LuffDaddy

Move down here to Florida!

Yeah I'm curious if that is a guesstimate? I swear my scale was broke, this was 8.15 on my scale and looks much larger.

Definitely not ranting.... Was just curious if this kinda attitude bothers other people as well I bring my pugs with me sometimes too! They live chilling by the water! That's why I get annoyed by him... I've invited him on a few different lakes multiple times. He's even said yes before and then bails last minute. Honestly, I think the reason I came to the forum to get some opinions is because he tried to talk **** that he's been fishing for 25 years and if anyone be giving advice, it's him. Dude can't even walk a frog! As soon as I throw a question at him, he goes "well I just started fishing for BASS a few months ago ". ???. Yeah I'm not gonna talk to that dude anymore haha. Thanks for the responses guys! Well I live in Florida now. And I've actually been KILLING it since I picked up a rod. I still have a lot to learn, and I'm not trying to be conceited, but I think I might be a natural ???

Hey guys, I'm looking for some opinions. I don't know if I'm being a little sensitive or not. I've been bass fishing since June and I'm really trying to become a GOOD and we'll rounded bass angler. So I immerse myself. I've caught bass on SOOOO many different lures. I have a fishing buddy that uses nothing except a senko. That's it. And he brags about all the dinks he catches from a tiny retention pond. He won't fish any lakes or go on a boat.... But he brags and talks about how he doesn't know a better bass angler.... This has annoyed me so much, am I being sensitive? Am I wrong?

Thanks bud! For some reason the bite has just vanished here in Central Florida the last two days. I keep getting pickerel when I throw the crank now haha

Had to share this with you guys. Stopped at a local Walmart where I've gotten tons of soft plastics for 75 cents on clearance in the past. Couldn't find a price on a kvd crank so I price checked it..... $1.50. Needless to say I stocked up with what they had. 6 kvd squarebills, 2 red eye shads, spool of 30 lb spiderwire braid, and two packs of yum vibraking tubes for a grand total of 17 bucks!

Bro you aren't kidding. I've gotten almost every Yamamoto hard bait for 2 bucks from Walmart, about 70 bags of dingers for 75 cents a bag, 20 bags of rage bugs and craws for one dollar a bag, kvd plastics for a buck, red eyed shads for a buck. It's insane...

Is that an echo?

I would've loved to put the same lure but I lost it when a monster hit it a few feet from the bank. Line just popped... I look at the top eye and the insert had broke and a sharp edge was shredding the line. Gonna have to order a replacement cuz academy didn't have another. Of course I drove straight there after it happened ... ????

Unfortunately I didn't. I was so excited, it's the one measurement I didn't take. But if you look at my hand at the bottom, it doesn't even go a third of the way around her lol

Oh yeah that's by PB. I just started fishing in June lol. She was 26 inches and 8 pounds 2 ounces. I swear my scale is light. She seemed double digits. Still exhilarating!

Yeah it is!!!!

"Do yourself a favor and spend $500" Lmao. Just kidding! For real though, this is very true in Florida. They all hide out under the thick mats! One thing I do, because I don't really have a set up for properly punching yet, is run loud, flashy baits right along the edge of those thick mats. Sometimes they shoot out to grab your bait but be ready because they usually try to bolt right back into the weeds!

As a newer bass angler, I have to say that soft plastics seem to illicit more strikes. However, as a rookie, hard baits really help with confidence. I know that if a bass really hits my squarebill, 10:1 he's mine. Too many times I set the hook after the fish spit out my worm or craw. Growing pains I guess ?‍♂️

Exactly. After I released her I was looking at pics and noticed, she's actually thin for her size. She probably is an 11 pounder during the spawn!

That kinda told me everything. I think I haven't stuck with it enough the times I've thrown it, or like you said, they simply didn't want it. Thanks bud!

How do you typically retrieve the chatterbait? I've had zero luck with it. Usually throw it with either a rage menace or super fluke trailer.

I just caught my personal best 8 pounder on a 6 foot diving squarebill. They will be all up and down the water column for different reasons. If it's insanely hot near the surface and there's no cover, they will go deeper. Even if it's super hot, they could still be shallow if there's cover. In my short experience, bass seem to be everywhere lol. My best luck in murky waters have been wide wobble cranks and topwaters in the mornings and evenings. As far as retrieves, you usually have to just experiment til you find out what mood they are in. Sometimes you can be at the same lake and every single variable is the same as the day you slayed them burning your crank but you won't get a bite that way today, gotta slow roll. Bass are weird man.... What's good one day, they'll laugh at the next! Keep at it, good luck! PS : I attached the big girl I just caught on a squarebill for some inspiration! Tight lines!

Oh yeah? I got 3 lightening shock rods (two 7 MH and one 66 M both casting) for 15 TOTAL! 5 BUCKS A POP! NEENER ????

Well guys I set a "trophy bass goal" for myself when I decided to take up bass fishing as a hobby back in June of this year, and that was 8 pounds. I've caught a few 5s and one 6 since then. I've been totally addicted since I caught by first bass (one of the 5 pounders). I basically fish every morning before work and during my break (I drive half the day for my job). So I stopped at a decent sized pond I was driving by yesterday and threw an H2O Express squarebill hoping to get a few little guys, which I did catch one dink. I walked to the other side and on my second cast I thought I hit a log til I saw a HUGE mouth break the surface and my lure came flying at my face.... Oh hell no.... I throw it right back, and wouldn't you believe it, she hits it even harder! Really got a good hookset and the fight was on. She peeled off 30 yards of drag that was TIGHT and jumped 3 times. My knees were weak. My hands were shaking... When I pulled her out the water I got two treble points almost to the barb in my finger and didn't feel it. I ran back to my truck to get my scale thinking she has to be close to 8 if not 9.... 8.15 pounds and 26 inches long!!!! I did it! I'm definitely getting a replica mount of this beauty! I want to thank all of the members here, for I've learned invaluable things from you guys! I attached a pic of her... You can see I'm in a daze from the adrenaline!

Hey guys I'm gonna make a video after work today. I learned the crazy Alberto last night and I gotta admit.... I might start using that instead. The main reason is that one misstep with the FG and it'll fail. That crazy alberto seems to be pretty fool proof. And Further North, you are absolutely right about the color change. That's always been my sign that it did bite the leader.

Well you guys are gonna think this is crazy but I actually have a method to tie it where you don't need any tension on the braid. I figured out what I did wrong the times its been slipping. Whoever said something about the coating is half right. I just tied this knot 10 times and tested pulling both spools with everything I got and the knot didn't fail. When you tie it on line that doesn't have a slick coating, it'll cinch down when to pull on them after the two hitch knots. If it is slick in any way at all, you just have to do each wrap VERY tight. I'll make a video if you guys wanna see it. Still takes me about 2 minutes, but nothing near what the tension method takes.

Hey guys, quick question about the fg knot. When I first started using a baitcaster, I used 20 lb braid and tied a 15 lb fluorocarbon leader with an FG knot and its been phenomenonal. I got another rod and put 50 lb braid on it but when I try to do an FG with the same 15 lb fluorocarbon, I can't get the coils to dig in and grip. The fluorocarbon just slides out. What I'm thinking is that the braid has to be a smaller diameter than the leader it's trying to grip. Am I right about this? I don't wanna go buy a spool of 20 lb fluorocarbon and find out I just tied a couple shoddy knots. TYIA!

Well guys I kept at it and finally got one this morning! Had one that I didn't get a good hookset on then a few minutes later got another and drove both points in the roof of his mouth! That was so gratifying! He was 2.25 lbs, not too bad of a fish! Oh and btw.... I caught it on a $2 Ozark Trail frog from Walmart ???.

Thanks for the reply guys. You're all confirming what I initially thought. I read one comment in one article and it got me paranoid. I honestly think I just haven't been in the right spots at the right time. I literally haven't gotten a frog bite yet. And not to brag... But I having been picking up techniques FAST! I can walk it pretty d**n good... But not so much with the popping frog though. He seems to wanna bounce more than walk but every now and then I can get that one to walk instead of chug. I really appreciate the replies again guys, I think i just need to keep at it!