Bluebasser86

These things just seem to find me ?‍♂️

Have heard good things about these baits. It does look sweet in the water, especially for the price.

I prefer a jig, but anything with heavy line and stout rod is a good time.

They're Yo-Zuri, can't remember the name off the top of my head but I'm 100% sure because the first 5lb bass I ever caught was on a chartreuse/green version of that bait. I think it might have been one from the "Crank N' Dive", line up. Daiwa may have made a real similar bait also it seems like.

Carp become very active at night and often surface and jump. Catfish will cruise the top looking for insects and whatever else they can fine floating along the surface to eat. Big bluegills can make a pretty good disturbance when aggressively feeding on insects. Really hard to say it's for sure bass without catching them.

ML/XF

7" baits are the sweet spot for me. Right amount of drawing power but small enough that a 2lb fish has no issues taking a shot at it. They also aren't a workout to fish all day either.

Pick a 4000 sized reel from whatever company you like. It's going to be big and clunky for the smaller fish, but a smaller reel is going to be outmatched for most stripers (and a 4000 size will be for larger fish still).

I don't know if anyone offers a lead version for a reasonable price. You can get them from BOSS but they're $2 each for just the sinker. Might as well buy tungsten at that price. I bought the mold and pour my own lead ones.

Just the name of the color. It looks pretty though ?

Eh, a good WW is worth 100 new ones. They're the Ned rig of crankbaits on White River chain bass in the early spring. I can tell you from experience, fishing from the back of the boat when the guy in the front has a good WW and knows how to use it, is not a fun fishing trip.

Remember when Teckel Sprinkers were selling for $80 each?? I stumbled into 3 of them for retail and kept them because I didn't want to miss out. Man I'd love to hit rewind and do that over again, I'd love to have the new rod or reel I could have bought for the money I'd made selling those 3 stupid frogs. They work, but what was I thinking?? ?‍♂️

Smallmouth and flathead coexist in every lake they occur in here. I'm sure flatheads eat a few of them because they'll eat anything they can fit in their mouth, but it isn't like smallmouth are a preferred prey species. Largemouth Bass Virus has destroyed some lakes here, kills almost all the larger adult fish and takes close to a decade for them to return it seems. One was a great smallmouth and decent largemouth lake. Use to catch dozens of 2-4 pound fish a trip, the state would sample (based on their hourly numbers X hours in a day), 30k bass a day with electro-fishing sampling, now it's down to 5k a day. Hopefully it comes back one day, but last time I fished it I caught dozens of monster drum and maybe a half dozen smallmouth, it was terrible.

Ned rig is always a solid option for someone starting out. A wacky rig is also one I'd suggest trying, just smash the barb down because they like to swallow the hook with them.

Thick algae is the only one that seems to really bug fish because it can completely bog them down and almost encases them like a spider's web and probably makes it difficult for them to breath also. It doesn't have canopies below it like other vegetation does and can be completely solid vegetation.

I use to love Bassmaster mag. When I first started to really get into bass fishing when I was around 9 or 10, I'd read it front to back. The "Day on the Lake" was one of my favorite parts but Harry and Charlie was great too. I learned so much from it, but I haven't been a subscriber for at least 5 years now. All the same stuff is on their website, no reason to waste my money.

If you're balking at the thought of buying a rod and reel combo to fish them, then I'd heed this advice. I've got thousands of dollars wrapped up in swimbaits plus a few combos that are for nothing else except throwing big swimbaits. It's expensive, and an inefficient way to catch fish, but if you get it you get it, or it gets you rather.

But if it's tourist season, why can't we hunt them??

Swim baits require specialized gear. It's one of those techniques you can't really get by trying to use standard gear.

7' St. croix Premier. Probably 20 years old but it still does fine.

Casting, spinning, spincasting, or flyfishing? No one reel is going to cover all those different species you listed unless the stripers are dink stripers the panfish are hand sized and larger.

I don't even like Megabass very much but I'd buy every one for $2.50 each.

Bone That would be my color choice if I could only pick one for all my hard baits honestly.

They're getting ready to release a hard knocking version. Pretty pumped about that.

JJ's is a pain to deal with, but it 100% makes a difference and there's nothing you can say or do to convince me otherwise.