Certified Public Angler

That is a sweet set up. And if you flip over the rods will stay in. ;D

I got a shimano compre for 59.99 and it is solid. If you can't find it for that cheap I've used the clarus and it is also nice and in that range. I assume this is what you are looking at.

I've had a lot of luck throwing a t-rigged lizard or senko into these feeding frenzies. Mostly bc that was what I had tied on at the time, but it worked. When I have time to rig up a bait I'll throw a shallow crank or a topwater rebel Pop-R and get strikes.

and what if it's private? My private pond is about the same, I can catch 8-10 bass in an outing that are 1 lbs. but only rarely do we see anything over 3 lbs.

Dude, you're a legend. Welcome back.

Question: You guys keep referring to night fishing as the dark side...is that why I see so many Darth Vader avatars around these forums?

I look forward to hearing those stories Welcome!

Man, I just bought a shimano compre 6'6 MH fast action for 59.99 at Sportsman Warehouse. I am very happy with this rod, great sensitivity and the power to back it up and stick those fish.

I'm interested to hear some input here as well, I may be moving to charlotte next year.

save as many big ones as you can is what i say. good luck.

there is a thread about removing a gut hooked fish somewhere in here. But if that method doesn't work then I believe it is better to leave it. My understanding is that the hooks rust away pretty quickly.

so it has to do with a fatigue factor and not for presentation to the fish? Seems like I should just start working out rather then buy a new reel. ;D

Wave worm watermelon red flake senko.

Though I hope to catch a DD one day I know very well that it may never happen. Right now I am focusing on breaking the 5 lbs mark. But in reality I just go out each time and look to catch good numbers and educate myself on new baits in different situations.

A few seconds too many. You might not realize it, but you are doing the fish harm. If you're going to practice catch and release, then do it right. Also one probably shouldn't jam their jaws back like in your avatar. If you're going to hold them horizontally you should have one hand on their bellies for support. how is that horizontally...it looks vertical to me...?

Whenever i go to weather.com I type in my zip code and I click on hour-to-hour. Then I go to hours I plan to be on the water and check for whether it will be cloudy, chance of rain, and mostly the wind MPH.

green for clear waters

wow...that is terrible. I have never heard of anything like this. To me it sounds like this would take upwards of 5 years to recover from this, but I'm no biologist. Very unfortunate...

Maybe you should try mixing it up a bit. If you usually throw a power worm get yourself some lizards to drag on the bottom. Or try some flukes in the top water column since they are hitting live bait.

I use a 4/0 hook and 1/16 oz weight. I use the Wave worm tiki sticks 6 inches because they are half the price of Gary Yamamoto senkos.

lol. I caught a bass that had my fishing partners hook in its mouth once. Those hooks seem to rust away really fast.

Congrats on a successful day. Keep showing her the tricks and she'll be showing you up in no time.

Spin king, I also felt the same way you did about 2 months ago. I made myself learn the baitcaster and now I can cast it further and with more acuracy then a spinning rig. Like I described above when you are casting a baitcaster it is just like throwing your bait, and once you learn it you won't turn back.

Im having some problems registering my boat but once I do Im gonna hit up Lake Jackson, ppl are catching some big bass out there since the water came up. This one was caught on a private lake that I can legally launch my boat on.

So a nice cold front came through Tallahassee yesterday. Took the temp down into the 70's and low 80's when we were in the high 80's low 90's. It was nice and overcast this morning so I decided to head out on the water before I go tailgate for the FSU game. I put my boat in about 11:30am, the wind was blowing pretty good, about 10-15 mph. At first I fished the shoreline/weedline near the boat ramp. I was using a 10 inch ragetail anaconda in green pumpkin rigged weightless on a 5/0 hook. These baits just got shipped to my house yesterday afternoon. On that shoreline I pulled up a nice 2 lb'r, which is way above the average cookie cutter for this particular lake. The love bugs were engulfing my boat and driving me crazy so I had to get out in the middle and get that wind to blow them off. (for those of you that don't experience love bugs...I *** you.) Anyways so I moved spots to the middle of this cove where an old fence line runs through the middle of the lake. I positioned my self so that I would drift right over it and I threw in the anchor. The water was very clear today and it was about 15-18 feet in this particular spot. I heaved the annie out straight down the fence line and let her sink. I adjusted the anchor rope because it was caught on some of my gear and then stood up to reel in the slack. As soon as the line gets tighter I feel something running with it. I rear back and set the hook, and Fish On!. It comes immediately up to the top and jumps, and that's when I know, this is a big boy! He took out a little drag with a finally run and then I landed him. I measured him at 22 inches and snapped a bunch of pictures bc I couldn't tell if I or the fish were getting in them. Then I popped him on my scale and he leveled out at 4 pounds 9 ounces, a clear personal best for me. 8-) I don't remember sticking my tongue out...but I was pumped, so there is my excuse Here's one with the bait in there. These pups are bad, and I'm sure I'll have to have one on the boat at all times, at least until I beat my PB. ;D So it was darn good day, now if it can translate to my Seminoles.