Brandon K.

Gulp leeches on a drop shot are great for small mouth

Where at on the river?

I really like the Fluke for shallow fishing, and the D-Shad for getting deeper a little quicker. If I'm fishing in more current I like to take a Storm Suspen-Strip and wrap that around the hook shank to keep the lure down.

Did the company shut down? I was looking to order more of the Mini-Me spinnerbaits.

I still wrestle about every week and try to box as much as possible. Really got in to Crossfit during a deployment. I may try to do some local competitions in that.

Humdinger Keith Poche power spinner. TW has them. There are a couple other brands too. Go to Lure Customization, then Replacement Blades.

Are you fishing from the bank or a boat? If you're on a boat, have at it with whatever you want. If you're on the bank the rocks will eat every crank and shakeyhead you have. I've always done real well with a spinnerbait, D-Shad, or float and tube from the bank. They really stack up by the d**n in the early spring. You can pick them literally right off the bank if the water is coming fast. A couple years ago a guy got a 7 pounder about a foot off the bank with a 1/2 oz. spinner bait. It was a monster! I seen it in the quarintine tank at Cabela's. When they came in the next day it was laying on the floor dead. Someone didn't pin down the cover on the tank.

I'll check my maps of Tappan and Seneca and get back to you on that. I know they aren't very deep. As far as the Ohio is concerned, your best bet is to fish the drop in that 9-10 FOW range. Those smallies will sit there and wait to ambush prey coming by. Around the damns you can find some deep boulders for current breaks and hit those with tubes or heavy spinner baits.

That's awesome. I think it made you feel good because you know you passed on something you love to your son Andrew.

We had a guy bring up a spent .50 Cal. casing in Iraq while fishing around Saddam's old palaces.

I had probably 1,000 -1,500 Fathead minnows die due to thier digestive system being blocked by these parasites. This was in an Aqua-Culture class in High School ('98-'99). I noticed after about a week or so they stopped feeding and several died. Then, after about a month I only had a handful left. During this time the head Fisheries Bioligist for West Virginia visited our school. She informed me that I was doing something wrong to have all these fish die. I pointed out the parasites on the outside of the fish and told her that I think those are problem. After she told me I was wrong again and, that they only live on the outside of the fish, I proceeded to cut open a bloated 4in. minnow and pull out hundreds of these tiny creatures. She had never in her career seen anything like that.

Where are you on the River?

Plano makes so much more than just tackle boxes too. Pretty interesting stuff.

There are always a lot of alum. boats in tournaments around here. Mainly because of the type of water we fish (River with gravel bars and stumps). From local tourneys all the way up to the state team. There is one guy that always does pretty good. He owns a glass boat. But, if you see him pull in the ramp with his friends Bass Tracker everyone knows he's on good fish.

That's cool. I would love to fish agianst the Pro's. And as I said in my OP, anyone can beat anyone, I understand that. But, it seemed in the article that the only reason he fished that tournament was because he was on fish. For god sake he had his wife phone in his entry. Plus, it was the super tournament. That means double points for guys trying to reach the regoinals. Those points that he gained and probably didn't care about could have sent someone to the regional tournament. See what I mean? I spoke with Vic Vatalaro at last years Bukeye event on Mosquito Lake and asked if he was entering the event. He said "No, these guys need it more than I do. I'm just here to cheer you guys on." If this were just a little Wednesday nighter or an Open then heck yeah, let's see what ya got. On the up side, a co-angler got a great lesson on fishing the Ohio River. One of the best and most underrated fisheries in the country. But that's another topic. I'm glad to see this is getting a good debate. This is my first post that got labeled HOT!!

I'm not sure how anyone else feels about this. I was reading the article about an active touring pro fishing and winning a BFL tournament on the Ohio River. I first noticed it in the FLW magizine and didn't think much about it. Then seen the article on here and it started getting to me. He explained how he was fishing the River and was on a good bite so had his wife phone in his registration the day before the tournament started. In my mind if your an active touring pro you should not be able to go down to lower levels at least within that same orginization. I'm registered as a proffesional fighter in Nevada and Ohio. So I'm not allowed to go back and fight amateur events. To me, this is the same concept. I know in fishing as in fighting anyone can beat anyone at any time. It just seemed that he did it because he seen an easy pay day. I mean I'm not going to fight a guy who is 0-10 and been KO'd 10 times just to make a buck. Some these guys (I'm one of them) fish for the points in these tournaments in hopes of making to his level. I was actually registered for this tournament but took a deployment instead. Just a thought. I know it's not going to change anything but wanted to get it off my chest.

That boat ride down the middle of the river at the crack of dawn is something that will never get old. Something else is watching your line take off when fishing plastics/jigs. I would love to have a picture of my face when that happens. I guess it's because I don't fish bottom lures alot. But, the greatest thing is watching my daughter go from totally bored and whining to go home to completely ecstatic when a fish takes her lure/bait.

Bottom composition= rocks, mud, weeds, leaf litter, stuff like that. When I'm fishing from shore on the river a Pearl colored Fluke texas rigged is hard to beat. You can keep it high in the water column so you don't get snagged. But if you do let it sink down it will come through stuff pretty easy.

If your fishing Summersville, Tygart or some of those other lakes around there you should listen to what you were told. Not sure what it is about those Cabin Creek lizards on those lakes.

Look on a military website for flight suits. There very light weight and have a million pockets but might be a little more expensive than what your looking for.

I'll start with a big knock on wood. Never hooked myself or anyone else. Never ran my boat or anyone else's boat up on a bar while going WOT. Never botched a net job when it counted. Last and most important I've never not weighed fish in a tournament. With this said all of these things will happen to me in the morning.

Never seen that before. Very cool little worm.

Thats hilarious that he blames the cameraman for the bite slowing down. Thats sucks though. Knocking on wood that hasn't happenned to me YET.