Felix77

Those who follow golf will appreciate this. Bubba Watson catches a bass on one of the ponds on the Greenbrier. Just had to share ...

Freakin' Awesome !!!

I prefer mono for my topwater lures. I generally fish a spook and it is much easier with mono. For smaller things like poppers I tend to go spinning gear. I have braid on the spinning so that work just fine for me. No Fluoro for topwaters.

What he said.

x2 on this ... realize that TSA rules seem to vary by location. You might be "ok" flying from home to your location. The other way around could be a very different experience. Please keep that in mind too.

I fly with my travel rods, reels and plastics as carry on. When I travel I generally keep it pretty simple. Hooks have been confiscated from me in the past. Since then I just make a pit stop to a close wal-mart, BassPro, Cabelas or Gander and pick up some hooks and bullet sinkers. On those "rare" occasions where I buy more than hooks at any of those places I get one of those prepaid boxes from the USPS. (around $5) and ship everything with hooks back. A lot cheaper than the $25 charge to check your bag.

Right now I prefer Lowrance because of it's user friendly menus. As I grow up things might change.

My 2 go-to colors are ... Green Pumpkin Black/Blue with a blue tip Everything else is merely for entertainment purposes only.

x2 on the Trokar Tube hook. Great for T-Rigging, Carolina Rigging and general weedless presentations.

I had issues with not receiving Bass times. One phone call to them and they reissued those months I was owed. Great service.

Some areas are impacted worse than others. Areas which have become stained/dirty I would work the bottom more (jigs, heavy trig). Otherwise your "normal" approaches should work.

Basic rule of thumb for me ... the heavier the cover the more likely I am to pin the weight. Heavy weeds - Flipping and pitching - Pinned. Also use baits which are streamlined and little/no appendages. Moderate weeds - Flipping and pitching - Pinned/unpinned ... truly a preference. Use baits with some action like a brush hog. Light to moderate - Flippin/Pitchin/cast & Retrieve - unpinned. Sparse weeds - cast and retrieve. - unpinned. I let both run freely. Hope this helps.

My mojo rig with finesse worm is still my go-to! Expanding to include a drop shot.

FWIW ... When I fished from my canoe I had no type of fishfinder. What I used to do is tie on a 1/2oz T-Rig plastic of some kind and toss it out in deeper waters looking for weed edges. If I came up with weeds I wasn't at the edge yet. Once I came up with no weeds I found the edge and began fishing the area. Caught a few this way but it definitely is time consuming. Now with my Yak I have a Lowrance and it makes finding things like that much easier.

5.89 lb Smallie on a Shakeyhead.

Literally just did this today. I just used the Abu Garcia reel oil to refresh some areas. Seems to work OK.

Spinning - 15lb Braid - 6-10 leaders as you feel necessary. Baitcaster - 15lb FC is a decent all around size.

I generally go 15lb Braid. I like the way my leaders hold up on 15lb as opposed to 10lb. Anything between 10-20 should work just fine.

In hindsight I would have to agree. This site has flat out made me a better angler.

My preference is a 6'6" MH Spinning rod and reel combination. I am an Abu Garcia guy and for that price you can get an Orra S spinning combo. I own 4 which I use in tournaments. I love them.

Focus on the baits that will meet the conditions you are faced with and just plain fish them! As ColdSVT said do NOT overthink things. Keep your line in the water and fish hard! Good luck!

Mojo Rig & Finesse Worm Weightless Senko (wacky and t-rigged) Walk the Dog bait (Zara Spook, Sexy Dawg) Squarebill Crankbait

I don't know if I had a "breakthrough" moment per-se but one experience which resonates with me. It spans across 3 tournament seasons on one particular body of water ... Rouses Point area of Lake Champlain. 1st year - 1st bass tournament ever. Overwhelmed, wasn't sure what to fish. Caught my 1st smallmouth and limit on day 1. Not a limit on day 2. 2nd year - Learning from my mistakes of the 1st year I had another great 1st day but failed to bring in a limit on day 2 again. 3rd year (2 weeks ago) - Caught my limit on both days. Couldn't cull out 2 small bass otherwise I would have been easily in the top 10. Felt very accomplished. I guess the "breakthrough" was realizing that I am learning from my mistakes and improving as an angler. Year 3 was vastly different than the prior 2 years in that I fished the lures I had with confidence. I also felt my decision making was a lot quicker. Great feeling!

Ticking the tops of grass is where I get my best bites. When I have caught smallies on a chatterbait it was slow rolling it over rocky flats. The new Strike King Rage Blade is awesome for this.

I use Frog Toggs from WalMart. Work great and it's cheap!