Curved

One side of me knows how much of a thrilling fight SMB put up, but I'd go with the LMB because I haven't caught a big LMB yet.

Go for a swim with a thermometer

I taught my father in law and cousin how to fish with these: I gave them a small weighted float & an unweighted #12 hook. It's hard to get it snagged and a lot of species go for it, even small bass and trout. They don't go bad and 1 worm will catch 4 or 5 fish.

1. 1x rod, 1x small fannie pack for tackle, 1x sunglasses 2. I've got different kits of tackle in my car for different scenarios. Right now the car has 1 trout kit, 1 dropshot kit, 1 jig kit, and 1 crankbait kit. Each has a different rod and I store all the lures and tackle together in a duffel bag. 3-5 bags/boxes of lures go into my fannie pack for the day. 3. N/A 4. 1 trip 5. No 2. Do you take all your fishing stuff in a truck or in a car, when you go fishing ??? Example: Car (inside trunk) 3. If you bring a cooler what is usually in it ??? Example: cans of soda, and box of worms 4. How many trips does it take to get all of your fishing gear to your fishing spot ??? 5. Is it difficult to carry all of your gear to your fishing spot???

Wow, what a response Raul. Thanks from that, and I hope you're able to get out more in coming time. I've heard swimbaits only working on the west coast, but who knows.

The stream next to my house has brookies and rainbows but this looks like both put together. I caught a couple of them. Could it be a hybrid?

Been trying a Roboworm straight tail in Margarita Mutilator (neon blue) on a dropshot and caught some decent fish Saturday. Deadsticking is easy mode fishing. Just have to find the fish and they'll be catches. Finding them is the hard part.

Nanofil.. its like braid, but it casts better and takes even more twist. 12# with 8# flouro leader.

Very interesting that this is effective and it originated from crappie fishing. I used to target crappie before switching to bass, and as I've been digging deeper into finesse techniques, I've been seeing the bass lure preference isn't that different from crappie. Bass fishermen have different techniques, but the effective lures are similar. The bobby garland baby shad is one of the go-to lures for crappie (the bottom lure pictured below), and the berkley twitchtail minnow (second image) is basically an upsized version. This thread and that story has me wanting to try fishing a twitchtail dropshot under a float and see what happens. That's just upsized crappie fishing right there.

No need to read the whole thread! He's talking about your original post For what it's worth I've spent many hours at my lake fishing Senkos, and I think they're fished out on that lure. I'll catch maybe a fish a trip with Senkos, but I can switch to some other finesse goodies and catch 10 or 20 in the same timeframe. Over at the river Senkos work better, but I still believe in other lures more. In particular, the Powerbait Twitchtail I've been using on a splitshot for a few weeks now ... man is that a numbers catcher! I use basically the same technique as you describe (thank you!), but with a small spltishot.

Clock is ticking Feet are cold Not enough daylight

I haven't gone to any of the creeks and runs in Fairfax county, but there should be some with SMB. The Potomac River has them in most of the watershed. I'd try Bull Run. Just be careful to check with VA DGIF that the water is clean if you plan to eat anything.

Shenandoah River is my home river. The North Fork is clean, so that's where I fish. Yesterday's dinner below. Released 3 others. Caught them in 2 hours with the Powerbait Twitchtail Minnow. Used the clear gold/black back color. Its one of the easier baits to fish. BB splitshot 6" up the line. Cast it as far as you can into a deep spot. Let it sink to the bottom and wait a while. Leave plenty of slack in the line, and a floating line is nice so you can see it. If a fish picks it up, the line will start moving away. Reel her in. If nothing picks it up after 15 seconds, reel it or jerk it a few feet and let it sit again. I've been using a #4 Gamakatsu octopus hook, but they didn't have a #2 Gamakatsu Dropshot hook at Walmart, and that's what I'd prefer. My rod/reel is a 5'6" light rod w/ 10 size reel. Nanofil main line with 3' flourocarbon leader.

Hahaha. There's a head scratcher.

No boat or sonar here -- I do 2-3 casts before moving on. If I've caught fish at a spot before I'll do 5 or so before going to the next place.

Trilene knot is what I use for FC. Double palomar for superlines. Double albright for joining lines. FC knot tests at the bottom: http://www.tackletou...wtrilenefc.html

Just found a great new-to-me smallie bait: Powerbait Twitchtail Minnow Caught a limit and then some of good size fish in a couple hours after work today.

Can't say without seeing the structure. Also boat or shore? Without knowing that stuff, I'd get a fix on the area around the place you are parking, starting with going up and down the shoreline stopping at each structure. Then expand outward into the water, stopping at each transition or underwater structure.

2" southern pro triple tail grub on a splitshot rig 1-2" piece of a senko on a hook unweighted 4" power worm with the tail cut off, unweighted, wacky rigged

I wade fish a small shallow river (50-70 yards across, 2-8 ft deep) and what I find is YES, they do school, but they are also smart, and once I've pulled one fish in, the rest go up or down river. The places I hook them are holes and submerged timber or boulders. I find a long cast distance is important for the river smallies because the ones that run away will hang out just a little ways away until they think you've gone away. Occasionally they'll cruise back to check on their spot. If they see or hear you splunking lures, the ones that know you're a fisherman are going to go away again until you're done. That said, if you can get the right lure in front of them with a long cast, they'll still strike it. I find being sporadic with my targets and lures helps keeps the fish from being wary. I'll target one spot with 3 casts, then switch back to the other side of the river. My most productive artificial lure is a 1.5" chunk of a yum dinger unweighted, rigged jig-style with just a hook. I find most any short worm kills in my river. Live crawfish are 1-cast wonders for my river. I don't find time of day has anything to do with their habits. They seem to always be in those same hiding spots.

I've caught some 3 lb fish on 6 lb line. I could see using a super tough line for weeds and cover, but for normal fishing 8 or 10 lb is my go-to. 15 lb would be fine IMO. On Nanofil, I've been running 12 lb this year and will be using it again in the future. I love the cast distance and I use the floating line as a strike indicator on the fall. I use a flourocarbon leader with the recommended double albright knot and haven't had unexpected break offs.

Sir, I don't know you but I pray God heals your pain and lets you fish pain free again.

This is something that I've noticed as well. In my opinion the shape of the tip and wire size makes the biggest difference.

Slip bobbers are great for crappie! A little known trick is that many normal bobbers can be used as slip bobbers if you turn the wire hook on the bottom around. There are often two indents in the plastic -- a deep one for setting the bobber in one position, and a shallow one for using it as a slip bobber. A good trick for bobbers is to keep the bait falling slowly. Let the bobber sit still until the unweighted bait falls all the way, let it sit for 5 or 10 seconds, then reel a bit in so the bait can fall again. Another trick is since it takes more time to set a hook on a bobber, keep very little slack on the line to the bobber. If the bobber floats closer, always keep the line barely touching the water as much as the wind allows. Lastly, picking the smallest bobber possible is better since fish can overpower and drag it down more easily. As soon as the bobber gets pulled under its time to reel in. The small hooks set easily, so no need to yank the rod, just reel in.

If she's fine with catching panfish with the live worms, do a #12 hook unweighted with the smallest size weighted bobber you can find (the ones that are the size of a nickle are what I use). Set the bobber to 18" and its surefire.