Bluebasser86

Fished the same power plant lake as last week with Peter (Wachati), Friday. It was COLD all day, sun never came out like it was supposed to, and it never made it above 40 like it was supposed to (never felt like it made it above 30 honestly). We started out pretty fast with Peter catching a white bass on his first cast I think? Then he had a largemouth and I got a stout smallie on my homemade bladed jig. We both got a couple more with me getting a smallie and a largemouth on my Doc-Drew custom painted jerkbait. Since they were biting good I decided to toss the Deps 175 Slide Swimmer a little bit, I had a hard time putting it down after that. I missed 10-20 more fish that just rammed it without opening their mouths (smallmouth), or fish that just didn't stay stuck. I didn't take pictures of all of the fish I caught on it either. It was taking a very slow retrieve, two short, soft cranks of the reel handle, then they'd try to jerk the rod out of my hands Once I got them firing on the swimbaits they didn't touch much else.

The ones on TW will fit them. Make sure you know 100% the path of the cord before you remove the old one (pictures are a good idea). I put the cable version on mine so I don't have to worry about replacing it again.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I have an 80lb Maxxum on my 189VLO and it was moving me against the current and wind on 60% all day Friday, you should be happy with it.

Havoc Grass Pig Jr, 2/3 of a 5" stick worm, 1/2 of a trick worm, Rage Menace or Havoc Pit Boss rigged sideways-chatterbait buzzbait-no trailer I never fish a weedguard on my bladed jigs. If I'm fishing woody areas I have a weedless version that I make just for those situations.

I grew up eating everything we caught that was keeper sized, had to because we may not have had anything else to eat that day. It's right up there with the worse tasting things I've eaten but when you're hungry you eat what's offered to you.

They excel in clear water.

Hitch, golden shiner, purple nitro.

Ethos cranking rod from Academy.I have one and ot works just fine for squarebills to mid depth baits.

Not southern but 2 power plant lakes within an hour. Just have to hop on a plane and I can get you on soft water anyways, can't promise any fish though.

The QT right by my house has several ethanol free pumps, so it's not hard for me to get.

They look like they have a similar profile to a slender pointer and come in a deeper diving version, I'll be trying some.

With my Optimax Pro XS, I know it says to use 87 octane but would it be better to use ethanol free or stick with the 87?

The Rage blade has WAY more vibration than a scrounger.

A regular eye would require 2 split rings for the blade to be able to lay correctly and Zman has a patent on blades attached directly to the eye. So the flat eye is basically just the best option left

The sharper the bend, the higher the bait will ride. You can get a bit of an idea from these pictures.

Had a special request for a bit darker, duller bluegill color. Took some cues from some of our gills that come from lakes with heavy weeds that tend to run a bit darker, and a touch of blue for color, and you get my new color, Bream. It sounded ugly in my head, but it looked great once it was put together

I use it on my shakyhead and dropshot rod.

Agreed, and distance isn't going to be an issue on a standard sized baitcaster.

I have the version of that bag they sold several years ago that I bought to be my non-boater bag. It served me well and is still the bag I use when I need to downsize.

BPS graphite series are a nightmare waiting to happen. I've never seen such a brittle rod, the spinning rods anyways. Lightning rods are a tested and proven rod that have been around for a long time that you hear very few complaints about. I had one for several years and was still going strong when I gave it to a friend. My dad still fishes with a lightning rod that's almost as old as I am.

Been doing a lot of research on past fishing reports for Beaver around the time we'll be there. Lots of talks of largemouth and spots on beds, with postspawn smallies smacking topwater. The dam, Prairie Creek, and Rocky Branch are the locations that seem to get mentioned the most.

Cheap baits get tossed in the bottom of the boat, expensive ones go back in the pack. How I decide which ones are cheap and which ones are expensive probably depends on how good the fishing is that day.