blckshirt98

Some of us might be eating our words soon, KVD pulled in a 29lb 5oz bag today at Toledo Bend.

If a bass will eat a Twizzler or wrench, a trout imitation is probably like a filet mignon.

I bit late but maybe also check Wal Mart for the Wright & McGill Trait Crist Pink Rod combos!

I use mono mainly for my trout stuff now and I'll use Stren or Trilene XT. I've heard people say good old fashoined Ande's mono works just as good as any other mono out there, I just don't use mono often enough to buy a big spool of Ande's. I use mono for braid backing but it's a big 300 yard spool of cheap Diawa stuff I won in a raffle.

Most of my spinning reels are spooled with 15lb PowerPro. For dropshotting I'll use 6-10lb fluoro as a leader, anywhere from 20-30" in length (I just eyeball it and pull a length of leader out).

I'm more curious how to tell if a plastic bait has PVC in it.

I use 15lb for my spinning gear so that I can use up to 12lb fluoro as a leader and if I get snagged I can snap the fluoro without losing any of the pricey braid.

For a reel don't get one with too a high of a gear ratio especially if you plan on using it to throw deep diving baits. The higher ratio when the bait gets down there can be hell to crank!

Thanks for clarifying/correcting, I could have sworn I read he used the M1 somewhere!

Does anyone know where any data is available that shows the average distribution of bass in a body of water by size? So for example in a particular body of water 40% of the bass population can be expected to be under 1 pound, 25% 1-2 pounds, 10% 3-4 pounds.....01% will be over 10 lbs, etc. I know the max weight will differ according to location since not every lake will carry 10+ pound bass, but i would expect the distribution curve to look relatively the same from one body of water to another.

I usually let out a "fish on" and after I have the hook in if it feels big I'll follow it up with a "oooh this is a nice one" with a few "stay on...stay on...stay on..."

Damiki Air Craw....There's something about those floating claws...and you can even put pieces of alka seltzer in the claws to make them bubble.

Baby Bass is the best GYCB color, for any of their plastics!

Could that spot be a bend in the river where dead fish from upstream just end up on the rocks from the way the current runs? Maybe dead fish end up there on those rocks all the time except this time the birds/mammals didn't get to scavenge them by the time you or the other guy showed up.

I asked about the 9'0" Heavy M1 Inshore rod as as swimbait rod on the swimbaitunderground forums and a couple of guys said they use the 8'2" Heavy for throwing Deps 250s with no problems. The M1 itself is a great blank (I believe this is the blank that Ben at Low Down Customs uses for all of his swimbait rod builds) so don't worry about the rod, it's just a matter of getting the one with the right action for what you want to throw on it.

Fish have to eat or they die so they'll bite something. With trout I know the day of the plant the fish are usually lethargic as they acclimate to the new water and temperature, and day or day after the plant is when the bite picks up. While it's drained I'd take some pictures of the empty lake and note where any dropoffs, ledges, channels, rocks, structure are located, as the bass will go to cover no matter what lake they're in and a newly filled lake won't have much vegetation for the bass to hide in yet. Even throwing a softball sized rock near the shore would be a good piece of structure to fish once it's full.

Another vote for the KVD silent squarebills - Natural Shad and Sexy Shad

For durability check out the Reebs Lures Bolt Throwers - they're actually designed for saltwater to catch calico bass out of kelp beds and big toothy halibut so they're pretty bombproof. http://www.kayakfishmag.com/gear/bolt-thrower-spinnerbait/ http://www.reebslures.com/shop-all-lures/bolt-thrower

The smallest sized SPRO Power Swivels will go through the guides and that's not good juju for the guides, so I just cast with the swivel and full length of leader hanging. I wasn't exactly sure how long of a leader your'e joining so I'm assuming spinning finesse. I'll never go longer than say 30 inches for a leader with any finesse application and I've never had any issues with casting.

I use a Phenix X3 glass crankbait rod for chatterbaits and I wouldn't change. The glass rod really lets you whip the bait out there effortlessly and I've never had any hookup issues. There really is no right or wrong, just use what is most comfortable and feels best for you.

Does anyone else store their Mend-It upside down like Powerbait dough jars to keep it from drying out as fast? (At least that's what I assume is the reason why they store Powerbait upside down.)

As a shore guy I keep my approach pretty simple - if there's points/structure/vegetation I'll toss a dropshot and poke around looking for the fish that are likely hanging around the area. If it's a featureless straight shoreline I'll toss a 1.0-1.5 squarebill and just try to cover as much water as possible. There might not be any of your typical cover/ambush points, but there should always be fish swimming around.

Not too many secret spots out here in Cali because of so many people and so few places. Only thing that's "secret" is when a spot has a hot bite - in that case I have a couple of people that I'll trade information with via PMs, but otherwise will avoid giving that info out. People used to post public info in a local fishing forum but what would always happen is the next weekend the location would be "fished out" and the shoreline would be covered in trash. Growing up almost 30 years ago I had a friend who liked to hike and would scout out the local hills (before they were all developed with houses) and found a couple of nice spots that were loaded with fish. I think they were on private ranches or part of the state park, but nobody fished them except us. I caught my first bass there actually on a live minnow caught in a trap from a local creek - nothing like the excitement of seeing your curled up mono line straightening and shooting out when a bass takes it! Anyways one of the lakes I knew had been completely filled in for housing, the other one I still saw on Google Earth so decided to try it out. When I got there my heart just sank, The entire shoreline all around was just littered with trash. I managed to get one small bass but otherwise that spot was completely fished out. Also it was no longer a secret because they had built a bunch of houses right up to the lake. Never been back since, I'll just hold onto the memories I had as a kid.

Found this thread online - http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/archive/index.php/t-267.html Most people suggested dynamite, but the OP managed to remove his stumps by doing the following - " For anyone that actually cares about this thread I was able to remove almost all of the stumps using hydraulic cylinders and log chain. Basically connected chain to the stump I wanted removed in the water and to an even bigger stump on shore and then hydraulic cylinder between the chains. It was a slow process at times and made several modifications but made progress. First I started with a cylinder with 3" inch bore and got some but it ran out of gas on the big ones. Then I bought a 5" cylinder and that got a lot more. Eventually I ran into a stump that even it couldn't pull out. That was the moment that it got personal. Purchased another 5" cylinder to work in parallel and another 150' of chain and out it came. "

If you can find a CL8 Water Vole or Baby Possum those might be options as well. I use the CL8 Mighty Mouse as my go-to for a smaller mouse sized topwater and it works great!