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

Caught on a .75 oz fb jig

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

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

This is probably a little late, as my first post was in the "giveaway" thread..... Anyway, I've been bass fishing off and on for 35 years or so and recently started to put more time into it. There's not a ton of lakes in Southern Arizona, but I went to Roosevelt Lake for the first time this year and loved it. I bought an old Ranger bass boat that is in great shape and I've had it out 3 or 4 times now and have had a blast fishing again. First keeper size bass out of Roosevelt on November 10th....

Just bought a Lew's Carbon fire and I couldn't find any reviews for it online so I decided to do one. Keep in mind that it just came this morning and I haven't fished it yet so this is kind of a work in progress review. I'll update it as soon as I get a chance to fish it. (possible this afternoon if I have time to throw my new jerkbait with it before we leave for my grandma's house) First impressions: Looks really nice. You can tell they spent time on the cosmetics. It's not the lightest rod ever, but it seems well balanced and it's comfortable to hold with a lightweight reel on it. Another thing I noticed was the skeleton reel seat; it apparently increases sensitivity because your index finger is directly touching the blank. The guides but they look pretty quality, they're all perfectly lined up, and the rod blank is arrow straight. Another thing I noticed out of the box was that it's stiff. Definitely a true MH/Fast action, which you want for T-rigs/jigs/etc. I'll update this ASAP after I test it on the water. Btw it's on sale for $60 down from $80 at Dick's Sports right now; it seems like a great rod for $60 imo. Tight lines. ?

? A-Jay

If I used my wife’s toothbrush (any part of it), the lake wouldn’t have to be drained for me to end up at the bottom of it.

The brush hog and baby brush hog are staples for me. I consider them in a different category from the beaver style baits because they have a completely different action and profile. The creature style baits I've had good success with in addition to the brush hogs are the Gene Larew HooDaddy, Culprit Incredibug, Keitech Crazy Flapper, YUM Christie Critter, Zman Boar HogZ, and Big Bite Baits Creature bait. For beaver baits I carry the Strike King Rodent, Big Bite Baits YoMomma, Havoc Pitboss, Yum Bad Mamma and YUM Wooly Bug. I mainly fish them on a T-rig, but the creature work well on C rig and swinging football head both, as well as a shakyhead. The beavers are good on a swing head or shakyhead also. I've done well dropshotting a tiny brush hog also.

Does he have a special fin? So I can't check it out at the desk and return it next week? How much to rent it? ?

Probably worth every cent. Not everybody has redundant PhD's

You found him!!!!!!!!

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

Oh here we go! Deals on the latest stuff from A.R.E. Add this to your wish list for Santa! https://www.4are.com/offers/blackfridaywknd/

The Zoom brush hog and baby brush hog kind of started this type of bait years ago. I've done pretty good on the baby brush hog, mostly fishing them with a slow bottom lift-pull or dragging retrieve. Looking on the TW website recently, I noticed how many more creature baits are out there. Lots of them. I like the looks of the Reaction Innovation beaver baits, but for the past several seasons I've stayed with the tried and true baby brush hog. What are some creature baits you've had success with? Any certain brand or colors?To me, 90% of them imitate a craw, so that's how I've tended to fish them. Any favorites in this type of bait? Any retrieve styles that have worked well? Looking for ideas.

Whopper Baits Chicken Foot early 70s, Mr Twister has the Sin-Sation.

Ha. Around here its all coke. What do you want to drink? A coke. What kind? Sprite.

Soft plastic creature lures were around long before Zoom brush hogs, lizards and multiple appendage worms were common in the early 70's. Back in the 60's Jim Smith of Smitty's worms got started making Kelp Kritters a double curl tail shrimp creature for salt water calico bass that the fresh water bass anglers adopted quickly, Smitty's worm became a staple out west for a few decades. Tom

Pop? I call it a soder.

Us northerners would say it like this, Gunna go park da Chevy eh, and grab me a pasty eh, a pop eh, and my Stormy Cromer eh. ?

I haven’t been on Toledo in a couple weeks, but Friday I caught over 150 mostly on a spoon in 32-34’. It’s that time of year

I laughed when I saw it, but it's true, I know it's true, and it's not really funny at all.

If u like the baby brush hog check out the missile baby d stroyer. It's a great flipping bait as well as a great carolina rig bait. But if you wanna try something new rig it on a drop shot with a short leader. Definitely gives the fish something they are not used to seeing.

My Kastking haul came in this week. Had to take advantage of some of the sales they had going on. Getting stocked up for the 2019 season. The scale is waterproof and floats. After my last scale got wet it started acting up so replacing it was a priority. The fact that this new one floats is one less thing I have to worry about when kayak fishing.

I like the Missile Baits baby D Stroyer on a light T-rig. Retrieve is just crawl them through brush close to the shore.

I toss creature baits for river smallies. Mine are scaled back size wise compared to what a lot of you guys throw. They are not a high percentage of the plastics I throw but I’m able to get the following locally. They are productive and I use them the way you are. Baby Brush Hogs, Yum Wooly Bug and the Berkley Hawg and Pit Boss. I like the Power Bait Hawg.

I don't know about the Carbon Fire rod, but I do have a Lew's American Hero Baitcast Combo and a Lew's Mach II SLP Baitcast combo and I like them both. In fact, I think that the sensitivity on the less expensive 6' American Hero rod is fantastic.

No personal experience with the rod. Id think you did ok though. As long as it fits your needs you did well.

Shimano Curado 70 ?

I've got that lure!

Sweet ! Gotta Love those Early Black Friday Sales Events. ? A-Jay

I use the same baits that I do when it’s warm. I just work them slower and deeper through the water column.

Back where it started, catching catfish in the creek with my dad. Caught them all on spongebait. My little sister not looking really sure what to think about them.

Sitting in Montana’s waiting for lunch, of course my kid and my wife had to start colouring on the paper table cloth. This took her all of about 2 minutes. This is is what it’s like being married to an artist.

Boy, was this timely. I retired about sixteen months ago. I'll be 65 in December. I finished 25 years as a police officer/shift sergeant (my second career). I miss the people I worked along side with. I can relate, in that I have a quarter century of L/E experience and it now sits dormant. It seems like a waste. I had offers to become a trainer and an independent consultant but that required more travel than I was willing to endure. The most blaring aspect of retirement is the amount of time I have with my wife. She, nor I were used to being with each other that much. I don't miss the shift work and the shift system I worked was brutal. I don't miss the interactions with the negativeness of the people. I do miss those rare opportunities to impact a person and maybe save their lives or futures and bring some closure to problems. I think I planned well and finances are are not an issue. We live a simple life. Family is everything. I have discovered the simple pleasure of reading. I'm a huge history buff but never had the time to read. I've read 34 books in the last 12 months and love my reading time. Gym time is also a priority. I want to remain healthy and enjoy my retirement. It's taken me a year to figure things out, deal with the financial aspect of retirement and learn to relax. I was diagnosed with PTSD a few years ago, one of the reasons I did retire. It's real. Trust me, it's real. Fishing and interaction with others is therapeutic for me. Now if I can stop looking at every license plate tab to see if it's expired, the rest will be gravy. Doug

No need to put it away - get one of those reel display and put on your desk Google this word: you should find something. "Fishing Equipment fishing reel display stand"

I have 3 of them. 1 6 speed for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, 1 7 speed for texas rigs and 1 8 speed for punching/heavy flipping.

Mine happened when I was only about 14 or so. We were visiting family in NC. My uncle took me fishing on this private lake he had access to through his job. I remember it was in the middle of nowhere. We pulled a small Jon boat with an ATV through what seemed like endless woods to get to it. Right away within the hour we landed a few big bass. We were using some small renegade worms in this blue/purple/pink flake color we picked up from Walmart. We came to this enormous tree that was laying in the water. He tells me to cast my worm to the tip of the branches farthest out. As I swam the worm back one almost takes the rod out of my hands. I panic and start yanking as hard as I can. It honestly felt so heavy I'm positive it was well into the double digits. I got to see her come up and roll into a hard pull that snapped my line. Turns out it was like 8lb stren mono and he carried that combo I was using as a spare in the back of the truck. The line was brittle from being in the sun for so long. Till this day I've never seen or felt one like that. And I've caught many DD bass too. True story ?

Alien

I would do a test soaking in warm water with Oxiclean.

I own the MB and the new Tatula 100 so I can offer up on those two being the Shimano is a also a very good reel. The Tatula 100 has a better cast control than the MB in my opinion. You would do well with any of the three but the Tat gets the nod from me.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Niebuhr. Tom

Success is when preparation meets opportunity.

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.

Huge year for numbers, not so much for size: 5.25, 3.80, 3.75, 3.59, 3.58. All largemouth, but haunted by a lost smallie that would easily have made the list and been a species PB.

Dobyns generally run a power lighter than most, my 733 fishes like a true medium power rod.

You will very likely want to go with the 4 power in the Dobyns lineup. Highly recommend the Champion 734 based on what you are saying.

Some new pics after a few upgrades. *Minn Kota Fortrex 24V/80lb *Humminbird Helix 9 Mega SI on console (I use the small indash Lowrance while running, Helix 9 SI when idling/searching area) *dual Humminbird Helix 7's up front (one for graph, one for GPS) *Millennium palma seat up front (THE MOST COMFORTABLE SEAT I EVER HAD!!!) *Upgraded steering wheel (adds a little "bling") *Fulton F2 2000lb winch *Stoltz bow roller 2017 Polar Kraft TX195 Pro/Suzuki 140 four stroke.