gulfcaptain

Well the fish in my Avatar was right around 8lbs, and guessing you're approx 180-200lbs, fish held out to look bigger, I'm gonna guess between 5.5-6.5lbs. Then again she might be bigger if you're like 6'6 and like 240lbs which then an 8lb fish would look really small with you holding it up. Sounds like you need to start carrying a scale now.

Academy has the H20 line. Rods run about $60 and you can get one of the reels on the cheap end for about $50. I still use all 3 of my H20 rods as they are a great buy for the price.

I'm kinda like A-Jay, if I guess a weight for your fish it may take away from your joy if you don't like my answer. I will say congrats on your new PB, if you want to figure it out and get a guess on how long she was and look up what she should weigh then go for it. But I'll let you solve that mystery without my help. Glad to see you're now posting about catching a fish this weekend instead of well lets just say being frustrated by everyone elses reports. Nice fish.

Agree with Tom, moss is a mess. Doesn't matter what you drag it will catch. If I have to deal with really mossy conditons I fish a punch jig......weedless rigged creature and can pop most of the moss free most of the time.

only times I won't fish a dropshot is if it's too grassy or heavy shallow cover. Fishes better on soft bottom then a t-rig at times, you can rig your worm wacky if you want as well, vertical fishing it excels over a t-rig. I normally fish a drophot casted out an slowly drag and shake it as I bring it back in. Can use it as a seach bait if needed. Fished it in Louisiana behind a friends house who told me there were a few bass in there.....well there were more then a few to be caught on a dropshot as opposed to a t-rig which he was fishing and not catching. It works, look at A Martens success....he hates fishing dropshot, but he does it because it works really good.

There is a time for all of them so learning to do it only increases the number of fish you can catch. To me dropshot fishing is easier then fishing a t-rig worm as it also keeps the bait above the bottom and in the strike zone. I would take the time to learn it and fish it. You might be suprise yourself on how many fish you haven't been catching. Also should learn to fish a shakey head as well.

Preventive maintenance is always cheaper the reactive maintenance. That saying " if it ain't broke don't fix it".....well it will that will leave you broke financially when it does in more costly repairs.

I went to Kaenon 6 years ago and haven't owned anything but those. But like stated above to each their own. No matter what glasses we choose, we are all choosing to protect the only 2 eyes we have. I am thankful I was shown how much better polarized glasses were when I was 19. 20+ years on the water I'm sure my vision would be shot had I not protected my eyes. Wear what you like or what works best for you.

Coast Guard, Customs, DFG, local law enforcement.....they all have a job to do and most do it very professionally. Last time I was checked by DFG I was with my son and a friend on his boat out in the harbor fishing, he hit us with the lights, we stopped. All he wanted was to make sure my son who was 8 at the time was wearing his pfd as required by law. Checked my friends fishing license and asked if he needed to see mine.....said "nope, we saw what we needed to see, enjoy your day on the water and be safe". I have respect for all of them and the job they do. Yes it's their job, but it's still nice to say thank you when you see them just as I do when I see any of our service members in the airports when traveling.

Live Impacts dropshotted work great. Swing Impacts in 3-4" on the A-rig or dropshot, and limited success with the shinners. Also tried the Fat Impacts, but they didn't produce as well as the Swing for me. Also like their tungsten ball jigheads as well as their casting jigs and small football jig. And sorry no pics.

My advice was for the OP who wants to pursue a career in fishing. Sorry if I was 19 I would go to a college I could afford #1 without going into debt and yes get on a fishing team (yep I'd look into this if I wanted to become a professional bass angler) and work my a$$ off though school to cover what my fishing scholarship couldn't cover. If I'm going to market myself I think having a marketing background would be useful but so would Marine Biology honestly. My goal wouldn't be to work a 9-5 job hoping I make 6 figures....it would be to make 6 figures fishing professionally working my a$$ off for my sponsors marketing their products or doing whatever is asked of me while doing what I worked so hard to achieve. Would it be a pipe dream? Probably, but if someone who is 19 has the drive and motivation to acomplish such a dream, I say go for it. But yes, I would have a back up plan incase my pipe dream didn't work out. But I would never shoot my childrens dreams down and never tell them they gratuated with a worthless degree. If they have a worthless degree then I as a Father failed them by not instiling the common sense needed to be productive in the real world.

Good point....lol

Have been using Keitech's now for a few years. I fish the swing impacts the most in the 3-4" size but also have the easy shiners. As for durability, it costs a bit more then regular jigheads, but the Kietech tungsten jigheads do a great job holding the baits on and don't seem to tear the body of the bait apart like some regular jigheads.

Spinning set up. BPS Extreme @ $32.50 on Ebay paired with a Quantum Tour Tactical 6'10" rod also from Ebay @ $59.99.

I'm having Captain Crunch Berries. But Frosted Flakes are good too.

Didn't know farther up the Sabine the tides shifted that much since along the coast it may only be a couple feet at the most. I know some of the places the have us running out of if it dropped 4' I don't think I'd be able to leave.

No problem, years working in a fish store, I have lots of useful useless information.....lol. Your little buddy would probably love krill as well or live crayfish, but it already sounds like it gets a pretty good variety of foods.

I'm going with water temp as well. Tell you a lot right there. But there are times when you will have all three stages on the same body of water.

13's Black ***, Falcon's Bucco, and several of the BPS line of rods (Bionic, Carbonlite, Extreme...although I personally don't like that line).I would also look at Quantum's new Accurist line up.

Well most of my rods are EVA Foam(at least the small back grip). The ***'s are cork and some of my BPS rods are as well. I am not a big fan of fore grips on rods though. Only rods I have that have these are my 2 swimbait rods and one cranking rod. All are cork though. But to me it doesn't matter much as long as it's done nicely.

I caught a lot of them when I worked out of Cameron LA. Summer they loved spook style topwaters as did the trout. Anywhere up and down where you can find some riprap along the Sabine ship channel you should be able to catch them from shore. From a boat I'd look in the lake and around oyster reefs and harder bottom areas, the Sabine Jetties would be a good as well.. 4" grubs, swimbaits, Norton Lures Sand Eel Jr worked really well for me with a 1/4oz round lead head and also caught a lot of flounder on them as well just slowly working it down the banks.

Very true, noticed the same thing when I purchased "wild" fish for aquariums. It took them time to settle down once moved opposed to tank raised fish who didn't really care. Drop them out of the bag and feed them they were fine. But that is quite the butterball of a bass you have there. Nice football. I'd stay away from goldfish though and give him those ruby red feeder fish or better known as fathead minnows. Goldfish have nasty diseases that can be transmitted to your little buddy there.

Here's the deal with tides, fish move in/up into cover when the tide go's up. They pull back when the tide go's out. They pull out to deeper areas and the mouths of feeder creeks since the water is flowing out and dropping so they position themselves take advantage of any bits of food coming out as well. You're gonna have to put time in to figure out areas and what the fish are doing and where they position themselves. Example....have a big flat that is 1-2ft and scattered grass with a deeper area running through it at about 5ft. When the tide drops those fish will pull off that flat and into the deeper area. When it comes back in they will venture back up onto the flat and into the scattered grass.....They follow the food.

I have a 7'MH Falcon Bucco Micro with a TourMG100 on it. This combo is a feather. Haven't weighted it but I know it is close to being under 7.6oz total. One of my Kinetic's feel heavier by itself and it comes in at 7.5oz. Not a high priced rod, but I'm sure their new Lowrider 20 would be just as light if not lighter and in the $160-180 mark then the Bucco which runs about $130.

I've met the father and son, both really nice guys. I'm sure they will help you find what you're looking for.