Leaderboard

Dear Santa, I have a lot of fishing gear and companies aren't coming up with anything new and exciting so I don't need anything this year......well, i did see the new Terminator Shudderbait, I could use a couple of those...but that's it....nothing else new looks good out there.....but i did see that new Booyah Squelcher Buzzbait....that looks interesting...so ok...go ahead and bring me 3 of those too.....that's it....nothing else.....oh did you happen to see that new Aqua View unit? Now that i think about it i could use that.....so i'm done...wait Santa.....I happen to run across that VMC Tokyo Rig......if you could pick up a few of those for me i wouldn't complain.....i appreciate it...Have a great Christmas.....HOLD ON!!!! Just saw that new Booyah Melee vibrating jig.....i might like to try a couple of those......oh and one last thing......i don't need it....but if you are in a great mood i'll have one of the new Daiwa Tatula 100 baitcasting reels in the 8.1 gear ratio.....i sure wish manufacturers would come up with some new stuff i might want....This will be it for me.....i won't need any more fishing gear ever again.....unless someone comes up with something cool......thanks Santa...and merry Christmas to all of the other fishermen, fisherwomen and fisherkids out there!

Well .... this morning our computer burped so I’m roughing it on my iPhone.....ewwww. Big fingers...little keys and viewing area. But I had to try and check up on you all even though I’m modern day roughing it!!! Have a great day

My wife keeps sending me these not so subtle hints of how much she wants to get cows. This is probably one of the better ones.

Best winter jig numbers day I've ever had today... Fat Albert!

Okay ... this could get a little windy, but I really don’t care. If you’re interested in this effort, grab a coffee, beer, someone else’s beer, or whatever and plunge in. If you aren’t interested, at least look at the pics and read the last paragraph. A few days ago, I received a PM from @.ghoti. letting me know he had some samples of stuff from vendors who support this site and offered to send me a few if I sent him my e-mail addy. He explained that this offer was being made because I was a veteran. Of course, as a skeptical senior citizen, I immediately leaped to the wrong conclusion. First, since I (as all of us elderly types are aware) am constantly being pummeled by gimmicks to buy insurance, hearing aids, drugs for conditions which I don’t have, step-in tubs, and contraptions to haul my sorry butt up and down the stairs; I attempted to politely decline. I also felt that if this really was a legit offer, there were plenty of members more deserving than I. Heck, I was in the submarine service during Nam; I wasn’t mucking through the jungle hoping my young self was not going to be subjected to little pointy projectiles entering me at a high rate of speed. Nope. All I had to worry about was being locked in a boat designed to sink that was built by many high-tech companies, all of which were the lowest bidders! Anyway, I did respond with my courteous “Thanks but no thanks,” and put it out of my mind. Didn’t take long for me to get another terse PM, “Check your e-mail.” With a rather grudging acknowledgement of his perseverance, I did. Not gonna bore you any more with the explanation of why I couldn’t ignore his request. I’ll just show you three of the images in that e-mail down below. I’m completely unable to tell you the emotions, the excitement, the feeling of gratitude for the honor bestowed by this organization. Furthermore, when my rod arrived yesterday, I held in my hands a work of art that I would never be justified in buying! To think I am going to fish with that next spring - that is mind-boggling!! And I can while away the winter trying to select (and save up for) a reel worthy of such a beautifully-crafted instrument. LAST PARAGRAPH!! (Okay ... TWO paragraphs!!) Folks, the Warrior Rod Project is for real!!! And you don’t have to be a big-time member or a tournament-capable fisherman to be a recipient of this honor. Geez, if you look at my few comments, I would guess my ranking would fall somewhere between “minnow” and “crayfish poop on the bottom of the lake” but the point is that if you are a veteran, the folks in this organization care! I can never thank Gary, or all the donors who made this happen enough, but I know every future fishing trip will be much richer because of the members of Bass Resource. And just one final thought: I took some of the bucks I was saving for a new swim bait rod and sent them to @roadwarrior. (Send him a PM and he’ll provide all the info you need.) After all, I’ve got a long winter ahead to save up for more toys. Can’t give a lot but I hope I can help another veteran share this experience. If you’re a vet and you’ve been a beneficiary of this group’s largesse, maybe you can pay it forward. And if you aren’t a veteran, maybe you can chip in something to say, “Thanks” to a veteran. Trust me on this. You have no idea how much it means to the recipient. Thank you all, Art

For spinning: Better handling better strength to diameter ratio Longer casting Better sensitivity Greater hooksetting power ...and the "weak spot" argument is way overblown if you have/use any sense of reasonable drag settings and good knots

I know. It's sad.

lost our old shepherd a few months back he was 100 lb and 12 years old. thought we would not get another dog. life was just to lonely with out. so meet "ARLO" he is now 5 months and 60 lb. if you see funny pics of me in the water , it's because he turned threw boat over!? hope he does like a boat can't wait to see.

Catt visits the first BPS at the grand opening, circa 1893, colorized.

well I had my surgery last Thursday.got home today.was a total success.now just have to recover.5 days in the hospital was the most pain I've ever had.the gas pains were awful.but finally everything passed and now can get on with my life without that nasty C word hanging over me. thanks to all who have prayed and sent well wishes. now can't wait to get down to any lake, stream,pond or puddle just to cast anything.

Come on down to the Big Pond & we'll put it to the test! I'll only throw Texas Rigs & a Jig-n-Craw, you can throw what ever you want.

Keitech Swing Impact Fat

Big suprise.......a Senko. Doesn't work everyday but the most consistent producer in most all conditions. Hard bait would have to be a SPRO Little John original. Those 2 and a Yamamoto DShad are ALWAYS rigged whenever I hit the water.

I have my spells, and could go into a really long post on the subject, but one of the best compliments I ever got came from an FLW pro who told me, "I'm betting that you spend the least amount of money and catch the most bass per dollar of most anyone around." The more you know, the less you throw

Finesse bass fishing today is nearly impossible to define, each regional area has their own definition like so many bass fishing terms. My definition comes from Don Iovino who is in the Fishing Hall of Fame as the Father of Finesse fishing. Don's paper back book Finesse fishing and the sonar connection is dated but worth reading and his Major Craft finesse rods, both spinning and casting, at TW are good quality at a reasonable price point. Tom

I finished up chemotherapy on black friday, last Friday I had a CT scan to verify that there is no lingering cancer and today I got the results. I am officially 100% cancer free as of this moment in time. That is not to say that I am out of the water yet, the chance of recurrence is the highest within the first year, drops a little during the second year and drops significantly after that, but at least I have beaten cancer in the first (and hopefully last) battle. Things are also going good at work, so hope of getting a bass boat in the next year or two is renewed!

I hate my dad. Today my mom went in to the hospital because she had a heart attack. She was able to pull through. Even though I am a 1000 miles away I was able to pull the family together and make sure that mom has all she needs. He was not around to call my sister or brother let alone the other 40 people I had to call. When I talked to the doctors they let me know that all would be well. Yet there was one big void. This was your Job not mine. I lost you to Cancer 8 years ago and d**n near lost mom for the same reason. For those of you that Smoke. Please Quit. I have buried too many loved ones. Sorry for the rant tight lines brothers, keep you families safe

a lady went to a party and had a few to many cocktails, something she had never done before was take a cab home. but she thought better this time and did so. sure enough about a mile from her house there was a d u i rode block set up, they just waved the cab on thru. was she ever so glad that she made the decision. the next morning discovering the cab was still in her garage and she didn't know how to get rid of it ???

How about a positive story? One of the most traumatic experiences of my life was losing my maternal Grandfather to leukemia. He was 52. I was in my teens. I am 1 of 4 grandchildren. Only child of his daughter and oldest of the four grandkids. My maternal Uncle has 2 boys and a girl. I spent every summer growing up with my grandparents on the farm in Iowa. We lived in Omaha, Nebraska. My grandparents went to Canada every year, Lake Lac la Ronge in Saskatchewan. Back then you had to drive 150 miles of gravel road to get to the cabins they stayed at (Lindy's). It was no cushy trip. You had to split your own wood for heat and carry your own water. The standing rule for the grandkids was that you could go as soon as you were old enough to pull your own weight. I was the first and only one to make the trip before he passed. He brought his own twin 35 hp Johnson motors for the deep v wooden boats used. He had the same Indian guide every year. To say it was a trip of a lifetime is an understatement. We had shore lunch every day, we caught walleye, pike and musky by the hundreds. We did a fly in to an even more remote lake by seaplane. It instilled in me my love for fishing. When he passed, I gave up fishing. It was too painful. Fast forward 25 years. A neighbor prodded me back into picking up a fishing rod again. We went every once in a while and I got interested in smallmouth wading on the Shenandoah river here in Virginia. I had access to 3 miles of isolated riverfront and camped there often. It was on a warm summer's morning, I woke up just before sunrise, gathered my spinning rod, put on my waders and headed out to the middle of the river in a heavy fog. I could only see about 4 feet in front of me but I knew this section of the river like the back of my hand. The river was perfect, the air cool, the current smooth, no wind and other than the sound of the river, there was beautiful quiet and calm. Made a few casts, caught a couple smallmouth when all of a sudden I felt someone touch my shoulders as if putting their arm over them. I don't know how I knew, but I knew it was my grandfather. Just as sure as I sit here and type this I knew it was him. No doubt in my mind. I heard his voice and saw his smile all in my mind. It was if he was standing right next to me. I felt his joy. Just at that same time, out of the mist and fog came a herd of about 15 deer wading across the river. They didn't spook, they split and went around me on both sides, close enough I could have touched them. As they disappeared into the fog, I found myself once again alone in the river with total peace and serenity covering me like a blanket. From that day forward I was a fisherman at heart and to this day, every time I pick up a fishing rod, a little bit of that memory resurfaces and I smile. Every time.

It's the low price of the reel that makes it so special. Sure, when it was released, it went for $99.99 and some places still sell it at that price next to the SLX, LFS, Casitas, etc. However, the reality is that there are many places where it is in the sub $65 range which puts the Daiwa Fuego CT in its own category as far as I'm concerned.

One little pike in 6 hours of fishing... ...still beats getting skunked!

Z Man TRD, fell in love with light line fishing.

I absolutely respect your opinion. On my TV I can't see downfield and don't know if Trubisky made a bad read or missed an opportunity unless the announcers show it on a replay and talk about it. What I do see are too many inaccurate throws. But you won't find many Bears fans that would rather have Cutler. I'll take Mitchell's youth, enthusiasm, passion and leadership all day over Cutler's shrugging and pouting. And from what I've seen on the interwebs the team culture inside the locker room and at Halas Hall is intoxicating. And Mitch is right in the middle of it. He only has 23 career starts and only 11 starts in Nagy's offense. In a couple years I might be eating my hat and saying you were correct. But as a Bears fan, for my sanity I have to look at this with rose-colored glasses and believe we will have an above average QB that can help us win a Superbowl, not a Blake Bortles....... BEAR DOWN!!!!!!!!!

If we were all honest with ourselves, a good part of the fun in fishing is the simple buying baits. Whether it be different colors, styles or types, there is a certain amount of joy from just owning them. It's like women with shoes or purses!!

You have dishonored yourself, your family, and your cow. ?

I'm in an all out war with the local Crappie at this point ...my weapon right now is the Shinee Hinee jig. I'm winning, lol. Caught a few of those lowly Bass on it too. ?

Slickdeals posted this yesterday. It's unconfirmed but they are usually very accurate and report eBay promotions in advanced. Sunday 12/16 eBay Site-wide coupon , 10% Electronics, 15% other categories: Offer: 10% off for electronics, No minimum purchases. 15% off for all other categories, No minimum purchases. Maximum coupon redemption $100. Time: Sunday 12/16. 7AM PST to 7PM PST Excludes: Gift Cards & Coupons, Coins & Paper Money, Real Estate, Warranties Code: PRESENTSGALORE

My favorite as of right this second is a magnum rage bug on a 5/0 flipping hook, with a 3/8 ounce weight pegged on 22lb sunline fluoro with my dobyns 735 and tatula ct.

Bandit and Norman crank baits. War eagle screaming eagle spinner baits. Zoom baby brush hogs and trick worms.

Just don't try to start a fire by striking your phone against a teenager. I've tried it. It doesn't work.

It's easy for me....For Plastics, if Yamamoto doesn't make it, I don't throw it although with their lineup you would be hard pressed to find a style of plastic they don't make. For every other bait I use the old fishing saying "Everything made today is just a variation of something that has already been made". There are very few, if any, new offerings that are not modifications of existing baits. If I have some variation....I don't buy it. If it's truly something "new", I'll give it a try. That keeps my Bait Monkey buys to a minimum.

My current favorite lure is my Rebel Bluegill squarebill. I changed the stock barbless hooks to some Eagle Claw Laser Sharp red trebles. I throw it on a size 300 spinning reel and 8lb Fluorokote line. I thought I lost it last month but was able to catch it on another lure and reel it back in.

"If I had one wish this Holiday Season, it would be for all the children of the world to come together, hold hands and sing in harmony"....

I'm gonna be a little controversial here and many will disagree but to "me" finesse fishing is not done with a baitcaster, braided line or anything over 1/4oz weight. I don't have any braid under 35lb test and although I do have it rigged on some spinning rods (WST Wide Spool Technology) I use them for flipping beds and dragging on St Clair. I don't use leaders either. Most of my braid is on baitcasters. Finesse to me is max 8lb line, spinning rod/reel. All the reasons mentioned are why I use spinning plus there's ease of skipping under tree lines and docks. Finesse IMHO requires more skill from the fisherman with less reliance on the gear to overpower the fish although good finesse gear is a must.

I still fish a Jelly worm most of the time but any worm will do . As far as hard baits , my number one bait this past year was a hand poured buzzbait . The slop I was fishing in made it difficult for a lot of lures and the buzzbait worked well around it . The old Excalbur spinnerbait with counter rotating blades was a very close second .

Like tom mentioned, its hard to narrow down exactly what finesse fishing is and isn't. To me finesse fishing doesn't just mean light weights and small baits, it's more of a speed and action, or lack there of, than weight and hook/bait size. If I'm throwing a drop-shot and I know thats the hot bite, I'm usually throwing 1/4 or 3/8 ounce weight with a 1/0 hook and a weedless rigged worm, craw, or lizzard on 12lb fluoro or mono and a medium power casting rod. If I am new to a lake or am not sure of the hot bite I will rig a spinning rod with 10-15lb braid with a 10lb mono leader with a drop shot, and rig the previously mentioned casting rod with a 1/4 ounce jig or senko style bait. Along with my other 5-7 rods with other stand by baits. One advantage of spinning rods that I see in my style of fishing is the fact that I usually work the bait less and retrieve my casts slower and casting into the wind with <1/4 ounce baits.

No.

Was kind of interesting when I moved out here ten years ago there was hardly a spin rod in the club. I fished a three inch dinger on a 1/8 head and six pound leader for smallie and crushed it. Lots of TV fish...I will say...there were some fast learners ?

I have a 20 and it is a perfect size, imo. Very nice reel, but treat it well. A couple metal-looking parts are actually plastic. I've ordered parts and done simple repairs myself, but just would have been a little gentler had I realized the fragility earlier.

Do you mean straight braid not getting more distance than straight flouro on a casting reel? I'd add sink rate and visual bite detection to that list as well. Braid floats so it will slow the fall of a bait. It's also more visible so line movement is easier to see, allowing to detect bites before even feeling them at times. This really only applies to me with spinning gear as I never use braid to a leader with casting gear under any circumstances.

That is excellent news! I just received the results of my CT scan that followed 6 months of chemotherapy which confirmed that I am cancer free as of this moment in time just today myself. What a relief!

Another vote for the Lew's LFS series. I bought 3 of them in 2016 and they have been taking a beating and still performing great.

You've been duped by the mono fanboys and braid haters. Fact are facts and mono/fc lines have memory and want to spring uncoil itself. Braid will not do this it will stay on the spool without uncoiling on its own. It is inherently more controlled on a spool than the other lines.

Yea....right.

Good thing you spotted them quickly. Otherwise you would be much shorter.

How I use to look for new fishing spots.

Another vote for Lews, I have both the LFS and the Tournament MB, both are great. The MB casts a little smoother and has a dual breaking system. If you can swing the MB I would go for it but the LFS is a solid reel.

The Lews LFS speed spool is by far one of the best $99.99 reels I ever used. It is an aluminum framed reel with really good performance and is a lot lighter than a Fuego CT. Just about every angler in my old bass club has at least 1 of those and I know a guy that got 4 after using the one he got for his son, and 3 years later and all those guys still have and use them with no issues.

Creek Chub Weed Bug #2819. 1927-1935