ww2farmer

If that were the case, Silver lake would have no weeds LOL....and as it is, it has the best milfoil and coontail in it right now that I have seen in 10 years, despite the boat traffic pounding it's getting right now. I have come to the conclusion, like fish year classes, things go in cycles. The #1 factor I have seen for poor summer weed growth is cold springs with high water....even if it's gin clear, if it's high and cold the weeds just seem sluggish. A close #2 would be a ton of snow cover on the ice not letting light in during the winter. #3 would be endless days of ripping North or South winds in the fall,and early spring that create a lot of "current" in these North/South oriented lakes uprooting sensitive and weak late/early season plants. Turbidity caused by boat traffic IS a factor at times, but if they get a good start and over winter well, it seems like a moot point for the most part. A good old fashioned pea soup summer algae bloom will also knock them back a bit too. The recent invasion of curly leaf pond weed in Conesus, and Silver don't help with milfoil in 8-12 feet either. That stuff takes off like wildfire in the spring, and tops out in late May, and depending how long it hangs around before it dies back, it really knocks the milfoil on its butt. On Silver this year that pond weed topped out late May per normal, but with the heat we have had and water temp jumps, it faded quick and the milfoil really came on.

My most used smallmouth spinning rod/reel combo is a Dobyns Fury 702 paired with a Daiwa Revros LT, spooled with 10lb braid and 6 or 8lb fluoro leaders. And my most used smallmouth baitcasting combo is a a Dobyns Fury 703 paired with a Daiwa Fuego CT, spooled with 12lb fluorocarbon. I use the 702/Revros LT so much, I have a matching pair of the same. They do it all for me, grubs, tubes, micro jigs, small swimabits, ned, dropshot, flick shake, and more. The 703 casting is used for blade baits, spinnerbaits, light wire hook football jigs, and a host of other things.

For me, the wobble/swinging/Biffle head is strictly a bottom bumping, constant bottom contact presentation. I want that thing on the bottom at all times so I don't fart around with light weights. I use 3/4 oz most of the time no matter what depths I'm fishing it.

Fished 3 tournaments since my last report. 3 hour, 3 fish evening team tournament on Silver on Thursday 7/2/20....We won that one in an absolute GRIND with 8lbs 13oz. The following Sunday 7/5/20, had a club tournament on Waneta Lamoka. We cashed and took 2nd place with 16.20 lbs And today 7/10/20 I had the second in my friday solo angler series trail event on Conesus. I cashed in that and took 2nd with 20lbs 12 oz. So far to date in 2020 I have fished 5 events, cashed in them all, winning two, and getting 2nd in three on four different lakes (2 wins on Silver, three 2nds...One on Cuba, Waneta Lamoka, and Conesus.) I'm keeping it REALLY simple this season, and just doing what I like to do. Which is flip weeds/docks, deep finesse fish, and pick up reaction baits and randomly junk fish "good looking" stuff.....so far it's working well.

My 10 year old daughter catches fish just fine on the ned rig. There's no need to "feel" anything. She casts it out let's it sink, cranks a couple times, pauses, cranks a couple times, pauses, every time I look back there she's got a fish on and she doesn't do anything but keeps reeling, those little hooks with a little pressure set themselves. Now if I had her fishing it like a shakey head, with lots of slack in the line, or trying to "feel" for a bite, she'd probably struggle.

I do the same thing....buy tons of stuff, don't remember why I bought it, and sell most of it here on the flea market at a discount. But hey.... it's fun trying new stuff, and once in awhile I find something new that makes it's way into the normal rotation of things I do.

To be honest with you, not really. For the past few years I have fished dobyns rods almost exclusively, and they have been pretty bullet proof for me. But other than that I can't think of anything.

Knock on wood.....I have only had one broken rod since that post that I can remember , and that was broke out of stupidity.

Good first weekend of tournament fishing for me. Had my solo angler series season opener on Silver Friday, won that ....which turned out to be quite easily by 5+ lbs with 17lb's 9oz. Sunday was our first club tournament on a little smallmouth-centric lake that I have very limited exp on. If you recall we made the mistake last year in this tournament of trying to get cute and outsmart the field by fishing for largemouth, and that burned us badly. This year we said to heck with the largemouth, and targeted shallow post spawn smallies. That worked. We took 2nd with 16.19lbs. Fell 2lbs short of the win though, getting beat by a team who targeted deeper post spawn smallies, and had 18lbs. These guys win there EVERY TIME, but with 3 derbies under my belt now on this lake, and with a couple more practice days, we are going to sooner or later put a stop to that LOL.

I'm here. All is well. I have scaled back my detailed fishing reports for "reasons", but I still try to add my .02 to topics where I think they will help, or see information that hasn't been added to a topic yet.

I have caught several 4+ lb largemouth and smallmouth while fishing for bluegills and perch on a 6' UL rod, 4lb test ice fishing line, and tiny #8 drop shot hooks. My biggest "light" bass tackle fish are all caught on the ned rig. 6lb floruo leaders, 10lb braid. 7' ML rod 1/10th oz mushroom head. 6-4 largemouth 6-2 smallmouth 5-11 largemouth those are my best 3 on that rig.

Silver is not being kind to non-locals right now. I had my first tournament there yesterday and 2/3rd's of the field left early, and only three of us weighed in. The other two guys had 5 fish between them, I won handily by 5+ lbs with 17lbs 9oz (which is NOT big weight for there). I culled several times during the day, and caught 20+ bass. Silver can be very tuff, but when I have a day where I don't struggle for anything other than getting a kicker, I have to thank my years of exp out there, and there's nothing I can tell you that can help.

6'6" rods are my sweet spot for skipping. I use a Dobyns Fury 662 spinning for weightless plastics....even though it's a ML rod it has enough power to handle big fish. And enough "tip" to really load up a zing a D-shad, 4" + 5" senko, or a 1/15th or 1/10 oz ned rig as far and as accurately as possible. Light wire hooks are a must for this, your not going to stick a super line hook very well into a fish with this rod. And I use a 664 casting for skipping jigs and t-rigs. About the only thing I skip on a 7' rod is frogs, and I use a 704 for that. Believe it or not, heavier line skips BETTER on casting gear, and the exact opposite is true on spinning gear. I use 50lb braid on the 664/704, and 10lb braid on the 662, with flouro leaders (or straight braid if frogging) sized to the cover at hand. Usually 15-17 lb on the casting rods, and 8-10 on the spinning. Bait profile plays a HUGE part in skipping well with a casting rod. The flatter the better. Things like arkie jigs, beavers, etc... skip like a dream on a casting rod. Baits with lots of flappy appendages DO NOT. 5/16-1/2oz is the best to skip with. Yes I CAN skip a 1oz jig, but even after skipping with a casting set up for years, picking that up is like learning to walk all over again sometimes. For me the best reel setting on a casting reel for skipping is VERY loose spool tension, to the point that if your not exp. with casting reels, you'll backlash every time. BUT I run a lot of brakes to make up for any "thumb" errors. On my reels (Daiwa Fuego CT's) I run them on about 14, where in normal casting I run them on 8.

I went with a couple Minn Kota. "Precision" series. They are a little pricey but small if you have mounting space concerns. I have the 2 bank and it's half the size of the same spec charger in the digital series.

I use boss and gamakatsu heads. I hand tie a mean little smallmouth football jig on the Gamakatsu #24 head. My best buddy whips my butt with them in fall tournaments all the time LMAO.

I'm more than happy with my Garmin Striker's. Easy to use. Lot's of "bang for the buck". I have had Lowrance Elite's , and Humminbird Helix's (gen 1 for both) and the Garmin beats them both hands down. The 4" is fine on the console of my little Bass Tracker, and the 5" is great on the bow.

Gas is fairly cheap right now too. That's not helping. But wait until the credit card bills for the gas and repair bills from the moronic behavior start piling up. It's also been mid summer hot here for most of June. I think these people are "blowing their wads" early.....at least I hope so.

LOL at the people who wait for summer to bust out the frogs. I was catching 6lbers on them in 50 degree water whilst y'all were farting around with jerkbaits.

If weedless is a must, use something like the Gamakatsu G-finesse, or Owner Jungle Wacky hook with a wire guard that doesn't attach to the hook point and needs to "spring" open and out of the way. Hook up % with these is as good as non-weedless hooks.

They make good modestly priced stuff. They are right up there with Zoom, Yum, Berkley, NetBait, etc..... in terms of quality and bang for the buck. A few of their offerings are unique and have served me well over the years. I really like the cane stick, came thumper, and the yo' daddy craw. The squirrel tail stuff has also been very good, but very unforgiving around tail nipping panfish.

If you can see them, they can see you....game over 99% of the time. Make long casts to bassy' looking area's before you get close enough for them to spot you. That's what those guys are doing with their spinner and buzzbaits. One of the best presentations to make with a senko in clear shallow water is to skip the bait like a stone to your intended target....it doesn't matter if your trying to get it under something...do it in wide open water...they can't stand it.

If your on a tight budget, just buy Yum dingers and a pack of 1/16th oz wacky jig heads and call it day. That combo will perform almost identically to an unweighted GYCB Senko.

I have an event this Sunday that was all set up on score tracker, and now no one can log on, and MLF doesn't even have a link to it off their main page anymore. It's not just me having these issues. Everyone confirmed for my event is having them too.... mobile devices, lap tops, desk tops, it's not working for any of us on any device. And it's been that way for a couple days now. I emailed MLF to ask about it....and have heard nothing from them.

3? I'm more flexible than that ? At least these five are on the deck right now for the next few weeks: 5" soft stick bait Frog 3/8 oz t-rig creature bait 1/2 oz vibrating jig Ned

When my kids were little, and in daycare, and I was working a seasonal job...laid off most of the winter. I had to sell my "good" gear (St Croix's, Shimano/Daiwa, etc..) and go with more budget oriented stuff. Berkley ligtning rods were a staple in my arsenal those years, both the regular and the "shock" model. I'm quite fond of the original Gen. 1 Lightning Rod Shocks. I won a lot of money and caught a ton of fish on them.