MIbassyaker

Maybe he didn't qualify? I haven't been following MLF closely, but I seem to remember he was doing pretty well there.

We fished for fish. Any fish. If it swam in the river back home, we tried to catch it: catfish, bullheads, carp, suckers, drum, goldeye, and in some spots, an occasional rock bass, pike, walleye, or sauger.

So sorry to hear this. He was always a positive presence and will be greatly missed.

I have a 7' MH-F that gets situational use for heavier tubes and some t-rigs Yup. A heavier shakyhead would be good application for this too. Jessie Wiggins designed a MH-F spinning rod for the St. Croix Mojo line for heavy shakyheads.

Great clip!!

Hmm. I like catching fish. Fishing fast is fun, but catching is more fun. If I have to fish slow to be successful, so be it.

Good to know. I recall you've been touting a "Slider Menace" rig for awhile....which slider heads do you use?

Copper blades are supposed to be good for off-colored water, especially muddy or brownish-stained water. But give them a try in clear water too -- some sunfish species can be sort of coppery-colored.

Depends on where I'm fishing, but here's a pretty typical list of setups: 1. 6'8" MXF Spinning SC Avid X + Pflueger Supreme XT 30 (flukes, senkos, other weightless plastics) 2. 6'10" MLXF Spinning SC LTB + Pflueger Supreme 30 (Ned, shakyhead, dropshot, sliders) 3. 6'4" MXF Casting Fenwick Aetos + Daiwa Tatula 100 (Trebled Topwaters; Jerkbaits) 4. 6'8" MHF Casting Fenwick Aetos + Lews Tournament MB (T-Rigs/Jigs) 5. 6'10" MHMF Casting Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth + Dawia Tatula 100 (spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, Buzzbaits, Crankbaits)

First time I heard shaky head I thought, "Huh? Isn't that just a jigworm?" It took awhile to realize that "shakyhead" and "jigworm" both refer more to the presentation, rather than the bait or rig. I've always felt we can also put slider-worms and ned rigs in that same family tree.

ah, gotcha. I'm thinking largeleaf & clasping-leaf pondweeds, e.g.:

I still have a hard time getting my head around just how insecure a lots of bass anglers are about spinning gear; I think it's funny. I grew up fishing spinning for everything... and it never even registered to me that I might want a baitcaster until I had been fishing specifically for bass for a number of years. I used to fish a frog on a MH spinning rod, and still fish some texas rigs on one. Nowadays I go mostly by lure weight & cover type (heavy = baitcaster; light = spinning) and sometimes whether the presentation is more vertical (spinnning) or horizontal (baitcasting). Huh. Cabbage, because it's brittle and vertically-oriented, is usually a spinning application for me, even for, say, a texas rig. Unless I need heavy weight (but I usually don't).

I've been getting the catalog for a number of years too, and mine showed up today. The 3" and 4" curly tail was the first artificial lure I ever learned to use.... They still have an occasional place in my rotation today, along with the phenom worm, super lizard, and sometimes others. Mister Twister still puts out a new bait or two every year, although sometimes these are short-lived, so it's always worth checking in on their site to see what's currently available. The bargain bin also often has great deals on discontinued baits or overstocks -- I see right now they have a bunch of super lizards & sassy shads for $1/pack.

I have an itch for discovery. The reward of stumbling on a productive spot you didn't know about is easily worth the risk of getting skunked. Every year I identify a few bodies of water near me that I've never been to and try them out (in theory I'll run out of new places eventually, but hasn't happened yet). I also greatly prefer to diversify rather then go to the same place every time, and most places I fish I visit only once or twice a year. 3 or 4 times max. This is especially true for small waters, which can fish very differently even when very close to each other.

I'm adding a sonar unit with down- and side-imaging to my yak, so I'm going to be learning that.

There are better lines, and there are cheaper lines. But if there is a line with a better ratio of performance to price, I don't know what it is.

I'm giving Fluoro another chance this year on my jig/t-rig setups. I tried some cheap stuff once several years ago and promptly swore it off after a couple of breakoffs without noticing any appreciable advantages over Big Game mono. Since then price of the better quality fluoros has kept me away, as I'm deeply skeptical of the added value per added cost over that of big game, or even Izor XXX or YZH. This time I got some 15lb invisx from the TW sale, so we'll see.

Other than hard topwaters and a spinnerbait here or there, I think all the smallmouth I've caught in the last few years have been on plastics - mostly tubes, grubs, paddle-tail swimbaits, & small worms. But i'd never want to go without topwater in the summer. However, all my smallmouth fishing is on small and medium sized rivers, where topwater rules in late summer. I also don't drop-shot because it is illegal in rivers & streams in Michigan (due to salmon-snagging)

I go up and down -- bad year, then a good year, then a bad year....I'm due for a good one!

I see Hackney and Christie are back. And Scott Martin came over too.

Somebody just needs to make the group and announce it -- I think @fishballer06 usually does it? Anybody can do it.

Largemouth: Senko Smallmouth: Megabass pop max Biggest fish of any species was a very good-sized freshwater drum that gobbled up a Siebert Dock Rocker jig. I didn't get a length or weight (I wanna say around 8lb); I haven't caught one of these in years and it was easily my largest ever.

I use medium spinning a lot -- Shakyheads, tubes, grubs, weightess plastics (e.g., flukes, senkos), light (1/4oz or less) topwaters, jerkbaits, & crankbaits. One rod I don't have, and don't feel I need, is a MH-moderate action rod.

Play Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing and join the Bassresource league. It just went up, and I'm sure somebody will announce the Bassresource league in the General Bass Fishing Forum soon Our thread from last year:

In addition to Glenn's channel, I follow: NDYakangler (The Bob Ross of fishing!) The Nature of Fishing (Must-see in-depth treatment of bass behavior, environment, & conditions -- by our own @Paul Roberts!) Fish Code Studios (biology professor Jimmy Liao on how bass respond to lures)