Josh Smith

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

Hello, I thought I'd share. I was fishing at a local lake recently and a guy wandered down to talk. Turns out he took fishing seriously as well, and we swapped information. He told me of a local large pond/small lake he used to fish. It's not pressured because it's harder to get to (you have to hike in). He said he'd pulled some really nice bass out of it before moving away several year ago. I knew of the large pond/small lake. It's on land in the Salamonie State Forest. In fact, I'd tried fishing it once, briefly, one day, and hadn't been back because I wrongly assumed it was too shallow. (It turns out the part I was fishing was shallow, but it was deeper elsewhere.) So, I went back to catch these large bass. If found this: Yep, that's a birdhouse that used to stand in water... This was one of a couple "twin" ponds in the forest by Salamonie Reservoir. I checked out the other one. It's much smaller than above one was: I tossed a Ned Rig into this pond and something did start carrying it away, but when I went to set the hook I had a quick fight and then it came free. I was bummed about this first lake and I didn't really try too hard. That second pond is hard to get to, as well. It looks like maybe one person fishes it -- it's a lot better kept, litter-wise, than the other local bodies of water, anyway. I saw one small container that had had worms in it. There were no other signs that people fish this pond. Two questions: 1. Why would the DNR drain a producing lake? I don't understand. How would I get info? 2. Assuming the drained pond/lake had bass, do you think it's a safe bet to assume its smaller twin does, too? Would you try it again, at least? I'd be interested in your thoughts, folks. Regards, Josh

Thank you. I've not been around here lately; my free time is consumed by family and fishing, and I didn't see that. I really appreciate it. Regards, Josh

Hello, I'm going to be trying night fishing for bass. What lures work for you? I'm thinking black Jitterbug and a black buzzbait. This will take place in light to heavy cover. Some cover is just topwater moss and submerged weeds, but other cover is harder; downed trees and similar. Regards, Josh

Bad night this evening. Hooked up with a largemouth with a crankbait -- the critter was almost to me and spat it at me. A few minutes later I hooked up using a frog. It got halfway to me and got off. Not my best showing. Josh

Hello, A few years back I bought a Yum rig. I can't remember what it's called, and the packaging is long gone. It's like an umbrella rig but for subtle differences: First, there are four wires at angles with flashers on the ends. There is no provision to attach jigs or hooks. A central wire comes straight back. It's longer and there is a provision for a jig or hook. It makes the jig or hook stand out and it's therefore targeted by gamefish. This rig netted me a fun fightin' walleye on its first cast, with a pink ball head jig and white curly tail grub. More important, it showed itself to be extremely snag resistant, and that's very important in the area of the river I fish. It's almost exactly like a Yum Foxy Lady, but with a slightly longer center wire, jointed, with the joint covered what looks like shrink tube, and with spinner blades on the four outside wires. Regards, Josh

Hello, I've always used Mann's Jelly Worms (paddle tail) for deadsticking. I like the way the tails float up and wave in the current. What other plastic worms have the floating tail, though? Thanks, Josh

Spawn is now full-on in the Wabash and surrounding areas. Couldn't find a bass not on a bed today! Josh

Waders= old shoes and jeans.

I used to have one of these. I actually hooked it. It looked to be a fossil of some sort, maybe coral, but with a few tiny holes in it. When I hooked it, I thought it was a catfish or something, but it wasn't pulling. I passed it on to my boy, and he lost it. Josh

That's a cool lure. Where'd you get it? What is it? Josh I caught this guy last year. That's a 4" Yum Dinger and a smallish Eagle Claw hook. Josh

I'm pretty sure that when I don't locate bass I won't catch them. Josh

Chinese reels break.

Hey Guys, Think there's any chance of getting slot limits for most lakes? One of those I fish really needs one... Josh

Thanks Mike! You know, if you spell "Seaguar" wrong on Google, it doesn't pull it up? Found it with your spelling: Thanks again! Josh