blckshirt98

I don't have the patience to let the bait fall on a splitshot but one guy I fish with around here uses it as his go-to finesse technique and he crushes fish when nobody else is getting bit. Very underutilized technique that can get you bit in high pressure areas.

Are you sure there are bass in those ponds to begin with?

1) If you plan on going to college wait until you know which state/college you'll be attending. If it's out of state there's a good chance you'll get a job closer to your college where you might end up staying for a while, or, you'll find a job afterwards that puts you in a different state. 2) California isn't a cheap place to live, I have quite a few friends who ended up moving out of state because housing is simply too expensive unless you want to be a slave to your mortgage. Once you need to start paying your own way with rent/bills you realize there are a lot of considerations in picking a place to live, and fishing might end up low on that list. 3) Do you have a lot of family rooted in California that you're pretty sure won't be moving away in the future? If they're here for the long haul you'll always have a chance to use a lifetime license when you visit.

I was skeptical at first if the clip would hold a weight but I've gone up to 1/2 oz sinkers and chucked the living ***** out of my rig to cast across small coves and the weight stays put. Benefit is if you snag on the bottom, instead of possibly losing your entire rig and having to re-tie you'll just lose the weight and just need to clip on another weight. If you dropshot a lot it's a lot more efficient and quick to re-tie.

Check the Powell Inferno at American Legacy Fishing, $99 and they'll call you for your choice of a free Diesel rod.

Nice going, looks like the action is picking up and you've found places with bass! Bass will often strike a lure right near shore when you're about to reel in and lift your lure out to re-cast. I catch a lot of fish throwing a squarebill like this - bass will chase shad/baitfish all the way up to the shore where you'll see bass jumping a foot or two from shore at times so this is natural behavior.

I did some internet searching this past weekend for this very reason. Three things I found through various posts/videos by non-scientist people, which are probably wrong - 1) Males will have a more pointy head shape vs the femail which will be more rounded. 2) Females will have two holes in their belly - one for waste, one for eggs, males will have just one hole, for waste. 3) Anal fin on a male will be translucent where you can see your finger through it. Probably all wrong but one thing I think I notice at least in the local reservoirs are male LMB tend to be lighter in color and more torpedo shaped, where the female will have more of the "classic" bass shape.

Since the jitterbug is a topwater presentation, the fish will be seeing the silhouette against daylight from underneath and won't even know what color it is. As for sub-surface, chartreuse is a popular color so yellow shouldn't be an issue.

Chatterbaits I store in a normal Plano like I would crankbaits or plastics. I stick my spinnerbaits in individual ZipLoc sandwich bags and stack them in square Glad containers. You can fit a cr*pload of spinnerbaits into one of these things.

Yeah there's no advertising about it on their website. Here are some more details from the email I received - To take advantage of this offer, all you have to do is order a Powell rod on our website. Once the order has been received, we will give you a call so you can select the Diesel model you would like added to your order. There is no discount code and you do not need to try add a Diesel rod to your cart. We will contact you and make sure you get your choice of available Diesel rods included free.

This was mentioned in another thread, but just got an email from American Legacy fishing that for every Max3D or Inferno rod you buy, you get your choice of one of three Powell Diesel rods. My local tackle shop had this deal at their annual sale and it's fantastic, especially if you get an Inferno which only runs $99. For a limited time, order ANY in stock Powell Inferno or Max 3D rod and get a Powell Diesel free of charge. No extra shipping cost, nothing.....FREE! Order 5 Inferno rods or Max 3D rods, get 5 Diesel rods FREE! 3 Diesel models to choose from: 6104 CB GLASS 702 MLEF 755 CB GLASS

That reel can handle schoolie tuna, so you should be fine. Limiting factor will be line capacity depending on what kind of line you end up spooling.

I think the Biffle Bug was designed pretty much to be reeled in slowly along the bottom. If Tommy Biffle can stay on tour doing that, you should give it a shot!

Follow it up with a live minnow, huzzah!

The Elixir is an awesome freaking rod with some backbone to it and arguably the best trout rod in Phenix' lineup (the Mirage is a total noodle; the Dragonfly looks and feels really nice but a tad noodley at the tip and a one piece that long is hard for me to transport around; I've never handled an Iron Feather before). I have an Elixir Telescoping 8' FX802-1X that I use for bass fishing (for dropshotting), and some guys in SoCal use that rod for the surf. Have caught a ton of fish on it including my PB 8.25lb largemouth, and have never had an issue with getting a good hookset in (but I only use thinner hooks like size 1-6 Owner Mosquito and Gamakatsu DS/SS). Also have an FX801-2 that I use for trout fishing. I use the FX801-2 to throw mainly spinners and small kastmasters, and have used it to throw some mini jigs as well (though I don't really have any confidence in mini jigs so only a handful of times). I'll PM the name of a buddy of mine who's a Phenix rep if you have any specific questions you want to ask about what the right model would be for what you want to do.

I've never seen a reel that didn't have the little switch to allow you to reel backwards. I never use the backwards reeling when fishing, but there's times when I reel in too much line and a swivel/hook eye/etc is squeezed tightly on the top guide where toggling the switch is the better option that trying to force the bail open.

Holy cow at that Plano tube. You might as well use a hard case for golf clubs instead, which you can also fill up with your other fishing gear.

Are you sure they weren't carp either? My suggestion is to dropshot, dropshot, dropshot, then dropshot some more. Nose hook a Strike King Half Shell or Reins Bubbring Shaker.

is Del Valle still closed from the high water or did they release and is it open as usual?

Yeah!! This is the post I've been waiting for! Grats to your bro on the fish, and now you can file that lake away as a good spot with the activity you saw! Keep at it, you'll be up next!

Where in NorCal are you? Coyote Bait and Tackle is my favorite shop, they have the friendliest and most knowledgeable staff around and their customer service sets them apart from any other place I've been. It's a smaller shop but they carry more specialized items that a lot of other places won't carry (Megabass, 6th Sense, Roman Made, Hudd, local brands, swimbaits in general they have a nice selection). I've heard a lot about Hi's Tackle Box further up north near San Francisco, and if you're way up north Outdoor Pro Shop in Rohnert Park has one of the best online selections of tackle so I'm assuming the physical shop is loaded as well. The BPS in San Jose is terrible most of their bass stuff is in-house branded or the usual stuff you find in big box stores. BPS in Manteca has a slightly better selection but nothing unique.

Not at all, just make sure it's a good quality one. I've always used Norman Speed Clips but just started to try out the Decoy V-Snaps and so far I really like them. Other quick snaps that you might want to look at are the Decoy Egg Snaps and the Gamakatsu G-Finesse Tournament Snaps.

TW might not be able to advertise it, but may be able to honor it over the phone, which seems to often be the case on "excluded" items.

Set the hook if you feel a bite, if you wait for a second bite it's probably the fish spitting the bait out. Keep your rod tip down, even put the tip in the water, to keep the fish from jumping out of the water. Bass jumping out of the water looks awesome and it's often the image captured on magazine covers and artwork, but it's one of the easiest ways for a bass to throw your hook. You'll often hear pros whispering softly something along the lines of "no no no, stay down stay down, don't jump don't jump" when reeling a fish in because of that very reason. Also make sure your system is in order so you're getting a strong enough hookset to penetrate the fish's jaw. If you're fishing a bubba shot or heavy jig on a light rod with mono, you may just not be getting the right hook penetration to get the hook/barb into the fish's mouth.

Setup - Phenix M1 MX-S72M, Shimano Sahara 2500, 15lb PowerPro, 10lb InvisX FC leader, Spro Power Swivel attaching mainline to leader, #2 sized Trapper Tackle dropshot hook, 1/8 oz tungsten teardrop dropshot weight I first took the Trapper hooks out for a try a few weeks ago. Being a nose-hooker I really like the way to Trapper Hooks keep dropshot baits in place at the end of the hook to keep them horizontal and positioned upright. Baits will not slide down the hook bend/shank. Didn't catch any fish but I did get a snag that I tried to force out - the Trapper hook ended up breaking at the first angled bend after the curve of the main shank on the hook. This wasn't a problem for me since I use heavy 10lb leader joined with a Spro Power Swivel to my mainline and the two hooks I normally use (Owner Mosquito and Gamakatsu SS/DS), will usually straighten out (Owner) or break (Gamakatsu) before I experience knot or line failure. This morning I was able to catch a couple of fish and to Trapper's credit, when they say a fish won't be able to shake the hook free, they weren't kidding. The way the hook gets lodged into the fish's jaw, the angles on the hook make it pretty much impossible to come free. Unfortunately this also applies to the angler when trying to remove the hook from the fish's jaw. I was using a pair of fishing hemostats and I could NOT get the hook out because you can't just reverse it out - the 90 degree angles on the hook prevent a smooth removal by just reversing the hooking motion. After struggling with it I tried to force it and the hook snapped on me, again at the first bend after the main curve on the hook, similar to when I was trying to undo a snag. I re-tied and put on another Trapper hook. I got another fish and this hook also lodged itself into the fish's jaw in a way that there was no way it was getting off. But once again this made removing the hook incredibly difficult. I took out the hemostats and struggled with getting the hook out, only managing to remove the hook after twisting it into a corkscrew shape - Having to re-tie again I stopped using the Trapper hooks because I didn't want to deal with removing the hooks and having to possibly re-tie again after each fish. I'd rather have a fish or two throw my hook than have to deal with re-tying. The breaking/bending might just be an issue with the smaller hooks because of the thinner wire but it's too much of a hassle for me to deal with when I just want to fish and have fun. If I were fishing a tournament where I didn't want to lose any fish I might use the Trapper hooks but I'd be worried about fish trauma when removing the hooks. I'm also wondering if the smaller hook size made it easier to lodge itself into a fish's jaw in weird angles making it difficult to remove, where some of the larger wide gap hooks wouldn't have the same complications. Maybe I just had a couple of bad hookups but for now I'm putting the Trappers away. Has anyone else has also experienced difficulty when trying to remove the Trapper hooks from a fish's jaw?