gulfcaptain

Have a Green and Black ***, think I'm going to have to splurge around Thanksgiving and pick up an ***. So far everything I've gotten from *** has been nice quality.

Would love to fish the bigger bodies around where I live for sure. Work schedule and parenting responsibilities keep me closer to home and thus smaller local city park ponds which have tons of pressure on them. Good point, once I do purchase a boat with all the toys, the skills I have from fishing the smaller bodies of water as well as experiences will benefit my quest for the larger fish in the populations. Post was started as catching the larger fish in the populations which Matt addressed as well as Tom, Catt, and Raul. All are great anglers with different approaches but all share one thing. The pursuit of the larger fish in their given bodies of water they fish. You can have all the toys, the rods, the lures. But without the experience and technique as well as understanding the fish and reading the conditions that are put in front of you each day you fish then you will only give you half of the puzzle. It doesn't matter the size of the water you're fishing, bigger fish in a system will be harder to catch for the everyday angler or "Barney" as they were labeled in this post until they have all the pieces and learn to put them together in order to produce larger fish from the population from any body of water on a consistant basis.

I find it much more rewarding to pull bigger fish out of the public ponds I fish that people don't tap into. They fish for the 12" fish and once in a while catch a 2-3lb fish, where I target the fish that normally run 3+ . May not catch as many but would rather catch 2 4lb fish then 5 12" fish.

Wasn't what this post started out as.....catching the larger fish from the populations we all fish?

Cats make great subjects to fish for while practicing (without a hook of course) Have to do something when we can't go fishing.

The rod you are looking at will work for shallow cranks as well. Just give you a bit more distance on the casts with the 7'6". You will find the action on this rod fishes really well for what you are looking for.

And give them time my friend, they will push the no fishing thing until they get their way. Grew up fishing a local pond that was a "fishing" pond. The home owners across the street got it banned to protect the ducks. Now you get a ticket for fishing where it's posted "NO FISHING" but yet it's also posted NO FEEDING THE DUCKS".....where's the tickets for those people? They are working on trying to ban fishing in a few other city park ponds as well because we interfere with the ducks that they are trying to feed.

yes, but the weak seem to find Strong Lawyers that defend their "weak minded" people that hurt themselves that end up with big settlements and then reproduce to have more.

looks like you got that first fish you were asking about with the slammer......maybe not as big as you would have liked....but that's an agressive little sucker there.

The Black ***'s I would look into the MH. Have the 7'6" and have fished jigs up to 3/4oz without any issues nor does it feel over powered. So the H action may be a bit heavier then you would like. But still love the rod. One of my favorites to fish.

Haven't used the Rage Bug, but use the Biffle Bug in 2-8ft depths with a 3/8 swing head jig and a slow steady retrieve kept good bottom contact. Looking into fishing that SK head sometime in the next few months as well.

Exactly, no common sense. A lot of times there are reasons for "No Swimming"

I have a few "Duck People" where I fish, but love the "Rage Guy"........he's awesome. Very funny video.

X-2 on the sharpie for the first 7ft or so.

3/8 to 1/2. If you're gonna fish deeper 15-20" most of the time I'd go up to 3/4. Also depends on your trailer you plan on using as well. But those 3 should cover most of your needs.

Some lakes are water district, no float tube, no swimming, no wading due because they are used for drinking water. Others no access to wet lower units, wet boat, etc due to trying to stop zebra and quaggula mussels. I'm guessing it's more liability issues where smaller bodies of water restrict swiming, float tubes, boating, tubing due to law suits and "stupid" people who don't use common sense or take personal responsibility.

My preference, 8am to 2pm. Those are the hrs my boy is in school and I have time to fish. But I have no problem fishing all day any day or at when I have a free time which isn't too often.

Murky water, no vegetation, pike & musky = few bass. Find another pond or try for the other two apex predators. Some places aren't worth the time to fish. But I give it to you, you have been extremely patent and persistant.

If this pond has musky and pike stocked into it, then it probably doesn't have much else. You might not be catching bass there because there may not be much of a population if any with those two fish in the pond.

MH X2 with the fast action.

I didn't know that was a qualifiying event since it it didn't offer up any AOY points. If he is in, then I wouldn't bet against him.

And wasn't focusing on finessing so much as to fishing for the lakes spotted bass.

Wheeler hasn't qualified for the Elite series yet. So don't think he's gonna be making the Classic. But if he were in it I wouldn't count him out at all, that kid is a beast of a fisherman.

IF it was me, I'd get a navigational chart and pick an area that looks the best. Navigational charts will give you bottom composition as well as where wreaks, pipelines, submerged objects, etc and look into an area of the river. This way I had an idea of what I'm fishing before I get there and can eliminate as much water as I can and see what cover, creeks, and drainage areas are available. Then narrow it down with access to deepwater with a possible drainage creek or backwater area close by. Then I would Google Earth it to see what it looks like from above. Just a suggestion and hit up local tackle stores and see what kind of report you can get. I'm sure they would be more then willing to help considering the reason you are asking is for a great cause.

Each brand is different, but agree, some companies MH are H in others. I prefer a fast action over XF but that's personal preference. But it's always going to be a rod that will drive the hook home weather in open water or in vegetation.