Bluebasser86

They've had a lot of rain, you might not need that spinning gear. Probably going to be a lot of bushes in the water and wouldn't be surprised if there's a good flipping, spinnerbait, and buzzbait bite.

It stretches quite a bit, but I use it for presentations that I want some stretch. It also seems to become more brittle after being on the spool for awhile, or frequent use, but it's cheap so I replace it often.

The whine would drive me crazy, and the shallow spool saves on line. A properly set SV Tatula is about impossible to backlash without being overtightened. I've shown this to clients numerous times who said they couldn't fish a baitcaster.

I used a swinging poison head mold. Dremel cutting blade down to the eye of the jighead, cut a gap large enough to fit the blade. I use a line tie connector like what would normally go on the blade to tie the line to, one end goes on the blade, the other goes on the hook inside the cavity of the head. I add a wire trailer keeper, pour it all, and it's a single piece. Painting is a pain, unless you use a gun, or put the open end of the line tie up so you can pour without the blade and just add it and close the line tie as tight as possible after it's painted and baked. I usually opt for the latter, never had one open with a fish on but straight braid will open them if you get snagged an pull hard enough.

PFD, but I wear mine at all times so I have to remember to remove it whenever I get up, otherwise I have that "oh crap", moment when the motor won't start next time I try to move spots.

I was gifted a 110 +1 Jr in GLX Northern Secret and it accounted for several fish while I was on my camping trip with the family. It cast very well on casting gear for a small bait.

I'm also a fan of the KastKing gloves. I can't tell how many times the faux leather on the palms has saved me from a nasty white bass spine or gill plate.

Norman's Top Dollar

Walking baits, long wake baits, or poppers in shad colors. They love to hit a buzzbait, but hooking them is difficult at times.

They had 3 sizes if I remember correctly, a small around 2 3/4", standard 3 3/4 or 4", and large that was a hulking 5-5.5" craw. I had some of all of them. Only ever remember catching a few fish on them. Caught a huge channel cat on one of the big craws, pretty sure that was the only fish I ever caught on one of the big ones.

I don't worry about that so much, I just don't want a trailer that fights against my blade too much.

YUM Bad Momma 4.25". I guess it's discontinued, not listed on their website and impossible to find anywhere other than on the Bay. Not really sure why they cut them but I'll keep using them until they're gone I guess.

I've got 12-15 of them, several backups hanging in the garage in case I lose one of my starters. I'm pretty fond of them.

I've had days like that on Hillsdale, where I can almost call my shot and I feel like I could catch them at will. Then next time I go I nearly get skunked and the lake puts me back in my place ?

I've got 3 over 7 so far this year, including 1 that is my first 7 not from the power plant lake in several years. The big smallmouth have been impossible to find however.

I love wading creeks for smallmouth. Unfortunately, there's none within 2 hours of me.

True, those are the tournaments I thrive in. If the bite is easy, I struggle because I always feel like there's something I could be doing better, and I try to do too much. When it's tough, I'm great at grinding out bites and hitting those 1 fish spots that other guys skip over.

Am I the only one with polka-dot tan marks from Crocs? Not so much this year, but it's been pretty awesome in the past. I have constant raccoon eyes. The people I deal with at work all think I ride a motorcycle constantly, so I just go with that.

Jig or a bladed jig. If they're eating one of those 2, I'm going to catch them.

Rocks, especially riprap where there's some kind of change in the shoreline, but a transition in natural rock, like chunk rock into pea gravel, is also impossible for me to pass up.

Welcome!

Welcome and thank you for your service!

Welcome!

If I caught 1 crappie Saturday, I caught 50, not a single one while targeting them. A majority were on a TRD, but I also caught them on a 3.5" tube, dropshot, and Rozante, only 1 that I would have even had to measure to see if it was a 10" keeper or not.

Massive fish. Was it on a Ned rig? I read it was a dropshotted nightcrawler?