Bluebasser86

A trophy class bull Kansas Redfish that ate my ned rig and took me on a fun 5 minute ride before coming to the net. Never really rolled like they typically do, thought it might be a little flathead instead.

Keitech swimbaits always seem to be working for me at Bull. It's a very underappreciated lake with Table Rock being right next to it.

Mono or Copoly for me with cranks. The St. Croix Legend Glass are the sweetest cranking rods I've ever fished. The 6' 10" MH/M has been a good do-all cranking rod, and the only glass rod I've fished that I feel like I might want to try fishing bladed jigs on it also.

In my experience, travel rods just seem to break more often, just something about the way they're constructed I suppose. I really don't think they're having breakage issues, but when someone breaks one, regardless if it's they're fault or not, it seems more likely for people to leave negative reviews for a company than good reviews. I guess if someone is happy with a product, they got what they wanted and just go on with their lives, but if they're dissatisfied, everyone needs to hear about it. I have SC rods that are 20 years old and still in service, and those aren't even high end models.

I use an Okuma EVX for heavier spinnerbaits. You can practically steal a 7' MH off their website right now. https://okumafishingusa.com/products/evx-b-series-bass-rods

So similar to a LiveTarget Baitball then? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/LIVETARGET_Baitball_Spinner_Rig/descpage-LTBBSR.html

Congrats on your purchase! I have an Old Town Sportsman 120PDL and love fishing out of it. I put mine in the bed of my Tundra. I would not want to cartop it. Not that it's extremely heavy, but there aren't many handholds and it's very awkward to try to do much other than set it in the bed of my truck.

The slider head is still a bass catching machine and nobody seems to talk about it, which is just fine by me.

Seems like the wire would get bent up really fast if they were eating the swimbait "arm", instead of the main bait.

Looking to buy a new set, in the mid-weight range so I could wear it in the summer but still layer up in the winter and be okay. Not set on any brand, main thing is staying dry which my current set doesn't do well.

Who uses them? It's unfortunately getting to be that time of year when layering is going to become a thing soon and I'm thinking about purchasing some after a big raise at work made them more attainable. I know nothing about them though, other than they're supposed to be very warm, even when wet.

I went several years after they first came out thinking they were a gimmick. Once day they just clicked for me and became one of my favorite baits now.

I hate the cold, but I love the part where the casual anglers and the recreational boats pack it in for the winter.

I like catching fish, any fish, and any fish over 10lbs on a ML spinning rod is a fun fight.

Got to be the boat captain for a high school tournament this past weekend. Running the boat for @HaydenS and Gavin. Had lots of battery issues Saturday that cost them over 2 hours of fishing and left them stuck to fishing a small area close to the ramp, but they fished hard and put 3 keepers in the boat and had a chance to fill out a limit if a couple other bites would have converted. Fishing was tough and they got 6th out of 45 teams. Sunday was bluebird skies and very little wind. It was even tougher with Gavin catching one very skinny keeper largemouth early on a Super Spook Jr and having a big smallmouth miss it shortly after. That was pretty much it for the day. Ran around and just never could make them bite. Had a good time and it was a fun experience getting to do the boat captain thing for the first time. I even got to fish a little bit at the lake we were staying by with Gavin's dad and showed off my drum fishing skills. I think I caught 6 of them in the hour we had to fish Saturday night after dinner. The crew.

Welcome!

Fishing a kayak tournament this summer, I was throwing a large flutter spoon at a big, concrete water intake. I'd caught several large bass off it already, but needed to cull a 17.75" fish out of my bag. Made a perfect cast to the front, bait flutter a couple feet and a fish completely smashed it. Set the hook into a really heavy fish, pulled me down into the mess and popped my 20lb test so fast that I thought the fish had just come off at first. I ended up in 3rd and I'm still very convinced that fish was the one I needed to get the win since I was less than 2" from first.

I started tournament fishing in an adult club when I was 16. Finished in 2nd my first tournament, along with the 28 other guys that blanked. There was no boater and co-angler separation in that club, we all fished against each other. I won twice that season, back-to-back wins, and ended up with Rookie of the Year, Backseater of the Year, and 3rd place in the AOY standings.

Maybe call it a solo double, or an unassisted double play like in baseball ?

My pre-work trips continue to be tough. I got some of the new Zman Micro TRDs in a recent TW order and decided to try them this morning. Of course the one time I don't bring a big swimbait there was a big fish blasting bluegills along a concrete wall. Did it 3 times in 15 minutes. Water was very low in the creek I was fishing and it had been fished out pretty badly it seems, even the sunfish were absent. Caught a handful of sunfish and little bass, they sure are pretty from that clear water though. The bait and my homemade head for the Micro TRD, a 1/16oz head with a #6 Eagle Claw Lil' Nasty hook

In my mind, most of my fish have been caught fishing slow.

YUM Craw Papi and Christie Craw 4" twin tail grubs 1/2 of a 5" stick worm

I didn't have any, but my youngest son's rod/reel combo came with one. I've had him using it to practice and while we're in the boat. They're nice because they don't have hooks on them. Same video but 2 different parts if you want a good laugh.

I've always had Minn Kota and had good success with them so I stick with them. Twice I've tried Motor Guide (albeit lower end models), 1 broke almost immediately. The other, I still have on my johnboat but the directional arrow broke the day I bought it and there is no real difference between speeds 1-4, then a huge difference between 4 and 5 and I really feel like the ideal speed is somewhere between the 2. Still, it's kind of a Ford vs Chevy thing. They all have their positives and negatives.

Our fish must be different here. The number of fish I've caught first thing in the morning in the winter time, big fish included, I've lost count of. Not just early, but also on shaded banks. They still use shade to their advantage and still use low light conditions to their advantage. The weak winter sun does very little to actually warm the water most days. It's my belief that we just use the "Wait until it warms up", as an excuse to not venture out into the most uncomfortable parts of the day, which is just fine with me if people stick with that train of thought.