ww2farmer

I throw a Carolina rig when I have given up on catching bass by any other means for the day.

I like braid for cranking, most people don't.

Booyah pad crasher................I don't fish treble hooked topwaters anymore.................heck I don't even own any right now.

Trip #4 for the year. I was out from about 3pm till 6:30 or so......................SLOW. I fished for smallmouth for 2+ hours with nothing but a handful of dink perch to show for it, switched gears and went looking for largemouth the last hour and a half or so............it wasn't on fire, but it was better than the first two hours. I put my first pair of largemouth in the boat for 2016...........on 4lber, one 3lber , and added another retarded 3lb smallmouth who was up where he shouldn't be, as well as about 6 or 8 pike

I have owned many ML St Croix spinning rods............great "general purpose" spinning rod. St. Croix's tend to fish a little more powerful than they are rated, a ML St. Croix will be like a M Fenwick, Loomis, etc.....

I prefer EWG for GP use, I don't have any of the alleged issues with them that some people do. Straight shanks have a time and place for me, like punching or fishing with a large sinker that can and will pop the fishes mouth open like Catt mentioned, but with tungsten sinkers, if I keep the weight size under 1 oz., I usually stick with the EWG. I have fished with a bunch of different guys over the years, and the ones who had the most trouble with EWG and fish getting off, were guys who used stout rods, heavy braid, yet regular wire hooks, and felt the need to come out of their shoes on every hook set. They were flexing the hook AND ripping the bait away from the fish at the same time. I use "super line" heavy wire hooks, and rods with a little give in the tip, and set the hook with a steady but quick and firm upward stroke, and .....................knock on wood.................lose few.

Brands aside...........if I could only have three rods for a "general purpose" approach for bass fishing they would be: 7'6" H powered flipping stick that's NOT a broom stick that can handle 1/4 - 1 oz jigs, and t-rigs 7' MH/fast casting rod with a little bit of "tip" so it can also throw reaction baits, as well as jigs/plastics and a 7' M/fast spinning rod for finesse work like drop shotting, shaky heads, and light wacky rigs.

IMHO almost all of Cabela's branded stuff > than most BPS branded stuff...........not saying BPS stuff is junk, just that dollar for dollar, I prefer Cabela's.

I'm a die-hard braid guy, but I have seen the benefit of using a FC leader. If you're like me.............after using braid for so long, you will HATE FC as main line. Even the best stuff, IMHO, handles "different" than braid, and I just never liked it as main line. I tie my leaders to the braid with the Alberto knot, it's stupid easy to tie, and has been bomb proof. Here's the when/why I use a leader: #1 Drop shotting...............100% of the time I use a leader..........I do not like how limp braid is for this. #2 Fishing docks, or other super snaggy cover............if I am hung bad, I need the ability to break off so I don't have to in and get on top of what I am fishing, when using straight 30-50 lb braid, you'll pull the boat over to what your fishing before you break off............plus the added abrasion resistance of FC leaders is a plus around the wood/docks/rocks that are often coated with razor sharp zebra mussels around here. Since I bounce back and forth from fishing grass, to fishing docks all the time, most of my jig and plastic rods will have FC leaders on them 100% of the time. It's totally un-needed for fishing grass.........but I don't want to have several rods rigged up with the same stuff when bouncing around, so they all get leaders. #3 Throwing reaction baits (other than top water) ..........My home waters are loaded with pike and other toothy critters.......their teeth cut braid like a hot knife in butter, with a FC leader I stand a better chance of getting my baits back, and I just don't get the bites or the performance out of my baits I want with steel leaders, so FC is my only choice. This is what I tie straight to the braid: #1 Frogging/top water................no exceptions, 100% of the time tied direct to braid. #2 Punching grass mats .............that is if I am going to be doing that exclusively and NOT fishing docks/wood/etc, which happens just a few times a year, because even on a day when I am punching grass, I'll always still hit some docks, and/or deeper less thick off shore grass beds.

Got out for about 2.5 hours before dark late this afternoon............2 smallies, and a couple pike. Water temps still in the high 30's........... I am going to report on every trip this year, for no other reason than to keep a running total of # of bass caught, # of times I go fishing, and hours on the water.

No, and they won't be for a while yet, usually they don't go in till the end of April/early May. But I don't need them..............I actually prefer it when they are out.

Absolutely.....................................not. I will say though, my little tracker has been used almost daily over the last 10 years (except winter), and the majority of the problems I have had with it have been operator error.

I am a big (fat) dude, 6'2" and 320lbs............. In the first 5 years I owned my boat, I went through 2 hyd. adjustable leaning posts, and 2 manually adjustable posts. On a whim...........I decided to couple the two short post's together that came with the boat for the regular seats, and they are/were the EXACT same height as I used to keep the adjustable post on. I have used them in that fashion for at least the last 4-5 years without issue.

Storm Twitch Stick is $5.99 on TW..............it is a slow riser and not a true suspending bait...........but a suspend dot just forward of the front hook hanger makes them (at least all the ones I have) suspend in a nice "nose down fashion in 40 degree water.

Both the north and south end of my home lake are large grass flats. This is how I pick them apart I like to start on the deep edge of the flat, and in a straight line with an object on the bank, work shallower, fan casting a reaction bait around the boat. If I make contact, I kick a marker over board and work that area over a little before moving. If I make it all the way to the bank I work the bank for a little ways, and then turn right around and this time head from the shallow end to the deep end 30-yards away from where I came in on the deep to shallow run. I keep doing this until I find out what's going on. Sometimes they are grouped up along the deep edge and I don't have to roam the flat looking for them, sometimes they are on the bank, and sometimes they are scattered all over the flat. I never know from day to day what they are doing until I get there and start working. It's a pretty featurless flat too, a lone rock here, a stick there, a small dip or two, a subtle change in bottom hardness, etc......I have a few waypoints saved on my GPS where I regularly catch fish on these flats, but sometimes , they are not on any of them, and I have to go into search mode.

I spent about 2.5 hours on Silver late yesterday afternoon for as long as I could stand the cold and wind. It wasn't on fire. I caught 4 smallies, all but one clone 2.5 lbers, the lone good one was 4lbs.

2015: I fished in 14 tournaments. We had 1 win, 4 second places, 2 third places, 1 fourth place, and lunker twice. In 4 other tournaments we finished ONE place out of the money, and the two we were not close to the money we were in the middle of the pack. 2014: I fished in 16 tournaments. We had 1 win, 7 second places, 1 third, 1 fourth, and lunker once. 2013: I fished in 14 tournaments. We had 3 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, 1 fourth, and lunker once. 2012: I fished in 12 tournaments, We had 2 wins, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, and lunker once 2011: I fished in 9 tournaments, We had 2 seconds, 2 thirds, and one fourth 2010: I fished in 7 tournaments, We had 2 seconds, and 1 third 2009 I fished in 6 tournaments, We had 1 second, 2 thirds 2008 my first year tournament fishing I fished in 8 tournaments, We had 1 win, 2 seconds, and 2 thirds. 86 total............52 times in the money...........or 60.4% of the time

Another "tip" that I had passed along to me recently............contrary to what I had always thought, but loosening your bottom fingers in tour strong side grip (as well as proper trigger control) will help correct the "low and left " problems...........at least with 1911's.

I have ALWAYS struggled with shooting handguns, and as much as I practice you'd think I would be better. I shutter to think how bad I would be if I didn't reload and practiced less than I already do (often twice a week). I think it started clicking for me FINALLY last week. For months on end I practiced grip, stance, sight alignment, etc.....always thinking I had good trigger control.........and I did, dry firing. I loaded up a bunch of mags the other day and did the old "ball and dummy" drill.............my god do I have a flinch.................combine that with big hands and short fingers, I was using too much finger on the trigger. I am one of those that suffers from the "low and left" problem. After I starting concentrating on this, things got better that day.............a lot better, to the point that I shot the best I ever have. Now If only I can keep it up.

I have never had a "favorite lake picture" before...............and this one is nothing special, just a random smallmouth I caught the other day, but the sky in the background came through on the picture in a unique fashion. Everything looks black and white,except my hand and the bass.

That's why I don't go out of my way to say anything bad about them. I am 100% sure my exp. was the exception and not the rule. I know guys who have had a terrible time with Pure Fishing's (Abu, Fenwick, Berkley, etc...) customer service but all my exp with them have been more than fantastic.

In the last 10 years I can count on one hand the number of crankbaits I have had to tune. I mainly use SK, Storm, and other assorted sub $10 baits.

IMHO, for 90% of bass fishing technique specific rods are not needed.............however, there are two techniques that require specialized gear.............Punching heavy vegetation, and deep cranking with big plugs. Everything else is personal preference.

I am not brand loyal, until a reel company starts paying me to use and endorse them I will buy a little from everyone.............I have Daiwa's , Lew's, Abu's, Quantum's and Pflueger's. I used to have quite a few Shimano's until they started raising prices, putting fancy names on $200 graphite framed reels, playing games like painting the E series Curados white, calling them Chronarchs and charging more for them etc...Shimano was also has given the me the worst customer service of any of the major companies. For example...........I lost small parts out of Daiwa and Abu reels before.........my fault, I expected to fully pay for it, but BOTH companies sent me replacement parts free of charge, Shimano on the other hand.... I once sent a Citica 201E in that shortly after being purchased NEW made terrible noises, it came back worse AND I was charged to have it fixed (I guess they don't really have a warranty)......... I called them, they wanted me to send it back, and pay to have it fixed again, out of frustration, I sent the reel to Mike at DVT and he reported back to me that the Shimano techs installed a RH gear set in a LH reel, and he fixed it for me for a fair price................I mean come the heck on Shimano!!! That was the last straw for me and Shimano, at least for a while. Shortly after this I sold all of my Shimano's................even my favorite little reels, the Curado 51E's I had. I don't go out of my way to bash Shimano, as I am sure my exp. with them is out of the norm, but it's just an example of how one company can get soured in the eye's of a lone end user........................now ask me how I feel about Rapala products LOL.

OP I feel your pain, and the strrugle is real........... I had a green pumpkin senko once that two of the little black flakes fell out of..............my life was never the same.