Bluebasser86

I've fished as both, and in my mind, you paid your money just like the boater did, and he should get first shot at the fish, but if you could reach them he could too, so he already had a shot at them and decided not to cast at them. I understand he said he was going to come back down that side, but if he didn't want you to fish it he should have expressed that, and even then I still don't agree with him. If you were casting over his shoulder to hit the spots then I would understand, but what if you were fishing standing timber or a grass flat? Do you have to wait for him to cast in all directions before you're allowed to make a cast? It's way different to me than if your boater misses a fish and asks you not to cast back to that spot until he works it over, he's found that fish and deserves a chance to catch it just the same as the back-seater would in the same situation. It just sounds to me like he made a foolish decision to fish what was likely the less productive side first and then got upset when you caught a fish behind him.

Lucky Craft Spazz

None of the ones around me have ever carried them unfortunately. Doesn't matter, I've got a dozen or so hanging on my pegboard in the shop to go with the dozen in service in the boat, I should be good for a minute.

Mid 80's to low 90's for the most part. Get to certain parts of the power plant lakes and my temp gauge starts flashing when it hits 99*

I've been known to break into song when the bite is tough or really good. I figure you're in the boat, either have to listen to me or swim to shore. I've seen some longing stares towards the shore, but nobody has made the leap yet.

@gardnerjigman fishes toads on mono or fluoro and it drives me crazy but it works for him as he rarely misses one. Hard to argue with success.

That's what is called Wanton Waste in Kansas, which is a fish and game violation that can earn you a ticket. I've never heard of a state allowing culling fish unless it's for a tournament either, and some don't allow that during certain months either. I know for us, once it's in your creel, you must either keep it or release it but you can't cull it out of your creel if you catch a bigger fish later.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-Pocket-Digital-Fish-Hook-Luggage-Hanging-Weighing-Balance-Scale-US-SHIP/201182154407?hash=item2ed7640ea7:g:9UAAAOSwd4tUKeAk Super cheap and crazy accurate. I buy them 4 or 5 at a time because I have a bad habit of dropping them in the water and they don't like the water. I use a similar lip gripper setup as @A-Jay uses, 100X easier and safer on you and the fish than trying to use the metal hook. I believe it was member @Goose52 that did a write up on the accuracy of those little luggage scales. The accuracy and consistency of the ones I've had is truly impressive.

I'd rather fish a jig for largemouth, but smallies on top is a blast, literally and figuratively.

Savage Gear Smashtail, pretty tough to come by right now. I ordered my off Ebay from across the pond when they were released over there first. You can preorder on TW right now, few days before they're supposed to come out still

A few more months and this will be the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

You know who rules the water when you're fishing a normally productive spot for bass that isn't producing for some reason, and then one of these pops your jig.

Didn't even know sheepshead got that big. Some serious fillets on that thing.

They're a decent bait, more durable which is good if you're dealing with toothy fish. A Keitech or Rage Swimmer on a jighead or keel hook will outfish them most days for me. I use the biggest ones I can find for trailers on my homemade magnum bladed jigs though.

I haven't lost one yet, but I don't lose many lipless baits in general.

I like the looks of that YUM Tip Toad. I love toad baits, but they seem like they've gotten so expensive and I'm not a fan of the paddle legs, seems like that could be a winner!

As much as I like the craws, I like the Menace even more!

Man, I'd take some slower fishing for a cold front right now.

If there's weeds right against the bank along the shoreline, my guess is they're right in front of you while you're casting into the middle of the pond. Water in 7' isn't going to be much cooler so under that grass is going to likely be just as cool plus have more oxygen because of the weeds, add in the fact that's where a lot of the food is, so that's where the bass want to be. I've been fishing a very small, shallow lake with very little features lately except an undercut bank and some water willows lining the shorelines. Water temps are in the mid 80's, max depth is 10' but mostly 6' or less, 90% of the fish I'm catching are right on the grass or undercut banks because of the factors I listed being there.

I have both, I've have kayakers (always paddlers, never fishermen), paddle right between me and the bank. I've been cut off, nearly swamped, and leap frogged by guys in boats while I'm in my kayak. It's just a lack of common courtesy that isn't there and so many people living in their own little bubble where nobody else matters or barely exist. Saying anything to them does little but increase the odds of things going sideways, I just keep fishing or move along and hope karma bites them in the backside somewhere down the road.

I think his BR salary is going to get doubled for that video!

I do it more for being able to improve as a fisherman and share my trips with others that might be able to learn something, not to really be any kind of production quality show or anything. I find that I learn a lot by watching myself, both good and bad things I do. I've improved some things, like I've gotten faster on my jig and plastic hook sets and toned the hook sets down, which has reduced my hook set break offs and improved my catch ratio. I also got better at waiting to feel fish before setting on them on topwater. Lots of trips I've been able to go back and watch what I was doing and realize what the fish were doing and really break down the day so I can recognize it if I find them in the same pattern again at a later date. I did that to almost win a tournament earlier this year when I went back and realized that what I thought were finicky fish, were actually bedding fish I couldn't see just moving my bait a foot or two and dropping the bait off their beds. So on tournament day, I was wired for sound and swinging anytime my bait starting doing anything it shouldn't be. Ended up with big bass and .04lbs short of first in a team tournament, fishing solo.

A lot of my smallmouth come from less than 2' of water, too shallow for a jerkbait to be an option and they rarely show much interest in a spinnerbait. A super spook Jr walked as fast as I can fish it, a small rat, WP slowly plopping along, or a Buzzjet doing whatever it is they do will get crushed though, usually get to see the fish coming from long distances too. Our lakes are probably a bit of an oddity in the smallmouth world with the way they like to hold extremely shallow a lot of the times and in places largemouth would often hold. Catch them how you enjoy catching them. I prefer catching my largemouth on a jig over topwater because I lose way more on topwater during the fight than I do a jig and I'd rather have the big rod and heavy line. I read your original post and imagined my world without topwater smallies and it would be a very sad thing for me. Smallmouth are fun however you can get them though, and I do love catching them on jerkbaits and blades when they're eating them, those bites are just much shorter windows for me than the topwater bite is.

What type of baits are you fishing? Like I said, treble hook hardbaits and line thrus you can get away with a little undersized gear, but not with jig hooks or seedless baits. The Guide Select from Okuma is great for the money.

#4 is what I put on most all 1/2-5/8oz rattlebaits