corn-on-the-rob

Enjoyed the 74 degree Ohio weather yesterday, caught a few bass, but this bluegill almost ripped the rod outta my hands!

What is your budget? Being this general, a budget will help everyone to know which direction to point you.

When I tell people your braid will last an entire season longer if you don't add backing. 1. Fill spool completely with braid. 2. use until not enough braid on spool 3. NOW add backing, use same braid. BOOM

My fishing partner has a go pro, and he primarily uses it to film himself so he can see what he was doing wrong or right. We have used it a bit in tournaments and practice to document for fun, but it is just that, because no one in their right mind except us would enjoy what we have recorded and edited thus far: just two idiots catching mostly small fish! I would recommend getting into it, but do it for you, not an audience. I am not saying don't ever go public, but make sure you have something valuable to offer first, whether it is quality, real entertainment, information, etc... Like others said, there is a lot of crap out there, don't be the next pile. That being said, to simplify editing for you: Cut the downtime, keep the highlights, don't over edit (everything doesn't have to be slow motion or have crazy transitions), research the heck out of rendering settings so you retain as much quality as possible. Short, simple, sweet.

joined, i'm rmw44 for anyone who wants to know who will be hogging the leaderboard... at the bottom.

I cannot find it for the life of me, what is the group name? and password if there is one.

RW pretty much covers it, but I will add a few things that I think may be over looked. First off, I know people tend to shy away from chatters unless the water is stained or dirty, but that is a mistake. Yes, a CB is great in muddy water but it is an amazing tool in very clear waters as well. A swim jig, chatterbait, and spinnerbait do exhibit similar properties, but never assume that by throwing only one of them in a given situation that you are covering all your bases. Sometimes it doesn't matter which one you throw, sometimes it's all that matters. Yes, a large part of the chatter allure is its immense vibration, but don't let popular opinion tell you that it isn't as flashy as a spinnerbait, because it certainly is in many situations. While you can throw one just about anywhere, I always reach for mine in this situation: Do you ever fish a lake or area that seems like it actually has too many good things to fish? 10 million laydowns, great looking weed beds that stretch as far as the eye can see? Throw a chatter bait and cover water. Though I cover water in this case, I prefer to slow roll on a steady retrieve that allows me to just tick across the given cover. The design of the chatter bait allows the vibration, flash, and decent sized profile to draw/call in fish from significant distances. This is important since there is so much cover, that you have to find the good cover. The slow-roll/steady retrieve allows them to detect and lock on while they close the distance. You don't have to place your casts super close together since this presentation covers a large chunk of water with each cast.

This is something I had never thought of before, very interesting. I would say it depends. Just use your best judgement. If the boater is covering water quickly using any technique, or its windy or rainy? go for it. If he is pitching a jig in close quarters on a still, quiet day without a trolling motor using a push pole, maaaybe opt for a different bait.

3'' grubs, 5'' grubs, 8'' ribbontails, and 10'' ribbontails all make up a large part of my anywhere, anytime arsenal. We are in the era of senkos and flapping craws, so these ribbon/curly tails don't quite get the attention they deserve!

That seriously makes me drool... Simple. Beautiful.

If you are targeting smallies, make sure you know the lake you will be fishing has a population first and foremost. What are the air and water temps in the area you plan to fish?

Very long and thin spotted bass. Even had the goggle eye, just too thin: Very Black smallie. Not that unusual on Erie but even the stomach and fins were dark as night: Very yellow Drum. Was my biggest recorded one, a bit over 13lbs. Yes, I am wearing broken sunglasses and look like a dufus:

Regardless of what you eat on the boat, it tastes 10 times better!

Bow and arrowing absolutely works with braid too!

Oh my god... That might be the coolest jig I have ever seen...

I don't, but it sounds awfully fun and relaxing.

Swim Jig and Carolina Rig for me!

I never thought I would say it, but by the end of the year I was a little burnt out as well. I started early march and ended late November, going quite often. I originally told myself winter was a welcomed break, but I realized I meant a 2 week break, not 4 months of winter! I need the break though, getting my feet settled into a job, have plenty of tackle organization/boat maintenance to do, and of course, lure making to do!

Can't beat that response...!

I prefer a MH moderate for single hook moving baits. Rod length is mostly a preference, I use 6' 6'' for 1/2 and under, but for my 3/4 and 1 ounce chatters i use a 7' 6'' MH mod. The action to let the fish load me up, the power to drive the hook home.

OP will have to chime in here, but I am pretty sure he is talking about holding a fish out of water in a traditional way if it is a very large fish, not whether to lip or net while landing. I am always frustrated when I see anglers/friends post pictures of ANY size fish that they are twisting their hand so that the bass is "flared" basically creating the very stressful angle on their jaw. If you are holding a bass with one hand by the mouth, it should always be in a relaxed vertical position, no angling. The more annoying part is that those who flare bass for pictures because it looks "cool" are typically the ones who are either ignorant to the harm it may be inflicting, or are negligent because they care more about the picture than the fish's health. If you do choose to stray at all from vertical, use two hands and support the belly. That being said, within reasonable limits, a healthy bass of any size should be well capable of being held properly for a decent period of time. Yes, we should do our best to release the fish in a good condition, as quickly as possible, but to think they are so fragile that you cant hold them by the lip to remove the hook(s), then to snap a picture or two, is absurd. I would be much more concerned about keeping the fish wet\oxygenated than by how long you are holding them, as long as it's properly, even for a moderate amount of time.

You must be a full-time student at a 4-year college/university. You also must compete through that school. If they don't have a club or team, start one, then contact the flw and/or bass to affiliate yourself/your college with them in order to compete.

Compiling the stories with pictures of said lures into a book sounds pretty cool. It'll be one hell of a piece of fiction!

Everybody pretty much hit the nail on the head already. The thing that helped me most was realizing that winter fishing can appear more intimidating than it really is. In my opinion this is because you are less likely to stumble onto a random fish or two, so when you aren't successful, it can seem like a lost cause, but when you do find them, you typically really find them. Find one, find them all!

Move out of Ohio... Haha. The key to catching fish consistently is that your approach cannot be consistent. The fish are always changing so you must also be adapting. As an Ohio fisherman myself, one of the biggest improvements I made to catch fish more consistently came from starting to understand a simple concept: There were many days where I was fishing historically tough lakes unsuccessfully, so I just kept moving, kept covering water, hoping to find the magic area, or to pick up a seemingly random fish. That was until I realized after covering enough water that it was impossible that I haven't been around fish, passing by them all day. Therefore, I must not being doing the right things to catch at least one of them. So I started telling myself that in just about any area of the lake, I am around at least some fish, so how can I be successful, here?