smallieking

if you go for bass you can catch and release and every year is different depending on the climate. last year they erie fishing kinda sucked the weather had the smallmouths way behind. usually they are spawning in early june so wind protected bays and shallow sand/gravel bars are key. tubes are my go to for the smallmouths during early june. if i believe they are done spawning and moving out i target fish on my graph with a dropshot.

bass mafia coffin 3700 is great to store terminal tackle and is the most durable box i own

i use both. biggest difference to me is the price lol. i do believe the lucky craft ones run better and have a more erratic action. but i tend to throw the lucky strike ones more just because they catch fish and are not as expensive. also i dont think luckEstrike makes a 3.5 model like lucky craft does and the lucky craft rc3.5 is a true fish catcher for me in late may and june when the fish start moving out.

doesnt matter fish eat them regardless which side is up. Great jig trailer for New York finger lakes and Lake Erie bays for largemouth

senko and jerkbait will always trigger strikes when fish are inactive.

put alil chartuese on ur cranks and spinnerbaits and start flipping black soft plastics and a black and blue jig and youll be golden. a black chatter bait is deadly in northern VA for me

Arkie U-bolt ballhead matched with strike 3x worm unbeatable shakyhead setup

hands down the best shaky head setup for smallmouth is an Arkie U-Joint ball head with a strike king 3x worm. this is a floating worm and when its matched with that jointed finesse swivel jig head the action is unreal and so natural. even when deadsticked the worm floats straight up and any water movement makes that tail shake and fish especially smallmouths cannot stand it. its without a doubt the best sight fishing bait i use for big smallmouths. and its a very inexpensive rig to fish I always have this rigged and laying on the deck of my boat and if i spend any time at all fishing it i promise ill catch fish with it

Wind and Current are def important. but so is baitfish movement. I believe when a bass is in a piece of cover its going to position its self to ambush bait when it swims by. usually wind and current pay is the biggest factor but also water temp and seasonal baitfish migration is huge regardless of wind and current. so pay attention to the angle that you caught a particular fish because theres a reason that fish bit on that cast. and it just may allow you to run a very effective pattern for that day and out fish everyone else on the water

no fish eat all the time even when the water is hard you just need to get away from the bank and learn how to catch bass in cold water. 44 degrees in the spring is fish start there prespawn activities and as anglers we can start patterning them and predicting where theyll be.

ive never liked or had much luck with hummingbird. i use lowrance excusively. i think they are much more user friendly and overall better performing then hummingbird. thats just my opinion. i own the hds 7 touch and hds 12 touch structure scan for my boat. The HDS 7 touch with Structure scan is 1200$ but def worth checking out. the great thing about the touch HDS is the structure scan is built in to the unit so you no longer need the seperate SS module. The touch screens are apart of the GEN2 family and they have mind blowing detail and insane features such as structure overlay. you can actually overlay side scan images onto your gps screen. Hummingbird has its 800 series that is in your price range and i believe offers the features you are looking for. im not real fimilar with these tho. my fishing partner runs hummingbird and hes not a fan. he doesnt get sonar when hes on plane which is horrible in my opinion. one good thing about hummingbird side imaging, its built into the same transducer as traditional sonar. unlike the HDS touch where you have two transducers, but once they are installed theres no issues at all running two transducers.

15 lb Seaguar invizx flouro carbon is the most versatile line i ever use. topwaters would require a mono leader but other than that u can throw almost anything on 15 pound flouro

bass cant see colors as well in muddy water just like people cant see colors in low light situations.instead of worrying about color worry about sound and water displacement... i would suggest the purchase of the spro bronzeye SHAD instead of the frog. this baits belly is designed different from the frog. tho its a top water it sits much deeper in water so when you start to work the bait its pushing more water and this is what you want in muddy water.

no. they catch fish just fine staight out of the package. now if u take a bag and put them under twenty pounds of tackle boxes and dent up the bodys and crinkle up the tails then ya you may have a problem... but if your worried about a bait being slightly off center instead of figuring out the fish on that particular day yourealready off to bad start. fish are not that smart dont give them too much credit, u make the right cast and present the bait the right way the fish is going to eat it. the fish dont study baits, so why should a fisherman... dont over complicate the game

yea im really happy with it.

all depends on where im fishing. Great lakes its hard to beat a reins bubbling shaker or kvd dream shot. three rivers in pittsburgh you cannot beat a jackall cross tail shad. and the lakes in my area i rig a 3 inch or 4 inch paddletail swimbait on a drop shot and fish fast with it. really hard to beat that technique on some days

my 07 stratos 294proXL with 175 Etec

ed chambers E-1 best square bill you can get. very easy to cast

JIG and spinnerbait

if everything is the same from last year the total cost is $425.... 200 due at the time of registration. the remaining 225 is due by a deadline usually one month prior to the tournament.

JIG!!!!! so versatile and catches giant bass

Dropshot works year round for smallmouth.

i have used insert free ones for years and still have not had any problems. i have read that the insertfree weights will damage your line. well it must take some time cuz i havent seen it yet. i do retie my line often no matter what im fishing so keeping a fresh line and knot is probably the reason i never have any problems

For years B.A.S.S. has had a very strict rules policy and its been common knowledge that the use of the A rig is illegal and becoming more illegal thoughout B.A.S.S. trickling down to even the federation nation tournaments. my personal opinion is the A rig should be banned by every state in the US. if you cant catch fish with one bait you have no reason throwing 5

i love to throw a buzzbait, from the spawn pretty much until late fall i got one tied on. its a great way to catch fish in the rain and its my go to to catch schooling bass. i throw it on 20 lb mono on a 7 foot medium heavy fast rod with a 7.1 reel. my favorite buzzbaits are the simplest ones. i really like the cheap ones from walmart, i tweak them a good bit to increase performance. I always throw a skirt and sometimes a zoom split tail spinnerbait trailer. depending on the lake and size of bass im looking for. i do believe throwing a trailer on a skirted buzz bait will decrease number of bites but will get bigger bites. i always throw a trailer hook as well. I only throw two colors, white and black. 95 percent of the time i use a white buzzbait. i throw a black one at night and when theres a really bad storm coming tho.