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ww2farmer

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Everything posted by ww2farmer

  1. The Revros are hidden gems. I have 3 of them, 2 of which have been used hard for a couple of seasons now and have held up WAY better than Pflueger Presidents in similar duration of use. I replaced my last President midway through last year with another Revros and won't be going with another Pflueger anytime soon.
  2. Using light line to flip and pitch in heavy cover, is like trying to pound a nail in with the handle of a screw driver. Can you do it? Sure. But it's not the best tool for the job.
  3. Flip a coin on the Shimano and Daiwa. Both will serve you well. Forget everything else.
  4. This ^^^^ Been there, done that with everything else. They just don't hold a candle to Daiwa and Shimano. Even high-end Abu, Lews, Quantum, etc...stuff rarely lasts as long and performs as well as the middle of the road working man's grade Daiwa and Shimano reels. Sweedish made Abu's might be the exception, but those are rarely desirable for bass fishing anymore.
  5. Go this route...you won't be disappointed. Plus that rod is great at multi-tasking.
  6. You didn't talk to me LOL....I was out there from 11am - 6pm. For two reasons, #1 after a clear cold night, Silver ALWAYS fishes slow in the morning, and #2 I had stuff to do until 11am. From 11-6 I caught 17 largemouth and 4 smallmouth, just kinda junk fishing all over the lake. No giants again today, but the best five were a solid 19.59lbs, and the biggest 3 were a 4-3, 4-2, and a 4-1....and those were all largemouth.
  7. Smallmouth in the spring are far less picky than any other time of the year. I have caught them on frogs, and chatterbaits while largemouth fishing. And then things like the ned rig.....you can't NOT catch a smallmouth on it, even if you soaked it in gasoline.
  8. Things are on the upswing finally here. Some of my favorite stuff is still not "on" yet...but I'm making due with what is. Fished Tues. evening for 3 hours and caught 5 largemouth, and 15 smallmouth. Best 5 went 20.80 lbs. Biggest pair of brown ones were a 4-8, and 4-2. Biggest largemouth was a 4-4. Fished last night, again for about 3 hours. Not quite as good, but not terrible. Even mix of 6 largemouth, and 6 smallmouth. Best five = 18.3lbs, all largemouth. Biggest pair a 4-6, and 3-15. Smallmouth were noting special, biggest was only a 2-14. The nights couldn't have been more different. Tuesday was all finesse, light line, and spinning rods. Thursday was reaction baits. I have been really really bummed out that my normal stuff for late April/Early May has been a bust so far this year. But with my last 4 outings producing lots of fish, and above average size (no real giants tho, have not cracked 5lbs yet) my foul mood about this spring has turned around.
  9. If you have smallmouth in the water you fish, my suggestion is to forget largemouth, and target them early. They are way less finicky in colder water, and can be caught on everything your already using. Location is key.....rock, sand, and hard bottom areas are good places to start. If you must fish for largemouth, understand that this very unsettled weather we have been having in the Great Lakes, Upper mid-west, rust belt, and finger lakes regions this spring have slowed them down more so than normal. Most of the ones I have been catching have been mixed in with smallmouth. Traditional largemouth areas in my area are SLOW right now, and they shouldn't be. They like wood, green grass, overhead cover, and the warmest water you can find. My problem is, all those areas where I fish are high, muddy, and not warm yet due to seemingly daily downpours of cold rain.
  10. Silver finally fished decent today. BR member kbeeb374 hopped on my boat today, and we caught plenty of fish. We had some slow spells, and certain areas were not producing as expected. But in the end it was a good day.
  11. Practice makes perfect. You know all those countless hours over the years of not catching fish while pitching or skipping a jig/etc. under a dock or putting it in some tight spot? They are not worthless hours. Repetition, building muscle memory, developing a sense of timing, all means something. There are no wasted hours on the water. You learn as much if not more on your bad days as your good ones. Heck when they are biting well, anyone can catch them. When you fish a fickle fishery like I do, you learn to make the best of the slow times.
  12. Fishing is slowly improving at Silver. Spent 5 hours out there Thursday afternoon/evening after getting done with work early. Caught 6 smallmouth, 4 largemouth, and about double the amount of pike as bass. Had fun playing around with my new touch screen culling scale. Lunker of the day was a 4-9 smallmouth, and my best five were 18.30lbs. Not terrible, but still below expectations (for both size and numbers) for this time of year. Some of the "usual" stuff I do this time of year is pretty slow for me yet...despite water temps being about where they should be. I'm either not there when they are active, or things are just not happening yet.
  13. No, they don't have to be tuned. But because they are thin, if they do get bent, they are far easier to bend straight again.
  14. I don't get too upset when non-bass guys are not as courteous as I would like them to be, often it's just harmless ignorance on their part, and usually, a kind word , or friendly conversation clears up the matter. I do get really really mad when other bass guys, especially ones I know don't practice the same. But turnabout is fair play. I once showed a guy.....a member here whom I fished tournaments with, and was generally good friends with...many many springs ago now, the how/when/where/and why I caught early spring largemouth on our mutual home lake, with an unspoken understanding that it was to be kept under wraps. Fast forward a few years, and he's shown multiple people, posted pictures on social media with obvious landmarks in the background, and generally trolls for pats on the back via social media while doing so. I have returned the favor the best I could by showing people what he showed me in regards to catching smallmouth. Dirty pool on both parts.....but like I said, turnabout is fair play.
  15. I rarely fish a shakey head, most of the places I fish are not well suited for it. So it's pegged t-rig most of the time. In area's that I do fish where a shakey head is a viable option, I seem to have just forgotten about it and use a ned rig more times than not anymore. Shakey head is far down the list on my "go-to" finesse/tuff bite deals...well behind the ned, neko, flick shake, drop shotting, and other stuff.
  16. Like everything else when stuff has a lot of "buzz" the popular sizes and colors will be tuff to get for a while. When the fanfare dies down, they will be readily available and still catch fish.
  17. I use the 1/2 oz silver or gold Binsky blade. Good hooks and snap right out of the package. Very thin, "tuneable" blade, and 4 options for tying points on the top. My blade bait success (which was already decent) went UP when I switched to the Binsky over homemade blades. The Binsky has a more subdued vibration, falls straighter, and lands nose down (often standing up on its nose)…I know I like that better, and it translates to me fishing it with more confidence and catching more fish. I use a Dobyns Fury 703c casting rod, 6.3:1 Daiwa Fuego CT, 20lb Power Pro braid, and 12lb fluorocarbon leaders. This has been the best rod I have ever used for this. I previously used stiffer/faster MH powered rods and lost more fish than I do with the 703c.
  18. Yesterday afternoon, the sun popped out, the wind/snow/rain let up for a little bit, and it warmed up from the mid/low 30's to the upper 40's. Against my better judgement, I went out on Silver. I expected a suck-fest, and a struggle to get bites. Lake opposite struck again. Not on fire, but better than any evening last week. From 3pm to dark I caught 9 bass. 5 largemouth and 4 smallmouth. Best was a 4+ lber of each, a couple of mid 3lbers of each, and the rest were average sized 2.5lbers. It only cost me 3 Lucky Craft Lightning Pointers.....because the pike were biting too.
  19. I use 6lb Red Label to 10lb Power Pro all the time. Zero issues with the Alberto Knot.
  20. Still not on fire for me yet. This weekend is a bust. Cold, windy, woke up to snow on the ground this morning. Fished a couple of evenings after work this past week. A few bites each night from a handful of average size fish was all I could come up with.
  21. As a guy who runs local tournaments...the MLF format of catch/weigh/record/release with only the 5 biggest fish counting OR everything over a certain weight (say 2.5+lbs) counting, is the future of my events. I just don't quite know how to pull it off yet. My biggest hurdle is that I run mostly solo angler events, having a second person on board as an impartial observer/marshal/spotter/referee is far from practical and nearly impossible. These tournaments will have to be closed, and be invite only to anglers who have gained my trust. The prize money will have to be low, so the incentive/motivation to cheat will be lower, and the penalty for attempting to cheat and/or getting caught cheating will have to be so severe as to ruin anyone's reputation, and have serious legal ramifications to anyone who attempts it.
  22. I don't have a club per-say....but I run an open tournament trail. Despite what many people think, putting tournaments on is not free. There's permit fee's, scale/weigh-in equipment replacement/maint./upgrade costs. I pretty much donate my time. I don't search out sponsors, or collect dues. I just cover expenses out of tournament pots, and everyone knows this going in. I am one of the few...maybe the only... area open tournament who gives a transparent break down of what/where/when/why the money goes where it goes. 99.9% of the guys are supportive. The clowns who are not are asked to take a hike and never come back.
  23. Mother nature has not been playing nice for me. We had some nice days last week, that turned lousy just about the time I got out of work each day, so I have no evening trips to report on from last week. I did get out for a few hours this morning. Waited out the heaviest of the rain, which passed by 8:30am or so. I was on the water by 9. It wasn't spectacular. I put three average size smallmouth in the boat in the first hour, then they started getting off the hook on me left and right. I had enough of their nonsense and went largemouth fishing. They were not on fire. I caught two right away, one of them a decent 4.5lber, then a pike, then a bite off. It was not warming up much, and I was getting cold and wet from the steady mist in the air and called it a day around noon. Water temps are not coming up real fast. Still low to mid 40's, and we have had a lot of heavy spurts of cold rain making the water quite stained. Cold, high, dirty water is not my favorite. Family Easter stuff to do tomorrow, so no fishing for me. Hopefully I can get out a couple times after work this week if the weather doesn't pull the rug out from under me.
  24. The entire tackle box is in play in the spring. In the cold water period from ice out until the water temps rise into the mid 50's the selection is some what more limited due to overall activity levels of the fish. It's hard to beat a lipless crank, suspending jerkbait, or a compact jig for largemouth during this time. Once it hit's the mid 50's fish movement increases, and so does the selection of tools that work and work well. It's almost a fish what you like type deal, and let cover, location, water clarity, current weather conditions, and depth dictate your choices.
  25. My grandfather taught me to fish in general. I am a self taught bass fisherman for the most part. A few local guys through the years have helped me, namely BR member wnybassman, specifically with tournament fishing and smallmouth fishing. Even though I say I am "self taught"...just about everyone I have ever fished with, serious or novice angler alike...has shown me something I can use to improve.
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