Bluebasser86

This post makes me sad. Not because your brother killed a good one, that's awesome, but because I won't get to go this year Not like I live in a good state for deer hunting or anything.... Congrats to your little brother, I'm sure you're both proud.

Watch out for the gill plates, dorsal fin, and teeth (duh). 3" Berkley power minnow or Keitech Swing Impact on a jighead and suspending jerkbait catch a majority of my walleye every year. Rattle Traps and shad raps are popular baits for them as well. Jigging spoons are great when they're in deep water. Use the appropriate rods and reels for the baits you're using just like in bass fishing. I prefer to chase them with spinning gear but catch plenty on casting gear as well.

We call that "Kansas Clear" Black, firetiger, and bright orange with hammered brass blades are the way to go. Bladed jigs give out a ton of vibration and are one of my first options in muddy water. Had a great day just a couple weeks ago in a very muddy lake with a firetiger or solid black bait with a black blade.

I was in my boat at the upper end of Taney when I spotted an indicator that appeared to be snagged. Hoping there was a good micro jig or nymph on the end, I motored over to grab it when it plunked under Took a little wrangling but I finally chased it down and handlined in a small rainbow with a T.J. micro jig in it's mouth. Ended up catching a bunch of fish on that jig under the same indicator. I've had that happen with a channel cat at a local lake with a bobber the size of a small beach ball too.

Academy has a very nice set of rain gear that is similar to the Guidewear/100mph suit, but for a fraction of the cost. I know a couple guys that have them and love them.

The fish around here don't seem to like your buddy unless they have stripes.

Also a big fan of the 7' 8" MH/M Mojo "Big Crankster". I fish the 6XDs and big H2O baits on it with no problems and it doesn't break the bank.

What is this "End of the season?" You mean when the calendar goes to the new year and I have to buy a new license so I don't get a ticket when I'm on the water on New Year's Day? That's always a good day to go, everyone else is at home hungover

Provided you're using the appropriate sized baits they should cast as far if not farther.

This is what I do to freeline live shad for wipers during the winter time. A wiper bite is a bit easier to detect than a bass strike, but I've caught a lot of bass doing it too and never deep hooked a fish. I use a #6 or #4 Gamakatsu Octopus hook a majority of the time and miss very few fish, and like I said, never hook one deep.

I probably catch more crappies each year on a jerkbait while fishing for bass than anything else. Once I catch a few I usually switch to a 65 Pointer and really put it to them! You can catch some real slabs on a full sized jerkbait though.

I regularly use a 3/32oz jighead when targeting smallmouth with small, finesse plastics. My biggest smallmouth of the year fell for that setup in fact.

I'd use it for catfish and that's about it, and it wouldn't be very ideal for that even. A rod that short and heavy is going to be very tiring to fish for bass very long.

They're a huge pain both when they're floating on the top and when they're cluttering up the bottom. Long pauses and small twitches will catch fish as long as the water is soft enough to fish them. A very lightly weighted or even weightless soft plastic is about the only other thing I fish in the dead of winter at ponds. If you get a good warm stretch a slow rolled, single Colorado bladed spinnerbait will catch some pigs.

I think this has pretty much run it's course now. Good Night!

What a giant! Always wanted to catch a snook but never have had a chance to chase them.

If I'm bank fishing a pond in the winter a suspending jerkbait is what I fish 90% of the time. A big reason for that is so many ponds around here are covered with weeds or dead leaves on the bottom so it becomes the only real option.

They always shrink on the scale I think for the most part guys on here are pretty good at judging fish weight, but there are some obvious exceptions at times. If I didn't weigh a fish, I typically won't guess a weight, but it should be easy to tell the difference between a 1.5lb fish and a 3lb fish with a little experience.

Heavier cover or heavier baits call for casting gear Open water and/or lighter baits call for spinning gear Easiest breakdown I could give you on how I decide which to go with. Obviously there are exceptions, but that's the baseline I start with in making my decision on which to go with.

I had a Lowe, not a Lund. My Ranger was a 451V, loved the boat, hated the motor (Black Max). Never ran well, no matter how much money I sank into it. Basically had a several thousand dollar dock with a trolling motor on it.

I enjoy fishing ponds, but I also enjoy the challenge of figuring out big lakes. The biggest bass in our state almost always are caught at farm ponds though.

Maybe the wind was stirring up too much mud and making it difficult for the bass to feed? Or that area you caught them at is just plain better cover than the other side. Was the side you were fishing on shaded perhaps?

I guess Jared and I will be out there as well. We're going to launch from Sundance and see how bad a new part of the lake can beat us.

At least it was a tiny trap so the hooks weren't quite as big. I got stuck by a XRK25 that came screaming back to the boat after an unsuccessful hookset a couple weeks ago. Even those little #8 trebles are still hard to get back out. Glad everything turned out okay for you.

I own both, I wish I could take the $100 I spent on the Speed Spool and go back when the Mettle was on sale for $30 and buy 3 more of those instead. Speed Spools are great reels don't get me wrong, but so is the Mettle, especially when they were $30.