Steveo-1969

Glad you found a way to get your son interested! To get my 10 year old grandson interested in fishing I'd have to figure out how to get a fishing rod to look like an Xbox controller......

Welcome to BR Will. River smallmouth are my favorite fish in the whole wide world!

"I don't often fish straight braid, but when I do I use a Trilene knot."

Very cool. "He's a fishin' man fishin' any time he can! YEAH!!!" Grab the Frabill, I'm busy cooking Johnsonvilles....

Welcome to Bass Resource and congrats on that giant smallmouth!! Do you sing the theme song for John Gillespie's Waters and Woods TV show?

I love fishing a jig so if I can only have one lure for SMB then that's what I'm picking!

I have never done this to a smallmouth myself but have seen this on countless TV shows where they discuss holding them under the belly to keep them from moving. I'm thinking with so much video evidence it's gotta work right?

Congratulations on finishing so well and thank you for the excellent descriptive write-up. You are making WV proud in more ways than one!!

@Nebasska After reading your signature I'm not sure why you are complaining. You are still fishing, correct?

^^^ Best answer!

I have DirecTV which doesn't offer WFN. Last year I downgraded my DirecTV package and lost the Outdoor Channel (and a lot of my favorite fishing shows). So I started subscribing to MOTV and now I have more fishing shows than I can possibly watch. And you get to pick a free magazine subscription from a list so now I also get In-Fisherman magazine.

You could subscribe to My Outdoor TV (MOTV) for $10/month. You get more fishing shows than you can shake a dropshot rod at.......

I fish a clear river and have found this to be true as well. With that said, I normally fish Ayu, Smallmouth Magic and K's Magic (either Keitech SI FAT or BPS Speed Shad).

My nickname is Steve-O and I was born in 1969. And because there is not one creative bone in my body...

Welcome to Bass Resource Dustin from a fellow West Virginian.

Welcome to Bass Resource Max! I hope you come back and visit your thread because you have lots of good advice already. Just wanted to welcome you. I lived in Ripon about a million years ago and fished Green Lake quite often with a buddy. Unfortunately we were more interested in drinking beer than catching fish so I have no fishing advice for you.

I prefer mid-range reels because in my mind the rod is more important. Just personal preference here folks, no need to throw darts! My price cap for a reel is about $200, but my price cap for a rod is ???? (So far it's $500+...)

I have a small Plano tackle bag that I can wear over my shoulder. I think it's actually considered a "crappie" tackle bag and is the size of half a loaf of bread. Everything I need fits in it and because it's over my shoulder and at my side at all times I don't need to carry it or walk back to it if I need something. I also use it while wade fishing.

When I was a teenager I backreeled all the time when fighting a fish because the drag on my POS spinning reel didn't work. My only choice was to backreel. Today I rely 100% on the drag.

I don't build custom rods and was just poking around in here when I saw this thread. Question - are you looking to build just ONE rod that could be used with a casting reel OR a spinning reel? If that's the case I don't think you could find guide sizes/placements that would work well for both......

And here I always thought you could never have enough rods and reels.......

I haven't used a lot of BPS items, but I like their Speed Shads, Stik-O's and curly-tail grubs. I've caught lots of fish on all three and will continue to use them.

Neither. With where and how I fish, I can (and do) get by with minimal rods and minimal tackle.

Good reply Sam, we've all had our share of losing nice fish and that sickening feeling in our stomach. But on the flipside, if we were guaranteed to catch EVERY SINGLE fish that bit it would be fun for awhile but eventually the thrill would be gone and we'd start playing golf instead......

I've only been using baitcasters for a couple years and am still learning about them. So to that end, I have a couple questions about the above thread entry. 1) Mr. TOXIC mentions backing off the drag to get maximum casting distance. I didn't realize the drag setting had any affect on casting distance, I've only been adjusting the brakes and spool tension? 2) He also mentions the brake will help stop an over run at the end of the cast. But this is only with magnetic brakes, correct? Magnetic brakes help slow the spool down at the end of the cast, while centrifugal brakes help slow down the spool at the beginning of the cast?