papajoe222

Nice one! I'd venture a guess around 8+lbs. She likely pushed 8 before she dropped her eggs. Welcome to BR. Stick around, there's a lot of good info here and we have a good time too

Summertime is actually my favorite season for catching. The fish have pretty much set up house for the summer and the off shore fish bunch up around here. Stable weather is also a plus. The last few years, the skeeters have been few, but with all the rain recently, I'm preparing for the worst. For me, that means daylight 10:00-4:00, or after midnight fishing.

I stopped using EWG hooks for flukes. I was missing too many fish. I switched to a round bend offset worm hook and now I rarely don't hook up. As for fish getting off, with single hooked soft plastics, I, too, am surprised when it happens and when It does it's almost always because the plastic balled up and the barb never penetrated.

I never go fully unrigged. I always have one rod set with a jig (the trailer I choose may differ). A second rod always has a T-Rig and what I thread on will depend on the conditions. A third rod will have a tube with an internal weight and an EWG hook. Next to them, unrigged, are my cranking sticks (2) and my topwater combo. Those I rig wehn needed.

832, or Smackdown flash green. both are 8 strand, cast well and don't fade. I really like the hi-viz Smackdown as I'm an old fart and it's so much easier to see subtle bites.

I went to launch my boat last week and there were five guys circled around another with a crankbait stuck in his hand. One treble was in his middle finger and the other in his palm. Three of them tried in vain to push the finger hook through and cut the barb so they could work on the one is his palm. I took my side cutters and cut both trebles off of the bait and had both hooks out in a short while. Used the braid hook removal. I would possibly have not intruded, but they were blocking the ramp. On average, I would pull trebles out of my hands a couple of times a season, I fish a lot of cranks. Now it's a Boga Grip with any treble hooked fish.

I'm looking for a silent square bill that will run 6-8ft. deep in the 1/2oz. and under $15 price range. Anyone?

If you decide to go with a ScumFrog, make sure the line tie is closed completely, especially if you tie a loop knot. You can guess how I know. I really like the LiveTarget hollow body frog. Last season, I believe it was the only one I threw.

This is something that I almost always did for bottom, or just off the bottom, presentations. It worked well for me for decades. When I retired and was able to spend more time on the water, I started experimenting with colors that contrasted that of the bottom. What I found was active fish will search out that contrasting color and my catch rate was better. They'd still take something matching if it was presented close and slow, but I could work that off color faster and cover more water. Now I try to combine the two. All of this is from a guy that doesn't believe that color makes a difference the majority of time.

#1 Disrespectful anglers/boaters. I dislike dealing with them so much that I rarely fish on the week-ends. I still have to deal with some, but it's a much smaller percentage. #1 covers the majority of things, but one that really gets me wound up is anglers, fishing from boats, that cut 20yrds or more of line off when snagged. How difficult is it to motor over to the snag and either retrieve your bait, or cut the line off there? I can't tell you how many times I've cut yards of line from my TM.

or a 4in. tube. My go to presentation in your situation would be an Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm. You can cover water fairly quickly, or slow down and let it sit atop the weeds and jerk it to life. My second choice would be a trick worm fished the same way.

I'm more of an isolated,edge of cover on structure kind of guy. The main reason is spots like those are hard to find and it's much easier for guys to target weed beds, rip rap and the like close to structure. I only target heavy cover under cold front conditions, then it hand to hand combat time if there's heavy stuff available.

Very few spots are good year round. My first consideration is the season. Pre-spawn, I'm thinking PM and the area that gets the most sun during the day and doesn't get pounded by the wind. Once the spawn is over, I change my train of thought. Early morning east/shady side of structure and cover. I also am partial to the wind blown shore post-spawn. I'm referring areas where I begin my search. You gotta have a plan A and a plan B. My plan B is an afternoon nap

I much prefer a punch rig to a jig. Not only does it get through the thick stuff better (straighter fall), with a snelled straight shank hook, my hook-ups are better. About the only place I use a jig over one is in pads with no other weeds present.

I feel that the majority of 'advancements' in newer baitcasters are user friendly ones and their target group is new anglers. I mainly fish older Daiwa reels; Sols, Alphas Vientos and my workhorse Advantages. . They perform exceptionally well and the Sols and Alphas are buttery smooth. Newer reels have nothing more to offer for me.

For those of you that have talked about fishing a square bill deep, can you mention what baits you get to run deeper than 6ft. Most of the ones on the shelves here are shallow runners.

Dislike: I have to go with a drop-shot. Yea, I'll throw it when the bite is tough, but that doesn't mean I like it. Cant Stand: Bladed Jigs. Give me a spinnerbait, or a swimjig. Can't Catch Bass: Toads. I mean no takers. Cut it off and tie on an Ultra Vibe Speed Craw and I'm into fish.

I start throwing topwater once the bass start moving shallow. I'll switch off between a floating jerkbait and a prop bait, depending on the amount of chop on the water. Once they start clearing beds, I switch to ploppers and buzzers and always have a follow-up Fluke on deck. Unlike many anglers, I'll throw topwater all day from post spawn through fall as long as it's producing. Often times, after that morning bite dies, it's just a matter of changing speeds, or profile/action to continue the excitement.

On my home lake, it was from searching with my depth finder (no topo maps). For my other two favorite lakes it was a combination of picking out areas on a map and then finding them with my electronics. The ones that consistently produced, although few in number, have been on my list for years. I still check out spots, but don't spend much time searching for new ones.

Mine was with a BPS 6ft. Med (I forget the model) paired with a TD Advantage and good ole 12lb Original Stren. That was my topwater combo for years. It and a Spook put a lot of fish in my boat.

I've found that with clear water, I do much better with silent cranks. Even though there are no shad in the clear lakes I fish, my two best producing colors are some version of sexy shad and red crayfish. I do have plenty of bluegill and firetiger baits, but like someone else mentioned, if the crankbait bite is on, action and vibration are much more important than color.

Not me. The only time I ever spent in DeKalb I was delivering to McDonalds

I'll attempt to address both of your concerns. When netting a fish that is hooked with treble hooks, the best way I know of to keep the fish from impaling itself on the other hooks, is to keep tension on the line thereby keeping the fish's head pointing up. Don't lay the net down until you do so. You can then remove the fish from the net, provided the lure isn't caught in the net. A coated net will resist tangling with hooks and is the type I've been employing for years. The coating of the nylon prevents the hooks' barbs from catching the fibers or the hook point from easily penetrating the net.

The only knot I've learned in the last decade is a snell knot and the only reason I first tried it is the advantage it offers for improved hook-ups. Otherwise it's the Pitzen (single and double) and Palomar.

Hands down, my TD Sols. I'm sure there are smoother baitcasters out there, but I haven't found any. I take that back, my Alphas is just as smooth. Both of those will handle the majority of what I ask them and they really shine when throwing the light stuff.