Fried Lemons

For freshwater fishing I think a medium light is all you need. I find they cast finesse lures much better than a stiffer medium power. I have a medium light that I will throw anything from 1/10 to 1/2oz and it handles those presentations well. I have hauled in catfish up to 40lbs and stripers in heavy current on that setup so I am confident it will handle any bass I encounter.

Fished the Potomac looking for stripers today. I hit a couple of spots with just one missed bite on a pointer 78. I finally found the active fish in some white water rushing along a bluff wall. I was catching runts every cast on an easy shiner. I switched to a floating freestyle shad and got some vicious topwater strikes from the bigger fish in the school.

If you are used to braid FC handles way differently. I know a lot of bass anglers love it but in my experience it tends to jump off the spool on some casts. I’ve tried all the premium lines and all of them do this to some extent. It’s better than braid at detecting bites on semi slack line and keeping some baits deeper in the column. Line size I will say 12lb is fine for black bass. For heavy cover I suggest braid.

Did you point your rod at the snag or did you pull with the rod? I don’t think there is a crappie rod on the market that can deadlift 6lbs.

http://web.archive.org/web/20171123043625/http://www.paulusjustfishing.com:80/4linetesting.htm Not all brands are covered but this is the most comprehensive source on this topic. The short answer is labels are generally inaccurate.

Fish as long as there isn’t ice on the water.

Potomac starting to come alive again with the cooler nights. Had a blast catching schoolies on light tackle. Also caught a 25lb flathead on the light spinning rod during a night trip but did not bother photographing him.

If you subscribe to their mailing list you’ll get notifications. There’s a drop happening next week. It’s a one man operation so they sell out fast.

I’ll bite. I started fishing the 6” citizens this season and they have become a go to bait for me. It is by far the best weedless swimbait I’ve used, it comes through timber and weeds very well. Stick some tungsten nails into the bait and it can also be bottom bounced without worry of snagging. The best feature imo is the way the bait is molded around the owner beast hook so the hook stays perfectly seated even as the bait starts getting torn up. The 6” is much smaller than the 7” citizen and the 7.5” battles shad. I’ve caught bass ranging from 1-6lbs on the small citizen so it’s a good all around bait for getting bites while still attracting larger size fish. Now the cons. First would be hook up ratio. There is a learning curve to setting the hook on this bait. You need to keep your rod pointed at the bait during the retrieve which is different from how you would fish a crank bait or spinnerbait. You need a very hard hookset for this bait so you need to be in position at all times. Fish will spit the citizen much quicker than a senko. Second would be the durability. This bait is soft and will start to rip with a few fish. You need mend it if you are fishing this bait. Sticking a toothpick through the screw lock will help keep the nose from tearing out. My first citizen lasted me 20 fish this way before I finally lost it to a snag. That’s my 10 cents. Hope that helps.

If you’re buying entry level then definitely spend more on the reel. Past that I believe the rod gets you more bang for your buck. There is much more to a rod than durability. If that were the main concern then ugly stiks would be one of the best rods on the market.

When I first learned about frogs they were a game changer for me, I caught my first bass over 5lbs on a frog in heavy slop. I’ll throw them as long as there is emergent vegetation or overhead cover. Once that stuff dies off I find other baits more effective but they will still get bit in open water.

Doubled uni knot has never failed me.

Got a few this past Sunday. All fish ate the citizen fished in heavy cover. upload image

For me the process used to go something like this. Buy new bait, fish it a while, realize I don’t like it that much, relegate to bin. Over time I learned not to buy into hype and to stick with proven baits that I know will work for my specific type of fishing. I have drawers filled with baits collecting dust as a reminder. That said I still love trying out new baits. I’m just much more selective than I used to be.

Awesome action shots.

I’d go big swimbait as they are highly rewarding to learn and are not widely used in Michigan I would imagine.

Those baits are not particularly heavy and can be thrown on a conventional heavy rod. Once you start getting in the 3oz+ class is when you need dedicated swimbait gear in my opinion. I would also suggest a good copolymer/mono at 15lb test. Too heavy of a line will kill the action on the small glides. I do not think 30lb braid is a good choice here. It is way too thin and will easily break if you backlash. Mono will stretch and keep fish pinned.

Make sure you can tie a good leader knot. FC is especially prone to breaking near line to line connections. Many will disagree with me but I prefer mono as a leader material. If you decide to go the fluoro route get a fluoro marketed as leader material and not main line.

How deep is your body of water? If it’s deep enough to develop a thermocline then early fall when the temperatures drop the lake will turn over. Fishing is usually poor during this period because poorly oxygenated water from the lake bottom is being forced to the surface. Once the thermocline has disappeared and oxygen levels have stabilized is when the expected fall bite starts happening.

Yeah I’ve been wading a few times this year. It’s been really difficult for me at least, none of the spots I’ve had past success at produced anything, not even dinks.

Fished Dickerson over the weekend. The plan was to start with a rat in the morning hitting shaded cover then transition to a soft bait as the sun got higher. I got a total of 4 blowups casting the rat tight to cover and deadsticking it with an occasional twitch. Later as the shade line receded I continued to catch by cranking it down and crashing it against limbs like a squarebill. Overall it was a blast to fish and was very effective at drawing fish of all sizes out of cover. Best of the day at 5.25. Dink of the day at <1lb.

Personally I would go with the 6'10, mainly because I have a harder time skipping with XF action rods. I like a tip that loads up so I don't have to impart much force.

Looks like a tilapia to me.

I learned that big fish can be caught on hot cloudless summer days in the middle of the day on big baits. It goes against all conventional wisdom I've ever read but I guess fish don't follow the rules. I actually caught my biggest ever bag doing this.

When I was first learning how to target bass I threw a weightless Texas rigged worm exclusively for about a year. From just that bait I learned about picking apart cover and proper hooksetting. It took me a long time to gain any confidence in reaction style baits.