Bluebasser86

Only thing they eat at times.

What number is on the rod? Should be something like a 662, 663, or 664. I worked in the fishing department at Cabela's for several years and unless they've changed how they rate their rods the 662 is around a medium light, 663 is medium, and 664 is medium heavy, all fast action.

Rage Craw and YUM craw papi.

White River fingerless fleece gloves are the best way to go that I've found. For about $6 a pair I carry a few of them and change them out if one gets wet. Even without the finger tips they keep my hands warm in anything I'm willing to fish in. I have a pair of the full gloves also for when I'm making a run somewhere.

First day I went last year was 11 degrees when I launched the boat, I wouldn't try to go any colder than that, too much hassle trying to keep the guides and reel from icing up.

I have some of the pre rapala suspending warts, they're really good in cold water.

I have 2 BPS, Cabela's, 2 Academy Sports, a few DSG, and a very nice local shop called Roger's Sporting Goods, all within a half hours drive. It is a curse some days. As for the OP, I pulled my boat through 7 inches of snow with more falling fast for 5 hours to go to the Bassmaster Classic at Grand last year. I've pulled it through about that much and broke ice at the ramp just to fish more than once

You're probably better off ordering those Ol' Monsters from TW, no taxes and you don't have to drive anywhere. The Mightee worms are a really good baits. I really like to fish them weightless or on a C-rig. The heaviest weight ever weighed in at a BASS event was partially caught on a 12" Jelly Worm. The C-macs are a great bait, next to the Ol' Monsters they're my favorite big worm.

The Strike King series are great to cover all depths from top to bottom. Series 3 for the 6-7 foot range, 3XD or Series 4 for 9-10 foot range, Series 5 and 6 for the 15 foot range, Series 5XD or 6XD for the 18 foot range. The Bomber Fat Free Shads are great baits also and so are their Model A's and Fat A's.

I'd be fishing a suspending jerkbait if I was after the bass. If it were me though, I'd be targeting the trout with an ultra light. They are much more aggressive and active in cold water than bass are and are a blast on ultra light gear.

I've got to meet and fish with several guys off the forum, I consider all of them to be good friends of mine and some are regular fishing partners now. I'd love to make the road trip some time to meet some of the other guys I interact with on the boards.

If I roll a point or it doesn't feel sharp anymore then I'll change it.

In my experience, if bass are so focused on one particular kind of baitfish they can be extremely difficult to catch. They get so focused on particular sizes, colors, and movements that they can be almost impossible to get to bite. I like to let the area I'm fishing dictate what kind of prey I'm imitating.

I used to have one and fished it quite a bit. They're pretty snagless and they're still easy to find. I never fished them in deep water or with a stop and go retrieve but had decent success fishing them like a big, inline spinner. Never fished it with a trailer hook.

I try to learn new techniques or get better at something every year. Last year I was really working on getting better at deep water fishing, deep cranking specifically. I had pretty decent results, including a 7 1/2 pounder that was my second biggest fish of the year.

I've owned a couple of their cranking sticks and they're very nice rods for the money. For a good all around cranking rod I'd go with the 7' MH. That will handle squarebills to something like a Strike King Series 5 very well. If you're wanting something for even deeper running baits I'd suggest getting 2 different rods.

Where on earth would you get 2 high quality treble hooks for $.50??? Most high quality trebles are close to $1 apiece and tacking on an extra $2 to a $5 bait is going to keep people from buying a bait or at least keep them from buying as many. Where as someone may be willing to buy 2 baits at $5 apiece, they might only be willing to buy 1 if they're $7, costing the company $3. That really adds up several hundred or thousand times over. They put those hooks on there because they can keep the prices down and they're still good enough for the average Joe if he doesn't want to go through the BS of changing hooks.

I made my own with a regular EWG worm hook and texas rig my plastic, works just as well as the expensive, premade version.

Use an EWG hook (several companies offer tube hooks). Run the hook through the top (rounded end) and rig it just like a regular texposed/skin hooked plastic. The end result will look something like this and be very weedless.

It was years before I caught a bigger one, and I had to go to Canada to do that. Since then the state has stocked several lakes with smallmouth so they're now readily available, thankfully

Congrats! Spinnerbaits can be surprisingly effective in some pretty cold water at times.

They price matched some baits with Academy's prices for me awhile back, just had to show them the price online on the phone. I'm not sure if they'd match TW prices or not.

What size jerkbaits are you talking about? When I go to the White River in Arkansas we target browns with jerkbaits, the same ones I use for bass like EEratic shads, slender pointers, and rogues. All of those baits would way overload a 5' UL with 4lb test. If you're going to fish tiny jerkbaits like 48 pointers, pins minnows, or the smallest size Xraps you'd probably be alright but I'd still probably go with a little longer rod in a light power with a fast action to fish the baits better. I fish my jerkbaits for browns on 6lb Pline C21.

Have a Happy New Years guys! Be safe tonight, I don't want to see anyone when I get back to work Probably going to be another month or so before I have any fishing reports to add but even the bad reports help to know that someone is out there chasing them while I can't

Sooooo, you're having to clean out baits and tackle you used to catch fish on that doesn't work for you now that you relocated? I've got some baits that I had magical days with one time and then barely get bit after that, but I keep carrying them because you never know.