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You think LMB are my favorite fish to catch and you are wrong. My life long goal was catching a WR LMB and spent more time on the water pursuing that goal bass are not my favorite fish. Musky over 50” are up there for fresh water fish. My favorite are Blue Marlin followed by Black Marlin, both are equally difficult to catch and get over 1,000 lbs. Marlin are spectacular fighters with high speed and jumps. Stripe Marlin are common and fun to catch but it’s there Black and Blue cousins that get my vote. Tom

I was having a conversation not long ago about favorite species and if there was an experience that set the tone (got you”hooked” no pun intended). Assuming it’s a bass species but doesn’t have to be. My favorite is definitely now smallmouth and since getting the bug I’m reminded of an experience when I was a kid fishing with my dad. It didn’t really get me hooked but now that I fish them regularly it comes to mind a lot. When I was in 7th or 8th grade my dad got us into walleye fishing, which I hated at first. To me fishing was seeing structure or something to fish near and all of a sudden we were out in open water throwing jigs at nothing. Eventually we found success and started driving from northeast Wisconsin to Escanaba, Michigan to fish Little Bay de Noc. One trip we were fishing a rock pile or drop off near where a bridge went over the mouth of a river into the bay. I was dragging a jig along the bottom when I felt the familiar subtle tick on an ultralight walleye rod. I set the hook and the next thing I knew my drag was ripping off line like I had never seen before. Not more than a couple seconds later a big splash broke the surface 50 yards out and then snap. Gone. I was shocked and just stood there in silence for a second with no idea what just happened. After a few seconds my dad looked over and said “well I think you hooked into a big smallmouth.” I didn’t even know what a smallmouth was then. Years later after I moved back to the Midwest and got obsessively back into bass fishing, smallmouth became my favorite and I think about that memory a lot now. Anyone else have a “gotcha moment” fishing?

Cabin fever was crushing me yesterday so I hooked up and headed for the nearest body of water which happens to be East Fork Stones River, The headwaters of Percy Priest Lake. Air temp 39 deg. and plummeting with gusty winds. What was I thinking? Absentmindedly I unhooked my trailer rope, backed in, got out of truck to watch my boat float off the trailer with no rope! Two choices......go home and shop new boat, or,........well I choose 2nd option. Caught boat waist deep and pulled to bank. Water was very, very, cold. parked truck, hopped in boat and trolled out to river channel. The water was murky after recent rains so I decided to catch a few Shad for the pond and go home. Since I stink so badly with a cast net, it took forever and frozen fingers to get twenty. I pancake one out of thirty casts. With numb fingers, the ratio was worse. Amazingly, I wasn't the only nutcase out there. There were at least six other boats! Every time one would zoom by, the Shad schools would scatter and I would say bad words. It got me thinking, Is this an addiction, disease, or just good honest sport? Do I have something eating away at my remaining intact brain cells? Well, then paranoia set in 🙂. The bait monkey is eating my brain! When my fingers were hurting more than I could stand, I went back to ramp and loaded up, peeled cold, wet, blue jeans off of bright pink skin, cussed/thanked daddy for starting this all encompassing live-style, cranked up heater, and headed for the house. The little woman was not a bit surprised at my appearance. Think she has seen this movie a time or two.

Couldn’t pass up a chance to fish in the snow. Went to the quarry behind my house and first fish was a nice crappie, never caught one of those out of there but a buddy has. Also got a little bass and missed some hits. There was a portable sauna set up in the parking lot and people were jumping into the water after they left the sauna. One girl said “there’s a guy over there ice fishing” when she saw me 🤣

Some where back in the 60s my dad rented a wooden boat that had slats nailed across the ribs for a floor. I noticed what turned out to be a Scoundrel worm (black with two yellow stripes). Dad rigged it weedless for me & I cast it out & let it sit while eating a sandwich. I noticed a whole row of pencil reeds laying over in a stright line & thought what the hell. Dad screamed set hook, I did & caught a nice 2# chunk. 60+ yrs later still chunking worms & chasing largemouth!

Hard to choose between largemouth and smallmouth. I got my start fishing for smallmouth on crystal clear mountain lakes, and then as a kid and young teen most of my fishing was at the park pond for largemouth. These days I fish for largemouth more often, and that’s mainly because the lakes that provide the best opportunity for my small electrically powered craft are primarily largemouth lakes.

Most anglers try forcing a jig through grass which is all wrong, you gotta finesse the jig through grass! When you feel the jig starting to load up in the grass...stop. Release pressure, pull up until you feel heaviness again but apply slightly more pressure, then release, continue until the jig breaks free. You want the motion to be similar to & as fast as working a shaky head, you're just applying more pressure. Same applies to "wood" 😉

Agreed 100% with @The Baron.......when a big ole Tina comes up and launches herself out of the water and you see that big ole bucketmouth and your heart sinks, that's it for me! I could never catch another species of fish besides LMB the rest of my life and be perfectly content.

Since I buy X-braid, no way my leader breaking strength is higher than my braid breaking strength. However, I fish a lot of abrasive fish in abrasive conditions, and generally pick larger leader than gets discussed on BR. E.g., 19-lb breaking strength YGK V-12 fluoro leader on PE#1.5 X-braid (30-lb breaking strength) - the leader is twice the braid size on Japan silk-thread scale. Likewise in the surf, I'll match 40-lb Gold fluoro to 45-lb (PE#2) braid. Drag set is always 1/4 of weakest link, line, leader, or rod max line rating.

Getting less and less tolerant of cold, wet weather for sure. The doctors opening the playbook - it's a yearly game of "what's THAT??" Readers are a requirement Turning the light on your phone so you can read the menu Catching yourself stooping while walking - when did that start?? More gray/missing hair Aches and pains in joints, especially when getting up or bending down Where'd I put my keys? Watching the pop music awards and not recognizing anybody Prioritizing comfort over fashion in clothing choices Complaining about things being "different now" compared to when you were younger Feeling more cautious when doing physical activities Say goodbye to a full night's sleep

This is key. I don't have wide feet, but I buy wide cold weather boots. Gotta have some insulating air space in there even when wearing wool socks. Preach it brother. It ain't easy getting two inches of wiener out through six inches of clothes. Err... Uh... So I hear...........😂

If you are considering pouring your own jigs, here are some things to think about. Pot. $70-400 depending on quality Molds $50-70 each Hooks $.30-1.00 each Skirts $.30+ per tab Weed guard $.15-30 each Lead $2.00-4.00 per pound Paint from a rattle can to $200 Eye protection Gloves good to 500° So on the cheap lets say you get a $70 pot, $20 worth of lead (you will need a way to flux it before use), 2 $60 molds, $60 for hooks, $30 for weed guard, $60 for skirt tabs and a $4.00 can of paint. You will have $364 minimum invested and you won’t have a jig yet. My unsolicited advice is find you a bait maker and buy the type of jig heads that you want. Use his hooks or provide your own. Get a few dozen poured (painted or not), buy some skirt material and see if you like to assemble jigs before you dump a few hundred bucks. Getting into plastics is a whole other bigger can of worms. I will be happy to share some of the places where I get supplies for anyone interested.

I purchased a Battleborn 75ah a few years ago, and I think it was around $700. Battleborn was considered the premium American brand at the time. It has worked great, but if I were buying today, I would buy a cheap one off Amazon. If you look at Amazon reviews, a $200 Li Time battery has about the same review ratings as a $750 Battleborn. Some people think warranty and service are important. I say a warranty is only as good as the company behind it. When I bought the Battleborn, I felt good about the warranty from a strong company. Now Battleborn is struggling to compete with the cheap Chinese batteries, and if they go out of business, my warranty goes out with them. I don't think you can be sure any of these companies will be around in 5 years. Personally, I would buy cheap and take my chances. The biggest risk you take is if you get a bad battery, it can be very expensive to send it back. Some buy local for that reason so you don't have to ship it back. This topic generates a lot of discussion on this forum. These batteries are actually pretty simple. They consist of LiFePo4 cells, a BMS, a case, and wires. The cells are all made in China by large companies, and their primary use is in electric vehicles. A trolling motor is a very low-intensity use compared to a Tesla. To answer your questions: Is leakage a common problem? I've never heard of a LiFePo4 leaking. I've heard of the cells expanding from heat but not leaking. Bluetooth? Bluetooth allows you to monitor the charge level from your phone. You can decide if this is worth the extra cost. I'll also mention that you will probably want to get a charger designed for LiPo4 batteries if you don't already have one.

Florida Strain LMB. They are challenging and the reward is huge when you trick an exceptional specimen.

Man, that's a tough call. I love SMB and LMB. If I was forced to choose, I'd say largemouth just because I like the way we fish for them. And high jumping SMB are a blast, but there's just something about how a big LMB wallows and you see that huge mouth - I think seeing that for the first time got me hooked.

Agreed. It isn't really a 200 sized spool either with its MagZ Boost. More like a current standard-brands150. The Tat 150 ( MagZ) is actually a 200 sized spool, and the Tat 200 (Magforce) is more like a 235-240 sized spool if you can imagine that. Both are housed in the same frame with metal gearbox side plates. In order for Mag Z to work, its mechanical requirements dictate a minimum sized arbor which is the limiting factor. Any smaller and you only get Magforce which is perfectly fine for heavier baits. That's true, but there are weight penalties with typical 42-43mm tall and deep 300 sized spools. Love the Tat 300, but in my experience, it gets tricky controlling fluff and over runs with baits less than 3ozs, especially on bomb casts. In this case, the Tat 200 is nearly ideal, especially if 20-25 fluoro mainline is a possibility. This is where the T-wing shines above standard LP reels with their much smaller line guide apertures. Heavy plastic lines simply flow through the T wing. My brother bought 2 Tranx 300s impulsively. He didn't hate them, but he didn't love them either. After spending time with my Tat 200, he quickly sold each Tranx and got 2 Tat 200s which he loves. Trouble free, and not twitchy at all with his lighter glides and wakes and just fine with baits up to 4 ozs. If you're considering heavy braid to a 25lb leader, be sure your upper guide train is large enough (not even semi-micro). Even slim knots are bulky with that test. If you're sensitive to a connection knot banging through your guides, you might not like that.

At some point reducing IPT and line capacity is going to kill the action of a Chad Shad. A 100 sized reel with 20lb FC is well past that point imho. To be perfectly honest, 20lb FC on a 200 sized Zillion HD is pushing it in regard to line capacity and IPT. Arguably the biggest advantage of going with a 300 sized reel is that you can run straight 20-25lb FC or mono, and when making casts you don't burn so much of your line capacity and spool diameter. If you rely on reel handle turns alone to work a glide for example, this absolutely has to be taken into account.

I just ordered a Daiwa Steez Real Control rod for under $500. Here, they are $1300. Got to love that exchange rate. It's a dream rod for me so I'm pretty excited. I was actually planning on getting a G. Loomis 822S or 902S as this year's big rod purchase. Maybe next year.

Muskies will forever be my favorite. However around here is terrible for them and I don’t have the time to put in for them. Smallmouth bass on the susky have my priority. They are a blast. They are abundant. My earliest days where elementary school years wading the susky with my dad.

Easy bulldog, construction worker here So you telling me that your leader is not necessarily larger from a breaking strength, (read lb test) but generally thicker for added protection against abrasive conditions (read toothy critters and rock like conditions)?

It is probably because of the species targeted or perhaps the cover. Or, using 15# braid enables them to store more line on the spool. A spool will hold more 15# braid than it would 15# mono or fc line and the angler might benefit from such a scenario. Also, there isn’t an unwritten rule I’m aware that says the main line has to be stronger than the leader, but one of the reasons I would if I had to use a lesser strength leader is for easier break offs when snagged. That said, even using a stronger leader probably won’t matter too much because the weakest point will be the joining knot. I don’t have an answer to your last question though. That one has me stumped. 🤔 looking forward to seeing what others have to say about this one.

@TnRiver46 I think your tape measure needs calibrated because that doesn’t look like 3”. You can keep telling your wife that’s 3” though, I won’t throw you under the bus. 😁

Here an inside look at the Lund Boats building process ~ A-Jay

Y'all definitely don’t wanna fish with me! I'll spend a whole week on Toledo Bend or Rayburn with one jig.

The only jigs that are worth more than $5 or $6, IMO are tungsten jigs. Their big selling point for me is how much more information feedback I get from one vs a lead head. My jig game is my strong suit and tungsten jigs keep me at the top of my game.

I'm going to try not to hook myself this year.

So you come home from fishing with no pants on, and your wife isn't surprised? I don't think my wife would let me fish any more. 🤣 Glad you made it back safely, and I hope you've warmed up.

Blade baits are built for catching bass in January. Heavy and quick sinking, they kick off a fantastic amount of vibration, stirring bass in deep spots numbed by cold water. https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/blade-baits-winter.html

Dominate the cold season with these expert jig fishing tips! Learn about the best jig types, fall rates, trailers, and setups to land more bass when the water turns cold. https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/cold-water-jig-tactics.html

My father recently passed away and I have a lot of bass fishing gear. Rods, reels, lures excetra that I need to sell. Can anyone tell me what to do or know anyone who could come look at them so I know what's trash and what's worth something.I just want to help my mom clean out the garage. Thank you.

I don't mind the cold. As an avid waterfowl and big game hunter, I have learned to embrace good quality clothing, boots, hats, gloves, and those chemical body warmers(!) I used to really hate the hot, humid summer weather. But after making some changes in my nutrition, and utilizing better clothing, it doesn't really bother me much. As I'm getting older it takes longer to heal. Bumps, bruises and strains seem to linger.

@Glenn's list is comprehensive, but for me, the number one drawback of growing older is diminishing stamina.

I don't think you've considered it, so I suggest scope and minnow.

I think I am starting to understand them. I’m paying attention to how they float or sink and how they sit and twitch. The problem is I like fishing lures around cover so I’m tempted to do crazy stuff like try to pull them through laydowns. I need to try some more inexpensive options like the H2O brand

I'm going to change it up this year and use lures that I can catch bass with.

^^^^focus making #7 enjoyable time^^^^ Tom

I don't have goals as much as habits I want to develop or get back to. 1) Be prepared 2) Be organized 3) Fish with a purpose 4) Continue to learn by watching videos, reading articles, taking notes and putting what I learn into practice 5) When I fish tournaments, give 100% effort and focus for the entire 8 hours 6) Quit worrying and/or complaining about fishing pressure 7) Make a huge push to get my 11-year old into fishing

Get a line counter. Tom

@Jigfishn10, let’s hit the river. Current conditions in Knoxville :

This might seem like a gimmick, but I still use these two reels with LH retrieve, and a manual spool switch on the top. They are GREAT for pitching.

Daiwa tatula ct 7.3. My first "big" reel purchase with 40lb. Power pro.

I live in a place where it's pretty cold much of the year. And while I don't totally hate the cold, I don't like to feel the cold on me; especially a cold wind. I can agree that as I get older, I am less tolerant of that feeling, however I think I finally figured out my biggest problem. I wasn't wearing enough clothes. In particular the right clothes. The hitch in my giddy up was that I don't like bulky bulky clothing and layers and four coats and six pants and eight shirts and twenty two socks. So as soon as I figured out how to get the layers right and get over the fact that I'm going to need to be at least a little bulky in order to be warm, I did much better. Merino wool, polar fleece and over sized boots are all now my best friends, Oct -May. Finally, I refuse to wear white shoes. A-Jay

Fishing in the present ~ Moving forward, I plan on working towards fishing more in the present. I believe each moment in my fishing has meaning, some more significant than others, whether I notice its importance immediately or sometime later. Making the most of my fishing as it happens, rather than wishing for the past or worrying about the future. I think this can & will improve the quality of my fishing and help me feel more optimistic and prepared to face any challenge. Feel like I already do some of the above but I'm betting there's room for improvement. I can admit that being too much up in my own head may distract from my success on the water. It may be all about balance, seems it usually is. Fish Hard A-Jay

I got into bfs by getting a gomexus shallow spool for a Daiwa TW 80, 8 speed which I already had. Paired it with a 7' Magic L ML rod. This is my optional 4th set up. I live in south Florida, so its largemouth, peacocks, and crappie. ML is the lightest I'll go. The other set ups are: 7' Kistler KLX ML, Curado BFS, dedicated ned rigs. 6'7" Falcon salt inshore ML, Dream Tackle BFS, finesse worms or 3" paddletails 7' Lew's Carbon Fire M, SLX BFS, small cranks and jerk baits. All are 8 speeds, 10 lb kastking hammerbraid (micro filament weave), 6' Seaguar 8 lb Abrazx flouro leader. I upgraded all spool bearings to Japanese abec 9 ceramics for effortless casting. Biggest fish: 8.2 lb largie on the Falcon, 3" Kietech easy shiner. I love the challenge!!

I have used Oldham's jigs almost exclusively for over 25 years and can assure you they are first quality products. Terry Oldham makes three jigs that each costs under $5.00 and there is nothing cheap about any of them. Eye-Max Jig (best grass jig on the market in my opinion) - $4.75/each Trailer Hitch Jig (flipping and casting jig) - $3.75/each Oldham's Football Jigs - $4.00/each There are 24 different color combinations to choose from. If you're interested, you would have to call the company and speak with Terry to place an order. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed in the product. Here is a link - oldhamjigs.com

It's been a full 2 months and Lynn's been holding altitude & flying level. The area where she had surgery to remove the device in her leg where she was getting her dialysis treatment through is just about healed. We had the 'final' post surgical eye appointment last week and while there's still nearly zero vision recovered, the eye has healed without further complications from the procedure. Lynn got some eye glasses (one actual lens) from the VA to help correct the vision in her one good eye. She seems pretty satisfied with how that went. The rest of this week we continue in a holding pattern. Next week it's blood work, Hematologist app, and the bi-monthly infusion. We're hoping for decent weather, perhaps something a little warmer than the single digit stuff we're getting this week. So as we always say here, no news is good news. Stay Healthy & Safe. A-Jay

I don't know where all this attention to matching reels to rods came from , but it's IMO highly over-rated as an important consideration. Within common sense, within reason, you can put any reel with any rod. If balance is important to you, then check it out. It's also a fact that all reels are not sized the same, meaning not all 100 size casting reels are the same size or weight; not all 2500 spinning reels are the same size or weight. My direct answser to your question would be : No

I wore my undies!

I’ve caught 2 in my lifetime, a 10-14 and an 11-3 but this one was just shy of 10. She would have easily been over if she wasn’t spawned out.