NathanW

The only thing I would add, and maybe this is complete BS, but I am a true believer that in the spring time on days your getting a lot of debris floating down the river you want a bait that can be distinguished by the fish as something other than floating debris. This calls for something like a tube, crankbait, or something with a swimtail. I wont fish those "do nothing" baits until it clears. But yeah, when the post spawn fish set up on that shallow rock it is been a fun way to catch em.

Never had this happen with SK. I have broken so many Rapalas I couldn't count but only had one SK lure fill with water. Funny actually I broke a LC Pointer in my favorite discontinued color in half, super-glued it back together, and it still runs perfectly.

Totally agree. Prespawn is difficult on our river systems but once its over the smallies are always biting. Statement right on the money.

I bought one spool of Trilene braid in 40lbs and it has been great. I have not been impressed by anything but Power Pro up this point but honestly can say I like the Trilene just as much if not more. If you like Power Pro when its brand new than you would probably like Trilene, but if you prefer the Power Pro after is broken in a little bit you may not like it. Note that I am talking in terms of casting gear use. I prefer a slick line like Tuffline supercast/Nanofil/Super 8 on my spinning setups.

Bing maps birds eye view and as said a C-Rig. But you would really fair well by having a very simple and cheap depth finder.

They look like a bar code. Not to be confused with a QR code.

I learned how to deep crank by leaving all other gear at home for a few weeks. This required me to lean on my electronics heavily for finding fish, edges and weedlines instead of just fishing....This has been a tool I will always have in the bag and can recognize when it might be a productive pattern. I highly recommend doing this with some technique you know has a reputation of working in your area. As stated by WRB, location is key and it is likely not a problem of bait presentation or technique but a problem of location. Simplifing your approach to a limited arsenal will help.

I am intrigued by your plan?? Find an in state college that has a good fishing team, then move somewhere with a longer season after college? something like that?

Yes/No There are many sacrifices I would have to make to persue that path. I have a career, wife, kids, house, retirment, childrens college accounts, etc. and all the responsibilities that go along with it. You cannot expect to become a pro unless you are able to fish every day. Not 2 or three times a week. Every day or pretty close to it. If I was on my own I would take a crack at it. But pursueing this path now would be increadibly selfish. Read Jay Yelas's book and pay close attention to how many Derby's he fished every year while he was trying to make it. Something like 35+ a year. (I am lucky if I can fish two a year.) This is how much you need to plan on fishing. Jay was/is an extremly hard worker but was also fortunate that have financial backing from his parents, not many parents are willing to support this dream but they bought him his first boat.

This is a great line and I agree completely.

Had to double check the type R last night, as I had already notice this in my Tatula... The anwer is yes on the lateral play but no on the antireverse backplay for both reels.

Used to play Counterstike everyday when I lived on the rainy side of our state... now all free time is spent on the water.

Dawg Spirits, are my current shoe. Like crocs but are built with more sole coosh. Great for standing all day. Not an everyday walking shoe but great on the boat. Spenco Yumi's are the best flip flops out there. Will last multiple seasons. I no longer wear flips while fishing due to fear of skin cancer, but prefer these flip flops over any other footwear.

I use both Shimano Curado (D, E, and G) and Daiwa (tatula, type R and Hsta). The Daiwas, with their mag brakes shine when making short-med pitches and roll casts with baits probably down to 1/4 ounce. When adjusted properly the line stays tight to the spool. I love the control they allow for that ultra soft entry into the water. When casting skirted baits, light crankbaits or jerk baits into the wind, overhead boming cranks, or casting 1/4 ounce baits and under I go with the Shimanos. Centrifugal brakes are most effective at the beginning of the cast which is where you get the most resistnace when casting into the wind, bomb casting, flinging light baits, etc. I have said it before my Curado D reels are by far the best light-bait casting reels I have ever used.

If your profile picture is the photo of your boat there in no way it is only 1500lbs....Well at least that was my initial thought when seeing it. I could be wrong. Just make sure that fishing regularly is in your vows...and by regularly we dont mean weekends only...

Worm: Berkley Power Worm 7" or 10". Stickbait: Senko. Finess worm: Roboworm curl tail.

Ha, yeah that bait catches em pretty good. Back before I knew any better I tied one of those on and caught 17 largemought on 17 consecutive casts. Best five totaled went 15 ounces!! great pond fishing lure but with those tiny hooks you dont have a prayer of getting any size back to the boat. I miss those days.

David's just bitter because somebody sent him a Mann's Three-For-All. He fished it all year but never got a bite. (;

T acklewarehouse or ebay. But be sure to support BR's sponsers like Siebert Outdoors because without them we would have to kill time crushing candy instead of posting to this forum.

The most common is probably between 7' and 7'6". For starters however I would strongly recommend a casting rod on the shorter end of that spectrum for versitility and handling purposes. For cranking, my rods range from 6'8" to 7'11" but anything under 6'10" or over 7'4" are specialty rods that I really only use on certain lakes during certain times of year. Flipsides answer of 7' is great advice.

X2. No need for slow speed unless you're bait pulls hard like 5XD, 6XD, little john dd, etc.. I would discourage against it for anything smaller from my experiance.

Its those soft Yankee hands of his....Stop moisturizing so often!

I use 10#, and 12# test on spinning gear. This would be my third season. I always use a Fluoro leader with double albright knot. Never tied directly to the bait. I have not one failure to date! I know what people are talking about with regards to abrasion resistance as the line tends to peel its coating and look a little hairy but this has little or no affect on the line strength. The line performs way too efficiantly to ignore. It doesnt wind knot ever, holds the double albright knot well (unlike conventional braids) which quite honestly is the easiest joining knot to tie, and still has all the casting, strength and stretch benfits of conventional braid. When I pull snags 8 times out of 10 the line breaks below the knot, 2 times out of ten it breaks at the knot, 0 times out of ten it breaks above the knot. Maybe only a few time in three years has the mainline snapped while pulling deep water snags (40'-60'). I fish rock bottoms in Columbia river current so I snag often when fishing a drop shot or tube bait. Just last weekend I flipped a 4" Senko way up inside a culvert, hooked up with a 2lbs largmouth, and the whole way realing it in the line was rubbing against the sheetmetal edge of the culvert pipe. Thought for sure it was a goner but the line held up.

Both Bomber and Norman use that honeycomb paint pattern. I am sure others do too but may be a good place to look.

Yep, I use this style of bait from late winter until the smallmouth early postspawn. In a perfect world I would mostly use the SR5 and SR7 but its usually too windy to throw them so I throw the glass raps as they cast significantly better. Other similar baits that I will throw are the Storm Smash Shad and the LC Slim Shad. They all catch fish. Major downside is that this style of bait snags up much easier than other crankbait I use and like any rapala one cast against the rocks, your outboard, bridge column etc. and they are toast.