basser89

We had a thunder storm roll through late this afternoon. At 5, I looked outside and saw the traffic was ALL backed up! > So I made up my mind that I wasn't about to sit through that so I hit the lake I get to fish at lunchtime (Black Hills for the MD posse). It was still raining when I got to the lake so I threw on the rain gear and walked down to the lake. It took about 30 minutes or so to get a bite, just a dink on a tube. I had another come up after a buzzbait but it missed the bait. It started clearing up so I switched up to a spinnerbait and managed two on a spinnerbait, one decent one and another dink. Then something changed, and I've been raking my brain trying to figure out what it was but I put down the spinnerbait and picked up the third rod I had rigged up with a buzzbait. Turned out to be a good choice! I managed 3 more bass in about 45 minute and missed two more. Here's a pics of two of the better bass. Thanks I-270! LOL!

I had a chance to fish saturday with Dad. We hit a small lake in PA. It took us a little while to put a pattern together but we found a decent shallow water bite. We targeted shore line cattails and two different lily pad sections. That bite died off around mid-day or so, so we went looking for another pattern. We made a run down the lake (which took some time on the electric only lake! LOL!) but finally put another pattern together down at the dam. Dad ended up with 6 and I had 7. The numbers don't really matter though! It was time WELL spent with my Dad! Here's a pair of pics from the outing! As Jerry McKinnis ended his shows, "Dedicated to My Dad! He always had time to take me fishing!!!!!!" Thanks Dad!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a chance BadKarma42! You and Speedbead need to fish deep water from now on! ;D ;D ;D Of course, I'm only joking! Just had to give you a hard time! LOL

When I'm fishing wacky rigged Kinamis and tiki sticks, I'm using a Gammy 1/0 EWG finesse hook w/o the weedguard. and haven't had a problem with hooking the bass (I'm not using an O ring though). A question to you. Are you setting the hook like you would with a t-rigged worm? When I feel the bass, all I do is slowly lift the rod and start reeling. The hook does the rest of the work for me. When I first started using the EWG Finesse hooks, I was trying to set the hook instead of using the technique that I eventually went to. I was missing a lot of bass when I was setting the hook.

I went with other. For year round conditions, a tube bait works for me 12 months out of the year for smallies and largemouths. When water gets above 50 degrees, I have to have a spinnerbait tied on!

Very cool! Down Bait Monkey! Down! LOL!

I go when ever I can. A few weeks back, the Potomac was running any where from 6 to 17' high and muddy! I managed to find some smallies stacked up just out of the current which was extremely strong! Tubes and Senkos did the trick for me then!

While I haven't used Power Pro, I do use braid when I'm fishing the river. I use Suffix and tie the Palomar knot as well. I have not had any issues with the knot slipping either.

Raul, The livewell I have in my jon boat, I installed myself. I have it mounted to where I all I do to fill it up is pull the plug in the bottom (drilling the hole in the bottom of my boat was one of the toughest things I've had to do! LOL!). Anyway, my question to you is, how many of the factors come into play in my case? The only time I install the plug in my livewell after I a bass in it is when I run the livewell. At that point, the areator comes on until I'm at my next spot. On electric only lakes that I fish, the plug is not put back in. I haven't lost a bass yet, not even on the hottest day in the summer. I just want to make sure I keep it that way!

I have all the confidence in the world in the palamor and use it almost 100% of the time. I like the fact that it uses a little more line (especially when I need to retie). Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits are no different when it comes to the knot I tie.

8lb test up to 20 for me. I use mono, fluro and braid. Different baits/techniques require different line types and pound tests.

4 of my top 5 largemouths have been caught been 11 and 1.The only one that didn't come in that time frame was caught about 6PM.

Nice looking toothy critters! Congrats!!!!! I've never had much luck with muskies in lakes. I've caught a handfull while bass fishing. If I'm going out for muskies, I prefer fishing for them in the river. IMO, the fight is 100 times better! Especially on a 40" plus!

LH for spinning exclusively. Baitcasters I use both.

It may be a pricing error! I had that happen a few years back with a Lightning Rod. Might be worth going back and checking them out!

I do fairly well on the upper Potomac with tubes for smallies. A couple weeks back when the river was EXTREMELY high, I found smallies holding in the flooded brush just off the edge of the current. I'd pitch a t-rigged tube around the brush until I figured out what part of the brush they were holding on. On normal levels, I just work the tube along the bottom working it with the current. When the Potomac is clear, I try to match the tube color as close as I can with the bottom. In stained water, I'll switch up to something like watermelon/chart tail or maybe junebug. Muddy water, black or black and blue. I always use the lightest weight I can get away with but with the Potomac rising aver 3' in a day, the lightest weight may be on the heavy side. Hope this helps!

I have 3 Energy PT's. A E640PT, E750PT and an E770PT. The E770 and the E750 have been bought within the year but have met my expectations. The E640 I bought when the model first came out and I still LOVE this reel! Still casts like a dream even with lighter weight cranks! My oldest Quantum I bought back in the late 90's, so its pushing 10 years old and I haven't had any problems what so ever. I do take the time to clean and lube them. With a little TLC, I expect all my Quantums to last this long or longer (ya just have to get the Hot Sauce crap out of them)! ;D

Hey Dave, Just got back from Dick's a little while ago. Sorry! No luck here in Hagerstown.

Hey Dave, I'll check out the Dick's that's close to me this evening to see if they carry that color. I'll let you know either way.

Depends on where I'm fishing. If I'm on my boat, then I usually bring the full arsenal (which is 11). I have a couple of duplicate set ups (ex. 2 spinnerbait rods, 2 crankbait rods, 2 flippin sticks), if one bair isn't producing then its just a matter of picking up another rod instead of wasting time rigging up another bait. If I'm fishing from shore or on a friends boat, I try to limit myself to 4-5 max. I have friends that ask me why I have so many rods and I tell them I like to fish, not tie!

I've been using Suffix's braid for a couple of years now and decided to give their mono a shot this year. I've been using Elite and like what it has shown me so far. It casts well for me, is very durable and abrassion resistant. I've been spooling my reels with Berkley lines as long as I can remember but I may switch completely over to Suffix on all my reels (well with the exception of the rods I have spooled with fluro).

I got nailed by a treble hook once. A friend and I were fishing on my boat when he had a "casting malfunction" and ended up sinking a treble from an Excaliber Pop 'n Image into my leg. Since we were only out on the water for 15 minutes, I pushed it through and cut it off and went back to fishing!

Matt, you hadn't guessed from our last float on the stretch that I am NOT fond of that section! LOL! Here's a pic that MskSlyr sent me of the biggest smallie I caught.

Hey jig, Yeah, I found the same thing out with the Vanish! Although, my last experience with it on my reels is when I tried Vanish Transition. First outing after I spooled it up, I lost 3 or 4 spinnerbaits just by casting (and I wasn't even loading the rod up). Like I said, with the clear bodies of water I fish, I won't be giving up on the flurocarbon! I'll just stick with the XPS fluro. I have the most confidence in it! The other issue is, most of the local tackle shops near me, don't have a very good selection of # tests (from what I can remember). Gives me an excuse to hit Bass Pro too! ;D 2 years ago, I was at a fishing expo and talked to Marty Stone (he doesn't have a line sponsor). He uses 2 different flurocarbon lines. The one is a high end (can't remember the name of it) but also uses the XPS.

My main application for braid is on my spinning reels for smallies when I'm throwing crankbaits and jerkbaits on the Potomac (walleyes and muskies have hit them before and I have a much better chance with them without them cutting my line). For me, the only other application that I am considering using braid is for heavy cover flippin and pitchin. Power Pro is a good choice, I've heard a lot of good things about it! My perference is Suffix (mainly because of availability but it is a great braid, IMO).