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Bass didn’t like today’s cold front, but I didn’t blank, either. On the other hand, the crappie bite wasn’t bad (Other species catch thread), so there's that.

Got out today for the 2nd time this year. Got to FL last week and went to the Withlacoochee River today and went upstream a few miles. Threw a worm in 5' and I got bit. Several small fish later I caught a 15" fish. Caught a couple more 15-16" fish along with some smaller ones. Saw a tree full of Ibis and many different birds and one big gator.

Baylee was a Blue-eyed, Bridle little sweetheart who definitely had a fiery side. A-Jay Bear was Diesel's litter mate and had a bit of an attitude (in a good way) Those two would get after each other pretty hard like brothers do. Sadly we lost bear to a fatal seizure before he was a year old. Poor guy never stood a chance. I was at sea and missed the chance to say good bye. That one hurt for a while. A-Jay

Some dogs just 'have it'. Diesel had it. A-Jay Lynn & Miss Fenway shared the same Spirit. A-Jay

Just caught up on the latest posts in here. Thank you all so much. I've read every one of your replies multiple times already. I want you all to know you mean the world to me. I'm definitely trying to stay positive through all this. I lost my mom a few days ago, so I don't think 2025 can get much worse. But I do know I now have an amazing angel looking over me now. Happy V-Day to you all. I love each and every one of you, buuuut....

Cosmo, turns 13 later this month. Female british yellow lab. My first dog as sole owner.

It’s here! Got it last week but had to toss the box on the spare bed and jump on a plane for work meeting. got home, hugged kissed wife and got a good nights sleep. Woke up , coffee and NEW Reel fondling! it looks awesome on new Orrichi X10. (First zillion in background) time. to re-spool everything for Mexico bass.

This is the dog I grew up with, Ellie the yellow lab. She left us at 13 years old back in 2015. The most rambunctious, full of life, nicest Labrador. The puppy in the picture is my brothers golden retriever, who is still with us at 11 years old .

Picked up more Mycena hair/silicone hybrid finesse jigs from Ali-X. Very sharp hooks on these. They come in 7g and 10g.

BreeZo left us way too soon. She had the Heart & Drive of a champion. And man, she surly did love to race . . . . . A-Jay Brody was born to pull. Fortunately we had that covered. A-Jay

Sierra was easily the Most Intense animal we've ever had. She loved to run wild on the beaches of south Jersey ~ A-Jay Teddy was the first of many we got from the local animal shelter. We didn't recue him. Clearly he rescued us ! Great Dog. A-Jay

Really do miss all the great times shared with Tucker ~ A-Jay

Mark Davis. The old guy has still got it.

Kodi & Tatiri were our First Two Malamutes. Brother & sister 12 week old pups from the mountains of Montana. They were "Giants", Kodi was pushing 150 lbs as an adult. Thankfully both gentile giants. That was 27 years ago. A-Jay

Here it is.

Been a while since I’ve posted some crappie pics, but it was the best bite going today, so…these were all 1.5-1.9 lb. fish.

I have tried many tackleboxes and didn't like any of them. The waterproof tackleboxes are the worst. They're harder to open and close and inevitably, some water gets inside when you do open them in the rain or to stow a wet lure. Then, because the box is waterproof, the water is trapped inside and every hook starts to rust. You can, of course, open your box at the end of every trip, but if you forget one time, your lures are stored in Rust City, U.S.A. Not even the silica sleeves will save those hooks. Caveat: I do fish from a wet canoe and I love to fish in the rain.

Well worth the money... Dividers are much easier to use and don't warp like the older clear Plano boxes... They are well built and should last many years..

Some experiences with our dogs are just ingrained in my mind. Like a Dream A-Jay

Pulled off the floors of my (New to Me) boat to redo plumbing and electrical. Found a 7UP bottle, Doritos Bag, Granola wrapper, and the 7Up Bottle cap. Read the bottom of the cap and the litter bug who built my boat back in '92 in Arkadelphia Arkansas tossed a winning bottle cap! No telling what that dude lost out on! Since I can't catch fish like Alex, Clayton, and Team9, I'll just play in my boat and pretend!

Would anyone fish flouro on a crank bait rod if money were on the line ? I've been doing it for 10 years or so. I use Invisx or Tatsu 12 and 10 lb.

You’re like the #1 gear junkie on here! I'm never on this section hardly. Dont you give up, and if you haven’t thus far get a second or even a third opinion. I worked in Healthcare for a decade and I’ve seen more than you can imagine. Miracles happen. Doctors are wrong many times. I’ve personally witnessed and been involved in seeing the impossible become possible and becoming many more years on the earth. Sometimes, miracles happen, I’ve seen it and most who have worked in healthcare have too. My condolences to you over your mother. ✝️✝️✝️ Peace.

Pretty sure you're right. At least the few I've seen. And is it me or is he the most spazzed out fish landing human ever ? I keep waiting for him to set the hook and go right over the side. #wacky And I have a Mercury O/B and I love it. But if I have to sit through that talking motor commercial many more times, I might spoon out an eye. 🤪 A-Jay

Believe it or not, some of the saltwater rods are rated to near that weight, but they also have a minimum weight in the 1.5-3g range due to the progressive taper. Abu KRX Prototype Bait Finesse comes to mind. Major Craft also has a trout rod that's rated 5-21g, so 3/16-3/4. Plenty of examples out there if you look around. Those examples are not bass rods. Many of the bass rods top out at either 7g, 11g, and in some instances 14g. Pick your reel and choose your rod according to your target species.

The joy they bring is unmeasurable . But so is their loss.

The biggest misconception about BFS is that it's the equivalent to ultralight spinning. This is the general mentality of the YouTubers and other social media with a predominately Western audience. Much of that stems from where most of them got started; cheap AliExpress reels and trout rods. First and foremost, BFS is the reel itself. A light shallow spool, low inertia bearings, and a brake to make them work in unison. Aside from the spool being light weight, the depth also keeps the retrieval rate somewhat consistent. With a deeper spool, the retrieval rate nosedives as you get deeper into the spool. BFS spools, while not immune to this, do mitigate it to some extent. Second, the thinner lines used are also beneficial to casting distance since there will be less friction with the rod eyelets. Next, the rods. The only rods that come adorned with the BF nomenclature are bass rods and saltwater rods. Trout rods are entirely different, even though the powers and weight ranges may be similar. Bass rods tend to have a more narrow range of weights, mostly because they are para taper which means they bend more in the middle and butt sections. This is required for some bass fishing due to the environments they're found. It's much easier getting a bass out of the slop with a bass rod than it is a trout rod. Conversely, trout and saltwater rods are progressive taper, meaning they bend more in the tip and less the closer to the butt you get. This serves two purposes; to keep the fish pinned during the fight, and offer a wider range of weights to cast. Not all trout rods are meant to cast tiny spoons and spinners, some are meant for larger lures for bigger migratory fish. My three favorite trout rods are 3-18g/4-10lb, 3-12g/3-8lb, and 5-16g/4-10lb respectively. They're meant for big fish and have tapers that help keep them pinned and under control during those runs and head shakes. Those rods were designed from the ground up to work with BFS reels. I use them for lake run brown trout, steelhead, and coho salmon. For those I'm often throwing 4-10g spoons and minnow style baits. As far as AliExpress trout rods go, most of those are built on American style UL spinning blanks, which are usually para taper buggy whips. They can cast very light lures, but they can't handle more formidable fish very well. For smaller resident trout and panfish, they're just fine. Sure, you can fish bass and larger migratory fish with them, but they aren't the right tool for the job due to their inefficiencies for such fish.

I have the smallest bass on this post, but it's honest work and I'm happy to be included alongside the other folks who catch fish for real

I just use the Plano Pro-Latch and put a few silica-gel packs in one of the compartments...works well for me and very inexpensive.

I credit my skill in detecting and getting solid hook set after making a long cast over 40 yards using twin spin spinner baits. Why…the old twin spin was a vertical helicopter falling lure that required keeping in touch with the line vibration from the blades. When the blades stopped before hitting bottom a bass had it. I couldn’t move enough line to get a hook using the rod and developed the reel set cranking the line tight then firm rod sweep to complete the hook set. I adopted my horizontal jig presentation from the twin spin strike detection feeling live movements and hook set. Without that experience would have missed all my giant bass catches. Tom

CoME 1 CoME aLL!

One of my camera lenses is shattered, but I managed a couple shots of my rods and boxes. I store plastics in the thin Rubbermaid tubs.

After reading the thread about the greatest danger bass boaters face, here's a thread about paddling dangers. There are videos of canoes and kayaks going over waterfalls, both intentionally and unintentionally, being swallowed by whales, stalked by Great White Sharks, etc., but tipping without a PFD and falling into cold water with or without a PFD has to be the biggest killers. Then there are boats with motors:

That's my kind of fishing! I'm happiest fishing bogs for lmbs. And I catch some fat bass in them. But when I was younger and stronger, I fished bush lakes in northwestern Ontario off of logging roads for smallmouth. Anyway, welcome!

The Bait Monkey makes sure I buy baits at a faster rate than the hooks can rust. Problem solved.

A-Jay, as you probably remember I am a dog lover also. And, I know the feeling when you lose one. When we lost our big yellow lab Lady three years ago, my wife said she didn't want to get anymore dogs. We both loved Lady so much, and it hurt so much when we lost her. You always remember the dogs, and they're personalities. We were without a dog for a few months after losing Lady, and we both felt a huge void. So, we took on two terriers, and a dachsund. All have proven to be fiercely loyal and have been good dogs. They're this way because we treat them very well, which I'm sure you do also. IMO, that's all it takes. Treat them with kindness, and you'll have a great friend. The hardest part is saying goodbye to these trusted loyal friends.

Here's one you don't see too often - KTF Ryoga with Kahen spool and IXA dual-race micro spool bearings. I'll fish this inshore with PE#1.2 and actually, it was Hiroyuki Motoyama who coined Bait Finesse System (the reel mods) in print in 2000. First applied to stream trout, and then to shore fishing for bass. BFS has since moved to salt shore fishing and offshore vertical jigging. It goes back decades, and before it had a name, it was simply called reel tuning. Don Iovino in US, Jun Sonada in Japan. The only problem with BFS is trying to pound the square peg into one's personal round hole. BFS is the modern version of threadline fishing using modified bait reels. Kinda the ultimate boon for anyone who'd rather be fishing modern braid. The term also gets grabbed by marketers, who always want to sell us N+1. If you want to learn more about the long, progressive-taper rods, that goes back to Wanless and Atlantic salmon in UK, and in the US, Ernie Schweibert, Dave Whitlock, and Joe Robinson. The rods give you leverage over big fish, while protecting light line - the opposite of UL tradition in US, which uses short para-taper rods that give small fish leverage over you.

Buzzard in a tuxedo

So worth it. As anglers, we are trying to eliminate water so that we can get to catching quicker. Being able to see out 60-100' at the console when idling tells us quickly we can skip something with confidence or find that solitary structure that doesn't get much attention from other anglers. When at the bow, I stare at sidescan and mapping almost as much as people who use FFS. I can't tell you how many fish I've caught because of it. Sometimes I see the fish, other times, I see that isolated rock or structure that I would not have seen otherwise. Since you are in Pa, you may be familiar with Leaser Lake at 117 acres. It is a small lake with many habitat improvements. Sure, you could aimlessly boat around to find some rock piles but sidescan will get you right on them with little effort and give you a much better understanding of how wide and high a pile is and maybe even see some fish.

This is not good ~ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=itnqUIqMPUA #humanpopmax A-Jay

Now how can I justify new jigs when the ones I got at Christmas haven’t even got wet yet! hummm, but I could use a nice red craw set up……….. edit: site won’t let me login, requested password reset, nada signed up for new account, got nothing checked out as guest but it was slow edit, edit: finally got an email for account , all’s well Thank you

I was waiting to update this with the final build spec and pictures (I just sent the order today), but you just about hit the nail on where I’m at. I went 9.9 because of my lakes. I have 3x hp restricted lakes at 9.9, plus 3 unlimited lakes that are under 300 acres. There is one lake around that’s unlimited where unlimited would make a difference, but I don’t fish it because of how busy it gets and I can still fish it with a 9.9. I strongly considered a jet. And if I’d have had better visibility of my bonus when it was available, there was a used boat that I would have bought with a jet. That would have been a compromise for my usual fishing for a couple trips per year to the river, so I didn’t do it on what I’m getting now but I was very close. I’ve gone ultrex. I was going to go with a terrova. I’m used to remote control from my autopilot, and spotlock and the associated functions were mandatory for me. The terrova is cheaper and lighter. However once I add on the mount for live imaging, the terrova plus mount costs the same as the ultrex (for which the included mount works fine). So I’m going with the more robust cable steer plus remote version. I’m humminbird, but I’m going similar features and type. I considered going helix for the deals going on and for moving what I have from the kayak. But I’m going to leave the kayak fully rigged and buy fresh which means explore series. I’m going 12” up front and 9” at the console. The console will be primarily side imaging and the front will be live imaging, both with the mapping linked for waypoints. Both are being mounted on ram mounts. The front might not, but probably. I haven’t made up my full mind on battery brand yet, but I decided to go 24v single battery on the trolling motor and 12v for the rest of course. Lead for the cranking and lithium elsewhere. I’m pretty confident that a 50 is enough for the electronics, but depending on the brand I go with it might be a 60. On the trolling motor, I am probably going 50 ah. That’s the same total power as a 100ah 12v. I’ve been fishing a 80ah 12v in the kayak as the primary propulsion for 4 years without a problem. Since I’ll have a 9.9 on any of the lakes I’ve run the trolling motor battery down below 50%, I think I should be okay. I was clear with the dealer that I start fishing at ice out, so here’s to hoping that happens. It might be my ice out or a-jays ice out. But we’ll get there.

If I were a game warden, I'd ticket you for having excessive fun. If excessive speed and excessive fish in the livewell are crimes, excessive fun should be too.

Might as well be a 501C3 at this point @Siebert Outdoors

@BassKat I am also a fan of Defier Armilo and am still working on the supply I have left. While good old Big Game still produces for me, I can feel good about recommending Maxima Ultragreen Line. Seem to be marked a bit higher than it's test diameter. However IMO it possesses all of the attributes I prefer when it comes time to landing that fish of a life time. Make no mistake however, I WILL use FC line given the chance, but this is good stuff. Haven't tried the clear but have to think it's just as good. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Maxima_Ultragreen_Line/descpage-MUG.html I talk a little about it here: https://youtu.be/E8UfnBPoH-M?feature=shared&t=2966 Good Luck A-Jay

Here's my workout room:

There’s is always the exception to the rule! Most PB big bass are broken off by angler error.The big bass get hooked and comes towards the boat before it knows what’s going on, see’s the boat and panics about the same time the anger see’s bass and panics! The combination of confusions ends up loosing the bass! My practiced reaction is tell myself to slow down pull on the line to check the drag and remind me this could be the fish. At this point it has taken a life time to hook this bass and everything goes into slow motion no mistakes, the only thing that matters is put the bass into the boat…follow the fish keep in control I put a lot of giant bass in boat following this advice. Tom

Back out on the water after a couple wet, cold days. Over 3” of rain, but surface temps only dropped 4-5 degrees. Fish moved again, but we eventually landed on them and caught about a dozen and a half in 3 hours.