Hyrule Bass

i fish them on spinning gear only. i get a nice vertical slow fall on slack line, ive fished them on between 8 and 12lb mono and on occasion 6(depends on the algae in the pond i fish), the fall rate of and the type of line could be the difference...though it doesnt weigh much i guess, that twist lock could affect the balance of the weight too, changing a vertical fall into a slight nose dive...

i like to t-rig them weightless on a 1/0 ewg gamakatsu worm hook. they fall so slow and the bass just swoop in and devour them. on this hook i can swim it in the water, drag it on the bottom slow, lift it and let it fall back down, etc. i even swim it in as a top water bait letting the claws create a ruckus on the surface...very versatile bait...

chrome black back

in the original packaging, always. may combine one or two baits from one bag into another new bag of the same exact plastic to save on space...

ive never caught a winter bass on soft plastics. but jerkbaits and slow rolling shallow diving cranks has worked well for cold water bass

i really couldnt say, but its not that much. i havent been in the market for any new reels or anything, feel i have all i need for the fishing i do. i might buy a few bags of soft plastics or a couple hard lures(i dont have to have the latest and greatest of everything), but i probably spend more on live bait for my night fishing then anything else the last couple years. i wont put a price on it, but its really not much in the big picture. i just cant see myself, atleast not right now, spending thousands a year on fishing like some of you...

i was being dead serious...if it happens to stir the pot then so be it lol

"search baits"

Smith Mountain Lake has some nice yellow perch in it if you can find them. i usually tend to catch them in the september and early fall. for me, it has to be white perch. white perch are fiesty and constantly wanting to jump around. they love to flare out their gill plates and cut you, and they have a real spiny back too. when i grab them i use my fingers to push down the gill plates and the inside of my hand pushing down the back fin...

i work in printing and bulk mailing. we meter a lot of jobs we get, but we rarely ever(never) mail out anything that weighs that much per piece. if so its usually a small print job that we dont actually mail out the individual pieces for. like a box of letterheads.

land and pond for sure.

i love my 4000 sized penn fierce. i believe i only paid $60 for it. put it on a 7'M shakespeare tiger spinning rod i had laying around. ive mostly used it for catfishing though. many of the striper guys on smith mtn lake swear by the medium-light ugly stik striper rods. but most of those guys are also running planer boards and down lines...

i love catfishing. when i go to smith mtn lake i fish for bass in the day time and catfish at night. when the catfishing is slow, i will toss around a bass lure for a little bit at night too. but theres not much i like more than sitting on the dock all night catfishing there. radio blasting classic rock music, cooler full of ice cold budweiser, 3-5 poles out and various baits. i like a slip sinker rig when i use cutbait or chicken livers, and a tight line with nightcrawlers. i also like a drop shot rig too, yes, drop shot for catfishing. i dont use circle hooks at all, cant stand them. my favorite hooks to use are eagle claw bait holders with the leader already attached to them and gamakatsu octopus hooks. at times i will even down size to the gold abeerdeen hooks if the fishing is tough. next year i plan to try one of bluebassers suggestions, using no weight with cutbait...

even the OP said it was not safe. you can put fish ahead of safety but i wont, nor would i recommend to anyone else that they do either. i wont put safety ahead of improving a technique of any kind either. you say i offered the worst advice, you can have your opinion, but id put safety first over any of the excuses you make above.

so you advocate people risking their safety and lives just to weigh in a few fish at a tournament? im sure many people are glad you arent their personal advisor...just bad advice there

my user name is red earth, not kicker lol. thats just the user title lol anyways not worth risking safety and life for a few fish, tournament or not

it would also help if you filled out your profile to include location and bodies of water you fish. then people can help you and give you better info based on what your locale is...

honestly in those conditions i would just go home. doesnt even sound safe to be out there

i only use cursive for signing my name anymore. everything else can go in print...

there are no pike in SML, and good luck trying to find wall-eye(supposedly theres a small breeding population) and same for musky, tough to find them. smallmouth are there, but ive never caught one there, supposedly theyre mostly in the main lake section and over around the dam. largemouth outnumber the smallmouth like 10-1 i think. if you want some table fare you can probably get some good crappie fishing, or some good white and yellow perch fishing in december. though thats just a guess/hunch as ive never fished their past early november. as for stripers, theyre going to be schooled up. live bait such as shad or alewives caught under a dock light at night with the old throw net is probably your best bet bait for them. you just have to find them9striper), probably most likely up the river arms, id try the roanoke river side. if the seagulls are there yet, youve probably found some striper where they are...

well, this sucker was out there a good ways. and yes the boat was still trolling along, couldnt stop with over 20 umbrella rigs out. not to mention conventional reels, so i had to hold the rod in my left hand and reel with my right. id prefer to reel with my left and hold the rod in my right

seriously though, i dont know how some guys can sit there and fight big fish after big fish all day long. a couple years ago on mothers day, i went out in the chesapeake bay for rockfish on a charter my boss set up. we were trolling big umbrella rigs for them. i ended up catching a 42 inch rockfish, biggest of the day and still company record. between fighting the current, the boat moving along still, and the fish itself. by the time i got the sucker in my arm was dead from holding the rod. it was numb for like an hour afterwards lol. it didnt take near an hour to land, but it took long enough...

possibly illegal depending on your states laws. also, i would ask the landowner first. could be a reason theres no fish in those ponds. if it works out, load those ponds with bluegill, in a couple years there might be enough bluegill population to be able to add bass...

clearly a replica, you can tell by how fake it looks. the fish died anyways, shouldve got a skinmount...

id probably guess 1.5lbs