Amarley

I'm planning on making a trip over to Dale Hollow this Sunday and thought about hiring a guide for my first trip. Any recommendations?

Gallon ziploc bags by bait type work for me.

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

Skinny dippers, little dippers, twin tail grubs of various brands

That's the Genesis II series, although if you want to pony up for the Air, I hear it's even lighter and more sensitive. You can also use the 7'H Genesis II for small swimbaits, swim jigs and pitching into heavy cover. I own 3 iRods and they are my favorites compared to my Omens, St. Croix Mojos, BPS rods, GSX's, etc in the $100-$150 price range. For a little more dough you could look at a G Loomis GL2 or Powell Endurance or Powell Max. Those are also excellent rods, but in my experience, they aren't as versatile as the iRods. Good luck with your selection!

IMO the best mix of value and quality rod out there is the iROD 7' Heavy for a jig and worm rod. It throws anything between 1/4 oz and 1 oz. I use it for everything from spinnerbaits to texas rigs to topwater. Great for light and heavy cover. For $150, it's like having several rods. Keep an eye out for sales at Tackle Warehouse, sometimes you can get them 15% off.

I like the Outkast Pro Swim Jigs (bold gill color is my favorite) with RI Skinny Dippers or Little Dippers as a trailer (variety of colors based on clarity). If I'm fishing with someone throwing a spinnerbait, I'll almost always beat them on quantity and always beat them on size. Very few hang-ups with the jigs.

Very cool! I'll order some of the Shak-E2 heads. I needed a heavier gauge hook than what I was experimenting with. This is perfect.

That's a good point. I use a big 6/0 heavy duty wide gap hook with them. Anything smaller there is too much plastic for the hook to get through, which was part of my hookset problem to begin with!

Good deal. I'll have to try it with a big worm next time I go out. Definitely a summer pattern I'll keep in my mind going forward.

The trokar tube hooks are expensive, but well worth it if you fish tubes often. I'll peg a weight and pitch them like that.

I've gotten some blow ups with them, but have had trouble with hook-ups. If you're fishing super thick lily pads or other grass, they are definitely worth a try. Completely weedless.

Seaguar Red Label or PLine are my two go-to's!

I was messing around with some different presentations over the weekend and had a lot of luck with taking a heavy action rod and pitching a 5/16 oz shaky head with a Paca Craw or Rage Craw into some heavy wooded cover. If they didn't hit it on the fall, I could almost count on a strike after letting it sit and shaking it a couple times in the wooded cover. Very few hang-ups and less bulky than a normal jig with a skirt. Anyone else had luck with this presentation? The craw standing straight up drove them nuts!

I talked to an Elite pro in Vegas a few weeks ago (no names to protect the innocent). He said he has never heard of a pro angler drinking during an event. Too much on the line and the competition is thrill enough. Plus these guys are hustling to make a paycheck every week and need their sponsors more than any of us can imagine. Anyone who drank during a tournament probably wouldn't be around long and definitely would lose their sponsors. He did say that some of the guys party like crazy if they miss the cut on Friday. Hey, no crime there. Overall, he didn't act like substance use was an issue. I've wondered about some guys during interviews and appearance, but I guess it's a non-issue according to this pro.

You get diminishing returns from your gear at some point. The rods may be lighter, stronger, better, but I keep telling myself that Brent Chapman won AOY last year with Wright and McGill gear (Skeet Reese and Rick Clunn rods $79-$99/rod) against all of the highest cost gear going (Ish's 40 Daiwa Steez combos, etc). However, sometimes you "gotta look good to play good", so the expensive tackle is paying for confidence as much as it is paying for quality gear. If fishing means a lot to you and you want to buy a Champion rod or MGX reel, or ask for that high dollar G Loomis rod from your wife for Christmas, I say go for it. No hating here. I own gear across the spectrum and my money rods are in the $100 range (mojo, irod I got on sale) vs the $250 g loomis's I have.

How deep was the fish caught?- 3-4 ft Did the lure contain rattles or have hinges?- No, 5" soft plastic swimbait Was the lure a natural color (brown, green) or was it an unnatural color (chartreuse, orange)?- White If possible, what moon phase was your PB caught during? Full, during mid-afternoon light rain

Thanks for the advice! I know it won't be like going in February, but nothing beats getting out there.

Heading down to Ft. Myers in a couple weeks and wanted to schedule a guided trip to Okeechobee one day. The closest shot from Ft. Myers will be Clewiston. I've seen Roland Martin Marina, but wanted to know if there were any guides I should seek out by name. I went out of the city of Okeechobee last year and had a great time. I know it's off-season now, but thought I'd try it anyway. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

I noticed prices of some fishing rods started going up (just like everything else) earlier this year. Thanks to Bass Angler Mag for uncovering the IRS regs, now we know why. New excise taxes were placed on manufacturers sales that were designed to pay for ObamaCare starting January 1. Fishing rods are taxed at 10% of the wholesale price not to exceed $10/rod. Tackle boxes and bags are taxed at 3% and outboard motors are also taxed at 3%. And for any of you bowhunters out there, the tax also applies on bows, quivers, broadheads, points and arrow shafts. We all know taxes on manufacturers get passed on to consumers in the end. Cabelas is even pointing out the tax on their sales receipts. If you don't believe me, read the tax code for yourself here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p510.pdf go to page 31. Now, the more fishing gear we buy the more we help pay for Obamacare. What a trap! I know talking politics isn't the point of this forum, but I thought this was relative since it's a tax on our favorite hobby and sport.

Trick worms, lizards, spinnerbaits, shallow cranks, paddle tail soft plastic swim baits. I've had the most success with these in ponds. Jigs work from time to time, too.

For the record, my weaknesses are junebug colored plastics, squarebills, and jigs.

Man, I thought I had some tackle buying issues, but you guys are making me feel much better about my impulse control! I need my wife to read this board!

I use a 6'9 ML Vendetta and a Johnny Morris spinning reel. Pretty good little combo for under $150.