Ozark_Basser

The body and especially the eyes give it away.

He doesn't really look like he came out of muddy water. Nice fish though.

Its a barracuda.

Looks kind of like a barracuda.

I have the same except for bucket A and D. For bucket A, I chose Hackney. For D I chose Ehrler. On a lake like Guntersville, it's anyone's game though. Its hard to really pick and chose who will be in the top 5. I wanted to go for Christie in D, but I figured I'd give Ehrler another chance. He's bound to do well before too long.

Bluebasser, how much do you charge apeice?

Mono is more manageable than fluoro. I'd invest in some high end mono. The higher the # test, the easier it is not to backlash.

I make my own, but if I were looking to buy some it would be D&M Custom Baits' Piranha Beast and Zman's Project Z chatterbait.

If it's windy, don't be out there in a canoe. Stay in pockets and creeks and try to avoid wake from boat traffic. All in all, it's not a good idea to take a canoe on a big lake.

This is a good option. I fished a local neighborhood lake that had super clear water last summer. Got one on a spinnerbait up shallow in some grass right off the bat. Tried skipping jigs under docks, paralleling the banks with swim jigs and paddle tails. Couldn't get bit. Pulled out a white luck e strike rc stx and started catching them left and right. Biggest was about two pounds.

But isn't Lew a dude? Haha! Couldn't resist. I've only had one Lew's. It was pretty nice for the price. It was the $100 one they first came out with when they started making reels again. I haven't tried any newer models.

Dropshots around visible cover. Sounds like one of those ponds you gotta finesse them most of the time.

I have zero confidence in a crankbait unless it is deflecting off something. Whether that's the bottom or a piece of cover or whatever. I would use them to target suspended fish, but I have some lousy electronics, so I don't target suspending fish to often unless I'm covering water with a jerkbait. You are not going to know where bass are located unless you can see them. So its probably going to be a waste of time, for the most part, to throw a crankbait if its not on deflecting off the bottom or wherever. Wiggle warts aren't just the best option from the bank. You're gonna lose a lot of them. Running crankbaits into objects, although effective, can cause them to hang up, especially from the bank where you are cranking uphill. You could run them on twenty pound mono and they would probably run like most square bills. Throw them to or past where you think a fish is and make sure you are deflecting off something. Paralleling banks is probably your best bet most of the time, but there is way too much to be explained in one post. You just have to find out for yourself.

True. Kinda jumped the gun on that one. My mistake.

Well, almost identical.

Depends. Up in your neck of the woods, I'd listen to Dwight.

You can find them for a bit cheaper than 200 without trying too hard, but still I have a hard time forking out that kind of dough. I feel Murphys Law would take in effect on the first couple casts.

Savage gear sand eel. Boom two for two haha.

I've been fishing a lot from the bank since about last September. My backhand has gotten a lot better. My backhand skip has improved from nonexistent to fair, still having to pull out some line on that one.

Haha! Dobyn's is kind of the IPhone of fishing rods. Are they good? Yea, but you can get something just as good for cheaper. I feel its more of a "hey, let's all be cool and jump on the bandwagon" sort of deal for a lot of folks. I'm not trying to point anybody out, just saying.

I owned the savvy 735. It wasn't too balanced. It wasn't a bad rod, but I feel like it was on par with the max series of rods, maybe a smidge heavier. I don't see where people are getting the notion that a lot of dobyns rods feel soft though. I've owned some champions and they honestly feel kind of stiff. To each his own.

Go to Nada and see for yourself. I would guess around 1500 give or take.

Once you start making your own, you won't go through as many either. I have had the same jig tied on for the past three trips. Go figure.

I make my own, but the start up costs aren't cheap. If you are looking to really save money, buy the premade heads and tie your own.

No way. Look at that mouth!