Dwight Hottle

Buy a plastic fish gripper & place the scale hook thru the handle of the gripper. That will solve all the problems trying to get the hook inserted without harming the fish. The scale should zero itself when you turn it on. The tare feature allows you to weigh a fish in the net or add something else to the scale regarding weight other than the fish. By hitting the tare feature it resets the weight hanging from the scale back to zero so when you weigh a fish in the net it only reads the fish's weight. Weighing a fish should not be problem time wise out of the water. I go by the rule don't keep the fish out of the water any longer than you can hold your breath while under the water. About 2-3 minutes. You can put them in the live well or back into the net in the water between operations if you need extra time. You're going to love the accuracy of that scale. MLF format uses them. Replace the battery once a year to avoid problems.

Skeg guards are mostly used after skeg damage as an alternative to having the skeg repaired by replacement or welding.

Nice outing Brad. Looks like a beautiful spot.

I have about a dozen 110 & 110+1 in my jerk bait stash. Believe it or not they are not my go to bait under most circumstances. I would suggest you get two duos realis for the price of one 110.

That's a mighty big bluegill Paul.

Can't be he caught it in West Virginia. Lol!

Yes Paul most of the fish were post spawn. We were fishing in northern Mississippi on my way back north to Erie.

The smiles tell the story.

PB's are always sweet. Congrats!

Your maturing as a fisherman for sure. Congrats on 2nd place.

Enjoy the ride.

Your learning & teaching in a way everyone understands & appreciates. Keep up the good work & congratulations on a job well done.

Fifth place isn't too bad. Sounds like you're on the right track.

Plenty of experience. They are a winner.

She went 8.30. Caught her on a deep diving jerk bait.

I stopped to fish with Jeff Howell at his honey hole on my way back to Erie PA from Florida. Jeff's honey hole is 68 acres with a maximum depth of about 32 feet. Beautiful pond with lots of wood & good clarity. It even has a resident eagle which entertained us several times. Just after we got there we saw one of Jeff's buddies with a spawned out 7-14 bass. We only caught smaller bass shallow. After a few hours of searching with jigs, senkos, swim baits, popper, etc I got the idea to try a Depps Balisong deep diver jerk bait which I had just bought to take up to Erie for smallies. I had two with me so we tied them on. Neither one of us had any other deep jerk baits because they didn't fit our preconceived notion of fishing a pond taking limited tackle with us. They worked pretty good.

My best Mississippi bass. Never fished that state until this week.

WRB should be the winner largemouth at 19.3 lbs. My biggest smallmouth went 7lbs-6oz.

If you purposely don't bring a scale with you, you will never know if you have a new PB.

Take some pictures as you go if your mechanically challenged.

Try these. Made to replace trebles. I have used them on jerk baits around grass & other snags. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Single_Replacement_Hook_X_Strong/descpage-OSRH.html

Keep trying using a slow approach with jerkbaits or hair jigs. I usually find them after ice out in deeper water suspended as they transition into shallower water. Look for bait balls & target them at that depth. Their moving from deep water to shallow at this time in the cycle. Early in the season the bite is better as the day warms up later in the day. Don't get discouraged because once you get your first bite it will only get better, game on.

I caught my PB smallie on a rapala tail dancer shown in the picture next to a hudd 68 special for size comparison. A bigger smallie could eat the 6" hudd. Smallies are notorious for hitting musky baits but most of those caught are snagged when they slash at it as opposed to actually choking the bait into their mouths.

Rogues have been quality fish catchers for me over the years. The perfect tens are very productive too.