A-Jay

Wow ~ Another Very Chunky Monkey Heck of a big fish season so far. Congrats A-Jay

If your cranking battery also runs your accessories (nav lights, live wells, vibrating seat massager) & any electronics, a dual purpose battery is not a bad idea. I use a 31M Blue top Optima. They make a 27 too. https://www.optimabatteries.com/products/bluetop-d27m Auto Zone & Advanced Auto Parts usually have them. A-Jay

Nice Bass ~ Congrats ! A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ I fish the inland lakes of northern Michigan every chance I get. At least 90% of the time, I'm fishing for Smallmouth bass. Been using a 112 lb Fortrex with a foot pedal going on 8 years now. I'm always casting & never trolling so this works for me. A-Jay

After my scheduled off day plus a day on the water, I was back in the home gym for workout Day 3. Felt pretty good but didn't want to over do it. Weather's total crap for at least a week and maybe even 10 days. So I'll be in the gym as scheduled until that mess improves. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Hello Kisu and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

I hate it when that happens. Rub some dirt on it. A-Jay

Not unless you're fishing right next to it. Perhaps consider a longer cast. A-Jay https://youtu.be/02fPoZHOri8?feature=shared&t=1151

OK, while I choose to ignore it, that's a fair statement. But he does avail himself as a fairly easy target. 40 million views. That's gotta be worth a ned rig or two. A-Jay Didnt mean to high jack the live bait thread. A-Jay

Old Thread ~ Do you consider "live" bait cheating? I'll need to check with Randy Blaukat first. He usually tells me 'what I should think'. A-Jay

If I were fishing for numbers, I'd throw whatever they would bite. But there a chance there could be a couple or three plus sized ladies roaming this place. So I would gear up accordingly, tie on my favorite jig/trailer combo and go to work. Lock that deal in my hand - All Day. It only takes One Cast. Good Luck and have fun A-Jay

Workout Day 2 this morning. As I approach 65 years old and the official title of Senior Citizen, I don't always bust my azz to stay in shape . . . Oh wait, yes I do. #borninfiftynine https://youtu.be/hJ8PzxM4NJw A-Jay

When March feels Like May on Lake Menderchuck ~ A-Jay

@GReb verdict is Yes, better. But not by much. Good thing I guess is that it's not worse. Either way, how bad can they be really. These are top of line rigs and they run like it. Towed the Pro-V bass a couple of times the past few days. The 2024 GMC Sierra AT4 (6.2L) pulls my rig with authority. It is however badly in need of an A-Jay full on exterior field day. Soon, very soon. A-Jay

22 replies so far and no 2 are a like. May not answer your questions directly but it does indicate that these anglers feel successful with a wide variety of line, leader combinations. And so can you. Also seems many bassheads here have let experience be their guide to whatever they settled on. IMO, the best way to go. So for reply 23. I will tell you that I use 10 - 17 lb FC on casting gear and 8 - 20 lb braid mainline on spinning gear with 8 - 12 lb mono or fc leaders. I prefer long leaders, at least 3 rod lengths if not more. Good luck A-Jay

Peary Rader IS OLD SCHOOL. Still totally applicable though. Stay on it ! As for my training, it' seems decent. Only been through it one time. Working on getting the right mix of volume, Reps, sets & intensity. Need to leave a little more in the tank for recovery than I have been. End up 'surviving' rather that 'thriving'. I'm back at it in the morning. A-Jay

So this one's been going for a couple of days now. #2 ~ "Which presentation should I fish to catch the single biggest bass for today " has garnered of 75 % of the votes so far. Just for some context, 'the biggest bass for today' doesn't necessarily mean a trophy or even a plus sized fish. Might just be the only 12 incher of a day full of even smaller bass. I'm not say'in, just saying. Fish Hard A-Jay

Local By-Catch on the bigger inland waters here includes Musky, Pike, Walleye & Trout. Early season, the brown and rainbow trout are a total blast on light spinning gear, putting on quite a show. My strike to land ratio on big Musky is pretty low but I've managed to hold a few. Pike are almost always a huge PIA, even when they are bigger. They trash everything. But when I hook a big one, I'll still work hard to land it; just to get my bait back if nothing else. When the toothy critters are thick, I'll either move or add a trace of wire. Then there's the walleye, I like them. Because they taste very good, I'll knock the sides of a limit of cutters just about every chance I get. I will often make them my target species after initially heading out for Brown Bass. Depends if the season's open on them yet or not. Panfish taste awesome too, just not a fan of cleaning so many at a time. A-Jay

I do more of a "Controlled Bleed". The bottoms of these sweet Goby swimbaits showed up Bright White. Not desirable. Nothing a Spike-It pen can't fix. #greenpumpkin A-Jay

Nice ~ Hope they add the 4.3 to this deal. Thanks for sharing this. I was unaware. A-Jay

And so it looks like tomorrow, Tuesday 12 March, will be my first open water yachting of 2024. Always an exciting time for me. The weather is a little iffy, but if it does happen, it will mark my Earliest Pro-V Bass experience since relocating to Michigan in 2007. This very first evolution is routinely just a shake down cruise as I run through all the rigs systems to ensure full operation and to identify any thing that may need some TLC. I'll be launching at local lake Menderchuck which is 10 minutes from home and as been verified as open water. Once all that's done, which quite frankly, barring any challenges, only takes a few minutes, (Might actually take longer to launch the rig with no docks in yet.) the quest for pre-spawn brown bass will begins in earnest. Expect a mid morning start just to give any over night frost, that will no doubt cover the boat ramp, a little time to dissipate. So the rest of the today will be devoted to what 'little' prep I have left to do. Might even run a little video, we'll have to see how it goes. I'm pretty pumped. Fish Hard A-Jay

I typed it as slow as a could just for you @Catt 🤓 A-Jay

Should find something useful here. https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/366200 https://www.livingrubber.com/collections/rubber-skirting-material https://www.spankerjigs.com/store/round-rubber https://www.spinnerbaitskirtsonline.com/living-rubber-skirts/bulk-round-rubber-skirt-material A-Jay

Thought I'd be on the water early this week, but it Snowed a couple of inches overnight here. So that's not looking good. Mean while, there's this. I went with number 3. A-Jay

Hammered on the Day 1 workout this morning. The freaking time change always jacks me up. Got couple of inches of snow over night as well. Glad I got to train. #borninfiftynine A-Jay