Bankbeater

I have my best luck on them right before the sun comes up. Where I fish, once the sunlight hits the water the bass usually shut off and won't come up.

Wow! I hear the bait monkey calling.....

Check the weather forcast. Check tackle to make sure all reels have enough line and are in good condition. Go back through and read my fish logs to see what worked in the past. Determine if I will be fishing out of a boat or fishing from shore.

Congrats on the find!

Congrats!! Good Job!!

Wow, you guys had a great time.

Wasn't me.

I will organize and check to make sure everything is in its proper place before a trip. I will do the same right after the trip is over. In between, not so much except for reel maintenance.

With me, my wife, and the two girls the bill is usually around $200 a week. More if my youngest gets a growth spurt. My oldest daughter is in to eating healthy, so I am glad that the nearest Whole Foods market is about 10 miles away.

As a general rule, when the water is clear I use natural colors like browns and greens.

I have some of the older deep divers that have a big wobble, and a huge bill on them. You need heavy tackle to fish them because of the pull when you bring them in, and after a couple hours you have gotten quite a work out.

My set up is basically a c-rig. I use a 1/2 or 3/4 oz. weight to keep the bait on the bottom, 2/0 hook, and keep about 12" to 18" of line from the hook to the weight. If I am using a bobber, I will put on a 1/4 or 3/8 oz. weight. Just heavy enough to keep the bait from floating back up to the surface.

I used to set mine with a digital scale. After a while I got used to how the drag felt. Now I can just tell when the drag is about right.

Great pics!

I have also heard of that being done with a c-rig. Instead of a weight, you use a jig.

Last year I sat my tackle box down on the ground and it hit something hard. Lifted up the tackle box and there was a hunting knife under it.

Anyone know of a fish recipe that has beer in it? My mom use to have one and for the life of me I can't find it anywhere.

My Dad had a bass about 4 to 5 pounds tear up the drag on his reel. Of course the reel was an old Shakespeare reel that was probably 15 to 20 years old at the time.

I have my Dad's old Mitchell 300 that he bought back in 1971. It weighs a ton compared to my other spinning reels. My Dad always use to catfish with it. I have a Mitchell 308 that is probably 20 years old that I use for ultralight.

I like to start off with a 3/8 jig. If I don't get any hits on that I go down to a 1/8 ounce size. If the small size doesn't work I go up to a 1/2 ounce. Sometimes the fish want small sizes and sometimes they want a bigger bait. I stick with black/blue, watermelon, orange/brown, and black colors.

A jig may be the way to go on a lake with a lot of pressure. Most of the lakes I fish are hit hard every weekend, and I hardly ever see anyone using a jig.

Nice bass!

WTG! Topwaters are a blast!

Nice bass, Congrats to your son!

There are times when that extra line pick up comes in handy. When a fish is swimming right at you after being hooked, and reeling in a bait over the top of the weeds are just a couple I can think of right now.