georgeyew

Looks awesome. I love that you wrapped and epoxyed past the guides. You don't find that very often on store bought rods.

Maybe I just got lucky then. I got my PB down in FL while fishing in the middle of a hot and miserable day. We were ready to call it the day since it seemed that the bite had shut down and I was tired of throwing and winding my swim jig. And then out of nowhere, BOOM, my 7.5 lb PB bent my rod. I often catch my biggest fish when I am not fully paying attention.

Or you can try 2 or 3 oring on the senko to make it harder to dig in because of the width. Just make sure that the hook gap is big enough to clear the orings.

I don't know too many buzzbaits that will go cleanly through grass cover, but you can try the Ragetail Shad. It will glide across that stuff while still making a commotion in the water.

That's one way to do it. But normally, the tubing goes over the eye of the trailer hook and then you poke the buzzbait hook through the eye and tubing of the trailer hook.

Why aren't you smiling?? If I had that fish in my hands, I'd be grinning from ear to ear!

When you are fishing in areas where there is a lot of rubbing and abrasion, you need extra heavy braid so it does not get cut through. It's not just about matching the max drag pressure.

It might help if you put some grip tape on the handle. It's cheap to try out. You don't have to get the fishing specific ones, go to Dick's and get a pack from the tennis dept.

That's terrible

In addition to roll casting, don't jerk the cast. Make your cast nice and smooth.

I don't use a split shot, but I do sometimes use a small sinker weight attached to my snap to make my inline spinner dive deeper.

Over the weekend, I was out at 5AM with my buzzbait. Sunrise was 5:45, but it was light enough to see and to catch fish!

I got one that you can buy

Wow, nice fish. Don't hold out on us....tell us what you caught that on and how was the fight??

That's a great deal. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

What color frog were you using? I had many misses on my white colored lure. But when I switched to black, I was able to hook up. I think that the black color shows up better with the sky in the background (even against the black night sky).

The Berkley Lightning Shock Heavy rod can handle that weight class. And they are only about $50 at Walmart. You'll have to order it online though.

Yes, a Chatterbait is the official name from Zman. They are the same as bladed jigs. Sometimes if they stop vibrating, it may mean that grass is caught up in the blades (just give it a nice tug to clean the blades) or a fish has swallowed it (then give it a big tug to set the hook).

Go with Mark Shepard on Bassonline. He is fantastic. He is often able to put us on fish even when other guides are not catching any fish. But don't tell him that I sent you. I think that he's only had 2 days off this year so far. He is a busy boy, because he is awesome at what he does!!!

He would have been fun to unhook

I pull all of my fingers in front of the stem. When I started fishing. I had my pinky behind the stem. But at the end of the day I noticed that my finger would hurt where it was pressing up against the stem. After I made the adjustment, the pain went away. That's the same way that I hold it with my baitcaster too.

I know that this is a bass forum, but if I have a situation where that many carp are actively feeding, I'd be targeting the carp. They fight much harder than bass and are usually much bigger. It is not uncommon to see 20+ pound carp. Imagine the fun in fighting those fish!

I can only cast with one hand (on my baitcaster) if I am not casting for any real distance. It's usually if I get lazy and just want to do a quick flick. I use more of a wrist action to throw the lure out there. And I make sure that my fingers are gripping the rod very securely.

Only thing that I heard was the lake being stocked with 1500 catfish. No bass yet

Most of the factory rods that I see have the tip held on by epoxy. Will the flame from the lighter melt the epoxy?