Bluebasser86

Wrap them with thread, copper wire from a craft store, bread ties, or small cable ties. Cable ties is the fastest, wire is the best looking imo. I already make a lot of my own stuff and wire tie it all so I always add wire to my store bought spinnerbaits and jigs.

A reminder; We are absolutely against any form of illegal fishing and will not allow any such threads or posts advocating such activity. All such posts are deleted. In addition, any material or posting that advocates or discusses illegal activities, with or without the intent to commit them, is prohibited. This includes activities such as software and music piracy, and other intellectual property violations. It's just a fish, breaking the law is not worth it to catch them.

I let action do the talking.

Yes,there's lead that runs down the hook shank also. I can try to remember to take a better picture of it when I get home in the morning. That's the only one I have. I found it and have barely used it so I can't tell you much more about it than what's in the picture.

A tungsten sinker could keep your body size smaller while upping the weight. I've seen egg sinkers used for bodies on heavier inlines also.

If you're fishing a lot of TM only lakes, I'd 100% go 24v, but you don't need an 80lb. That's the same size I have on my Stratos. You could go the minimal sized 24v and even put a transom mounted tm on the back also and run 2 at once if you have a second person. I run 2 on mine fishing from TM only lakes. I had a regular 14' Lowe with a deck built on it and had no issues with 2 adults standing and fishing in it so you'll be just fine.

Skirt isn't off, but you can see the keepers. It's just a double keeper, one off the front and one off the back.

Copper, gold, and painted blades are where it's at in dirty water.

2365 was my ending count, 412 short of last time I kept track, but my quality was a lot better this year than it was that year. Overall, it was a good year, but I can't wait to get back to not tracking my fish next year.

4.5-5 would be my guess. It looks like you have the fish's belly turned in slightly towards you, which makes a big difference in how large the fish appears in a picture. A good cameraman would have told you it was tilted away from the camera so you could have tilted it back to center and got the full glory of the fish in the picture.

Air temp is really not that important imo. Actual weather conditions and most likely air pressure are more important than air temp. The fish can't feel the air temps, so it's more just what you're comfortable fishing in. One of my best days of fishing, it was -2 when we launched and barely made it into the 20's, but we had a mid 20lb bag for the day with a 6 3/4lb fish and a 7 1/2lb fish in the mix. I couldn't even run my Virb because it was so cold it just kept shutting off, but the fish were biting!

There's several. Of my top 5 smallmouth last year (all over 4 to just shy of 5lbs), none were from Melvern or Milford.

Wouldn't the discrepancy not be a thing since the scales must be certified? I would understand it more with fish over a certain weight. Say a new world record blue marlin or Mako. They could hold quite a bit of just water just on their skin that would add to their weight several ounces I'm sure.

When you got exactly what you were hoping for on Christmas morning.

Couple days late but Merry Christmas to everyone! I actually had the whole day off and got to spend it with my family, which is great when you've got a couple little ones.

Gift cards to Academy and BPS, some reel covers, light and flag for back of my kayak, fish grippers, several bags of beef jerky, wool socks.

Our oldest woke us up at 6:30 and our youngest was still sleeping at the time, so I think they did pretty good, better than I did as a kid.

I've caught most of mine from Table Rock but quite a few from Stockton and Bull Shoals also. Never any over 4 pounds though. All my smallmouth over 4lbs have come from Kansas lakes.

I use it on a few reels and love it. Great on my frogging reel, casting distance is crazy.

I use an Okuma TCS 6' 9" MH/MF for jerkbaits and it would work well for poppers as well. I've used a lot of jerkbait rods looking for one I really like, and I really like this one.

I have a taco clip on mine and I don't even have to put the latch down over it because it snaps in so firmly. It's very handy since mine is a pedal yak and I rarely need my paddle but when I do, it's usually when I need it quickly and fumbling trying to undo the strap is a pain.

Caught a lot of fish on jerkbaits this year, with the Strike King 300 in sexy shad or blue chrome, 6th Sense Provoke 106 in French Pearl or Violet Panda, and the Headhunter in French Pearl or Banana being the most productive. Bladed jigs were big players, as always. The red craws were big in the spring with the cold dirty water, then the solid blue was big in the summer like it always is. Ned was steady, and produced some bigguns, including my 2 biggest largemouth of the year and 2 of my top 5 smallies of the year. The LMB fell for a big TRD in hot craw and a 10,000 Fish sukoshi bug in green pumpkin/orange. Both smallmouth went for a purple death TRD ticklerz. A spinnerbait caught a lot of big fish. Didn't matter what color, as long as it was white with gold or copper blades. The swinging football head with a rage bug or menace was really good for a good stretch in the spring, especially for big smallmouth. It accounted for 2 of my biggest of the year, including the biggest that was a crawdad short of 5 pounds. The 6th Sense Catwalk exploded onto the scene, and tons of fish subsequently exploded on it. A Black Canoe Lures balsa crank was extremely productive later in the year when the fish got up really shallow chasing shad. It was the best bait going for weeks it felt like. A jigging spoon was hot for several weeks during the heat of the summer. The 7/8oz War Eagle was catching everything that swims and was gorging on the newly hatched shad in the deeper, cooler water. Jigs, both my homemade 1/2oz flipping jig and a 3/8oz Trashmaster jig caught lots of quality fish. Of course the plastics for flipping were steady. Mostly a YUM Wooly bug, YUM Bad Momma, or Big Big Baits Yomoma flipping them into the water willows.

I'd guess price, odd shape, and minimal storage space for their size. I do remember seeing the launch pad, and thinking that looks like a cool idea. I bet I could use a pool noodle and do the same basic concept for less than a dollar though.

Seems like a lot of initial work but with the fact that I use so few cranks, it would probably save me a lot of untangling getting one of the 3 baits I fish out from all the rest that just ride around in my boat.