Basseditor

A lot of times, your kicker can come early in the morning. If I don't get a kicker in the first hour, I go for limit fish. Then if I got 5 keepers back to bigger baits.

I too like the waterproof Plano boxes and I leave the baits in their bags. I use the waterproof bags in case I dont close a bag tightly. It helps hold in the scent. For bulkier plastics like 7" senkos and magnum flukes, I leave them in their bags, but I put those bags in zipperd meshed laundry bags from Walmart. (About $1a bg,) one laundry bag for each type of bait,

In the late 70s, I went fishing with a guy famous for catching giant brown trout on hair jigs. Actually, there were 8 of us on the trip, plus the "semi-famous" guy. (At least he was known locally.) Eight of us (me) caught one brown in 2 days. Other guy? At least 40 up to 10 lbs. he was "sponsored" by Browning and got free rods to promote their boron rods. I never heard of sponsorships or high end rods before. I had a fiberglass rod that had served me well for throwing Mepps spinners and such. But when it came to bottom contact techniques, I was a novice. I was guiding waterfowl hunters and soon after that one of my new clients turned out to be the Browning rep. I traded for a 6' boron casting rod. I cost more than a weekend guide trip so I had to give some cash too. It changed my fishing ever since and I then started tournament bass fishing a few years later. I only buy high end rods now. Even my s-glass rods were over $150.

Throw it T-rigged, weightless. Toss it next to cover and let it flutter down. Same way I fish a Senko. Once it hits bottom, I move it once or twice and if no takers, reel it in and toss to next object.

While we are at it, ban scents, salt and dipping dyes. Not. It's just a technique like any other. It doesn't always work and when it does, anyone can use it. I'm not a good jig fisherman, so lets ban jigs because at times jig fishermen are going to beat me. I think the naysayers should quit whining and just go fishing.

Even last year, you could fish for 3 days and struggle, then one day they would turn on and the boat could hit 40 lbs for best 5. I think April to June is best. IMO. Those bass like the heat. An Elite angler pounded one of my favorite spots for 4 days so I hope it reloads. Ha. I agree you may have to work harder now, but I can't wait to go back.

I bought 10 Mettles on Black Friday sale 3 yrs ago. For only $25 each. I use them all the time, from 12-lb flouro to 65-lb braid. No problems. I can't fine tune the cast control as much as a STX, but I still cast a lot of weightless 5" senkos on 20-lb Invisx with no issues on the Mettles.

Welcome. North, south of Austin? I'm just south of Austin.

I have a bunch of reels I like. I find certain ones better for specific uses. But they could be used for a variety of situations although I've fine tuned my preferences. Best I've used? In order of my preference. Lew's Team Lew's (now Lew's Gold) Lew's tournament pro Revo 3 STX pflueger patriarch And, for the money, Academy Sports house brand Mettle. Reg price is $50, but watch for sales at 25-30 each, with lifetime warranty.

5 times 2 required ER visits I would rather not talk about it. Just joking, but seeing the post brought back painful memories.

That's right. It's very situational. Tell us where you go and we can help more. When I started bass fishing, it took me awhile to get comfortable with all the variety of tackle. Now I can outfit a small tackle shop. I'm going to the state BASS Nation event next week. I'm taking only 18 of my combos. (But 10 extra bait casting reels, so I don't need to change line; just put another reel on and rig up.) I loaded enough tackle to fill the bed of my PU. That's about a third of my tackle.

I need to go get pics off CDs, my big largemouth is 10-5, next 9-13 and many more 8 and 9+ and biggest smallmouth is 7-3. I've caught 100+ smallies over 5 lbs, but only 3 over 7 lbs. I had a good run last spring but haven't been out much this year. Heading to Sam Rayburn for a week, but would rather go to falcon or Amistad. My sons and SIL hit it right last April and scored dozens of 8-10s over the course of 10 days.

Name brand clothing and company logos are everywhere, not only in outdoor sports. Try buying a shirt or jeans in a top line store. I don't like that "polo player" logo on my shirts. I don't play polo. I purposely try not to wear any logos when I'm fishing if I can help it. But some of my fishing shirts have the manufacturer logo on them. We had a college-aged summer intern a few years ago and she said the Columbia PFG shirts were the "in thing" for her peers. To me they were fishing shirts, I didn't know I was so hip. Maybe we need a "no name" brand? New business venture. Ha!

Yesterday in our club tourney, my son out fished me with a steady, fast retrieve, while I was yo-yoing, and ripping grass. They weren't aggressive but just loaded up the rod when reeling fairly fast. So try various retrieves until you figure it out.

Anyone want to trade a trip near Green Bay this June for trip to fish with me next fall in central Texas. Or spring. June 14-17 but not 15?

Me — "Jack of all Trades, Master of None."

I have 12# on a couple set ups but I don't trust it. I prefer 20-25# FC. I broke off a big one a few days ago. Darn 12#. I may not get as many bites with 20, but when I do they're coming in the boat.

Where do you fish for bass in Montana? I've fly fished in MT, but not for bass.

Speaking from personal experience, it is tough to keep a magazine profitable now. Notice how there is very little advertising from tackle and boat manufacturers in magazines? Except the ones with sponsorship agreements? It takes about 50-60 % of ad pages in each issue to break even. (Wasn't that high before.) Advertisers in the outdoor field pay far less per thousand circulation than other industries, but still buy less print ads. And the larger companies have their own TV shows and websites. And even the smaller companies are now content providers on their websites. They've taken over the role of magazines. Of course, the pro staffs are required to generate free publicity through columns, interviews, appearances, etc. Their content needs a good editor/curator however. Ok, getting off soap box now. Sorry.

That works, but I buy aquarium aeration or surgical tubing and cut short pieces (quarter inch) and slide them over the R-bend in spinner baits. That leaves enough room for a snap (no swivel). Dos that make sense?

80 degrees yesterday. If it snowed, I'd move further south.

I manage (publisher) of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. I've been working on outdoor and fishing magazines for 20 plus years. Prior to that, sales manager at several marine dealerships, where we sold bass boats and runabouts and big cruisers.

I had C- 5, 6, and 7 repaired 15 years ago, but I still have permanent nerve damage. My right hand is hyper sensitive, which is good but I get cramps in my hand all the time. I've had to learn new casting techniques, but other than that it sure beats the alternative. When it first occurred and before my surgery, I had no strength in my hand. It was funny, I went to make a cast, and because I couldn't control anything, I threw the rod into the lake. $400 bucks gone.

My wife goes once every few years, but my new daughter in law is learning to fish. Check out her blog: http://www.anglingforattention.com/

I use them all the time now. I tried these because of the breathing holes, but I'm not sure I can get used to having them pulled up over my nose. http://breathelikeafish.com/index.html