Jrob78

That is the other thing I use the rubber bands for. They are great for keeping hooks together on baits and take up way less room than those plastic hook bonnets.

As you get closer to the tip you have to double wrap an 1/8" band, essentially making one band wrap around the blank twice to make it tighter, if that makes sense.

I've always used dental rubber bands to hold micro guides. I buy them in 1/4" and 1/8" and just cut them off once I have the guide secured. You can buy them by the 100 on ebay for a few dollars.

This...Talk to the HOA about your concerns and see about putting out some "Catch and Release Only" and "Residents Only" signs. Work with them to establish some rules. It might not even be legally binding but might discourage some people from keeping fish. Other than that, if they are doing things legally there's not much you can do.

MLF had one of their early events in North Texas and spent a round or 2 on Ray Roberts, it's about 60 miles north of Dallas. It produces a lot of big bass, has lots of timber and should make for a very interesting Classic. I am really excited and will probably attend since it's so close to me.

Catching Concepts, WEC's, Barron Custom cranks, PH Customs and Black Label are a few of the hodgepodge of custom baits I fish. @iabass8 could give you a good list, he's pretty plugged in to the custom wood bait world.

Man, Aaron is one of my favorite pros and by all accounts is a good guy and a family man. Prayers up for a full recovery and strength for his family. ?

A few Catching Concepts I've picked up in the last few months. Pics don't do these baits justice, at least this one doesn't.

That's awesome! Glad to hear it!

Let me start by saying I'm no jerkbait expert and don't fish them a ton. I generally use the 110 in cold shallow water. It doesn't run very deep but seems to suspend best in colder water. It's basically your standard shallow running, cold water suspending jerkbait. My favorite colors are Cell Mate, Old Glory and Natural Herring. I don't fish clear water so I usually go for colors that stand out well.

Just call them, they aren't asking any questions about your situation. Be prepared to sit on hold for an hour or more but they will definitely work with you.

If you're a homeowner with a mortgage and going through tough times, call your mortgage company. Most companies are offering mortgage deferment with no penalty and no negative credit reporting. Just call your mortgage company and ask for it. You might have to sit on hold for awhile but it's worth it.

I have no idea who makes the best but my favorite is Lucky Craft. They make hard baits in most all categories, come with decent hardware, good colors and they mostly all run well. I haven't used any of their hard swimbaits but their crankbaits, top waters, jerkbaits and lipless baits are great.

Not the most aesthetically pleasing foreground but I can't recall seeing a full rainbow very often.

I use the small dental rubber bands on all my hard baits. It's kind of a pain but it keeps the hooks from getting tangled and allows more space than the hook bonnets. Whenever I get new baits I normally change the hooks out, put on oval split rings and put the bands on, it gives me something to do.

Glad you made it to TX. I live in Dallas and rush hour is no joke. You really have to be on your A game from about 5:30 am to about 7:30 pm on the highways as it's always pretty busy. Definitely overwhelming if you aren't used to it. You get a can get a pretty good idea of just how big TX is when you drive across a large portion of it like you did.

Chuck Norris' tears cure the coronavirus. It's too bad Chuck Norris has never cried.

Unfortunately not. Chickamauga postponed...again until this coronavirus mess is sorted out. https://www.bassmaster.com/news/elite-series-event-chickamauga-postponed-amid-covid-19-concerns

Nah, mLf Is A dInK fEsT ?

I've only had 2 beers and these aren't my pants. Love that show!

Hope everything goes well and you have a speedy recovery, Mike.

This is the first one that came to my mind, I would guess more people say it wrong than say it right. It's like the scope/optics company, Leupold. More people say "lee-uh-pold" than the correct way, "loo-pold". Not fishing related but those two always remind me of each other.

I wondered that too, he was freaking out. There is a manual stall style car wash right behind the Shell station in the pic so I imagine he headed straight there once he was out of the concrete. ?

For sure, it was a bad day for everyone involved. The guy driving looked about 18 and the construction workers had to go back in and redo all their work. I felt sorry for the kid but he did go around a barricade.

I never thought I would actually see this happen in the wild but here we are.