WIGuide

I use a heavy power rod for a few applications. Frogging in pads or grass, flippin in heavy cover, punching, big crankbaits (10xd), and hollow bodied swim baits around thick grass, and A-rig. You might be able to get away with a MH with some of these applications if they aren't around heavy cover, but there are just some you have to step it up to be efficient.

I know the BPS in Springfield has either 2 or 3 full time biologists that work to keep the fish/creatures alive and well. I don't know if all stores have the same deal going on since Springfield has a larger number of aquariums. I would doubt they do though. I've been to quite a few BPS stores, and I haven't seen too many issues in their tanks. Cabels on the other hand is a whole different story. I haven't been to tons of their stores, but the ones I have, it seems that pretty much ever fish in their tanks is next to death. As far as the issues you're talking about, the open wounds happen. A parasite could have gotten into the tank, or the fish could have scraped itself on something in the tank. Being fat for their length could be considered over feeding, but look at fish in nature. We're always trying to catch the biggest fattest bass out there and to grow them large you've got to feed them that way. Bulging eyes usually indicate an old fish as their eyes generally keep growing.

Is it just straight concrete, or is there rip rap on either side? If it has some rip rap, I'd probably be throwing a crankbait at it.

All the social media links go to a single person's profiles too. Not that it can't be a one man show, but that's kind of raising red flags as well

We have a lot of wild rice up here and as it grows it comes up long and stringy. Any spinnerbait gets clogged with it, willow the least, oklahoma is a close second, and colorado....good luck haha. If you get a cast in without the blades fouled it's about like hitting a hole in one on the golf course.

Pretty sure you can use any grease tailored more for marine environments. Marine wheel bearing grease is made to be submerged, so to me that's good enough for my outboard.

Up here the Oklahoma blades are hard to find off the shelf up here. They still put those on a few colors but we have to order them. That thump'r had the biggest OK blade I've seen. I'm a big fan of them all though, especially up here where we have lots of grass. Those blades come through it way better than a Colorado blade with similar vibration, but still produce a ton of flash like a willow leaf does.

On something that small you could change props, but since you only run it that way occasionally, I wouldn't bother.

The Terminator Short Arm Thump'r. Had one in my box for over a year and had minimal success also with minimal use, but early this fall I had a few lights out days with it and then it ended up snapping :/ they weren't big sellers and they got discontinued fairly quickly so they are hard to come by. I do still have the blade of mine which I think is a lot of the reason for it's success. The Oklahoma blade is very under-rated as far as blades go.

He needs an NSFW label on those posts too. His tackle porn, although acceptable to see at work, leads many to dig deeper into tackle collections and waste countless hours on the clock searching for more. That's definitely not safe for work! hahaha

Congrats on the good finish! I'll echo what Logan said though. Fishing is one of those sports that anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Good ol jim-bob could go out and beat KVD despite the fact he doesn't really know what he's doing. He could stumble into a school of 5 pounders. Now KVD will beat him 99 out of 100 days, but there is that chance. Whether they figured them out or not, they were on fish, so use what information you can gather from that to help figure them out for next time.

Like AJ said, you need to make sure that the line is coming off the spool the same way it's going onto the reel. Otherwise, you're just twisting the line as you put it on the reel. We all know twist + spinning reel = no good! All is not lost though since it's messed up. Go out in your boat, and dip you line in the water as you start idling and start stripping line off. Run it out behind the boat until you're down to the spool, reel it all up keeping the line tight and you're good to go.

Thanks for the insight guys! Rambler I'm not sure how I missed that, but I was skeptical too when there was no hard contact information. 68 the $20 for shipping pretty much turned me off. I wasn't planning on ordering a huge quantity of them and $20 for shipping is a joke for a small order. Hoosier, I've been there and they don't have them :/ looks like I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled elsewhere.

After looking at it a little more, they make it back in shipping....$20 flat rate. I wouldn't mind that if I was ordering a bunch but considering what I was going to order fits in a $5 flat rate box it's kind of turning me off to the deal.

Nicely done! I give you props for your effort. It gives people a general starting point if they're looking for something in particular. One thing about fishing though, is everyone is a little different and might like something different for a particular technique. Like I said though, I like this as it gives someone a great starting point.

Hey guys, I'm just wondering if anyone has ever ordered from www.thefishingtacklehub.com? I've found a discontinued bait that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. They still have some in stock, but I've never heard of this place before. I was hoping maybe someone has ordered from here and is able to shed some light on their experience.

Water Gremlin makes small bullet style crimp on split shots. The really little ones I think are actually made to be used for pegging your normal bullet weight.

I don't know much about the system other than what you've told us, but I know I'd start out covering water with something like a squarebill, spinnerbait, or swim jig. All three of those baits are great for locating active fish. Also, I wouldn't hesitate to dive the extra 15 minutes to try that new area either.

Not the case on all motors. My friend has a 50 hp Mercury who had a small piece of debris that got wedged in the spring on his thermostat which prevented it from opening and no water was coming from his tell tale. Once the piece was removed, everything worked properly again.

When you started it up and water didn't come out, it's possible the engine was not warm enough for that to happen. Not due to residual water, but because of the thermostat. In water that's very cold and a cold motor, it'll have to run longer to open up. With bigger motors I haven't noticed much difference regardless of water temp, but with something as small as a 40 it might not open up as quickly. There is also the possibility that somehow some water froze in your tell-tale. When something like that happens, or it gets plugged, it does not mean that no water is circulating in your engine, but rather the little that comes out just can't escape there. As far as doing anything different when it's cold, I'll let it warm up longer before I take off. When I pull it out, I'll leave the motor tilted up when I pull it out of the water, and let it drain that way. When it's done, I'll trim it down and let it sit that way for a bit, and then trim it back up to put the transom saver on.

Welcome to the forums Lou! I'm envious of your college fishing experience. When I was in college that was just barely getting started. You've got a great opportunity best of luck with it!

Hello Evan! Welcome to the forums at BF. There's plenty of info here to keep your wheels turning when not on the water!

Welcome to BR and back to fishing!

I'm sure you can get by with what you have, however I'd look at adding a combo in the ML power range and also one in the heavy power range.

I cast my dropshot about 98% of the time. One thing I would advise is don't think you just have to throw a finesse worm on it. Experiment with different types of baits. One of my go-to baits in a little more off colored water is a SK Baby Rodent. I'm not even sure why I decided to try it, but I did and bass seem to love it.