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In the tackle forum I started a thread about an all finesse outing. Every year I pick something out of the norm for me and do a full trip (usually an evening trip) and do nothing but. I take out all other rods and baits so that I have no choice. I do this to expand my horizons. I’m a power fisherman at heart with moving baits. That’s not always what they want. Year before last I added ‘plastics’ because I didn’t use them much. Not that I didn’t know what to do, but I just didn’t fish them. Instead I’d just keep casting and cranking on a moving bait looking for just that one bite. That plastics trip expanded a lot of things for me and last year I caught a ton of bass on a Texas rig on slow days (and even hot days). This year I decided it was a finesse outing. Originally I was going to make it an all spinning rod outing since I never fish them (and finally bought a nice setup this winter to force myself to do it). However I could only cobble together 4 rigs and one was a stretch (1000 sized reel on a trout rod effectively). I threw my BFS-ish rod in instead (6’6” medium lite/moderate custom build from a long time ago and a kast king zephyr). Sunday night I just happened to order the shimano curado 7’2” ML that’s on sale at TW right now and it came at 10am this morning. So…. I nixed the trout rod and threw a light reel on it with some thin 12# mono. It’s a medium light after all and that was the nominal target power. Lures wise, I dug back into the box and pulled out some oldies - 1/8 oz spinnerbaits and buzzbaits - Zara pooch and teeny torpedo (these are 1/8 oz or so) - a couple curl tail grubs and heads (they aren’t in the box normally) - tiny original rapalas in 3” on top of that, I took everything OUT of my box that had no place being there. My entire wirebaits box, jig and chatterbait box (one exception), all of my jerkbaits, top waters, swim baits, and all of my crankbaits but two. The exceptions were some small 5/16 oz bomber square As and a handful of Sieberts lil’ man jigs in 1/8 oz. I had a full complement of plastics and terminal tackle. I did NOT bring a fish finder (I know the lake well) which means live scope with a jig head minnow while chasing bass was out too. My plan was to have a little bit of everything rigged depending on the rod and line, then adapt as I went. For completeness, that’s a 1/8 oz bomber mini spinnerbait, a zoom 4” fluke (weightless), a Ned like rig with a standard Ika in smoke purple flake, a lil man jig with a rage mini, and a Texas rigged rage bug midi. A Texas rigged rage bug regular is a regular producer here so that was a safe option on the ml curado. I got to the ramp and a guy was waiting for his buddy to come back. They had been fishing a while for musky and he said he had a bunch of bass following musky lures. I thought it might be a chasing night despite the bluebird skies and zero wind so started with the spinnerbait. Very quickly I decided that wasn’t going to be it so I went to the ika. I probably could have stuck with it all night. The next 200 yards and 60 minutes gave up a half dozen bass including a 17” and a pair of 15” fish. I rounded the corner and was immediately in the sunlight side of the lake. I picked one bass on the fluke and the next hour was a dud. I shot back to the starting point and went down that shaded bank again. I landed a good one on the lil man (I need to fish these more) but the grass was being a problem for the single wire weedguard so I swapped to a Ned. Instead of the ika I swapped over to a Ned rig on a Bass Union weedless head. It was the back end of a 5” Yamamoto senko that I fished the other day. That’s what they wanted. I proceeded to go down the bank and back up over the course of an hour or so and catch another dozen bass. In one spot I caught 5 bass in 7 casts. All the same cast. When those 5 bass were done and nothing else was eating I swapped baits for a minute thinking it was a different profile I needed. No, I just needed a chartreuse tail tip. I had tipped the senko and it turns out that was the key tonight. I tipped another one and caught three straight. In preparation, I tipped a trd since I knew the senko wasn’t going to last much longer. The tipped TRD (‘the deal’ was the color) caught three more including the biggest of the night. all in I caught 18 bass (3 bonus pickerel). Two at 17”, a couple more at 16”, and the bulk of the rest 14-16”. Only one fish under 12” and only 3 or 4 in that 12” bucket. Conclusions and learnings for the night: - it was a successful night. My goal was a half dozen keeper sized. I tripled the number and with a ~12 lb bag of five that’s not bad for a lot of tournaments here this time of year. The number of 2# class fish was surprising. I’ll take that any day. - it was a lot of fun. 15” class fish on medium light spinning tackle put up quite a fight. Trying to horse in fish lost me two so you do have to take it a little easy. - I remember why I don’t carry a spinning rod much and why I didn’t fish them much. In my rod rack system they are a pain to rack. One is okay on an end but more than one is a pain. If I were in a boat, I’d probably keep two rigged, maybe three. In the meantime I’ll stick to one. That said, I’m going to try and bring it every trip. It means making choices on the other 4 rods that come (I have 5 that I usually bring). - I made the right choice in the Zodias this winter. It’s the 6’9” ML with a 3000 size Stradic. Longer might be better for distance and fish fighting on light line. Shorter is definitely better for working baits (I was throwing a 6’ rod tonight at times). This is the right compromise for what I need to do. - @Dwight Hottle made a great recco for 131 braid. I fish 832 and love it on baitcasters. Tonight I had 10# 832 on the bfs reel, 10# yozuri super braid (4 carrier) on two rods, and 10# 131 on my stradic/zodias. The extra little bit of stiffness is welcomed in this light line. I don’t know I’d love it in 50# but in 10# it will be my go to. - I haven’t been carrying the spinning rod the past month now that the grass is up. However a lot of places have sprayed for the grass and it is thinning. On top of that, I was surprised how well a lot of these light rigs came through the grass. The jika like rig was very good but did catch some. It was great coming through wood though. The bass union heads are no stranger to me but I hadn’t fished one this much. It was fantastic through pads and grass. The slider head with the Ned bomb would come through anything dead clean. The only thing that caught any slime was the tag ends of my knot. I could throw the slider and the bass union heads into stuff that I definitely shouldn’t have. Thick pads filled with coontail. Twice I had bass hit it on the drop in 2’ of water in that slop and was worried I couldn’t get them out. I could have thrown it deeper into it but would have definitely been stuck. -sunline fc fluorocarbon leader material is great. I got 8#. I had it in pad stems, coontail, heavy branches, and pickerel teeth. I didn’t have a nick or piece of abrasion. There might be better or cheaper choices for leader but I’m very happy with this. - Finesse fishing like this would be really tough with 5mph wind or more. A few times it kicked up and it was tough watching your line let alone feeling anything. Maybe with straight mono/fluorocarbon it would be better but I doubt it. Certainly with more practice I’d get better at it. I’ll definitely do this more. - There are more bass in there than you might think. I picked this lake because I know there are good numbers and I know generally where they should be. Had I gone down the bank with a Texas rig or jig I might have picked a few of these fish, but given how quickly they changed preferences I wouldn’t have had the night I had. 5 bass in 7 casts which were basically the same cast (the ‘2’ were poor casts) wouldn’t have happened in the past for me. It’s got me thinking now about 30+ fish mornings.

My conservation officer friend told me about a guy he found last summer. He was alone, and fishing in extreme heat during the day. He made it back to the small boat launch, climbed out of his boat, and was sitting there in the sun. He was in bad shape. He was lucky that the conservation officer found him, and knew what to do to help him. Now, the officer makes it a point to ask guys when he sees them putting in, " you guys have plenty of water?". This should be an annual thread. This season, I plan on hydrating the day before I go fishing, as well as when I'm out there. At my age, I may have to pee a lot, but I don't care. That means everythings working as it should. A-Jay has a good chart that shows the effects of dehydration. I'm hoping he can post it here as a reminder for all of us. Dehydration can happen to anyone, young or old. Drink up when it gets hot.

My old boss use to say "drink tomorrow's water today". Hydration is key

You ain’t from around here, are ya

Got an unexpected face time from one of my grandsons at the lake this morning. He’s soon to be 3 years old. And was touching base with PopPop before day school. He was letting me know he’s ready to go fishing. Will be his first time. Had released a couple of 12”-14” Greenies prior. Wish I would have tanked them for him to see but I never expected a call. Went through this with my two older grandsons years ago. Was fun but did get quite interesting at times. They have been fishing since. One loves trout fishing and would fish everyday for them. This weekend I guess I should let him go pick out a kids rod and reel. Make him part of the experience. Tuff thing with kids are their minds and concentration level are short. They vary. I find that you have to make the outing all about them. I make no attempt to fish. Put them on fish they can catch. Even if they are out for a very short time. If they catch fish only even if a few of them will keep them coming back. My daughters are 42 and 36 and I still have their Disney rods and reels. What they picked out. Should be interested.

took my two favorite combos out for some Lake Ontario pier action the other day but no fish. Still it was nice to get out there. IMX Pro MBR 903C with Curado 200i PG IMX Pro SJR 901S with Nasci 1000 FC

Big Fish Jeff turned me on to the Mexican Bass fishing insanity over 10 years ago. Sharing some of the The Best LMB fishing days I've ever experienced is something that's hard to repay a man for. I felt it was only right I do my best to return the favor. When he's on the bow of the Lund, I hardly even cast. He complained about the blindfold at first but eventually he got used to it. A-Jay

Substitute a Ultravibe Speed Craw for the Beaver.

If I could only flip one soft plastic for the rest of my life it would be a weightless 5" watermelon Senko dipped in chartreuse spike it. 3/0 owner offset worm hook - 25 lb braid on a 6.5 foot spinning rod. I know that sounds wrong BUT try to catch more or bigger fish with a baitcaster and a heavy t rig. I dare you. It's just easy to skip, works in heavy vegetation, sneaky, catches all sizes of fish and catches super pressured fish. Works all year.

Agreed...to a point. Michigan, by dint of its guhzillion lakes and FOUR Great Lakes, is a special fishery.

https://ibb.co/JQxDRbw https://ibb.co/ZcsWDT1 I didn’t get any measurements or a weight. I have my best guess in my head but curious what others think. I caught it on my go to Berkeley plastic worm. Happy bass fishing!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve spent the past decade searching high and low for Lake Menderchuck. One day, I dream that I, too, can catch a smallmouth bass. I’ve deployed all manners of devices to try and locate @A-Jay’s treasured watering hole. Drones. Trail cameras. Bribed birds. It took me the better part of several years to prove that Lake Menderchuck is in the Northern United States. What victory. I called my Mom but she still wasn’t proud of me. But now, oh now. Wait till she hears what I’ve found now. I’ve really got the Michigan Poseidon cornered now. Oh yes. I found the STATE. That’s right. Folks, Lake Menderchuck is in MICHIGAN. 🤯. I anticipate that I will have the lake fully located by the year 2074. 💪🏻 We love you A-Jay

That's something people need to remember. Hydration starts the day before. And don't go out with just a bottle or two of water and a bunch of Cokes. Also Gatorade isn't a substitute for water. And don't slam beers in the summer heat.

It would be very strange if it wasn’t the first livescope footage I saw was swindle

No.. they were on sale… I’m stocked up for the next few seasons.

Zoom magnum trick worm June bug T rigged with 1/4 oz bullet wieght.

While I always knew what @A-Jay meant by it, I did spend some time trying to identify the lake featured in the Zona Live epsiode that was originally dubbed "Menderchuck". It was identified at some point in the comments of the video, and it turns out not to have a public access launch. That alone makes A-Jay's Lake(s) more worthy of the Menderchuck moniker, to my mind. EDIT: FYI, for those who haven't seen it, "Menderchuck" is first coined here at about 33:50.

I don’t know why but a weightless watermelon dinger just catches fish as soon as it drops into cover. Pop it horizontally like a jerk bait or popper, bass just appear out of nowhere.

UV index is something else to consider, it's been running very high here (9). An issue that some of us face " especially me " is that when the fish are biting we become to focused to stop, pause for a minute and drink. With age we get a little wiser " hopefully " I make it a point to put down the rod and drink a bottle of water roughly every hour. We should be drinking plenty of water every day regardless of activity.

No super hot or humid weather here on the horizon yet but its only a matter of time. Our first day of 90+ degrees is usually around May 30 so we're on bonus time. Staying hydrated and protecting yourself from harmful UV rays is important. Peak heating hours of the day are especially dangerous.

My kid lives on a small lake. 80 or so acres. My sister's backyard is Lake Michigan. I'd move to lakefront property in a heartbeat if I could. Literally yesterday, I'm in the boat ***ting with my son, who's on shore. I'm on vacation waiting for dad to show up at my kids house to go fishing. Kid is home waiting to leave for work. Dad showed up.

Hey, guys, remember that I found this boat in my swamp.There is as much water in her hull as under her hull. As realtors like to say, she's an easy fix.

I literally believed that this was a real lake and used to look it up but could never find it. Found out the truth last year when some kind posters helped this idiot ironbjorn out.

Back at St. Joes at daybreak. Started off at the crescent shaped weed bed that’s been a hot spot for me recently. Caught one on the chatterbait, with another three with a paddletail all of them being about the same size as the fish pictured below. Moving on to the South side of the lake I caught a couple more dinks with the paddle tail and then caught this guy when I switched to the chatterbait again. Recently I made a post in another thread about how I never used straight braid. Well today after I broke off at the leader knot twice on the hookset I gave it a shot and tied to my mainline. Well I landed this guy below which ended up being my best and last fish of the day. Made me a believer alright! Covering water, bank angler style.

This one recently showed up in the reports thread. But it's such a special and rare fish, I feel like she deserves her own thread. A separate video account seems appropriate as well. Plus, I will probably never see another one bigger. When she struck my jerkbait and I felt her weight, I was really hoping she was a brown bass and not one of the many other plus sized species that inhabit these lakes. Despite not knowing for sure, I really took my time bringing her to the boat. Was especially hard not to get over excited but I managed to keep my cool. Once she was on deck, I was pretty pumped. Be a while before I forget this one. Fish Hard A-Jay

Night time is the right time. Off the water by noon. That said, you gotta stay hydrated. I always take plenty to drink no matter the season or time of day.

I drink 6 - 8 bottles of water every day. On days I'm going to be in the heat, I add a Liquid IV to my first bottle of the day. Did the straight water for years and still managed to get dehydrated.

I haven't found anything out there that says that. In fact, since its almost pure water, it may actually offer some hydration benefits. I drink it every morning, 365 days/year. But I also drink water too. Caffeine, the active chemical in coffee, increases the production of urine. Because of that, coffee is considered a diuretic, something that stimulates the kidneys to produce more urine and leads to excess fluid losses, Olszewski says. However, this diuretic effect is mild per cup of coffee, says registered dietitian Maria Sorbara Mora, RD. A morning cup or two shouldn’t cause any havoc on your hydration levels. “You would need to consume more than 500 milligrams of caffeine per day (that’s five cups of coffee!) to see a significant diuretic effect in the first place,” Mora says. What’s more, these cups would need to be consumed all at once for the body to increase urine production significantly enough to cause dehydration, she explains. Interestingly, ritual coffee drinkers also build a tolerance to the diuretic effect, meaning it becomes less of a diuretic for them and the caffeine won’t cause them to urinate as much as it does for those who don’t drink it regularly, Mora says.

You gotta hydrate in winter too Im really good at drinking tons of water, until I get home for the day. Then I like barley water 😂

This type of thinking could get you in trouble around here.

You can always fish but can’t always spend time with your family. I am 80 and can still fish but can’t spend time with my family except my wife and daughter, everyone else has passed away, parents on both side is expected at my age but 2 brothers and my son are gone. Enjoy life don’t waste time it can’t be turned back. Tom

Never been on the water, but within 5 minutes of the ramp for many years. Only negative is the convenience of a quick trip gets mighty comfortable, and you might find yourself rarely wanting to pull the boat somewhere else. After a few years, the same lake can become a bit boring if patterns repeat consistently - same old, same old. But that convenience to go on short notice or even for just an hour or two with boat mobility 😎

I think Gomexus used to make Titanium knobs, but not anymore. I happened to find some on JDM sites. IMO the quality is almost as good as Livre, and they're light as well. They definitely copied Livre though, and for some reason, they never copied any big knobs like the Fino+, which I personally prefer. I think Quantum handles use different knobs and bearings. Shimano and Daiwa knobs use 4x7x2.5mm bearings, but Quantum knobs use 5x8x2.5mm bearings, same as Abu and Lew's.

Completed most of the boat upgrades last week, comedy of errors with Basspro and gift card that was holding me up. Took it out for its maiden voyage monday, mainly to break in the mercury engine and just ensure everything was working. Only glitch that I have is with the Garmin graph in hull transducer losing depth at speed, made some tweaks but its not perfect and disappointing since I went with the 2d in hull to avoid this. Have come across other threads where folks have had similar issues, maybe the NVT hull on the nitro or something but the transducer is mounted right in front of the lowrance one and per specs. It's kind of odd since doesnt happen at the same speed etc, just need to play with it some more and figure out if there is a setting that will take care of the issue. Other rigging issues were that my garmin footpedal was bad out of the box, when paired with the TM made it shutter and spin back and forth. Garmin support was good about troubleshooting and figuring out the issue but it delayed me getting the boat out on the lake. Seems to work as it should now, will have to use it some more to see what I like and dislike about it. Here is what I have done: replaced tm batteries with 100ah Powerusrus bluetooth lithium batteries installed 12x24 lithium trollbridge (charge on the run and more) Installed all new wiring to a blue seas fuse panel mounted in the starboard locker, 8awg to fuse panel then 12awg for each device on the bow (Helix 10, mega360, Garmin echomap ultra2 10", garmin foot pedal, console Garmin echomap ultra2 10") goes through a blue seas 40a breaker, tied to first lithium battery that also used for trolling via trollbridge) Replaced stock Minn Kota Maxxum TM with Garmin Force Humminbird Mega 360 Bow mounts for Garmin and Bird 10" units ( Baldwin Metal works mount with aluminum L bracket DIY) Replaced Lowrance 5" console graph with 10" garmin echomap ultra2 unit ( aluminum sheet, Basspro shops lockdown mount, 3d printed clam shell) Flow rite remote drain plug RMP transom saver Garmin gt36 jackplate transducer mount plate (so I didnt have to drill into boat) 3d Printed d-rings for wiring in back of boat Boat seems to ride and handle well, took it to lake of the ozarks and while it was a monday there was still traffic and it did fine, sure a bigger boat would be better but she should do fine for what I want and where I want to go. I still have some trailer upgrades to do and will be working on those as time allows in the next few weeks (replacing the stock shackles, replacing the bunks with gatorbak and adding a ramp and clamp). I have pictures for most stuff, not the best at showing before and after but before posting all of them will post some and if anyone wants some more details on any area let me know. Bottom line by purchasing a previous year stock boat that was clearance price (basspro gift card, humminbird rebates) and doing all the rigging work myself I believe I was able to save substantial from purchasing one rigged the way that I wanted, around 14k. I priced new ones rigged how I wanted the boat and nitro was 14k and the others were even higher savings. Now that is rigged how I wanted it rigged, there are lower cost options if you wanted to go with bird or lowrance graphs but an apples to apples comparison I saved at least that much. Anyone want pricing details hit me up PM.

I use these a lot too. Nail weight them for deeper weed lines and skip them under docks all summer long. Natural/dark colors in clear water with the sun out, brighter colors in stained water. I also use a spinning setup for it. I'm not targeting 8 pound Florida strainers here because they don't exist. I just wish they were a little more durable.

I fish in south Florida everglades and if you don't know it's probably the most weed infested place to fish on the planet. And I'm really liking the weightless 12" Zoom Monster worms. It's heavy enough (weightless) to cast a country mile and it’s durable enough to catch a ton of fish before changing out--probably what I like most about it. Other than that, it just plain catches. It's massive size it no matter because it gets 'em all, from small to DD. For punching heavy cover, I'm really liking the Berkely Pit Boss. I've tried them all and always seem to go back to them. I do change out from strait shank to EWG, so the Pit Boss does offer up that ability without compromising the bait because it's designed for both.

Rage Bug Rage Craw Sweet Beaver In that order depending on where and conditions. For sight fishing on beds the bug almost 100% of the time. Mike

Give me a super salt super fluke any day. I use a few different colors but pearl white or black and silver are the most productive. Baby bass works well in greenish tinted water or when bass are overly aggressive.I rig them weightless, t rig, as trailers, punch with them you name it. Lighter braid on a medium fast 6 10ft-7 2ft rod or heavy braid on a 7 4ft- 8 ft heavy rod when I’m in the thick heavy stuff.

Personally, I'd book a guide trip to Texas or Florida.

Just do this and be done with it https://www.digitaka.com/items/5/283/1/23+STRADIC+(New)++-+30%+OFF

7 lbs +/- a few oz . Tom

Nice one! I'd venture a guess around 8+lbs. She likely pushed 8 before she dropped her eggs. Welcome to BR. Stick around, there's a lot of good info here and we have a good time too

One thing that helped me a bunch was watching older (like 80) guys cast. See how hard they -don't- work. Replicate that on the water. And particularly with the daiwas, whippy casts end in tears. Smooth accelleration and follow through pays off a lot. One of the casting habits I see with people coming from a spincaster is bringing the rod to a dead stop vs following through... don't do that - follow the stroke all the way through till the rod is pointing in the direction of your target.

Stradic 1000 all day long. I love my Stradic FL 1000s on my st croix panfish UL and panfish Light rods!

I didn’t have grandparents either who were into doing things like that for me either. Parents that were not much better. But I’m not going there right now. I’ve been a black sheep for most of my life. I was lucky enough to have a farmer and family friend I use to work for who had me trout fishing seriously at about 10-11 yo. I enjoy being around my grandkids teaching them to fish and shoot clay targets (trap, skeet and sporting clays). They love it, I like spending time with them.

Went back to the same rocky flat I was finding fish on last time and the conditions were just right. Overcast with wind blowing from the north. I started throwing the soft glide but felt that I should be fishing something fast and aggressive. Tied on a squeaky black buzzbait and within four casts a massive blowup. She jumped fully out of the water twice and shook free of the main hook but got stung by the trailer hook in the process. Thought I had the four I was after but she was just short. Caught a few small ones after and then the wind and topwater bite died. Dumped another nice one on the soft glide working a tree then called it a day as the recreational boaters were coming out.

Greetings to all! I've been reading a lot of the different forums here and figured best to join. Lot of great knowledge here! I want to thank Glenn for putting this together! I'm 67 years young, semi retired, originally from Pittsburgh, PA, moved here 1987, fishing since 9 yesterday old. Bent rods and tight lines to all!!

You can’t put a price on this! I wish I would have had grandparents to do this with when I was younger. Time to get another one hooked! You will teach him life long lessons. It’s more than about the fishing.

I fish exclusively light stuff. I'll second the Ryugi Infini. Excellent hook. I also really like the Decoy KG hook. And if you want some more action, try the Decoy Ringed KG hook. Typically, a #1 hook is for finesse/lighter techniques and, as pointed out, your gear is closer to power fishing.

Haven't been fishing in about a week and a half. (That's not strictly true: I took some more of my siblings fishing last weekend, but I didn't catch anything as I spent most of my time helping them catch stuff.) Despite a late night last night, I got up at six and hit the pond before work. Managed to get several bass. Nothing big, but they were all fighters. Also, using a ultralight gear made the fights far more interesting. One fish had a dead eye, but his partial blindness didn't stop him from absolutely hammering my crank bait. Also caught a nice bluegill. He'll be in the Other Species thread. Felt good to catch fish again.