Bluebasser86

"This fishing stuff is easy, why do guys make such a big deal about it?" Your son's girlfriend, probably Congrats to her

I'm usually the one telling people they should have been there the day I was. Sometimes I think they must think I'm making stuff up or using live bait or something.

No, it just effects the running depth.

Intentionally keeping the backseater off fish is against the rules in a lot of the tournaments I've fished. I've seen a couple grievances filed and won by backseaters over it. I think a lot of it would be avoided by guys just communicating with each other. I always understood the boater got first dibs on the best water, but I always talked to my boater also. Everyone has their own quirks and pet peeves. If they're put out there and understood at the start of the day, then I didn't have to worry about unintentionally irritating my boater all day. I didn't expect to be catered to, but backseaters pay entry fees just the same and deserve a shot at catching fish. Thankfully, I never had a real bad experience but I've heard some horror stories. Seems like there's always some details left out that come out later where both sides made the situation worse though. I won several tournaments as a backseater when I was club fishing, my boater never placed well in those tournaments. My boater won several also, I never did well in those tournaments.

Couple weeks to a month. A big rain can mess it up, or it can fire it up even more.

Good thing there wasn't anyone bank fishing with that house right there. Cutting corners is a big no-no in my book but I don't tournament fish often and I'm never in a big enough hurry to try to kill myself or someone else over winning the ones I do fish.

Wind blown banks are usually best. They'll get surprisingly shallow, 1-2 feet of water, looking for winter killed shad.

I use a 7' 3" the most. It isn't necessarily ideal, just what I like and use the most. I also use a couple 7 footers, a 7' 1", 7' 5", and 7' 6".

Saw quite a few reviews of people having issues with them sinking right out of the pack but hopefully they've addressed that issue.

I'd throw a spinnerbait all day unless you find some clearer water. I did really well at LOZ once early after a big rain with a white spinnerbait with double copper Colorado blades, only bait we could get them to bite but it was like flipping a light switch when we went to that thing.

War Eagle Finesse isn't exactly a Colorado bladed spinnerbait, but it's the best finesse spinnerbait I've ever fished.

Use a lighter and heat the screwlock for Zman baits.

Slider head with a Zoom Centipede will get bit in clear water when almost nothing else will.

Black with the yellow stripes of the ones they still make. I use to use one that was blue with silver glitter with yellow legs that was a killer bait but doesn't look like they make it anymore.

Welcome! Also a big fan of the Flicker Shad Shallow. A very underutilized bait for bass.

A year ago today a buddy of mine had a 20lb bag from DOCO. A 5, 5 1/4, one a little over 6 (his PB), with a 2.5 and a 3 to round out his limit. He got broke off in a brush pile on a spinnerbait by one he thought was bigger than the 6 he caught. There's a lot more big fish in there than most people think, it's just hard getting past the dinks and they have so much to eat.

warmest I saw wasn't quite 52*

I've always had better success with EWG hooks than round bend worm hooks. For a 10" worm, a 5/0 is just fine. I've got some 17" hand pours that are thicker than my thumb so I needed something with a lot of hook gap for baits like that.

I like EWG hooks. The Gamakatsu Monster Worm hook is my favorite.

We have frogs croaking here. That's the only authority I trust that winter is over.

It looks like a knockoff Erie Deerie. You put a half a crawler or lip hook a minnow on the back. You can either lob cast it, slow troll it, or drift it.

Them swimbaits are getting more realistic all the time!

So who took their frogs out of storage this weekend? ?

I've got a 100 Tatula I've been using for a frog reel since they came out. Launches a frog and not seeing any issues from the rigors of frog fishing I've put it through.

I use a Falcon Bucoo 7' 4" H/F and it's been an excellent frog rod for a very affordable price.