Fat-G

The split grips have the new Fuji split seat. I couldn't remember which ones had the full grip, I'm pretty sure the 765 has the full but the 764 does not.

The 796 has a full grip with a different reel seat. I believe it is an ACS.

Stocked up on jigs, and trailers to boot...

He's not kidding. I met Sam last year (I think?) at the expo, and I knew it was him because of the LSU shirt. You guys should look into going. It's a pretty coll show, lots of good stuff to buy and the speakers are equally good. One thing you should definitely do is hit up the dude giving out samples of his chicken rub. It's incredible.

X2, never fished down there but most of my ponds don't have a population of crawfish (that I know about) and I catch most of my fish on jigs.

Does everyone agree with young Collin? If so, I must have super-ninja hooksets. I always have to cast and pull out the dig-in after I catch a fish with 50# braid... ...maybe I need to chill out...

I think I may have caught this fish twice in the same year, different spots.

My list that I just made, which is the "realistic" version: 2012: Goals 1. Break three known pond records. All of my ponds have records above my PB. They range from 9-13 lbs. I have confirmed all of them, and have confirmed to my inner-self that I could accomplish this goal. 2. Catch a bass that is more tat or more than 75% of our state's LM record. I could accomplish this as well. 3. Personally consider myself a trophy hunter, meaning that I specifically dedicate my time to catching monster bass. I fish jigs and plastics almost exclusively, but don't consider myself a trophy hunter. Yet. 2011: Accomplishments I didn't beat my PB, which was my main goal. I did however learn a lot about targetting big fish, which will be a major factor in my 2012 season. Caught three bass over 7 lbs. Caught a couple big fish on crankbaits. Caught my first dropshot fish, as well as my first shakeyhead fish. Both under two pounds. 38 bass in the 4-7 lb. range, with 65% of them being five pounds or bigger.

Lots of really strong information in this thread. You could start a "how-to" book on catching big fish just from this one thread. I've learned a lot about big fish this year. I've also realized a lot of things about when I have caught big fish in the past that I would have overlooked, even though they are quite simple. A couple of the things I've noticed: I have NEVER caught a big fish (6+) on a jig or plastic when I was steadily twitching it. In my experience, big fish will bite a jig when it is not moving, has not moved for a while and you twitch it once, or bump it over a piece of cover. There is no one lure that will magically catch you bigger fish all of the time. I have caught 6+ fish on anything from a crappie grub, Beetle Spin, 4" finesse worm, Trick Worm, jig, plastic, frog/toad, etc. I think that if you properly present basically any lure to the right fish at the right time in the right location and in the right conditions, she'll bite. Big fish (for me) usually are caught on days when the fishing is otherwise slow, specifically on a deadsticked jig or plastic. Big fish are generally loaners in the hot months. I don't think I've ever caught two 6+ fish in the same area in the summer. In the spring, fall, and winter however, you can potentially pull a couple of pigs from the same area. Especially in the winter when they group up. You can up your chances of catching a big fish by fishing areas that are prime big fish locations, ie. an area where cover, structure, and baitfish all come together. If you walk up to the spot and spook a big fish, back off and come back later. Only once or twice have I caught a fish that I spooked, and neither of them were worth mentioning. If you hook a big fish and it comes unbuttoned, you're not catching that fish any time soon. If your first cast to a known "prime big fish locations" is an errant, mess-up cast which snags the limb or rock to which you were aiming, you can kiss your chance of catching any big fish that was close goodbye. These are just a couple of things on my list of lessons learned this year. I think it's time to bring this thread back to life since some of us have hard water and are in the cabin fever mode.

Thanks guys. This is the biggest "winter bass" I have caught, although the water temps sure don't suggest a full-on winter pattern. I can't describe how good that hookset felt. It was a 100% steel-setter. One of the ones where it doesn't really move the fish, other than it's head. Word.

I agree. I fish jigs on both braid and flouro. It really just depends on what I feel like buying/what's on sale when I'm getting line. Both have their time and place. I give a slight edge to braid for my style of fishing, but a very nice 20# flouro is a very close second.

That's a dang good rig, really. I prefer a Heavy/Extra-Heavy rod for fishing jigs, preferably with a slower action. Your Crucial will work very well for fishing jigs in the 3/8-1 oz. range. You can also use it for frogs, light punching, c-rigs, t-rtigs, etc. A stout rod with braid is a very versitile rig.

Jig'n Lobster + Slob = "Slobster" What a way to end the year. 2011 was my best year of fishing so far. I caught a lot of really nice fish, learned a ton, and made a couple of new fishing friends in the process. My buddy Mitch and I went to a pond close to my house to more or less just hang out. I wasn't really expecting us to catch much, if anything, and for most of the day that was the case. The weather here has been really odd lately, lower 40's one day and 70 the next. Lots of rain has pushed the water up and turned it to "chocolate milk" status. For two hours neither one of us caught a fish. Mitch is learning the jig and missed a couple bites, and I missed a couple on spinnerbaits fished in the flooded brush. I tied on a jig and went about my business working some flooded trees close to deeper water. The gear was as follows: Dobyns DX745 Premierosaurus 20# Superhard Upgrade 1/2 oz. Northstar jig, black/blue Rage Lobster, black/blue, with two of the topsections bitten off My reel has zero spool tension, so with 20# line I can just about spool it on a long cast. Given the distance I can get with the reel, I cut down the weedguard to 8 strands, spread out in a V shape to allow for a good hookset. I made a long cast down the bank, five or six feet to the right of a fallen tree. The area is filled with wood, and a dropoff to 6-7 feet is a couple more feet to the right. I don't think the fish that reside near this timber get to look at lures too much. It's too far of a cast for a "normal" reel, and there is no other way to reach it. I let that jig sit there for probably three seconds before I felt a "thunk". Reeled down 'till the rod started to load up and swung away Zona style. Rock solid hookset. FISH ON. I could tell she was heavy right away. Not much of a fight, just steadily pulled me down the bank until I saw her coming to the surface not three feet away from me. When she got close enough, I loaded the rod up and and flipped her up to my feet. She didn't take any drag, no jumps, no head shakes, just steady pulling. As a side note, I would NOT recommend boat flipping big fish. That's a great way to break a rod. I looked over at Mitch and said "this is a big girl dude". Before I said that, he had no idea I even had a fish on. Usually when I catch a big fish, I'm in the zone. I don't get too excited other than my heart racing and adrenaline pumping. This fish was different. It was the only fish we had even hooked all day. My hands were shaking, my heart was absolutely racing, and my head was spinning. We both kind of lost it for a little while. After a weight and a few pictures, she was released with a shower of water as a goodbye. This is a typical healthy fish. Very small head size/body size ratio, with a F-A-T belly. I know there's some straight up monsters in this pond. I would venture to guess that a 10 pound fish from this pond would only be around 25". 7 lbs. 2 oz., my third fish over 7 lbs. this year, second 7+ out of this pond. 23" long with an absolute bowling ball of a gut. I typically wouldn't do a big write up unless I had some extreme adventure, but this fish for some reason is different. Very special fish to me, and I can't explain why. Maybe it's because during the trip I had been thinking about all of the nice fish I had caught this year and how blessed I am not only to be able to fish the ponds I do, but also to own the gear that I do and be so comfortable with my tackle arsenal I have. I was just kind of looking back on the great year that I had and counting my blessings, then I stuck this donkey. What a perfect fish to end my 2011 fishing season with. I truly learned a ton about fishing this year, especially the big fish mentality. I learned the contour of my ponds, which allowed me to better understand how to catch big fish more regularly, and I learned a couple new techniques to boot. Thank you BR for everything you've given me over the years! Hope you guys had a good year as well. Have a safe and happy holidays and go stick you a toad on the 1st. Hayden

Hooligan REALLY loves Cumaras. Really, there is no possible argument against them. I think for the price point they blow the socks off of any other competing rod - heck, I think they're better than a lot of really expensive rods. Shimano really nailed it with the Cumaras. They are stupid light, crazy sensitive, and have good actions for contact lures. I seriously loved my Cumara. The only problem I had with it (and this will sound weird) is that it was too light. I always felt like I was going to snap it using braid and a hard hookset. I really whack 'em. Being that it was my first "expensive" rod, I did a lot of no-no's with it. Never once did it not perform just like a $240 rod should. Since I mostly fish around heavy cover using heavy jigs and heavy braid, I use rods with full cork grips now. To me, they feel much sturdier and add a little bit of weight to the rod, so I don't constantly feel like my rod is going to explode. I think Cumaras are the most underrated rod on the market. If I was looking for a finesse jig rod, a wacky rod, dropshot, shakey head (God forbid) rod, it would be a no-brainer to get a Cumara. I just don't fish those techniques often enough to warrant one. Heck, I rarely ever fish those techniques.

Haven't tried them yet, but a friend has told me that they are superb for the price and more or less a combination of a Spro and a Koppers. Worth taking a look!

You're right, my mistake. Read it too fast.

Actually, the graphite IS the same, the Crucial just uses a different resin.

I think you guys will like this story. I started fishing because of a VCU Summer Discoveries camp called “Go Fish”. It’s run by a catfish guide on the James and a VCU Fisheries Biologist. I’m still really good friends with both of them, and work for Mike, the guide, in the summer. During the Go Fish week we fished a few ponds for bass, catfished on the river, and waded a smaller river for smallmouth and bream. I actually caught a 10 lb. 2 oz. bass at one of the ponds on a live gill, but I don’t consider that my PB. Anyways, after the last year of Go Fish that I was young enough to do, I had the bug. One of the catfishing days we stopped at a pond very close to my house and caught a bunch of bluegill to use for shovelheads later that day. I remembered where it was, and the summer after the camp, went back with my brother and dad. Earlier in the day I had bought a 6’6” MH Berkley Cherrywood and a Shimano Callisto to put on it, spooled with 12# Trilene XL. At this time I was still very new to fishing. I had three or four lures, one of them being a ½ oz. Booyah jig in black/blue. After half an hour of not catching anything, my brother and I saw a big fish cruising the shore. We both were trying really hard to coax it to bite, but with no luck. Keep in mind this is the first time I had ever gone fishing besides the camp. Right as we were about to give up and go home, I looked down and there she was just looking at me, no more than three feet away. I dropped the jig in the water and instantaneously she SLAMMED the jig. I was so excited I didn’t even set the hook, just pulled her up on shore. That fish weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz, and was the fish that kind of started it all for me. I bested that fish two years ago, pitching the exact same jig on the exact same combo to a laydown at a different pond. That fish was 8 lbs. 15 oz. She had just spawned and was rail thin. Wish I had caught her a few weeks earlier. I'm sure she's over 10 now. I've had her pinned a few times, once on a wacky Trick Worm and once on a frog, but she has eluded me. It's weird, ever since catching her, the biggest I've caught from that pond is ~5, and numbers have gone WAY down. I used to go out and catch 20 fish a day, with the majority of them being 4-5 pounders.

Especially since the NRX had so many foregrip/reel seat problems...

That spinning combo is SAWEET. I've thrown AJ's a couple of times, his has a Stradic with I believe 6# flouro. Very nice combo to do a lot of finesse fishing with. It really stood out to me as a sweet light wacky rig rod, though. I watched him catch his PB smallie on it.

I've fished two Savvys, a 734 that was mine and a 735 that is hookingems. I'm a "Dobyns Fanboy" as some would say, but that Savvy 734 really let me down sensitivity wise. I really couldn't feel anything. The 735 on the other hand is IMO the absolute best rod in that lineup. Perfect frog/toad rod. Lots of backbone and a quick tip. It also works well for pitching, but the sensitivity as mentioned early simply isn't there. The new Crucial - wow. I think it's hands-down, no questions asked the BEST rod for the price on the market right now. I'm just not a fan of split-EVA grips.

Perfectly said John, perfectly said.

Dude I LOVE your profile picture. I miss my Golden every single day. They are the best dogs.

Looks good to me! That's one of my favorite color combos as well. I like two styles of skirt: -Thick, full skirt of a brand new jig -Torn up, beaten, battle scarred skirt of a "money jig" I ten to like the second style more.

Crucial ANY day of the week!