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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/07/2021 in all areas

  1. I've heard all the hype about the new Strike King Hybrid Hunter. And I'm all for trying out new baits. They've been pretty hard to come by (tho admittingly I wasn't looking that hard), but I finally found one online about a month ago (3.5" version). I was out fishing last week and came up on an island that had a nice rocky point extending out from it. Up til then I had forgotten about the bait, but decided to throw it on to see what it's all about. 4th cast and a bass just killed it. Not like your typical crankbait bite. It was so aggressive I thought a muskie may have hit it. I went on to catch a few more on the bait in the next half hour before I had to leave. Made me a believer. Went home and ordered a few more in different colors and one in the 3" size. You know how that goes. This thing is kind of obnoxious and has a really wide wobble. Definitely a time and place for it.
    11 points
  2. Update: This 2.7 pounder was a fitting end for this great weekend of fishing! Only had an hour, and the Wakebait worked! Edit again: I think my scale was actually right and this fish was a high 2 because it was so skinny, and it is probably skinny because in Michigan the spawn just happened. It’s a 4 pound frame if it was fatter!
    9 points
  3. Well no pictures of my latest one I caught, I was wading at a park of one of my old local haunts before I moved to Kalamazoo. I showed up and it was busy like I figured it would be with 90 degree temperatures here in Michigan today. I saw maybe five or six people all with rods but nobody was fishing. It was windy like I figured it would be, luckily I brought my spinning rod with me ? I have a metanium dc but I have been killing it lately on a weightless trick worm and felt like fishing more than trying to fight the wind with a light lure. I made 10-15 cast and caught a 17 inch largemouth, left my phone in my car to keep it from getting wet. I didn’t want to keep it out of the water any longer than I had to, so I didn’t grab my phone. I also didn’t want anyone asking me to give them the fish either, I just let them go. It was comical watching everyone wade out to where I was fishing afterwards to try and catch a fish though lol. I accomplished what I wanted to I caught my fish and went back to spending time with my family, it was a good day ?
    8 points
  4. Nothing real note worthy. Put 12 in the boat, half over 3lbs…..What was note worthy for me is that they were all on the Dark Sleeper! Out fished my partner in numbers and size. I am a believer…
    7 points
  5. Two days of pond hopping... Friday- nice big Pickerel! Saturday- some nice above dink status bass. Everything on a spinnerbait... Lots of rain and murky water.
    7 points
  6. Shore fishing + Spinning tackle + 6# test + Heavy 'cabbage' = recipe for disaster. Really, trying to keep it from diving into the weeds is your only option with that rig. If it dives into the weeds, write it off - it's not coming out anytime soon. With heavier gear, you could horse it out - but we're talking at least 20# braid...which a spinning rig can handle - but that medium-power rod might not be up to the task...I've got 20# on spinning, but it's a medium-heavy rod.
    6 points
  7. Have been fishing a lot with little pictures. No 4lb giants yet but hit the big river today (it is still a little flooded) for 3 smallies. These are pics from a few days ago. GIANT carp in current are very fun. Took around 15/20min to land this beast.
    6 points
  8. I wasn't really happy with the PVC rod-rack I'd slapped together, but it served it's purpose for a while With the hot weather and me not willing to chance heat-exhaustion or worse...did some work down in my shop and built a new rod-rack Just a little project to pass the time and wait out the heat-wave.
    6 points
  9. Had a tough morning on my in-laws pond and the bass just weren’t having anything to do with what I was throwing so I went inside until after lunch. High sun upper 80’s air temps, so what did I put on. A whopper plopper of course. There’s a shallow flat that drops off into deeper water and usually that’s where the fish hang out in the mornings. But. It this morning. So I tossed the WP as far as I could put across the flat. Bam. 2.5lber first cast. Then I caught 9 more in the next half hour all over 2lbs with the biggest pushing 3lbs. Pretty much every cast I was getting bit. So I went in and told my 9yo daughter I found where some bass we’re if she wanted to catch one. She hadn’t really caught one over 2lbs before. So we went out and there cast it out and let her reel it in. And she caught this one. 2.98lbs. And then caught two more. She was pretty excited.
    6 points
  10. Finally made it back to a large pond I hadn’t fish yet for bass this year. Bluegill are still bedding heavily, but all the bass appear done. I went wacky again as this is my favorite post-spawn technique in clear water. I started with the same worm I used and reported on back on May 30 (two pages back). That day, I used it to catch 16 bass. I simply retied since the outfit hadn’t been used since that trip; same exact worm. I was able to catch another 27 bass on it before I had to retire it because it was so torn up. That makes 43 bass on a single wacky worm...so I just chuckle and shake my head at the Senko rigging threads - lol. Ended up with 40 total in under 2 hours. Here’s what that worm looks like after 43 bass, along with the best fish of the trip.
    5 points
  11. Anybody had a bacon maple glazed donut?
    5 points
  12. What a great idea for a thread. Really neat to see several jobs where even in the job description, I still don't have the intelligence to understand what the job entails. I went to school for a million years and got my doctorates in clinical psychology. Been working in a prison for 6 years. Not dull to say the least. Do private practice and contract work on the side.
    5 points
  13. Years ago when I bought lures, I’d often buy 2 or 3 or 4 at a time of the same lure in a different size, weight, or color. Huge mistake especially if the lure doesn’t produce. So then I’d be stuck with 3 lures that didn’t work instead of one. Nowadays, I buy one at a time. I go try it. If it’s effective, I might buy another one in a different color. Only after I have proven a lure do I buy several of them to have a variety.
    5 points
  14. The weather at my favorite bass lake in Mexico, has been exactly the same for the past 6 months. I saw that there was going to be the first rain since November, so I changed some work projects and went fishing for two days. The first day was Thursday, I got to the lake and hour before light and the sky was clear, 68 degrees, and no wind. Not what I was expecting. I fished a few favorite spots for nothing. Marked a few fish on a drop off caught a few small bass and one five pounds, on a deep diving crankbait. I marked more fish there, but couldn't get them to bite. I spent most of the day fishing trees, for small bass, and one giant that hit a spinnerbait, and got away. An hour before dark, the predicted storm was approaching so I went back to the the ledge. I made a long cast up on the flat with a deep diving crank bait. I cranked one crank, and had a 5 pounder on. Next cast same thing. The bass I had marked in 12 feet of water earlier had moved up on the flat, in 5 feet of water, and were hitting. I switched to a square bill and landed a four pounder. The wind was blowing 35 knots so I put a bigger square bill on to cast further, and landed a 6 pounder with a huge tilapia tail hanging out its mouth. After seeing the size of the tail, I tied on the biggest square bill I own on. After that I hooked a bass between 5 and 6 pounds every time a drifted by that spot. I finally had to stop, due to the wind, rain, lightning, and darkness. One more drift, one last cast had gone on for way to long, but was worth getting wet, and scared. Camping that night was far from dry, but I was ready to fish at daylight. I went back to the flat, but only landed one about 5 pounds further out on the drop in 12 feet of water. I new there must be more fish there, but couldn't get a bite on anything. I tried crankbaits, spinnerbaits, worms, jigs not a single bite. I spent a couple hours of the flipping zoom old monsters into trees for smaller fish. When I went back to the ledge I tried crankbaits again for no luck. I was going to call it a day, but decided to try a Reaction Innovations Skinny dipper on a jig head before leaving. First two casts were big fish, that got off. Next cast was a 6.5 pounder. Just to find out if it was the lure or timing, I dragged a Texas rigged worm, slowly over the drop, and a couple casts with a crankbait for no luck. Put the Skinny Dipper back on and first cast landed a 6 pound bass. I caught a couple more then the bite finally stopped and was getting time to leave, but before leaving I wanted to try an A rig. I had never landed a fish on one, and thought if they wanted one swimbait, why wouldn't they want 5? The rod I have is way to light for and A rig, so the first cast resulted in a professional grade back lash. Next cast was a 7 pound 23 inch bass. I hooked a fish almost every cast for the next 20 min. then had to go home. Just what I needed, an excuse to buy another rod, more A rigs, skinny dippers, and giant square bills. I guess great days bass fishing are not free, but well worth the cost. Biggest bass was 23 inches, 7 pounds, numerous 4 to 6 pound fish.
    5 points
  15. Active duty military, USAF. Enlisted with 14 years in so far. It has gone by fast!
    5 points
  16. Hi! A fly swinging Swede here. Mostly a trout fanatic but when the water gets to warm for trout (yes, that actually happens here now and then) I turn to other species. Mostly perch. But they’re fun enough to fish for, so sometimes I leave the trout alone and focus on river perch. And the occasional zander. I’m lurking around here because next year I will hopefully be able to travel across the pond again. I’ve been to Alabama (and numerous times to the west for trout) for largemouth, but next year will be a combined fishing/music thing. Me and my better half have been wanting to go to Americana Fest in Nashville, we both fly fish so we’ll bring the rods along.
    4 points
  17. Headed out early Sunday morning for some alone time at our lake cabin. Boat fired up on the first try and the lake was quiet. All of the jet skiers, wake boat skiers/surfers and pontoon boat mafia were still asleep. After getting to my area, I started working some laydowns with a buzzbait but no takers. I switched to my new (new to me) custom Rainshadow crankbait rod and the action heated up. After releasing several decent LMB, I trolled over a bit closer to some riprap and BAM. After the hookset, I was confused. There was weight on the end of the line but it didn't feel like a bass. Well, it turned out it was two! A LMB and a SMB. I continued down the riprap and the catching continued. The last bass of the day was a feisty one pounder and wanted to pay me back, I guess. Not sure how it all went down but I was trying to release him and this pound of fury slipped out of my hand. The trail hook buried itself into my knuckle and the bass was still on the lead hook and bouncing around like he had four cans of Red Bull. Here I am, pleading with this hellcat to stay still, trying to find my pliers, and trying to keep the boat out of the rocks. After a few minutes, I got the aquatic version of Mike Tyson off of the hook and released. Then the pondering stage begins. What the heck am I supposed to do? I am in the middle of nowhere and it is still early. Now the quiet is deafening. Being a somewhat new property owner, my options were limited. I call two of the guys that I know and voicemails. I begin thinking that waking the wife up might not be that bad of an option when my phone rings! The marina owner (and pro fisherman) asks what's up and I tell him the short version and ask for help. He told me to grab some braid line and meet him at the marina. After making the long drive back to my place, docking the boat (I really need to fix the lift), and driving to the marina, the rest was easy. Snipping the split ring was the biggest pain (no pun intended) but the actual removal went smoothly. Many thanks to good people. Greg and his wife are awesome. After bandaging up, I headed back to the house to clean up and enjoy the sunshine and a cold brew at noon. BTW, I am now known as Captain Hook to my wife and kids.
    4 points
  18. I thought I blew it. I caught a 2.5 on the very first cast and thought I was doomed. I went a long time with no fish. My buddy was reeling them in like a maniac. I said, “ I hope that first cast fish doesn’t jinx me”. Then I felt the big TICK of a bass sucking in my offering. It was strong!! Peeling line and everything. When I netted it, the happiness flowed! lake: undisclosed location. ? we did very well today. No dinks, no snags.
    4 points
  19. This weekend has been the best fishing weekend I’ve ever had in my entire life. Caught 20 bass and this giant 4 1/2 pound PB is the cherry on top! Ate a Strike King 2.5 Wakebait in Bluegill color, and many other fish ate it as well! (It was so much bigger in real life.)
    4 points
  20. Caught this 2+ pounder over the weekend. Noticed some damage to its anal fin.
    4 points
  21. my line strength, hook diameter, and rod power is never for the fish, it's for where the fish can hide. heavier the cover, the heavier the gear
    4 points
  22. I can't say this will always work, and it probably goes against common wisdom, but I've had fish that have tried to tie me up in structure. I have had some success giving them a little slack and had them swim clear. Conventional wisdom probably says maintain constant pressure until they finally clear themselves. I've never been one for convention. Especially when the odds are high that I'm going to lose the fish anyway. A hog on 6 lb test from the bank puts those odds a bit higher. Just my opinion though.
    4 points
  23. Most of the week looks hot and dry now too. BARF I remember less than 2 weeks ago we had a good frost. You were complaining that you were waiting for winter to end and spring to begin. Looks like you went directly to summer.
    4 points
  24. Never try to second guess the bait monkey! You’ll just confuse yourself! ?
    4 points
  25. The biggest mistake many unsuccessful fishermen make is that they think the secret to catching bass is picking the right lure or the right color to use. The secret is putting the lure properly in front of active fish. If you already have tackle boxes full of popular lures and aren’t catching, buying more lures isn’t going to change that.
    4 points
  26. The BPS Crankin Stick is an excellent rod, well better than its price. $80 normally. Can find on sale for $60. I use a 7'-0 MH for almost every moving bait except crank baits. I like a M for CB's. Got a hand full of PQ's, Carbonlites, and JM's. No problems. Here's my sermon for the day. If you buy a $50 piece of equipment, regardless of brand, you get a $50 piece of equipment. If you spend a $100, it will be better, $150 even better still. Once you get above $150, IMHO, you have to ask your self "Am I buying status, or am I spending money that will help me catch fish?" Certain brands have features that you may like better, or worse than others, but the formula is generally true.
    4 points
  27. This nice pickerel hit a spinnerbait.
    4 points
  28. Recently, Daiwa released their newest high end fluorocarbon, the J-Fluoro Samurai. I throw mostly all fluorocarbon so I naturally had to buy a spool to try it out. For reference, my normal go to fluorocarbons are P-Line Tactical and Sunline Sniper & Shooter. I also use Seaguar Tatsu as well when I can get a deal on it. First Impressions The line I purchased was the 16lb version. One thing that immediately stood out to me was how smooth and supple the line felt. I also noticed that the diameter of the line is thinner than my usual lines that I use (pound for pound). Good impressions to have right out of the gate. Other things to note about the packaging that were a nice touch. 220 yard spool rather than the standard 200. There is a firm, but flexible, plastic sleeve that wraps around the spool inside the packaging to keep the line from unraveling after you've used it. There is a sticker on the line at the halfway point of the spool. This lets you know how much line you've used and have left. All that being said, I spooled up two of my reels before hitting the water. These reels being a Shimano Bantam and a Shimano Metanium. I had about 10-15 yards of line left after filling these two reels up. Which is nice to have a little left over in case I need some leader line for some of my reels spooled with braided line. On The Water I had my Bantam mounted on a Dobyns Chamption 734c and was throwing a 3.3" Keitech on a 1/4oz jighead. My Metanium was mounted on a Dobyns Extreme 704c and was throwing a Zoom Super Hog on a 3/16oz Texas rig. I tied these baits on using a San Diego Jam knot and they cinched down tight with no issues on the first pull through. The very first thing I noticed with this line was the casting distance. WOW. I felt like I was getting 25-40 feet extra over my normal lines. This could be attributed to the smoothness and the smaller line diameter I assume. I quickly realized that I had to tighten my spool tension knob a hair and turn my external braking dial up one number. Once I got that dialed in, this line was super manageable to cast and the distance I was getting was phenomenal. I threw the swimbait around thick weed lines and caught 3 fish on the outside edges of it. All of these fish never came off as I fought them back to shore through the thick weeds. I had great hook penetration through the top of the mouth on all of those fish, which impressed me considering I was hooking up at the end of long casts. Once I worked my way to some deeper, rockier water, I started dragging the Texas rig around. I ended up catching 4 fishing doing this and I experienced the same hookup results. Great hook penetration through very boney parts of the mouth. The line was very sensitive and I had no issues feeling whether I was in grass, rocks, mud, sand, or whenever I had a bite. Despite dragging the bait through a very rock bottom, I never got any knicks in my line or felt the need to retie. My knot held tight and I was very impressed. Final Thoughts My first outing with this line was very impressive. I'm curious to spend more time with this line and learn more of its nuances. The casting distance, handling, knot strength, and suppleness were all very top notch. So far, I would have no problem recommending this line to anyone. Even though it may be sacreligious to put Daiwa line on a Shimano reel, they worked like a match made in heaven.
    3 points
  29. As I’ve said on here many times the original (grn/pepper) is my go to, be all frog. I’ve been using them almost since they came out in the ‘90’s. I’ll use the Trophy Series once in awhile but there’s nothing sold that has the hook up ratio that the little one has. One of biggest advantage of them is their consistency. They are virtually unchanged for the 20+ yrs they’ve been on the market, plus of course is their softness. No need to touch the hooks. Once they get it, they got it. Mike
    3 points
  30. One of the most important factors in bass fishing, whether you are a beginner, novice, or even a tournament contender, is using the right equipment for your baits and tactics. For most plus size bass, your gear is probably too light and not capable of landing what you've described, where you described it. Consider kicking it up a notch ~ Read more here . . . https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/equipment.html Fish Hard A-Jay
    3 points
  31. I was pointing that out to my wife Saturday! After further examination, I think it's now been identified as an insect.
    3 points
  32. Short casting rods are better for accuracy in tight quarters. I think accuracy is something that younger anglers don't know enough about. Today's popular lures are generally "throw as far as possible and reel". I prefer to cast into deep cover where the big fish live. This may mean hitting small holes in the grass or pads. Casting accurately is a big part of the fun of bass fishing. I learned to cast into a bucket in my front yard where there were no fish. I still do this on occasion which gives my neighbors a chuckle. I don't know anyone who can consistently cast a crankbait under a dock with a 7 1/2 foot rod.
    3 points
  33. I have a HUGE pile of tackle that's probably never getting wet again because I found what works for me. Unfortunately, I had to buy and try a lot to find those things. Thankfully, the money I spend now is mostly on productive baits. I said mostly because I still experiment, it's fun for me.
    3 points
  34. I never have tried trolling with an A-Rig, thought about it often but just never bought one. I used a small white crankbait that dives about 6 ft, I caught more bass (mostly spots) moving between areas then actually hitting the areas I wanted to. I figure you move at trolling speed in a kayak anyways so I just brought a designated rod with that crankbait. If I was moving, I had that rod out.
    3 points
  35. Mostly zeroing in on the Crocs.... I once saw a single Croc floating under boat dock and I beat it to death with a stick.
    3 points
  36. Funny story, 3rd day of a week long trip to Michigan, I ripped my only pair of lightweight fishing pants. The weather surprised us and was 75-85 every day. I had jeans but I really didn’t want to wear them because I knew they would be hot. I had cargo shorts but I hadn’t really worn shorts yet this summer and really didn’t want to get a sunburn. There’s no way I was going to put sunscreen all over my legs either. Sooooo, I start going through all of the clothes I packed and there were sweat pants but I knew they would be way too hot, then I ran across a pair of under armour pants that were lightweight and had zipper pockets. I thought why not and gave them a try. Pretty nice, but then I realized that since I packed for more cold than summer, they were my long underwear. I fished for the last 2 days in them and they were comfortable.????
    3 points
  37. This is a follow up from @Darth-Baiter’s Nemesis Lake thread and was one serious monkey I finally got off of my back. I’ve sporadically visited this lake about 17 seasons and never caught a bass in it. The odds aren’t so great for shorebound anglers anyway since the only two spots to fish are this spot as shown in the image below and the boat launch. So this evening on the way to that lake, I told myself it ends today. No more mister nice guy. Lake Dolloff is going down. I started fishing at about 8:15 and landed it by 8:26 with a well placed pitch just on the edge of some lily pads. This bass was caught with a brush hog Texas-rigged with a 3/16oz. bullet weight. Definitely not a big bass but I’m on the scoreboard. For the record, I’ve pretty much been a finesse guy and hardly ever a power fishin’ angler. I’m starting to see the fun of this. It means I need to get new gear, lol. Gear: 7’ Cabelas MagTouch rod, 201 Curado BSF spooled with 14# stren. Looks awfully bassy, doesn’t it? So don’t ask me why it took this long, because I don’t know, lol. ?? Lake Fenwick, I’m coming for you next!
    3 points
  38. I hopped onto a milk run of docks to check to see if they have set up under them yet since mid-June is usually when that happens here. Yep, they are where I thought they'd be! I'm going out on the boat in the early AM to see what I can do with some really big baits for some bigger fish. I'm ready for some big girls after a somewhat disappointing spring for size. I'm ok with taking the skunk at this point. Addendum: So, my morning in the boat did not go as planned. Of course, the wind had to blow 40 mph! Boat control was nearly impossible, and I lost two fish on dock break-offs. Just one of those days....I did manage to boat this chunker, though, on a homemade jig with a Chigger Craw trailer. Possibly my best one of the year, which was what I set out to do. Looks like some bass are just starting the post spawn feed, as you can see from her still-wounded tail.
    3 points
  39. me and my grandson hit the water around 6:30 this morning in the little johnny. he’ll turn 10 in a few weeks and he’s finally getting the hang of texas rig fishing. we’re primed for a great summer together on the water.
    3 points
  40. Their reels are Doyo. If you like Lew’s, you will like these.
    2 points
  41. Honestly I could take one spinning rod with a weightless Gammy 3/0 EWG hook tied on, one sack of Green Pumpkin Senko's, one jar of JJ's (Chartreuse) and my frog rod with a Scum Frog Trophy Series Natural Black and Green Frog tied on it and Fish happily all day and then do it again every day for a month.
    2 points
  42. Check out this video. It explains - and shows- exactly what you're asking about.
    2 points
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