolute footballs so they do weigh a little more than an average fish that length would. The bottom photo is a 14&1/4"er. Please no specific info in responses, we have a no information rule.

First outing of the year in the ol boat enjoying the abnormal warm winter were having here, a few bass and a thooty bonus:

Told my wife was heading out yesterday before the storm we have coming. Was supposed to be the warmer day this week. Well, ice still reared it's ugly head in the guides but no frozen reels! She asked ... well...who ya going with? Well....I said .... once again just me and the good Lord and my new Onyx!! Was a beautiful day. Started out a bit cloudy but then was clear sky's. Was so beautiful when I was looking up this little arm with the sun shining on this hillside and a mature male bald eagle fly's by. So awesome. Coots down on the lake don't seem to see the beauty of this though. Fishing started pretty slow...no real slow. Went two hours without a sniff...well maybe one. Water temp was around 41 with air temp in low 20's. Then life got better....next ten minutes had four bites...with two keeper LMB's. A little bit later a smallie pushing almost 20" graced my line. From then on it wasn't amazing it was just a good good day with around six keepers and some smaller fish. I was fishing deeper as the water was a bit clear.....seen a friend back at the ramp and he caught em shallow!!!!! Smiles....just when we think we're on to something and have them figured! P.S. Would have posted a pic but dang....need my son once more for help on this....sorry. (will write down procedure) Tight Lines

i fish smaller ponds that are deep in the winter. i fish out of a yak and the bigger places are friggin hard in a yak. so small ponds. find deep structure, steep drops, flats, rocks, trees, anything deep. when you find one fish, youll find more. they school up in the winter, especailly smallies. with blades i use a ML rod with 8-10 lbs floro. slow hops, cast out, let it settle to bottom, lift rod till i feel it vibrate. sometimes they want it ripped up, most of the time they just want it lifted. then pause let it fall to bottom, let the fish tell you how much vibration and how long to let the bait sit on bottom. hair jigs are my new thing ive been using, havent been out since november and december water in the 40s, hair jigs were getting chewed. cast out crawl it on bottom, or slow hop.

Had some success on Smallies with the Cutter 90+ in Blue Back and Table Rock.

^^ What he said^^ I've been catching a couple each time I've been out, nothing with any size though. All the fish I have caught have been in 20-30 feet and on a side of a point that extends into the main channel. There is a hump that is now exposed right where Palmers Junction meets the main channel. This spot has been pretty good to me throughout the years and the seasons. Sometimes there closer to the top sometimes there in 30 FOW. I even managed a couple small spots fishing the 33 bridge. I have not caught anything in the coves or feeder arms since Nov.

This is a picture of my Momma(I miss her lots), my stepdad(we call him Pappa), my sister and me when I was 17 years old.

Been doing it for years ?

I use a small chunk trailer most of the time, plastic or pork and thread it up the hook shank. One trick I learned from Chris, with Northstar, is to cut the chunk into a V shape (fatter end towards the claws). The pointer end helps spread out the hair and allows it to breathe better in the water.