ww2farmer

I used to brag that in 25 years of fishing I had never been stuck past the barb.........I almost didn't get those words out of my mouth the last time I said it before it happened. Since then, 3 times. Once in the meaty part of my palm with a treble hook, ouch. Once in the forearm with a drop shot hook, ouch. And one I do not wish on my worst enemy, a treble hook...............under my thumb nail, double ouch.

Some of the best guys on the local opens scene don't pre-fish much if at all. They just show up, do what they do, and take home money. Not saying that it's not a valuable tool, especially on unfamiliar bodies of water. But if they are bodies of water you know, often times just winging it and fishing the moment instead of memories can be a blessing in disguise.

Sorry to hear that man, best wishes for a quick recovery, future good health for him and your family.

A 7' MH casting rod is about as good "do-all" stick as it get's in bass fishing. Save for very small baits, and light line techniques. I had a slew of those old lightning rods, from that exact generation, and that exact rod. Spooled up with 15lb Trilene XT it was my main t-rigged worm rod, spinner-bait, buzz-bait, and jig rod. I say fish it.

Short answer...no. I have been at my job for 20 years and when were not busy, or there is nothing specific to me that needs to get done, I am free to come and go as I please. I also pitch in and work late when I don't have to, come in early, work weekends. I have rarely, if ever been denied time off to fish. And honestly , I spend 120 + days a year on the water as it is, while still working 50-70 hours a week from April-November. I have plenty of time to fish with out having to call in sick. Heck, I have the freedom, if say I come in on a random weekday, things are slow, I just ask the boss "we busy today?" He will say " nope, go fishing" I don't think I would have that privilege if I didn't step up to the plate when ever he asked, or by sneaking around and "calling in" when we were busy.

I fish jigs tied direct to braid , and with a leader. I tied direct in dirty water, or in heavy grass. I use the leader in abrasive cover, or very clear water OR when I want to slow the fall down on a big jig. There are times when they want something big, but not falling fast. A long length of heavy fluorocarbon will do that for me with out having to experiment with multiple trailers and jig combos to find one that falls slower.

I am not going to get into a brand war, every one has their favorite, and I have mine. But as far as sizes, blade styles and colors, you can't go wrong with a 3/8's oz. bait with a chart/white skirt in a tandem willow/Colorado blade configuration. That's spinnerbaiting 101 right there, learn when, where and why to use it and expand from there.

Depends on the bait/brand, and then sometimes, even if the stock hooks are decent, I still change out to a hook I like better.

I still use tubes for smallmouth, but over the years, and for no good reason because they worked, and worked well, they kept getting pushed further and further back in the rotation for largemouth. Every once in a while when I do fish them, I usually have a good day and find myself wondering why I don't fish them more.

I watched the Basstrak on day 3, and Alton WAS in the same area on day 3. What's he supposed to do, tank the day, or go fish unproductive water and just concede the area to Dean? I could see if Rojas was wayyyy out in front and Faircloth was nipping at his heels, and Alton had no shot, but it was a tight event, with small bags. Jones had just as good a chance of winning as anyone if he could whack a big sack out of there, and if it was the only area he had any faith in he'd be a fool not to go where he caught them on the other 3 days. Kriet even said Jones was in there all 3 days and in practice. None of us will ever know what exactly went down, except the 2 dudes involved, and third for that matter if you consider Kriet was in there too.

Palomar when tied direct, alberto to join it to a leader. I have never used it with any other knots so I don't know if they will slip or not.

You asked what would "you" do? Well this is what I do.....Braid....20lb tied direct for top-waters, and with a fluorocarbon leader for jerkbaits, usually 10 or 12lb. My topwater rod, is also my jerkbait rod.

Depends on what I am doing with them. Pitching and flipping around docks, shoreline brush/laydowns, shallow scattered grass, I t-rig them on a 3/0 EWG super-line hook, with, usually 3/8's oz. tungsten sinker pegged to it. Punching mats, or fishing deeper thick milfoil, I peg a 1/2oz-1oz sinker (depending on how thick the grass is) and use a 5/0 Trokar straight shank flipping hook. I also drop shot them, use them as jig trailers, fish them on a football head, etc.....no wrong way. Next to a senko, they are about as versatile as it gets.

When I lived in Florida, I did the same things I did in NY and caught plenty of fish. The lakes I fish up here were very similar to the lakes and ponds I fished down there. Shallow, filled with grass, and clear water. This was 20 years ago, but the point is..........bass are bass, fish what you know, you'll catch some. Last time I was down there I hired a guide and shiner fished, I caught one over 8 and a couple of 5's, as well as a bunch of small keepers, but that's just not my thing, and really didn't care to learn much about it, but it was pretty much like shiner fishing up here for pike, which I used to do a lot of back in the 80's, except no steel leaders and you didn't have to wait for them to stop running and turn the bait in there mouth before you hit them.

Season long, I'd say my most used size in both t-rigs and jigs is 3/8's. But there are periods, often for weeks at a time where it's another size, either bigger, up to 1oz+, or smaller, down to a 1/16th.

I have watched it since the beginning, never missed it yet. But I was a fan long before the show........only real nerds will know why.

I am not going to even enter into this argument any more..............OK maybe just a little. For years I ran straight braid on all but a few rods. I caught plenty of fish, clear water, pressured fish, didn't matter, I still caught them. I began running leaders as an experiment 2-3 years ago on the rods I ran straight fluorocarbon on, for no other reason than to save $$$$. Now I run straight braid on every thing, and tie leaders on the rods I used use fluorocarbon on 100% of the time. Why? Braid lasts a long, long time, and so does a 200 yard spool of fluorocarbon when your only using 5 or feet at a time. I hated fluorocarbon as a main line, and I hated paying $20 for a spool of it that needed to be changed out every couple weeks. I have lot more things I would rather spend my money on than endless spools of line. It's just that simple. They rods I use braid to fluorocarbon on are #1 my drop-shot rod, I don't like the limpness of braid for "standing the hook out" when drop-shotting, and #2 anything that gets fished in super abrasive conditions, braid + rocks and/or zebra mussels = instant line cutting. Otherwise it's still straight braid.

As some one who works outside and around wildlife all the time, on the days I don't see a lot of deer, rabbits, and other assorted critters, I usually get a report of "fishing was slow" from buddies who have been out fishing while I am working. Same thing goes for grazing cattle.

Pitch to cover, and they thump it on the fall, or suck it in as soon as it hits bottom or on the first "hop" is my favorite type of jig bite, and probably how I catch 75% of my jig fish.

I prefer moderate action graphite, at least 7' long, and at least MH in power. I have owned and tried a few before I found one I fell in love with. My rod is a St Croix 7'10" H power, Mod. action, Legend Tournament "Magnum Cranker" It will handle any of the popular 1/2oz.-1oz+ deep divers with ease, and fling them a mile. It's light and sensitive, so I can fish it all day, and know when my bait had a zebra mussle shell stuck on a hook point, or a piece of grass on it. Powerfull enough to get the hooks pegged on the end of a super long cast, yet forgiving enough that ever since I have started using it can count on one hand the number of cranking fish that have pulled off out of 100's I have caught on that rod (that where not my fault for doing something stupid....then the number rises LOL) But.............an all purpose cranking rod it is not. It's for deep divers and big hard pulling ones at that. About the smallest bait I use comfortably on it is a SK 5xd.

I fished my first tournament about 20 years ago out of a rented 14' v-hull aluminum boat with a small 9.9 HP tiller, it was just a little local opening day lunker tournament, I fished it for a couple years in a row, never did well, and didn't tournament fish again till 2007. Since then I have fished about 50 (that I can remember), they have all been opens/2 man team tournaments, and we have won 3, and cashed in about 15 more. This year it remains to be seen how many I will fish. My buddy runs a couple evening tournaments on the local lake and I will do those, as well as the aluminum boat tournaments I run. But one of the open trials I fished is now defunct (York bass club) and I don't really care too much for the other trails. They are either too high priced, don't come to my lake, or I just don't like the guys running them.

I have shipped ammo all over the country, nothing more needed than the ORM-D label. If someone is giving you a hard time about it, get some one else on the phone. Both UPS and Fed-ex ship it for me no problems.

I do what I can, and what I don't think I will screw up. I do all my own maintenance and winterization on my outboard and boat. I will do some repairs, for instance a few years ago I had a gasket on the water jacket of my outboard that was leaking, I took it to the dealer as it was still under warranty and they fixed it, but it leaked again. So I fixed it myself and hasn't leaked since. I have replaced live-well pumps, and re-wired things myself. If I ever had problems with something like, say, my trailer wheel bearings, I would do them myself. Anything that doesn't require special tools, standing on your head, and double jointed elbows is fair game for me to try and tackle. Same with my vehicles.

We have been busier than usual this winter too, I actually like it better.

When in doubt about spinner bait colors, go with chart. and white. It works.