Ozark_Basser

That second one in the picture doesn't look it, but it was 20.5. I hate how skinny fish are so much less photogenic. The smallie in the picture above it actually looks bigger, but in reality it was probably around 2 lbs.

Fuji ecs? If so, you just epoxy it to the blank. No need for arbors of any kind.

Striker jig The Agitator jig The Junk jig Thumper Jig

I was definitely hoping it was a smallmouth. I'll take a nice largemouth out of the creek any day though.

Finally got to do another float this summer on Crooked Creek. The water was perfect for floating and fishing. Lots of 1-2 lb fish like in the first picture. The 3 lb smallmouth in the second pic came in at 20 1/2 " long aaahhh. So close, yet so far. Still no 4 lb smallies but some nice largemouth.

Between 240 and 280? A steal indeed. I wonder how they pull that off?

The craftsmanship looks top notch. Very pretty rod. I wonder how much it retails for? With titanium framed torzite guides and all those nice components, that rod shouldn't be cheap at all. I'm assuming they are titanium frames since Fuji is the only company using torzite, and they only make them with titanium frames.

Mine really isn't worth posting after you've seen what Scott has haha. I have an 8' x 2' table with a cheap hand wrapper, an office chair, and an LED office lamp which is a must if you ask me.

The small size tape and bands really help with micro guides. For larger guides you can step up the size if you want.

Orthodontist bands get my vote too. I buy the 1/8" and use a combination of 1/8" masking tape if the blank has a small diameter or towards the tip.

I've been in the same situation this year. The only thing that has seemed to work really well for me is weightless soft plastics since it has gotten hot. They won't even touch a frog where I'm at which is funny because it produced so well during what seemed to be post spawn.

It's not your fault. Call up Abu Garcia. More than one person has had this problem with their newest generation. I have an stx that does the same thing.

The most sensitive stick I own is made by North Fork Composites. It's the 709 HM. It's almost too sensitive. I find myself setting the hook way too hard even on small fish sometimes because the bites feel so much harder on this blank. I do not own an NRX though.

I tested it out in my sink the other day. When you just drop it in the water 832 floats. When you push it down in the water, it doesn't really sink but suspends. Spiderwire floats no matter what you do to it. Fluoro sinks like a rock once you push it into the water. Would I call 832 a sinking braid? Not really. It does take on water and sink slowly compared to other braids I've tried. Nothing like fluoro though.

Bluegill, bluegill, bream, crappie, ?

I always thought the same thing about my town's little public park lake. I've never caught too much, so I rarely go, but tonight I caught a couple 2-3 lbers out of it at sundown. All from pitching a jig to shoreline cover. This park gets hammered daily. Goes to show you just never really know.

Fast gear ratio and lots of drag is what I would be looking for.

31 ft high bull = shallow summer fish = happy camper, for me anyway. Nice job on catching those goggle eyes on a jig. Biggest one I ever caught was on a jig.

You're still catching goggle eyes in this hot weather? They usually dissapear around June for me it seems. This abnormal rainy summer has kept me off the creeks, so very few creek smallies so far this year. One good thing is the Ranger is headed to the shop Monday. Let's hope B.O.A.T. doesn't live up to its name. (Bust Out Another Thousand) haha

Depends. For where I fish (sparse cover mostly with some heavy cover), I like a rod rated 3/8-1 oz with a fairly soft tip. The soft tip helps it skip better and so does the not so heavy power rating. Preferably a seven footer. The less stout rod also helps with hook ups. I feel a really stiff rod rips the frog out of their mouths too much.

Sounds like you were throwing a lot of the same things I would be throwing in that situation minus a chatterbait. More than likely the fish are in a funk due to the conditions. I'd go weightless and fish very close to cover and the shoreline. Also since the water has came down, the fish could have pulled out to the closest edge. You might need a kayak to try and probe it out.

Orthodontist bands to hold down the guides before wrapping. They are especially useful with micro guides.

Very nice.

It changes for me periodically, but the hollow body frog is definitely at the top of the list most of the time. I guess if I had to pick a least favorite, it would be the Carolina rig solely to the fact I never use it.

I had the same problem myself on a particular pond this year. I was killing them in the spring with anything texas rigged when the pads and algae weren't as thick. As the pads and algae got a little thicker around post spawn, the frog couldn't be beat for about two weeks, then the bite absolutely shut down. I'd catch a dink here and there, but nothing over three pounds, and nothing like the toads I was catching in the spring. After a couple more weeks the pads and algae became very thick making it even more difficult to fish. I could still see some big swirls every now and then up shallow, even in the middle of the day, so I figured the shallow bite could still be there, but I just hadn't figured them out. I tried punching the pads with a 1 oz t rig but pulled up too much grass, algae, etc. The thought of fishing pressure definitely popped in my head due to the fact I had been hammering this pond every weekend and sometimes during the week since early March, and the thought that maybe I had already caught all of the big ones considering I've caught two different four pounders twice from the same general area, a couple ~6 lbers, and a 24" long 15" girth toad all in a 5 acre pond. But I still think there is a bigger one. I decided night fishing might be the ticket, which it might be, but I've only went once and caught a 15" smallmouth, weird. Also, this pond is the home of a cottonmouth with the head the size of a tennis ball, which I came within about three feet of, so night fishing is on the back burner, so to speak. I took the canoe out to probe the outer pad field edge only to find grass so thick you couldn't pull a bait through it without pulling up a pound or so of wet grass, so i gave up on that fairly quickly. There probably is some bigger fish out there though I would guess. Then I decided to try weightless plastics. I tied on a paca punch with a 4/0 hook and fished it in every hole I could find in the pads. The bite finally started to pick up. Lots of smaller ones and a big one that broke me off at the knot with a 16# fluoro leader. Probably user error, but at least I'm onto something haha.