gulfcaptain

If fishing is slow, why complain about the fight that fish has given you. Unless you plan on keeping that carp you gaff, then it wouldn't be a good idea. I don't believe in just killing a fish just because it happens to be the wrong kind, ugly, or some think it's useless, not to mention if you buy a commercial gaff, odds are it's not gonna be as good as you would like. Having made many a gaff while working on sportfishing boats in S.Cal, those gaffs are crap, the hook is normally too big, and depending on your state fishing regulations, IE, Cal, it's illegal to gaff ANY freshwater fish. Get a net and release your opponent safely and be thankful for the fight it gave you. It maybe annoying when you hook them, but it's still fun to pull on something that pulls so hard without giving up.

Sentimental value....can't put a price tag on that lure that you had to go get with the $5000 boat. Crazy is if you went and bought the boat to retrieve the $5 lure you lost, but if you already had the boat you're good.

considering I've only been able to "bass fish" about 21 days so far this year I'm up to 30, 6 of which came today with 2 being a 5.04 and a 4.25. Not to shabby for city park ponds/lakes, biggest this year so far was the 1st fish, a nice 6lber on a swimbait. And being I have a 25% rate of fish over 4lbs, I'm not gonna complain. I'll take quality over quantity any day.

I would fish an ounce to ounce and a half tungsten weight pegged with a creature bait/beaver style....maybe a D-Bomb, Sweet Beaver,...etc. Something compact. Maybe a punch skirt with it as well. I'd look at the wall of Tulies, look for points, indentions, gaps, maybe where two different types of vegetation mix. Bottom line, if you look at it all you will overwhelm yourself. Look for deep water access or a creek channel that is close by. Think someone mentioned isolated bunches as well. All of it looks good, it's our job to pick the best parts and fish them. As mentioned above, make a number of casts/pitches to each pocket. And when you do catch a fish, look at how it was relating to the cover or what was different about that spot then it's surroundings. Greatest tool you have is yourself and the observations you make. Good luck.

Exactly..... I could probably buy 3 of those for the amount of money I have spent on plastics......and the 3 wouldn't take as much space either as the plastic's I don't use but have. Besides, if they are handcrafted here in the US, then why not. I give the maker props that he worked hard enough to market a bait that he made himself. Good old American Dream.

Maybe the Original Dottie's grand daughters, seems one got deported to Mexico......only 12 more pounds to go. Either way, both great catches and good fish.

remember to bring extra plugs for both if you are plugging it from the outside. Always good to have spare plugs and could make a big difference between a "funny thing happened" to a completely horrid day that ended in disaster.

Yeah, well I got you beat, my secret fishing weapon is me. The ability to observe, understand, and pattern a body of water to make the best use of the tackle I have to catch fish......and the green pumpkin stick worm maybe part of it too, but shhhhh, don't tell everyone.

do you want a composite, graphite, or fiberglass? Yes even more questions to narrow down the search

yes we all fish differently. I have a friend that fishes 3 lures, a IKA, a shallow crank, and his homemade rat lure. I've fished with him for 3yrs and only now am I working on the IKA, but then I punch grass, fish big swimbaits, use cranks, frogs, and dropshot. He fishes 3 rods, well I have a collection. But the main thing is he fishes his strengths and it works for him. I like to better round myself and each season I pick a couple new techniques to try. I've decided I don't like lipless cranks(although I have them) and I don't like jerkbaits. Have not caught a fish on one so I just don't use them. So pick a couple things and get good with them before moving on to new techniques and have fun.

I agree, BPS Cranking Sticks are pretty nice, have 2 of them but also have 2 Falcon's as well. All depends on what YOU like and want to spend.

I like to wrap mine in a blanket or a towel before laying it down on the ground....makes it look as though the fish is on vaction, or it was just cold.....j/k proper handling of the fish is crucial, if the grass is wet/damp I'm sure it doesn't harm them as much as laying them in the dirt. I would rather hold them by there mouths kinda like how I am in the profile picture, get the pic and release them. IF I can't locate my scale right off the bat, I make sure to put them in the water as I hold them to give the fish a breather before weighing. Bottom line handle with care. And the story about the fishtank, well the bad thing there, IF you used a caulk/glue well there's the 1st problem. Needs to be aquarium safe silicone. If that wasn't used, sorry my friend you poisoned you fish and his 20 sec ordeal had nothing to do with his demise. I've have my fish jump out of the fish tank, flop around on the carpet, pick them up and put them back in and a minute later they were begging for food. Stress, water temp, and health of the fish will determine if they live or not. And ofcourse if you leave the fish out on the grass for like 5min that may play a role as well.

I don't mind the pictures of a fish on the grass. What bothers me is the fisherman that lays the fish on the grass, fumbles around in his tackle bag looking for his scale, runs to his car because he remembered where he put it with fish in tow, lays it back down after weighing it, takes a picture, then walks around to find someone to take a picture of him holding it up. Makes me want to hold him underwater as long as he has had the fish out of the water.

First how deep? IF it's shallow, stick with the 8" ROF 5's. I fish them pretty much all the time. Have a few 12's, but have caught more on the 5's. IF you fish the 6", stick with the 12's. The 5's tend to role on there side and need a bit of tweeking. Same for the 68's. Don't forget to buy some mend-it as well since you mentioned pickerel. The 8" 5's don't come with a hook, but you could wire a 1/0-2/0 treble to the top. I like the 1/0 KVD short shank trebles myself. And if you do it that way the fish can't use the weight of the bait to throw it. I started with 2 8", one 5 and a 12, and the same with the 6".

I do a lot of pond fishing and one of the best tools you can have with you, a pond thermometer. I got one from a fish store that's made to float in a goldfish pond. Temps give you an idea of where to look. What did you catch your fish on 2 weeks ago? What kind of cover is there? When you catch fish do you look at where they were relating to? Lastly, what is the forage base in the pond?

Yeah, but Mountain Monsters they all have guns. Finding Bigfoot, well they just howl at them and hope for the best.

I have 3 of the rods you have now I have in both casting as well as spinning. Great crankbait/spinnerbait rod on the casting side and spinning I use it for dropshot and wacky worming. Glad I could help you out.

well the rod you have now is a medium moderate action. More useful for cranks and spinnerbaits. I would find something in the heavy range, 7ft or 7'3". *** Black ***'s aren't bad. Just picked up the 7'6"MH and it's a beast of a rod for right about $120.00 Used the Falcon Bucco 7'3"H all last year flipping and punching grass mats and handled it fine. Find something you like in the MH-H action, if you want a fast tip where the rod shuts down about 18" from the tip go with the Xtra-Fast action otherwise Fast will work fine. Hope this helps you out.

If you liked your Falcon Rod, check out their others on ***.com. I have their 7'3"H micro, think it was $159. I would say check around, everyone on here is going to give you lots of ideas, but you're the one that knows what you're looking for. Better question to ask, as far as jigs, are you going to be using it to flip/pitch into heavy cover or fish football jigs offshore? How heavy are the jigs you are going to be fishing with? I would ask those questions so you can get the right action rod for the job you're looking to do.

you can still rip them out even with a short top shot. If you wanted to say use 50yrds and used mono then you might have enough stretch. But as Scott said, don't use a hard hookset and have your drag light enough to absorb the shock of no stretch. I fish all braid/topshot on cranks/spinnerbaits, softer rod and lighter drag you should be fine. And if you used a flouro leader, it wouldn't matter due to the low stretch properties it has.

Frequent TW a lot. Never had an issue, the rods are always packed well. I do have to pay sales tax, but the next day shipping makes up for it if I need it. I would rather order from TW and get it the next day then have to drive to 80mi to BPS to try and find what I'm looking for. And anytime I go to BPS you just can't spend $50.00, TW I order what I need to make my $50 and I can use my time fishing instead of sitting in traffic.

maybe it's because they used to be associated with Zebco back in the day. I have more Quantum reels then any other brand. I love all of them, Code's, Accurist's, Knetic's, and now have one of the EXO's. Fish other brands as well, but these are my work horses and have never had to try and make them better and none have ever let me down.

I've only been a posting member for the last few months and agree with whitwolf. Keep doing what your doing, stay positive, be yourself, and keep posting. You have probably forgot more then I have learned. And I learn more each day from the many members on this forum and contribute when I can. But like Tom said to, don't wait to long to take care of those issues that may take you away from fishing all together instead of missing a few months while recovering.

It's a great hobby if you work nights and have problems sleeping during the day. I wrapped a saltwater rod and managed to double wrap 1 guide each morning before I passed out. That was 20yrs ago. Wrapped one other rod and decided that it was better to just pay and have it done. But I like the idea of getting some wrapping thread and flexcoat, stripping down an old rod and re-wrapping it to decide if you want to take on the task.

As per fishguy613 asked, what line and rod. Fish a frog you need to use braid. Size is up to you, most prefer 50/65lb, I choose 30lb. But braid is important. Now here's the hard part. When you see the bite, wait, wait for the feel of the fish. When that bass blows up on a bait you must wait till you feel the pressure and weight before swinging. You must wait for that fish to get his mouth closed. He just came up through the weeds to eat his possible meal. So there isn't a magic number to count to, you are gonna have to get the feel of it. As for your rod, MH/H rods are good choices, taper/action is up to you and a personal preference, fishguy613 likes an XF, I prefer a Mod/fast action. But the main thing is to wait till you feel the fish and make sure you have braid fishing frogs so you can get the proper hook set you need.