B@ssCrzy

That is a beautiful fish!!! Love those ones over 4. They fight like you have a bull on the end of your line.

Swim jig with colors that match the bream. Money!!

I think you can catch just as big of fish from shore as you can from a boat, and agree with the other comments made as well. However, I love fishing from my boat because I just like being out ON the water. There is just something about being out on the water that is relaxing and enjoyable.

That cracks me up!!! Now I have to see the one you actually wanted to post!!!

My goal for this year was to learn how to jig fish and catch at least one fish on a jig. Several weeks ago I accomplished that goal by catching multiple fish on a swim jig, and then followed that up the following week with catching my personal best (for a largemouth) swimming a Seibert Outdoors football head. I am definitely hooked on swim jigs, now my goal is to learn how to fish a jig slow. But at least I accomplished my goal for this year and have a few months to continue building on that accomplishment. Anyone else reach their goals already this year?

I would go with braid and then learn to tie a leader. Which basically lets you switch between lines when the need arises. The only application where this does not work for me is on my crankbait setup where I feel the added stretch of mono helps my hookup ratio and keeps the hooks from tearing out of the fish.

Swim Jig for sure. Bass seem to crush it with a vengeance!!

I like my Clarus. Especially with the lifetime warranty.

Nice combo!!!! Enjoy!!! Like Lew's.

If your line is breaking with 10 lb mono then I would assume that your drag is not set correctly unless you think that you are hooking fish that are over 10 lbs. It is possible to bring in fish on 6lb mono that are over 6lbs if your drag is set correctly. I set my drag pretty light unless I am fishing in a lot of cover where I have to get them out or they will get tangled up in a tree, weeds, etc. I want the fish to take out some line from my drag because that just wears them down and puts less stress on the hook pulling out as well. Too much and you can't get a good hookset, so there is a balance you will have to figure out. Also, make sure that when the break happens it is not your knot that is breaking. Learn to tie a good knot to the hook as this can be one of the first places that you will get a break.

Bingo!! I use spincasters when I am trying to teach my kids how to fish with bobbers and for catfish, but other than that they are not made for the type of bass fishing that you seem to be interested in. (my opinion) Reason being is that a spin caster will twist the line and so cast after cast it builds up until you cast out and have this big birds nest in front of you. Same thing will happen with a spinning reel since they are both essentially doing the same thing when they wind the line onto the reel. However, the good thing about a spinning reel is that you can put braid on the spinning reel and it will solve this problem since it has no memory and does not coil as much when twisted. I went to baitcasters after having my mono always getting tangled on my spinning setups, but once I put braid on my spinning setups that changed everything. With braid you have no line memory, and if it does tangle you can normally pick out the tangle with little effort. Learn to tie a mono leader to the braid and you can fish with that line for years and not have to buy any more line. I have no problems using my spinning setup for many different applications now that I have braid on it. I probably do prefer my baitcasting combos better, but like previously said if you are going to go that route please invest in a good reel (at least $100). If you don't you will be sorry. If I was going to invest in a really good entry level combo I would look at a Pflueger President spinning reel and a Shimano Sellus 6'8"-7' spinning rod, or maybe a Powell Diesel rod for just a little bit more. With the sales going on right now you would probably be looking at around $100, but it would be something that should last you quite a while. Hope that helps. Tight lines!!

Read a post on another forum about how largemouth bass in northern lakes are less willing to go deep during the summer due to the clear lakes and presence of northern pike and musky, and because they don't like to just sit suspended out in the lake. The poster commented that even during the dog days of summer you should be fishing in the shallow weeds or reeds? Do you find this to be true? Do most largemouth in northern lakes stay in shallow and in cover over the summer? Where I live, when summer comes, it means they go to deep cover and structure once the water temps go high. The lake that I go to for vacation is a big clear lake with deepest part being 70', has a sand bottom, very little sparse vegetation deep and mainly void of any cover, but also has some good coves with emergent weed growth and lily pads in the 5' range. It has a lot of smallmouth which do go deep, and I have never had much luck with the largemouth so trying to figure them out this year. Thoughts?

Lizard by far....

My mom got me started. I was probably 6 or 7 on vacation in Michigan with my family. My mom rowed me out to the drop-off and we just dropped our worms over the side and let it sink to the bottom. Caught about 20 dinky perch. One of the fondest memories of my life. Goes to show you how something small has a big impact on a kid. Thanks Mom!!

5 minutes for the ponds I fish, 15 min for my home lake, 8hrs for my favorite lake.

Congrats!! Love fishing from my boat!!

The one question I would ask as well is what type of gear are you using? If you are trying to set the hook with mono and a ML rod then you are going to miss a lot of fish. You need braid or something that is low stretch and I like a MH rod for my frog fishing. When I switched to braid I found myself catching a lot more fish on my hookups. You are still going to miss some, but you will not miss as many. Those big hooks on a frog need a rod that can help drive the hooks home hard.

I like to use 15-20lb power pro braid and use a mono leader just because it is tough and more forgiving. I have not used fluorocarbon yet, but only because I don't feel like spending the money for it.

I agree with the others and what they have said. You don't need a baitcaster. I believe that if you are only going to spend $100 on a baitcasting combo you will probably be disappointed. It is my opinion that in order to get a nice baitcasting reel you need to spend around $100 for the reel alone. I have tried the cheap baitcasting combos and they made my life miserable. When I finally upgraded to some quality baitcasters it made a world of difference. Spinning gear will be good for you, but I would definitely go with braid and learn to tie on a leader. The braid will keep you from having to mess with the memory and line twist that can come with spinning gear after casting a lot, and the leader will allow you to break off if you get snagged and not waste any of your braid. To me braid makes a world of difference on a spinning set up.

Braid-Power Pro #15 and #50lb Mono-Berkley XT and Big Game Fluoro-None Would like to try Yo-Zuri Co-polymer, but have not pulled the trigger yet.

Nice!!! Good for you!!

"After the Catch" is exactly what you want. You can record gps locations and will automatically load temp and weather information. You can take pictures and record rig, lure, line, etc for what you used. Pretty cool app.

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to do. Sorry if I made him feel bad as that was not my intent, but I genuinely feel bad for him that he paid good money for a rod that could not stand up to a hook-set. Just expressing my frustration about those rods with him. I feel his pain. That's all.

No I don't think so. I think since the braid is the main line you feel everything that the bottom sinker comes into contact with in a much more defined way and with the mono only being a short run your are not going to get the loss of sensitivity that you would if your whole mainline is mono. At least that has been my experience.

No, I just talked with Chris few days ago about my order and he informed me that they are busy filling an order for TW.