Bluebasser86

42 is the lowest I know for sure I've caught them in. Back of pockets in spring right after ice out in about 2' of water.

Those are Guidewear sun protection gloves. It was probably 60-70 degrees out with water temps in the 70s still.

It's a premade bubba shot, and I can't catch fish with a bubba shot, so I won't be trying it.

I love watching him catching those big smallmouth in those little rivers, but man I wish someone would set the guys drag for him, drives me crazy how badly it slips all the time. I don't know how many times I was sure he was going to get hooked by a flopping fish too. I wish our rivers had smallmouth, pike, and muskie, instead of catfish, drum, and gar.

Any particular reason for running braid to a leader for a chatterbait? And are you clipping the fastech to the snap on the chatterbait blade?

I believe it's the fairly large profile in combination with the strong vibration that gives the impression of a bigger prey item that makes them feel they need to strike it hard at times to stun the bait. On a side note, some of the biggest fish I've caught on bladed jigs were strikes that barely felt like anything at all, almost like the bait just got a little lighter or the blade had caught on some grass. So don't be afraid to check swing if you're not sure.

I learned to jig fish with a 7' M/F St. Croix Premier, 200B Curado, and 15lb mono with a Strike King Bitsy Bug or Denny Brauer Pro Model jig. The Bitsy Bug works just fine on a M/F.

Lots of legal issues if you take wild fish but you might be able to find them at a pet store. They eat a lot and are tough to keep alive.

Chloe is just exhausted from all this Christmas excitement.

Just don't forget they're up there when that deerfly is buzzing you and you go to swat at him with your hat. I heard of some guy that lost a month old pair of 580G Fisch Costas in Grand Lake, OK doing that... Those glass lenses sink fast.

Go buy some inexpensive mono to use for leader if need be. The biggest problem you're going to have is trout do not like to eat baits off the bottom and your powerbait is not going to float with a fluoro leader. You can buy a filler spool for Stren or Trilene for less than $5 at WalMart in 6# and you'll be good to go.

The XPS lipless baits are pretty decent, most of the XPS lineup is pretty good for a store brand.

I haven't done it in awhile, but my favorite baits for a split shot rig are a 4" lizard, 4" grub, or a centipede.

I haven't handled this exact rod, but the rod I had for squarebills when I fished more tournaments was a 6' 9" M/MF and it was excellent. Long enough to make a longer cast and steer fish around cover, but short enough to work in tighter areas like standing timber to make accurate cast. It was also powerful enough to move fish away from cover, but had just enough flex to help keep them pinned. If it handles anything like that rod did, I'd be completely comfortable using it for squarebills.

I can't hook fish on a shakyhead without a screwlock ?‍♂️

I don't think it bothers them too much. The red light messes with my eyes though, I go without any light unless I'm retying or unhooking a fish.

Fury 795

I have a 9.3 I use for frogs.

Snags badly in the rocks and pushes the line down into the zebra mussels so almost every hookset results in a break off.

I have one casting and one spinning and really enjoy both of them. Price affordably but fish above their price range IMO.

I haven't tried anything as small as a 1/0. I pretty much use a 3/0 exclusively as it fits a 3.5-4 inch tube perfectly.

Welcome!

It was surprisingly quiet out there, maybe 10 boats at the most and some were crappie fishing. If you make it down on a Friday you could probably jump in the back of my boat. I don't promise anything other than to fish places where they live, if they bite or not is a whole other story.

For bank fishing I use a 1/4 and 3/8 almost exclusively.

3 over 18 at La Cygne Thursday and lost at least 3 more that would have been keepers. Just one of those days they were swiping at the bait instead of really eating it but they were biting at least so I can't complain too much. Biggest was a 4.89 and we caught fish from the bluffs to the dam and everywhere in between. White bass were hungry and we found them everywhere too. WT 48-61