Robert Riley

Several years ago my friend caught a log and snapped his line in frustration. A few minutes later, I caught the same log. Turns out it wasnt a log, but a 5 pounder with his beetle spin still in his mouth! The look on my friends face was priceless. (And I still have his lure to this day)

That would make sense, a lot of leaves just fell in the last week, so the water is covered in them now.

It looks almost identical actually. It was nighttime, cloudy and the wind was about 10-15 mph.

So this summer I decided to pick two techniques to "master" of the course of spring -> summer. I'm looking for one that I might be able to focus on this fall -> winter. I primarily fish from the shore and every now and then from a boat (probably 3 more boat trips this year). I'd rather y'all just throw stuff out here instead of me listing off what I know. I'm thinking dragging football heads, carolina rigs or jerkbaits?

I prefer lakes, since I have experience on small waters, and lakes are a newer experience. But ponds are much easier to breakdown like you said. It's definitely easier to fish small than large.

So I fished a small pond the other day, and I was attempting to pick out where to fish based off the wind (something I just learned about). I've attached a picture of the scenario I fished. The blue star is where I thought I'd catch fish, green is where I did... Opposite of what I thought. Anyone know why I didn't catch fish at the bottom of the pond? It's not like there was any cover in the calm area, it's a golf course pond. Lemme know if you want more info EDIT: The calm spot was bc of a hill that blocked the wind, or so I suspect. The whole shore line is "raised" if that makes sense.

Nope, it's a golf course pond. Thought maybe catfish, but I've never caught a cat in the 4 years i've been fishing it.

I went nigh-fishing last night, threw a white cavitron. I had a few wakes following my buzzbait, but nothing ever hit it. The last two time I decided to just stop my lure when it was almost at the following wake, nothing still. What gives?

Does anyone know of any software to draw diagrams/maps? I'm having a "teaching" session and I'd like to have some diagrams to show, one's that aren't my chicken-scratched sketches. Looking for something like the pictures on this webpage perhaps?

I think my initial idea was wrong. I was thinking that it'd be better to use lighter braid for a better presentation, but that I would be sacrificing castability. But I guess since braid has a smaller diameter, it's no real loss to use "heavier" line. So I guess the last question is about the relationship between the rod and the line. If a rod is rated for 12-18lb test, what would you lose if you used 20lb or 8lb line? I'd assume just a little casting distance?

Hey guys, I was just wondering about line size in relation to rods and reels. I see that rods are rated for certain sizes of line, are reels as well? Talking casting reels specifically. Secondly, if I'm using braid and the rod say 10-16lb for example, am I stuck with like 40lb test braid? Or whatever the ratio is, you see the point.

Straight Fluoro. I use red label since I nick up line so often

What variables (weather related) do you account for when you search for the bite? I was considering: Water temp Clouds Wind Fronts I just said fronts considering like barometric pressure and post-frontal conditions. Thanks

What could I throw in tandem with a spinnerbait? I could do a small crank over the grass. Or am I just fine throwing a different spinnerbaits.

When I fish a swim jig, I tend to pump it through the water, higher in the column, as compared to dragging a jig along the bottom.

So I'm fishing with a coangler this weekend, and I think we need to fish differently until we catch on to something. This brings me to my question about dissecting the water column. Would you say that a jig, spinnerbait, swimjig and topwater covers most of it? I should probably mention that we are fishing relatively shallow, deepest would probably be off points/ledges.

It depends, do you have a vicious hookset? If so, do braid on the moderate. Otherwise you should probably use mono on the XF. As weird as it sounds, I use braid on a 7' M/F and I just put my tip to 11 o'clock when they strike, it tends to set the hook itself.

Mono: Senshi is awesome, but I honestly like Suffix Elite. Braid: Just replace FX2, too loud, with Smackdown, will try it tomorrow night. Fluoro: Sniper is the best all round. But I tend to like a bit of stretch, so I use Sunline Reaction. But if I'm flip/pitching or finesse-ing, I like abrazx. *I'm also a broke college kid.

Yeah, it seems that the Senko is used in place of my fluke. How do you guys rig your senkos? Weightless? Weighted hook? I'm probably going to throw a chatterbait or swim-jig unless the spinnerbait bite explodes. I'll throw a spook or a whopperplopper when topwater is on.

So I've heard a bit here and there about throwing different baits with a co-angler. The only time I ever did anything like that was throwing a soft jerkbait tandem with a buzzbait, if I missed on on the buzzbait, my friend would almost always catch it on the softie. Anything else out there that comes to mind? Real Story: I'm fishing a tournament with a less than experienced co-angler, so she will be throwing the spinnerbait and buzzbait all day. I want to know if there is anything I can throw to help us out.

I've used it on two Croixs, mojo and triumph, and a Lew's Tournament Pro. A majority of the sound is coming from the guides, a little bit from the reel as well. I'm probably going to buy Smackdown tomorrow and swap it out and see.

I usually throw a swim jig around here, with decent results. I'm going out on monday, it'll be 70 and hopefully not raining. I'm gonna try the cranks and maybe the dropshot.

Hey guys, I'm a huge fan of Sunline Fluoro, so I bought some of their Fx2 braid for frogs/buzzbaits. Holy Shite, it's the loudest braid I've ever used. So loud. What gives? I don't think I ever noticed it before when I used power pro...

Tatsu is the best, by far. But as some have already said, invisx is for spinning reels (I think it's a bit smaller than usual). Abrasx is great for baitcasting. I have had very little issues with red label, honestly. I'd buy it more often, but it's not carried by my local shop, invisx is.

Never thrown rattletraps there, think they'll get caught in the rocks too much. Never thrown a dropshot there either. Will probably try soon.