senile1

Four to six pound fish in South Dakota doesn't sound bad. Are you sure this isn't a case of exaggerated weights? There are people who call a six or seven lb fish a ten. I know there are bigger fish up there but I highly doubt he is catching 7 - 9s constantly. The largemouth record for your state is 9 lb 3 oz. An 8 or 9 lb fish in your state would be pretty old so I wouldn't think there would be that many to catch.

I don't know this guy and I don't want to bash his whole life, but if he placed a weight in the fish that is just plain wrong and there is no excuse for it. As others have said, he ruined his reputation and any tournaments he has won in the past are now up for scrutiny. I'm sure this is devastating to his kids and family.

This is an interesting thread. Thanks for starting it, Paul, and I'm sorry I missed it until now. (Too much work and no play makes Ed a dull boy. ) To throw in my two cents, I do the short quick hookset with cranks, though there are subtle changes based on what the fish is doing, similar to Catt's earlier post.

I would use more than one type of jig trailer. For example, RageTail craws and chunks are great and have a lot of action in the pinchers. So when the bass want action they are great. But when the bass want something subtle you need a different trailer. I have found a number of subtle trailers that fit the bill including Yum and Bassnacks from custombassfishinglures.com.

Curado - Great reel Citica - Slightly less great but still a great reel. If you are on a tight budget buy the Citica.

There ya' go. For me, life is too short to spend all my time making my equipment look like new. I do what is necessary for functionality but I can live with scratches. I really *** some of you. You have time to fish a few times a week and spend hours on your equipment. With the hours I work, if I spent that much time on fishing I would have no time left for the wife, the kids, or duties around the home.

Ha! Have you tried them on fish yet, Catt?

Welcome to the forum!

How deep are the fish suspended? What techniques have you tried so far? Are these fish fairly inactive? What is the typical forage? There are so many things you could try and I'm sure some of our Cali anglers could probably give you some good ideas for Casitas. If the fish are very inactive try a dropshot or jigging a spoon in their face. If they are more active try swimming a swimbait, crankbait, lipless crank, spinnerbait, or similar plastic bait and killing it in front of them. Maybe you could drop a weightless senko type worm on them as well. The devil is in the details.

Welcome to the forum, Alex!

I don't think you should be having issues because the braid is 30 lb unless it is digging in too much. I've used 30 lb Suffix a lot with baitcasters and I don't experience any issues. I've used lighter Power Pro braids in the past though I may have not used them on a baitcaster so it's possible there is a difference and Power Pro digs in more. I think the problem could be related to "professional over-run." If you make a hard cast and the line overruns it can catch and the weight of a heavy lure like a spinnerbait can break the line.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the community!

Welcome to the community!

Welcome!

Welcome to Bass Resource, Riley! Tell us a bit about yourself.

Beautiful fish! Congratulations.

Those are some nice looking bass and the area is beautiful, Roger. Thanks for the pictures.

Welcome!

I like GMAN's jigs as well. I bought a number of the widegap jigs in black/blue and green pumpkin in 3/8 and 3/4 ounce sizes this year. The 3/4 ounce in green pumpkin with a RageTail Summer Craw was deadly in the coontail this summer.

That is a sweet fish with beautiful color.

Welcome to Bass Resource, Tom!

Welcome to the community!

Welcome to the forum!

Paul Roberts stated: Excellent point! K_Mac stated: Your philosophy sounds a lot like mine.