everythingthatswims

You may lose it when you return to Virginia in January after slamming monsters in Okeechobee. I hate winter!

Seaguar Red Label 4# casts like a dream, but I normally fish with 1/64 and 1/32oz baits, rarely 1/8...I love braid and fluoro leaders for sensitivity and hooksets though, when I target bigger browns I use 6# nanofil and fluoro leaders.

Lol I wish I could fish like that for trout, you must be fishing the white river where guys can throw jerkbaits on baitcasters and get browns

People sometimes ask me what creature baits and senkos imitate...FOOD! And reaction baits don't imitate anything half the time even though people will say a crank looks like a shad, gill etc. Last I checked, shad don't turn chartreuse when the water is stained, but bass have an easier time seeing chartreuse food! Only thing I would take into consideration is that southern bass are supposed to be less aggressive than northern fish (I don't know this for a fact, just what I've heard).

What you really need to do is find when the great blue herons key in on spooks. WAAAAAY worse than a turtle!

Use at least 10lb test, no weight, a 2/0-4/0 hook of your choosing, and a chunk of fresh cut bait. Cast it out and open the bail (spinning rod is the way to go, a baitcaster will backlash if left in freespool when the fish makes a hard run, then you'll lose your rod). Simplest way to catch catfish ever!

Depending on what size trout you target and fishing pressure, all minnow style baits less than 4" should work.

Depends on what hooks and line you use

Big bass will definitely eat those. My brother has managed to catch two 4lb largemouth on a trout magnet while crappie fishing. (1" straight tail plastic, 1/64oz jighead!)

If you go to One Fish Anna, you might not get a bite!

Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania (I'm pretty sure I caught a 6" LMB while trout fishing so it counts), Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Pit boss will flat out catch fish, very versatile too, you can fish it weightless like a buzzbait, punch, flip cover, drag it on the bottom, or swim it 2-3feet, let it fall to the bottom, and repeat (DO THIS). Makes one heck of a jig trailer too. Natural colors in clear water, black/blue for low vis, keep it simple.

One of my friends and my brother both owned a Pro Qualifier...The reels don't last very long at all, both reels developed serious issues in less than a year. Silver Max on the other hand was my first baitcaster, it's still going strong! Smooth as silk and casts a mile.

I'm pretty sure that Russe could throw ANYTHING and still catch giants. He fishes in the promised land.

Had 2 or 3 junky ugly stick combos stolen from my brothers and I from the beach when we were very young (left them in the back of my dad's pickup) and ever since then I have taken VERY good care to make sure nothing can get stolen. Looking back on it, the rods were only about $15 each but to me at that point in time, it was the end of the world and I definitely learned my lesson!

I am very big fan of the booyah baby boo jigs, I have caught piles of fish on them so I always have a few with me when I'm fishing, paired with some ultravibe speed craws as a trailer. Normally I just catch little guys 2lbs and under but today a 3.54lb largemouth showed me that the baby boo jig can catch decent fish. I only caught a handful of bass as I was actually out crappie fishing with my brothers and a friend getting some fish fry material in our kayaks at a local reservoir, but I switched to bass after I limited out.

Get some junebug senkos for stained/muddy water!

Normally when I'm keeping fish it's going to be crappie, yellow or white perch, trout, and catfish. But when I do keep bass, 11-13" is usually the size I like to keep them at, because the more bass of that size that are removed, the better (for the most part) and the fish that don't get kept will have a much easier time growing up to be great big hook bendin' line snappin' jig munchin' beasts!

No worries on smallmouth taking over, I wish it were the other way around, but largemouth always win. Watching it happen currently in my local river/stream. River is changing because of upstream development and the smallmouth aren't doing too well. Largemouth can live in a mud pit but smallies have higher living standards.

If you were fishing the rivanna reservoir, for some odd reason the fish will stack up on mud flats in the upper reaches where the water is cloudy, I'm talking ZERO cover 3' deep, and if there is cover nearby, the bass aren't there. We killed them dragging texas rigged pit bosses there last time. They will also hold inside the water willows so pitch right up next to those.

It's Murphy's law. Fishing and hunting are probably the best examples of it...when you aren't prepared to set the hook, a fish slams it, a big fish always knows to eat anything attached to 6lb test or lighter, when you aren't ready to shoot, a wood duck will come straight over your head at 10,000 miles per hour, go deer hunting, and the squirrels are everywhere, go grab a .22 and the squirrels will vanish but that 12 point will walk right up to you, if there is a single twig in the way when taking a shot, your arrow or bullet WILL find it. The list goes on and on.

WOW! Is there even another option to go to so they don't bend out?

Circle Hooks for live bait!

Flip jigs around cover. Easy as can be, you just have to know that if you don't lose a few baits, you aren't putting the bait where it needs to be. Good luck!

I have landed multiple bass up to 8lbs that eat fish I am reeling in, I used to do a ton of ultralight fishing. My favorite time was when I was about 10 years old, had a #10 light wire hook on 4lb test under a bobber, bluegill fishing, reeling in a little sunfish, my friend says "wouldn't it be funny if a big bass ate that thing"-WHAM! Somehow the bass sucked the hook out of the bluegill's mouth, the hook went through her gills, and hung around the gill plate, not even hooked. That fish was 5-6lbs. If you catch crappies near a beaver hut in the summer, there IS a big one in the area, I have had tons of them try to eat crappies while I am reeling them in.