fishingram24

They will hammer a spinner bait or trap as well as the soft plastics mentioned. I've caught 2 or 3 over 4 pounds and absolutely love to catch them but I'm not good enough to target just spots. They are my favorite bass to catch due to how they fight and willingness to bite at times.

When the bite is tough I'll use KNB and have been using it since the late 90's. On to many occasions to be an accident, I'll put some on and get bit within a few cast when I had not had a nibble in a while. My opinion is it doesn't hurt and probable helps so why not use it

First boat was a 14' 1977 Randal Craft fiberglass with a 35 Evinrude and Motor Guide 3 trolling motor that I bought new for about 3000$. Had a steering wheel and live well which was under the pad you sat on behind the wheel. No raised deck just seats on a pedestal bolted to the floor. I later sold the 35 and put a 40 Mariner on it before buying an 15' Eldocraft hull and putting the 40 on it. Learned to fish out of the Randal craft and hauled it all over the South including Toledo and Seminole when I was young and stupid and didn't know a 14' boat was to small for big water.

October through April for me. Start tampering off in May and June through September maybe once a month. I live on the Gulf coast and can't take the heat and humidity any more. Just took my first trip yesterday since early July and it's still to hot and humid

I have one long time, 45 years, fishing buddy that I still fish with often but probably 75% of the time I'm alone. I'll be 70 in a few months and it helps to have another person when launching and trailing the boat but it's not a necessity at this point in my life, yet. When I'm alone I don't have to worry about leaving water for the guy in the back or hoping they have a good day but still nice sometimes to have another opinion as to what we should do. Sometimes it's just nice to have a day to yourself.

Spinner baits have been my go to bait for 40+ years and over that time I've had many favorites. In recent years I've mostly used Booyah Convert because its made with a smaller diameter wire than most. Feel like it gives off a little more vibration than ones with thicker wire, yes they will eventually break but all will at some point.

Still have a Bill Dance model SK short arm spinner that's close to 40 years old and have not used it in years, keep it around just in case I ever need it.

I mainly fish a tidal river system on the Ms coast and wind plays a big part in the water conditions. Southerly winds pushes the tide much higher than normal and Northerly winds causes lower than normal tides. 15+ mph winds I will throw spinner baits, chatter baits or cranks normally and if I'm using a worm of some type I use a heavier weight than normal to maintain bottom. Winds less than 15 I let the fish decide but always look to the windy shore line regardless.

In my 20's and 30's I was hard core bass fishing, fishing probably 4 days a week and all the local tournaments but got to a point where if I had a bad tournament it bothered me all the next week. Decided I had to either quit fishing or learn to take it less seriously so I stepped back for maybe 6 months and adjusted my expectations and competitive nature, which was not easy. I loved to fish to much to quit so I changed my outlook and although I did not do as well in the tournaments after that I was okay with it. Gave up tournaments 7 years ago when I retired at 62 and go ever chance I get and enjoy ever minute of the day. I do mostly stop for 3-4 months now, from early June through mid Sept. due to the heat on the Ms coast where I live but that also helps keep the desire alive.

Wish we still had dogwood trees, all of them around here have died out over the last 20 years with some type of blight. Probably had 30 or more on my 6 acres 25 years ago and the last one died 5 years ago.

I have always used a knife with 7-8" blade, Uncle Henry for 25 years and currently a Cuda, but my buddy has the Bubba blade electric and I think I'd have to get one it I cleaned larger fish. His works great on all sizes.

For years I used yellow, weightless T rigged, then got into using green pumpkin, watermelon and its variations. Had 1 good day with the pink ones and 1 good day with black but mainly some shade of green. z

In Ms. a freshwater/small game licence is just over 12 dollars, my cost when I turned 65 was a one time 5.00 fee that's good until I am no longer around.

Never caught a fish on a frog but only threw on a few times. Keep saying I'm going to throw one more.

Noticed it several days ago on my tablet but its the same on my desk top

Once or twice a week from late September through May, try to go once a month during the hot summer months. Retired so I can pick my days now none of which fall on the weekend.

Since I mainly fish tidal river systems, I deal with constantly changing water levels every time I go. Fish set up differently depending on tide movement and since its also a river system, the river levels play a big part in my decision on where the fish may locate. Taken altogether it can make for finicky fish, one day great and the next you may zero but under normal conditions, falling water is better by a good bit.

Anything over 2 hours is probably an overnight trip. Most of my trips are within 30 miles one way, to old for those long day trips now.

Depends on how long and how hard you are on the trolling motor and what your budget is. Lithium's are the way to go if you can afford them. Some of the 100 amp lithium's from Amazon are about 1/2 the price if the name brands but if you believe what you read, customer service is hit or miss if you need it. Personally I bought 2 50 amp Ionics 3 months ago for my 24v 80# motor due to the good rep of the dealer and the bluetooth app which tells me that I draw just under 5 amps at 40% and 10 amps at 50%, not checked at higher speeds yet. Lithiums require a charger designed for them or at least AGM batteries to fully charge. If you chose lead, Deka batteries were good for me.

I did a lot of reading on lithium batteries before going with 2 50 amp Ionics from Drewcraft. Probably all are near the same but I had heard bad things about Dakota customer service and good about Ionic. I messaged Drewcraft with my questions and received a prompt reply with an answer which went a long way with me. Also they were a little cheaper than some of the other name brands and received delivery in less than a week. After 3 months they have been as advertised and would not hesitate to recommend.

Easily 2 or more years for everything except fluorocarbon line. I keep enough on hand to refill about a dozen reels at a time which I will do probably twice each year, more on the ones I use most. Have enough braid and mono for at least 2 years.

I've used the Red Fish Magic with a Zoom Fat Albert grub or a small swim bait for years and caught a lot of fish on it but doesn't play well around wood.

The past couple of years I've used the War Eagle Finesse and Booyah Convert spinner baits almost exclusively. War Eagle when the water is a little clearer and and feel like the fish want a smaller profile, Convert when its dirty and fish are eating good. Have caught a lot of fish on the shiny shad War Eagle and the JC special Convert. Really like the size of the War Eagle and never use a trailer with it but the wire tends to wear into the lead head pretty quickly.

Never quit but have taken some breaks for a few months at a time and still do during the heat of our deep south summers. Came close once due to tournament burn out and taking not winning as much as I thought I should to seriously. Once I decided that I loved fishing to much to give it up and started to take tournaments less seriously, I was good. Fishing was and is my escape from the pressures of work and now that I have been retired for 6 years its more fun than ever, just not as good at it as I once was.

Think I paid 10$ for my senior lifetime hunting/fishing/management area/salt water licenses when I turned 65 here in Ms. Includes everything but duck stamp.