5bass

If you see fish cruising around the banks but are generally staying close to one area then they are probably trying to find that special place to fan a bed. Water temps will tell you alot about what stage the fish may be in. If your water temps are stable around 63-65 the fish should be spawning or darn close to it. If you see any light spots on the bottom,watch it for a minute or two from as far away as you can see it. If it is an active bed,the fish will be on it,near it or if you spooked them off....they shouldnt be gone long. If you locate an active bed,make repeated casts to it and leave your bait in the bed for as long as you can stand it and give it a shake every now and then. Its good to use something that you can see easily but thats not necessary all the time, especially if you're real shallow. You should try to get a good read on the mood of the fish or you will be wasting alot of time on a fish that just wont eat no matter what. As far as baits for bedding bass goes, throw everything you have until you find something they like. I like lizards,craws and brush hogs. One more thing. If you happen to find a bedded bass and are working it....if your bait gets sucked in, set the hook immediately. Fish on a bed like to suck stuff in and spit it off the bed and that whole process takes about 1 second. Watch your bait (if you can see it), watch your line (if you cant see your bait), keep it tight and get a solid hookset. There are several threads already going about spawning bass. Just go through a few pages in this section and you'll find more info than you'll ever need. Good luck!

Thats cool ! What did Luke weigh in? What did you weigh in? Who had the big one? Who's leading? Who are you fishing with tomorrow? Details man!! Details!!

Traded in a busted up Shimano for a Revo huh? Good for you.....you'll like the Revo no matter what model you bought. I switched to all Revo's this winter and they have been great reels for me so far.

Smith Mtn has dropped as much as 8 degrees in certain areas. I ran around a little today, finally got out of the wind and smacked a couple but they were DEEP. The cold snap and rain didnt help anything at Smith. Supposed to get some more heavy rain this weekend. : You know spring is here when its 80 one day,raining the next 2 days, then snowing, then the wind howls for about a week,then it rains again during a major cold front......

I have about 6 G-Blanks at the moment and really like every one of them. My only complaint with them is that if you order an actual custom,(special color wraps,your name on it,spiral wrap,titanium guides, etc...) it takes a little while to get it made because of the low staff count and high volume of orders. G-Blanks are gaining popularity and they do get backed up now and then. But if you arent in a real big rush.....I would at least recommend that you try one. They usually keep a decent selection of the more popular rods on eBay and you can get those shipped the day after you pay.

Clay is a class act 100% no doubt about it.

I had a couple of the Magnesiums and the reels I use fit just fine. Revo's,President's,Trion's,Supreme's. I have since sold all of the Mags and continued to buy the Heliums and have no reel seat issues with those either. The reason I quit buying the Mags was because it seemed like the power ratings were a bit off. (ex. MH felt like a M......H felt like a MH etc....) I just couldnt get what I was looking for but they were real nice rods and feather light. I dont have any complaints whatsoever with the Heliums.

My tackle box is in my avatar.

I will second the Briery Creek idea, especially this time of year. This is the best time to catch one of those double-digit HAWGS!!

Kistler......but if you're spending that much, you might as well save up just a little more and get a Helium. I like the Heliums alot better than the Mags.

I prefer something that skips well like a wacky rigged senko or a super fluke if the fish are hanging high under the dock. If the fish are relating to the bottom I'll throw a jig or shaky head worm.

Thats great muddy! The Trion is a sweet reel.....

Chris is smokin' the big ones out west.....thanks for posting all the great pics day after day!

Those guys are probably just members of the Shimano Posse hatin' on the next great thing and most likely dont even own any Revo's! ;D

I just added the word "win" to the title. I had to give it a little kick. I thought you were hiding something in hopes of winning one yourself. It is about that time isnt it?

I just bought a Pflueger Supreme Magnesium spinning reel and am pretty impressed with its light weight,castability,drag and smoothness. I bought the 8035MG model which is pretty much the same size as the 2500's. I'll be buying a couple more in the very near future.

I have no use for anything that Quantum puts out.

Looks like you edited out the details in his post! ;D Come on fluke,what are you hidin'?? Congrats on the win Aaron.....28# with how many fish?

Poplar Creek is a great place to fish. Lots of fish get weighed-in and released in Poplar Creek. What was the average water temp throughout the day? Congratulations on your 7th place finish. Sounds like they were hitting the cranks but not eating them. Might want to try out some of those Sure Set trebles on the back ends of your cranks. Thanks for the report.....I'm going to Gaston in 2 weeks to practice.

The 3X worms are just about useless on any screw in head or spot remover peg. I like the 3X worms for shaky head fishing but I have to use a regular ball head to penetrate them. Berkley just put out some Power Bait Shaky worms.....I could probably go ahead and trash all my other shaky worms right now. That Power Bait shaky worm is sure to be a killer.

Thats great....we saw lots of advertising about that tournament while we were at Fork. It was a regular topic on the local news,it's a real big deal down there. Be sure to take some pics and give us some updates. Good luck!

eBay.....just look up digital scales....should pop up quite a few possibilities

I saw the footage of the Clear Lake Elite today also. I am impressed with the quality AND quantity of the fish out there and also the swimbait bite that was obviously HOT! That "inside the mouth" rule is BS.....especially with a swimbait. I can see it while fishing a bed......and man it was killing me to see Kennedy release that 9 or whatever it was, it was a HAWG!!!

Me too. *** has the best deal going. High quality, low price.

What he said!