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The wind shifted out of the north today . High blue bird skies . Water temp 54 degrees . I caught 42 bass on a spinnerbait with 10 over 15 inches . 2 were four lbers .Here is one of them . The first two hours I only had three fish but man they turned on after that .

This past weekend was the end of the year tournament for our little Thursday night group. It was scheduled to be at Milford Lake near Junction City, KS which is one of the best smallmouth bass lakes in the state. Mother Nature had other plans, dumping nearly a foot of cold rain and even some snow in the area a week before we arrived, raising the lake over 9' and turning the water to coffee with cream color, dropping the water temp over 10* in the process. To say the bite was trying in practice was an understatement. @gardnerjigman and I got there Thursday morning full of excitement and hope. Those feelings died and were nearly gone by the end of the day, having boated 2 drum, 1 small wiper, and 1 non-keeper smallmouth. Being the tournament director of sorts for our group, I broke the bad news, but 3 more boats were arriving the next day and we were hoping that something would be found and at least show that some fish could be caught. By noon the next day, with all of our combined efforts, a drum and 1 white bass had been caught, I'd caught both of them on back to back cast on a deep crankbait and only one other boat had even seen a fish. An emergency meeting was called for lunch at the cabins and we all decided to eat our money we'd spent on the cabins (which was relatively little), and fish a couple lakes closer to home in hopes of better fishing (it couldn't have been much worse). Day one we fished Lake Shawnee in Topeka, KS, a 400 acre lake with big largemouth and smallmouth but lots of pressure. This day was no exception as there was another small club fishing and several weekend anglers in boats and kayaks, close to 20 total on the water fishing. At take off, everyone zoomed down the lake while GJM and I idled 100 yards to the back of the launch cove and started fishing the shallow water in the back of the cove. The water temp was showing to be in the high 50's and I'd noticed lots of shad in the back of the cove. The bitter cold air temps said slow down and fish main lake, my instincts and Garmin was telling me to find shad eaters up shallow. 5 minutes into the morning as I was fishing my homemade shad colored bladed jig around shallow clumps of grass, a fish blew up on a shad inside a broken pond dam that use to be a water park on the lake. I fired a cast into less than a foot of water, the wake of my bait was intercepted by a much larger wake and I quickly had our first solid keeper of the morning in the boat. We caught 2 more small keepers in the back of the cove, and I missed solid feeling fish in the middle of a big laid down tree on a jig. The next back end of a cove produced 2 more small keepers to give us a limit in the first 1.5 hours. That really let us relax and just fish. I had one spot in the back of a big, flat cove that everyone overlooks, but it's very hit or miss. We had a limit so we thought it was alright to try it and see what happened. We ended up culling out all 4 of our small fish in that cove, first with a jig fish in a lay down. Then 3 more in the very back on bladed jigs, only one ended up still in our bag by the end of the day. We bounced around a lot from there, catching quite a few fish but all small. For some reason the east side of the lake seemed to be the better side for quality bites. The missed jig bite from the morning was bugging me, so we ran back to the tree. First pitch, almost the exact same result, thump and nothing on the hookset. I flipped right back in and pinned her this time. Kind of a big head, skinny body fish, but still our biggest of the day and the overall big bass of the day. Only about 45 minutes left at that point, we thought we might as well bounce around to a few more lay downs and try to cull one more time. There's not many lay downs, so it's kind of a rough pattern for the guy in the back, so GJM tried to make the best of it and picked up a Ned rig to try to win the big trash fish pot for the day. One of his first cast he set the hook, but instead of the slow thump of a big drum, there was instantly a solid smallmouth streaking across the top. The last minute Ned rig miracle culled out our last fish under 2 pounds and gave us 11.12 pounds for what turned out to be a brutally tough day. We were the only team with a limit, and in the lead by 4.5 pounds going into the second day. Day 2 was on a much bigger lake, Clinton Reservoir in Lawrence, KS, which is about 7,000 acres. It's not well known for it's bass fishing but the population is doing pretty well, both largemouth and smallmouth and good sized versions of both. Knowing we had a good lead, our number 1 concern was to get 5 fish before we worried about getting anything bigger. With that in mind, marinas are great places to catch bass so we started right in the marina to fish a few places I'd caught them before. This morning started much like the day before, maybe 5 minutes into the day, I ran my spinnerbait down a wave breaker dock and caught our first solid keeper of the morning before the other guys were even to their spots. A few cast later, I really shocked myself by catching another small keeper on a crankbait. Further back in the marina, on what was really a nothing bank, GJM got his first bite of the morning and put #3 in the boat on a spinnerbait. 50' more we were in the very back and I caught #4 on a beaver next to a stump, which would prove to be our only bite on a slow moving bait of the day. As we rounded the secondary point, I caught our smallest keeper of the morning, but we had #5 in the boat just over an hour into the morning. We hopped across the cove and GJM culled out that little one with a slightly larger fish before we jumped out into the already churning main lake, that's when I knew we had really made the right call. I was hoping to find some of the quality smallmouth I'd be finding in small numbers down the lake, but those banks were crawling with big, hungry white bass that would not leave our spinnerbaits alone. As we worked down a usual flyover bank that I decided to fish because it has a few lay downs and stumps with a channel swing, I pitched my spinnerbait next to a lay down and thought I had hung up instantly but had actually thrown it right on top of a hungry fish. It tried hard to get back in the tree but quickly had a nice cull in the boat. Just around the point from there are 2 boat ramps with slide in docks that I love fishing on all our lakes because the fish seem to love hiding by and under them. First pitch with my spinnerbait next to them, I caught the twin to my last fish that fought like it was twice it's size. It was about 11AM at this point, and this would prove to be one of the last bass I would catch for the day. It seemed the white bass hit the banks in mass and I could catch nothing else. I did finally catch my first ever wiper from Clinton a spinnerbait which won us the big trash fish pot for the second day in a row. The next little boat ramp launch area we stopped at produced two fish, GJM caught both of them, one was a dink, the other was our last cull of the day. I was nervous at weigh in, knowing how tough this lake is, it still has the potential to produce 25+ pound bags. As it turned out, there had been a total of 2 bass caught by the other boats. One was a very nice 4.96 pound fish, which was funny because we were motoring to the spot with 20 minutes left when they came around a corner and were obviously going to get there first so we left it to them, and that's when they caught it. So as it turned out, all my worrying was for nothing as we could have stayed home and still won, but we ended up with 22.97 pounds over 2 days and won by over 13 pounds. Sometimes you just make all the right calls and then fish clean on top of it, and I feel like we really did that both days. Felt really good to end the tournament season on a high note.

Lets start this with a simple question. Where are you located? We have members all over the place and many would be happy to give you some personal assistance. If you live anywhere near MD, DC, VA, DE or PA we could meet. I can cast and correctly set your rig up, then help you learn how to properly work with it. I can also bring one or two of my personal setups with some of my Daiwa reels so you can see what another rod and reel play like. If you are not in my area, then I am sure another member would happily meet you at some school's grassy field or some pond for some one on one training. That also helps to determine if the problem is a defective reel, improperly installed line (slipping on the spool), just poor casting techniques or some other issue. I noticed your personal info says you are a newer member, so welcome to our playground. As for your situation it helps to fill in your profile so members close to you know they can personally help. Another good reason is many of our members end up sharing fishing trips with other members. I personally have shared my boat with at least a dozen anglers from several websites I belong to.

There also something to be said about watching the sunrise on the water. This is one reason why I like to launch before sunrise, I like to be on the water for this....

My farm boys getting ready to do some work

Thats being done

use what works for you

I think it is foolish to not have it.

Actopus….is that a kind of squid that does Shakespeare in the park? In that case its probably an out of work Actopus.

Hi all, As our fishing year is over, I thought I would give a review of our new boat experience. As some of you know, disabilities caused me to retire a couple of years ahead of schedule, so my wife and I took a good hard look at our "fishing" future and decided our old boat ( a lund 14' WC Delux tiller steer ) was just no longer suitable for us to comfortably fish out of ( my wife is also disabled), and so we went looking to get a new boat. Boat-- We looked for a while at used boats, but could not find anything that suited us, so we went new. We ended up with a Lund 1625 Fury XL Sport. This is the one with a full windshield. This is not a bass boat but rather a multi species boat, however, this style was the most comfortable for us. Why Lund? Quality of build, layout, storage, but a lot of our decision was based on our local dealer. They took care of us on our first boat and have done well by us on this one. Setup- We ordered this boat with everything we thought would make us more comfortable, air ride seats, tilt steering wheel, but the best thing we got was the full sun top. We can't say enough good things about it. My wife is sensitive to the sun and can only fish for a few minutes at a time ( she has hand issues) so this was a blessing. She can sit in the shade and read or fish off the back of the boat as she chooses. No more wind burn, sun burn, getting wet in the rain, cooler in the summer, warmer in the cold weather, we love it. Motor-- We have a 50 HP Merc on this boat. With both of us and the boat fully loaded we can hit around 30MPH. As most of the lakes we fish are less than 1600 acres this is plenty fast enough for us. I really like the fact we can fish all day and only burn 1-2 gallons of gas. Trolling motor-- We went with the Ulterra. What can I say, we are spoiled. To head to a spot, deploy the TM and hit spot lock with out leaving your seat. Tell it to head in a direction while you fish, what's not to like. sonar-- We went with Garmin echo map chirp in the bow and console. Are they better than other brands, I have no idea, but they work well for us. Conclusion-- this boat is not for everyone, but in our situation it met or exceeded all our expectations. It is comfortable for all day on the water, rides well, easy to tow with our ford edge ( with a tow package) and has plenty of storage. The front casting deck is small but works very well for me. I can fish, reach tackle, tools, net, anything I need without standing up ( most of the time I have to fish sitting down). Did it make us better fishermen? No, but it allowed us to fish longer and more often, and using the I Pilot and spot lock we covered much more area. Our old boat didn't have a TM, and I could only pull up an anchor so many times, so we only fished the most " fishy" places. I Pilot and spot lock opened up the whole lake for us. Here's a few pics showing the boat. The last pic is the largest bass we caught this year. I caught it going thru an area ( using I Pilot) I never would have fished in our old boat. Thanks for looking Jim

Boom, that's it! I am going to go buy a half dozen of them! 1) What kinda fool gets a manicure *before* they go fishing? That's just throwing money down the drain. 2) I like a lot of things about it. First, it casts very very well for it's size. Second, it stays on top of the water. A lot of small poppers (lookin' at you Pop-X) seem to have a very narrow range of action before they will either skitter across the surface or dive under. This little guy is so easy to make either tiny "pops" or big splashes but it either way, it stays on top. Third, it is really easy to work. I am normally an XF guy for popping/walking lures, but even on a Mod action trout rod it works great. 3)I did go out today, but it was so windy that I fear if it did float up it is now wedged under a floating dock. But, this same pond did return a BBZ Rat to me a few months after I lost it to a snag, so maybe I will get lucky again.

Any increase in breakage stories can be attributed to internet usage. More stories doesn't necessarily equate to more breaks. In addition to that you have televised tournaments and YouTube showing explicitly how NOT to handle a rod (or a fish for that matter).

1. Tighten the spool tensioner 2. Tighten the brakes 3. Loosen the drag 4. Put the combo in a corner 5. Use your spinning gear

Since we're on the topic of reviews, Mobasser started a good discussion here:

I haven't been out on Cape freshwater since late September (caught a few dinks at Cliffs on tubes last time out)...the weather on the weekends hasn't been very cooperative and my efforts were mostly focused on cleaning up the last of the Albies off of Monomoy... My dad and I also managed to get offshore a couple times to chase some smaller Blue-Fin Tuna that are hanging out a few miles off Nauset beach. Our efforts were semi-rewarded, as we hooked into a what appeared to be a ~150lber on top-water spinning tackle (1800 size reel, 80lb braid)...but as we brought it beside the boat, the leader chafed off and the fish bolted. A very depressing end to what was an incredible bite. I think with the nasty weather inbound its not looking like much fishing can be done ... but if the weatherman gets proven wrong, I may try to get out on Long Pond or Wequaquet Sunday/Monday... Otherwise, the best we can hope for is that the longer-term forecast for November is correct, which shows a 2-week window of a warming trend in the middle of the month. That may be the last window of the season, unfortunately.

Hi people, At the end I purchased the Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500HGFB, I think I will receive it tomorrow or Friday. I will give to you my first impressions soon, because I want to go fishing on Saturday ?. Thanks a lot and regards,

Moonpies.

Great morning read, thanks and congrats

"Hurry up and wait." The "Green Ramp," Ft. Bragg, NC.

There isn't any fish in our lakes that hits a spinnerbait any harder than these guys do.

I prefer learning with a 5/8-3/4 oz practice casting plug for 2 reasons; aerodynamic shape and flat sides to prevent line twist. Fast action rods are not the best choice to learn with, but that is what you have. You can look at vedio's all day and I think Glenn's instructional bed is a good start. Catt's suggestion to put a rolled news paper under your upper casting arm is also a good idea to reduce over swinging. Letting the rod do it work requires slowing the casting motion down,from then on it's timing the release. If you don't want to practice and happy with spinning I can't see any reason to beat yourself up to learn something your heart isn't into. Tom

they both use SCIII graphite but I was under the impression that they were not the same blanks. just use the same materials but the tapers are different etc.

Check out Arkies website or JMAC lures for jigs, about $1.50 each. Some northland lures are well priced. The northland reed runner spinnerbait is $3 and is quite good. We don’t throw super expensive jigs and spinnerbaits around here due to Northern Pike and Muskie. Fisherman’s Factory Outlet for anything fishing, rods/reels especially. What you have is a pretty good selection really.

Modern braids and guides will not harm each other at all. Its actually the sediments picked up by the old braid that caused problems with some low end guides.

Members are trying to help the op and need some basic answers like rod model, reel model and lure weight as a minimum. Most spinning outfit anglers that transition to bait casting blame the reel and it's nearly always poor casting mechanics....trying to whip the rod like a spinning rod. Tom

I learned that fish will congregate in 35 foot of water on nothing. No structure whatsoever. And I mean a lot of fish. Which makes this thing we love even more complicated to me. Because I offshore fish structure quite a bit. And this was nothing. Did manage to catch a mixed bag of largies, spots, and yellow bass there.

Its spelled Jim and he cooks my cheeseburgers and fries at the local diner.

Couple of jellyfish, some dolphins and looks like an actopus of some kind on the bottom.

I fish enough that I do both. Im usually more of a numbers guy, but if Ive had a few numbers - emphasis outings, then I'll do one for big fish. I probably catch as many or more bigger fish during numbers trips than when I target big fish. Either way, its all good !!! ☺

Fish had lockjaw, but the elk are still bugling. Photo taken near the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Headquarters this past Saturday.

Had some fun on vacation catching Fallfish on light tackle And Perch on crankbaits

Caught a drum on a One-Knocker which is a first. Hit it like a freight train, thought I actually had a quality bass until it started diving.

Took to Marsh Creek PA the other day to get on some LMB's. Was throwing out my Mega Bass Pop Max and this monster took it. Was on my kayak so it was a real crazy few minutes fighting her and trying to get her in my net. I knew how easily bendable the poppers trebles were so the whole time I was saying to myself that shes going to pop off at any moment. She was pulling so hard that my kayak was all over the place. Finally somehow I managed her to swim into the net. A couple of guys boated by and it turns out they and their club members have been stocking pure bred muskies in the area for the last 10 years and told me that this was in the 50" range and very close to 10 years old.

Hey Everyone , This is a 2.5 in Green Gill pattern ,The picture doesn't do it justice , Lots of depth to the scales & colors. Mike Mike

Earlier this month I had a very talented local fisherman teach me his techniques on how to catch catfish in a flooded river.I plan on using the techniques he taught me the next time I fish for river catfish.

What reel is it? What bait are you throwing? What rod are you using? All of these things make a difference. If you are trying to throw a weightless 4 inch senko you won't be getting much distance and it'll be very easy to backlash.

If you don't mind i'll borrow the "long winter will Drive a Man to such excesses" line, love it !

Short review, I have five of them so far. A PG for cranking, two HG's & two XG's. The new Bantam is the Conquest of low profile reels by Shimano.

I suck at bass fishing

Just got out of the hospital after a little bout of pneumonia. I know, I'm supposed to take it easy. But isn't taking a leisurely 1 hour stroll along a nearby golf course pond -- just me and my T-rig -- taking it easy? (My wife didn't think so, but that's her opinion.) Anyway, my little Rage grubs were gobbled down by some really nice bass tonight. One of them had a pointy belly due to a massive bluegill in her gut, the tail of which was still in her mouth. She was awfully greedy to want my grub for desert before she could swallow its predecessor. Also, I was blessed by the appearance of a great blue heron, wood storks, a rare (for me) roseate spoonbill, and a beautiful sunset. Now it's time to kick my feet up and relax with a gulp of Robitussin, peruse the pages of BR, and try to burn tonight's little adventure deep into memory.

After a slow start today i decided to go shallow in the creek and throw a lipless Crankbait around the pads and then it was game on. Here’s the two biggest of the day.

what's a gym?

They're pretty good thumpers... my PB: But these thump way harder:

Our waters are loaded with them. Fishing any kind of crankbait here, usually guarantees a few drum.

There are two in my town. One has been around for decades and the other opened about 7-8 years ago. Both also sell hunting equipment, and one has an indoor gun range. Both stay busy, to be honest I never though they would both survive but they have! I shop at the newer one because they have more bass gear and it's closer to me. Within a ten mile radius of me there are four including the two I mentioned. If you increase the range to 15-20 miles there are close to ten that I can think of. Our closest "big city" is about 45 miles as the crow flies, so all we have close by is a Wal-Mart and a Meijer (which is a regional supermarket) so mom and pop is all we have which is good. Small town USA is a good thing in my book.

Working from this end of the forum, I've gotten REAL skeptical. You would be surprised how many of those 10% Coupon code pro staffers' posts are removed. They aren't here for the community or the camaraderie, just pushing up impressions for their discount. First time post, "Ever try this bait..." posts a link to the website, lol.

For the most part sponsored anglers are paid to give those reviews. But the flipside to that is why get sponsored with a product you don't use and like? Some manufacturers flood the market with a lot of low dollar sponsorships just to create market share is why. You get $10 off retail and get to be called prostaff as long as you create so many social media posts, write reviews on retailers, etc. It pays to know a manufacturers sponsorship program.

-So....with regards to your reel, the review 'system' apparently works, as you say most reviews were good, and your experience was positive. -Your last question is most important. I'm a huge fan of skepticism. Usually across the border into cynicism. Not just reviews, though. The internet has made everyone a potential expert without need for credentials. -Reviews are still hugely important. Ebay would never have existed without them....probably not Amazon, nor HomeAdvisor, nor much of our internet commerce. But, as you suggest, a discriminating view is hugely important. Real life experience with a product, should be evident in a review you trust. And, its important to remember that every manufacturer turns out an occasional lemon...and some users aren't reasonably capable. -Retail site reviews should be taken with a grain of salt and consider that most are written within a few days of receiving a new product -- and generally don't tell you much about experience after a few weeks, or years. -'Fake' reviews are a real, growing problem. Both for and against products and services. And many of them are written well....be skeptical -Even here there's always risk of reviews that aren't especially helpful.-- when asking for opinions, be specific as to what user experience you're looking for -- not just 'what's the best reel?' If writing reviews and opinions here, please explain models, length/frequency of experience, conditions used (rives/lakes; SMB/LMB; etc.) Skepticism is a good thing

It is a common misconception to think Florida bass fishing is only bass fishing in heavy cover such as aquatic vegetation.There is more than just cover in Florida. You also need to know how to fish structure. The structure down here might not be exactly the same compared to what you find up north but we have structure and there are always bass next to some of that structure. Every bass fisherman needs to know how to fish both cover and structure and that can make the difference between catching ordinary bass and bass that are memorable on a consistent basis.

The annual family vacation to Panama City Beach just wrapped up, and it was another great time with the family. And yes, of course I fished. A lot. Got out with guide extraordinaire and star of "Chasin' the Sun" tv show Justin Leake, and Justin did what Justin does -- put us on fish. The amberjack cooperated all day, and we wrestled with a pair of true reef donkies on entirely too light tackle to end the day. The mahi and snapper were playing hard to get, but we picked up a few here and there. Even a "slow" day in this place is 20+ fish. Leading into the trip, I started hearing reports of red tide all the way up into PCB, including St Andrews Park which is my wading sweet spot. Things seemed to clear up so I waded there for 2 afternoons but only ended up with a trout and 5 reds to show for it. While there was bait and other life, it just wasn't at the volume I'm used to seeing. There was certainly no lack of pinfish, who gladly nipped the tails off about 30 baits for me! My buddy Justin offered up a "plan B" site and yeah, it was friggin' LOADED. The first afternoon there took a little effort to find them, but I ended up with about a dozen, including a stud 20 inch trout. The magic happened when I ran out of soft plastics from more pinfish annihilation, and the mirrodine came out. To say they liked it was an understatement! And the bonus was not having to rebait every 5 casts from toothy critters. I couldn't leave PCB without getting another shot at that spot and when I returned the next afternoon, there was another gentleman already fishing from the bank. No problem, plenty of water I can wade into. As I got waist deep, he looked at me and said the spot was loaded with reds. Yup, I already knew, but I was into fish by my 2nd cast and the action remained steady all afternoon. It slowed a bit when I went to look for the fish in the exact spots I caught them on the day before, but I waded back into action later. The reds had the pilchards all rounded up on a few occasions so I got to see a few nice feeding frenzies. DOA jerkbaits and CALs, mirrodine, and Zman Pogyz all produced nicely (and I'm now a Zman advocate since they even stand up to pinfish) And the bonus was that I got to break in both my new GoPro and my new inshore combo properly with ~30 wading fish. Till next year, PCB!