Bluebasser86

Party starts at 6 anyone that wants to be there is welcome to stop by.

1/4 or 3/8oz football jighead and stroke it along the bottom. They work pretty well on a keel weighted swimbait hook but I like the Sick Fish better for that.

Great bait, lube them up with some Megastrike and try to keep the fish from jumping and they'll last a lot longer. A drop of superglue on the nose of the bait helps sometimes too.

3/8oz black on black Cavitron

He had the right color and you didn't.

Only takes one bite on a big bait to make a night go from mediocre to great, I'd say that one did it!

Well we just got back from the Doctor. No doubt, it's a boy and there's only one thankfully! We're waiting to have a party this Sunday to reveal to our families so anyone on here that I'm friends with on Facebook, no telling!

I usually start in the areas that will get sun first and then move to the shady area second, provided the bite slows in the first area.

IMO, yes a 5/0 hook is overkill for a pit boss, at least the original size. If you're fishing the Papa Pit Boss then a 5/0 would be fine. If you're trying to imitate a bluegill with the pit boss I'd check out the lime-purple passion or perfection blue colors, great bluegill imitations.

As a few of you guys on here are aware my wife and I are expecting our first child at the end of this year/early next year. This afternoon we get to go find out what we're going to be having. It's a crazy mix of emotions between the excitement, nervousness, concern, happiness, just a mess. I love seeing the pictures of guys on here taking their kids fishing, hope that will be me in a few years Of course I'll have to get a bigger boat to fit a family now instead of just me and the wife She's been great so far through her pregnancy, even got on the water with me a couple times still. She fished a local Bassresource get together with me in April through some cold, rainy weather. She even caught the second biggest fish of the day and her new PB smallmouth! Then we went on vacation the next month and visited a friend who lives on a private lake in South Carolina. She caught a bunch of fish, including the biggest bass of the trip and her new PB largemouth! Not really any point to this post I suppose, just kind of pondering what the day will bring and sharing some of my excitement with everyone

I fish a lot, my boards get wet and dry out a lot. Plus I fish in the scorching heat we get in the summer, the below freezing temps we get in the winter, drag my boat down some nasty dirt roads and through snow and road chemicals during the winter. Plus I'm a tightwad when it comes to stuff like that I guess so I'd use spare 2x4's from job sites when I was doing construction, probably not the best boards to use for a boat trailer but they saved me from having to buy new ones. I've had a couple get broken by what I'm guessing was people climbing on my trailer in the parking lots (not broken when I parked the truck, broken when I got back to the ramp). As for the difference, I'm not 100% but I believe the Bunk Boards are more durable than the plastic lumber. I know I've been very impressed with them so far and they're showing very little signs of wear after 2 solid years of use. They were worth it from what I've seen so far and come with a lifetime warranty. That plastic decking might support the weight of a boat, but I wouldn't bet my boat on it. If the UBB break and dump my boat on the pavement or highway I can take the issue up with them. If I put deck boards on my trailer and it happens I'm guessing my insurance guy would just laugh at me.

I've caught fish on them with no claws also, not much different than a beaver bait really minus the thin tail. I pretty much reserve them for tournaments since they are kind of fragile but there is no way I'd try to argue against their effectiveness.

I have confidence in them and the hooks I buy are the same price in red or black nickel so I buy the red ones. As for them losing the red paint, I use that to judge when I need to change my hooks. If the hooks have caught enough fish to lose all the paint off them then I change them out.

We caught a bunch of smallies out there the 31st, none of them were deeper than 7 or 8 feet deep. It was sunny and hot when we got there and they were still right on the bank. Maybe they were just feeding good when we were there but they weren't on the deeper drops like they have been.

Nice crappie! They do get quite a bit bigger but anything over 12" is a good one in a lot of states.

That's the main thing. My Ranger never ran right, it was basically a really expensive pond hopper since the trolling motor was the only thing that worked My old Cajun I had only cost me $800 and ran better than that Ranger ever did for me.

I use a 300E for most of my swimbaits and I love it. I've handled fish up to a 20lb striper with no problem. I wouldn't be afraid to fish any of the reels suggested and certainly wouldn't rule out a round reel. I have a 400B Calcutta I use on occasion to toss big baits as well as one of Abu's nicer round reels that I used as my swimbait reel before I picked up the 300E. The Diawa Lexa is very popular with swimbaiters also.

The pit boss is my favorite pitching bait and I almost always pitch it with a 3/8oz sinker and 4/0 EWG hook if I'm pitching water willows. If you're just flipping docks or laydowns I'd drop down to a 1/4oz. Those legs flap like crazy and really seem to trigger fish with a 1/4oz weight.

I have some splash its, yellow magics, megabass pop max, and Zell pop's. The Zell Pop is by far my favorite. I'm sure the others are great but the Zell Pop outfishes them all almost every time.

I've done well with PB&J in all water colors from really clear water at Table Rock to really muddy water at Cedar Bluff. Like Jrob said you can mess with trailer color to match water color. I like black or purple in muddy water and GP or brown/purple in clear or stained water.

Happens to me a couple times every year it seems like. Topwaters and traps are what it seems to happen on most often but I've done it on cranks and jerkbaits quite a few times also. Oddly enough I've never doubled up on the A-rig despite fishing it quite a bit and catching a bunch of fish on them. Cbass12 with a white bass double A bass/green sunfish double kanasbassfisher08 with a white bass double.

Super Spook Jr is one of my favorite topwaters for smallmouth at our local reservoirs. I should fish the regular size spook more for largemouth but lately it's taken a backseat to buzzbaits and my MS Slammer.

Ever seen a crawdad try to get away from a bass? This is almost exactly what it does. It will make a few quick flips of it's tail, hop-hop-hop, then parachute back to the bottom and take up a defensive stance, pause. If the bass continues to pursue they'll usually repeat the process until they make it to safety or the fish gives up. I've watched it hundreds of times when I worked at Cabela's and helped feed the fish in the aquariums and it goes the same way almost every time. There are certainly times when a slow drag retrieve will be better but quick hops are my favorite retrieve with them.

Wouldn't have done it for a small pike, musky sure, but not a pike. Most lakes with pike have those hammer handles everywhere. Honestly I'd do what I could for a small bass but if one doesn't make it I don't get too bent out of shape. I don't ever keep any of the bass I catch so if one doesn't make it it's not the end of the world. I've ruined plastics that were still good to save a fish plenty of times and cut hooks off cranks though.

I told you it would! Were there any fish in the lake?