Bird

The clearer the water the more vivid the color is what I've found but it's not scientific.

For the money ? .....Lowe Stinger 175

And DNR says that Alabama bass are invasive here in VA......... welcome to VA i say as them things fight harder than a smallmouth in River current.

This was a WP 110...... thought I had grass.

16 on the boat, 6 usually on deck while fishing and only 1 required to trip over.

If this was a normal summer here I could easily ride it out but it's been extremely hot and humid for weeks. Sooo yes, give me fall.

I'm very inconsistent, sometimes I take pics and other times my phone is left in the truck so no pics. I can't help but see the fish that I catch but don't stare them down after caught. 😂 Big ones, small ones, both released fairly quickly.

I keep track of all the events......Go USA. Watched the women's basketball team beat Japan and likely heading for another Gold, an 8th straight. 😳

Slow this morning, only 3 on a wacky rig. Had a giant Snakehead rip a small bass off the hook right at the boat. Weather was hot and sunny, water temp 82*. This was the best fish.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your boat. Also an inconvenience of replacing everything..... takes time. An area I've never skimmed on is insurance and unfortunately had to use it on several occasions. Hope you find the right boat.

I'm mostly soft plastics in the summer but always have a spinnerbait tied on. They are still very effective in summer especially around wood and sparse grass. Spinnerbait = my all-time favorite bait.

Keitech

Smaller fish get flipped into the boat, reel hand stays put. Larger fish that require a net, no real formula. Pretty sure that I'm grabbing rod somewhere above the reel to draw the fish in.

Why not carry a thermocell ? Mosquitos despise them !

Was all over the state of Maine the last 3 weeks, bogs and clear lakes everywhere. Every time I drove past a bog I wondered if that was @ol'cricketybog. 😂 Oh, had no idea that Maine got that HOT 🥵

DS works well here in the clear water. Zoom lizard in the spring and robo worms/ zoom finesse otherwise. The key is to prevent slack line, gentle pressure keeping weight on bottom and bait moving above.

Soft swimbaits and lipless cranks. 🤮 It use to be chatterbaits but I found a new lake this year " stained water " and the bass hammer them.

Was dragging a spinnerbait through Lilly pads in 2 feet of water and thought I had a 10lb largemouth.

Lol, hello and welcome to the forum.

Had no problem with heavy rain when I was younger, not now. Overcast with light rain is ideal.

More expensive but I use nothing but VMC crossover rings. .003-.004 for finesse worms. .006 for Senkos. I posted back in the spring that I caught 13 bass on a single flickShake. As mentioned, you do have to pay attention with Bluegill and Crappie and not set the hook on a TAP TAP TAP. 😁

Since the water I mainly fish is gin clear, finesse is the way to go most of the time. I think smaller soft plastics on lighter tackle fished slow and in my case, a flouro leader is finesse fishing. I don't know if a 1/8 beetle spin or a small Jerkbait like a rip stop is considered finesse. Does increased movement eliminate a bait from being considered finesse. Idk

For cheap reel - Okuma Ceymar Cheap rod - Ugly stick Carbon...... about the best you can do for a little over $100

It's a Carolina rig and Wacky rig fused together. 😳 Honestly looks like an excessive amount of hardware...... never saw this before.

Leonid & friends are a Russian band and are fantastic. They do a lot of Chicago and Earth wind and fire and as iconic as those 2 bands were, Leonid doesn't disappoint.