Fishin Dad

I was watching Bassmasters this morning and Cody Hollen had deep hooked a smallie. He grabbed a hook removal tool, got it on the hook, and the hook popped right out. Have any of you used one of these? Do they work well? I have read About and tried going through the gill plate area, with OK success. I rarely deep hook fish, but would like to see if that tool is the way to go or not. Thanks

What helped me was learning to use a roll cast and more wrist action than throwing my whole arm into it. I would rather skip a bait caster even though it brings the potential for an over run when something is a little off. I like the power of the casting rod to get them out of the docks before they wrap me up. I do still skip weightless stick baits on spinning rods for finesse.

Thanks! I was assuming that might be the case. Good fishing to ya!

Hey Chief, I see you have tried these Queen tackle blades. How did they work out for you? I was thinking about grabbing a couple to try. Thanks, FD

Double Shindo knot by Gerald Swindle!!

Two o rings work really well when you cross them and place the hook right through the x where they cross.

Thanks Glenn! Your site is really unbelievable. I can honestly say I owe a lot of what I know to Bassresource. Your knowledge, the members willingness to help, and the fact that moderators keep content appropriate and on track is awesome! This is just my long over due !!!!!

Update: Fished today and didn’t lose a fish! Thanks for your advise everyone. I set the hook and just started cranking. Giving them no time to do anything silly. Boated flipoed most of them in. Worked great. Hope it wasn’t just a lucky day. Feeling way better about it though. I appreciate it.

Well interesting. Glad to hear the rod should work well. It is ready for tournament Sunday! I had looked at Mudhole at pitching/flipping rods and the series is all moderate fast action. That led me to believe the XF might be a problem. Thanks for the encouragement and well wishes!! Looking for a good bag tomorrow!!

Sorry. I forgot to mention the hook. I was using a super line EWG and also tried a regular EWG. I agree on the jig helping but hate the weeds it grabs, even with the weed guard. I was wondering about the heavier weights as well. I am going to try a couple rods that are quite different tomorrow. The milfoil can be a struggle to get them out of at times. I have some experimenting to do. Unfortunately it will be during a 9 hour tourney tomorrow. Hopefully I can keep them pinned and get them in the boat. Maybe I just had a bad couple days with the bite being weird or something. Thanks!!

By lighter and darker do you mean on sidescan images?

Thanks guys. I seem to hook the fish, but they are coming lose on the way in. Sometimes right at boat side. This is not a punching situation really. More pitching to milfoil. No mats on top or anything. I am glad to hear you feel the rod is ok. Maybe I just had a bad couple days of keeping fish pinned. I am going to bring that rod and a couple others out tomorrow and see what I can figure out. I am also trying to figure out what to buy for a new pitching flipping rod.

I am curious on what you all like on your Pitchin/Flippin Set ups. I was using a 7’6” heavy extra fast and losing some fish. Not a rod I am sure has a great use being heavy and extra fast. I think it was due to the lack of forgiveness in that rod blank and braid combo. I was using 50 lb. braid And 1/2 oz. Texas rig as well since it was in heavier vegetation. My question is: Do you prefer a MH fast rod (Seth Feider mentioned he switched to that with braid to leader) or a heavy moderate or moderate fast rod while Flippin/pitchin? Also, do you use straight braid, braid to leader (like Feider, Tactical), or other? Just wondering about losing fish. I am going to use a couple other rods tomorrow and see if my landing ratio improves. Thanks.

Hey Fry, We drive around after ice out and drop way points on many things. What exactly do you look for and define as “hard spots”. I have watched Seth Feider say the same thing a number of times. I assume you mean high spots, rock, etc. Is there any special way you find them up north here. We usually side scan and cover water. Not sure if we are missing anything. Thanks

I agree with you! When you find something that feels right, you have had success with, and gotten comfortable with, It becomes a solid companion!

Camman, Do you care to share what brand you settled on as your favorite? I really like to hear what people who have that much experience with different rods settled on. Thanks

It sure would have been hard to not want to plug in that Helix and check out those waypoints! But I agree, pretty cool how it all came together.

Thanks for sharing that. Amazing story!!!

I usually wait closer to the time I plan on going to get a more accurate weather forecast. I would be tied up by Friday night for sure. I have mostly technique specific rods that stay that way in the boat. I will still re-tie if they have been used enough and could be weak. I also replace leaders that have gotten short.

I have not been a crankbait guy for bass at all really. Our lakes here are usually very Shallow and weedy. I use them for walleye in northern lakes with less weeds. Many of the weeds have died off as of late so I also gave the square I’ll a try. I caught quite a few bass. I would usually use a chatterbait or spinnerbait for a reaction strike, but changing it up was fun. I did find out why guys change out their hooks though. I did bend some hooks but changed them out when I got home. I am going to play with these shallow cranks some more and see what I think. So far it has been a fun new way to fish em.

Probably already done. Hard for these guys to fish without 3 or 4 graphs. Although Seth loves his MILF!!

I feel your pain brother. Been teaching for 26 years!! I heard a lot of the pros saying they owe their riders!

I know. These guys don’t have cheap graphs and have solid brackets holding them. He must have hit hard to break them completely off and send them to the bottom of the lake. That would be over a months pay for those 2 graphs and brackets. Yikes!

Did you all hear Feider say his graphs fell off and are in the bottom of Lake Champlain? If he was serious, that is brutal. The guys were talking about the horrible conditions on the way to weigh in today. Wow

Thanks guys. That is why I was checking. I was trying to rig a craw and it was literally hard to hold well enough to get it straight. I rig a lot of baits, so it shouldn’t be difficult. I am going to pat them with paper towels and put them back in their packages and see what happens. I still like some of their designs and costs for sure. I don’t “need” to use them, I have totes of others plastics. Just found it strange and wanted to make sure it wasn’t just something I did or I got a bad batch.