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No weight, just caught, pictured, released. Modified devils horse. Bank fishing around a dock!

It was a beautiful day to be on the water: sunny and just the right amount of wind. However, as much as this fisherman liked the conditions, the smallies didn't. I went to a presentation that's worked in the past, a simple, 1/8 oz. bucktail jig fished slowly and deep off a rock pile. This 4.37 lb. smallmouth made the mistake of taking it for lunch!

Spinnerbait chunk this afternoon, best of 9 (didn't get a weight; likely 3-something): The shoreline areas had some weeds, and some wood; the key was finding where there were both.

This pic is for better size reference. Maybe I tiny bit long armed.?

Broke in my new Jackhammer chatterbait on a new lake today...in 3 hours I caught 16, all about the same size -- around a pound or two, like this one:

I made a bank trip to a small lake near my house last night after work. When I got there I noticed an older man standing on the bank, holding his rod close to his face. I came by and ask him if he needed help. He had gotten a backlash, and had forgotten his glasses in his car. He couldn't see well enough to fix the backlash. I offered to get his glasses for him. He gave me his keys, and I made the hike to his car, bringing back his glasses. He was very grateful for the help, and was casting again in short time. He explained that he used to own a bass boat, but had to sell it. He couldn't go out by himself any more. He also said he fished a few tournaments years ago, and that his fishing buddies were all gone now, so that left him as he said,"walkin the banks alone". He was obviously an avid fisherman. I moved down the bank casting as I went. When it was almost dark I heard him holler" hey there thank you again". I said " your welcome". For the young guns just getting into this sport, I hope you always respect the older anglers you meet. Give them a kind word, and help them out if they need it. One day, you may need a hand too. When your "walkin the banks alone".

So the last of the ice out was a week ago. Today we finally got out. Water temp around 45. Couldn't find a bite, but man didn't it feel good to be out. Here's to the first of many, many, many, trips this year.

So it was another wonderful day. 60 and partly cloudy. ESE winds and a dream , went out this morning with water temps at 48 degrees and a smile. I started off with the jerkbaits and spinnerbaits and was hammering them. Had about 15-20 decent smallmouth in the first few hours and then it died down to a Hault. Decide to try some bottom baits and busted out the tube in a brown/gold flake. Instantly started hitting again! Woohoo, i caught about 6 on the tube and remembered I have a dark sleeper in a brown and gold color. I tie it on and I’m swimming and hopping and doing whatever I can to get bit .. all of a sudden “thunk” and the rod bends hard and the fight was on. She swallowed it and was hooked good and funny thing is that was the only bite on the dark sleeper all day .. old PB is 5 pound 4 oz. this one was just over at 5 pound 6 oz ! Not my true 6 pounder but it’s comming. Oh and @A-Jay good and bad news, megabass sonicside is amazing! Caught 3 nice smallmouth on 5 casts , bad news is that I broke off into rocks after that ahah. Guess it means I have to order 2 more ?.

Whipped out a sharpie on my lunch break and doodled this one up. Second cast right after work on the edge of a pad field and I had one. Went back at dark and got another. There're perch here so I figured I'd try. The stock color wasn't getting bit anyway. The sharpie hasn't faded at all. Fished it again this morning and the color stuck nicely.

Alphas SV105P on the Tatula Elite 7' M/MH Ehrler AGS. I couldn't take the 80mm stock handle, so I bought a cheapo carbon fiber one off Amazon, unknowing if it would fit or not. It does fit, but there's a slight amount of in/out play on the knobs, so I have some spacers coming to tighten up the tolerance, still not awful right out of the box though. This is pretty much my favorite rod/reel combo at the moment, it throws 90% of my tackle, and most of it really well.

I was having a decent day catching 2 to 3 pound bass, when this dinosaur hammered my jerkbait. most exciting part of the day was trying to get my $15.00 jerkbait out of its mouth. It weighed 7lb 8oz.

I like to fish with a 1/8 oz. pop-r. Last spring the crappie were tearing it up.

Wow. Looking at the photo I would guess 8-9 lbs. Just further proof that photos can be deceiving.

We catch them all the time in Alabama. Bass fight way harder believe it or not. Go Vols beat them Florida Gators!!

I took a break from tossing the big swimbaits and hooked into a 6.5 largie on a custom jig I made. Just after dinner time last night at the Wachusett Res.

Devil's horse, prop bait. Dock fishing today

I've got the latest and greatest goodies coming from Japan. Stay tuned everyone

Both your guys' stories are miracles. Glad you're back at it!

Just getting if the lake at midnight. It was a fun time. I have some video of the units in action. A couple screenshots as well. The UHD is definitely clearer. It is all on default, but I will play with the settings. The mega on hummingbird is much bolder at this point. Still, it is way clearer than the clearvu Ok, I was reading bottom going 30 mph tonight. It seem that I have finally found the right place for my transducers.

I have the LMH in 7’, 7-3, and 7-6 in ZBones and 6-9 (something near it anyway) in the Helium 3. some were ordered custom with the balance kit. Those don’t feel tip heavy; the others do a little, but I don’t mind. I like them all. No blemishes, no problems, etc. I use Steez on the ZBones and Tatula SV on Helium. I’m still moving reels around looking for the perfect weight combo. Just got the new Steez CT SV to try.

I wound up going with an Abu instead of a Scorpion, but an old friend heard and sent me this with some copoly and a few other things.

I have a few Kistlers that I love. None have any imperfections.

The Golden Rule carries No Age requirement. Just saying. A-Jay

Aaaand national peanut butter sales have gone up 54% since this was posted.

That thing looks huge

You can't be that tall ? I'd go with the 6', especially fishing from shore. You'll get a better stroke walking the more vertical you go. I look like I'm putting when I'm walking. Walking baits all cast far naturally, so you don't need the length for that. But you might get better speed on your baitcaster, which is important, depending on what reels you have.

Lipless cranks work pretty good at times so I'd suggest giving them a try. What kind of rod are you going to be throwing them on? I've found that a Med\Mod with about 2lbs or so of drag works best for me. If you live in the land of dinks they're feisty and will tear or throw the hook if the rods too stiff or the drag is set too high.

get a kvd square bill and toss it around, you'll catch something.

It all comes down to the weight of the bait. Less than 1/4 oz., like a tiny popper, and it's spinning. Anything more, I prefer the control of a casting reel.

Let me think....lake dropping several feet during the spawn cycle with dead adult size bass along the shoreline....find another lake this one is in serious trouble. Tom

They look similar because they’re both built at the same factory. Bearings don’t affect the clutch.

second that

Ardie was 19 years old the day he gave his life for his brothers and country. MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION Specialist Four Ardie R. Copas distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Machine gunner in Company C, 1st Battalion (Mechanized), 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division during combat operations against an armed enemy near Ph Romeas Hek, Cambodia on May 12, 1970. That morning, Specialist Four Copas’ company was suddenly attacked by a large hostile force firing recoilless rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and automatic weapons. As Specialist Four Copas began returning fire, his armored car was struck by an enemy recoilless round, knocking him to the ground and injuring four American Soldiers beside the vehicle. Ignoring his own wounds, Specialist Four Copas quickly remounted the burning vehicle and commenced firing his machinegun at the belligerents. Braving the hostile fire directed at him and the possible detonation of the mortar rounds inside the track, Specialist Four Copas maintained a heavy volume of suppressive fire on the foe while the wounded Americans were safely evacuated. Undaunted, Specialist Four Copas continued to place devastating volleys of fire upon the adversary until he was mortally wounded when another enemy round hit his vehicle. Specialist Four Copas’ daring action resulted in the safe evacuation of his comrades. Specialist Four Copas’ extraordinary heroism and selflessness at the cost of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.

Are you using round nose pliers? I make the jig if I'm making multiple baits and want uniformity, but I need a couple of different pliers to "clean up" the bends. The R-Bend is a bend that needs "cleaning up". Usually you're making an overlapping bend and pulling back with the tag end to complete the arm. As far as the natural curvature of the wire from the coil is concerned, I really don't worry about it, the bends on bass lure are minimal. Not gonna lie here, I do tune up the lure prior to use. Good luck, would love to see some of your creations. This one started out as an inline but, as usual, my mind got carried away. Turns out to be a great multi-species bait. It flat out bird dogs fish:

That is a wonderful story, Mo. Congrats. As they say in the Gloucester, Virginia newspaper when you do something good, "local guy does good!" Proud of you helping the guy. And yes, one day we all will be in his place.

What was his name?

@EVG There's nothing more disheartening than buying a mid to higher end setup based on someone's opinion & then finding out it aint what your comfortable with. Because of this I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of starting with a decent setup until YOU figure out what you're comfortable with. May I suggest looking at combos; Academy, Bass Pro, & Cabela all have good quality combos from $79.99 to $149.99.

When cute 20 something cashiers start calling you "Sir" ???

My grandpa taught us whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. What goes around, comes around ?

It goes the other way too... I'm 67 and regularly help young tyros out who can't tie knots, and have silly lures that some salesman sold them, or advise on other tackle issues. ? One kid last year had a backpack that was so overfull and heavy he could hardly negotiate the canal bank. I showed him how few lures and rigs I kept in my vest and he decided to travel lighter from then on.

First New York Largemouth of 2019 for me! The pond Bass have finally come out of hibernation. I was out for Trout with a size 100 reel, 4# mono and a light action pole. Had a worm threaded on a size 6 Aberdeen hook. Saw this girl hanging by some cover with my polarized glasses. Tossed it about a foot and a half away and she shot out and slammed the worm. A nice little fight on the Trout and panfish gear for sure.

Definitely Texas Rigs and such. It is your most powerful rod and fastest reel so the choice for me would be clear. You will get answers all over the place on line selection so I will just tell you what I like and why. 50 lb braid and a 15 lb mono leader. I use braid because it doesn't stretch like mono or flouro, it's easy to handle, and will last a very long time. Did I mention it is strong? Not that you need 50 lb strength, but the larger line is easier to see. I'm not a fan of extra fast rods for anything, but many are. I use a mono leader because it holds lure and leader knots better than flouro in my experience. Why use a leader at all? On a bottom contact rod, your line will also be contracting the bottom. Braid is not the greatest at abrasion resistance. Now for the truth, I've convinced myself bass get line shy and using a leader gives me confidence. That's what id do sir.

Congratulations! There aren't many feelings to experience that are as satisfying as catching fish with a lure you made.

Got out from 8:30 til.2 today. Got 10 -1 on a chatterbait and 9 on a jig with the best two weighing 3-2 And this one at 4-13

[April 22, 2019] It's been a long winter... working on fishing tackle projects, waiting for the snow to melt, and the ice on the lake to thaw. My buddy and I headed out for our first fishing trip of 2019 back on April 15th, 2019, but we both zeroed. Water was cold & dirty (~45 degrees, <1ft clarity), and there had been two tournaments the past two weekends. Not making excuses, just the conditions were tough. We fished area's we had history with in the past and tried to hit high percentage areas that we know hold fish... but it didn't work. So a week passes, we get a few more days of warm weather, and come up with the idea to fish a completely new location and area of the lake that neither of us have ever fished before. No history or memories to worry about, we will have only our instincts and what we have learned to guide us through our fishing day... When we got to the ramp we could see the water clarity was around 3-4ft, water temp was around 46-50 degrees, and the forecast showed today to be sunny through the morning, then become overcast with falling pressure and wind in the early to late afternoon. We both knew bass are currently in the pre-spawn phase, so it's a matter of finding where they are staging and what they will react to. The new area we fished was amazing, literally everything looked good from rocky points, to boulders, to deep water breaklines, to docks & laydowns, you name it. We fished so much amazing looking stuff for hours and hours without a bite constantly covering water, throwing lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, deep diving crankbaits, jerkbaits, softbaits, bladed jigs, jigs, over and over and over until my arm was sore. "Keep Grinding" I told myself as I had in my mind today's success could come from a specific location or time of day or even a combination of both. Well the night before our trip I did a little research on Google Earth and Navionics, and found three key locations that looked good. Well the day was now about over, and we were on the last one. It was the last major secondary point before you get to the back of the cove where the spawning area would be. It had an area off the point with ~10-15ft before it breaks off into 30+. By this time in the day the clouds had rolled in along with the wind and it was becoming harder to control the boat. Not only could I now see the ramp we launched from this morning, I could also make out the truck and trailer - we were that close to the end of our day. It only took a couple of casts (par usual when fishing around fish) and I felt the rod load up... 1st Bass of 2019 - 18 & 1/4'', 2lb 13oz / 2.88lb 6th Sense Curve 55 (Crackle Craw) WolfyBrandon

First large mouth of the year from Murphy lake michigan on Easter Sunday. Makes it even sweeter that I caught it on a chatter bait I poured ( do-it mold), painted, cured, and assembled. Jig is silver, skirt silver and black, with a 2.5 inch twister tail for a trailer. I lost another about the same size. Made it all worth while is both nailed the lure as 2 separate group of guys came motoring up to ask how I was doing Heres a close up of the chatter bait . Now I just need a differnt mold to enminate the split ring

Or they're sitting at work, dodging the boss, daydreaming about the Bass jumping in the river right next to work..

If I had water like that around, Instead of going on the internet, I would be too busy throwing everything in the world to find out what works.