SuskyDude

In general: T-rigged: AS you know it, with the weight T-rigged weightless: Still use the same style offset shank hook and weedless rigging, no weight Florida Rig: T-rigged, but with the weight pegged or screwed into the bait

Whats the best lure YOU use? Ahhh....fishing forums in the early spring! Don't worry so much about what you use this time of year. Notice how many different answers you got? Any and all of them will work. When bass put their prespawn feedbags on you could tie a rock on your line and catch them. WHERE you use the bait and how you present it is far more important. Find the fish on the body of water, put the lure in there face, and you'll most likely get bit. All that said, its tubejigs (smallies) and t-rigged lizards/worms (largies) for me!

Put me down as a fan. I could care less about how he fishes stocked private ponds. I'd watch him catch bass from a swimming pool if it was on TV, he's just that likable. I wouldn't mind seeing him stop cranking on the lower jaws of the fish he catches, however. Still not as bad as watching guys like Ike bouncing fish off the deck, shaking them around while screaming in their faces.

Walleye, perch , crappie, bluegill are all delicious. I fish a lake that is full of rockbass and eat several dozen of those a year and they tatse great. I don't understand why some people hate bass. It must have to do with the water they come out of because all the bass I've ever eaten from up here in NY have been tasty as hell. I wouldn't worry about them spoiling in an hour and a half, especially if you put them on ice.

Hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like there is too much line on your reel. This will cause alot of loops/line twist/headaches. You only want to fill your spool to within an 1/8 inch of the edge of the spool, at most. It looks like yours is filled up right to the edge. Again it could just be the picture, but it's something you should check out.

I'm on the market for a few new spinning reels. I happened to find one that I was looking for on Overstock.com for $20 less then everywhere else. Couple that with a manufacturer's mail in rebate and it's a very good deal. So I want to know, who's used Overstock.com to buy a reel? Are they legit? I don't want a refurb, something with a defect or something manufactured cheaply and exclusively for Overstock. I'll pay the extra 20 bucks if thats the case. The item is listed as new, and every thing seems on the up and up, but I was hoping to hear from some of you with past experiences with Overstock.com or anyone who may know anything about how they get they're merchandise.

Mizmo 4' Big Boy tubes. 100 ct for $37.99. Free shipping for orders of $50 or more. Can't beat it. http://sfttackle.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=9&ParentCat=7

Huge fan of river smallmouth fishing, so I have to go with rivers. But I do enjoy fishing lakes and the occasional small pond (especially at night).

I've never had a flu shot and I never will. I haven't had the flu in 15+ years.

Mizmo Big Boys and Slim Jims

All diamonds are worthless in reality. DeBeers did a good job convincing women otherwise though.

In addition to what has already been said, when the river is up and muddy, find slack water that is shallow (3 feet or less, preferably less) and has direct sunlight shining on it. These areas will have the most light penatration,and therefore the best visibility for the fish. Also, find flooded trees/root balls along the shore line. Throw large jigs, colorado blade spinnerbaits, wide wobble cranks (rattles are a plus) etc. I almost always use black/dark colors.

In my river (Susquehanna, NY) they are just starting to stage around their wintering holes: backwaters, coves, large eddies, around dams, etc. Lots of wood cover is a plus. Look for water that is deep enough that you can't see the bottom (if possible on your river). Right now they are on the outside current breaks of these features, but they'll be moving further into the slack current as the water temperature drops, sometimes right up to the bank if its deep enough. Tubejigs, hair jigs, jerkbaits. Slow with lots of long pauses. Be patient. Sometimes you can fish a spot 20-30 mins without getting bit, but once you get one, it "wakes up" the others. Absolutely love this time of year, second only to prespawn (and maybe low summer pool, topwater frenzy). Sucks I'm starting a new job tomorrow.

Good for you. The next step is to start fishing rivers for smallmouth. Once you go down that road, you'll never look back.

That when you took this picture the bass was looking down? Guys, you're really over analyzing all this. Bass don't have special "feeding positions" for their eyes.

Sounds like pure nonsense. A fish pulled from the water after being caught is not still looking for craws. If its eyes are looking down, its because they're looking for the water. Want to know when they're really feeding up oncraws? They;ll be puking them up when you reel the fish in, and you'll notice pincers and antennae sticking out of their throat when you unhook them.

I make sure the feet are big enough to wear two pairs of socks with plenty of room to wiggle my toes, and I'm toasty warm in freezing water. Its VERY important your feet have room for proper circulation.

Breathables all the way. Neoprenes are heavy and will make you sweat buckets. Breathable waders will be more expensive, but are worth it. They can be worn in ANY temperature with proper layering underneath, and are 10X more comfortable than neoprenes. Whatever material you choose, get waders that require seperate boots. When you buy waders with built in boots, when the boots wear out (and they will) you need a whole new get up. I highly reccomend Cabelas brand.

Well for perch and bluegills, tiny jigs tipped with mousies or grubs are hard to beat. For crappie, dots tipped with fathead minnows or rosies. If your going for walleye, jigging Rapalas tipped with a fathead. For pike, a large shiner or sucker minnow on a circle hook with a steel leader. As far as rods go, ultra light for panfish, medium for walleye, and meadium heavy and up for pike. Everyone has they're own preferences in rod power and length, though. And if you got the extra cash to throw around, invest in a good flasher. Marcum or Vexilar. It will really cut down on the amount of time you'lll spend looking for active fish, and will help you get more bites from inactive fish. Oh yeah, and a sled to haul all this crap is also VERY helpful.

Lol...What?

Here's a tip that might seem obvious but is very often ignored: Dress WARM. Especially your feet. Make sure you wear water proof boots that are large enough to wear one or two pairs of thick wool socks. Bring more than one pair of gloves so you can change them as they get wet/frozen. Trilene and other companies make special "ice lines", though I've used regular mono and it works just fine. Whatever you use, it has to have good abrasion resistance. What baits/lures/rods you use will depend on what you are fishing for.

Giants fan here! Ready to eat wings and the preseason dreams of Cowpie fans. Giants offense is about to run roughshod on the "new revamped" Dallas D, while the D-line feasts on a Tony Romo sack-buffet. The NFL is back!!!!!!!! Lets go Big Blue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Corporate chain pizza = garbage Although I admit to eating Pizza Hut once or twice a year. That greasy crap is great for a bad hangover.

Few tips from someone who has spent countless hours wading: Bullet weights will hang up like crazy. When I first started fishing the river, I used to t-rig tubes with bullet weights and realized I was hanging up so much because the weight easily wedges into cracks in the rocks. I now only fish tubes with 1/4 oz. barrel jig heads inserted into the body and hang up way less as a result. Inline spinners are great moving baits to fish from shore/wading. They can be fished shallow to deep, don't dive straight for the bottom like cranks and therefore hang up less, and you can cast them a country mile. I reccomend #4 Mepps Agilias in silver or gold (undressed) Topwater, topwater, topwater. When the river is warm,low and clear, topwater is always reasonable choice, ANY time of day. You don;t need the long pauses that you've been taught to employ for largemouth in calm water. Work them fast and cause a ruckus. Poppers, walkers, buzzbaits, whatever you like. Casting u stream, or quartered upstream is the orthodox method, but not the only way to do it. I've caught tons of smallies casting downstream with all types of lures. Smallies relate to current in a river more than anything. The warmer the water, the faster the current. In winter, they hole up in large slow moving eddies, backwaters and deep holes. In summer time, active fish can often be found in fast moving chutes and riffles, either in the upstream "push" or at the tail where the water is really churning and white. Current breaks, the line where fast water rushes by slow water, are like buffet tables for smallies. They can sit in the slow water, while the swift current washes food by like a conveyor belt. Most current breaks are easily visible, such as one caused by an obstruction like a large log, or a rock bar extending from the shoreline into the current, Others are not easily seen, like when swift water flows over a ledge. Fish will hang out in the slack water behind the ledge and watch the current flowing above them for prey to come swimming/drifting by. Learn what type of current situations smallies like and how to read the water and you'll be way ahead of the curve.

^What he said. That REAL good cast was your lure breaking off and flying into the next zip code. The backlash was a result of no longer having the lure pull line from the reel.