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Took all the advice I got from here and went and fished a local pond on my kayak and caught my biggest bass! She was 21 inches long and 5 pounds. It was a good way to end my slump that I have been in. I slow cranked a blugill colored squarebill. Very appreciative of all the help and encouragement from these forums!!

Wellcomb a bored! Weir glad your hear.

So I got out on the home lake for a few hours. Very slow for awhile up at my end of the lake. I started noticing some commotion in the water a ways off. As I got closer, I starting seeing a fish flapping in and out of the water. I got there and saw a 3 pound bass had swallowed a bass only an inch or so shorter !!. In all my years bass fishing Ive never seen this before. I was able to pull the fish out of the others mouth, took a pic of the two side by side with the head on shots before releasing them apparently no worse for the wear. Do yall think the bigger one was trying to swallow the smaller one ?? Or maybe they were zeroing in on a baitfish at the same time ? I went on to catch some really nice fish too , on this cool , cloudy afternoon.The biggest was the last one, which was 4 lb. 13 oz. All they would bite today was the 5 inch pumpkin chartruese tail yum dinger. Nothing on a spinnerbait, craws, or worms. And it was the same pattern as its been being the last several times. Caught them around eel grass moving it through or dead sticking. Very enjoyable, and interesting afternoon indeed.

A couple happy faces right after we came back inside from puppy fishing.

Klein tools has done the same. Their lifetime warranty on hand tools is now at the discretion of the manufacturer rather than over the counter. Other items they sell have reduced warranty from lifetime to 5 years. OP. So you are boycotting Cabelas because they no longer have a lifetime warranty. Where are you going to shop? No other retailers that I know of offer a lifetime warranty on their in house brand, or any brands for that matter.

The tricks of light and shadows. What looks like a shoreline at the end of the cobblestone walk is really just an asphalt driveway. The shadows and light produce the illusion of water. It's something I just noticed as I was going through some photos. What looks like the horizon in the distance is just where the camera's top of the exposure ended. Different time of the year, but from the same perspective.

Be Careful Out There Folks. A-Jay

I saw this on a craigslist listing for a boat and thought I might share it

Ultimately, I’d say that boat position dictates my presentation and how thoroughly I’ll work a spot I usually go by gut instinct. I fish out of a kayak. So on breezy days, boat control can be a real nightmare. I may only get 1-2 casts at a spot before I have to reposition my kayak, which disrupts the water and makes noise. I try to be as stealthy as I can. I also feel that if I am continually making casts at a brush pile/tree, the noise of my bait entering the water is heard, thus putting the fish on alert. I usually try to hit the likely spots first. I’ll move to the next spot along the bank, and then come back and hit it again with a different bait shortly after. If I can stakeout and hold my position well without making a bunch of noise, I’ll still hit the likely spots first, and then work the rest of the structure thoroughly.

So yeah I'm just stupid..... I was staring at a flippin hook when it hit me like a eureka moment! (Even though I know it should've been common sense hahaha) I think of a keeper like an old school bait keeper for nightcrawlers, so I kept stubbornly thinking the keeper stays IN THE BAIT. Then I realized the two barbs actually sit flush at a 45 degree angle and I just had to pull the keeper THROUGH the bait so it was on the OUTSIDE OF THE BAIT... ?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️

Family: the importance of time when one has everything else they need. My direct family are all N.C. State fans. The one game a year that is a must win( of course We want to win them all) is the unc(university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)game. This is a rivalry game and the bragging rights locally are important. Yesterday morning we left the house in an ice storm to head to my birth home to watch the State vs. unc game with my mama from her room at the skilled care facility. She's 87 and has never missed watching this game. She loves beating them but loves that all her children make the pilgrimage back home each year for this game. She's not as sharp as she used to be and asks a lot of questions because she's legally blind and hard of hearing. It's controlled chaos in its purest form. A 34-28 overtime victory was better than any medication she took yestetday! She loves her family and she loves her some N. C. State Wolfpack! Go 'Pack! The point of this post and one that's reinforced each time I see my mama is this: for those you are closest too and are at a stage in life where each living day is never taken for granted, they don't care about material things as they have everything they need. It's about time. The time spent is far greater than any material thing you can buy. Time spent is far greater than a ball game. Time spent is the most important gift one can bestow upon those that gave you life. The time spent yesterday and the love shared in that room can't be measured monetarily.

Christmas came a little early this year for me ~ So I'm good. Beyond that a little "Open Water" would be nice A-Jay

The problem is that most anglers end up trying to match diameters of their braid to what their equivalent mono would be, completely negating one of the largest potential benefits of braid. Very common to read this "advice" in threads on this board. On your latter point, there are a lot of component changes that can be made to most every setup to increase sensitivity beyond whatever you currently experience. As you point out though, there are tradeoffs with all these options, and each angler has to prioritize what is most important to him/her for a given presentation.

@Ksam1234 Keitech makes these specifically for the (fat) swing impact. They are tungsten and a little pricey but they are sharp.

FC does have less coeffient of drag going through water then equal diameter Nylon monofilament fishing line creating less belly or sag in the line detween the rod tip and lure. The enhanced FC line movements we can detect as sensitivity. The thing is vibrations are damped by the water so only line movement that reaches the rod tip an be felt by touching the rod blank or line. A skilled angler doesn't totally rely on line movements alone to detect strikes and that is why strike detection takes time on the water to develop regardless of line types being used. The only advantage braid has is it's smaller diameter, not the very low stretch factor. Tom

The advise I've received this year has done so much to make me a better SM fisherman. As for this fall-- My plans fell thru. The smallie lake I targeted this year was closed for several weeks right after I posted this, due to the public ramp being rebuilt. I never did get back to full time SM fishing. However, we spent the time fishing another lake, mostly for LM, and it paid off rather well.

Unfortunately people abuse those lifetime warranties and that's often a major cause of why they get pulled. I saw some awful stuff returned when I worked at Cabela's, brand name stuff that was 10, 15 years old, or clearly abused, but it had a lifetime warranty so it was taken back.

Sure I can! I walk straight down aisle passed both to the Big Game!

Can't figure out the differences by looking at both Tackle Warehouse & Lew's website. I have a Speed Spool® LFS Series model SSG1H The model numbers for Speed Spool LFS Casting Reels listed on Tackle Warehouse are not listed on Lew's website. According to TW these reels feature updated components, peerless design, & a new P2 Super Pinion. If I was going to spend additional dollars on a Lew's reel it would be a BB1 only because I don't particularly like externally-adjustable magnetic brake systems.

You learn something every day! Although I’m not taking them out of the shadow box

I commend you, Gundog! Three versions of the same word sound in a single sentence, all spellings/meanings used correctly . . . on a fishing forum. My faith in high school English teachers is renewed! Too, to, two. I forgive you for "its" because the good you did overshadows a slight mistake. Cheers! Brad

6

As scaleface says,Bomber Long A, heavy mono line. Post spawn, casting tackle. I've done best with a slight chop on the surface. Another that I like is Smithwick Rattling shallow Rouge. These have been popular in the Ozarks for years

My Dad ground it in my head to never trust the ice. When he was a kid he went through the ice in shallow water up to his knees. He said he never had such pain shoot his body.

Here's some thoughts ~ Your pond offers some distinctly challenging conditions - especially fishing from shore; but I believe it's manageable. Initially, you'll need to be able to accurately & effectively present a bait to the bass in order to get bit. Then, you'll need to be able to detect the strike, set the hook and be fishing tackle (rod, reel, line & terminal tackle) stout enough to land a big & no doubt determined bass up, though or out of all that vegetation to your waiting thumb. In my mind, a traditional light line drop shot may not be the way to go. Although often thought of as more of an open water presentation, a drop shot can be an option if you pump up the tackle sufficiently to get a fatty out of that mess. I'd consider a Texas rigged bait instead of anything open hook though. Still a weight dangling down into cover and behind a hooked bass during a fight through matted vegetation might be problematic. Have you considered or tried a weightless Texas rigged stick bait - like a Senko ? Allowing these baits to settle on the vegetation on the bottom and then slowly working them back, (with plenty of long pauses) is in many instances very effective; especially when fished in the conditions you've presented here. Good Luck A-Jay

@Brad Reid your response to this thread and others tells me that we think alot alike when it comes to fishing. I've always been fascinated with the role that randomness plays in fishing. We all go fishing hoping the fish will tell us what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong. The answers we get are probably 95% noise and 5% science. To truely seperate the science from the noise would require several lifetimes of fishing experience and a PhD in statistics.

I also use this line on a lot of my rods. It's supple enough to use on a spinning rod, (it's actually what I use for shakyheads), but strong enough and has enough abrasion resistance to use for jigs and T-rigs. The fact it that I can buy it at any Wal-Mart for less than $10 a spool is a huge bonus.

I have replaced most of my flourocarbon with High Seas Grand Slam flourocarbon coated copoly. It is cheap and in my opinion handles better than most flourocarbon. Like flourocarbon it works better on baitcasters. A little too stiff for spinning reels. it is stocked at Walmart and cost around $7.50 for a 300 yard spool.

Hey people I have been using a small safety pin spinner for smallmouth for years with either a worm piece or small soft jerk bait on a 1/16 or 1/8oz jighead for years with great luck. My own Beetle Spin spinnerbait style. I like stickbait pieces and the smallest fluke with a size one blade. I caught lots of 2-4lb SMB and a bunch of LMB, Pike and panfish too. Anyone else like this style for Smallmouth?

My son and I had an interesting day lagoon hopping today. Our first stop was at a large lagoon on an undeveloped tract. It's one of those Google maps finds that we've never fished before. The woody vegetation was ridiculously thick all around and there were no openings. Although the weather is cooler, we still have alligators to contend with so we never wedge ourselves through the thicket to the shoreline. It would be too easy to become trapped especially if you caught a fish and a gator decided they wanted your catch. I finally found one are where I could cast over a lower thicket of woody vegetation and under some other trees. It probably a 2' x 4' opening 4 feet above the surface of the water. But I had to try. I tossed a weedless Senko and on the 3rd cast caught a nice 2 pounder. But the fish hung in the woody vegetation and it was a pain to get him out of there, so after releasing it we headed to a more familiar set of lagoons. It turns out that tract is bank owned and has been for quite some time. I may head back there with a machete. Google Earth shows that lagoon has had dense vegetation around it since at least 2004. This could be THE ideal low pressure fishing spot. Maybe there's something bigger than a 2 pounder in there... Anyway, on to my Personal Worst. We moved on to some familiar lagoons and the one we fished has two decent sized pools connected by a shallow channel about 150 yards long and 40 yards wide. In the spring there are a ton of bass beds in this channel. I fished one of the deeper pools with no luck and then figured the bass probably use the shallower channel as a feeding area. I slow fished a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad, felt a tick, set the hook, and landed a nice 3.5 pounder. A few casts later I feel a bump, set the hook, and - nothing. But the lure feels weird as I'm reeling it in. I figured it was just some weeds. The water is pretty clear and as the lure gets closer I can see it's spiraling like the line snagged on a treble. But it doesn't feel like that. So I pause my retrieve and there's a tiny, tiny splash at the lure. So I reel it all the way in and there's a tiny bass snagged on one of the treble hooks! And yes, the lure is bigger than the fish. I figure that he nipped at the lure and when I set the hook it pulled the treble through him. I managed to get him off the treble without crushing him and when he was back in the water he oriented himself for a few seconds and then took off. Hopefully he survives. Besides being an interesting catch, it appears that in this lagoon there was a second spawn this year. This lagoon also connects via the stormwater system to three other lagoons and those three connect to even more lagoons. The ecosystem is kind of like a decent sized lake connected by channels or stream beds, in this case large stormwater pipes. I've only caught 2-3 pounders in there, but I had one that was at least 6 or 7 that broke off earlier in the year. And as I said, we spotted numerous beds in the spring. With almost 300 lagoons to fish in this community (and we fish a lot of them) I may need to pay more attention to this one. This might be the hub lagoon for bass in this ecosystem of connected lagoons. Anyway, here's a picture of my son holding my Personal Worst:

I use mono for almost everything now. Big Game on all my bc reels. I’m still trying out different types of mono for my spinning reels.

Amazon has several of their McCoy Mean Green lines on sale. Just got 15 lb and 8 for 50% off

I use the Long A a lot during the post spawn period . Sometimes I'll wake it , twitch it , let it sit . I have an old Ripplin Red Fin in my top water box that I have never used . This sounds strange but I have an old Rebel popper thats bigger than a Pop R that I reel in slow and it will wake and wiggle . I caught my PB spotted bass by waking it . For some real old school wake baits , pick up a Bass Oreno and Heddon Lucky 13 .

Trilene Knot has worked well for me over many years and no trouble. Whatever knot you use wet well and tighten up slowly is key with fluorocarbon. I started with Red Label then Invizx and ended up with Sunline Sniper but that's another thread?

Every few months this topic comes up, and every few months we get into a discussion about how mono will cure all the ills of world and how flouro is the bane of our existence.. Use a quality product and experiment for yourself..I did and use Flouro for all technique's except 2 and do not have the problems many above seem to have. Mike

Welcome to BR!

I was float fishing the Shenandoah river with my great uncle, my cousin Sean and his two kids along with my little brother. My brother and I were stopped below some rapids in the slack water off to the side of the main channel. I knew from previous experience that there was a large "cliff" or drop off under the water so I was showing my brother how to fish it with a 1/8 ounce jig head and a 3 inch Mister twister. I made one cast and hooked up with a typical Shenandoah smallie, about 10 inches or so. I handed that rod to my brother and rigged up my other rod to fish the same way. When i heard the drag go on my brothers pole he had a good one on, we got it in and it was 14 inches so after a quick picture we let it go and got back to it. Now that whole time we took pics and released my jig head was sitting on the bottom right above the drop off so I twitched it once to get it to swing off the cliff. I never felt the hit just years of experience told me to swing on it because something felt off. When I set the hook into the fish i knew immediately i had a good one on, I didn't think it was a giant but i knew for a fact it was a big one as instead of fighting the current it ran straight down stream. I handed the rod to my little brother and told him it was a good one and he was gonna catch it, I was pulling up our anchor he said oh its jumping. i turned and watched this beautiful smallie jump out of the water in a series of 3 tail walks. I knew then that my brother had an absolute tank on easy 18+ inches probably a solid 2 and a half pounder. (Remember this is a river fish and though to some a 2 lb smallie is nothing this river is not noted for large fish) My brother being inexperienced didn't realize that when the fish jump thats more than likely when your gonna loose them, he said and i quote "i want him to jump again cause he's pretty looking" So at this point the fish was just head shaking and pulling and I figured that he was hooked good so I wasn't to afraid of losing him from my brother not fighting him very good. (My brother was only 8 at the time) I watched as the fish came up from the clear slack water beneath us with its mouth open i knew immediately it was going to jump and come off, as the hook was in the bottom corner of his jaw and he was coming up too fast for my brother to catch up. Sure enough he jumped no more than 10 feet from the boat and came off. I believe my great uncle and i were more heart broken then my brother. He had fished that river for more than 15 years and had only caught one fish over 18 inches. I had fished it for 8 years and my biggest fish was 16 and a half. To this day the image of that fish tail walking is stuck in my head, it is a beautiful yet sad image watching that fish dance with the beautiful river in the background.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I was actually able to start working a little on my new raider. I started with cutting 1/4" luan plywood for the floor. I then cut and fit some anti fatigue mats over that, that I bought at Harbor Freight for $7-8. 1 set came up 1/2 a piece short, so I bought 2 sets, and used the rest in my shop. I will prime/paint the luan for water proofing, and after any/all wiring of future mods is complete, I will velcro or double side tape the flooring to secure. I do want to be able to remove it easily when needed though. Cut width of luan was 20", and cut width for mat was 21".

Welcome to the forum!

Thats crazy, never seen that ever!

Goats' beard. I call it the fireworks bush.

As I begin my journey into those "Golden Years," I have found my level of risk taking go way down. However, fishing the big water on a kayak will always be on my bucket list. This video still is by Rob Valderrey.

0.0 ^

This is what happens at 5pm when my almost 2 year old decides he doesn't need a nap today. I tried to pick him up and wake him up because I thought it was a little early to put him to bed, he didn't agree.

What else do I need?

Fat Ika... you're welcome

If you're looking for the simplest approach to spooling, just toss the supply spool into a small plastic waste basket. While you're applying the line tension you desire, the spool will roll around in the basket, but cannot get out. Roger

A pencil, run through the spool of line, clamped in my toes. Never have to look to hard to find it.