Bluebasser86

Pretty much wrecked them Saturday, 37 largemouth, 7 smallmouth, 17 white bass, 1 crappie, and 1 channel cat. Most everything on a spinnerbait. I was disappointed I didn't get a wiper or big smallmouth though. Guided on Sunday and put 2 really nice smallmouth in the boat along with a bunch of smaller ones, a few largemouth, several tank white bass, a couple drum, and a sauger. Of course on a day with bright skies, post cold front, a tournament the day of and the day prior, and I got the "wish we could have caught more/bigger fish", line afterwords ?‍♂️ Don't we all pretty much every day?

Looks like a Koi or a lightning trout to me. It's a little hard to tell from the pictures but if it looked like a carp in person, it was likely a Koi. I see them a couple times a year, likely pets that got too large and people decided to release.

It's a pure white bass. Wipers and white bass have broken lines. It's stripers that have nearly all solid lines. Easiest way to tell IMO, white bass will only have 1 distinct line that runs from the gill plate to the tail below the lateral line, wipers will have more than one. The one right above the OP's finger on his right hand is that one line, the rest below do not run the length of the fish.

I think it's around 3oz.

The rod I have now is a couple inches shorter than the Skeet Reese rod I had. It's the 6' 10" MH and they've got it listed at just over 5 ounces. So it's not a super light rod but glass rods usually aren't.

It's a 5 speed, but that's not as big of an issue in a smaller boat that requires less force to pull along.

It's crazy that a RM Mother looks so small next to the Chaser ? I couldn't imagine actually tossing that thing for any length of time.

Well I have to eat my words because I had to stop by tonight for some things and they'd actually stocked some new stuff, including OT tungsten. I was with the whole family, so I just glanced quickly, but it was under 5 for 4 1/4oz unpainted if I saw correctly.

I blame @Dirtyeggroll for this purchase. If he'd stop catching big fish on his, I wouldn't have had to buy one.

I was at 1,888 at the end of this mornings trip.

Welcome!

That one could eat a lot of the fish they stock here.

Both, Big Game and PLine CXX. I never use fluorocarbon for cranking.

Try a MH with a glass rod. I've had regular M/M glass rods and they're really soft rods. All of them I've liked have been MH rods.

You know they all don't have any diseases that the other creek doesn't have? That there's no other plant/animal eggs you can't see stuck to them somewhere? Zebra Mussel larva are microscopic and easily moved from one body of water to another. Asian Carp are easily mistaken for other bait fish. That's one of the ways these things are moving from one body of water to the next, and why it's illegal to catch bait one place and use them somewhere else, including in Ohio. http://www.eregulations.com/ohio/fishing/general-information/ It is unlawful to transport and introduce any aquatic species (fish, invertebrate, plant) from one body of water to another.

I think it was a glass rod. I've actually had good success cranking with a 7' MH Berkley Lightning Rod Shock. I use them for my kayak rods, bank, and johnboat trips and it does surprisingly well for shallow to mid depth baits.

All glass rods aren't created equal. I had one of the yellow/black Skeet Reese W&M cranking rods. It was a dead stick. I'm not the greatest crankbait fisherman, but I couldn't feel anything with that rod. A fish would have to really crush the bait for me to know anything was there and then the tip was so soft that I had the same issue with keeping fish pinned. A slower, softer rod is what you want for cranks to keep them pinned, but that rod is ridiculous. I have no experience with the Dobyn's rod. I've got a Quantum KVD cranking rod and a St. Croix Legend Glass and they're both good rods. I really like the St. Croix, it handles the baits I like to fish perfectly and has good the right amount of flex to keep them pinned but enough backbone to handle a big fish without feeling overmatched.

No steelhead here, but I enjoy the bonus rainbows they stock in the lakes this time of year when I can find the bigger ones. The smaller ones are nice because the big bass enjoy them ?

St. Croix LTB 7' 1" MH/F

I use a powder paint gun to paint solid colors. It works well and doesn't chip after it's baked. The hard part is not getting it too thick and messing up the action. I'm mostly doing jigging spoons though, so it's as big of deal as with casting spoons.

Do you have a hand control motor already? You can take the screw out of the head and spin the head around so you can mount it on the front of the boat instead of the back if you want. A motorguide Bulldog trolling motor comes with a clamp on mount but is a foot control motor just for johnboats and pond hoppers. A friend of mine has one and really likes it for his 2 man. You might be able to find someone with a broke X3 for cheap that has the bow mount you can just take the motor right out of the collar and put a different one in if the diameter of the shaft is the same or close.

Probably a Ned rig with a 1/16oz chartreuse head and a Hot Craw Big TRD or junebug TRD. ROY would be a 6th Sense Catwalk. Tied that sucker on and haven't cut it off except to retie.

Probably just haven't fished anywhere that sets up well for them. For me, they're one of those baits that's either the best bait to be fishing, or they're not biting it at all, nowhere in between.

The YUM Sooie was the best C-rig bait I've ever used, but of course it's long gone. Pretty much fish a brush hog or baby brush hog on the rare occasion I'm tossing one.

The Wal-Marts by me are terrible. I don't get any of this cool stuff some other guys seem to find at theirs. No Ozark Trail whopper ploppers, no tungsten, never anything good on sale for a price worth buying, really not much of anything in stock anymore. I guess it keeps me from spending money I don't need to spend.