NWAbasser

Obviously it's the question everybody wants to know. Where are the 20"+ fish? Maybe it's silly to even ask. Their in the water stupid! I fish nothing but creeks and rivers for smallmouth and ask the weekends go by I'm catching more and more fish lots of 8-12" fish and my biggest so far is probably 16" or so, hard to say cause I rarely measure a fish that looks smaller then that. But I have yet to catch or see a fish that looked over 20". Is this common? I fish crooked creek in my area a lot and its known for producing good fish but I haven't seen it for myself yet. Are the big fish off doing their own thing or should I just keep attacking the areas I know hold fish in hopes of eventually catching a good one? Side question, what do most of yall use for taking water temperature? I'd like something accurate mainly but fairly inexpensive. Thanks for all the tips... Jaycob.

Looking to get into a decent spinning setup, my budget is right around $250. I think for that I can get into something pretty decent. I'm looking at st croix mojo, dobyns savvy series or fury series, medium light fast tip, is there any others I should look at? I'm thinking 6'10 or 7'. Right now I use a 6'9 and I really like that length but it might be too long. In my kayak it hits alot of limbs above if I dont see it coming which just ties my stomach into knots. But I'm 6'4 and I tend to like a little longer rod but I'm not always sure what is gained by this. For the reel I'm looking at a shimano nasci, daiwa bg. Is there any in this price range that compete with these two? I'd be willing to go up to $150 on the reel. Thanks for any help.

Well then my question might be what "technique" are these reels best suited for?

So I have a couple rod and reel combos. One was given to me by my brother, the other my grandpa. I've used both off and on caught quite a few fish on both but I've always felt like they weren't good combos. Like that the rods action wasnt a good fit for the reels gear ratio. So what I was hoping for is to post the information of these two combos and yall give me feedback as to what these rods and reels do best, what kind of baits they should be throwing, and so on and so forth. #1: Reel: Shimando Curado 7.0:1 gear ratio Rod: Diawa Jupiter 76THB the rod doesnt have a length but it's over 7', it's a two piece rod and doesnt seem like the nicest in the world but it's easy to travel with. #2: Reel: Lews Speed Spool 6.4:1 gear ratio Rod: Abu Garcia Blackmax 6'6" Medium Heavy The combos are obviously not the nicest and I'm sure some will say throw them away but they are in good condition. I hardly throw baitcasters anymore it seems like anyways but as I'm about to head to the creek I will be bringing one today and I would just like to pair these rods and reels with something more suited for them. Thank you for any help.

Ive fished my entire life but its all been done in the southern part of Arkansas and the northern part of the states waterways are very different im sure some here know this. Lots of muddy water down south, mainly largemouth fishing are far as bass go atleast that is forsure in my experience. But now in life i have ended up in a totally different fishing environment. I seem to be in one of the best smallmouth areas around seeing thar Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are right out my backdoor basically. Ive floated the Buffalo some mainly for fun, ive fished Crooked some caught a few, a decent 14 or 16 inch fish once but i cant seem to catch on to exactly what they are after, i have found some fish but i havent seem to find large groups of them. Maybe 1 or 2 then the spot goes dry. Mainly advice as to what im looking for is what im seeking with this post, any amount helps i fished yesterday staring at a group of 4 or 5 smallmouth swam several baits right past them and they weren't interested in the slightest. Im stumped and want to catch more of these beautiful and aggressive fish, thank you for any help -J