stk44

At the end of August I was really on the fish. I caught 3, 5+ lb bass in that 2-week period (which for me is really good). Not only was I stumbling across good fish, but I was catching good numbers of fish too. One of those fish was a dinky little 10” bass. I caught him on a shad rap 04. I grabbed the top of him but he weaseled out of my grip and stuck me in the thumb with the spines of his pathetic little dorsal fin. I noticed that it hurt more than usual, but didn’t think anything of it. I waited several weeks for it to fully heal. There was no sign of infection but it kept giving me issues while doing yard work and was becoming increasingly more painful. I finally got an exploratory surgery 3 weeks ago, and they ended up pulling out two tiny bass spines from my left thumb(shown below). I had to keep it wrapped until yesterday and that pic is shown below as well. After the surgery, I was again reminded by my wife that this is why I shouldn’t fish. Unfortunately for her I got the itch to fish the next day and hit the pond with a large waterproof mitten over my left hand to keep it from getting wet. I’m assuming that spines breaking off is not common issue in bass fishing, but does anyone have any similar stories?

Caught another good 5+ this morning. I almost decided not to go out— I’m glad I did. ** on a side note: does anyone know why some of the iPhone pics get rotated 90 degrees when posting?

Caught an almost 4 about a week ago and an almost 5 yesterday. Today I caught a nice flathead on a ned rig— My forearms and triceps were burning after that fight.

Tom, I am truly sorry for your loss. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. -Steve

Well that was easy. Stocked up on some jigs as well. Thanks! Steve

Hi all, Tungsten is obviously hard to find these days and I am wondering where everyone is getting their tungsten at? I found a company called joy fish that sells tungsten and has pretty competitive pricing. Has anyone tried them out? The company is in China, so I am a bit skeptical to put an order in without knowing if the company is legitimate.

If it were me, I would wait for a stradic sale since they are being discontinued and then compare that deal to the Stella. BPS has a sale right now, but they aren’t in stock. I’m sure pricing will drop soon at other retailers.

Haha, thanks! Looking back I wish I would've taken better pictures, but I had to call a fishing buddy from across the pond to snap a pic and I wanted to get the fish back into the water ASAP-- fish like that are hard to come by in PA (first one I've come across LOL).

I went out to the pond at first light this morning before work and caught several more fish today on neko rigs and light t- rigged worms. I managed to get one nice one just shy of 4.5 lbs. Although I would much rather fish from my canoe or kayak, fishing from shore at this pond has definitely produced for me this year. The fish below was caught from isolated grass with a small curly tail worm. I set the hook after my worm took longer than usual to hit bottom. The fish jumped more times than I would’ve liked with a light wire hook and 6 lb test, but it was a lot of fun. -Steve

You can literally use anything, nails, drywall screws, but I like the twist nails. The one I use most is 7/8”. I threw it on the powder scale— it weighs 21.5ish grains aka .05 ounces, which is slightly less than 1/16 oz. No brass does not make a difference. If you can find something that doesn’t distort the shape of the plastic and stays snuggly in the nose of the bait, you can use it. Don’t worry if a weights don’t fall cleanly in the 1/32, 1/16, or 1/8 oz category either, it doesn’t matter.

I want to say they are roughly an inch. I think I weighed one once and it was under 1/16 oz. They are really cheap so I would recommend to buy a few different sizes and experiment.

I usually use a 6-8 foot leader so that I don’t have to keep replacing leader line. I use brass twist nails, you can get them at homedepot or any hardware store.

I sent them an email stating just what you mention above over a week ago and haven’t received a response.

I had the same thing happen to me. Some things shipped from BPS and some from Cabelas but multiple deliveries over several days.

Haha that certainly qualifies. Do they still honor the 2-day and next day shipping? Maybe that would be the route to go?

For me it’s a story of non-shipment. I bought a BPS gift card to buy a stradic that is on sale for $199.99. I ordered it and they cancelled it on me three times. I went to call the CS number and there is a message at the beginning saying that they cannot do anything about your cancelled orders. I waited on hold about 15 minutes and then hung up. Recently they have been taunting me with emails like “we think you forgot something in your cart” with a picture of the stradic they won’t let me buy. In the grand scheme of things though, not a big deal. I’ll just keep waiting.

The most important thing is a well-balanced and lightweight rod, typically a medium light for me. Remember, you are constantly twitching your rod to keep the bait ticking the bottom. Most times I do not feel the bite, the fish is just there on the fall or when you pop it off the bottom. I use 10 lb braid with an 8 lb flourocarbon leader. I don’t use weedless hooks and I use 4” yumdingers often, with various size twist nails which work perfectly in dingers, senkos, etc. This is a really easy rig to fish, so don’t overthink it. p.s. - if you use an o-ring with the yumdingers, you can potentially get 20+ fish on the same worm, just keep rotating the bait.

The retrieve

Hi All, I am looking at the Dobyn's Champion Xtreme spinning in 741 and wondering if anyone has experience using the rod and what their thoughts are. I plan on getting a rod primarily for neko rigs, 3-4" senkos, and light texas rigs (</= 1/8 oz. with a small finesse worm). I would also use it for ned rigs and drop shots. Given the fact that I want to use it for light texas rigs and small senkos with a buried hook, will this rod have enough power to drive the hook through the plastic sufficiently, or will this rod would be better suited for open hook finesse options that require a reel-set? If the latter, would a 742 be a better option? A non-dobyns alternative I am considering is the Daiwa Tatula Elite AGS Spin Rod 6'10" Med Light. Any information on this rod would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks in advance! Steve

Yes— weighted would be my preference and I don’t peg mine. To be perfectly honest, I prefer a Texas rigged swimbait over the keel weighted swimbait hooks most times. I feel that Texas rigged swimbaits come through the grass much better and also give a smaller profile when needed. The only downside would be that sometimes a softer bodied swimbait such as a keitech seem to tear easier when Texas rigged.

Awesome! Love the videos— keep them coming please!

Thought this was a 3 pounder until she rolled over. Ended up being just shy of 5.75 lbs.

Hi All, Going back for my MBA put fishing on the back burner for a couple of years now, so it was nice to get out this morning. I am extremely fortunate that I have been able to hit the pond before work since I have been working remotely, which has been nice. I went to a local spot this morning and there wasn’t much activity all day, except this 5.75 lb fish (ok, she was just shy of 5.75 on my spring loaded scale). It seems the switch from a zoom finesse worm to a 4” curly tail worm did the trick. This spot has been getting a lot more pressure than normal because of COVID, so any worm > 5” hasn’t seemed to work. Spinning gear, light line, and small baits seems to be the theme of this year so far. -Steve

I second Lake Breeze motel. It’s convenient and plenty of space for a boat( parking in grass) and their is electric to charge your batteries.

I tried to downsize this year, and use tubes, senkos, ned rigs, worms, and crankbaits as my staples. I’ve only been out twice, but it did make things a lot simpler like they used to be. Once I get outta grad school and have more time on my hands, I will try to keep it simple with the staples first, then depending on season or situation, change it up. But realistically, if a bass doesn’t eat a worm, jig, or tube... you should probably just move on anyways.