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Got another good one this week, a 9lb 4oz tank! Thought I had my third DD when she hit the net, but she was a couple gizzard shad in the belly shy of it. She had a huge mouth like a flathead cat! Maybe I can trick her again in the near future when she's a DD... The adrenaline rush when the big ones hit the net never gets old! And watching them swim away healthy is even better!

I first edited my profile to change my PB. First fish of the new year and a personal best! This 4.89 pound Largemouth bass is the heaviest bass I’ve ever caught!

yeah, our cat watches tv also. This was a really cute one with the aquarium - how do you get in here? and this... Adventure Kitty All-time-greatest Adventure Kitty photo honorable mention

Haven't caught many the last couple weeks, typical wintertime stuff. The other typical wintertime things are happening like big fish biting too though, and that's what I'm out there for. One was a 7.22lb fish, second(ish) fish over 7 I've caught already this year. I say secondish, because I'm 99.73% sure it was the same fish as the one I caught on 1/2/21. Both blind in their left eye, both missing a chunk out of the top of their tails, and pretty distinct lateral line markings. Top is from the 2nd, bottom is last week. Catch and release is soooo important with big fish like this. I don't care if it's the same fish, I caught it on 2 different days so I'm saying it's my second over 7 for the year ? Then I had a 5.09 on one of the new Ott's Garage Rapala's. Only fish I got to catch on it before it blew up because it got snagged... Then my "little" fish was a 4.94 out of the cold water portion of the hot water lake. First bite I've had on a Ned rig in a month. She pulled hard for low 40 degree water.

I caught a 34 lb 5 bass limit on Casitas at night during a tournament using the white ghost Super Cedar...no rattles. Sometimes conventional wisdom isn’t passed onto the bass. Tom

I think its called the Pkfish rig .

Our one cat has absolutely no use at all for the tv, unless there’s a nature program on. Currently, he’s been “carefully observing” a show about songbirds for the last 20 min or so.

Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image. A-Jay

Shouldn't be happening that bad or frequently. I use Hyperwires on everything along with a Texas Tackle split ring pliers and don't recall having any issues unless I'm just using some of the really oversized hooks on the largest baits. Looks like they're simply getting over-separated. I only open the split wide enough to start forcing the hook bend through, never as wide or wider than the hook material itself, then slide the hook on quickly (if that makes sense).

I’ve had the same thing happen with spinnerbait wires. I’ve started wrapping the bend with old braided line. Then I cover the wrap with shrink tubing. It more than quadrupled their life expectancy .

The person you bring along that has his cell phone blowing up non-stop because his wife wants to know every 5 minutes when he is coming home, or he decides that 30 minutes on the lake is too long and needs to go home right now...... Yeah, I am sure most of you know THAT guy.... ?

This goes with something that I've been thinking for a long time; reflectivity. I don't understand how it works, but I've noticed that certain shiny, reflective finishes don't do well. I think depth has a lot to do with it, but I can't get a handle on the critical mechanism yet. I used to think the mechanism was the reflectivity of shad scales, but it's a lot more complicated than that. It's like walking in the moonlight. Some things are almost the same as in daylight. Some things are different, but in a weird way. And some things are invisible. Everything around had better blend in with that pattern, or it stands out too much, and looks unnatural. Just a thought. jj

I studied wildlife/fisheries management, very fun. Ours was geared more toward wildlife than fish but most classes were outside and we travelled all over the southeast to different wildlife management areas

I used to design light and color measurement systems so I can speak to the science of color some. The sun gives off a well know spectrum...range of wave lengths. Anything that light passes through acts as a filter and blocks some wave lengths more than other...changing the "color". Our x, y, z color definitions are literally based on the performance of the human eye in experiments done long ago. Additionally different animals see differently...I think deer see blues the best, some animals are mostly color blind etc. I don't know about fish. As a former avid scuba diver I can tell you that by the time you get 30 or 40 ft down a beautiful coral reef is colorless unless you bring a light to shine on it. I used to bring a bunch of colored discs under water to demonstrate to students. Of course not all people perceive color the same the same. Of course it doesn't look the same to the fish as it does to you. The very term "color" implies some subjectivity. A completely objective description would be raw energy numbers obtained with a radiospectrometer. The conversion to color coordinates is an attempt to predict how a human would perceive it.

Fury 705CB + stuff. The fact that it's a crankbait rod makes the decision easy for me. If it was a Texas rig or jig rod it would easily swing the other way.

Megabass Hyper Cork Knobs. Was in the market for new knobs since my cat chewed the hell out of the stock ones.

I'd bet you haven't had a good pizza since you migrated from the east coast

Bone and Bluegill. Done.

Diarrhea! ?

Whoa..? Nice dang fish. She had type 2 diabetes for sure

I have most likely owned more boats than the majority of forum members. Many of them I bought used. There are many things that go into building a quality boat that you can not see at first glance. For example, a boat built to last in salt water has much better wiring and hardware than a boat made for fresh water use. I have seen boats that looked good on the outside that were constructed poorly underneath. Skeeter boats have quality where it counts. The hull is as tough as it gets. The grey carpet in my ten year old Skeeter was not torn or worn. In ten years, my 150 Yamaha still ran great. The engine height in a Skeeter bass boat is fixed at the factory. If a Skeeter porpoises, it's either loaded wrong or the motor is incorrectly trimmed. The question each bass boat buyer should ask is, What is most important to you? If you want people at the ramp to think you have the fastest boat on the lake, buy an Allison or a Bullet with a motor so large it barely floats. If you want people to think you are a pro angler, buy an expensive boat with two of every electronic gadget you can find, wrap it with a photo of you holding two ten pounders and your name emblazoned on the side. If you want a rugged boat that will get you there and back, last for a long time and won't throw you around in rough weather, you can't do better than a Skeeter.

This reinforces what I've always thought. Color is mostly a confidence factor. I'm sure I'll get a lot of disagreement but I really believe that the best color is the one that I'm fishing with as long as my timing, location, and presentation are right.

turbid water and bright sunlight

Back to that red lure discussion - where pink and red lures become important is low angle sunlight, both early and late - rather than reflected light, the fish see light transmitted through the baitfish insides - the blood in the baitfish acting like a lens filter.

It sounds to me like your using a " swimming worm". This is an old rig, where the worm is threaded onto the hook as you described. Some credit a guy named Jesse Payton from Florida for inventing this rig. Doug Hannon also sold a pre rigged " swimming worm" rig years ago. I think Hannons rig came with a pre rigged leader of heavy mono, and was designed to swim through the water on the retrieve, not fished on the bottom.

The Predator was the the predecessor of the ProV Bass. 2013 was the last year of production. It was my retirement boat up until my grandson was born. Right now the Robalo Cayman is leading for the next rig. His junk or their junk. He has no junk. They have all sorts of it.

Well shoot. I thought it was a whole new line not just more $600+ xtremes! Boooo

It actually lost a tiny amount of weight according to my scale (7.36 to 7.22 in 3 weeks). She was on the same bank about 75-100 yards from where I caught her the first time. First time she ate a shakyhead with a Berkley Flute worm, second time it was a Strike King KVD HC 1.5 flat crankbait.

I had a rod arrive in a sched. 40 PVC tube ....... which had a huge dent right in the middle. Obviously someone didn't care whether it got to its destination in good shape or not. So ....... it makes no difference how well a rod is packed. What makes a difference is how it's handled. The store has no control over that. jj

Well, this is the place - we got lots of experienced guys here. Also check out Glenns videos here and on YouTube - he's got lots from beginner to advanced...good stuff.

I used to work at a Lund dealership. The boats came in bare bones. We had to rig most everything. Even the trailer was a separate order coming from a different vendor. Maybe Brunswick has changed that.

Glad I don't have to deal with what your friend does!?

I'm pretty much at the point where if it isn't a Daiwa or Shimano I don't even give it a passing glance.

That's similar to the manufacturing model used by Saint Croix with facilities in the US and Mexico. I don't think that's the case with the company being referenced, or many other brands. The only one I know of that is close is Shimano, but they own and operate all their facilities in other countries. That's different than producing private label goods. I don't think these facilities are producing reels for anyone else. Daiwa has someone in China producing a few reels, but I'm not sure what their arrangement is. You can do a little searching and buy a reel that is amazingly similar to other big name brands, but have any number of names on the side.

After going through the prototyping and sampling phase of developing a line of spinning reels to import and sell on Amazon, I can verify that yes, they come off the same line. You can change the parts to specs that you pay for. They don't care what name you put on it - in fact, the factory that makes the reel often isn't the same place that screens the name. Packaging is made elsewhere, and putting the product in the package is often yet another place.

When the water is wet.

never had a bad fishing trip. Visits to the internet may vary.

Be aware of internet data, it’s mostly subjective. This will seem non scientific data but read Bill Murphy’s In Pursuit of Giant Bass book. Murphy ideas my seem strange however his references to John Lembeck electro tracking studies and the behavior traits are sound. Murphy was a trophy bass angler that I knew, we were in the same Pisces’s bass clubland a dental technician who duplicated whiteness of teeth. The color white is very complex to replicate exactly. Murph’s book he has a chapter on color and concludes when you think you know bass the green fish always surprise you. Bill painted 10 of same diving crank baits using to his trained eye under controlled lighting the same color shade of white from 10 different suppliers. One caught more bass then the others so he repainted the 9 using the same brand and shade of white paint. The results were 8 of 10 caught bass. White is white or is it? We don’t know how the basses brain interpreted color spectrum wave length. Tom

Unless you're planning on dumping it in a year or two, why are you concerned about it holding it's value? A boat is not an investment. The boat is already 9 years old. All the big depreciation has already happened. If you believe the price is fair and it is mechanically sound and you like the layout, don't worry about reselling it and just enjoy it.

Imagine if you will, it is pre-spawn and you tie on your favorite glide bait because the bass are feeding just beyond the drop-off...

Shimano Cardiff 300A with Dobyns FR806 or Okuma GS A Heavy and IROD gen3 Heavy are excellent budget swimbait combo’s. I used Sunline Diefer Armiilo 25lb** Nylon line for 5 years without any issues for swimbaits to 7 oz. Get Hudds 68 ROF12, 8” ROF5 both in trout and focus your efforts at Castiac lagoon, upper lake and Pyramid*. Ponds BB1 size 50 Ninja rat. Start now. Tom * 11.3 lb LMB on 8” Hudd last week from shore. ** 165 yard 25# fills the 300 Cardiff perfectly.

When my casts bounce ~ ? A-Jay

Taxas Tackle or nothing

Took my tiny Jon boat all the way to lake fork for spring break senior year of college with nothing but a trolling motor. Camped for a few days then hit a lake down around college station. Little did we know that both the spares tires we had wouldn’t fit on the 1957 boat trailer, luckily I didn’t find that out until years later and the drive went smoothly (something like 18 hours back to Knoxville from college station )

HaHa - This statement is so true. I renovated my bathroom a couple years back and my wife was set on getting this particular vanity and fixture. I go online and I read one of those 1 star reviews and the complaint was that - and I'm paraphrasing here - "it just didn't go right in, I had to hire a plumber to put it together and install it". ? "Don't waste your money on this product." ?

I did some grunt work 11B from 2006-2017. Few times over the big pond. The Military bouncing me around a lot of places makes it fun for fishing!

Army, 5th SFG(A), early '80s

Ive shared that I'm a US Army vet, iraq 05-06 then 07-08. Just wanted to let everyone know if they ever need someone to vent to, cuss out, cry to, whatever. DM me and I'll gladly talk any time I can. Veteran suicide is not talked about enough. Good thing we all picked the best hobby for letting it all go and enjoying the water.