Bluebasser86

I like to keep a pair of forceps clipped on the bottom of my shirt when I'm bank fishing. They lock so you can clip them on and lock them and they won't fall off. I always seem to drop my pliers if I put them in my pocket and then I have to try to backtrack and find them.

I've seen guys use the livewells like a port-a-potty, both 1s and 2s, they just run the water after. My first experience with someone dropping a deuce off the boat was traumatizing. I was 16 or 17 in my first year of fishing tournaments in a draw tournament and the guy I got paired with had spent the night before playing poker, drinking beer, and eating greasy food. So at about 8am when he said he was about to "Do the orangutan hang and shoot a roostertail off the back of the boat", and had me run the trolling motor, he wasn't joking. The noises coming from the back of the boat I'd only heard while working on my grandparents farm and had me running the trolling motor non-stop trying to get away from it, but I couldn't. Then he just switched me spots when he was done like nothing happened. I couldn't hardly look at the guy for the rest of the day.

As they get ready for this years Classic, flashback to the first one I attended, the 2013 Classic at Grand Lake, OK. If you ever get the chance to go to one, do it. This was the final day weigh in when Cliff Pace would eventually be crowned the champion. I woke up at 5am to watch takeoff, spent all day on the water, watched the weigh in before driving home. Got home, parked the boat, changed, worked my shift that night, it was a long night ?

I like to warn guys at the boat ramp before I let mine out of the truck that mine might growl and bark like they're dangerous, but unless you're a tennis ball, they're completely harmless.

The 7' M/F Premier was the first St.Croix I ever bought almost 2 decades ago (still have the rod even). It's a great all around rod. I've used it for shallow cranks and while it isn't ideal, it will do it.

Rod will be fine, I'm also not a fan of braid for jerkbaits. You can use 30lb just fine on a baitcaster if you want though, I use 20lb braid on a few baitcasters with no issues.

1oz isn't really heavy, and you want a nice gliding action out of the bait. 20lb has quite a bit of memory typically and when you pause the bait, the line is going to effect what the bait does at rest. A limp 15lb will allow it to sit and fall horizontally, a 20lb test with memory is going to try to coil up and pull your bait along and not let it reach it's full potential on each glide. You could easily drop down to 12lb if you wanted if you're fishing clear water. You're not going to be fishing it around really heavy cover unless you like hanging up a lot, so a lighter line isn't an issue and gets better action out of the bait. It's kind of like fishing a big jerkbait really.

Going to make a suggestion, buy her something a little nicer. The first rod and reel I bought my wife was a combo. The whole thing was around $70. It wasn't terrible, but the reel seemed to get twist all the time and she'd get frustrated and want to give up because of that. Plus the rod was little big around for her and got uncomfortable for her to hold after a couple hours. Once the wife is done fishing, you're done fishing too buddy. A couple years later I bought her a Quantum Energy PT spinning reel and a St. Croix Avid Pearl that was light and thin. No more tangles, no more problems with it being uncomfortable for her to fish with, now we can stay out longer, imo it was a worthy investment. If you're set on a cheaper rod, there's been several of the Ethos rods on clearance at Academy for under $30 the last month or so.

This is a popular way to fish a fluke at times. I'm sure it would work with a swimbait as well.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Royals are 2-0 so far, put up a total of 23 runs in 2 games. World Series here we come ?

A spinnerbait type rod will work fine. 15lb test would be the heaviest line I'd use though.

MH/F. I want a rod that can drive a big hook and move a big fish away from cover.

Too whippy for power bait fishing for trout?

I prefer the H2O Slush Minnow over the Devil's Horse, and their Slush Daddy is great for when they're eating gills. I love the Yo-zuri 3DB prop. It has a really unique prop look and sound. I don't personally consider a Plopper a prop bait because I don't fish it like a prop bait. It's a plopper, a category all it's own like topwater crawlers are in a category all by themselves.

Keep all Elastech baits separate from regular plastics. That's going to be the result everytime if you don't.

I fish the mid range baits better, I'm not as worried about losing them. Savage Gear makes great baits and don't break the bank. I catch so many on the Shine Glide that I sold all my Deps because I never threw them over the Savage Gear baits. I've had some $200 baits and they do look nice and perform well, but in the lakes I fish that they don't see big swimbaits ever, I don't need the perfect details and action to get bit. Like WRB said though, if you're going to do it, make sure to have the appropriate gear to do it.

I don't, I have eaten plenty of them when I was younger and fish were a big part of our diet. I wish I had a taste for it but freshwater fish for the most part taste terrible to me. I'd love to be able to bring home 5 fat 12 inchers eat time I go to one of the slot limit lakes.

That's weird, it can be kind of tough right there sometimes but not terrible. It didn't even require pliers or any any real effort to remove.

Congrats! Getting that first tournament win is an awesome feeling.

Caught during a tournament put on by Lilly's Landing Resort. Reported at 38" long and 34.6 pounds. Caught on a 1/8oz sculpin jig and 4lb test, took over 20 minutes to land. Phil Lilly believes it's a big brown he's named "Frank", that is frequently seen on camera under the resort dock. By the sounds of it, the fish was taken care of very well and may have been released alive and well after being weighed.

I always found the lake to fish much better during the cold water months and then was much more difficult during the heat of the summer but maybe that has changed with the grass getting in there. I haven't fished it since November '15, but I did catch a keeper smallmouth that day.

I pour my own and use the 1/4oz a vast majority of the time.