Turkey sandwich

Good luck dude!

d**n! And you were trolling spoons for steelhead!?!

I kinda feel the same way sometimes, and others I'm cool with silver/black and shad patterns. The way I look at it, crankbaits just need to be "close enough" most of the time since I'm looking for fast reaction strikes. I think action and profile can be more important than subtle color variations.

This threads a Incredible. How many of these stories occurred while hiking on a mushrooms and moonshine diet? I grew up spending a lot of time in the woods and never would have associated any of these things with a Sasquatch.

I put a lot of fish in the boat this year fishing Fat Free and DT series baits. In fact, I remember going nuts trying to replace a sexy (foxy, whatever term they use) shad colored fat free fry. I have quite a few others, but I really like throwing those. Also, don't overlook Shad raps when the water cools off or if you're fishing for smallmouth. Smallmouth and walleye especially love Shad raps. I fish mostly waters where perch, alewife, sunfish and crayfish make up the forage, so colors like sexy Shad/green shad/silver black (alewife), perch/fire tiger (perch), bluegill/clown/chartreuse/black (sunfish/bluegill), and a variety of craw patterns are all really effective.

I think it's just a matter of getting an idea of the fish's activity level. I don't fish T or C rigs like I used to, but a good (though not perfect) rule of thumb - the more active the fish, the more action you want in the tail of the worm. Not that a Culprit ribbon tail can't catch neutral fish or that active fish won't chase a Trick worm, but I've found that general rule to hold up 80% of the time when I'm worm fishing. Color is just a matter of matching water clarity and sunlight. Lots of light and clear water - life-like colors. Less light - bright colors or colors like blacks and blues. Murky water - I'm fishing either a very dark or very very bright color with lots of beads/rattles (or more likely, fishing something louder than a t-rig)

The M should do you well.

I like the Keitech swing I pact and fat impact for both large and smallmouths. It just seems to be a proven design, like grubs, craws, curl tail worms, etc.

But seriously, you shouldn't be breaking anything over 8lb test barring abrasion/weeds while bass fishing. Your breaks are likely bad knots or mismanaged drag. The thing is, bad knots in 20lb braid are no more effective than bad knots in 8lb mono.

Great fish!

I have an Avid X 6'9 MLXF and its a great rod. I was actually really surprised by its versatility. I'll use it for everything from throwing drop shot/finesse plastics to light topwater for smallmouth and it fishes really well. It's light/super sensitive, and very comfortable for me to fish.

8-20lb braid is pretty standard for a spinning setup. That said, the line probably isn't the big issue. What line are you using? What knots? How do you manage your drag? How often do you respool? How do you store line when you're not on the water?

I don't like it. Taking away competition is bad. Also, from my experience, Cabelas have been much, much nicer stores.

I'm a big St Croix advocate and I have an Avid X ML/XF that fishes almost anything finesse wonderfully. I'll use it for everything from drop shot rigs to throwing light topwaters for smallmouth. It's become one of my favorite rods really fast. The tip heavy criticism is with the Legend Tournament Bass line, though it really just becomes a matter of taste. This is built on the SCIV blank. The SCIII blank is comparably less tip heavy and comes to a pretty fine taper in M and ML powers. St. croix makes the Avid, Avid X, and Rage models on the SCIII blank. A suggestion - try out the rods and check them out in store if possible. In the $200-$250 range you'll find Avid, Avid X and LTB lines. Also, keep an eye out for Legend Elites (usually in the $320-$340 range) on sale or used for about your price range.

Also a little different - PP makes some great high-vis colors that are great for finesse fishing. I use PP SS in 20lb or less on my spinning reels. It casts great and it's easy to follow. On my casting rods, I use 832. It handles great, casts well, etc. I have had a bit of frustration with the PP SS on casting reels. The strands seem to separate and damage a lot more than the 832.

They are soft, but I've had few problems using either a drop of super glue or a keeper to hold them on spinnerbaits and swim jigs. I use mostly the fat impacts in the 4.8" size as a swim jig or large spinnerbait trailer.

I'm still new to learning how to tweak sonar, so I may be off, but this is what I've found. Turning the sensitivity up will give you a better view of the shapes, though clusters can still beconfusing. I like playing with it to find the best balance I can. Usually I'll run it from 75%-80% and find what gives me the best look.

As soon as I recover from this fusion, Florida is on the short list.

My god! Dwight, what did those weigh?!?

Today was just one of those hard days on the water. It was my second time fishing this lake, first time with electronics, and last time without a canoe or kayak. It was one of those days when nothing seemed to produce. I went almost ten hours before this crappie hit my popper and another 45 minutes before picking up a 12" Largemouth on a swim jig. At least the crappie was photogenic.

Roboworms are pretty sweet. Depending upon size, nose hooked or "light wire" worm hook.

It can be.

Gulp is just different and the worms are awesome on a drop shot (don't worry about that yet). The best advise on here is the simple advise. The basics you'll need to get started catching fish: Soft plastics (should start with a plastic worm imho, it works everywhere in almost any condition and it teaches you a lot of other things while fishing it.) 8-12lb test mono Bullet weights ( 1/8th to 1/4oz will cover most applications) Work hooks or extra wide gap hooks in 3/O-5/O Zoom Trick worms in Pumpkin, watermelon, and junebug. (You may also pick up a jar of dip'n'dye to dye the tails instead of buying extra colors with chartreuse tails) Spinnerbaits: White/blue 1/2oz spinnerbait with Willow blades Black spinnerbait with Colorado blades Jigs 3/8 to 1\2 oz Black/blue, an orange/brown color, and a color with olive/green. These are probably the easiest lures to learn to fish with that will catch you fish virtually anywhere. They'll also teach you a lot of other things the better you get with them, like how to feel the bottom, cover, etc. Good luck, man!

Welcome aboard! Where in MD are you? Both, the Potomac and the Susquehanna are great fisheries.

I'll just leave this here: