Bankbeater

I have several different brands of poppers, but I always end up using the pop-r.

You've caught some nice smallies!

It changes each fishing trip.

Cordell Big-O.

Dang! That is a nice one!

I was fishing from the shore one time, walking around on rip rap when the rock I stepped on turned over on me. My knee came down on the edge of the rock and I felt something in my knee go crunch. I ended up with about a 3/8" round hole in my knee, and fractured knee cap. Most painful part was by the time I got to the ER, my knee has swollen up and I couldn't bend it at all. When I went in for x-rays the tech said I would have to bend my knee for one of the pics. When I told him it wouldn't bend, the nurses bent if for me.

People fishing my favorite spots doesn't bother me. What really bugs me is when I tell someone about my spots, and I go back to find the place all trashed up.

Nice looking Muskie!

You kept the skunk away. That's what counts.

Hello! Welcome to the forums!

Nice looking bass!

I get mad at myself when it's windy and I know I'm getting too close to structure, or cover, but I want to make one more cast into it. Next thing I know the wind has pinned me to the said structure or cover.

When I was little my Dad and I always use to go catfishing from the bank. When the catfish weren't biting we would cast for bass. Neither one of us liked cutting up bait, or messing with the dough bait, so gradually we started fishing for bass all of the time.

Sounds like you damaged the nerve somehow. How hard were you thumbing the spool?

If I am fishing off of the bank I don't use a net. Just something else to carry. When I am fishing out of a boat I rarely use one. More clutter on the deck.

Maybe between 4-1/2 and 6 pounds.

So far this year I am at 1 green sunfish, 2 crappie, and 39 bass. Now that we are in May I am expecting the bite to start picking up.

You can go pretty much anywhere out at Busch and catch little ones. I haven't fished down in Forest Park in years.

A few years back I caught a largemouth on a Heddon Big Bud that I had in my tackle bag. I was joking around and said I wonder if the bass would like a beer. I guess one did.

Small swimbaits, crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits have been working around here. I have only caught one on the bottom with a t-rig, and I pulled one out of the weeds with a jig.

There was a private lake over in Illinois that my Dad use to take me to back in the mid 70's and 80's. It was owned by a club, and for a yearly fee you could fish it all you wanted. Around 1990 or so the club changed the lake to more of a campground / resort area, and they raised the yearly fee quite a bit. I caught a lot of catfish and nice bass out of that lake, and have some good memories.

I would use a 4" finesse worm on a t-rig.

I have quite a few tiny torpedoes, but I always seem to start topwater fishing with something else first.

Best of luck on your move forward. You handled the situation very professionally.

I use both. It depends on the type of vegetation I am punching through, and what the bass want.