Josh Smith

My jig rod -- football head, etc, is a MH/F but fairly soft. It lets me impart the action I want on that type of jig. I run 65lb braid on it. My worm rod is a fairly stiff, 6'6", also MH/F, but lighter and higher modulus graphite. It's spooled with 12lb Trilene XT and is mostly dedicated to Texas rigs. My weightless plastic rod is a M/F 6'6" medium modulus graphite rod with a 3600-sized reel and 10lb Trilene XT. It's mostly, but not always, used for whacky rigs. It's good at dropshotting, too; it's within spitting distance of what most would consider spinning gear best for, but it works well and has produced some really nice bass for me. Regards, Josh

Excellent. Liked.

As I said, evidence is key. I can legally kill you and you can legally kill me, but not over anything trivial. Police officers of any sort are held to a higher standard than the rest of us and there's an escalation of force that must be followed. You sound as if you think the game warden can just haul iron and shoot you dead because he feels like it. Surely this isn't what you think..? Abuse of power gone unchecked only encourages abuse of power. As I said, if he has any evidence -- not just a feeling, but evidence -- he needs to write it down and submit it to the state's game commission, local law enforcement, and his attorney.

What the hell??? You never knuckle under to bullies! It only encourages them. Could it be that someone with your attitude "let it go" and so the suspect was free to steal the OP's setup? Doesn't matter much if you know where he lives. Gather your evidence. Present it in writing to your local police force detective, to your lawyer, and the game warden's boss. If you only "suspect" without proof, then don't bother, especially if it was a combo available at WalMart etc. You need to present details. Josh

Some sellers do this if the bid isn't what they want. I believe it's technically against the rules. Next time, bookmark/favorite the specific item on your browser. Use the bookmark to navigate directly to the page instead of relying on eBay to do it for you. If the auction's canceled it disappears from your watch list. If you'd like, PM me the details. I have no interest in bidding on jigs on eBay, and have no interest in bidding against you for anything. I would be happy to help you watch, though. Also, there are ways to look at canceled auctions, but it's to detailed to try to explain to someone just getting used to the system -- no idea offense meant. I'm curious now, so I do hope you take me up on my offer! Regards, Josh

What power and action is your spinning rod? My personal belief is that the baitcaster is superior in most ways for most things, but that a spinning setup is indispensable for certain techniques. No real difference for most between 6'6" and 7' rods. Get the length of your choice in MH/F, don't skimp on the reel, and take your time learning. I'd get a baitcasting reel that has both magnetic and centrifugal brakes and start with the magnets cranked to full. Distance will suffer a little like this, but you can slowly back off as you learn. Plenty of us grew up without magnets and we did just fine! Training your thumb gets you distance after the centrifugal brakes kick off. Josh

My observation is that it's a recessive factor; that a full or new moon adds to already favorable conditions but has little to no impact on poor fishing conditions. Same with hunting. Critters, both terrestrial and aquatic, seem to get worked up over the same conditions, like the approach of foul weather. Increased activity has been traditionally observed during full moons. This extends to humans as well. I worked in a nursing home for a year and full moons were dreaded by the staff because they were directly linked to an increase in dementia-related behaviors. However, the modern nursing home is also conducive to these behaviors; it's viewed as kinder to not reorient the patient and let the delusion play out unless it becomes dangerous. In a more restricted environment, would the moon have the same effect? I bet not. A bass in the presence of baitfish with a front approaching will probably feed slightly more heavily in the presence of a full moon than not. Josh

Couple things: 1. I carry a Ka-Bar for invasive species. 2. The way you all describe bowfishing is like nothing I've ever witnessed here. Josh

For deep vegetation, I rig Ned rigs using weedless football head jigs. They stand up very nicely. Josh

This might be part of the problem. I've never heard of managing jump before... Thank you! Josh

I was smallie fishing and felt something hit, so I set the hook...

On rivers I tend to stay in the same general area because I'm usually going after smallies. Lakes, I move around a bit. Josh

My initial thoughts: 1. What is this? 2. It looks like it was designed to allow the bait to be swept down by the current and slowly pulled back against the current. However, I'd think that you'd want to fish slack water, not current... unless you're targeting underwater current breaks. Josh

... I snagged it with a crankbait. I wondered if it was a rig I didn't know about, or if the person didn't have the right tools. I posted it to find out these answers. Josh

Sam, I set the hook on trebles by going from the rod pointed down at about 4:00 (pointing at the water) to up to about 2:00 to 3:00. There's never any slack, and the rod is bent when the bass throws it. I use straight mono for this. I've debated braid with a leader, but I've not gone there yet. Regards, Josh I keep the rod at 2:00 to 2:30. If it's fighting hard, I might put my reeling hand on the rod to keep it pointed up. I do watch the rod, too, to make sure it stays bent. That one bass in the other thread I landed by doing all the wrong things. It hit near the bank and I just kinda' swung it up onto the bank when it jumped. I'm starting to think that maybe it's the drag on this old EON. I like the reel, but it feels funny to me and the drag can't be upgraded due to lack of parts. I have a 4600 on the way; if it doesn't have carbon fiber drags already, it's getting 'em. Regards, Josh 12lb Stren. It's the same stuff I've used since I started fishing. I went over mostly to braid for a while, then discovered river fishing again, and mono is better in this environment for a few reasons. I still use braid for several things, but mostly in still water. My heavy cover jig rod has 65lb braid, my frog rod has 50lb braid (I need to go up in rod power for this application; it's more of a spinnerbait rod); my jerkbait rod has braid. My worm rod and crankbait rod both have mono. Regards, Josh

I was almost wondering if they were trying artificials for catfish. I've caught catfish on inline spinners, but bass lures certainly wouldn't be my first choice. The really heavy mono also had me wondering for that same reason. We just don't have bass in Indiana that justifies mono that big around. I have a bad habit of leaving stuff laying round when I leave. Sometimes it'll be an extra bag of plastics that were working well, and sometimes it'll be something a bit more expensive. (Left a Live Target squarebill once...) I'm wondering what would help this person out. Josh

I'd like to hear more thoughts on this, as well. I did not intend my prohibition over line type to be a prohibition on discussion of the type being discussed. Rather, I wasn't interested in comparing apples to oranges to grapefruits. By all means, discussion of line stretch would be nice. Regards, Josh

Yeah. Please, no line arguments. I generally use braid for no-stretch, but I want stretch in this application so I'm using Stren. I do not like fluoro and don't use it except for leader material. I'd appreciate it if ya'll make a new thread for arguing line. Thank you! Josh

Hi Guys, I read something about it on here, what, early last year? I decided to start watching, and sure enough, they go their mouths torn up a bit more. Then again, it could be because they're fighting harder in warm water. I'll see what I can dig up. Regards, Josh

Thanks guys. No spotted for me, I guess, but that's OK. Largemouth being in this section of the river -- where I've only seen smallies, drum, gar, and walleye before -- could be a very good thing. Largemouth should be able to compete more favorably with gar, I think. Regards, Josh

Here's another pic, not sure it helps:

I was going to, but the bass had already been out of the water too long. I've never in my life seen a largemouth with a mouth that small, though. Before I looked at the coloration I thought it was a smallie. Regards, Josh

Hello, I snagged this in the river this evening: That's some really thick mono; I'd say 25lbs at least. There's an egg sinker on the line, and it almost looks like a catfish setup, except for the plastic lure there. Thoughts? Regards, Josh

Hello, I need some advice here. This year I've been concentrating on improving my crankbait techniques. As most of you are aware, as the water warms up, a bass's mouth skin gets soft. A soft mouth is excellent for retrieving dogs, but not so desirable when you're trying to keep a bass buttoned to a lure. At the lake early last week, I lost a bass near the bank on a crankbait, then another on a frog. Though I'm not sure how well the bass was hooked on that frog, I do know that the one on the crankbait was hooked well, and it fought for a bit. Later that week, I lost two smallies on the river. This evening at the river, I lost one bass but landed another (see With these crankbaits, I'm only batting about 50%. I did loosen the drag a bit more and that seems to have helped. I'm already running mono line on an IM6 M rod that has a fairly soft tip. I'm thinking about going back to my KVD glass rod to see if that helps, but I really like the rod I'm using now.) Any thoughts? Thank you, Josh

Hi Guys, Not sure where to put this. I was smallmouth fishing but hooked on to this: What is this critter? The coloration's wrong for a smallie but it's not a largemouth; there aren't supposed to be any largemouth in this section of the Wabash, and its mouth was too small, anyway. It only weighed 12oz. Spotted bass? If so, it's my first. Thoughts? Thank you. Regards, Josh