Bluebasser86

That is just a great looking fish. Great little video too. That rush of emotion you can tell you're having in that video I think is what keeps us all coming back!

Last year I kept track of the number of bass I caught out of curiosity. Even that was a chore though, my hat really goes off to the guys with the patience to note all the factors about the fish they catch.

I'm still in the stone age, no smart phone to get pictures here. Had an I phone for about 3 months before it went swimming, that's why I stick with the old school cheap phones I have no doubt it catches fish, at 4.5 ounces I'd have to get a new rod just to fish a 10 incher though.

Had this happen many times with smallmouth, most recently with one of the biggest smallmouths I've ever seen. She followed my bait to the boat and was so big and dark I thought it was a drum. Dropped my bait back to the bottom and she followed it back down and right as she got out of sight I got hit. I was more than disappointed with the 13 incher that had actually taken my bait. I have had big smallmouth and largemouth both try to steal a bait away from a smaller fish though, sometimes successfully.

Wow it looks like the water was extremely clear? Very pretty looking fish though, and a largemouth off the dam? Only witnessed that once before but it was a 5 1/2 pounder.

Well you won't have to worry about vampires while you're fishing

A really wide gap hook is a must for them. I like them and fish them on the same gear I fish my frogs on.

I like to do this with a baby brush hog or large straight tail worm or 10" worm.

Left side: Bomber Fat A, Strike King series 3, Norman's deep little N or DD14. Right side: Bomber Fat A, Strike King series 3, Bomber Model A Middle: Bomber Model A

All the ones one the left are Norman's baits, so are the top two on the right. The 3rd from the bottom on the right is a Strike King, either series 4 or 5, bottom one on the right is a Bagley's.

1/4oz with a 4/0 EWG hook in sparse cover, 3/8oz with the same hook for heavier cover.

I like rattle baits but I've never had any success with any of them that Rapala put out. I prefer the Xcaliber XR50 and XRK50.

I have way more confidence in that big bait than I thought I'd have. Like I said, it doesn't take much of a fish to eat one. 15" largemouth 14" Spot 11" smallie Of course it doesn't just catch dinks

Wow, 10" TT? Not sure I'm ready to step up to anything that big yet. Don't even know if my shoulders and back would be up to tossing that monster! Another great outing it looks like!

How about the story behind her? Huge head on that gal. Congrats on the new PB!

It is a little limited on selection but considering that it isn't solely an "outdoors store" it has quite a bit, way more than DSG or Sports Authority. I'm a big fan of Zoom and Berkley soft plastics so it was great to see all those baits by both companies for way cheaper than other stores in the area. I took a couple of their baits for test runs after work yesterday, the fish approved of both their frog and their prop bait.

Before I had a depthfinder and when I was fishing off a 2 man I had 2 techniques for finding offshore cover/structure. One was to fish a big, deep diving crank or heavy C-rig until I felt a difference in bottom composition, piece of cover, dropoff, or caught a fish. Points were one of my favorite places for this technique as they almost always hold some fish. The other technique, although frowned upon by some, was to watch other anglers that were fish offshore. Crappie fishermen especially tend to target offshore cover and structure.

I do have the Hitch color Slammer in the 7" single joint. It's amazing how small of fish will try to smack that thing. Never have thrown the 9" but they certainly love the 7". Our bass average pretty small so that's why I went with the 7".

Nice spot! What part of the lake were you fishing? Hoping to get some big football spots too!

I night fish a lot during the summer, just never for smallmouths. The jitterbug did catch me a few smallmouth when we went but mostly it was catching white bass. White bass are no fun to unhook from trebles in the daylight, they really suck to unhook at night.

5lb will work for some finesse applications but will be too light for a lot of techniques used for bass. Bass, largemouth especially, like to live in nasty places sometimes. 50 or 65 pound braid may seem excessive but it's what it takes to land them at times. Something like a 6' 6" medium or medium heavy fast action rod with 12-15 pound test will handle a wide array of bass fishing techniques though. I'm not familiar with the area you're in so can't comment on where to fish there but I'm sure someone who is will chime in.

Buddy of mine had a dog eat a treble hook with livers when we were catfishing once. Vet told him to give the dog lots of bread and cheese and hope it packs in around the hook so he could pass it. Hopefully the weedguard will do it's job and keep the jig from hooking anything.

X2, either that or Gorilla super glue, not regular Gorilla glue.

Pike will eat about anything, stickworms included. What happened to you is about the most telltale sign, when the line breaks easily for no apparent reason. If you buy floro leader material it might help a little bit since it's harder and a little tougher than regular floro but they'll cut that too.