Leaderboard

You would think for that price they could at least throw in free shipping! BTW, I've got a "like new" copy of the book I'll part with for the unheard of low price of $1,950 if anyone is interested...and yes, that is TYD

I never saw it or even hooked it, but I'm sure it was swimming around on the point in front of me for a couple hours at Milford Lake. Needed it to be 2lbs 11oz.

You found him!!!!!!!!

A friend's tank, back when I had nice gear:

That is what my dad use to call "Summer Teeth". Some are teeth, some are not.

Been a month or two since I last fished. Caught 6 little guys and this not-so-little one today.

Success is when preparation meets opportunity.

Clark's Water Scout made in Springfield, MO. 1933-1937 (Dent Eye) I need to attend to that rust on the front hook.

What do you mean? They're not that bad.

Army, going into my 10th year. Started in the National Guard, deployed overseas 2011-2012 and stateside in 2015-2016 timeframe, now serving in the Army Reserve. Also, a full time Deputy Sheriff.

Spoon fishing is boring? Several years ago during a early fall bite I was fishing a local lake where a tournament was being held and tried to stay off areas other boaters were fishing. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon jig and swimbait fish targeting big bass without success. Noticed a few grebes working tight to the bank along rock walls and decided to catch a few school bass using a Megabait structure spoon and it worked. I planed to get off the lake before the tournament weigh in so wouldn't be in the way retreiving my boat but having fun catching spoon bass I was late arriving. As I motored passed the marina log boom I metered a big school of Shad with big marks around it, stopped dropped the trolling motor and made a cast where the baitball was with my spoon rod still on the deck. The 1st bass was big for a spoon fish about 7 lbs and some of the guys weighing in watched from the dock about 200 yards away. The 2nd bass was my largest spoon bass ever at 9 lbs, now everyone was watching and a boat came over to see what I was doing. The bite lasted about 10 minutes, all the bass were over 4 lbs. The tournament guys had a long day weighing only 13 lbs to the winner, none of those anglers had a structure spoon. Shad in the fall is always prime spoon time. Tom

Late Fall last year. I was fishing a 9" MS Slammer and was just dead-sticking it next to a tree. Maybe 15-20 seconds go by and it just gets slurped under. I set the hook with a pretty tight down drag and it started taking off for deeper water. I couldn't gain any line, the handle was just turning against the drag. About 10 seconds of just grinding against it and it pops free underwater. My theory is it was hooked outside of the mouth and the line started wrapping around the milfoil bed it was swimming through and gave it enough of an angle underwater to pull it free. I never got a look at it but I'd loooooove to know what the size on it was.

I actually caught the one that haunts me! I was about 14 yrs old and in a small Jon boat in south Alabama on our annual weeklong fishing / camping trip. The guy in the boat with me is a notorious jokester. I was throwing a buzzbait in the grass and hung a good one. We get him into the boat and start taking pictures (pre camera phones). As a youngster I really don’t know how big the fish is, my partner thinks 7-9 lbs. I decide to keep the fish and mount it, and all we have is one of those metal clamp stringers. My fishing partner says you don’t want to lose this one, put the clamp through both lips. So that’s what I did and I eased it over the side of the boat. With one mighty head shake that fish ripped itself free and splashed in. I actually got my hands on it for a brief moment after it broke free but it powered away. Not sure if it just ripped its lips or ripped the stringer apart, as I recall I wasn’t really interested in the details at that point hahaha. We still have to fish for like 5 more hours and I just sat there wanting to puke. Not to fret, you might think, because we still have the pictures and a fiberglass replica is now something we had heard of. The nearest place to develop photos is a wal Mart one hour away, which we learned by asking the very few people we could find (pre smart phones). When we finally get to wal mart, they develop the pictures and as i learneda few days after we returned home, the roll of film was double exposed...... ouch......... took me a while to get over that one. Luckily I have caught 2 bass around 8 lbs since then and did get one of them mounted. And I sure as heck haven’t used a metal clamp stringer ever since . My buddies on the same camping trip still give me grief all the time. They usually give me a box of crayons and say “next time you catch a big one just draw us a picture of it”

Not a bass, but when I used to charter for lake trout and salmon on Georgian Bay about 10-12 years ago, I lost some true giants. Ive had them snap downrigger rods. Some of them you’d set the hook and they wouldn’t even move, just sit there for a few minutes then decide to swim off and you couldn’t do anything but hold on till something popped, usually the line or the lure popping free. I’ve caught lakers up to 40lbs out there and I’m sure there’s fish there that would’ve make that look small.

My haunting is a little different; I caught the fish. Let me explain. This was 36 years ago, I was 13. We had just moved to Maine from south Texas so I was used to fishing in saltwater. I remember I was so excited to start fishing freshwater as I had never caught a bass before. I had watched shows, read magazines etc...and that bass was just so attractive to me. We lived just up the road from where a small river joins a larger one with a railroad trestle crossing at the junction of the two rivers. I had already had my Mom take me to the local shop and I had bought some spinnerbaits, Mepps spinners and a few other things to get me started. So after school one day I walked down to that trestle, climbed down the bank and see this huge tree extending out from the shoreline. It was in a small cove and, because of the way the bank wrapped around, I was able to run a bait down the length of the tree. I had heard about some smallmouth in this river and had already read about the smallmouth's attraction to chartreuse. So I tied on a chartreuse spinnerbait tipped with a white curly tailed grub; man, I can still see that bait today. And I still remember, very clearly, when I cast that bait beside the tree; it was a perfect cast and I can still replay this whole event in my mind. The spinnerbait fluttering slowly through the murky, stained water, when it happened. I didn't see the fish as she was the same, brown color as the water; what I did see, though, is the color of my bright spinnerbait get thrown about 2 feet off it's path and the feel of a heavy fish on my line. After being scared close to death of the fish getting me in the tree, I was able to pull her to shore, get a hand on her and pull her to me. I still remember being hesitant to "lip" this fish , as I had seen done on TV and in the magazines. Anyway, I did it. So, you ask why does this fish haunt me. I'm fully aware of misconception. I know this was many years ago. I was a very small kid and I know how memory deceives us. ***Disclaimer=I wish I had released her now; but, as a kid with my first bass, I wanted to show my Dad this monster so that's what I did; I was 13*** As I walked home with this giant hanging off my hand, I literally had to stop and rest, re-adjust my grip, and keep hoisting this bass up higher to my waist to keep it from dragging on the ground. It was that big. Let me say that I'm 100% positive it was a smallmouth. And why this fish haunts me, still today, is the fish went into the freezer, never weighed, and finally buried under a rhododendron.... I've caught hundreds and hundreds of smallies from that day till now; have seen pics from my friends of big smallies; have seen pics of an 8 pounder, which is the Maine state record, and again, am aware of misconception, but that fish I dragged home that day is remembered as being bigger than all of those others. I've never really shared this story with anyone as I don't want to sounds as though I've seen Bigfoot, but I can't stop thinking whether that was a state record or not. <<<sitting in a circle of chairs, with a therapist off to the side, OP says, "Hi everyone. I'm SmokinAl; thank you for letting me tell you my story">>>

My grandson is reading this thread & here's his answer. Lethal Weapon

Was glad to get out today here in west central Indiana. Have had freezing temps and ice on ponds, but decided to get out and fish with it finally getting up to 44 degrees. Was not expecting much, but landing this beaut. Caught on a Rapala X Rap 7 jerkbait.

Great lakes brown trout are suckers for jerk baits & trolled stick baits.

Sent a screenshot of the jitterbig tee to my mother hoping she would get it for me for Christmas. She text back and said thanks, I know brent (her boyfriend, my fishing partner) will love it for Christmas. That backfired on me.

My first time at Black Lake in NY, I'm fishing with a friend. I toss a spinnerbait into the shallow weed bed and start reeling it in. Just as the lure breaks free of the weeds I feel a thump and the line goes slack. I reel like there is no tomorrow and catch up with the fish. As soon as the fish starts going down in the water column I can feel the weight of the fish against my medium-heavy rod and I know its a big fish. As I jump down from the back of the boat to get better footing and stop the boat from rocking I see where my line enters the water has changed. Its no longer close to the boat but now is much further away and at a low angle. That always means the fish is coming to the surface and he's doing it quick. I try to ease off the tension by moving the rod towards the fish but its too late. All I can do is watch as a huge smallmouth bass crests the surface of the water, shakes once and the spinnerbait comes flying back at me. All my friend could say with a deflated voice was "That one was big.". A memory I will never forget.

? If the guy is going to run the ball he needs to learn how to slide

Just don't drop it too hard are it might end up on the bottom like mine did 2 years ago lmao. Kinfolk caught a few numbers last weekend in the coves close too the house nothing of size but good numbers of 14 to 15 inch fish, thinking it's a lil wave of buck bass moving with the shad.

Agreed. If they play 10 times, I can't imagine it turning out anything different than 5-5. I think the high score & number of penalties had to do more with the defenses having to gamble than any particular shortcomings (hence the 3 defensive scores). If either team is playing against a different team and the score is 35 - 10, I think it is human nature to let your foot off the gas. If KC can keep home field, I think they will be in the Super Bowl and have at the minimum a 50% chance to win.

Was a heck of a game. The Chief's defense was better than I expected them to be and Mahomes tried to do too much at the end. He had the time and weapons, just needed to do what they did the rest of the game instead of trying to win it in one play. As great as the rest of his stats were, 2 lost fumbles and 3 INTs isn't going to let your team win many games, and it still came down to the last drive. Got to clean up the penalties, but that's been a problem all year. I don't think this year is their year yet, but Mahomes potential has me really excited for the future.

Fishing the Central Division Regional tournament for the BASS Weekend Series several years ago on a God forsaken lake in Indiana, Patoka Lake. The top qualifiers got to go to Florida for the Championship on Okeechobee. The guy I got paired with for my boater the first day had no idea what to do. We ran all around the lake that was way too small for the number of boats and seemed like it had enough bass in it for every other person to maybe catch 1 or 2 in 2 days. I think I might have caught one about 8" long on a trick worm but I know for sure my boater never caught a fish. I wasn't out of it though, the first day leader had 5 pounds with 1 fish. Day 2 my boater had weighed fish the first day so I had some confidence we'd at least be around fish. By some miracle, around 10am I drum a Bitsy Bug jig off a rock ledge and it just disappeared. I caught a the hardest earned 2.5lb fish I can ever remember catching. Know I knew I had a real shot at qualifying if it was as tough as the first day was. My boater boxed 2 fish on a hair jig, something I had none of, but he was pitching it to stumps on a spinning rod so I went the opposite direction and started fishing a big thumping spinnerbait around the stumps and laydowns. I'd been throwing it for probably an hour with no signs of life and had really gone into autopilot, looking around instead of paying attention, when I pulled the bait down a big log. I felt the tick, I know in heart that fish had the bait, but I was so zoned out that all I did was look at where my bait had just been instead of setting the hook. There was my bait, continuing it's course towards the boat, and right at the end of the log was a giant boil still swirling on the surface where the fish had attacked my bait. Just seeing the size of the swirl, it had to be at least a 4-5 pound fish, the cut for the final day ended up being not even 4.5 pounds on the non-boater side. I threw a couple more times at the log but as lots of non-boaters know, I was at the mercy of my boater and he had no interest in giving me any extra cast at the fish as we kept working down the bank. Something like 11 or 12 pounds ended up winning the non-boater side and if I'd caught that fish I would have gone to Florida.

Your favorite lake/river is one of my favorites too! I have no idea what water levels are like, but I can almost guarantee you can catch smallmouth dragging a ned rig on the bottom if water is low enough to fish and somewhat clean.

No need to brave the elements my friend. Amazon Prime to the rescue ~ https://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-No-Shell-Pistachios-oz/dp/B01E76E5MQ/ref=sr_1_9_s_it?s=grocery&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1542683192&amp;sr=1-9&amp;keywords=pistachios ☺️ A-Jay

I thought this was really cool....should have taken a pic and if I see them again I will....just don't fish this area of Louden much. But anyway...when I was launching my boat I see these two older gentlemen launching this ol tin boat with a small motor ...also very antiqued. They're parked at dock and in no hurry so when I launch I peek into their boat and there's just two "heavy" can poles...heavy line with bobber and a large black grub. I thought OMG....WOW. And then....when I checked out my boat and was fishing the last bank I was gunna check out here they are going down the bank. The older of the two was perched on the bow of this little boat. One foot touching the water...other in boat. Right arm holding the pole....left arm using a wooden paddle like a trolling motor. He was good. It was quiet time just watching them.....wow.

Some years ago I was in Northern Maine at a fishing camp. I was on a remote pond, in my canoe, fly fishing for native trout. It was early morning and the mist was thick on the water. I heard a noise in the mist, then saw ripples hitting the side of the canoe. I knew I was the only one on this pond, so I thought it had to be a beaver, or a loon. As I waited and watched, out of the mist came a huge bull moose, swimming right at me. I froze, didn't dare move. As he came closer he changed course, just enough to miss me. I stared into his big eye as he stared into mine. I don't know why I did it, but as he was beside the canoe I held my hand out and felt the end of his antler brush it as he went by. It was a magical moment I still think about from time to time.

Exactly Mobasser, I can’t tell you how many times I have worked really hard to put a plan together, put time in on the water before a tournament all to have the wheels fall off the bus on tournament day. Not exactly major catastrophes but all things-it together makes for a non successful day. Examples are like making a top water change because of changing conditions to realize after two casts I had floura line on. Refusing to put down what worked the day before. Another one was having a boat full of Crankbaits but not having the one color of confidence to stay above grass in a changing tide. Now as an example I carry multiple reels with different line instead of having 20 rods in the boat to become cumbersome. Making good notes and having multiple condition scenarios marked on my Navionics map App. Additionally, reducing all of the mixed match Crankbaits for the brands and same confidence producing Crankbait colors that will enable me to fish all of the depth ranges. These are just a couple of examples that have really made a difference when it comes to a successful tournament day. These examples are how I interpret “Control what you can control”. There are many more this list could be a couple pages long and that’s only the ones I realize. After all, we are still learning everyday regardless of how experienced we may think we are.

Out of what you said, I think the Lews Tournament MB would be the best bang for your buck. Typically I preach Shimano and Lews as making the best baitcasting reels. The Curado K is a nice reel as well, I have the older I version though.

This is a funny thread, but now I want to go sweep the snow off my truck and head into town for pistachios. Thanks guys ?

received my RLE Raging Red this past Friday...went to a local lake and fished 2 hrs. with it...fished with zoom trick worm green pumpkin 7 ft perigee II 2pc. rod 12 # mono...smooth as silk with one backlash...took some experimenting with magnetic brake system but nailed it...caught one 14" & 1/2" lmb...initial impression...very smooth retrieve with effortless casting once brakes and tension knob figured out... very happy customer... good fishing...

For those who do not like the knobs on the RLE I changed the whole handle for a CF one with corkish knobs. It now feels even better I need a new reel for a Fenwick Techna AV I bought with intentions of using it as a spinnerbait setup.

Friday I threw a huge soft plastic shad swimbait on an Owner 10 ot belly hook with underspin. Landed this Virginia stud!!

Most stretches of the river not far from my house (a short bicycle ride away) offer little to appeal to sport fish BUT there was one spot (I called it my secret fishing spot) which was CLASSIC smallmouth country-a wide riffle which emptied into a deep pool as it turned at a bend. There was a large boulder perched on the edge where the water eddied around it in a lazy curl. It was a near perfect spot for smallies and goggle eye to wait and ambush food as it washed past. At that early stage in my fishing "career" I used mostly Mepps Aglia spinners. I believe I had a black fury tied on on this particular day. There was nothing particularly impressive about my cast. I'd been there for awhile- trying different angles, etc. I vaguely remember casting the spinner into the far end of the pool and, trying to keep it down, swimming it through, the pool-being careful to let it pass near the boulder. As (sometimes) happened, my line tightened and this time I knew I had a better than average fish on. By my modest standards it was huuuuuge! Time and retelling the tale has caused it to grow but conservatively, it was at least 3 lbs. And it was beautifully marked with dark vertical bands against a shimmering gold body (Most of the smallies there had monochromatic coloration). I managed to tired it out and was just pulling it to the surface near my feet when "PING", the treble hook lets go and the spinner flies past me. In cruel slow motion, my glorious ALMOST victory swam back into the depths! I simply stood there and stared in long disbelief at the place where I'd last seen it. The river has since changed (as rivers do) and this place has evolved into something less remarkable but it still stands out as the place where I ALMOST caught a monster.

Those Senkos are probably bad, you can send them to me and I'll dispose of them for you.

Academy in-store clearance

For me, the last one happened back in the spring and probably would have been my largest catch of the year if I had landed it. It was raining and my rubber boots are not the best on wet rocks. I cast out with a super spot and when the bass hit I knew it was a nice one. It looked to be about a 4 or 5 pounder, and it was sluggish from the cold water. I worked the head of the bass into the rocks so it couldn't swim out, and start down to lip it. As I'm going down I slipped, and I started swinging my arms around to catch myself. I guess I either pulled the fish out of the rocks when I was swinging my rod around, or I let it have some slack, because I see that bass just swim off. I have been back to that pond 3 more times this year and have been skunked each time.

Well Sir, I'm right there with ya ~ However when I'm at my best I can ration them out . . . A Shot Glass at a time . . . Usually goes pretty quick though: especially if I'm manning a second shot glass simultaneously. ? A-Jay

My thoughts are that power stays the same. Action seems to speed up with higher quality blanks even though the ratings stay the same. Best way to describe it is the action seems more crisp or telegraphs faster with the higher modulus blanks. Sensitivity also increases with the better blank.

I'm frugle, I plan on buying the other one next year, if my other foot makes it through the winter. ?

You only got one, or do you only like one of them?

I caught 10 that weighed more than that......................................if you total all their weights up.

I was fishing a tournament on Rodman in '86 I think. Slow day. We were fishing the big stump flat, with the dam in the S.E corner of the lake in sight. There was a lone stump out by itself that had part of it angling out semi- paralell to the water. Using a T-rigged 7 1/2 inch red shad culprit worm, and 14 pound test , I made a long cast that went right under the overhang, next to the stump. Felt the tap, set the hook, and I did not turn the fish 1 inch. It actually violently turned the other way at the hookset and at probably 3/4 speed, swam directly away from me. To this day I can still feel the weight of that fish, and remember hearing what sounded like a pistol shot as the line broke. I really have no way to gauge how big that fish was...I just sat there with the broken line in the water for a while.

I had never fished this lake, but my favorite muskie lake had been pilfered by the local Indian tribe over the winter and after two days of nary a follow, I pulled up stakes. Not known for numbers, but the occasional trophy, I headed out after lunch. There is a single, public launch on the west end of the lake with parking for maybe six rigs. I launched and beat the water until my shoulder couldn't take it any longer and as the sun was going down I started working my way back to the launch, fishing for the abundant smallmouth. As I neared the launch and the sun set, I could see three rigs waiting their turn to load and decided to fish the saddle between the south shore and a small island. That's where she hit. My poor TDA was screaming for what seemed like minutes, but was likely less than one before I got her turned the first time. The splash sent up when she spotted the boat is burned in my memory. With next to no light, I was able to bring her boat side. I have a 40in. ruler decal along the side of the boat, got her tail positioned at one end and made a mark on the gunnel directly above her nose. It was too dark for a pic as my old phone had no flash and I didn't want to take her out of the water and chance injuring her, so I released her without feeling her weight. With the launch empty, I headed in, heart pounding with nary a sole around to share my excitement with. After trailering the boat, I measured from the mark I'd made back to the end of the tape on the boat. 12in............That added up to 52in.!!! even if I was a little generous with the mark, that was at least a 50in.MUSKIE! I sat in my car shaking for a good five minutes. What haunts me, you ask? The date was Sep.9,2001. I thought nothing could erase the smile from my face after catching her..............I was so wrong.

The bass that got away is always the biggest bass, otherwise we wouldn't be fisherman. I lost 2 bass that sometimes keep me awake at night. The 1st was at lake Lower Otay in '71 when a giant bass ran under another anchored boat anchor rope, I didn't see this bass. The anchored boat angler was Ron Huggett who operated Dads Bait Shop in Chula Vista, he tried to pull in the anchor rope and net the bass but my line broke. Ron told me the bass was about 30" , biggest bass he has ever seen. The giant bass I did see about 5' away and near the surface. I was fishing with a Gary Gerber in his boat, hooked the bass at trout point, lake Castaic in May 1994. I was ready to land this bass but it made 1 more run under the boat comming out the opposite side, following the bass I got my line under the engine and had the bass under control I thought. Looking at the bass I could clearly see the side of the point comming up. Gary wasn't on the trolling motor keeping us in deep water instead he was standing next to me watching the fight of this bass. I remember yelling at him to get on the trolling motor but the bass took off up and over the point in about 5' of water, my line hanging up on rocks for a second before breaking. Nightmare, because this bass looked over 30" long very wide body with huge eyes... Comparing what my PB 19.3 lb bass looked like in the water to this bass, this bass had to be in the 20's. Tom

Well, if we're allowed to go to the back of the movie rental store, how about The Happy Hooker...

Another beautiful day chasing pheasants around in the sunshine.

Is Liar, Liar taken?....