Bluebasser86

They'll catch on weeds and wood but they're great around sparse grass and wood.

Get you some Morel heads from @Siebert Outdoors instead of the Z-man heads. Better hooks and the keepers won't break off. I pinch the barbs on the hooks for guide trips, for the safety of the fish and my clients (and myself). The fish do toss them, but it's hard to tell if it's because of the pinched barb or the inexperience of the fishermen fighting them. Better hooks and not pinching your barbs will keep a lot more fish pinned though.

They're great right when the shad fry and bass fry are hatching and bass are chasing all those tiny baitfish everywhere.

DSG has had some I've heard but haven't bothered to go get any yet. I bet they'd be great for pitching in dock stalls like a jig.

Welcome!

I have weekdays off so I usually fish alone minus my furry copilot.

Haven't ever used the 5/0 size, maybe that's the difference? The 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0 EWG's have been everything I could ask them to be though.

I use the H20 EWG and straight shank flipping hooks all the time and they work well for me, excellent for the price.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I think the big turning point for me was when those moments when I was trying to break down what was going on and it clicked in my head started happening on the water instead of while eating dinner, that's when my learning really accelerated. I was catching more fish and able to experiment more because I spent less day just scraping to try to catch a couple fish.

Looks like a humped back largemouth to me, but I'm pretty sure that largemouth and spots hybrids do occasionally happen. I caught one at Table Rock several years ago that I'm pretty positive was a hybrid.

Pay attention to your reel and you should be able to feel and hear when it's starting to slow and you need to thumb the spool. As long as it's set correctly you shouldn't get a big overrun if you're just a second delayed from when your bait splashes down. Maybe it's a learned skill as I've spent a lot of hours fishing after sundown but I don't have any issue other than unseen objects catching my bait or line.

Lately it's been; Gene Larew HooDaddy Homemade bladed jig Homemade 1/2oz pitching jig BBB YoMomma SK Ocho

Mads is gonna kill my wallet this fall.

Spotted bass scales are rough to the touch while largemouth are smooth. You can tell the difference without even seeing them.

I hate fishing them and have never had much luck in them. Thankfully we don't have many around here.

Wacky is my favorite but I fish a Ned more.

Landed my biggest bass of the year so far, a 7.43lb fish, in sub 20* weather without an issue with 8lb HI-SEAS.

Don't do it here, it's a ticketable offense. Wanton waste means, “to intentionally waste something negligently or inappropriately.” Killing a fish to leave it to rot is not different than shooting a deer or duck and leaving it rot. It wasn't "harvested", it was just killed. Just because a person thinks a fish is a trash fish doesn't mean it is unless the state agrees with you (many states have what they consider "rough fish" that wanton waste laws don't apply to). I don't particularly like crappie but I'll bet I'd make some folks really unhappy if I had my limit of 50 rotting on the bank next to me.

Killing fish and leaving them floating isn't harvesting them, it's just killing fish and wasting them. If it was the guys private pond he could do what he pleases, but you can't just kill fish to kill fish on a public body of water.

6' 10" MH/F is what I use for spinnerbaits.

Bomber has made a deep diving squarebill Fat Free Shad for awhile now. It didn't have those three little letters that a bait really needs to be successful though (KVD), so I'm sure the Strike King version will be a hit. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-BOMBER.html?from=basres

It was a #8 Gamakatsu octopus hook, about 16" of 8lb mono leader to a barrel swivel, tied to 10lb braid. I started with a slip sinker but when I was sight casting I took the sinker off.

I kept track one year of bass only (black bass species). It was a really hot summer that I spent most of July and August fishing on the rivers for catfish or bowfishing but I still managed 2,776 bass that year. It depends a lot on where I fish. I can go to some local lakes and easy catch 50+ fish a day with nothing over 3 pounds. I'm to the point anymore that I'd rather catch 10-20 with a good average size and a few big ones mixed in so my numbers probably wouldn't be that high this year.