Glaucus

This is one of those times where some really bad things happens while fishing and you've just got to pick yourself up and keep grinding and learning. I was fishing the river today and after 2 hours I finally found where some bass were holding. I got a big bite. The fish jumped and it was without a shadow of a doubt my PB SMB. A foot from landing it, it made one final jump and got off. Terrible. But wait there's more! THE VERY NEXT CAST I hook into another monster fish. It's not fighting as crazy but it's pulling hard. I see the fish, and it would have at least rivaled my PB LMB. Hard to say if it would have beat my PB LMB but it was a BIG UN. Well it shook off a couple feet from me too. I had to take a good long while to process what had happened to me. It's possible that I had both both PB species on the end of my line within not even minutes of each other but absolutely nothing to show for it. Picked myself up and kept going. Had a decent day after than, at least a dozen fish, mostly SMB and a few LMB. Nice crappie too. They shook me on a squarebill. Moderate Fast rod, mono line. I was set up for the job. Just one of those things. Maybe I need to hit the confessional or something because I clearly did something bad somewhere along the way.

I havent caught a DD, but unless I make an effort to go to a state to fish where it's possible, that will never happen. I haven't caught a bass through the ice. I really want to, but the winter and cold and snow and ice turns me into a prepubescent little girl, and I have the patience of a baked potato.

Buy a scale. Nobody really knows. A fish can look identical to another and have a significantly different weight. There's a thread in Fishing Reports to show off a catch.

A couple years ago I casted a lipless crankbait to run it along the edge of cattails. A strong wind came mid cast and snagged me in the cattails. I was pulling and pulling and it came loose and snapped back at my face too fast for me to react. It got me right below my right eye. Couple inches higher and it would have been devastating. It shook me up so bad and made me physically sick so I packed up and went home. I'm a lot more careful now.

Nothing has worked better for me on the rivers than bashing squarebills along the bottom and off the rocks. Ned Rig too. Whopper Plopper for top. Those 3 baits make up the most of what I'll use on rivers because of how effective they are.

No, that's just proof lefties are oppressed people. We never consider them. Lol

Right handed people who don't use a left handed baitcaster are a danger to national security.

My casts are always made dependent on the situation. Beyond that, I don't consider it at all. I don't consider the line capacity of a reel either so long as it holds at least 100 yards of 12lb mono according to the specs, which is the norm anyways. I certainly can't spool a reel on a long cast using the appropriate tool for the job. Some people claim that they can, but I'll tell you what (and I've said it before), so many people claim to be able to throw a football 50+ yards until they actually step onto a measured football field and discover 50+ yards is a lot further than they thought and they were only throwing 20-30 yards the whole time. Same for casting. Most people don't realize how far 50, 60, 100 yards really is.

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I had one inexplicable break off with 6lb YZH earlier this year. Still don't know what happened exactly, but what I can tell you is I consistently catch fish with massive amounts of weeds attached to them using 6lb as well as uproot cattails. Sometimes on a snag the stuff just won't break and I get scared I'm going to snap my rod. Seems you got a bad spool.

A few years ago, before my wife knew how to use spinning or casting gear well, we went into the Peoria, IL BPS to buy her a nice spincast reel and a rod. The employee I talked to said they didn't have the rod, but I found it on the shelves 5 minutes later. We got the reel and the kid didn't know how to spool it up. Had to talk him through it. I also needed a new baitcaster spooled and the same kid managed to fray my new spool of PP. Went to the Bolingbrook, IL one for a baitcaster in April-ish and the guy was irritated that I wanted to handle the reel in the box before purchasing to 1.) Make sure it felt right and 2.) To make sure it was a lefty. I like taking my family to explore the place but the customer service is trash and I hate dealing with the people there. These days it's like asking the Walmart electronics employee about such and such electronics: they don't have a clue.

Nobody drops fish on purpose. Anyone who has spent a little time on the water has dropped fish at some point. Sometimes it happens. Hooks fall out, big fish squirm suddenly and your wrist can't compensate right away, they're slippery, etc.

That's terrifying. I have open wounds and we spent all day swimming on Lake Michigan yesterday. I'm not OK after reading this. Send help.

During the spawn my wife worked a LMB on a bed for about half an hour before she finally made it "eat." She dropped it while she was unhooking it. It went back to the bed and it had a dark spot and white flesh on its head from where it fell on a rock. I'm sure that hurt. We saw the same bruised fish on its bed for several daya in a row though, until it had moved on. We never messed with it again. For one it wasn't worth catching, but my wife had never had the opportunity to try to catch a fish off a bed; and for two, it had had enough after that.

Not all living things are created equally. Cats can jump from incredible heights, and ants can withstand 5,000x their weight.

If something has happened to a few people, it circulates as regurgitated facts that will happen every time. Also, if someone high profile says something, it also circulates as regurgitated facts. The truth is, things can happen, but it doesn't mean they will; and the truth is, high profile people, namely pros, fish for big money and can't afford anything to go wrong. They have to stack the deck in their favor in all things. This usually means little to nothing for the rest of us, but most of us can't comprehend this.

Here I've noticed that when bluegill are the primary food source, the bass are skinnier.

I really don't understand the wording of the OP or the picture attached... You hooked the bass on the inner lip so it was indeed interested.

Get 2 cardboard boxes, such as shoe boxes. Open them up. Put them side by side, touching. Take a pen. Put the pen in one of the boxes and stab through both boxes in the middle. Separate the boxes while keeping the pen stabbed through one of them. Stab through the spool with the pen. Attach the other box at the hole. Now you will have: box, spool, box, all connected with the pen. Get 2 heavy weights of some kind. Put 1 in each box so they don't move. Spool up. Cheapest of the cheap and effective.

The theatrics on many of those boats cracks me up lol

Other than my wife and son (daughters are too young), I only have one good consistent fishing partner. The others are guys who like to fish but use **improper and poor equipment** and constantly need to "borrow" things and who won't take advice. In the end, I suck it up when I'm feeling in the mood for company because it's about just that: the company. **that doesn't mean the "cost" of something, but improper rods and reels for the techniques being used, the aforementioned rusted/dulled hooks and junk baits and old line that should have been tossed ages ago, as well as poor knots and improper rigging. "borrow" is in quotes because it's usually soft plastic that gets destroyed or hard baits that get snagged. Generally I know I'll never see them again.

I've never heard or seen anyone say SMB are picky. Usually when people discuss tough SMB fishing they are discussing ultra clear northern lakes which can make for tough fishing, not that SMB are particularly picky.

3 off the top of my head in no order: 1. Color doesn't matter. 2. Fluoro is necessary. 3. The size of your lure dictates the size of your catch.

7' MH/M-MF (1/4oz-1oz) Okuma EVX crankbait rod $99 For a shorter version, 6'8" MH/MF-F (1/4-1oz) Okuma EVX spinnerbait rod $109 The differences in the shorter rod are a split grip handle and a slightly faster action. It has more uses as well. Thought I'd mention it as it makes a great squarebill and lipless rod, and the shorter length might be desirable out of a kayak.