Dwight Hottle

Your going to need some topwater baits too.

First of April to mid May.

Welcome to BR Evan. Sounds like you have a good multi-species background already that will help you in all aspects of bass fishing.

I have fished in some pretty cold conditions & my body was ok with it but my gear wasn't when the guides started icing up. I usually fish without gloves until air temps get around low 40 degrees or colder. But everyone is different based on weight & body fat percentages & age. I have to agree you do condition yourself with consistent exposure to the cold. But now when I go north coming from FL I layer up to stay comfortable. I always get a kick out of seeing people wearing shorts & tee shirts up in Erie PA when the air temps are still in the 50's or low 60's while I'm wearing jeans & a hoodie over another layer.

I just bought a reel from Digitaka in Japan. They ship for free. They told me up front when I put the reel in the shopping cart that since the elimination of the de minimis rule that they would pay half the tariff fee. The reel cost to me was $328.85 & that my half of the 20% fee would be $32.89. So my total was $361.74 with free shipping. Done deal. Shipping by Fed Ex.

Well I guess I’ll take the other side of this discussion. I don’t find any reason to report an unproductive outing. It’s not worth my time or yours. Yes I experience poor trips just like anyone else. And I have been skunked before. Like everyone else it happens to all of us & I think we all are cognitive of that. When I do report I try to include what the conditions were like water temps, air temps & weather conditions and whether it was a tough bite or easy outing. I try to report what we were using regarding baits & what worked best and what areas were targeted. I would prefer to see everyone’s successes rather than your failures because I know how it goes having spent a lot of time fishing over my lifetime. In my case if I’m not reporting I’m either not fishing as much or not catching anything worth reporting.

Get a mini rig & only rig the trailing bait with a hook & bait or use a full size A rig if that’s what you want. Use the short arms for attractors/spinner blades. That gives the illusion of a bait ball being chased by a small bait fish. Being limited to only two hooks I would just go with one.

And yes who in the hell wants to eat a 7-6 smallmouth?

@Lottabass Your definitely on a roll sir.

The regular hurricane season always controlled the weed population.

Try it on a swing head jig or football jig head. It's got great action fished that way.

I always fall back on previous history & fish known spots. But if it's not happening I start looking & trying to break it down by looking for bait or bait movement. If that fails I look for structure that should hold fish. And I keep moving until I figure it out or run out of time or patience. As long as you win most of your battles it is ok to lose now & then.

I did a few 5Ks & 10Ks before the bug got to me. Ended up running two halfs before I tried a regular marathon. I considered it a top accomplishment to finish that. I wanted to run Boston but could not qualify based on their requirements. Couldn't win a lottery for entry to NY so I ran the Chicago Marathon. Steve Jones set the new word record in that race something like 2 hrs & 8 min in 1984. I laughed about it afterwards because he was finished probably drinking a beer while I was still out there around the halfway point slugging it out. Took me just under 4 hours to finish.

Running can be contagious. The more you do the better it gets.

Dodgers are clutch champions. WTG

I have two spiral wrapped custom rods. One is a MHM jerk bait rod & the other is a HF jig rod.

@JonB2 @softwateronly Nice smallies guys.

Well I might have set a new record for miles driven to chase smallies. I drove from Juno Beach FL to Clayton NY a distance of 1220 miles each way. The drive was worth it as a caught my second 7lber while in my seventies. I told my wife I can't wait to get into my 80's as it might bring the ever elusive 8lber. LOL

Deps sakamatta shads.

@rboat I just caught a trophy smallie last week on a new bait I have never fished before. So trying something new can be rewarding.

Congrats on the new PB. Sometimes you just have to grind it out.

@Swamp Girl They do pull & dig big time at the boat. Since I didn’t get a chance to fish the St Lawrence & asked two different guides about the differences in fighting between the lake fish versus the river fish. They both said the river fish fight harder but that the river current plays a big part of that. But overall the river fish fight harder.

Almost any fish that you would deep fry is tasty cooked on the grill with olive oil & seasoning of your choice or smear it with mayo & seasoning.

Sacrilegious for me. I won’t kill one on purpose. But like others have said I have heard the small ones are good deep fried like walleye.