MainelyBASS

Funny you mention the swimg jigs, ez's and spinnerbaits...thats what my *** order consisted of along with some 1 1/4 flipping jigs. Obviously I would never ask for specifics, but in general which hemisphere of the lake should I focus on, leaving from Clewiston? From info I have gathered looks like the west and south should be plenty sufficient for me.

Looks like open water fishing in Maine will have to wait until mid-May. I am packing for my trip out on the big O. How have they been biting out there? Forecast for Thursday is sun and mid 70's. Even if I don't catch any fish I am looking forward to playing on the lake for a day.

I saw those and was a bit surprised that they were more expensive than the Keitechs. I forget how many were in a pack, maybe that was the difference in price.

Thanks fishva! I will definitely keep that in mind when I head down there. I just booked my bass boat from roland martins marina yesterday. I am looking forward to warm weather fishing. 27 inches of ice in our lakes right now in Maine. Last year at this time most of the lakes were just getting ready to open up fully.

Im curious if anyone is running this setup because I am looking to add a down image sonar to the front of my boat, but I am worried that the "wireless" feature of the motorguide TM will interfere with the sonar.I get the feeling if I call either company to ask their thoughts I might get a vanilla answer that wont leave me satisfied. I am hoping to talk to someone with the setup currently.

Super ironic that you just left that message as I was on that website when I received the post. I am trying to find back up plans incase Rolands falls through, which it seems it may. Sorry to hear you didn't slay some giants. Did you catch any decent fish? To be perfectly honest I am most looking forward to slinging a frog in some gnarly grass, even if I don't catch a thing. Its been almost 6 months since ive wet a line. I am way overdue.

Ive got an infinite amount of baits, I just need to find a place to use them, thats the issue.

A new trick I started employing last season with drop shot weights was buying 1/2 oz and 1oz weights and throwing a drop shot rig on my bait cast setup with 12lb fluorocarbon and a 2ft leader from bait to weight. I would find grass in minimally 15ft of water all the way to 30ft and drop the heavy weight into heavy grass. The weight gets caught up reel good in the grass and this allows me to work a zoom fluke like you wouldnt believe. You can input infinite amount of action on your ds bait because the weight is essentially stuck on the bottom. With a standard drop shot setup too much movement with your rod lifts the bait and the weight off the bottom, not with this technique however. If you were to watch me fish this setup, it looks like im stuck on bottom. Violent rips and snapping of the rod on slack line makes the bait dance so much more erratically. It obviously defeats the original purpose of drop shotting as a finesse technique with 12 lb line, but its a presentation I have a feeling not many people are using.

Heading to Sarasota on vacation and will be staying with inlaws in a gated community in Sarasota. I will be fishing Okeechobee at some point, but would also like to wet a line as often as possible.Looking for largemouths. Thanks for the help.

I hope to be renting a boat from Roland Martin's Marina. If I cant get one ill come up with something.

Heading to Okeechobee and contemplating bringing my heavy cover setups down with me. I am renting a boat so I will need to provide my own tackle. I am sure there are plenty of horror stories when it comes to flying with rods, reels and tackle, but never the less I am planning on doing it. I will put my reels and gear in my suitcase and check the rods in at bag check. What should I put my rods in for travel? How much has it cost you to check the rods in? Any help in regards to this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Heading down to Okeechobee for the 3rd week of March. Any suggestions on a good guide service? It looks like the going rate is around 300-400$ Anything a little cheaper would be nice, but not mandatory. Any help/info would be great.

IMO the gimmicky hooks that have the mechanism to prevent line twists are the opposite idea of what drop shotting is meant to be about. For me the idea and beauty of DS is the light line and tiny bait presentation when the bite is difficult. The spinshot type of hooks have a lot of exposed metal that is very shiny. When using a 3 or 4" bait, the hook can easily stand out more than the bait. In regards to line twists, for me it is not a concern due to the fact that I use braid as my main line, followed by a 6lb fluoro leader. When my line starts to wear due to twists, I just tie on a new leader.

Wow, I couldn't be happier with my decision to join this group. What a great group of guys you all are!! Thanks a lot for your suggestions, and thanks for the warm welcome. I am excited to get a chance to fish the big lake! Thanks again!

Leaving Maine to fish the Big O and Im torn between paying someone to take me to some spots or saving $100 and just renting the boat from Roland Martin's Marina. Ive been a tournament fisherman for 8 years now so I am not an idiot when it comes to locating bass, but this is a big difference in fisheries. Any advice would be much appreciated!