ShenandoahAngler

These swimbaits have become one of my confidence baits as of late. I walk the bank and will typically have no more than four rods with me. One is a finesse set up, one has a jig tied on, one for a reaction bait, and one for these swimbaits. Yeah, I may tie a worm on one of them from time to time, but this is what I start out with. I use several different swimbaits as I'm just starting to get into it. River Rock Custom Baits is right up the road from me, so I pick up their stuff in all sizes. Stike Jr., RR Striker, and Mongoose Striker. I I also tend to use the Missile Baits Shockwaves in both sizes. I like to have three colors: one chartreuse, one with some blue, and one green pumpkin type. If I fished more places with shad I would get one like that, but I've never fished somewhere with shad forage, before. I will Texas rig or put a keel weighted hook on them most of the time because I fish some really snaggy places. I fish them in all sorts of ways. Around cover, on top of grass, in the grass, along the shore, doesn't matter. If I'm not getting a bite with one technique, I'll just change up my retrieve to be slower or faster, maybe pause a few times, maybe jerk it around a bit. The thing I have learned is that it is a very versatile bait and you can do a lot with it.

I just started spending money for decent rods, and started down this rabbit hole with a couple of Mojos (one M, and one MH). They are the lightest rods I've ever used, but you're the second person today I've seen online talk about them being heavy or less sensitive than others in that price point. I really have been fishing with crap for a long time. ?

I just started experimenting with small swimbaits, and these have been great for me. Bonus is that they are a Virginia company, and I like to keep things local.

This was actually last weekend. It was caught on a black and blue Chatterbait with a Missile Baits swimbait trailer. I had been paddling around the lake for four hours without any luck, then at the last minute I landed this one at 3.76 pounds and 18 inches. This Saturday, I caught four fish, but they ranged from 11-13 inches and .70 to 1.4 pounds. Caught two on a weighted hook swimbait, one on the Chatterbait from the week before, and one on a 6th Sense jig with a Rage Craw trailer. I've rented the kayak three times now, and I think I am addicted.

All three, really. The rivers here aren't so bad right now. Problem with all that you lay out here is that I bank fish only because I lack the funds and space for a boat of any sort, so where I can throw is very limited. I've been throwing dark jigs with flapping action on it. I need to try out some shakey head action, it's never something I've thrown but I am looking to try.

Yeah, we kind of passed right by fall, as well. I work at a university and we were closed, yesterday, because of ice and opened at 10 a.m. this morning instead of 8. It's 37 right now, high of 45 for the day. It's been like December/January around these parts. As for the gear, I could definitely see that happening to me if I had picked up something more specialized. But I picked up a couple of general purpose rods (one 7', one 7'2", both MH/Fast) that are one-piece (been relying on two-piece until now), so I've been tying on all sorts of different things to see the difference in how it feels.

This was me. I had dropped fishing for 11 years. I come at it now as an older Millennial at 33 (which is the age of Justin/LFG) and the videos these guys do got me back interested in it. Now, do I find them ridiculous, privileged, and immature a lot of the time? Ab-so-friggin-lutely. But they are often still entertaining and I owe it to them for rekindling this passion in me. Maybe I should start sending them my credit card bills for all the gear I have been buying! As for the plastics themselves, I saw them at DSG recently and picked up a couple of packs of Bandito Bugs (blue craw and green pumpkin) and a package of Slim Shakes (green pumpkin, only color they had). They didn't have any Drag n' Drops, which is really what I wanted to try along with the Bug. I had just told myself "no more plastics!" recently, too. There goes that. These are the only ones other than Rage Tails and stuff from a couple of local pourers that I have, though. I just have a lot of all of that.

Anyone else pick one (or more) of these up? I got the 5.4 and the 7.2, as those were gear ratios missing from my arsenal. I thought I would miss the dual breaking, but what I have found is that it just gets me into trouble on my Assassin, so I'm fine without it. I have't really used the 5.4 yet, but the 7.2 has been put to the test throwing jigs, worms, craws, etc. I really like it. I've not had a single problem with it that wasn't user error. I like the size, as well. Definitely fits my palm better than my Assassin and it actually fits my Blackhawk rod (that's not the primary rod it is on, but I keep one in my car for "just in case") unlike my Assassin which has way too much play when seated on it. Now if only I could catch a fish, then the real test would be on. Anyone else have any thoughts on them?

This is really my first attempt at fall fishing. When I was younger we were always just the warm weather anglers, my father and I, never as serious about it as I have become. Now I'm an "it doesn't matter what the weather is like, I will find a body and fish it this weekend" type of angler and I have just got the stench of skunk all over me. The last fish I caught was on my birthday, October 2. This is especially sad because I've acquired some new rods and reels and picked up some new baits to try out new techniques with, but I just can't get the bites. So that is my unfortunate fishing report.

Was for me. My 5 pounder was just like pulling in a log.

I have this backpack, and it works pretty well. I've got three 3700 boxes and a terminal tackle box from Plano in it. I keep a separate soft plastic bag and just throw in what I need when I go out. It holds all of the tackle I have (I don't have much) and it stays in my car at all times. While I don't think the TW bag is trash, I would agree that a regular backpack it better. There is a level of convenience with the bag being designed to hold tackle, but I have an REI daypack that also stays in my car for different things and I have put that on after wearing the TW bag to move from fishing a stream to a little light hiking and the difference was astounding. The weights were similar, but the padding and distribution was leaps and bounds beyond what the TW bag has. Long story short, if you plan on actually using the backpack as intended and wearing it a lot, better to go with a pack made for hiking and transform it into your tackle bag.

So, I'm someone with limited tackle and gear. I use the same gear for smallies, largies, cats, everything. The only exception is an UL setup for trout and gills. I can definitely say that a 1.5 lbs smallie fights harder than a 5 lbs largemouth on the exact same setup.

I am one that loves that fight. Hell, I prefer river largemouth over lake fish any day. I just find it so much more fun.

I'm tellin' ya, it was an exciting time. That lake is super pressured, so fish like that are few and far between in there.

Caught my PB this weekend. Pictures are terrible quality, but I don't care. 5.04 pounds, 22 inches. More pictures at the link: https://imgur.com/a/TdOQ2J0