RichF

Try a 6.5 in hollow belly swimbait!

I should get a pic of my wife's face on a jersey since she's the one that has to OK all my fishing trips now. That's kinda like being sponsored, right??

Are there any bass under 5lbs in that lake????? Freakin awesome trip and videos! You boys wore'em out again! Nice work!

I was fortunate enough to be able to move the family back home to NY for the summer due to COVID and telework. It also gave me the opportunity to fish with my old man a lot more than the I have in the last 5 or so years. While the fishing was a bit off this year in many of our home waters, we finished the summer with an absolute BANG! Stuck a 27.91lb sack of northern largies out of the 12ft tin boat. Second biggest largemouth bag we've ever gotten. Most were caught flipping various heavy baits in grass, with 2 coming off the drop shot. The biggest of the bunch went 6.5.

I've been 'majorly' turned off by MLF for awhile now. I've said it before, MLF is essentially a few guys trying to own the entire industry. Yes I get it...capitalism...but as a ridiculously passionate bass angler, I have a hard time believing what they're doing is good for the sport. And of course, along with their general business practices, their constant brand plugging, senko slinging, and annoying catch phrases have put a 'major' dampening on their likeability...for me anyway.

I also think the H2O is a great valued box. If they make a 3600, I'm all over it.

I only ran into one situation where it was the best option. Just after ice out in upstate NY, some fish were in super shallow grass. The 3/8 oz got buried unless you burned it, which the bass didn't like. I was able to reel the 1/4 oz very slowly and that seemed to do the trick. Haven't used them since.

Holds 42 spinnerbaits. Buzzbaits are a no go.

Just picked up a couple of Flambeau's new offerings and thought I'd share my first impressions. First up, the Crank Bank. Neat idea. The individual cups can be removed which allows for decent customization. They can accommodate 6XDs and DT-16s (without hook bonnets). I've also got smaller cranks doubled/tripled in some slots. You can also fit decent sized jerkbaits in the cups (deep diving x-rap, Spro Mcsticks). Second is the Blade Krate. I love this thing. Such a nifty idea. No bending spinnerbait arms or ruining skirts like in the old FTO/Plano Spinnerbait boxes and no swinging/banging into each other like in a traditional spinnerbait box. I've got spinnerbaits up to 1oz in there. Bladed jigs hang by their hook. The dividers do a great job keeping skirts straight and protected. The overall construction of these things is wayyy better than I was expecting for the price ($19.99). I haven't been able to test out the anti-rust properties but I imagine they'll be on par with other brands rust inhibitors. The one thing that could be seen as a negative is the shape/size. These things aren't fitting in any tackle bag. They're meant for a boat or home storage (which is what I'm using them for right now). As a side note, I have to give props to Flambeau's customer service as well. One of the dividers in the Blade Krate came damaged. I sent them an email with pics and the mailed me 2 free replacements in a couple days.

I have the 7'4 HF Avid-X. I actually don't use it all that often but I've tried several things on it. It's not a broomstick and I would say it's a true fast action. It works well with frogs but I use mine mostly for 5-6 in hollow belly swimbaits and heavy swing heads. I've pitched a jig with it a little but didn't like it for that. It has a fairly short handle so the balance isn't great. I've owned several Croixs and have never found one I REALLY like for flipping and pitching. This one will do what you want it to do though.

Def a Pinnacle. Not sure of the model though.

Well then...they pull the senko off the hook, it sinks to the bottom, then they eat it from there.

Wasn't there a BR article put out not too long ago about finding plastics in the stomachs of bass? Regardless, we all know that wacky rigged senkos don't stay on the hook after a fish hits it and/or you fight it to the boat. Saw plenty fling off the hook during the show. Extrapolate that out....all but 2 anglers I saw were using them exclusively, and they caught quite a few over the course of the day. Let's not forget it's multiple days. I'm not sure if saying zero plastics left in fish is even close to accurate.

Better question...how many of those Pokegama bass ended up croaking because all the senkos left by those jabronies. I couldn't stomach watching "the best in the world" all tossing senkos to spawning/post spawn bass in an un-pressured northern lake, so I never saw the new MLF record. I know I'll take some heat for this but, sheesh...You don't have to be the best to do what those guys did. And for all the fish care/conservation preaching MLF has done in promotion of their product, none of them seem to mind leaving hundreds of senkos in the lake and/or the basses' stomachs.

The pros don't seem so invincible when they're fishing outside of the Pre-spawn/spawn window! I'm rather enjoying this tournament, haha.

I know this thread is kinda old but that jig box design has already been done. The older Falcon/Plano spinnerbait boxes had the same bait keeper design. It's OK but those dividers will wear up your skirt bands pretty quickly. I don't know how many times I pulled out a bait only to have the skirt fall apart because the divider tore the rubber band. Just something to think about before dropping $30+ on a box.

That's actually by design. The offset head size is supposed to keep the bait running true all the time. I bought a few but haven't thrown them yet.

I've only got one 2 incher left and 2 of the smaller ones. IMO they blow the kvd shallow and manns baby 1 minus out of the water.

Yes. My father and I did between 2017 and 2018. While we almost never pre-fish (and didn't for any of those events we won) we know each of the bodies of water pretty well. If you're talking about no pre-fishing on a completely unknown body of water, winning multiples is a bit more unlikely.

They used to be pretty good for the price, although I wasn't a fan of the wire bait keeper. I just picked a few up a month or two ago and they are not exactly the same. They're build on a crappy VMC hook now which are super dull out of the package.

I used to think the same way until I actually started fishing tournaments. When you're not in it, the whole mental aspect of tournament fishing is removed. If you have money, points, etc. riding on the event, you will just fish differently. It's more stressful so you'll struggle to make decisions. Should I leave this area I caught one in? Should I stay and grind out a limit? Do I need to try and find bigger fish? What are the other guys catching? Has someone already been through my area and smashed'em?...Is that why I can't get bite? Should I make that run? How much time do I have left??? You get the point. Actually being in the event is just different. You have to try one to really understand.

Check out Picasso's offerings. They have a bunch of different variations and their basic ones are pretty cheap and decent quality.

I think the dynamic with the gobies is kinda the same now. There are gobies EVERYWHERE on Ontario and the St. Lawrence, like literally everywhere. The bass are definitely not everywhere the gobies are.

Lake Ontario may be a little different. In the middle of summer, I would say the vast majority of smallies go deep (20-50ft). You can always find fish shallow, but you won't find the numbers or size. Finding summertime smallies in Ontario (or any great lake) is incredibly daunting, but once you find them, they're almost always easy to catch. Graph around the obvious stuff like big islands, points, or main lake shoals. Look for the stuff everyone tells you to looks for: bottom composition transitions, steep drop offs, rock piles, etc. The most important thing I've learned over the years is this...if you fish an area you think looks good but you don't get bit...move on. If there is a school of them in the area, they will almost always bite, if you get a bait near them. As for baits, all the typical smallmouth stuff will work when you find fish: tubes, drop shot, neds, small swimbaits.

To be fair...I HIGHLY doubt Kriet and McClelland actually found that spot "on their own." Why on Earth would an angler even think about making that kind of run to some little hidey hole unless they knew a guy who knew a guy, who fished that spot sometime ago? Same with the Pee Dee River tournaments where guys never fished there but ran hundreds of miles to get into one section of river that held all the fish. Like do we really think the Elites are SO good that their intuition tells them to drive their boats 200 miles from the body of water they launch on?? Little off topic, so to get back to the OP...yeah maybe just ask the dude when you're on the water. If he says no, have your tourney director eliminate that lake from the schedule. If he can't share, nobody gets to fish it lol.