Bluebasser86

I've seen several pictures of some very chunky smallies from Clinton and the population is supposed to be doing pretty well around the dam. I've never fished Clinton and unless they really take off I'll just keep driving to Melvern

Give it a year or two and Shimano will redo them and you can get them from stores at discontinued price, at least that's been my experience in the past. I have several E series Curados, I didn't pay more than $125 for any of them and they were all new when I bought them.

I'd say you're in the right ballpark! My biggest in Canada was 36" and 12 something pounds.

I had 2 supreme XT's. I loved the reel but ripped the guts out of both of them on the hookset with a shakyhead within 2 weeks of each other? Set the hook, they'd slip badly, then make a terrible grinding noise and just continued to slip badly. I'd really like to try a Patriarch but I'm afraid the same thing would happen with it. As for the OP, I have one of the older C14's and it doesn't make a sound.

Yep, 2 of the 5 pound smallmouths I've caught in Kansas were from Milford. Not to mention the last 3 state records have come from there and a good chance that's where the next one will come from too. It isn't just the best smallmouth lake but a good lake for a lot of fish. One of my favorite parts about fishing out there is you never know what will stop your bait next!

DVT, great service and turn around and you're dealing with someone with a proven track record. I tried to save money and use a guy in my old bass club. I ended up getting back a cleaned baitcaster that no longer had any anti reverse??

I like to fish them as slowly as I can while keeping the blade vibrating, just a slow, steady retrieve. Sometimes it's best to start the retrieve right away and sometimes I'll let it sink all the way to the bottom before I start reeling. It works very well to pump the rod and kind of rip off the bottom then flutter back down too. I like black and blue or white with a chartreuse trailer or firetiger, 3/8oz is about the only size I use.

It isn't like "dragging a net" like I hear all the time either. You still have to find the fish and present it correctly or you'll just be wearing yourself out tossing a big, heavy rig all day for nothing. It isn't the best option a lot of the time either, but when it's on nothing else comes close. Great thing about fishing, if you don't like it, don't fish it! If it's working I'll be fishing it though!

Good looking spot! That's a nice part about having my small aluminum, I can get to places others can't! I'm pulled it through some shallow, narrow canals and gone through culverts into low pressured areas with it and had some great days!

Moving baits or heavy bottom contact baits in wind blown areas is how I normally go about fishing in the wind. Unfortunately living in Kansas dealing with 20-30mph winds is a way of life

I believe it was his first classic that he won with it actually. He chose a spincast reel because of something to do with the way it made his weightless plastic fall next to cover.

Yes they are, at least I got one of the sizes right

They're 1/0 and 2/0 trebles, big hooks. The baits 7" long and about as thick as 2 spooks put together. The water temp was 74 pretty much everywhere Friday.

Nights in the 50's and even a couple in the 40's have made the water temps drop like a rock. They went from low 80's to low 70's in a week at one of the lakes I fish often. The first couple days after the cold weather was a little tough but now that they're getting acclimated it's starting to fire up!

I had similar rod holders in my 2 man. Most of those plastic holders you can get extra bases for so I bought 2 rod holders and 4 bases so I put 2 bases on each side, front and back.

No pitchforks should be needed, you'll be living right next to the best smallmouth lake in the state!

By that logic it's not illegal for you to drink or smoke either, as long as you don't buy it I was your age not long ago and I was far from a perfect angel but c'mon man. I agree there's much worse things you could be doing and if dipping is you're biggest vice then you're a lot better off than a lot of people, but if you're under 18 it doesn't matter if you buy it or not, you're under age. Georgia Code - Title 16, Section 16-12-171 Cigarettes, tobacco products, or tobacco related objects you must be 18 years of age or older to purchase or use. If you are caught using tobacco you will be given up to 20 hours of community service and made to go to a class on the hazards of using tobacco.

If I need a more finesse pitching bait I'll go with a 5" stick bait with a 1/4oz weight. The Ragetail Menece is another good bait with a nice profile but not too much action that gets through cover well and gets bit.

Netbait paca chunks, Yum craw papi, Havoc Rocket craw and the Deuce, Zman Turbo Crawz, Flappin Crawz, and Punch Crawz.

The 78 pointer and 97 slender pointer MR are two of my favorites. The Luck E Strike RC stix are a great bait, I really can't tell a difference in appearance or performance from my Megabass. The Erratic shad is a great bait too and seems to catch bigger fish than my other jerkbaits for some odd reason. I have high hopes for my Perfect 10 Rogue but haven't gotten to fish it much yet.

Your first hookset looked like about half my hooksets in the lakes around here with zebra mussels, not anything you can really do about it I know the pain in that second one, I can catch a drum on about anything it seems like.

Traps, spinnerbaits, and walking baits.

One of the biggest one I argue with is the "match the hatch" rule. Sometimes it is 100% true, but times when there's millions of shad in the lake I do much better to offer them something in a different color or size to stand out from the crowd.

I agree that they can be used to catch bass, and if you enjoy fishing with them more power to you, I'm not in that category though. I'm far from a "bass snob" but even after playing with some of the higher end ones like the Zebco Omega and Daiwa Goldcast, the lack of casting accuracy and painfully slow retrieve speeds were not something I could deal with. I enjoy fishing with my baitcasters and spinning reels more and that's the name of the game if you're fun fishing right? I do own a Daiwa Goldcast that I loan out to beginners and kids when they fish with me though and it performs very well for them and has handled some pretty nice bass and catfish.

They'll deliver straight to your house too. They aren't the only place that carries Strike King cranks either, they're just a site sponser so I could post up the link.