Bluebasser86

Welcome!

Welcome!

Go to work all week, fish on my weekends. Not much is different except my family is home all the time now when I'm use to being the only one home.

Confidence and location. You present a bait, any bait, in the right location and have confidence in it, you'll catch some fish. Do that enough and you learn and gain more confidence and learn more about the right locations.

I'm not a big fan of circle hooks for rod and reel fishing. Early season channels like to moith the bait a lot and it seems like smaller pieces of bait than normal work better. Never hide the hook, that's just asking for missed fish when the hook buries back into the bait. No reason to let them run that long either. If they start running, they've got it good 9 times out of 10. I run a 2/0 Kahle hook and slip sinker rig if I need a weight, I'll just use the weight of the bait if I can get away with it.

Wind blown flats near river channels with cut bait of some kind are a solid bet. If they're there it shouldn't take longer than 5-10 minutes to get bit. Don't need much water either, they'll cruise a couple feet looking for winter killed shad/bait.

Big flatheads love to lay in those rocks on lake dams and surprise anglers targeting other species. The first one I caught over 20lbs was on a jig in February many years ago fishing for bass from the bank of a small lake dam. The rolling and big white belly is almost certainly a sign it was a catfish.

I'd do some reading here;

Choked to death on the smaller bass and was eaten by scavengers.

Yep, more success and price. Sinks and wobbles great and it's half the price. Also great on a weightless T-rig. I find them at Academy for $2 a bag all the time.

https://store.do-itmolds.com/Weighted-Hook-Jig_c_122.html

Do-it makes a mold like that, you can get it a lot of places. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-DOITT.html?from=basres

Mine cast great right out of the box, no need to adjust them.

I use 10lb with most of my spinning rods. 15 will work, 20lb feels super heavy with most lines I've used.

On most of them that's how I do it.

I rarely use a weight and have almost no Yama senkos. I prefer the Ocho over the senko but have quite a few different sticks that work fine on a plain wacky hook.

Well my trip to Canada is canceled, so now I've got a bunch of money saved up in my Paypal that I was going to use towards that trip, or I guess I should say I had a bunch of money saved up in my Paypal ?

I've got a Purple Nitro, Shad, and custom painted one that looks like a skunk. All 3 of them are killer baits. I'd still really love an all white one though.

I've done this on small lakes I've been on hundreds of times. Things just look completely different at night and if you've got your head down fishing and running the trolling motor for an extended period of time, you can turn yourself all around without realizing it.

Cassidee got a bath and brush out real good today. She was looking like she was posing for a poster or something on the back deck in the sun this afternoon.

Man I'd love to catch one like that! Just want a few pictures and a weight and let her go. That fish is over halfway to our state record.

No I never have. I've bought mine either from Swimbaitcity or from individuals on swimbait FB pages.

You might occasionally see one used for something like that. I bought one that the owner had removed all the paint and taken it apart with the intention of repainting it and never did for $30. I've had a mini, a few 7", and a few 9". The 7" baits have been head and shoulders above the other baits.

Depends on which model. A Mini is $45, 7" is $60, 9" is $85. Swimbaitcity has a few and is usually a good place to find some. Lately it seems like contacting Mike directly is the best way to go about getting one though and then you get to pick out the size and color you want.

Hospitalized with "seizure like symptoms", is what was reported. This was posted on the Duo Realis USA FB page tonight; We are ASKING for prayers and thoughts for our Realis title Pro Aaron Martens. He is need of medical care . We want to be respectful of the family and their needs at this time . Your prayers and thoughts would be kind and greatly appreciated . And hopefully a quick trip back to fishing is on the Itinerary ! Thank You , David Swendseid USA DUO Mgr. And from WesternBass' FB page; UPDATE FIRST THANK YOU -EVERYONE -for taking time away from whatever you were involved in and praying for Aaron’s speedy recovery. Thank you . As mentioned by Aaron’s mother, Aaron suffered seizure like symptoms during Fishing he was successfully transported to the hospital where a team is conducting testing. I ask that we continue keep this family at our forefront, praying for Aaron, his wonderful wife Lesley, their beautiful family, Aaron’s brothers and his lovely mother Carol Martens. Again seriously thank you for your wishes , thoughts and prayers!