mnbassman23

Great fish man, be proud of that fish! I'll echo what others have said and I would not submit it if you are not positive on the length. The way I see it is by not submitting this one it will motivate you more to go out and catch a bigger one. In a sense, it will fuel your fire for the passion of bass fishing. I'm always out to break my PB and it really drives me to go out and fish hard. Congrats again!

Pretty good year for my family. I shot a doe bow hunting, my father and mother each got a doe slug hunting, and my Fiance shot a doe bow hunting! I also got my shoulder mount back 3 weeks ago from the buck i shot the fall of 2011. Shot this big guy hunting public land, deer of a lifetime for me!

Good thinking right here. I think we are all "guilty" of getting caught up in the latest and greatest and tend to shy away from what use to work. I know I am anyways. I recently went through all my tackle to see what I needed to stock up on and found some 7" powerbait worms that I haven't thrown in the past 2 years. It use to be one of my biggest producers, both numbers and size, and here I haven't even had it tied on in the past 2 years. Makes me shake my head in disbelief. I actually cut down on my "need" list for this year and am going to bring back a couple lures that I haven't used in some time.

X2 love my Recon 715. I have a Revo sx strapped on it spooled with 20lb Sunline. Primarily my jig rod, but it is a very versatile rod.

I use bottom contact rods that range between 80-200$. To me there is a difference in sensitivity between a 150-200 $ rod compared to a 80-100$ rod. With that said I still catch plenty of fish every year with my abu Vendetta pitching jigs and t-rigs, so obviously it's sensitive enough and I enjoy fishing it. Heck I catch walleyes dragging light jigs on my old ugly stick in 10 feet of water all the time. My point is don't feel like you HAVE to spend a lot of money on a rod, spend within your limits and get out there and fish. 3 things I would do if I was you. First is wait for a good sale at TW, BTD, BassPro, etc.. If you buy a rod for 20% off you can now buy a rod that retails for 150$ and get it for 120$, which is in your price range. Second, check the flea market here or E bay. A month ago I picked up a brand new, never used St. Croix Avid 68mxf for 100$ shipped to my door. Lastly, spool up with a good fluorocarbon or braid. This will make your rod much more sensitive, regardless of it's price point. Good luck on your purchase!

Carrot stix, Carrot stix replacement 1, carrot stix replacement 2.... Carrot stix replacement 3 is now my fiances rod because she thinks it looks pretty lol

Let us know how it goes. Hopefully someones wisdom here prevails and you get into some fish!

I'd be throwing 3/8 and 1/2oz jigs 95% of the time. Have a few 1/4 and 3/4 laying around for when the fish want something slow or to get a reaction strike. There will be days when this is the case, as I'm sure you know. With a lake that small I would go around the lake initially with a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig and then depending on how I did, either downsize or upsize the weight to try and get the ones that didn't bite.

Exactly

I think their are times were less action is better (post front/cold water). If fish are lethargic and not very response, slowing down and using lures with less action can sometimes be the only lures that produce. At times you can get these fish to respond by using fast moving reaction lures, but at times it is not the case. For me I use beaver style baits mostly when it comes to pitching/flipping to heavy cover like matted grass, deep into cattails, or pencil reeds. The reason for this is because they are compact and go through the the vegetation better without hanging up.

I have had some lights out days using an all blue jig! One of my favorites is the Northstar Custom Baits flippin blue color. I would add a white craw to an all blue jig and give it a try!

Look for plastics that do not have salt added to them.. z-man and strike king come to mind, they both make an Elaztech line of baits that float well.

Slow rolled spinnerbait or swim jig, lipless crank, hard jerkbait, and a senko. I would also throw a carolina rig with a floating plastic and longer leader. You could work this really slow and let the plastic sit in place for awhile if the fish are lethargic. Just a couple ideas.. what is the water clarity like in this lake?

MarkH024, I tried both ways. When I first started I wasn't really sure how to rig it so I rigged it as seen in my photo with the fish (cone in front). It worked well, but it impeded the action of the plastic a bit because the weight was sandwiched in the middle. When using a weight you are better off doing it how the video shows. The only time I put the cone in front is when I'm working the bait as a topwater. In this case i'm either using no weight or a small weight up to 1/4oz, depending on how fast i want to work the bait.

Pretty similar to Paychecks baits "nose job". I fished them last year with pretty good results. It feels like your reeling in a crankbait with the amount of vibration it gives off. Great movement of the plastic and you can fish it about anywhere. I also caught a lot of fish reeling it on the top, looks like a jitterbug. This one in the picture below I caught slow rolling the bait on a 12ft weedline with a 3/4oz tungsten weight. 3 things to note: Make sure you use a bobber stop or tie a knot if front of the "nose job" ( just like you would when pegging a bullet weight to your lure).. otherwise when you cast the lure goes flying and the nose job slides WAY up your line. Out of a 4 pack, I had 2 of them not work properly after catching about 10 fish. They would no longer "grab" the water to create the erratic action and vibration. In short, they are now useless. The other 2 are still holding up strong though. Lastly, your experiences may vary but i had some hook up issues. Someday's i'd catch one out of every 5 bites. My thought process on this was the fish would engulf the whole lure, including the nose job, and when i went to set the hook the nose job would push the fishes mouth open causing me not to hook up with the fish. Just a thought, could be wrong but it seems logical in my head...

I can never remember specific dates either. I do know BTD does 25% like others have said. BTD had quite a few of the 20-25% off last year, more so than most. I was actually surprised at how many they ran. I'm starting to shop there more and more with their amount of sales, and great CS.

Up shallow- 1/4-3/8oz alien head jig in a sunfish pattern mostly, but also black/blue, bright blue, green pumpkin, and watermelon red. If the fish are sluggish i'll switch over to a hair jig in black or watermelon. Also to cover water i'll throw a 1/4oz swim jig in sunfish color. First drop off or deeper- Football or Alien head jigs, depending on structure, in the same colors as above. Weight will range from 3/8-3/4oz. Also i'll slow roll swim jigs in 3/8-3/4oz depending on depth. When i'm throwing the swim jig I usually put a 4-5" soft swimbait on and give those big females something to munch on. Trailers all depend on water temp and the fishes mood. Less active, less action.. more active, more action.

Exactly! I really think most people buy them because its the new "Fad".. Somewhat similar to whats happening with micro guides in the past few years, they are becoming more in demand as people hear about them and pro's push them.. These day's it seems harder to come buy a full grip rod than a split grip.. Companies are flooding the market with split grip rods, and therefor people buy them and they become more popular..I am not to hyped up on split grips, to me there is no real benefit. That said I have split grip rods and enjoy fishing them, but they are nothing special. Just my .2 cents

As mentioned already single and twin tailed grubs, 4-5inch soft swimbaits, and craw baits are all good. Neither is best (imo) and certain ones will work better on different days. If you limit yourself to one or the other you are only limiting the amount of fish you catch. Brand wise i'd use whatever you have confidence in. If you don't have a favorite brand or company the ones listed above by other members are all good and will fulfill your needs!

I feel your pain, it's been even worse for us northerners..I hadn't been fishing since the 2nd week of november, until this past saturday. Drove 3.5hours one way just to fish the mississippi from shore for 6 hours. Felt great and was well worth it. My only other form of fishing consists of sitting on a big sheet of ice, not really my idea of a great time... I really need to move down south The real problem is I fix my withdrawls by buying new gear... but than I'm stuck looking at the d**n stuff for another 3-4 months while winter continues to ruin any sign of open water fishing

Drop shot and shaky head. Drives me nuts to finesse fish.. Give me a jig and I can fish slow all day long and be happy, turn it into a finesse lure and I feel like i'm watching paint dry.

X2, i'd also throw 1/4-3/8oz spinnerbaits and swim jigs on this rod. I personally like a little tip for these applications so the fish engulfs the lure before I start swinging for the fences.

You sir are a good man!

Bargin shopper here too.. the E, TW, and BTD are my friends when it comes to buying most of my gear. I plan ahead of time and try to order my big purchase items when I know there will be sales. In general I purchase reels in the 100-160$ range and my rods usually range from 80-200$. I never pay retail price though, for example I picked up my last rod, 190 retail, for 100 brand new shipped to my door. Good sales are out there if your patient and do some looking. Than again, I have a 60$ spinning combo that I catch bass on with no problem..

Northstar Custom Baits- Black Series, Flip and Swims, and Knockout jigs. Norman D22's Also some things on my radar to pick up are the berkley havoc Sick Fsh and Beat Shad. I'm thinking the beat shad on the back of a flip and swim is going to produce some biggins this year