Bluebasser86

Dang, I was hoping you had some technique to share with the class to catch smallies on frogs

Never heard of it before, just spent the last hour on their website,

I never use a trailer on a buzzbait, very rarely on a spinnerbait, 100% of the time with a jig. I like pork trailers, especially when I'm targeting big fish, pork catches pigs

I'd paint my nails pink if that's what it took to catch more big bass I think the easiest way to catch big bass around here would be to move somewhere else though. Great so far. Haven't caught any monsters on them but as soon as I got them poured we got slammed with this cold front. Once I get a day that the wind isn't blowing 20+ on my days off I'll venture down to one of the power plant lakes and see if I can bend them out. I did snag a very hard fighting brushpile with one and managed to lift the whole thing off the bottom and retrieve my jighead without bending it.

Thankfully I'll be fishing tomorrow/today Supposed to get all the way up to 30 degrees, might as well right?

For smallmouth? I know some guys that have caught smallies on toads and a few on frogs, never heard anybody targeting them with frogs though. I bet that's a hoot.

That's the stuff. Makes me sad to think I have several months before I get to flip any of it again

I go on a lot of unplanned trips after work. Something about watching the sun come up while I'm working just makes the urge to go too strong to resist a lot of days. Anything on my days off has to be planned. Have to get the okay from the wife and make sure I have someone to watch my son for me to be able to go.

I use the same two rods for a majority of baits in both those categories, both are spooled with 10lb copolymer.

Wearing white underwear is just asking to fail as it is I keep all the important stuff in the same place all the time, that way I can run through my metal checklist faster and get on the road. It's important to me to have a checklist and I'll often have one in my head for the guys I'm fishing with. I didn't use to, until a buddy and I went on a weekend bowfishing trip and he forgot....his BOW!! Nothing like having to take turns shooting all weekend

Don't waste your time. Fish will eat them, but all you catch are fewer fish and they're not even big ones when it happens, don't believe me? The big fish just don't seem to be with the "big baits catch big fish" program around here

I use as low as 10 on one of our lakes. The big fish there are super line shy for some reason. You can catch tons of dinks on normal gear, but the big girls require you to go to light fluorocarbon. Unfortunate thing is that it's nothing but rocks and docks and now it has zebra mussels, as if getting a 5+ pound fish out from under a dock with post going to the bottom isn't hard enough.

The Big Bite version is cheaper and works well also.

I've never fished a Powell but I wouldn't buy the Mojo unless you really just want a durable rod. They aren't bad rods, but they're not very good rods for what you're wanting to do in that price range. I have a 7' 3" H/F Ethos that I paid $50 for with micro guides that's more sensitive and lighter than any of the Mojos I've owned. I'm thinking you're going to have a bit of a narrow selection if you're set on a 7' 3" H/F rod though. I've never fished on but *** rods have great reviews and offer one like you're looking for at $120.

When I'm committed to the swimbait is the only time I take 1 rod (even then I'll usually have a couple different swimbait rods). Even bank fishing ponds I'm going to have 3 with me a majority of the time, if not more.

Good possibility that wasn't by accident. Any of the regulars can text or PM me and I'll tell you where we were

Thank you all for your service! My signature under all my post is for those in our armed forces, and my brothers and sisters in blue here at home

Little late with this, but better late than never right? Jared and I got out awhile back before the tundra settled down on us. Wasn't all that warm, dog still went swimming right off the dock. She didn't mean to, just completely missed the boat when she tried to step into it. Good thing she's built for it as I imagine that 55 degree water got a whole lot colder when she climbed out into the 30 degree air After we finished laughing at her we got to the task at hand. Didn't take long before my jig got thumped hard and I had the first solid fish in the boat for the day. That 5/8oz black and blue home made brush jig was probably what I should have fished all day since every time I picked it up I caught a good fish it seemed like. We spent a lot of time trying to force feed the fish moving baits, and we caught fish on them, but not many of them were the same quality. Not far down that stretch, I pitched into a laydown tree and right as I was trying to pull my jig over a limb it got pulled back into the tree by another solid keeper fish. Jared caught a second quality fish out of the same tree while I was fighting mine but it was back in the water before a double picture could be taken. As we continued up the river I gave Jared a special bait that I'd tied just for the muddy water. My extra spicy, Spicy Shad bladed jig fooled another solid keeper on a stump flat. As far back as we could go in the river I got hung on a stump with my squarebill and after I tried to pop it loose once, the next time I tried the stump decided to pull back I took his picture and thanked him for getting my crankbait unstuck for me. After fighting stumps and not much else on the way back out of the river we made a short run to a steep rock bank where the extra spicy snagged Jared's big fish of the day that was just shy of 4 pounds. . Continued down that bank when my jig got popped yet again by another solid keeper fish. We had a long lull of not much other than a couple dinks and 2 of my 3 drum for the day. As we came into a little pocket where I'd caught a good fish a month prior on a spicy shad bladed jig, I tossed the same bait at the point leading into the pocket and got whacked. I think it was the same fish I caught the month before on the same bait, but it was 4.84 instead of 4.44 this time. One more fish out of that pocket before we went on another long, fishless stretch. Decision was made to run back towards the river on the opposite side and fish back towards the main lake on that side. That quickly paid off with what would prove to be my biggest of the day, and the year. I drug my jig off a rock and it just went weightless as my line started moving away towards deeper water. Not much give on the hookset and the little tank didn't want to give up. I finally got the net under her, man did she want that jig! Super thick fish getting ready for the long winter ahead that went 5.89 pounds. Didn't have a mark on her either. As the sun was sinking down we caught a few more little guys and I had 1 solid fish on a jig and another on a squarebill. The numbers were not terrific, but I'll trade a bunch of dinks for some quality fish any day!

Little late with this, and several of you have already seen the pictures but I'll put them up anyways. Jared and I got out awhile back before the tundra settled down on us. Wasn't all that warm, dog still went swimming right off the dock. She didn't mean to, just completely missed the boat when she tried to step into it. Good thing she's built for it as I imagine that 55 degree water got a whole lot colder when she climbed out into the 30 degree air After we finished laughing at her we got to the task at hand. Didn't take long before my jig got thumped hard and I had the first solid fish in the boat for the day. That 5/8oz black and blue home made brush jig was probably what I should have fished all day since every time I picked it up I caught a good fish it seemed like. We spent a lot of time trying to force feed the fish moving baits, and we caught fish on them, but not many of them were the same quality. Not far down that stretch, I pitched into a laydown tree and right as I was trying to pull my jig over a limb it got pulled back into the tree by another solid keeper fish. Jared caught a second quality fish out of the same tree while I was fighting mine but it was back in the water before a double picture could be taken. As we continued up the river I gave Jared a special bait that I'd tied just for the muddy water. My extra spicy, Spicy Shad bladed jig fooled another solid keeper on a stump flat. As far back as we could go in the river I got hung on a stump with my squarebill and after I tried to pop it loose once, the next time I tried the stump decided to pull back I took his picture and thanked him for getting my crankbait unstuck for me. After fighting stumps and not much else on the way back out of the river we made a short run to a steep rock bank where the extra spicy snagged Jared's big fish of the day that was just shy of 4 pounds. . Continued down that bank when my jig got popped yet again by another solid keeper fish. We had a long lull of not much other than a couple dinks and 2 of my 3 drum for the day. As we came into a little pocket where I'd caught a good fish a month prior on a spicy shad bladed jig, I tossed the same bait at the point leading into the pocket and got whacked. I think it was the same fish I caught the month before on the same bait, but it was 4.84 instead of 4.44 this time. One more fish out of that pocket before we went on another long, fishless stretch. Decision was made to run back towards the river on the opposite side and fish back towards the main lake on that side. That quickly paid off with what would prove to be my biggest of the day, and the year. I drug my jig off a rock and it just went weightless as my line started moving away towards deeper water. Not much give on the hookset and the little tank didn't want to give up. I finally got the net under her, man did she want that jig! Super thick fish getting ready for the long winter ahead that went 5.89 pounds. Didn't have a mark on her either. As the sun was sinking down we caught a few more little guys and I had 1 solid fish on a jig and another on a squarebill. The numbers were not terrific, but I'll trade a bunch of dinks for some quality fish any day!

Yes, and not just for crappie

Bait!! or golden shiner... or both

Yep, most of our smaller lakes are lined with it along the banks. Probably the only thing that allows me to fish shallow during the heat of the summer. Most of the bigger lakes don't have it because the levels fluctuate too much to support it. Always exciting to pitch into that stuff and watch the weeds quickly parting as a bass attacks the bait.

I have 8 of their rods and only ever had one break. I took it in without a receipt and the whole process took less than 5 minutes. Most of their rods have a barcode right on the rod (mine do anyways), so the customer service rep scanned my rod, I grabbed the replacement, new rod was scanned, new receipt printed and return slip signed and I was out the door.

No perch around here unfortunately. Pretty fish, easy to catch, and good eating!