ww2farmer

If my life depended on catching a smallmouth, no matter the time of year, depth, or conditions, I would drop shot a 3" gulp leech.

Fluoro to lure - trilene knot Braid to lure - palomar knot Braid to fluoro leader - alberto knot

For me the choice is a no-brainer..............the Lexa is a metal framed reel, the Arid is not. And right now the Lexa is cheaper (where they are on sale)..........Lexa all day, every day. I am not anti-graphite frame reel guy, it's fine for spinning reels, but it's a crap shoot with casting reels. Some (Abu Max series) have been really good, rugged, and reliable for me, while most others have not.

I have seen multiple sides of humanity in full bloom during this crisis. IMHO, the best thing I can do is work and hold up my end of our boss/employee relationship, and respect the families wishes.

I have no idea what the "best" ones are, and frankly don't care. I like the SK 5xd and 6xd........good enough for me.

Same...........I also really like Elf with Will Ferrel.

iabass8,how dare you festoon me with guilt for enjoying silken hosiery and other assorted fineries, that was supposed to be our little secret. Don't make me post the photos of you, those sheep, and that old toothless guy.

I use regular power pro, because it's inexpensive, reliable, and available almost everywhere.

NYS limit is 12"...........less than 12" = dink IMHO. They are quite different from a limit of "rats" which are fish barely over 12" and will do you no good except donating your money to the tournament pot....some days...............but on others a 12.000000000001" fish is a gift from god. LOL

You didn't hear it from me, but a Havoc Money Maker cut down on one end to the top of the "egg sack" and threaded on a 1/16th oz. VMC half moon finesse head replaced the 3" senko on a jig head for me. Give it try, the money makers are $2.99 for a bag of 15,and the VMC heads are like $3 for 5.The whole system costs less than a bag of senkos.

Rules are the rules..........follow them or get the boot. 1st place or 50th, doesn't matter. If they didn't know the rules before going in, that's unfortunate, but no excuse. If they did know, and violated them anyways, shame on them. I wonder how they got caught. I didn't see anything in the link that told that part.

I just did some laundry and dishes...........up yours!!! (code for "I'm jealous). Looked like a great time.

2 weeks since the accident, and I talked to his wife just this morning to see how it's going. He's hanging in there. Every other day he is having procedures to clean/rebuild things, so he's in terrible pain 24/7. They sit him up a couple time a day now, and he's speaking, eating/drinking, and has talked on the phone a time or two. She has asked for us to NOT go visit him yet, as it's still quite gruesome, and he gets worn out by visitors really fast. A couple of the guys went up without her blessing last weekend, and I guess it was not well received. I was planning on going this sunday to visit him, but won't now, I will abide by her wishes and wait till she personally green lights me. She said we will continue to operate as is, in our normal fashion for the time being, and is actually quite pleased with how we have handled the situation in his absence. That's all I know for now.

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but I know a lot of guys here like them.....if I hear/read about one more person saying how good the Academy H20 line of hard baits are for the $$, I am going to have to break down and buy some. LOL

Not a Jon boat, but I fish out of a little tin bass boat, and regularly take the money of guys with shiny new Rangers/Nitros/etc..... On my local waters and tournaments, not anything big. But still, if you can fish, you can fish, and if you can't, you can't. The boat matters little to the bass. My only disadvantage on the lakes we fish is speed, but i do just fine fishing "used" water, infact, it's probably made me a better fisherman having to learn how to fish behind people who have out run me to spots and gone through them first. Wind blows me around a little more, but I have ways of combating that, I put a bigger than needed TM on my boat, and have a pair of drift socks, and know how to handle my boat in the wind.

I owe WNYbassman props for turning me on to bladed chatterbait style lures. I was always a spinner-bait guy before. Now the chatterbait,and the swim jig have all but replaced the spinnerbait for me.

I don't know if they are the "best" but what works best for me when the water here is clear are: 4" finesse worms wacky rigged on a 1/16th or 1/8th oz. wacky jig, 3" and 4" Gulp products nose hooked on a drop shot, and small creature baits on a shakey, football, or biffle type head.

My most recent "best buys" have been NIB Daiwa Excelers off fleabay from $55-$68 with free shipping and no tax. They retail for $100, so I think it's a decent deal LOL.

For drop-shotting try the VMC spin shot hooks, I use them, and like them a lot. Here is what I do: Nose hooking things like finesse worms, gulp minnows, and other small baits I use the #2 spinshot, If I want to rig those same smaller baits on a weedless drop shot, I will use the #1/0 EWG spinshot. If I bump up to a little bigger bait, I go with the #1 spinshot, and the 3/0 EWG spinshot If I am "bubba" or "power" shotting I use the 3/0-5/0 Power-shot hook. These hooks are all fairly cheap (in cost, very good quality) so get a bucnh of them and see what works for you. As for sinkers, I like the "pencil" or "finesse" style drop-shot sinkers. The slip in and out of rocks and grass better. I carry 3 sizes, 1/4oz. for shallow work, 3/8's for "all purpose work", and 1/2 for deep water and/or windy conditions. When bubba-shotting, I use the old-timey lead bass casting sinkers in 1/2-1 oz sizes depending on the thickness of cover, they tie direct to the "tag" or "drop" line and wont pull off in thick cover like the drop shot weights do.

I buy a lot of skirts from them, and just let them "air out" and it goes away. I put megastrike on everything anyways so it has never been an issue.

I have caught pike on 8lb fluoro, and had them bite clean through 20lb. It all depends on how far they engulf it. They do bite braid off much easier. That's one of the reason I use fluoro leaders, not to stop the bites off's, because it don't, but just to slow them down.

Havoc soft plastics. $2.99 for a a bag of 8-10 baits (on average some have less, some have more), and I have yet to find one that's a dud. I have replaced all my higher priced plastics with Havoc baits, and have not looked back. Some , like the Pit Boss for example are almost as good as it gets for that style of bait. And I was..............WAS............a big fan of the R.I. Beavers, until I switched to the Pit Boss's. Boss jig making materials are about as good as it gets for jigs (for me) I can make my own head skirt combos with quality heads/skirts for on average $1 or more less than the jigs sold by the big names (SK. Booyah, etc....) or the custom jig makers.

It is illegal here in NYS. But people do it anyways. Not that it means anything to the OP, but your right Raul..........check with your area's DEC/DEP/ECON. Dept. ...etc.....first. Just because people do it don't mean it's right and/or allowed by law. I am personally very ANTI- cover planting, first and foremost because it not allowed by law here, and secondly, our lakes have plenty of natural cover. Now if our lakes were void of cover, and it was allowed, I'd probably be out there doing it myself.

I like funny Meme's as much as the next guy, but nothing in this thread meets that criteria, keep trying kids.

I saw $2.99 here in WNY twice this week. Yesterday in Henrietta at the Mobil station across from Target/Lowes, and the Crosby Mini-mart on Rt. 39 in Sardinia Weds. afternoon. It was still in the low 3's here in Warsaw yesterday when I was out and about and looked, maybe it went down in the afternoon, but I forgot to pay attention.