RipzLipz

The kid may not have had the label of a biologist but his common sense went quite a long way considering he was releasing the fish & allowing them to actually swim away without being stopped by a net. Idiocracy has arrived.

Regarding Amazon, just don’t buy from marketplace sellers. Pretty simple.

The 3700 Weekend Series Speedbags were great but for me became less desirable when they removed the 2 handles on top in lieu of one on the side. I like being able to quickly grab 2-3 bags in one hand & throw into truck or boat. Can’t do that with current offering. All to save a buck or two.

@MIbassyaker I really liked those Revenge BG spinnerbaits. Too bad they’re no longer made.

Condolences @N Florida Mike as well as any others who lost family and/or friends.🙏

@gimruis @volzfan59 If that yard sale does happen, don’t tell @NorthernBasser. He doesn’t need more enabling.

I’m beginning to believe you do that just getting out of bed each morning. 🤣🤣🤣

Will let you know sometime in April when my current license expires.

Frogs, muskie Jitterbug, Gunfish all used much less. Crankbaits very little. Biggest disappointment for me was A-rig & Jackhammer - bites just weren’t happening. Have been spending more time on a different public lake so there’s an ongoing learning curve for that. The new lake has produced some high quality fish for us though. @A-Jay He said he’d be coming soon to work out the A-rig & glide bait issues….

@NJBasstard Nicely done & nice fish.

No problem. You can start small then expand as you learn what the fish prefer. I’d still get at least 1 single CO blade, even if it’s a cheaper spinnerbait, like during bluegill spawning time. The Booyah Blade is what I throw but no 3/4oz versions that I’m aware. They’re a bit easier on the wallet but produce nonetheless. I’ve read reviews the split rings are junk but I’ve not had any issues. If I ever do, they’ll get changed out with Owners. I also take a twist tie from bread/bun sack or leftover from garbage bags & burn off the outside coating & wire wrap the skirts over the rubber band which usually dry rots. Twist with needle nose & trim off excess with wire cutters. Pinch down the twist so it lays back towards hook point & flat so not to snag vegetation.

@PTasker15 I fish some lakes around here with 6-10 feet or more of visibility. Those lakes are mainly bluegill forage based so I prefer a single large CO blade. If I were fishing lakes which were shad based, I’d lean more toward tandem willow/CO and double willow. You can also keep extra blades & change out the outside blade - might be a cheaper option than buying twice the number of baits for 2 bladed spinnerbaits. White & chartreuse, solid white, solid chartreuse are my preferred colors during the day. I usually fish all black or black/chartreuse at night but others feel comfy fishing same colors as daytime. If you wish to expand further on colors, try to match the hatch. Zoom split tail, SK Rage Menace grub, Zoom grubs make fine trailers IMO.

@PTasker15 For spinnerbaits you can go as high up as your rod is rated, maybe a bit over (1/4oz or so). I normally don’t throw many under 1/2oz but I’m not typically fishing for numbers. My usual night time spinnerbait is a 3/4oz Booyah Moontalker which I believe has close to a #7 CO blade but I wouldn’t shy away from one that’s heavier or has a bigger blade. I’ve yet to dive into custom made spinnerbaits but you can find them up to 2oz (Strikezone Lures out of Eufala, AL). Weight all depends on how long you wish to wait for it to sink, really.

@Bankbeater So come home from fishing & immediately start talking fishing 🤣

Snagged a replacement bag on sale for $28 from BPS a couple of weeks ago. Old one was getting pretty ragged after 10-12 years of use. No boxes included.

@Glenn @Cgolf It was probably my post, which I manually typed those special characters & initially ended it with "er". I edited it a few minutes later, not wishing to toe the line quite so closely. I honestly wish to obey the rules, but I’m one who uses habitual colorful language & sometimes find the need to edit myself a bit out of respect to those who don’t talk like a seasoned trucker. @Gnarwhal Apologies if that was the case & you got put on the spot. If you’re talking about certain sites, I’m ignorant of that & ignore my blathering. We now resume our drama free bait monkey support system (bait monkey enabling in @NorthernBasser’s case).

@FrnkNsteen I can see that, as rods under 7’ are typically preferred/marketed for lures retrieved with a cadence or downward motion. I’m usually sitting & can manage it differently than most with sideways or even upwards with the right amount of slack on some retrieves.

@waymont I think it makes a good topwater treble hook lure rod as well. Poppers, walkers, chuggers & prop baits all seemed to fit this rod for me. I have the graphite version & threw a X-Rap Prop for smallies up in CA this year & loved it. I personally feel a 703 CB might have been just right for smallies, if it existed.

@TnRiver46 I rarely have been checked, if ever, in IN. However, have been checked numerous times out of state. Never had an issue. Mostly C & R out of state anyway, save walleye for meals while up north.

@TnRiver46 It is if trying to memorize - was pretty straightforward once I looked at the exclusions. Just makes it more of a pain to resident anglers who fish different waters. Visitors are probably only fishing 1 place for a week or so at a time. Then you have all the waters which cross state lines & reciprocal licensing to figure out. Just come to IN where it’s a bass desert - much simpler. I kid - nice places to fish, just many public well-known places get hammered IMO. Excluding Lake MI, I believe our largest lake is under 10k acres.

@TnRiver46 I did some looking & quite a few lakes had different length requirements than the statewide regulation & based on 4 different zones. Not too many creeks/rivers were included in the exception list (compared to the number available). I was a bit surprised.

@Bass Rutten Stunning colors on that peacock. @thediscochef Those are the right people to meet when fishing.

Lived here in IN my whole life. I do recall once when I was a kid my dad calling home one morning & telling my mom he was going fishing. 2 days later, still not back from fishing, he called and informed her he was in FL fishing. She wasn’t too pleased, thinking he was "going fishing" somewhere close to home.

Admittedly, I’ve had the same brain fart @12poundbass described at times. I try to fish cover pending the conditions. Early in the year, big females tend to be cruising more shallow than deep, so I will likely fish in to out. Later, after spawn, bigger bass will eventually move deeper & I would try to fish out to in. Night fishing might change up my approach a bit, with larger fish often moving in shallower when temps are cooler or feel less wary. Offshore would be a mixture for me depending on the cover type but I rarely do that on my regular lakes as not much cover other than weeds exists & I am usually not using electronics. I would be more apt to throw past offshore targets & fish through them, with weedlines being a mix of outside in, inside out & paralleling. I feel there’s always going to be exceptions.

@gimruis Have experienced a fire ban up there a couple of times. The first was due to a windstorm that blew down something like a million acres of trees in the surrounding area followed by a drought. Rain was just something you had to deal with - we were basically dropped off by an outfitter & left to tent camp for 5 days. Did have one bad storm at night that I thought a tree might fall on our tent. We used to take a bug spray called Muskol that kept the mosquitoes at bay pretty well. Don’t think it’s available any longer. Black flies & horse flies were another story. I can recall canoeing along the shore one evening just before dark & no mosquitoes were bothering me out on the water but I could hear them 10-15 yards from shore, humming up in the woods.