Drew03cmc

It was my son's doing. After the 2nd break off, I was about ready to call it.

This morning was weird. My son and I went out to bank fish a local river. The air temp was 48 and water about 3 miles upstream was 44 from one river and 52 from the other that converge and make the one we were fishing. I had been tossing a 3" Spark Shad, jig and Ned rig for almost an hour and a half before he got there. We went down to a spot that screams wintering pool and started tossing the same offerings. He immediately hooks up on a 3" Mayor and, a short time later, again on the Mayor. That fish was a 19" 3lb 2oz meanmouth that choked his bait. By this time, I've donated about 6 Ned rigs to the river and just figure I will toss the jig for awhile. I get a strong strike and break off on the hookset. I tie on another jig and get several more short strikes, none sticking. After this dies off, I pick up the Ned rig and get bit pretty quickly, breaking the first one off after about 10 seconds. It felt like a good fish too, dang. I retie and fire another cast to this area and this one sticks. It was the strongest winter fish I've ever hooked and ended up being a 20" meanmouth weighing 5lb 8oz. To say the morning was eye-opening is an understatement. I also attached a picture of my son's big fish at the very bottom.

I run the Buckeye G Buzz with any variety of toads and have had zero issues.

I love mine. I'm taking it out here this morning.

I got the Kestrel Air MFS a couple weeks ago and it casts incredibly. It is an amazing reel for the price. $99 on Amazon when I bought it. I got the Kestrel 6'9 L 3pc casting rod also and the rod is fun, very fun, actually.

Finesse casting gear has accounted for several of my bigger fish this year. It offers a different experience than fighting a fish on a spinning rod and, personally, I have way more casting control on a casting rod. I run mine with 8lb braid to a 7lb fluoro leader and throw things like the 2.5 Yamatanuki, Fluke Jrs in current, Ned rigs, finesse Neko rigs, hard baits under 1/4oz, split shot rigs and the like. I've gotten comfortable using everything from an Aldebaran BFS to a Kastking Kestrel Air on rods rated for light power, up to about 3/8oz, but never go that high. I just got the Kestrel 6'9" L 3pc rod two days ago and have not taken it out yet, but it has the Kestrel Air and a Yamatanuki on it that I plan to fish tomorrow evening for a bit. The trick is drag management. River smallies will rip drag if they're above about 15" and, striper? Boy, that is just fun right there.

This is why I tagged @bulldog1935. He lives there. Ron, I've seen those pics before on FFR. I'd love to have a local guide when I'm there if you had a little time.

Not really interested in trout at all. I want to cross another of the rare species of bass off my list. Bartrams will be here in the next few weeks, so Guads should be next. The others will be pretty easy.

I have a trip to New Braunfels, Texas in December for training for work. @bulldog1935 is there a place or way to get on a Guadalupe or two if I could escape for a couple hours one evening? I'm dying to get on some of these. I'm going to be grabbing a travel BFS rod and bring a small box of tackle with me. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks in advance. Forgot to add, the trip is the 5th to 9th, if I remember correctly.

Haha, no. I love that thing. Just got a 201E7 on a Clarus 7' M for $130. The reel is MINTY.

I just lucked into a new to me combo that looked nearly unfished. How did I do? Curado 51E on a Crucial 6'6" M rod. I paid $150. Reel doesn't have a mark on it and I have the box and papers. I fished it this morning and caught a few.

Probably my 20 Metanium XG I have on my Megabass Destroyer Super Bandersnatch. I can put a shallow spool in it for finesse on a ML rod, or just sling the 40# braid I have on it now with a fluoro leader for everything from burning a squarebill to buzzbaits, flipping, pitching, fishing a frog over open water, etc.

I've thrown a bunch and I only throw 2 varieties now, the Crock o Gator X Bite with a Horny Toad or the Buckeye G Buzz with a Horny Toad. A skirt, to me, casts awfully and doesn't let me put the bait where I want it. I will run from 1/4-1/2oz depending on situation. The 3/8 is a good all around, but I prefer the 1/2oz in murky water, heavy current or low light. Don't put the bait away because the sun is out, sling it all day.

I use two different rods, but could use my "frog" rod for both if I wanted to. It's a 7' H H2O Ethos. For frogs, I run 60lb Sunline XPlasma Asegai, but for buzzbaits it's 30# 832. If I'm throwing bladed jigs, jigs or spinnerbaits, it'll get a 15-20# fluoro leader. The rod is an Abu Vendetta 6'9" MH.

I use the same bag and absolutely love it.

Aldebaran BFS XG with 8lb Daiwa X8 to a 7lb fluoro leader.

I have the Levante and absolutely love it. It's a killer hard bait rod and can toss soft baits if need be. This 4-13 came on a 2.5 Yamatanuki rigged weightless on a 1/0 Owner Twistlock hook.

For my bank fishing, BFS and most everything, I've taken to the Kastking Blowbak bag.

I've had a bunch if their reels. For general use, I really liked the 07 Metanium MG7 and for what I do most, I really, really like my 22 Aldebaran BFS XG.

I don't use a spinning reel and seldom have issues into the wind with anything without skirts or blades. I've been using BFS and, one would think, the 8lb braid would be an issue, but everything casts like a bullet into the wind. Your thumb is your best friend.

Larger fish eat more food to grow or maintain their weight. I could point you to several podcasts with biologists talking about this exact subject. One or two are from Alex Rudd, Bass After Dark and probably a few others.

Ron, do you use a perfection loop on a fluoro leader as well to the other end of the small swivel?

That 6'10 5 power is a good bladed jig rod for any bait below 1/2oz too. It loads up and let's them eat it well. I'm using an Ark Cobb 7'MH for all of those presentations right now. It has the right taper, right power.

The science tends to lean towards a smaller bass population amounts to a higher likelihood of big fish. I've seen this in several ponds we fish around the house. The ones with bigger fish simply don't have the same amounts of dinks that the normal ponds do. The argument was raised already about carrying capacity. If a lake can sustain 100lbs per acre, that can be any combination of fish, 100 dinks, 10 10lb fish or anything in between. Selective harvest is the way to go. Keep the 1.5-3lb fish and release the rest.

I can't. No pack rod in the arsenal.