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I ventured out tonight after dinner to bank fish the westernmost point of the Hillsboro Canal, west of Boca Raton. As a result of daily rain causing high water in the Everglades, the gait had been opened, allowing a great torrent of tannin stained water to flow from the Loxahatchee Reserve into the canal. I tossed a Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed Worm in Watermelon Red into the swift current near a rocky bank, and procured two glowing 4-pounders in back-to-back casts. This was the first of the two:

If you're not using a Johnson Silver Minnow in thick weeds, you're missing out

First one of the season on the rat First one in 2 years on a chatterbait

Easy fix - buy a Daiwa.

My Dad bought an RV a couple weeks ago and had it out on its first trip over the Father's Day weekend. My buddies dad was nice enough to take us out on Smith Mountain Lake For the day. Its just my luck to go to the premier smallmouth lake in VA, and not catch a single smallie. Day started out pretty decent. We worked some top water baits in a cove then moved out into main lake and started working a point not far from the ramp. Found fish out in the middle busting on bait but they didn't want a top water lure. Caught my first and best of the day (2.5ish) on a jekbait suspending in 90 FOW. My buddy and his dad pulled a couple small striper and got one tiny smallmouth. Late morning the lake got super busy with jet skis, pleasure boats, and pontoons everywhere. Not a speck of wind all day but we dealt with three foot rollers the entire time. The chop out in main lake made it nearly impossible to fish out there. I managed a couple more 1.5 lb largies on a Texas rigged Rage swimmer on an island drop off near the main channel later in the afternoon, but we never could find a consistent bite anywhere. Gonna call it a good day. We had fun (despite the 95° heat) caught a few fish on a lake we've never fished before, and nobody got tossed overboard (even though I was mighty close to it a couple times)!

*Little lengthy but I'd say worth the read if you have the time I'd always wanted to fish for brook trout, but I'd always been busy or made some kind of excuse to try and avoid the ticks. Tuesday that all changed. I'd woken up early and gone fishing for whitefish from my canoe. For about three straight hours I got tons of bites but for the life of me couldn't get any hooked. I packed up and went home. Sometimes you really just want to catch a fish and that is how I was feeling. I decided that today would be the day that I went and tried brook trout fishing. A buddy had recommended a stream a short drive from town for me to check out so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. I threw my waders, bug-spray, fishing rod with a a #6 black panther martin, and some pliers in my car and took off. It was mid-day, but I knew there'd be some wild trout that'd be hungry. I get to the stream and right away am greeted by the tall grass. I barrel through it and jump into the stream. The easiest going seems to be through the water and not around it. Almost instantly I'm greeted by a shedded dragonfly larvae case stuck to a wooden post next to the water's edge. Pretty cool. I start throwing the panther martin beneath riffles and pretty soon I hook into a couple of the little native rainbow parr. Nothing I can keep, but some excitement at least. I keep pushing further down the creek and find another big set of riffles. I tell myself that this spot guaranteed will have two fish under it. I flip my panther martin in and in and almost instantly something jerks my rod hard! Fish! I flip the first brook trout of the day - a 9 incher - onto the bank! Yes, my first ever brook trout! I fire off a second cast and get another fish to commit - another juvenile rainbow. I knew there'd be at least 2 fish here I chuckle to myself. I throw the brook trout on my stringer and keep pushing into the woods. I find another good looking spot with some riffles and an opening for casting directly beneath them. I throw a couple casts in with my spinner and I'm getting nothing. I decide that I'll just double back in a second and drive to a different portion of the stream and fish that section of it. Just as I say that thought to myself, a 10 inch brook trout grabs my spinner and starts thrashing on the surface! No Way! I land the little guy and throw him on my stringer. Two down, three to go. That brook trout convinved me...to go further down the rabbit hole. Quoting from the movie *** "The only way to get out is to keep going down." I climb, weave, and wade my way to another prime looking spot about a hundred feet further down the stream. This has a fish, 100% I tell myself. I wait till the mud clouds settle and pitch out my spinner. A couple more repeated casts in and I just know there has to be a fish. Where is it? SLAP OH MY GOODNESS A MASSIVE Brook Trout just charged my spinner and slapped it right in front of me! And by massive I mean pushing 11 inches. It didn't get hooked somehow. I consider changing to a different spinner, but decide that I'll just keep casting my current one and see what happens. One more pitch out and I realize that that was a great decision. Whack! Fish On! I crank up the 10.5 inch brook trout and flip him on the bank! Alright! I just need 2 more brook trout and I'll have my limit I got my first 3 within probably about 300 feet of stream from the first set of riffles I had stumbled upon. I should be able to get my limit pretty quickly then. Or so I thought. For literally the NEXT MILE of stream it is a deadzone with absolutely ZERO Riffles. Like none at all. It was brutal. There's a constant 2-3 blackflies that are hovering over my head and buzzing in my ears and an occasional assault from a handful of mosquitoes. Everytime this happens I just spray more bug spray on my hat, arms, and hands. This actually does wonders as all the flies leave me after the mile of empty water. I push through some trees and round a bend. No Way! Do my eyes deceive me? Up ahead is the 100% perfect riffle structure with a beautiful wide-open lane for casting a spinner. It's like a 7 foot wide log creating a cascading waterfall almost. I thank the Lord and wade out just above the riffle. This spot guaranteed has at least 2 big brook trout beneath it. Guaranteed. My first cast with my spinner agrees with me. My rod gets ripped down hard and my line is bolting and zig-zagging all over the stream! It's a biggin! I fight the brook trout over the lumber fall and get it on the bank. Yes! God is Good! I'm at 4 brook trout and just need one more to complete my limit. I wade back on top of the log breaking the water and fire off my second cast from this spot. AN EVEN BIGGER BROOK TROUT SLAMS IT!!!!!!! This one looks all of 11-12 inches!!!! I battle it hard but it pops off. Eh no biggie, just means I'll have to dive further into the jungle to finish my limit. Most of the brook trout are so aggressive that you really don't even have to set the hook. They hit the spinner so hard you basically just fling them onto the bank and you're set. Pliers are almost always needed since they are hooked so well. I push onwards another quarter mile through stream. Finally I start seeing some more riffles. I wade past rocks the size of volleyballs and tennis balls. Now I just need to find an opening for me to cast from. I fire off a couple casts in a couple stretches directly beneath the riffles. I know there's got to be a brook trout around here, but where is it? I keep going and come across another spot with a little bit of riffles that is open enough to cast into. Sometimes you can fire off a cast at a new spot before the mud clouds your waders caused, float downstream and cloud up the water. This is what I do. Gotta hit the water while it's mostly clear. RIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPP OH MY GOODNESS IT'S A MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The biggest brook trout of my life is tearing up the stream!!!! WOW!!!!! I flip it up onto the high bank and it is huge!!! It's an 11.5 incher that absolutey choked my spinner! What a way to finish my limit! I jump up onto the bank with my limit in tow and feel amazing as I trek back to my car. I'd never caught a brook trout till today and not only did I catch one, but I caught my limit. I get home and guess what? Not a single tick! I broil the brook trout with lemon pepper and uncle tony's creole seasoning and my goodness! EASILY the best meal I have had ALL MONTH!!!! No Joke! Brook Trout taste like HEAVEN!!!! All fish easily cleared the 7 inch minimum and were 9-11.5 inches long. The giant weighed a full pound! I found some caterpillars and snails in their stomachs so that was pretty neat. I only covered about half of the stream containing riffles so I'm itching to get back out and explore the rest of it! Fish On ?

Recently I've been going out fishing much more often than I usually do. Pretty much whenever I have time, whether it be before work, after work, or going out for a bit in the evening before ending the day, I'm on the water as much as I can be. And I've gotta say, I'm really enjoying seeing myself become a better angler! I've gone out probably 7 or 8 times in the past week and haven't gotten skunked, generally catch more fish per outing than I usually would, and I'm getting better at catching fish on techniques I'm not as confident in! Just today on my way home from work I stopped at a local and incredibly pressured pond, tied on a texas rigged yum thumpin dinger (I've always been super unconfident in soft plastics and bottom baits), and was able to land two fish within the 30-45 minutes that I was there! People on this website repeatedly say that the best way to get better at fishing is to actually go fish, and I can finally vouch for that! No matter how many videos I watched, how many articles I've read, or how much time I've spent on this forum, all of which can be incredibly helpful, what helped the most was actually going out and getting real-life experience.

Had a lot of success with them this year for both smallies and walleyes. They are designed to go along the bottom horizontally, fairly well through light/moderate cover. I think it’s easy to buy them too light though. 3/8 oz is too light to be effective for me, the 1/2 oz is only good down to about 6-8 fow, then I go 3/4 oz 8-12 fow and an ounce deeper than that because a steady medium/fast retrieve bouncing off cover/structure works best IMO.

Meet Spider-Man, he deployed to Afghanistan with my son. Every deployment I always gave my son a keepsake to carry with him over there. He in turn gave me something. This was his 3rd deployment and my grandson was just old enough to realize where daddy was going, he approached my son the last hour before boarding the busses and pulled Spidey out of his “sea bag” and gave it to his daddy saying “ here Dad, Spidey will help you get the bad guys and keep you safe”,,,,,,,,,,,,,I still get a tear when I remember that moment,,,,

with all the new, great, topwater lures out today I still use a jitter bug. I've been using them for over 50 yrs. and the gurgle sound they make brings back so many memories, and is still effective.

I haven’t heard this talked about at all on this forum but...

Welcome aboard! i think you're right to stick with spinning, easiest to get going in the sport. For a $125 combo, probably best to stick with the President and look for rods in the $75 range. So many good ones to choose from.

Just kidding. "On Monday’s first day of practice, Lefebre had a largemouth take his jig. Then things ramped up when a larger smallmouth also got hooked. He pulled them both in and just had to show them off."

When you tighten the knot down and the lines going around the hook eye look like X instead of ll. This happens when you make the overhand portion and the lines twist

Smithwick' Rattling Rogue Gold, black back, orange belly ?

Been using DC reels since they came out in 2004 in a the Round and then the LP in 2006. As far as durability not one issue with the DC unit or the reels themselves. Shimano has done nothing but continue to fine tune their DC reels and yes I would tell you they are reliable....

Do you known how to walk other baits? Like spooks? If so usually smaller twitches, but still giving the frog plenty of slack line is the key. If you don't know how to walk other styles of baits then try with something bigger like a 5 inch spook or similar walking bait. Then work yourself down to frogs.

mmm pork mepps in line brass single leaf spinner with green yellow orange paint. you’ll never go hungry

I have tried a few also and the one I keep going back to is McCoy’s mean green and xtra clear copolymer. Has great abrasion resistance and great line management. I have never felt like i needed more sensitivity out of it either. I have also bought some silver thread an40 to try this year and so far I haven’t been disappointed but I have only used it for a couple months so time will tell.

That Bucoo is gonna fish closer to a medium heavy than a heavy. Not sure on the weight of the swimbaits you mentioned but id feel comfortable throwing a 1 ounce bait on my 735's

New reel came in today, REVO ALX. Found it for $100 off and couldn’t pass it up. I didn’t realize how small of a reel it is either, it’s roughly the size of a curator 70, it’s going to make a great finesse reel. I got it in the 8.0:1 gr

Definitely. I got their frog rod on sale for $80, and it's great. Love the grips on it, too. Sadly, I think they're being discontinued.

casting spoons. I a have gotten hooked on buying the new custom colors from Eppenger MFG. who is famous for the red and white daredevle. I have had a pretty good pike and bass bite on them so far this year. Just cast it out let it sink to desired depth and just reel it in. Casting spoons are hugely popular for casting off of the breakwaters for steel head and salmon. There is also some northern pike guys who still use them. However, the bass fishermen have pretty much all but, forgotten about them. the two big 1ozers on the left are the customs.

It's a work frenzy right now. Be there to report as soon as I can. Get well soon Blaster.

Drag? Yeah, Drag dem bass outa tha thick stuff fas as hell. As far down as it will go.

biggest bass i ever caught early, very early, in the morning on a private 30 acres lake...heddon dying flutter...discontinued...still have it...use it carefully...sentimental... good fishing...

I agree with Darren, many great rods in that price range, hard to go wrong. Good luck.

SI transducers and aluminum hulls don't play well together for on plane depth readings. If on plane depth readings are a necessity, get an alumaducer

A tube. I use a tube all the time. It’s not fancy it’s not sexy it’s not the best new thing. It’s just extremely effective where I fish.

This is my 6th week on nights. I should be at the lake next weekend and will report. You will not see me fishing during daylight too hot. Plus there is a full moon on the 28th.

After a morning of fishing I got to Dick's and got my reel replaced.... Get home, respool and sure enough SAME ISSUE WITH THE BRAKE! Called Lew's and they're sending out a new side panel. Looks like a bad batch. Since it's nothing I need to worry about as far as learning to use a baitcaster I started pitching in the back yard... Dialed in nicely and started pitching short distances at a target. After a while I increased the distance and started varying near/far different points to hit. Even had a few premature stops. Out of a whole mess of casting over a combined hour plus I had one nest that was a problem early on and a couple that just needed me to back out a couple turns. All I can say is I LOVE THIS THING!!!! I will give it more practice before getting it wet, casting with different weights etc... and getting the overhead cast down better but man I am enjoying it. Baitcasting Frustration?? More like Baitcasting ELATION!!

Powell Inferno, yes I've read all the negative reviews & don't believe most of em. After 8 months & dozens of 6-9 lb bass (see below) in heavy cover I've had zero issues. Academy's H2O Xpress Ethos & All Star's Team series get high marks

The river by my house is low, which means the gar are thick. They're fun to fight, so I go target them with rope lures and cut bait. This is an average one about 3' This crazy channel cat exploded on a piece of cut bluegill as soon as it touched the water, I thought for sure it was going to be a big wiper.

Mine was terrible, bad things happening and the whole family being sick, but losing a friend did remind me to appreciate the days because tomorrow is never a guarantee. I spent more time on the floor playing with my boys and noticing the little things than I have recently.

I use Maxima Ultra Green 5 lb for finesse spinning and Sunline Defier Armilo Nylon 11 lb and 25 lb. Tom

I've been sitting on these pics for a couple weeks because I couldn't post them til the project was announced. Since my forte is cork and reel seats, I declined the pre-fab grips and did my own thing. Please excuse all the fuzz on the rod. The microfiber towel I wiped it with seemed to deposit more dust than it removed! Butt cap with Army insignia inlay. I wanted to do more with the grip but a technique I have been experimenting with wasn't working out . The reel seat hardware provided wouldn't work with my plans of using acrylic, so I substituted in Fuji SK2 hardware. I had a bit of scrap left from the reel seat, so I turned a matching winding check. Slogan decal provided by Batson. Personalized decal by Decal Connection. Alps guides provided by Batson.

No bathroom.

That subject line blows my mind that i am saying that, but over the past week or two I've realized that I really have spent my entire life knowing nothing about fishing (I am 43). I grew up with a Zebco 33 basic rod/reel combo and have never used anything else, and have mostly done bank fishing. I recently bought a recreational kayak which has been a blast, but which has also led me to become more interested in fishing. So I've been taking out my 33, and not surprisingly have not been having a lot of luck, though some of that no doubt is due to the guy holding the rod. I found this forum while reading countless articles and watching all kinds of videos. The problem is that I think i've researched myself to the point of paralysis by analysis now. So while this may be my first post, I know this has been asked countless times before, but can someone be so kind as to just validate my thinking? I'm mostly going to be fishing small lakes, and the calm rivers which lead into those lakes. Open water as well as completely flooded forests which lead to the open lake. Maybe some occasional bank fishing too of course, but primarily this is about fishing from my kayak. I know there is no one perfect rod/reel for all types of fishing, however there is no way I can get away with saying i need 4-7 rods/reels :) I'm going to be fishing for bass and crappie, and mostly using live bait, swim bait, plastic worms/jigs, and maybe an occasional topwater or crankbait. My tacklebox is very light, so I won't be fishing any of them exclusively enough to warrant a rod/reel for any one type of lure. Just want something to give me a decent chance. So far I've come up with a 6'6 MH Rod with 2500 or 3000 Pflueger President spinning for bass fishing and a 6'6 to 7 light/UL with similar reel for crappie fishing. From what I've read I am not ready for a baitcaster, so spinning reel is the plan for sure. I realize there are tons more options between these two, but if my goal is to just get out there and have a good time, would this get me started? My budget for each rod/reel is probably around $125. Thanks to any and all who will indulge me on this tired question. I know this is a long way to ask for rod/reel, but wanted to hopefully give enough detail as to what I'm looking to do.

In my opinion, stick with spinning, it's easier to use right out of the box. Pick a rod that will throw 3/16-1/2,5/8 lures. Many people have setups for every type of bait. That's great if you have the room, $$$, etc. But to catch fish you only need one setup. I've been fishing for over 60 yrs and for the first thirty years I only had one setup, and caught fish. As you grow into fishing, and develop an idea as to how far you want to go, you can expand your arsenal of fishing gear.

I would go with M/F with a spinning rod personally. You can use it for both cranks and finesse, where most MH spinning rods still don't have the backbone for heavier presentations you can get away with a MH casting rod, like frogs for example. Also going with a lighter line and lighter presentations for bass would mean it's better for crappie. That's just me. I think it brakes better than the Curado but casts just as far, holds the line of the Curado K but is around the weight of the Curado 70 and brakes close to the Tatula SV but casts further. It's also arguably the smoothest reeling rod I own.

Barlows Tackle has striped silicone skirt layers #220 & 229 look like good perch skirts, add a perch swimbait trailer and you are good go. Tom

The OP hasn't answered my simple question regarding tackle type. Heavy lures on light or small diameter line typically sinks very fast making it difficult to control the rate of sink or amount of bottom contact, you snag before having a chance to control lures path. Baitcasting give you more control by using heavier line then a fresh water size spinning reel handles. When you start to feel bottom contact you don't want to let a lure to fall into snags on slack line, keep in moving. When you snag a lure the first thing to do is get it a little slack line and slowly tighten it back up with light pressure, do not force it. If the lure doesn't come free then raise your rod tip as high as possible and shake the tip into slightly slack line to jiggle it free, do not force it! Repeat by changing angles, difficult to do without a boat! When the lure is solidly snagged and it will not release you either retrieve it using a knocker etc, or break it off using force. Somedays we lose lots of lures other days none, depends on the structure, focus and lure types. Sh&it happens! Tom

I all but cinch it. I use a Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool LFS reel and a Cabela's Frog model Tournament ZX rod. I haven't found the fish I can't pull out yet. Just use common sense about how much weight a rod can lift. I lean on my rod pretty hard because it's a frog model. You expect to be able to abuse it a bit. But I doubt I've ever put 10 lbs. of load on it.

The whole reason I got away from 3.0 hooks and went to 4.0 is because it drastically reduced amount of gut hooking incidents I had with clients who were just learning, or not as proficient at line watching and feeling bites with the weightless Senko. I will go up to a 5.0 when I want the faster sink rate but the wind or current isn't strong enough to warrant a nose weight.

Electric only lake and the TM is your only power source, then 36V with 3 group 31 batteries makes some sense. You will need a stern rudder if the TM is bow mounted. The battery weight 65-70 lbs each = 195-210 lbs, not a problem without the outboard engine and gasoline weight. 12V battery wired in series to increase voltage is still a individual 12V battery. 12V battery wired paralell to additional 12V batteries are a group increasing amp hour output by the number of batteries in paralell. It comes down to power need vs amp hour need, more power increases thrust force available to go faster. More amp hour storage increase run time. NOCO is a compact size water proof onboard charger verses Power Pro being larger size, more expensive and repairable with meters to indicate battery charge levels. Choices! Tom

Thumb your spool on the hookset...drag won't slip then.

OK...I've not been saying this right... What I'm getting it is that I run my 36 volt trolling motor at lower speeds than I ran my 24 volt trolling motor...so I wind up using less stored power. I'm trying to equate it to getting better "gas mileage" because the motor is turning at much lower RPMs and doing a bad job of it.

I am not a fan of onboard chargers. I have had several different brands and they have all failed and caused me battery problems. I got away from them all together. I use three Schumacher ShipNshore chargers and they always work and I do not have any battery problems. It may take maybe two more minutes to hook up, but not having problems is definitely worth it. And it will save you some weight. Just my opinion. God bless and good fishing

Welcome aboard! You can run 30 on a baitcaster just fine, and for most anything you want to throw. I always use a leader, but that's me, and others will hail mono for topwater....

All of a sudden everybody’s a marriage counselor! Come on man cut it out! Every one has lied to their wives at one time or the other and the truth is most wives don’t like us to go fishing all the time.