Davis

Agreed.

Been either throwing it (pitching) it to downed trees or stumps and getting smacked pretty much after it hits the water (so be ready). Fishing my dads pond and I'm pretty much getting bit by chuckin it into the nastious places possible. Than raising the rod tip in short hops. So pretty much find some objects and pitch to them man. Fishing jigs in open water has never given me a fish. All my success has been throwing them around the "crap". Using 30 lb Power Pro braid and man is that stuff sensitive on a mid range rod.

Depends how hard there hitting I guess. One Roboworm has lasted three fish and still going. I was fishing them weightless though.

Same thing happened to me man when I was fishing for smallies a week ago. Not a big fan of the 6lb Yozuri Ultrasoft. Before people start questioning my knot tying, it's not. Been tying Palomar for the past year this is the first time I have had trouble. My drag is set correctly but have lost two nice smallies in the past two weeks. Now I know RW that you say its rated for a breaking point of almost 12 lbs but when I'm breaking off snags this line snaps pretty easily. Maybe I picked up a bad batch of line. I like it as far as managing on the spool nicely. May just go back to Trilene XL for my smallie fishing. Had zero breakoffs last year with that line in 8 lb.

Dealing with the same exact conditions and water temps up here in the North East just south of Buffalo. Jig bite has been HUGE lately. This coming from someone who couldn't catch crap last year on jigs. Maybe give that whirl. Short hops. Go with a 1/4 ounce or 3/8 ounce. The 1/2 ounce are doing crap for me so start small. Go with browns, greens, and blacks for jig and trailer colors. Fish shallow.

Bingo...I'm addicted to Megastrike. Days when they are biting and spitting right away, I'll apply a dab of megastrike and in turn that gives me a LOT more time to get a good hookset and making sure the bait is all the way in there mouths. Seriously have never been a big scent guy. Don't think it attracts the bass but when they bite down and taste that stuff.....that's another story. The only baits that I don't use megastrike on are the Berkley Powerbaits and hardbaits.

Eakins Jigs have been lights out for me. Last year I may have caught two fish all year on jigs. Hated them but tried a bunch to try and get on the jig bite. This year I went right to my Eakins jigs that I have never fished. So far in one hour of fishing them in three days (not a lot of time to stay out) I have pulled in over 10 LMs and all of them were over 2 lbs. With the big one being 3.8 Some with Zoom Super Chunks as the trailer and my big boys coming off using a Berkley 3" Beast in black as trailer. They wouldn't let go of the Eakins with the Beast. I'm now in love with Jigs. 8-)

Exactly....Denea spanked me the other day :-? , he was using a shakespear rod and I was using my St. Croix. Although it could have been me not being able to concentrate with my boy climbing the shale left and right. Will go with that for an excuse..... : ;D

Trying tickin those lily pads with a spinnerbait. Hold on. Same with downed trees or other plant life. Hit those edges with a double willow in white or white/chartruse. You'll git bit good. Just another option for you.

Fished braid for the first time last night. Was throwing jigs in flooded timber and brush for the first time this year and figured it was a safe bet. Was suprised on how sensitive braid is. Really enjoyed fishing with it and will continue to do so for jigs and maybe even t-rigs.

Pride and competition. Some people are so worried about there image and there standing within a group of people that they will stoop to low levels.

I have had success on a couple of sizes and styles. My best fish have come on a #4 Gammy Circle hook. This year I started going wacky with a 2/0 and 3/0 offset hook because that is what I use for 4" and 5" Trick sticks t-rigged. Caught them that way as well. Really don't think it makes a huge difference to tell you the truth. With the smaller #4 or #5 Gammy Circle hooks I did have a lot less "junk" being picked up in the weeds though. Just remember if your going with the circle or octopus style hooks to not set the hook hard. Reel...let your rod load...and the fish will hook himself If your going with straight shank or offset hooks than your going to want to use a snap hook set. Hope this helps.

Welcome to the addiction of Bassresource. Great info here.

Amen to that. I went fishing with one of my buddies last Saturday for smallies. I was fishing with my ST Croix Avid and he was fishing with a Mitchel Rod that I gave him a couple weeks back. Haven't fished that Mitchel for over a year since buying my Avid. Anyway, I asked him if he wanted to fish with my Avid and switchup. He did and he was floored at how great it felt. I was also floored lol when I started fishing with that Mitchel after fishing my Avid for about 8 months. The Mitchel felt very heavy and whippy. BIG DIFFERENCE. I was lucky enough to get my Avid for a birthday present and didn't have to pay for it really. Like RW said.....if you move up than prepared to put your other rods away that are lower end. They just don't feel right at all once you cross over to the dark side. Everything feels better with a good quality rod. ;D Even after you hook a fish...it just "feels" different. Hard to explain I guess. Word to the wise though....higher end stuff is addicting. Be prepared to find yourself selling stuff around the house to help with this craze. :

What are you talking about? Out of curiosity how do you know that? Do you know the place he is speaking of? My dad has been putting chemicals in to kill the weeds some years and it hasn't done a darn thing except kill off the cover for some of the bass. We never have seen any fish floating or dead on the bottom.

Have had "some" luck with throwing a spinnerbait about 20 yards past them and worked it in so it was coming down the bank parallel and basically running right into them. Just a thought. When you think your approaching them...give the the spinnerbait a few jerks or even kill it and let it helicopter down. That may get them to react. Sometimes they just ignore it and your screwed.

3-4 times a week depending how busy I am. Usually at least two hours and sometimes up to six or more if the fish are biting really good and it's a weekend.

Thanks. I was trying to be patient but she was just sitting there head shaking....next time I will keep that line as tight as possible and wait. So hard when I could see her massive mouth facing me and my knees were shaking. ;D Had to tip my hat to her.

We are not in post-spawn up here in NY yet....but the jig bite was definately on yesterday. Don't forget to put a little megastrike on your trailers. The bass were holding on pretty good last night. Not sure if it was the megastrike or not, but a couple times I didn't even feel the bite but saw them swim off with it. Still picked em off. Thankfully yesterday gave me confidence in jigs. Now I can actually put my plano box full of them to work. ;D

Was telling Denea in a PM that I lost what most definately would have been my PB last night. Positives: Finally got on a good jig bite for the first time in my life. Eakins Jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer with a dab of megastrike. Hooked into my best LM ever. Had the proper equipment with my Shimano Compre MH XF and Citica 100dsv. Fished 30 lb braid because this place is nothing but stumps, brush piles, and downed trees. Negatives: Friggin fish wrapped me around some brush/stick/stump type matter. Now I knew I wouldn't break him off so I tried my best to use my rod to unravel him but it was a mess. Also was about 10 feet off shore from where I was fishing on land. Eventually I must have gave her some leverage cause she was halfway out of the water on the stump and she threw it and it came flying back at me. Almost like a teether ball coming off the post. ticked me off. I didn't have a chance to turn her either because I pitched it right to this stump and must have hit her right on the head. As soon as I set the hook she only had a couple inches to dive into this stuff and that is what she did. Is there a technique that you guys use when this happens and you CAN'T get to the fish? This sucker was easily in the 5lb range and more than likely 6+ compared to some other fish I have weighed this year. Have had the worst luck with the big uns this week. :'( Probably the advice that will be given is that I'm screwed huh. ;D

I was thinking the same thing. Thing has to be pushin 10 and definatley at least 8 which is a monster in our parts.

No prob man! It was a great time. Seems like when the creek slows down the bigger ones really start hittin hard in some of those shallow pools. A week or so and it will be prime for those big spawners settling in. Seems like the third and final weeks of May are always hot for some nice smallies. May have to wait a bit with rain being forcasted for the next week though. Heres to you landing that big LM in back though!

lol the puppets on Sesame Street have better advice than Dr. Phil. ;D

I have owned both. If your buying something for the family: Wii If your buying it for the online experience: 360 I sold my 360 because I didn't have high speed access and I felt that is where most of the 360 games were being geared towards. Picked up the Wii and have played it for over a year now. Great party system and also great to play with the kids. Plus you get all those great Nintendo games from the past. If your on a budget than the Wii is also the way to go. Now even if you don't feel like moving around, the newer wii games have control options where you don't have to do any movements and you can even use the older gamecube controllers. After all that....I prefer the Wii to be honest when I am gaming. But I'm far from a hardcore gamer.

Weren't you one of those Revo guys too? I bought a REVO S and a Citica. I loved my Citica so much that I sold the REVO S after fishing with it once and bought two more Citicas. They rock. 8-)