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Went back out to the creek and got a nicer one today. Would have killed for some casting gear in the murky water, the vines hanging down really made the fly rod a struggle. Never thought I'd get my first smallies in a jungle in Hawaii.

Another one on the zoom lizard. ?

Whoops! Got some new jig supplies, netbait paca chunk trailers, some rage bugs, sweet beavers, and some d bombs. Went “easy” on the jigs only buying 5 as I plan on giving sieberts a holler soon. Also went for some 7” senkos (man those things are fat haha), some shaky heads, and some more leader material. The monkey has struck again.

I am new to bass fishing. As I read more and more about it, especially different techniques, I find myself buying more and more tackle. In a short time I now have somewhere around 25 bags of different soft plastics plus a bunch of terminal tackle. My newest purchase arrived today. A 7'6" heavy/fast Fitzgerald Vursa Rod and a Abu Garcia Revo SX reel with Fitzgerald Vursa braid for Carolina rigging and flipping/pitching.

me and my cousin got after them again today in the little johnny. this pair of largemouths came off the same lay down in 15+ fow. we caught 36 in all, mostly spots, from 6:30 til noonish.

Little Hawaiian smallmouth on the fly, also a new species for me. (Hope this pic shows up, I’m still having trouble posting pics)

This week I went fishing at Garner State Park in Hill Country. I just wanted to post a couple of things I learned as well as ask a couple of questions. Sorry in advance if this is in the wrong topic. Observations and lessons learned: 1. In crystal clear water you can see some bass, but they are still pretty camouflaged. 2. Where there is one bass, there are more! When I hooked up with one decent sized fish, two or three bigger ones swarmed in and joined the commotion every time. 3. Just because the bass aren't biting doesn't mean they aren't there. More often than not, I had several fish eyeing my lure. They would follow it but just not commit. Questions: 1. When I was fishing, I was using a light spinning reel with 4 lb test. I was successful with a strike king itsybitsy crankbait. I had several follow my rebel mini-craw but only a couple of bluegill took the bait (haha get it?). I tried to dropshot and texas rig, but the rocky bottom caused more frustration than success. I focused mostly casting weightless plastics my most successful was the Grandebass Mini Rattlesnakes. I let them stay at the bottom for a bit while bass eyed them and swam away. I twitched them, dragged them, and even swam them with the same results numerous times. Sometimes the bass would ever seem spooked from these movements. What is it that I am doing or need to do differently to avoid spooking the bass and get them to actually bite instead of following and just turning around? This seemed to always be the case for the bigger guys you could see form a distance. Just to note, I did catch about a dozen or so bass and did enjoy my time. I am just curious as to how to get the more finicky bigger ones that I could see floating around. Not the biggest fish I caught, but definitely the best looking. I didn't take my phone out again as I was wading pretty deep in some parts or the river and didn't want to mess my phone up even more.

Okay thx everybody, I was using the thumbnail link for forums not the direct link. This is why I love Bassresource, loads of helpful people.

Took the family out to a small local lake for a few hours for pike. Caught a half dozen, lost a real nice one at the boat, but still a lovely afternoon on the lake. This little guy didn’t want to be held for a pic ?. Moved so fast my wife got 2 action pics of him before my facial expression even changed!

Look for mid 60’s Gillette fat boys and buy safety blades. Nothing like old school shaves...and a heck of a lot cheaper than multi-blades. .....but don’t kid yourself, chicks dog a furry face, especially a white one ?

Eh...availability of parts doesn't have anything to do with who makes the best reels.

Finding smallies in the 'summer' can be challenging - it is for me. They seem to move all over the place - here today, gone tomorrow. Such opportunistic feeders that are very willing to travel quite a ways. My limited success with summer smallies comes from two basic thoughts. First - where they are during low light (early & late) seems different from where they hang out once the sun gets up a bit. So my approach early & late is to fish the shallower areas on or near the spots you listed above (drop-offs , shelves, humps, etc.) Especially areas that have an decent food source - for me that's almost always perch & / or crayfish. One of my favorite & top producing areas on most every SMB lake I fish, is "Inside Turns." Once I can identify what depth they are using, following a contour line and hitting the inside turn of Points, drop-offs, humps & saddle areas - and especially 'funnels" (where the bottom structure is such that the fish can 'run the lane' in the deep water, and shoot up shallow at any point along it to eat). Now as you mentioned 'there are so many areas' on any lake that can be potential bass fishing areas. Where does one start ? This is where the second part of my very basic plan comes into play. A starting point - By going to where you know the SMB spawned (where the beds are) and expanding from there, one can often locate a few. Simply expand your search from shallow to deep until you connect. Remembering that early & late they could be pretty shallow and move out as the day continues. Where & how far is the hard part. I usually don't use my electronics here to find fish, although it happens more now with the 360 imaging, more often I'm looking for bait & cover. Rocks & bottom composition transition areas can be good. And even if & when I find them, I have all but given up on trying to catch 'suspending' fish. Super tough. Every once in a while I can get a few to go, but can be & has been a frustrating deal. Early & late I'm using topwater & moving baits (depending on the wind) and once I start to look "deeper" I am almost always throwing a drop shot. But a drop shot can be a 'search bait' just use a small nose hooked swimbait, fluke, craw or a small curly tail worm or whatever you have confidence. Something that will not twist your line and that you can fish deep and bump along the bottom. Cast it out - work it back - repeat. This process ALWAYS includes a ton of 'eliminating water'. No way around it. What I have found is that the old adage "10% of the lake holds 90% of the fish" is more or less A Fact ! Hope that helps and don't despair - there's a reason it's a rare event that a big smallie is posted up in the middle of July & early August . . . Good Luck A-Jay

A whole different view of this situation is that a reputable manufacturer or a reputable supplier would want to know about issues like this.

One of the best flipping baits you can use in heavy vegatation.

so if he grows a beard, he has a shot with your wife?

I think some here are saying action but mean power. Including the original post? Action is described by the words slow, medium, fast, extra fast, etc. All are "speed" terms and describe how the rod bends, not the force it takes to make it bend. Power is described by the words light, medium, heavy, or combinations of these terms that imply the force it takes to make the rod bend.

You can always just click the drop down next to your name and select my attachments and delete old photos. This image is from photobucket. I did a quick experiment to see if it would work and it did. All I did was drop the image url in the text body skipping the insert media option. URL=http://s664.photobucket.com/user/ken_mitch/media/Fishing/Make%20room.jpg.html] I removed the [ from the beginning of the hyperlink so it was visible. [/URL]

You have an awesome opportunity to mess with him here. Move the handle to the other side...

I have both the ninja and the G-force nut on my motor, and I wouldn’t own one without again. The ninja is absolutely awesome at clearing weeds off the motor, well worth the investment. As for the prop nut, I’m not sure if it makes a huge difference in the noise if the motor, but it is super handy to quickly remove the prop to check behind for wound up fishing line etc. ( which I check after every trip out).

I t-rig them on a small weighted hook (similar to a Swimbait hook but much smaller). They are smallie killers for me, but I’m sure bass of a different variety would blast them as well. Good luck! edit: I fancy the 3.5” size like the previous poster alluded to.

LOL! Holy cow! Epic fail! I've got nothing.....? It's so bad I won't even edit it. ?

I enjoyed this even more with the typo. A-Jay

It may be a non-issue to you but he paid money for it and it should be right. Chipped paint is fine if you make the thing for yourself of it happens after use but right out of the package is unacceptable.

Rebel Pop-R

Tubes are excellent baits in post front conditions when flipping/pitching/punching. They come in and out of cover very well. If you can find good hooks, a 3.5" tube can be awesome Texas rigged.

Not a ZMan and it didn't come this way...But my favorite look for a chatter head is a beat up one, it's a good sign . I wouldn't worry too much about that paint chip, it probably wasn't used before hand - It was probably just a bad spot of paint or banged around in shipping. BUT, if it does bother you there's nothing wrong with getting it replaced at all...It's not how it's supposed to be. Might get lucky and TW will tell you to just keep the chipped one rather than pay to ship it back.

Thanks Renegade, Yep mine are 27s also so everything worked out perfect and there's room for my 3 bank charger. Here she is after I drove her home today.

Guys who wear those hats with bills flat as a mortar board with the stickers still on them and tuck their ears under the hat. GAH!

Had a great time this morning whacking smallies on topwater on the Mississippi. Caught about 15 small-medium fish all on a spook. Nothing pulls like a river smallie.

Exactly....It's easy to forget to match your gear settings to the fish. No different that adjusting your hookset to your gear. I use a #1 Gamakatsu EWG hook and Texas rig my Dropshot baits. If I did my normal hookset, I would tear the hook right out of their mouth!! Here's a 4+ off my dropshot setup and 6lb line.

I may be overreacting on this one, but I get a bit squeamish and uncomfortable when someone on TV catches a fish and instead of releasing the fish relatively quickly they go into a dissertation about how they caught the fish before finally releasing the fish. I’m like: “the fish didn’t really need to hear all that dude, let it go”

I don't call that normal and relaxing....and don't want to be on the water with people that are under the influence.

People that feel the need to throw the fish to the next county when releasing them...

At Fin-n-Feather right now! Wind blew 20-25 & gust, finally laid about 1. The bite was slow but we managed 9 with a solid 19# & change. Everything was on Texas Rigs in 12-18' of water. Lots of suspended fish 4-7' off the bottom. Not a single bite on Carolina Rigs or Jig-n-Craws.

Proud American Veteran,

I always just grabbed whatever cord was on the hook in the garage. Never really put much thought into it. Never had a problem.

Instead of fishing from sunup to sundown, try fishing from Sundown to sunup. At night the piggies go shallow again?

Probably my craziest from shore catch yet. I still have no idea how this happened lol. Was fishing with a buddy at one of the local rivers yesterday a little before sunset rip jigging a moonshine shiver minnow, trying for walleyes. I'd caught a lot of atlantics in this spot before but never this early in the year. I was working the shoreline, popping the shiver minnow back to me just off bottom, no big deal. Then I moved over to one spot, pitched it out and 12 feet from the shoreline I felt a hard strike and my rod got ripped down hard. Thankfully I had my net right next to me. I yelled "I got one, it's an Atlantic!" to my buddy but he didn't believe me. I had 15 lb test on so I wasn't worried about breaking off. The fish was barely hooked so I fought him as hard as I could to the net before he could pop off. I got him half netted when he jumped out of the net. I figured the hooks would have got stuck on the mesh and popped out, but somehow they didn't. A few minutes later and I got the miracle catch in the net. Hooks popped out shortly after. I still can't believe it. The fish was Right Ventral clipped so it looks like it was stocked in 2012. 22.5 inches and 3.5 lbs. Not a bug or minnow in its stomach. Of course I later ended up snagging and loosing the exact shiver minnow, but now I have an excuse to buy a bunch more ?

I never fish boat docks just because the area I fish doesn't have them but this weekend gonna be fishing alot of them.I was hoping to get some suggestions of baits to use the water is shallow 4-6 ft stained with vegetation and rocks.Thanks!!

I was having real trouble catching bass guys. Like 1+ years no bass. I stuck to some Glenn advice, and stuck with a local dock fisherman and just watched. No fishing. Just watching and talking. Learned exponentially. I was using 20 pound mono. He was using 6 pound. He caught 8 bass. I was fishing the right way. Wrong equipment. My line was so heavy, I couldn’t see it moving and lost my Senko quicker. You guys might see my first bass here soon. All thanks to the BR community. Thanks again guys!

Hazy morning fog and stained low visibility water met me at 6am. I was out for a few hours and nothing was biting. I worked a Magnum Rage, a dark chatter but nothing. I rigged up a wacky and scored a dink of a smallie. I stopped by another local lake and met a fishing acquaintance who had just landed a monster on first cast and was heading out on the kayak. I spent a fruitless 45 minutes striking out. Spent the afternoon busy with chores and a choice cigar. Decided to clean the tackle pack and started feeling antsy. I couldn't shake the notion that me and that lake had unfinished business. 4:30 and there I was back at the same spot I fished this am. I start working a creature bait getting increasingly annoyed at a gaggle of High School girls running amuck. One decides to jump into the water off the dock right where I am fishing. Illegal and outrageously obnoxious. Not a great start. I fish for a couple hours, see my angler buddy again who tells me the lunker from the morning was it for him. We talk while he loads his kayak onto his truck and say our goodbyes and good luck. I had at this point gone to a T-Rig worm but still nothing. I decide to leave but want to hit the back pond inlet just in case... Two little girls are quietly laughing on the bench near the bank. They ask if I'm going to catch a fish, and I reply that I'm going to try... I generally start off casting while steadying myself on two rocks that peak out of the muddy soil. The paddies are lush and tall but plenty of open space to place a lure. My first cast is pinpoint accurate. I slowly reel in navigating the vegetation while keeping an eye on the line for lateral movement. Once the lure is clear of the water I decide to cover some water and cast about 6 feet to the left of my first cast. I don't get through 4 revolutions when I feel that soft... so soft.... tug. My eyes zero in on the line looking for movement. Is that a fish? Am I just tugging vegetation? I want to to soft snap the rod but don't want to jump the gun here... I let the line go slack... just a bit... then a small tug and the line starts to move left... I hard set and BANG! Fish on!!! I carelessly let my rod go slack after the set allowing the fish to jump. I see him, shining, glistening as the failing sun lights up his scales and the water droplets spraying in all directions. HE IS BIG. The two small girls jump up on the bench squealing with excitement. I have an audience... I start to reel in furiously. It was a long cast and there are too many places for him to run and wrap me up. My rod is full on bent, I lower it to keep him down. He fights hard taking me to the layover and bush to my left. I need to get closer to the water to pull him out. I step forward stretching out as my feet sink into ankle high mud. He renews efforts pitching hard to my right trying desperately to push into the reeds and high plants more akin to a U Boat on a mission than a Bass looking to hide. I adjust the drag on the fly and know that I can't reel in any farther. Instead I reach out, stretching just a little bit more.... I manhandle the rod to pull him back in and drag him into the shallowest water, half on the mud so that I can grab him. Big... he was big, and heavy. His teeth tore up my thumb like fresh coarse sandpaper. Both hunter and hunted look at each other, exhausted. I smile and thank him for the battle just before gently placing him back into his world grateful for the gift and reward nature shared with me today... 7lb 2oz... People ask me what I get out of fishing... How does one explain?? Eric J

A Texas rigged tube works pretty good too, especially if the docks have been pressured by guys with jigs and larger baits.

Not under docks, but if you cast near docks and retrieve with things like topwater (Whopper Plopper, frog, buzzbait, spinnerbaits) you can do well also.

I have 3 of the last model Aetos rods in the 7' MHF 6'8'' MHF and 6'6'' MF and i LOVE them. They balance really well and have great sensitivity. I would say they are very slightly on the stiff side of their ratings but i can't really compare to your rods. I would buy the 7'MHF with confidence though. I think it performs above its cost.

Use a braid that dosen't bleed dye like Fins. Tom

I wonder if he walks off flooring jobs when the when the plumbers or appliance guys get in his way.

Sufix 832. 40lb for all-purpose, 30lb high vis on topwater/wacky worm combo, 50lb on froggin and flippin set up.

Incurable Diseases No Situational Awareness A-Jay

.....side note on the.380 I have witnessed a.380 that failed to penitrate a leather jacket and vest, but may be fine to but you a couple seconds to exit the scene Regardless of the pistol purchased, lack of regular practice will render it useless. The other thing to remember is how long it takes you to get the second shot back on target and through the barrel. Light calibers require a double tap and it may have you rethink the choice. That is why true pocket carries are best used for noise and pucker factor. The Shield and the like are just as concealable IWB and very comfortable Please rethink pocket carry..... Side note.....I can usually pick up when someone has one in the pocket., making them the first target! Unnatural touches and unconscious touch to confirm it's position is a clear giveaway, especially in stressful situations.......sorry for the hijack