Brew City Bass

With most stores return policy, I'd just order them then and send em back if they don't fit I don't think you'll have a problem. My ice fishing bibs are the same size I buy my clothes in (too d**n big), but they're made baggier and meant to fit over your pants / shirt. My rain jacket is the same.

Best bet is to go into a store and try something out with your clothes on.

They're a decent rod but I'd bet a signed dollar you could do better for $100.

Hurt them? No. Send them deep? Probably. I'd fish where you normally fish, just deeper. They won't go too far.

Yep... In my short life I've noticed a lot of changes, and it's always going downhill. Hopefully we pull our head out of our arses soon.

3.5ft berkley dredger! It's a crazy little crank that anything will hit.

Cool concept, but seems pretty useless unless you got cash to burn just so you can say "I fish from a jetski".

So 2 years ago I was fishing a small local tournament. I get to the lake and do a quick shakedown run, everything seems fine. Go back to the launch and wait for the shotgun start. Gun fires and we all take off. My boat stalls 20 yards off the launch. Well crap... I did some trouble shooting and realized I ran it out of gas, doh! So my buddy comes over in his boat and offers to tow me back to the dock. I told him I'd pay him $20 and a sixxer to tow me to my spot and tow me back in time for weigh in. He towed me the 10 mins to my spot and sure enough was there in time to get me back to the launch for weigh in. I ended up having a killer day and won the tournament ($150 cash prize) and my buddy won my $20 for towing me (most he ever won in a tournament haha). There was a girl I was seeing a couple years back. Just met her a month or two into spring and she mentioned going fishing and was generally impressed with all my fishing photos yada yada. So we made a date to go out and do some fishing. We were maybe an hour into fishing and she said "So how long are we going to be here?" like she had something better to do. I decided right there she wasn't my type of gal so I loaded up the boat and took her home. I went right back out to the lake and had a great time alone.

It's days like this that make me want to move south. Today it was 60* out and sunny, no wind, but I can't wet a line cause the local lakes still have ice on them... I've been hitting the tribs for steelhead, but those aren't my game. I sleep, eat, and breath bass. Come on open water!

Can't go wrong with big game. When I was using that I'd re-spool my rods every week because it was so d**n cheap.

I use a blood knot, never had failed me.

I've got good news for you my friend, you can have the best of both worlds! Leaders are God's gift to man who cannot decide between braid or poly. Most of my rods have 30-50lb braid with a 6ft 10lb fluoro leader. If I'm jigging, or doing topwater I just cut off the leader. Everything else I use a leader.

It's more than likely a list of reasons why they're not hitting your small presentations. For my lakes, it depends what tiny lure I'm fishing. Tiny crankbaits, tiny jigs, stuff like that never seems to get bit for me. But tiny worms, ned rig, 1" minnow on drop shot, those all get hit by the big girls all summer long. But I do agree with you, if you wanna catch consistent big fish, use a big(ger) bait. I have fun using a drop shot, but for every 5lber I catch I gotta weed through a hundred 1 lbers and crappie. Most days I am not up for that so I'll opt to throw a big moving bait. The only days you'll catch me drop shotting or fishing a tiny lure is when I've deemed that the fish aren't in the mood for a larger bait, which to be honest is rare. I can almost always find fish willing to bite a jig, crank, spinner, or jerkbait. I'm sure there's a forage in the lake that mimics a 12" worm. There's one lake I fish where they won't touch anything but a worm or craw imitation.

Whenever I got spare cash and no real needs I like to burn it on baits. Can't go wrong with the staples like plastics, hard lures etc. Stock up on line, weights, hooks. List goes on an on.

Aww what a cutie! Only reason I'd contemplate having kids is to have a fishing buddy haha.

Okay, I just googled the location and weather. It's main lake water if I see correctly, so you're going to want heavvyy weights and a bottom rig. Also the wind is gonna be out of the North at 20mph, so it's going to be pounding your face. It's gonna make it hard to cast. For the bottom rig, I like to use 15lb main line, 1oz-3oz egg sinker(depending on condition), then a barrel swivel with 5ft of fluoro leader. On the leader I put a floating bead, then tie on hook. Peg the floating beat at the hook and now you have a nice bottom rig for soaking spawn, alweives, shiners etc. The only caveat with this heavy rig is it's hard to detect a bite sometimes. So what I like to do is open the bail, lay the rod on the ground and wrap the line around a beer bottle. Fish takes the bait and takes line, bottle goes over and alerts you. You can use a can of rocks, bell, whatever. Second method of attack should be spoons. Get some heavy spoons like little cleos or a 1oz kastmaster and chuck those.

Oh boy, it's hard to tell you what to use without knowing where you're fishing at what conditions. Over the pond here in Milwaukee, we float spawn and cast plugs, spoons, and everything else. For floating spawn I use a slip bobber, 6ft fluoro leader 10lb, and splitshot if needed. It's pretty simple in theory, but adjustments need be made depending on a lot of things.

Just watched the pilot episode. Ouch.. What a boring show. 30 minutes of guys cutting mud, brush, and cattails and 5 minutes of a montage of them catching fish. No wonder it got cancelled. Cool concept no doubt, but there's no entertainment value in that unless you pack 5 episodes of fishing into one show.

Pike are the bane of my existence when tournament fishing. Last year I recall fishing one tourney in particular where it was last hour and I knew nobody else was catching anything so I was trying HARD to find a keeper. Right before I was about to pull the trolling motor and make the run back I got SMACKED and was thinking it was the winning fish on the line. After a minute fight it came to the top and was a 35" pike. I was so ticked. Some days I catch more pike than bass.. Better than catching nothing I suppose?

I believe it's fair game to everyone and anyone who wishes to fish that spot. The lakes are public and no one owns a spot. I've seen two pros agree to fish right on top of each other and I've seen pros cuss and swear at each other over a spot. When it comes down to it, they can both stay or leave. No rules about it. Also, regular non pro anglers have a right to that spot as well and can fish it even if a pro is fishing it in a tourney. It's a jerk move, but you can do it.

I got a 16ft bassboat with a 75hp on back, 65lb troller up front. I really tested my limits last year, but I've yet to find them. The worst day the wind was 30mph steady with gusts upto 50mph. I was dealing with 3ft waves and nasty rain but I stuck it out. My trolling motor took it like a champ. So realistically, I think other elements would stop me long before the wind did. If the wind is faster than 50mph that means there's going to be hail, lightning, 5ft waves, and rain so thick you can't see your bow.

I've fished some wretched downpours with all my electronics running and exposed to the rain. I'm talking rain so bad that I have to have my bilge pump on or I'd sink. I'm guessing your electronics are just fine and the battery or some wiring got corroded and went bad.

I've got a 16ft fiberglass bass boat (older) and I had a 55lb on 12v on the front and it was severely under powered. I upgraded last spring to a 24v 65lb maxxum and I never go past the 5 setting, even in 20mph winds. Batteries have lasted me 2 days of straight fishing without needing a charge. So I'd say 65lb 24v would be the minimum for you.

Not sure if someone mentioned this, but when you're sleeping pull your boat on shore as far as you comfortably can. It's a bad feeling waking up and seeing your boat 1,000 yard down stream. Had this happen with my buddies john boat on the Mississippi.

I agree. The only way you could actually rank them is by counting tourney wins and money made. Fishing has so many variables it allows people to be amazing at different things, and trash at others. Some pros do amazing at some lakes, and others fall apart at the same lake. It's just not a stats sport, so it's hard to even name anyone who isn't actually #1 in career wins. Legit question here. What do you like about Ike? I liked him when I was 16 and I thought his childish antics were a hoot, but now I'm a bit older and just find his breakdowns and cussing 'n swearing at events pretty white trash. Don't get me wrong, I love his enthusiasm for the sport and he's definitely helped grow it. I respect what he's done, but at the same time, I feel he's probably offended or pushed away a few people for being the a-hole he can be.