Dwight Hottle

Hoping for the best & a successful outcome.

Tom I missed the bay bass part. I was thinking fresh water spots.

I have never caught a spot but do they have tails bigger than this smallmouth?

Good observation regarding the spawn. In talking to several knowledgeable fishing guides here in Florida the biggest females always spawn first then future waves vary by size. The biggest first & the smallest last.

Yes but no quarantee on ours just to put it in perspective.

That’s grounds for disqualification!

No Lake Erie.

@Swamp Girl Those soft hits I like to call mush or mushy. My brain doesn't even recognize them as hits but I know something is wrong.

5-4

Welcome to BR.

Slow crawl on the bottom. The area we were fishing was 5-15 deep with dirty water & primarily a sand bottom. All the fish were tight to the bottom & had washed out coloration.

Either way but I fished it plain no bait.

@king fisher I had such a bad experience with Tatsu 20lb fluoro at Lake Bacarrac I threw 2 spools of it in the trash & said never again. It is not worth the frustration of loosing a trophy bass over a highly subjective improvement in visibility & slack line sensitivity. Like @GReb just said above "any little imperfection can cause failure."

No. I have tried it and swore off it. Doesn’t seem to affect my fish catching rate either.

@A-Jay is right about the size issue. This bass ate the jig pictured above. Just goes to show smallies will eat bigger baits when they want to.

@bacolmm Baccarac has traditionally been superior for trophy size 9lbs & up. El Salto has been producing some good fish recently. Yes on the tips maybe a little more for a PB DD. Do both checked bag & carry on for reels & enough clothes to get you through the week in case the airline looses your bag. You can get laundry done at the lodge for $5.00 a day. International travel usually will not allow hooks except for checked bags. Yes light weight rain gear if you don't want to get wet. It's cool in the mornings because of the elevation so pack a fleece or jacket. Go for 5 days minimum if you can fish 8hrs a day without problems. They have quality rods at the lodge to rent if you don't want to bother.

Hey guys do you think an eight inch long hair jig is too large for smallmouth bass?

@RetiredgunsHappy birthday and a great fish to celebrate it with. @A-Jaygood start to a new season.

Absolutely none. I like the longer rod as well for the reasons you mentioned. In the scheme of things 7-6 might be the new 7 just as the 7 has replaced the 6-6 in popularity.

Sent it back to Daiwa.

The Daiwa BG is a good choice but the Daiwa Certate would be better. It has a sealed rotor & line roller with magnetic oil that seems to take a lot of wear & tear without any drop in smoothness or durability. Best quality for the money I have found. I have 6 of them. All my bait casters are Shimano so my first recommendation is based on using most of the Shimano spinning reels before I tried the Certate.

The MBR844 would be my choice or the 904 if you want more length. And the 4 power will handle 1oz baits as well. Your instincts are right on.

X2

Machine spooling might have distorted the spool enough to cause the difference.

I think you meant to say the quest for the next 7lb bass continues. Feel free to substitute an 8 for the 7 if your feeling frisky.