Dwight Hottle

9-10 release.

My thoughts are with you Tommy. Hang tough.

@king fisher I have always wondered about your PB at only 10lbs+ because it looks a lot bigger. Tom's comment about it being a teenager makes more sense.

My PB largemouth was caught on a SK 3/4 oz lipless 2-tap crank bait in silver/blue. My PB smallie was caught on a Smithwick rogue deep diver jerk bait in a discontinued color called tiger minnow.

@Swamp Girl We caught all our fish off that island except for the big girl. We heard a splash further away on the other side of the island at a mile marker post with some vegetation around it. So we went over to investigate & the first cast at the edge of the weeds she bit. We both patted each other on the back for pulling up to check it out. We didn’t get any further bites there so we set back up where we were at the island before. My first cast there resulted in the second biggest fish of the day.

What do you gift yourself on your birthday? You go fishing is my answer. So I called up my buddy Capt Erik Tilson to go shiner fishing on lake Kissimmee yesterday. We put in at the ramp at Camp Mack my first time staying there. We found a floating island & set up there. The fishing was fast & furious with over 50 fish caught before we ran out of bait. We spent the rest of the day fishing artificials which resulted in only one fish caught on a swim jig. The best two went 7-12 and 9-10. An epic birthday for sure.

Shrimp is for saltwater only! LOL actually its is a killer color for me in LC craft baits including the pointer 100, 127, 128 & staysee models for great lake smallies.

Sweet.

Have you tried your local library?

@GoneFishingLTN Smallie love jerk baits & they love rock. The only time jerk baits don't work well over rock is when they are feeding down rather than feeding up. But they still will eat a jerk bait if you get it down into their feeding zone.

Congrats to @softwateronly on the new PB. Always carry a scale with you just in case. Congrats to @Bluebasser86 on a great tournament & reports.

@Swamp Girl I feel your pain. As a PA & NE Ohio resident for many years I experienced the cold & ice lingering for way to long before spring was finally sprung.

The wind can be your friend if use it to your advantage. When it prevents you from casting try strolling the bait well behind the boat & let the wind push you along covering water. If the fish are tight to structure set up above them (up wind) & let the wind work you over them then go out & around & reset up wind for multiple passes over a productive spot.

5'9" shrinking to 5'8" with age. German heritage.

@Pat Brown Sweet!!

@Blue Raider Bob send me PM and I'll email you or text the full resolution photo if you want.

Yea don't worry about the walleye label it is often given to MHM action rods. I had a custom rod built to my specifications on a St Croix Legend Extreme blank to use as a smallmouth jerk bait rod by a highly respected rod builder (Otterods). He referred to it as a walleye rod on his bill to me. It has caught a few walleye but it excels on the smallies.

This is one of my go to's in spring for big prespawn smallies on lake Erie. It's caught several six lb smallies.

@DitchPanda Do you remember his old stories catfishing with Otis 'Toad" Smith? Those were classics.

Lake O at sunset.

That's the female on the left & the male on the right in case you didn't know.

It's been a really long winter in Maine. 😀

I never gravitated towards the 6'6" blanks because I always preferred the 7' or 7'6". The versatility of the 844 MBR in the IMX line or higher has always been the industry standard. It is the one rod that can do just about anything regarding techniques. From single hook baits to treble hook baits to oversized/overweight baits exceeding the 1oz upper limit rating it does it all. And it can handle big fish without any problems. I have caught 30lb+ lake trout & pike on it & have used baits up to 2.5 ounces with it. The unique taper (MBR) is the secret sauce.

I’m really happy for you buddy.

Well Roland Martin & Bill Dance are still working in their mid eighties although both men's net worth would suggest they doesn't need to. Maybe it's just the love of the sport.