MichaelCopeland

Baitcasting and spinning gear

Dear Lord please lay Your healing hand upon Rahlow. Lord please guide the surgeons hands to perform their very best for him. Lord please give Rahlow the strength he needs to get through this and have a speedy recovery. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Howdy Brian and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy Will and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy Aidan and welcome to our fishing family! ?

That's hilarious! Probably shoulda just went fishing...lol! ?

Just got done with supper when we looked out the window and saw this in the backyard. She's been coming around for a couple weeks now. First time I've been able to get a pic. She has a baby out there too, just never see them together. Maybe I'll get one of the baby before I have to go back to work in the morning. ?

My girlfriend and I went to Caney Lakes lower lake this afternoon for a few hours. Didn't have much success, but did manage my first buzzbait (toadbuzz) catch. That one weighed 1lb 2oz. It was awesome seeing the blowup then almost immediately feeling the weight. I set the hook and reeled it on in. Couldn't get another bite with it to save my life though. I started pitching a Texas rigged bama craw Rage Craw with a 1/8oz bullet weight around the boat dock. Slowly dragging and hopping it back to me up the boat ramp I saw that little guy pick it up and chomp on it. Set the hook and lifted it out. Not 100% sure but I think that dink is a spotted bass. If it is, it's my first one of those too. Didn't catch any hawgs or lunkers but all in all it was a fun day. ?

Ott Defoe (83rd) Seth Fieder (73rd) Randy Howell (42nd) Caleb Sumrall (25th) Dave Lefebre (4th)

Thank you! Yeah, he was a little bummed out that he didn't catch anything, but he sure enjoyed seeing that big girl getting caught. It was his first time bass fishing. He has been fishing for a couple years though, for catfish and bream. He definitely had fun though. ?

Happy Father's Day to all the dads on here and also to all the moms who have to be daddy too, if there's any on here. Well for Father's Day, today, My niece, Amber, her husband Jacob, their 2 kids Brantley and Ariel and my brother in law Warren all went to Cross Lake this morning to do some fishing from his boat. We had lots of fun, got a few bites with nothing to show. Got to try my new baits. Threw the prop frog, had a blowup, but somehow he missed it. Threw my chatterbaits, nothing doing again. So I threw my new 3/8oz green pumpkin swinging swim jig with a bama bug Rage Craw trailer it got bit but the fish came off. My hand was wet and slipped when I set the hook, had him hooked for about a second or two but couldn't keep my hand dry enough to quit slipping. Was a nice one, definitely had some weight to it. Oh well, we can't catch em all...lol! Stayed with that bait since it got hit the hardest and it was smashed by this 3lb 3oz hawg. That's Brantley my great nephew in one of the pics holding her up. He's 5 years old and thought it was totally awesome. Wasn't long afterwards, everybody but me wanted to leave and go home. Needless to say, I was out voted. Hope you fathers caught a hawg or better today! God Bless! ?

Couple days ago I picked up a 3/8oz Strike King Hack Attack Select Toadbuzz in pearl toads and a pack of Strike King KVD Perfect Plastics green pumpkin pearl belly Blade Minnows. Yesterday I picked up a 3/8oz Strike King swinging swim jig green pumpkin color with a Trokar hook for $1.68 on clearance(figured at that price I can't go wrong) and a pack of bama bug Rage Tail Rage Craws. Hope I can get out tomorrow and try them out. I wish we carried the Z Man Jackhammer chatterbait at work. I really want one, even though it doesn't come in my favorite color.

Howdy Ricky and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Haven't heard of this frog. Are they available in stores or just online? If in stores, which ones?

Set the spool tensioner knob and the braking control dial to where, when you press the spool release button for casting, your bait falls at a medium rate and the spool stops when the bait hits the ground. Have your rod at about the 11 o'clock position when you do this. When casting use your thumb to control the spool slightly to reduce backlash. As you get better you can lessen the tension on the spool and back off the brake to get further casts. Throughout all your learning process always remember to educate your thumb on controlling the spool to reduce backlash. ?

Not really getting the trap part of it. Shoulda been called Figure Eight Swimbait Method...lol! ?

Howdy and welcome to our fishing family! A 6'6" to 7' MF or MHF rod with a 6.3:1 to 7.1:1 reel should handle most of your fishing needs. I use a 6'6" and a 6'10" MHF rod both with 7.1:1 reels that gets most jobs done for me. I've got a 7' MM(medium power/moderate action) rod with a 6.2:1 reel my boss gave me that I haven't had much time to see how I like it yet. It's specifically for swim jigs, but I fish chatterbaits more than I do swim jigs and the chatterbait felt funny to me with it. ?

If it's where you can, cast a chatterbait beyond the shrubbery and retrieve it close to the shrubs and call those fish out. If you can't cast beyond the shrubs then cast to the outside edge and retrieve. You may have to cast either way a few times before you get bit, but I've seen bass come out of nowhere to slam my chatterbait. A plus to it is they probably haven't seen a chatterbait before. Give it a try and let me know how it works. It may even become your favorite bait to throw like it is mine. ?

@FishDewd if you are losing crankbaits, try holding your rod tip at around the 10 o'clock position during your retrieve and reel it in fairly quick. It will keep it higher it the water column and away from more severe snags. You will pull in some weeds/moss occasionally but be less likely to hit a snag that could potentially end with losing your crankbait. Glad to hear you've been catching some. No matter their size post them in the Latest Catch Pics thread on this site. I wanna see your success too! ?

I beat the banks probably 99.99% of the time. I have lots of success with a chatterbait(aka bladed jig). Also had decent success with swim jigs, weightless Texas rigged Ol' Monsters, Rage Structure Bugs, Sweet Beavers, lipless crankbaits and wacky rigged senko type baits and trick worms. Had some good blowups on a hollow body frog but haven't gotten the proper hook set to land them. Are you able to fish the entire pond or only certain parts of it?

Howdy and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy from NW Louisiana and welcome to our fishing family! ?

Howdy and welcome to our fishing family! The ponds you've been fishing, is there any cover in them? If so, are you fishing it? If there's cover and you're not fishing it, then I would suggest fishing in or along the edges of it with chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, soft plastics and hollow body frogs. If there isn't any cover then I would suggest soft plastics and jigs. Fish the soft plastics fan casting an area slowly working them back to you and jigs dragging them along the bottom with short little hops occasionally. Dragging a jig along the bottom will help you get an idea of what's underneath that you can't see. Once you've fan casted the whole pond and still no bites or bass, then I would find somewhere else to fish. Use this advice on any body of water you fish and you should catch some bass. Good luck and never give up! ?