I Love BassResource

He or his son, likes to fish in 3D.

why I was going to continue to use a reel that requires so much fiddling to cast correctly as conditions and lure weight/profile change I returned an STX for this very reason. I have a winch, which I use for deep cranking and I love it, but I'll never own another STX. Just not worth it IMHO.

I dunno man, that first fish looks like a pig. Like I stated in another thread, we don't catch hardly anything above 5 1/2 lbs around here. My pb smallie is around 6lbs, and that fish in your first pic looks bigger to me. Like you said, the scales don't lie! Beautiful fish!

You have a thing for the big girls don't ya ;D Beautiful fish, they look bigger than 5lbs for sure.

Hello Mcfly! We have smallmouth like that. THE NEW RIVER Even the ELK and the GREENBRIER has fish of this size, maybe not the numbers of the New or Erie but they can be found Yeah i'm aware they exist, but lets see some pics of people actually holding them. I can drive to where smfisher lives(new river) and nail 1- 3lb fish for days. The 5lb+ are far and few between unless you head to one TN or Erie. Get your camera and lets go. Make sure you pick me up on the way to Erie. Fish, that is an awesome pic man. Keep em coming. Your welcome to go, I'm cooking a trip up to Buffalo in a month or so. We went last year and had stuck 5lb fish by lunch. Was a blast.

Nice fish man! That's the type I wanna chase when I'm down there this year. You take the BMW fishing now?

Call Lance at swamplandtackle.com He has some HG40 blanks for 25 bucks(normally 50 - 65), I'd put them up against blanks costing 3x as much. If money isn't a real obstacle, the RX8 or something in the St Croix lineup is pretty hard to beat.

Hello Mcfly! We have smallmouth like that. THE NEW RIVER Even the ELK and the GREENBRIER has fish of this size, maybe not the numbers of the New or Erie but they can be found Yeah i'm aware they exist, but lets see some pics of people actually holding them. I can drive to where smfisher lives(new river) and nail 1- 3lb fish for days. The 5lb+ are far and few between unless you head to one TN or Erie.

We have to drive to TN or Erie for smallmouth like that. Beautiful fish!!

More storage couldn't hurt, but that's a nice fishing rig. I'd be more likely to spend my time making use of the boat! I don't really see much benefit in removing the console.

That one has me scratching my head, but none the less... this is for you Retieing is my problem, my first knots are stellar. p.s there called trailer hooks..... buy some That hurt... more than you'll ever know.

Just an awesome fish. Congrats!! Its even better that you let the fat girl swim away!

That's exactly my opinion. I love the reel, but with anything less than 3/8, I pick up another stick. I use mine on my deep cranking rod, so its not really an issue.

That one has me scratching my head, but none the less... this is for you

Spot on... but "Being listed in the annals of Bass Master or FLW is also not a requirement " IMHO I think those people(most) listed in FLW/BASS, meet the criteria you've listed above. So again imho, they a reflect the very best anglers in our sport. I like to read posts about making specific adjustments.. e.g. "match the hatch", "color", "bait/blade size", "boat positioning", etc.... A vast majority of what I would consider "great" anglers, will voice that doing some of the above isn't a real issue in their bass fishing process. I think what sets most pro's apart from "great" anglers, is their ability to make those micro adjustments to their presentation or pattern. Those small adjustments may not make or break an outing, but they typically translate into pounds, ounces, an extra fish, a kicker, etc.. Having the knowledge to make those minor adjustments on they fly can account for an 18lb bag instead of your local pro's 17lb bag. Most of what we do to trick a fish is done through learning an array of techniques. With practice and repetition, we fine tune those techniques so that we now become competent, maybe even competitive on a higher level. I believe the very best anglers in the world are those who have at least some natural talent, but more importantly its those who never stop refining their abilities, understanding, and techniques used in relation to fish and fishing. As far as "true" athletes... IMHO this could get beat to death as the definition of an athlete doesn't always have to translate into an athletic individual. Just look at Mark Davis, the dude is a major stick, but I doubt he could run the length of a football field.

From the article ... "Somchai said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills."

Cannot tie a knot...

Reminds me of a woman I used to date.

I think you summed it up nicely... Thanks all.

I agree 100%, but on this occasion. I had just picked up the chart/white dual willow booyah spinner bait with 20 mins left. So I was pitching like a mad man. If I had of hit this earlier, I would have adjusted the bait, added a trailer, etc.... I'm trying to figure out if I should use a trailer hook 100% of the time, as it sometimes causes more hangups, for me anyway. tnx

There were swiping, most of the fish I caught I would get on the second or third strike, barely on the outter lips, never "deep". Neither fish received slack line, at all. tnx!

Its hard to explain, but neither jumped. Remember I'm pitching the spinnerbait like a jig, really short but accurate casts. I did kind of horse them in, but after they would hit, I would get them out of the cover quick, which sort of disoriented them, if you can imagine what I'm talking about. They hit, I set the hook, reel them out of cover and at the boat they basically catch back up. Neither fish came unhooked from a strong run or pressure, it was more of just, unbuttoned. I've thought about it, and I really don't think the hook was ripped out from force. Although I"m wrong quite often.

Fishing a tournament this past weekend, we had 4 fish in the boat, needing one more to "likely" place in the money and a good one to possibly win. Our primary pattern focused around a jerkbait bite, fishing 8ft+/- flats on clay/gravel banks. This method produced 3 keepers in the first hours of the day. Our secondary pattern consisted of pitching tubes/jigs/blades to shallow structure located adjacent to quick drop offs to deeper water. I've heard KVD deliver his sermons about always using a trailer hook, but up until know I've never really had an issue with hooking up. We went to our secondary pattern after our jerk bait pattern started to fail. We started catching dink spots, and than around mid day the bite died. I'm pitching a spinnerbait to the shallow structure, and bringing it across/around targets at multiple angles. I hook up twice, both very likely 3-4lb+ fish, just to have them come unbuttoned at the edge of the boat. In hind sight, we waited way to late to move on to our secondary pattern. With about an hour left until weigh in, my partner stuck a 4.5lber and I missed the two above fish. I don't think we had a real shot at winning (17lbs won) but with my fish we had an assured 2nd, which paid out. We ended up 4th, one spot out of money. So... trailer hooks and spinnerbaits, always? sometimes? never? Opinions please.

Senko or slow rolling a spinner bait, depending on the conditions.

Lol that's awesome. Idiotic sure, but there are far worse things they could have (and may have) done. I don't condone it, but at that age, I may have contemplated doing it. lol