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Last night we had our Thursday nighter on a local lake and participation is down due to just plain tough fishing. For me....any excuse to go fishing and enjoy the peace and quiet is time well spent. Last night it rained and rained then it quit and it was ever so pretty. Anyway...I had a couple thoughts going ... and they both worked.....AMAZING huh. As some of you know I was trying out one of the new Kast King levelwinds (Demon) It worked sweetly....only thing I'm not used to is the high gear ration...things feel really different....this is new to me. But on the ol pitchin stick with a homemade jig we got big fish for the night. At a little over three pounds it wasn't big but this time of year on this little lake one over three usually will get you big fish money. Needed two others to fill the limit and I got real brave and threw the Ned for the other two keeps. I'm trying to not set the hook on the Ned....just kind of come into them (this is hard for me) But was able to do this and it worked. Anyway....thanks for listening

Got out Tues. And thurs. For about 5 hrs. Each day. Looking for frog bite but could only get a few to swipe or swat at them. Fell back on pitching again and got 1 decent one each day. 4-3 and 4-2 or vise versa can't remember.

I'm up in the adirondacks, got here yesterday afternoon. Went out for a few hours last night. Caught all dinks. Few smallies, one largie, and some rock bass. About 10 in all, I was happy for the first time on the lake. I went out again this morning at 5am solo, checked a few promising areas, but didn't see any sign of life. I came back in at 7am to eat with the girlfriend and then we went back out around 8am. Sun was coming out by then, clouds were gone. Water was 76*. We tried shady areas with no luck, then we tried a sun beaten rocky area. Bingo 5 smallies, and a largie, all around a lb, better than the night before. Then we ran out of rocks and started hitting trees... Not a ton of luck, couple smallies. I'm on vacation, and had some tackle with me I normally never take. Namely a large swimbait. I'd never thrown it, had a new rod ready to go for it... so why not. The lure was bigger than any of the fish we had caught previously... but I wanted to play. Second cast to a sun soaked downed tree in about 15 fow.: I saw a big shadow, my lure disappeared...the fight was on. My new personal best! I'm still jittery, decided to head back to camp for a bit and let the jeski's do their thing. Hopefully I have more good news to report later this week.

Took my daughter fishing the other day and snapped/posted this pic of her helping me wipe down the boat...Just on my own page and I'm not a big social media person. Skeeter Boats saw it and liked it enough to feature it on their page . She's already more famous than me in the fishing world lol ?.

Just paint it black. Cheap fix. I see a popper and I want to paint it black...

Followed that beast up with this one today. Another Ned Rig masterpiece. Didn't have time to get a horizontal photo of this one. She was of the same quality, however. Not sure which was bigger. She was missing half of her top lip, if you look closely. Don't believe I did that to her. Earlier in the day I caught another quality Smallie at the smaller dam. I thought she was going to be my star of the day until that one on top happened later on. I love the camaraderie of the bass fishing community. My friend helped me land the first big girl the other day, and then today there was a teenager there fishing with his dad and the teen saw me fighting her and without hesitation grabbed his net and netted her for me. Once again over the wall and I'd have possibly broke off. I'm going to have to start standing in the water below the wall.

I don't. I might go to a darker bait, and I might check for a shallow flats bite, but for the most part, deep fish do what deep fish do.

Jigger Pole

Got Topwater ? A-Jay

Found some river smallies this week... wrist-breakers!

Got bit really hard last month. Rediscovered my love for jerkbait fishing so went searching for a new jerkbait rod. Ended up finding a 2 for 1 deal on these Daiwa Zillions. A 6'6" MH-F will be my new jerkbait rod. Hoping to use the 7'4" MH-R as my new jig rod. Also needed a reel to go with the new jig rod. Found ebay had a good deal going on the Revo ALX-HS, especially with the promo codes people post up around here. So far I love the reel. I don't think i'll notice the extra .5oz compared to an MGX. Finally got lucky (no pun intended) with a local Ollies. I had given up hope in the spring time after visiting 3 local stores. Happened across a new one and got lucky. Got the LC lures for $5.99 and the Arashis for $2.99. I don't need any of these lures, but I figured at that price why not give them a shot! The bait monkey is satisfied....for now

It's funny how kids react to watching you catch a fish. This morning when my son asked my grandson what he wanted for breakfast, the reply was "crank?"

FYI, we had to remove several posts, and even suspend one guy.... all because people get all emotional over ... .... a reel. It's fishing folks. It's supposed to be fun. If your blood starts to boil over a post on a fishing site, then it's time to do a gut check; because something is seriously wrong. Just sayin'

I think the former Craw Fatty always had good action, now it comes in the Powerbait formula and the smallmouth seem to really like it plain or on a jig..!

Are you close ? Can't say with any certainty. What I will say is, that if there are 'big bass' in a body of water, and bassheads are fishing it - someone will catch some. And while a "Trophy Hunter" may be increasing his or her odds by employing experienced based tactics and presentations, there's always a few Hawgs caught by less experience angles using very basic or even conventional gear. In other words. if they are there, they'll be caught; if they are not . . . . . . . Put an average angler on above average water, good things can happen. Rarely is the reverse true. YMMV A-Jay

Best not to take a wrench to the nut (Part 4863) I always do finger tight. No need for a wrench.

Sadly, this may be the last one for a while. ?

Tule Dipping & Jigger Pole Fishing are not the same! Tule Dipping like what Dee Thomas did was much like today's flipping. The pole had a length of line close to 3/4 the length of the pole.The long pole was not only for reaching farther back in cover but it also was used to go up & over cover. Jigger Pole Fishing was was a short length of line like the second video. The length of the rod Dee Thomas used in early B.A.S.S. tournaments was not the issue, the issue was the rod had no reel attached.

This is a family site!

Both systems work fine, but with ANY reel, you have to develop a modicum of technique. You acquire this skill through practice, and when you're learning, you will backlash. I don't find that either system is better or worse, just different.

No color anymore, I want it to turn black.

By using a backing plate, washers, and quality hardware.

Do not stick with Ugly STicks, they work but if you ever touch another rod you will be in trouble LOl. Remember not all rod companies follow the same standards on ratings. The trap caster is a model within the Falcon Buccoo series of rods ( both the SR and Micro guide series rods) I have a Bucoo Micro series Trapcaster. It is rated as a 7 foot Medium Heavy power, moderate fast flex rating. these are very good for rattle traps, cranks any bait with a treble hook) as well as a bigger heavier spinnerbait or buzzbait. They handle baits up to 3/4 of an ounce very well. I am sure the SR will be fine. I am a true proponent of the Daiwa reels and fish a bunch of original Tatula, Tatula Type Rs and Tatula CTs. Everyone has gone nuts over the Tatula SV TWS. It is a great reel. It was designed to be the best reel in the Tatula family of reels for throwing light baits and skipping baits. The reel uses a different set of brake components and a SV spool in order to accomplish this. In my opinion you might find the SV is a little better with the unweighted plastic and the Tatula CT is a bit better at getting distance with the treble baits. My Bucoo Trapcaster has a Daiwa Tatula CT on it and it performs extremely well. Either way it is a great combo.

Lets start with a few questions first. Think about your current gear. What does each rod do well. My suggestions are based on what you have said about each rod so far. I am not holding them in my hand and we all know what one brand of rod calls a fast action can be very different than another's. You said you like the Falcon HD 7' MH with the 6.6-1 on it. I would leave that alone rigged as it is. I would even leave the 40 pound braid. I would use this setup for bottom contact baits, jigs with plastic trailers, all of your 1/4 ounce to 3/4 ounce plastics and baits like chatterbaits and heavier spinnerbaits (3/8 and larger). I would consider matching the 6'6 medium power fast action for lighter baits and for some top water baits like Pop Rs and even some frogs like the Mr Ribbitt ( more of a toad) This too is a versatile combo. If you send me an email at fishnkamp@comcast.net I can direct you to a place you could order a Daiwa Fuego for around $60 shipped. You also could go with a Daiwa Tatula CT for $80 shipped. I would choose a 7.3-1. Now if you want a rod to fish frogs and heavier jigs ( up to 1 ounce) then I would match it up with your 8.1-1 reel and 65 pound braid. What is your definition of "reasonable priced"? If you can spend $110 then I would strongly consider a rod like an Irod Fiber 7'5 Heavy, it is called the Fred's Magic Stick. If your budget can jump to say $160 then I would jump up o the same model in the Genesis II series. An IRG 754C "Fred's Magic Stick" is a great rod frogs, toads. flipping, big worms and jigs. If your budget can not go that high then you may find a deal on an Abu Garcia 7'3 MH Veritas. Their lure ratings are spot on, however they under rate their rods actions. Their Medium heavy is really a heavy in most other companies rods. As for a rod for jerkbaits, rattle traps, cranks etc I again have to ask your budget. If your budget is less than $100 for the rod consider a 6'6" medium power moderate action Berkley Lightning Shock Rod. They sell for around $50. Match it up with a 6.6-1 reel also. This could have copoly line or mono. If your budget is higher I love my Abu Garcia Ike delay series 6'4 jerkbait rod for all kinds of treble hook baits. I also use two of the Lightning Shock rods for rattle traps and jerkbaits for stripers. In fall striper season I need 4 rods to throw different trap type baits. The Ike rod runs around $130. Let me know how well I did and what your thought are after reading this response. Lets start with a few questions first. Think about your current gear. What dooes each rod do well. My suggestions are based on what you have said about each rod so far. I am not holding them in my hand and we all know what one brand of rod calls a fast action can be very different than anothers. You said you like the Falcon HD 7' MH with the 6.6-1 on it. I would leave that alone rigged as it is. I would even leave the 40 pound braid. I would use this setup for bottom contact baits, jigs with plastic trailers, all of your 1/4 ounce to 3/4 ounce plastics and baits like chatterbaits and heavier spinnerbaits (3/8 and larger). I would consider matching the 6'6 medium power fast action for lighter baits and for some top water baits like Pop Rs and even some frogs like the Mr Ribbitt ( more of a toad) This too is a versatile combo. If you send me an email at fishnkamp @comcast.net I can direct you to a place you could order a Daiwa Fuego for around $60 shipped. You also could go with a Daiwa Tatula CT for $80 shipped. I would choose a 7.3-1. Now if you want a rod to fish frogs and heavier jigs ( up to 1 ounce) then I would match it up with your 8.1-1 reel and 65 pound braid. What is your definition of "reasonable priced"? If you can spend $110 then I would strongly consider a rod like an Irod Fiber 7'5 Heavy, it is called the Fred's Magic Stick. If your budget can jump to say $160 then I would jump up o the same model in the Genesis II series. An IRG 754C "Fred's Magic Stick" is a great rod frogs, toads. flipping, big worms and jigs. If your budget can not go that high then you may find a deal on an Abu Garcia 7'3 MH Veritas. Their lure ratings are spot on, however they under rate their rods actions. Their Medium heavy is really a heavy in most other companies rods. As for a rod for jerkbaits, rattle traps, cranks etc I again have to ask your budget. If your budget is less than $100 for the rod consider a 6'6" medium power moderate action Berkley Lightning Shock Rod. They sell for around $50. Match it up with a 6.6-1 reel also. This could have copoly line or mono. If your budget is higher I love my Abu Garcia Ike delay series 6'4 jerkbait rod for all kinds of treble hook baits. I also use two of the Lightning Shock rods for rattle traps and jerkbaits for stripers. In fall striper season I need 4 rods to throw different trap type baits. The Ike rod runs around $130. Let me know how well I did and what your thought are after reading this response. By the way welcome to Bass Resources. I just realized you are a new member. Welcome and if I can help any in the future pm me. I sorta lurk around here a lot. If you read any of my posts I am getting real old LOL! I have been fishing over 40 years, so I have played with lots of stuff.

I found this small lake while driving to the normal lake I fish, it’s literslly maybe 200 yards from the road but it’s compeltely Blocked by trees. I managed to find an area that I can put my canoe in. It’s actually a lake that a main creek runs threw. The creek looks like it splits off into this 20 acre lake so I decided to try fishing it and omg! Every fish I caught was just fat and healthy. I caught a limit of 23 pounds for 5 bass which may not seem like a lot but for being up north in a little canoe is crazy. Every fish was just fat as could be. Between 3-6 pounds. I have never been to a lake like this. Also I noticed a lot of schools of baby bass.. I didn’t see any bait fish at all which confused me as to why the bass are so healthy. I must have see hundreds or thousands of little baby bass everywhere though. I knew there had to be bluegill so I used a bluegill swimjig and a black/blue/purple finesse jig and they both just got hammered. Wish I taken more pics but I was just having fun. Here is at least one(my face looked horrible in this so I colored it out haha ). Can’t wait to go back .. I really think my new Pb might be in there.

Bruh, it's OK. Sometimes I intentionally look stupid. We're not tryna date you lol

I own and fish both. My personal preference is Shimano. I know it seems easier to fix the magnetic breaks on the outside of a Daiwa but I think the system is more finicky. With most of the Shimano I own, I set the breaks with two or three on, and that's it. With Daiwas, I can be fine for about 10-15 casts then I get a cast, for no apart reason, that backlashes. Now with that said, I still think most Daiwas are great and would love a new Zillion. Two things I do think about when this discussion comes up in my head.... 1. Will the magnets on my Daiwa reels wear out it in time (loose their magnetism)? 2. When Shimano breaks wear out they can be replaced and they are a pain to replace.

I’ve had success in SE LA drop shotting for LMB and I caught PB bream dropshotting. I only use it if water clarity is around 1.5’ Visibility or better. I’ve never used it in very muddy water as I’ve always seen it as more of a visual bait for bass.

Quabbin fished fished fairly tough for us on Sunday. It was dead calm and very hot, air temps approaching 95 degrees, and heat index values into the triple digits. Water temps at the surface were between 78-80 degrees. I picked up a couple of 2lb smallies quick near gate 43, and surprisingly a couple of 4lb laketrout as well. I made a long cast along a sharp breakline that went from 20 feet abruptly to 60 feet. The boat was in 35' of water and my casts were parallel to the breakline. About halfway through my retrieve I felt a slight *tick* , reeled down quick to get any slack out and set the hook; came tight on something that felt pretty nice, and throughout the fight it pulled a decent amount of drag. I thought it was odd that it didn't come rocketing up to the surface like most smallmouth would, but some of the larger smallies I've caught have behaved this way. I was shocked when we finally got a look at it and it was a lake trout. Never caught a laker while dragging a heavy jig in the summer which I do quite often so that was pretty exciting. Took a picture and released it. Very next cast was to a slightly different location but still near where the first laker bit. What do you know it played out almost the exact same way. Another lake trout of almost identical size, weird!  From there it got tough, I could find and catch dinks on a dropshot but nothing with any size at all. Finally at about 1pm I hooked into a good one on the jig again out in the main reservoir. It was hooked pretty deep unfortunately, but I was able to get my jig back. The fish was bleeding pretty good so I quickly got it back in the water and only have one lousy pic of it showing how deep it choked the jig. It was probably just shy of 4lbs by my estimate, wasn't able to get an actual weight on it either.   A handful more dinks as we stopped off at spots on our way back to the ramp. We were off the water by about 3:30 which is early for me. My buddy from New York had come up to visit and fish with me, great guy and he's very interested in bass fishing all of the sudden but he has a lot to learn.. he really struggled all day despite my advice and rigging baits up for him, he only ended up catching 3 dinks. We were very hot which helped our decision to get off the water a bit early. I think I probably boated 12 smallmouth and the 2 laketrout myself, but out of those 12 smallmouth I'm not sure I even had 5 that would've been "keepers" (over 12") .

Or become a site sponsor here on BR?

I couldn't disagree even if I wanted to. I've literally only thrown a DS maybe 5 times, thanks for the insight

Finally! After a battle that cost millions of dollars and thousands of lives... I finally got on my first frog bite. Tons of little blow ups, but the topwater bite has been rough here lately. I tossed the frog up on a shallow bank around some rocks that were only a couple feet under the surface. Is that a toilet? I thought... who's flushing a toilet way out here? This 4 pounder got wrecked on the black terminator walking frog.

Had a real frog chasing my lure frog once on a grass mat when suddenly a bass blew up on the real frog. The bass wasn’t quite big enough to inhale it and that frog screamed like a small child. It was one of the most ear piercing things I have ever heard. The bass just kept rolling with it in its mout and splashing around with it and it kept screaming until finally, it got away. It was quite a site to see and hear.

How could you bend drag washers by cleaning? Make sure they're installed facing each other, like this: ()

UPDATE II--- the plus unit arrived this morning. Everything was as I was told. I just had to swap out the cradle and plug the transducer and power cable in and it fired right up. We're heading out fishing tomorrow so I'll have a chance to really try it out. After I use it for a while I'll write and give a review.

It's a 7" worm, same length as most other worms. I actually like 10" size better.

Awesome! I really like your ingenuity. I will show you another thing you can do if you didn't have the bobber stop and this is primarily for "in a pinch" moments. I find that the cylinder and tear drop shapes are best overall and in transmitting data to you. Use of a bullet can work but it does not do as good a job through mushiness or grass, but hey, it's better than nothing. Tie on your hook and develop your tag end. Tie a double surgeons knot at the tag end. Don't worry. It sounds complicated but it is one of the easiest knots to tie. 1) Form a loop with your tag end. 2) Then similar to the Palomar knot, create an overhand knot as you do with the palomar. Before you cinch down, make an additional overhand knot. You should now have a closed loop. 4) insert the loop completely through your bullet (or egg) weight 5) Wrap the loop around the the weight as you kind of do with a palomar knot. BAM! The weight is fastened. You can undo this and remove the weight by reversing the steps. Remember, this is an "in a pinch" scenario. I no longer buy drop shot specific weights. One, they are not cost effective. For almost the same price of a few ds weights, I can buy a pound of pencil lead and make a ton of DS weights. I will also use bass casting weights, which will function also in a pinch. If I don't use the loop, I will use a lightly tied and modified improved clinch knot to join the line and the bass casting weight. Instead of the standard five wraps, I will only use 3 or maybe 4. Also, I won't cinch/close the knot 100%. The purpose for this is to simulate how a real DS weight allows you to break away from the weight when your stuck. The fewer wraps combined with the lightly cinched weight do this quite well as I have experimented with and discovered. Screw DS weights for the given prices. They can kiss my bass. I have also been in a trying new mode this season too. Ned rig, and a renewed vigor for both buzz and spinnerbaits. It is a great feeling to increase and expand our learning.

I'm referring to the beveled washers. These are the washers that sit under the drag star and need to be orientated like so: ( ). When speaking of grease, I'm referring to the felt washer in the main gear under the handle side plate.

Scaleface, good on you for trying something new. One of the greatest joys in our sport is developing a new technique to the point of it becoming a confidence bait. I agree with Brad in TX on the rebarb hook. If you have a lake or pond that you know is full of fish, take nothing but your DS and fish it all day. I like to use the DS for target fishing isolated wood or grass. Drop it in, always watching the line. Pick up. Either the line is swimming off or go to the next target. Best of luck with it.

You probably over greased the drag stack or installed the drag washers incorrectly. Unless you took a pliers and intended to bend the drag washers, you didn't do them any harm.

Culling issues, lol.

Could have been a turtle. Was the worm cut on the end?

It has nothing to do with water clarity. If fish are deep, and you want to keep the bait suspended off the bottom, and in place, then this is the rig. No other terminal rig can achieve these attributes. I mean, no one says, "This water is too dirty for a senko." You can fish any plastic, big or small, in any color, on any hook style, with any strength line. Adjust the terminal gear for the cover, depth, and plastic you're using.

Fish on a rat.....doesn't get numbers, but better than average size

Biggest Smallmouth ever on this particular river. Throwing the Ned Rig off the dam. It doesn't just catch dinks! I was shaking for awhile. My buddy gets credit for it too because he climbed down the wall and lipped it for me and raised it up to me so I didn't have to horse it up the wall and risk breaking it off. And then we waded down to some islands and this behemoth ate his Ned Rig. My buddy down the wall doing me a solid.

Headed to the lake last Wednesday. It was cold upper 50's. Got on the water around 5 and fished till 8:30. Water temp 73 degrees. There was a breeze so I threw a spinnerbait over weeds and the fish were chomping. One of the better bites I have had. Thursday fished morning (till noon) took a break and then fished 5-8:30. It was still cooler than it has been. It was by far the best day of fishing I have had this year. Fished weed edges where it dropped off. Caught fish on spinnerbait, crankbait and weightless wacky worm on multiple spots. Caught both smallmouth and largemouth off of the same spots. Friday morning was tougher still caught one really nice smallmouth. Didn't fish Saturday but got out Sunday morning briefly. Got one really nice fish on a Mann's mid-one minus (that bait caught 2 big smallmouths this trip) over a flat next to a drop-off. Sun came out and the wind died and fish shut off. The tops of the weeds are starting to poke out so it is really easy to see edges. Water temp was in low 70's every day.

Megabass really has a knack for getting the day started with big topwater fish. Today it was the Pop X. First cast yeilded this 21 incher. Really wish she could have munched on a few more perch before I caught her...21” and barely tipped the scale at 4lbs. Topwater was the really the only thing they wanted today. Couple small ones around docks with the senkos, and spinnerbaits couldn’t buy a sniff unless from Esox. Fine by me, I have no problem feeding them the topwater all morning!

Last night was one of those memorable nights. I hit a pond with my kayak that I normally don't get a chance to fish in the evening. Probably over 20 topwater blowups on frogs, buzz toads, and buzz baits. The fish in open water shot out of the water like rockets to hit the buzz toad, especially. Missed quite a few in really thick slop. I ended up boating around 10, including several in the chunky 3 lb range. No monsters, but constant topwater action. I don't ask for any more than that!

That is a hefty hawg.

Got my first boat (not counting old jon boat). '18 Crestliner VT 17. Lots to learn, for sure.