Bluebasser86

I just look at this picture for inspiration, this was the guy I saw just over 2 years ago when I looked in the mirror. Now I see this guy, from 240 to 180.

If you go up in size you will get less stretch. Gamma Edge fluoro seemed to have less stretch, but it also has more management problems. To me, Tatsu was the best all around fluoro I fished and now the 15lb is my main line I use on all my jig and T-rig reels.

We had a birthday party for our boys Saturday and our dogs had to be kept in the bedroom to keep them from getting fed stuff they aren't supposed to eat. Cassidee was not happy about it but she was thrilled when she got let back out of the bedroom. She made a beeline for my lap as soon as the door opened.

Congrats! I lost around 60lbs last year and have been able to keep it off so far. It's hard to believe I looked like I did in my old pictures when I see them now. I hear you on those Christmas cookies too. There's about 200 of them in our kitchen right now and I have almost no willpower when it comes to sweets.

You can catch gobs of them on a 1/8-1/4oz Little Cleo or similar spoon, 1/8 inline spinner, or a micro jig under a bobber just floating on whatever ripples there are. A light or ML/F rod with 4lb test works well for that. Or you can just throw a jerkbait for bass and the stupid things will eat those over and over again, at least they do here.

I'm kind of at the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", point with having Smackdown, Tatsu, Invisx, or AbrasX on most of my rods. I don't even know what lines are coming out because I haven't felt the need to look.

It's not for break strain. Braid floats, causing a parachute effect with a light bait on the fall an further increases the effectiveness of the Ned rig. It also helps keep the line out of bad places (zebra mussel covered rocks in my case). No stretch eliminates the need for a hard hookset, a reel and lift set is all that is needed. The buoyancy, combined with hi-vis colors makes it easy to line watch as a lot of bites happen on the fall. Braid cast further than the other lines with the light bait. I use 20lb Seaguar Smackdown Flame Green/8lb Seaguar Gold Label or Tatsu leader.

The wire keepers are a big deal because a 2.8 Keitech goes from a 1-2 fish bait to a 3-5 fish bait. I agree that paint isn't even a requirement. I can always paint my own but the color of lead is fairly baitfish colored anyways, especially when those teeth marks start digging in and exposing the shiny part under the surface.

I've got a 15hp 2 stroke in mine and use a 3 gallon but I rarely use the gas motor except one or two short runs a day. If that's all you'll do, you could get by with the 3, otherwise I'd get the 6.

That's because the same people go back to the same spots with the same baits and expect the same results over and over, it doesn't work like that. All 3 of those baits were staples for me this year like usual, but like every year, minor changes have to be made to stay a step ahead. When everyone is throwing natural colors, toss them a curveball. Fish aren't being caught on baits like a Ned or wacky rig because the conditions aren't right, or something the angler is doing, they'll always eat those baits. My 2 biggest largemouth, and 2 of my top 5 smallmouth of the year were on Ned rigs. LM were on the Sukoshi Bug and a Big TRD, both SM were on a Purple Death TRD TicklerZ. I don't even feel like I fished them as much as usual this year. Or just a whole different body style.

They're good baits, but I don't think I'd spend the money people are getting for them. I still have a few, and when I lose them they'll be replaced with something else.

I don't own either anymore as I wasn't a big fan of either bait, but really anytime that I think the fish are going to be in a chasing mood, or I just want to try for a bigger bite.

I'm just learning the bait. Making short to medium cast and then just lifting it fast enough to make the bait vibrate a few times and letting it hit bottom again. I've been letting it sit for a half second to a couple seconds and a lot of fish are just there when I lift it again, so I assume they're pinning it against the bottom and eating it off the bottom. I've caught some vertical when I mark them though. I usually give it a lift or three directly under the boat in case a fish is having indecision on eating the bait.

IMO, eyes are completely unnecessary.

They haven't been bothered by it with mine.

We swim them 50-70 feet down on Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Beaver lake. It takes a long time for a standard 1/4-3/8oz head to get down that far (takes quite a while with the big heads), and it's really hard to keep it there.

I think it has a #6 and a #8. I upsized mine at least one size, maybe 2.

The 6th Sense Provoke, Duo Realis 110,120, and Rozante 77, and the Strike King 300 are my main jerkbaits. This has been the color the last few trips.

The 120 S waver is very difficult to work and barely bigger than a jerkbait. The 168 S Waver is much easier to fish and actually imitates a bigger baitfish. Savage Gear makes several baits that imitate a trout (3D line through trout, 4D line through trout, a 185 Shine Glide, the Glide Swimmer, 3D real trout, or the Pulse Tail trout.

Bass aren't discerning enough to care if a prey item is "suppose", to be there. If they're hungry, and a prey item presents itself, the important factors are will it fit in their mouth and can they catch it.

I've got several jars of pork, but they're ones I've been nursing along and are in poor condition at best for the most part. I'll be adding a couple new jars soon.

It depends on the type of grass. Some you can run it right through the middle, but some are going to cling to it and you won't be able to rip the bait through to clear it.

The Arashi wake bait is (was? not sure they still make it), really nice. Strike King makes the newer 2.5 wake that is a really nice wake bait also. I have several older Baby -1 that I haven't used in years. I heard they've changed but haven't fished them to notice any changes.

Strike King Ocho is my favorite. I wish Berkley would try again with the Havoc Flat Dawg concept. That thing was a fish catching machine, if you could keep it on the hook long enough. They were so fragile that I'd cast about half of them off it seemed like.

Went out Friday looking for some upgrades in the month long kayak tournament I'm in. Wind forecast were way higher than I'd hoped for, too strong to do much and I was going to have to pedal the long route if I wanted to fish at all. So I launched in the river and pedaled all the way out of the river to the bluff walls so I could hide out of the wind and fish them until it really started howling (forecast 30-40 mph gust and 20-25 straight winds after noon). Right at the mouth of the river there was a big tree that has washed out and is set right on the edge of the creek channel, couldn't pass it up. My second flip into I got a bump and put my first fish on the board, a 17" fish, a 2.25" upgrade. Got to the bluff and got to work. A jerkbait did most all the work, either a 6th Sense Provoke or Strike King 300. I got another 16.5", 18", and 19.5", with the biggest one weighing in at 5.40lbs, my new PB from the new kayak. My upgrades bumped me up into 6th place overall out of over 100 anglers. Don't think I'll get out again before the end of the year and the tournament, so hopefully I can hold onto the top 10.