Team9nine

You used to be able to look this up and pull reasonable data from the FLW website before MLF bought them out and revamped everything. From what I recall, winning boater and co-angler (from the same boat) was a rarity. It was just as likely, if not more so, that the winning co-angler smoked his boater for the day. That brings up the question of how do you define “on fish.” With FFS quickly becoming the norm, things will probably change again, and most winners from the back of the boat will come from bank beater boats or guys w/o FFS - but that’s just a guess.

No such thing exists, despite all the infomercials and ads trying to convince me otherwise...if it did, no one would ever get skunked, and there would be little need for fishing forums like this ?

Two rods, exact same brand, model, action, make and materials - shorter is more sensitive.

Agree with all the above. I can dig around a little tomorrow, but from what I can recall, what we now know as "meanmouth," which are smallie/spot hybrids, are the more common hybrid in nature. The original term though ("meanmouth") was given to lab created LMB/SMB hybrids. Here is a good synopsis: Hybrid bass article

It's pretty rare and certainly not the norm. That Texas lake has the right (unusual) conditions apparently to make it happen. This is another now confirmed 7 lb. hybrid caught that same week, same lake.

That's some pretty fishable water clarity, and your surface temps are more than warm enough. I start catching them here when you can still throw up onto ice sheets and pull the bait off into open water. They like to sit right at that edge and hit on the fall

Go for it - I think you’ll be happy. It was one of the ones I was looking at at one time, but the nearest dealer was about 2 hours away. Went with a different brand Deep-V, but very happy with the overall size and style of boat. Takes choppy water much better than a jon boat style aluminum, and you’ll feel safe with the deeper sides. If the price is that good, jump on it. Surprised a deep discount boat is even available given how well boats in general have been selling the past year or two. You’ll probably be sorry if you wait too long.

I’m sure it will work, but it might be somewhat limiting since it dives to 3 ft. Wake cranks like Manns 1- only dive to 1 ft, so you can run it pretty easily right up to the banks (parallel).

Fish the shorelines with any type of extra shallow crank like a Baby 1- using a slow steady retrieve...been working good here under similar conditions. Windblown banks have been best.

That’s because not unlike drop shotting, WTD type baits work about equally well with most rod actions. There are subtler benefits with certain actions over others as outlined in the comments above, but it really comes down to personal preference in the end.

I believe it's mostly green flake, but I'll check closer. That was a stock color at one time.

Just found this blue craw remnant while walking a pond the other day.

To @Bluebasser86 point (I think?), and along Paul’s lines, there are studies showing that largemouth adjust their feeding technique (and related jaw/suction function) to prey type. In particular, largemouth use much more powerful suction feeding when dealing with prey such as crayfish that are on bottom or in substrate vs. fish prey. Ramming into rocks chasing a crayfish makes for good YouTube content, bit it’s likely not the normal feeding behavior of LMB. Suck ‘em up like a Dyson and blow the gravel and mud out after you crunch them ?

Nope - because no matter how short I make the leader, I inevitably reel it (the swivel) into the rod eye a time or two by accident.

I believe the difference comes in based on whether that fish is in the water or out. As soon as you lift him out of the water as you do in the video, I agree, the fish loses most of it's abililty to leverage getting off. Where the saying remains true, IMO, is when people grab the line while the fish is still swimming around in the water and they try to handline that fish closer to get a grasp on it. You see it quite a bit on the pro circuits where the fish is very near the boat, they're in a hurry to land the fish, but it starts swimming off (pulling drag) or in circles, and they instinctively grab the line and try and pull the fish closer to them to grab the fish, or it's still thrashing around on 18" of line boatside while they try and figure out where they can grab it safely (in the case of trebles). In those circumstances, the fish can easily unload the little bit of tension in the line and escape since they aren't doing the lifting part that you do. The other concern with grabbing and lifting is that if that fish shakes hard and your line is compromised, or the fish is large and your line test is lighter, the possibility that it breaks the line. Have had that happen numerous times in various scenarios with multiple species. I've always been a swing 'em and grab the line type approach for any normal sized fish, and use a net on anything large.

Not critical, but can be somewhat of a benefit to know what you are looking at. Different plants grow on different bottom types (hard vs soft bottom; used for spawning or not), at different depths, in different water temps (and seasons), give off different amounts of oxygen, rooted vs floating, etc. You don’t have to know all this stuff in order to catch bass, but it helps to understand the fishes environment and as mentioned a few times already, why they do, or do not, often use certain types or areas.

I still pull out and watch their old VHS tape every now and then...it's even still in the original wrapping

That’s a lot of assumptions that have to be right in order for your guesstimate to pan out ? ...but it all could go that way occasionally

Ran across this piece on the Interwebz recently reflecting how the same old theories keep getting perpetuated, even by the best pros in the game, and how the tackle industry markets and capitalizes on it. @Paul Roberts

In short: Arches are created by the boat moving over a fish, or the fish swimming under the boat, or a combination. The length of the signals path at the far edge of the transducer “cone” is longer than the ones directly under the transducer, so you end up with an arch. When the boat and fish are stopped, you get a solid horizontal line and no arch. As MN Fisher stated, you can’t tell direction in 2D. However, weaker signals will be to the outside edge of the cone, and stronger signals more directly under you. This is usually represented by the thickness and/or color of the mark, as well as the shape. Obviously other variables involved, but this is a starter.

I'll have your application sent via IM so you can fill it out and start getting your 10% discount immediately Not yet, but I need to while demand is still high. It's just that I've been so busy figuring out how to make my floating tungsten jigs and sinkers in that "Firecraw" color while that market is still so great headed into spring. I don't want to miss that window of opportunity to capitalize and make my millions

If this has you all messed up, just wait until I introduce my newest "floating tungsten" line of sinkers and jigs to the bass fishing world. Taking prostaff applications now

Never ran a trailer hook on a bladed jig - just spinners and buzzers. Don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work though

Several studies suggesting bass are usually a very small part of an otters diet. In fact, I was just at a fisheries conference (virtual) two weeks ago and this exact subject came up by one of the presentees. It was a study done here in my home state, and again, results showed a few bass eaten, but more bluegill than bass, and as a group, sunfish were only about 20% or less of the otter diet versus 80% other miscellaneous fish species, so that result seems to be consistent. I'm sure if options are llimited, you could see a result where bass fared worse, but in general, that doesn't seem to be the norm.