jbsoonerfan

Been a tough hot stretch of fishing these last couple weeks and it only looks like it's going to get hotter. It has been 16 days since I have caught one over 3lbs, feels like it has been 2 years though. I finally found a couple today that were worthy of a picture. A big mouth skinny 4-1 and a nice healthy 4-4. Both caught on a baby brush hog in sprayed grass (maybe my new favorite color aside from gp).

I guess without knowing your end goal, there are way too many variables to consider to answer your question. I don't know if you are just looking for casting distance or what. For me, the power of the rod I choose is determined on where I am throwing any particular lure. Let's use your frog as an example. If I am throwing a hollow body frog over thick grass, I am going to use a 7'2 H rod with 65 lb braid to try to get them up and out as soon as I can. If I am going to be throwing a hollow body frog over open water, I am going to throw it on a 7'2 MH rod with 50 lb braid. I use the same approach with bottom contact baits and even crankbaits in certain situations.

I guess I could have shared my own story about getting into fishing as well. My Dad was only interested in doing something with me if it involved a ball of some sort. However, my grandpa on my moms side was an avid fisherman and although I didn't get to go with him as much as I would have liked, he is the one who really got me interested at about the age of 8 or 9. At about the age of 12 or so I noticed me next door neighbor was always loading up his rods and reels and heading out. He was an older gentleman and one day I finally asked if I could tag along and he said yes. He took me many times and looking back I realize he wasn't the best fisherman when it came to presentation or technique, but he knew where to fish, which is half the battle in my mind. I went with him a lot up until about the age of 15 when my friends got their drivers license and I could go with them. I still see Bud every once in a while driving down the road and someday I am going to go by and tell him thanks for all he did for me. I need to do this before time runs out. Once again, great story and I am glad I got to read it and think about my early days on the water.

I have the same one @A-Jay has and it is a great pack. I had to use it once on my boat before I upgraded my cranking battery and have used it on a couple pontoons (not sure why they wait till they get to the lake for a weekend to check it) and a car.

Great story! My son is 14 and he doesn't care anything about fishing, I have taken him and he just doesn't enjoy it like I do. I wish he would go with me but he has no desire to. However, there is a kid in his class who got my number from my son and he is basically begging me to take him without directly asking me. I want to take him, but I don't want my son to feel like I am trying to "replace" him for lack of a better term, with another kid. I want to ask my son if he would mind if I take him, but again, I am afraid that me just asking my son would make him feel like I want to take the other kid because he won't go with me.

LOL! Cut, drill, what's the difference?

Welcome to the forum. Hopefully he has it taken care of since it has been 21 months since this was posted.

Replacing your cranking battery won't have any effect on the performance of your TM. I would look at reserve capacity as a determining factor. Not sure what size motor you have but most batteries will have plenty of cranking amps to crank your motor, but your graphs are using the reserve capacity and when it gets low it won't crank. It looks like your current battery has 155 minutes. I found an Exide with 200 minutes, but it is more expensive than the Optima. https://marinebatteryguy.com/exide-xmc-31-megacycle-agm-200-sealed-maintenance-free-agm-marine-battery/

They have already been working for me. I haven't thrown one side by side with a baby to compare them yet, but they work. Perfect size in my opinion for texas rigging one with a 1/4 or 3/8 oz weight.

Hahaha! My bad!

Not sure what you are saying. I said there are a bunch of trolling motors for sale on ebay. You acted like you got the last one on earth. Just saying that there are plenty available.

There are a bunch on the bay.

Yep

I used one that I had, I think off of a Curado or Scorpion. I may have ordered another one from Tackle Trap or from Shimano. I can't remember off the top of my head what I used. I have swapped so many handles and knobs I lose track.

I would buy a set of scales before I told anyone what my personal best weighed. That is a great fish and unless you know the exact weight, that's all that really matters.

I have the Bantam PG and when I swapped the handle out for a 96mm one it made it a great deep crankin reel. I do love the Bantams though so I may be a little biased.

Good thing I am not tournament fishing anymore since I can seem to only manage a couple good fish a day. Here is a 3-6 and a 4-1 from this morning.

A couple good ones from today. 3-5 and 4-4

We had a nice storm system move through yesterday through the night and the air temp cooled off to 64 degrees and we got a good rain. I couldn't wait to get on the lake this morning. My alarm was set for 5:30 and I was wide awake at 4:00 lol. I waited till the rain stopped and headed to the lake with high hopes, it just felt like fishing weather. I was in the water as day broke and was on the fish in 10 min or less. It was about 66 degrees with a cool easterly wind. My first good fish was a 3-3 and I thought I was going to get after them. I didn't get another bite for about 2 hours and then I pitched to a dead bush in about 3 foot of water. I gave the 11" worm a wiggle and felt that "tap, tap" I got ready and the line went tight and I swung away. I knew it was a good one but she had me wrapped up and the fight was worse than it should have been. She was a healthy 6-4 though. I ended up getting broke off and losing another good one, both of which wrapped me up. The stuff I am fishing is pretty nasty. A couple little ones to add to it and the sun popped out and the heat and humidity took over. You won't hear me complain about catching a 6 though.

First fish of the day just happened to be the best one. She had a big ol mouth on her but she needs to eat lol. She weighed in at 6 lbs even and hammered a green pumpkin 7" power worm as soon as it hit the water right by a tree she must have been sitting by. Nothing else worth a pic the rest of the day. Lots of action on the frog but all little guys.

Pretty slow day for me today but I managed a couple fish worth a pic. Both were caught on a 7" power worm in green pumpkin. Caught in the brush on a SLOOOOOW retrieve. First one is 4-4 and the second is 3-2

Falcon or Amistad

Just the opposite for me. I find the best times to be about 11:00 am till 4:00 pm or so. My theory is that once the sun gets high in the sky they head for cover and cool areas, in my case this would include grass or weed beds. I have tried them in the morning and evening with no luck. This is post spawn fishing I am talking about.

Got on a decent frog bite today. Had a lot of blowups but not all of them actually took it. Here are the best two of the day. A 5-02 and a 4-01. I love catching them on top.