MIbassyaker

I keep a log with basically the same information you mention above (although not every detail for every fish). Depths, location, seasonal water temps are useful to look at. No fancy equipment or apps -- I put brief notes in my phone every few catches, and then at home copy over to a text log and spreadsheet, adding in other details. What I actually find most useful, though, is to include information about my general tactical approach, observations, and decisions made that day: Where I went, at what times, what I tried, what adjustments did I make and how did i decide to make them...this provides information about not just what worked, but also what didn't work.

A - Cory Johnston B - John Crews C - Clark Wendlandt D - Bryan Schmitt E - Austin Felix No Floridians.

Largmeouth: 20", just a hair under 4lb on a Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 97 jerkbait, "ghost sunfish" color. Smallmouth: 18.5" on a 4" Strike King Ocho in "candy craw"

Yes, that's my solution: Owner finesse ball ultra head + elaztech worm. Z-man has the Finesse wormZ. There is also the Strike King 3x finesse worm which is virtually the same, but are getting hard to find. These worms will stand up regardless of the head, but acutally work best on something like the owner ball head, which doesn't have a screwlock. They can be pulled off the hook more easily than regular plastic though, so sometimes a little superglue is in order.

15lb big game for me. But I'm not really convinced braid vs. mono actually matters much in this case as far as "give" is concerned. The rod should bend before any real differences in line stretch come into play. Practical advantages of braid over mono have more to do with limpness, strength, resistance to damage around vegetation, and longevity, rather than the lack of stretch itself (at least most of the time) I think anglers in general greatly overintepret every missed hook-up, lost fish, and failed landing they have, convincing themselves too quickly, based on too-little evidence and no systematic control comparisons, that it must have something to do with their gear. So they change things around until they succeed, and decide that was the thing that did it. But virtually everything that happens while fishing is also fuel for superstition, and it can be very hard to tell the difference.

I have a 7'2" MM SC Rage, which gets used for any shallow (and some mid-depth) crankbaits 1/4-1/2oz -- KVD & LC squarebills 1.0 & 1.5, Bandit 100, 200 & footloose, Manns 1-, stuff like that.

Guess so! Thanks. About 2/3 of the Fenwicks and Pfluegers are from FFO Tackle.

Spinning: 5'6" L-F Berkley Heritage + Pfluger President 25 6'0" ML-F Berkley Lightning + Daiwa Crossfire 2500 (2-piece) 6'10" ML-XF St. Croix LTB + Pflueger Supreme 30 6'7" ML-XF 13 Omen Black 2 + *** 1000 6'0" M-F Fenwick HMG + Pflueger president 30 6'8" M-XF St. Croix Avid X + Pflueger Supreme XT 30 7'0" M-F Fenwick Aetos + Pflueger Patriarch 35 7'0" M-F Fenwick Siverhawk + Pflueger President 35 (2-piece) 7'0" MH-XF No. *** + Pflueger Supreme MGX 35 Casting: 6'6" ML-F Berkley Heritage + Abu Silver Max 6.4:1 (2-piece) 6'4" M-XF Fenwick Aetos + Lews Speed Spool LSF 6.8:1 6'6" M-F St. Croix Premier + Pflueger Supreme XT 7.1:1 (2-piece) 6'8" M-XF St. Croix Mojo Bass + Daiwa Tatula 100 7.1:1 7'2" M-M St. Croix Rage + Pflueger Supreme 6.8:1 6'8" MH-F Fenwick Aetos + Pflueger Supreme XT 7.1:1 6'9" MH-F Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth + Lews Tournament MB 7.5:1 6'10" MH-MF Fenwock Elite Tech Smallmouth + Daiwa Tatula 100 7.1:1 7'1" MH-F 13 Omen Black 2 + Daiwa Exceler 100 7.3:1 (2-Piece) 7'5" MH-F Fenwick Aetos + Daiwa Tatula 100 7.1:1 7'0" H-MF Fenwck HMX + 13 Inception 8.1:1 7'1" H-F 13 Omen Black 2 + 13 Concept A 8.1:1

The mojo bass line is newer with a more sensitive, lighter graphite than the Premier (whether you would notice the difference, though, is another question). The mojo bass rods are also each designed specifically for particular bass applications, whereas the Premiers tend to be more general purpose. I have one model each from the two lines, they are both excellent.

Because that's the direction the industry has gone. I have rods from 5'6" to 7'5", and most are under 7'. I cast farther with the longer rods, and more accurately with the shorter ones. Accuracy over distance is usually more my style.

Spinning or casting? Your Mojo will have a lure weight range printed on it somewhere, probably above the handle. I'll bet the low end of the range says 3/8oz. If so, then a 1/4oz roostertail is probably too light to to cast effectively. But the jitterbug is probably heavy enough.

Ah, a GR thread I missed. I always forget to check the local forums. I live in Grand Rapids and fish every quiet, under-trafficked hole-in-the-ground within an hour of the city I can find, usually weekday mornings when I can get out.

I always forget about this thread. According to my records, three years ago I caught my first bass of the year on 3/6. That would be... (checks calendar)...40 days from now.

Nice job!

I'll use any of the three, depending on conditions, cover, types of water and such. -Calm day, clear weedy waters with very little wood or hard cover usually get a chatterbait. -a little wind, murkier waters, and more wood/hard cover get a spinnerbait -rocky or sandy places with light weeds, maybe some wood but not too much get a squarebill. Also squarebill for some select places with certain kinds of subsurface vegetation where I can crank it with pauses over the top, letting it catch and ripping out occasionally is effective.

What Abby said. Al and Bobs is a good long-time mom&pop store in Grand Rapids: https://alandbobssports.com/ D and R is a Van Dam family business in Kalamazoo, owned by KVD's brother and JVD's dad: https://dandrsports.com/ K'azoo is 50 min south of GR, if you have time for a short diversion. There's also Bass Pro in Portage IN, on I-94 between Chicago and the MI state line

I use junebug more than black/blue, for both clear and dirty water...but that's mostly because because my local bass seem to really like green flake, not because they don't like black/blue.

YES, true. Running depth as well.

I expect the environment matters. I fish 50lb braid in water with 15ft visibility and catch bass. But that's in glacial natural lakes with lots of vegetation. These bass bass spend their lives hunting prey through beds of cabbage, coontail, and milfoil ...why should braided line register as anything other than just another of the millions of tendrils, stalks, or whorls of vegetation that make up their whole world? That t-rigged worm on braided line is just another critter crawling around the weeds. I am not convinced that bass care about line visibility in any of the places I fish. But that doesn't necessarily mean line visibility won't matter everywhere. Right, I think that's key: whether something is "myth" is a matter of degree -- line size isn't a myth because it doesn't matter at all, in an absolute sense...it's that it probably matters less than many anglers think, much of the time.

The AEP recreation area in OH looks really nice, from what i've seen of it. I drove through there last summer on the way back to Michigan from Minnesota. Beautiful and remote. My wife is pretty sure she saw a wolf.

No home lake, but I have about 3 dozen small (a couple hundred acres or less) natural lakes, bayous, impoundments, and gravel pits within an hour's drive I rotate between. The closest few are each about 7 min away.

Hey Wisconsinites! Sounds like I'm going to be spending a few days over 4th of July weekend on Little Green Lake, in WI (checks map: NE of Madison, W of Fond du Lac). My initial online investigations suggest this lake is a big draw for walleye and musky. I and my father-in-law will be tasked with teaching my niece and nephew how to fish, so I expect we will be targeting panfish and bass; in my experience, smaller waterbodies with good musky populations can be excellent for bass and panfish of good size, although less-so for high numbers of fish. Also, looks like this lake has both largemouth and smallmouth. Anybody have any intel to share on this place?

LMB: 5.5lb on a buzzbait SMB: 3.5lb on a senko

Lol. I would totally play a bass fishing RPG. OK, limited prototype environment: small eutrophic lake/pond, max 20ft depth, shoreline 1/4 rocky, 1/4 wooded, 1/4 marshy, 1/4 sandy. one inlet, one outlet (or dam). Access to any area by craft/boat, no location limitations. Mid-summer photoperiod, average temp, stable weather, no moon-phase.

Snagging? If you want to be realistic, then yes, absolutely snag. Tournaments? A great hook for increasing difficulty. NPCs could have, say, variable strike detection, or variable insight on active bass location given conditions. Boats vs. shore vs. Kayak/canoe/tube: In real life, we are limited by time and money. Suppose a boat comes with full electronics, but requires funds and a fuel budget, and cannot access some areas. Shore fishing is free, but has no access to off-shore areas, limited electronics (maybe a castable depthfinder). Non-motorized craft requires some funds, but less than a boat, gives you some electronics, gets you to places you can't go by boat or foot, but is slow, and therefore more time-limited than the other two. And also less manageable than a boat on big water. You could really go nuts with these options. Baits: start by categorizing by top vs. middle vs bottom, and horizontal/vertical/stationary presentation. Then by "snaglessness". Adjust by hookup %: Buzzbait: top, horizontal, a little snaggy, medium hook-up. Frog: top, horizontal/stationary: non-snaggy, low hook-up. Popper: top, stationary, very snaggy, high hook-up. Crankbait: mid, horizontal, very snaggy, high hook-up Spinnerbait: mid, horizontal, a little snaggy, medium hook-up Swimbait: mid, horizontal, non-snaggy, lower hook-up. jerkbait: mid, horiz/stationary, snaggy, high hook-up wacky senko: mid, vertical, non-snaggy, medium hook-up jig: bottom, vertical, a little snaggy, medium hook-up t-rigged worm: bottom, horiz, non-snaggy, medium hookup Deep-diving crank: bottom, horizontal, snaggy, high hook-up (or whatever)