flippin and pitchin

Beautiful fish. Looked a little cloudy.

Strange. My buddy is the tackle buyer for a local outlet and I asked him about the recent price drop. He states Abu is doing a " cosmetic " change to the Revos but even he has yet to see a photo released. He bought every SX and STX high speed he could get his hands on. He hopes to have an instore show promo for the STX for 134.99. They have been selling Premeiers for 209.99 as regular price for two years. It's getting interesting.

The Dobyns Champion 705Cb Glass is my go to rod. It's a composite, small diameter blank, light and very good feel. You can throw square bills to DD22's with this model. If you feel the need to launch a bait the 765CB Glass provides that extra length. My next two rods will be the 765CB Glass and the 704CB for jerbaits. Then i'm dialed.

Speed Traps. Yes, three sizes and a couple of dozen colors.

I went out on the Columbia Tuesday,a full two hour drive. The winds were steady at 25 MPH and gusts well above that. I creamed my batteries in less than six hours. I bust my butt for 14 fish with one over 4 and two over 3 1/2 and some smaller. Adding wind to the heavy current made it a brutal day and I was happy to catch what I did. WCCT can relate. Right ??? Got new batteries today. Ouch!!

Great day ! Nice fish. BTW, is that steelie in your avatar on the Snake River ?

Well stated !

What ever the fish are biting on that given moment. I do like Normans Deep Little N and Hula grubs alot though.

I'm a fan of covering up too. I went to Clear Lake last year and fished 6 days in a row without sun gloves. It took almost three weeks for my hands to heal up. The first thing I did when I got back was get a pair of Glacier sungloves from Tackle Warehouse. They are worth every penny and work great. I wore them every day on this year's trip and was glad I did. Take the ssun seriously. My wife is having another surgery next week for a second skin cancer on her face.

Normans Deep Little N in a color no longer in production.

The Champion 765 flip has the stripper guide well up the blank to facilitate the flippin technique. Just wated you to be aware of that. The 735C is one of the best jig rods ever. It has power and tip. Check out the youtube video, flippin big bass on the border with Justin Rackley and Tom Reddington. Reddington is using the 736 and Rackley the 735. A video is worth a thousand words. If you like tip and length, the Champion 765 flip has it. That was my first Dobyns rod. The 765 is absolutely neutral in the hand, not tip heavy and light for a 7-6 rod. SFBA mentioned the Extreme 745. I also have that model. What a great rod, but the Champion will save you some bucks and perform almost equally as well. Hope this helps.

Here's the context of my post. The basis of pattern fishing is, once you determine what bass are doing in one specific are (zone) of a body of water, you should be able to locate similar locations and find the bass doing the same or similar thing. Pattern fishing, as Roland Martin defined it applies perfectly to large bodies of water. The average angler does not fish a three or four day tournament on a body of water with multiple creeks or pools to lock to. When I fish a managable body of water with a full single day to figure them out, I look for the zone in that managable area. I don't consider that a pattern. At least yet.To me, a pattern is something that can be replicated. If you find that zone and the technique/lures that are most effective you might very well replicate what the fish are doing and then, I believe, you have a pattern. My concept of looking for zones was to break my habit of spot fishing and being more open minded as to how to search for fish effectively. I'm not trying to split hairs Sam. I just call it zone fishing and it has been effective for me. If I understand your concept of pattern fishing, it makes sense. If I go into a huge creek arm and find a section or zone of pads and find the fish on the edges and hitting buzzbaits, I would want to fish other pad fields in the creek, throwing buzzbaits at the edges. If the fish respond, I have a pattern. It starts with searching and not getting caught up in spots. Like I said, I was in a rut, not being more open minded to believing fish might just be somewhere else than my old spots and maximizing my attempt to find catchable fish. Great dialogue.Doug

For shallow, 1-5 feet I almost always start with a spinnerbait. It covers water effectively and works open water and heavy cover well. A shallow crankbait like a Speed Trap also comes into play. Mid-depth, 6 to12 feet, a crankbait, Normans Deep Little N or Rapala DT10. If the water is clear and smallies are the target, a jerkbait covers water pretty fast. For deeper water a DD22 or football jig. The jig is slower to cover water but a heavy one can move along pretty quick. Once a get a bite or better, two, I look at how the fish ate the lure or missed it, the color of the fish, the depth it was at and did it spit up bait. If they bite the searchbait well, I will stick with it and look at maybe changing presentation, color but not for very long. I will try and apply a technique that is slower or more finesse after a couple of bites. This really works well for me when smallies are the target. I once found a school of deeper smallies with the crankbait but they were small. I slowed down for a second and dragged a hula grub and wacked them. I agree with you about wanting to gravitate back to spots. If you have a short day, that may work but if you can, discipline yourself and give this a chance. I have gone for long spells without a bite but when you find them, the rewards can be awsome. Good fishing !!!! Doug

I was reflecting on how my approach to bass fishing has changed over the last several years and how it has increased my success rate. I thought maybe I would post it and someone else might benefit. Over the last 30 plus years I found myself being driven more by technique. Techniques and equipment seemed to be the focus and they were evolving at a pretty rapid rate. Flipping, pitching, jigs, deep cranking, drop shot, finesse, frogs, long rods and so on. I also like the "stuff." The techniques I enjoyed the most seemed to dictate the water and cover types I fished. I found myself become a " spot " fisherman and returned to the same spots and found myself force feeding the lure type and techniques I enjoyed the most. I was able to fish frequently during that period so my success rate was acceptable. I had become a narrow focused angler and created a rut for myself. About six years ago I changed my approach. I had to. It was not because I was intelligent or had some special insite. I started fishing with a guy I've known for years and he showed me something simple that changed my perspective. Look for ZONES. The application is kind of like pattern fishing but we don't have the huge bodies of water to truly apply pattern fishing so zone fishing is what we attempt to do. Honestly, smallmouth fishing drove me to appreciate the zone concept. I read the recent thread on SEARCH BAITS and noticed there was a trend of shallow baits. I thought, that's exactly what I used to focus on. What if the fish are not in a shallow zone? Your searching may lead you to move to a new area, still shallow and the zone where the fish are has not been searched. My approach is now to find the zone, then area and then refine it to spots if they exist. The seasonal pattern dicated what zone I started on, shallow, mid depth or deep. Then I looked for zones with specific characteristics such as cover types, contours, structure or lack there of and so on. Then I would start my search to establish a zone and focus the technique that most effectively covered that zone and refine it further if a spot within the area within the zone was discovered. I quit searching spots and began to search zones. This became more effective way to locate fish, select and apply a technique and lure type. This is nothing new. Successful anglers have applied this practice for years. I just needed to learn it for myself. I don't get the opportunity to fish near as often as I used to so this concept has really paid off. This is an example. I fished the end of a small resavoir a few years ago. I looked for the zone and found a long creek. I searched the shallow zone within the creek which was a zone within that end of the lake. I caught some fish shallow but the bite slowed. The fish I found searching the shallow zone was a false positive. I came back the following day and again caught a few fish shallow as I searched the one mile of creek that held fish. The bite slowed. I backed way out and began to search the deep zone within that one mile and found the real population of fish. As I continued to fish that zone I found there were saddles within the contour and the fish seemed to hold in the saddles. I found some stumps within the saddles. They were the spots that held the larger bass. Then I refined it further with a bait choice and even further with the type of retrieve. IT wasn't the fish that made it one of the best days I have ever had, it was the process that got me on them. I will not take credit for my learning this. It took someone to get me to open my eyes and continue to learn. I hope this helps someone. If it does, let me know, I will tell my buddy who shared it with me.

Staring and looking clueless. I don't need to be in a tackle store to that.

Great job. I would put her around 6 pounds.

Welcome to the forum !!! Reels are truly a personal preference and you can expect a broad set of opinions. That's not a bad thing. There are so many good options out there and lot's of members are happy with what they use. I read what you are looking for. I would at least suggest you research the Lews Tournament Pro, the Tournament series and the MG series. I think you will like what you see. Good Luck.

1/2 ounce spinnerbait and a Deep Little N crankbait.

Raider, I am sorry to hear of the loss of Grandpops. This may sound strange, but the fact you feel the loss of your grandfather the way you do tells me he was a man blessed with the love and admiration of a grandson. Take the fruits of the relationship with Grandpops and pass it on. I lost my grandfather in 1976 and still miss him deeply. I lost my dad in 1998 and miss him every day. The fact we miss those we love shows how they were and are still a part of us. Thanks for sharing that piece of your life. We all have more in common than just a little green fish.

I have a nickname for every lure in my boat when someone else is with me. It's "thats-my-last-one " lure.

Man, When you said medium heavy Excel I figured you looked at the 734. The jump from the 734 to 735 is HUGE. The 735 has the action of a pool cue. I had one and used it for hollow body frogs with heavy braid. It's more like a mag heavy or a Dobyns 6 power. The Excels are a great 100 dollar rod but the power ratings are inconsistent and some guys were dissappointed when they got a rod with too much power or not enough. As long as you knew what action was coming, most Lamiglas owners including me were pleased with the Excels. Dobyns ratings are much more consistent and there is a progression in the powers. That is one of the factors that impressed me to go with Dobyns products. The Savvy 734 rating is accurate. I'm just saying my buddy Tom throws Rago BVD3's and River2Sea S-Wavers with his and that model handles the load pretty well. I just preferred a rod with more power for those baits and found the 735 could launch them. Sorry to be long winded.

First off, The Excel won't even come close to handling 1.5 ounce. The Savvy 734 can. My buddy throws a 1.5 ounce hard swimbait with his all the time. That rod will handle your spinnerbaits easily and can also do double duty with squarebills and jigs. I prefer the 5 power for 1.5 ounce baits. None of the Savvys except the flippin has a full rear grip. Good luck.

It really depends on the body of water. Three to seven depending on on that and the species.

Green pumkin, Black Blue fleck, Watermelon redflake and GYCB 176.

Dobyns 735 and 50# Suffix 832 braid for me. I use the Lews MG in 7.1 to 1. I like the longer handle for this application. I have never bent a hook using braid but I understand the concern.