SimonSays

Nice fish! missed this thread for some reason! That first one looks like a nice 3lber-ish and the second looks like a solid 2! good job!

Heya J, if you're planning to wade the rap in Fredericksburg on Monday I'm up for it!

I like braid, PowerPro Suffix or Stren, all three work for me.

I agree!

Thanks for the kind words J, I love catching the fish =D Like Andrew said I started off with 1/16 jig heads with 2-3 inch white grubs then switched to a 3inch yamamoto white (more clear than white). I also caught one decent sized fish off a fun sized swimbait (3 inches). As for tubes I started tossing a 3.5in coffee tube in watermelon/red on a 2/0 gamy skip gap hook with a 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight. The fish tore that one up and I didn't want to bother Andrew with grabbing another since we were on our last leg of fishing so I switched to a Black/blue Mann's hardnose tube I had on hand (.82 a pack at Gander mnt!) at 4 inch and caught 1 or 2. These smallies put up a GREAT fight...the 1-1.5lbers put up fights like 3lb-4lb lmb's constantly trying to shake the hook and dive. Great when you get a solid hookset, nerve wracking when you don't =D

IMO you can safely use fluoro for buzzbaits, topwater frogs and other plastics, anything that is kept in constant motion. The Sinking fluoro line should be ok if you're just buzzing it across the water because it really doesn't have a chance to sink. Some people like to stop the frog and have it sink into a hole in some weeds or pads and the sinking action would actually help in that aspect. On the other hand if you were using top water plugs like poppers where many people pause the retrieve for a more broken and erratic motion it would be best to stick with something that doesn't sink as readily as fluoro.

IMHO, I think it really depends on your situation. Which types of baits do you usually toss? If you find yourself flipping/pitching heavy jigs into cover, a MH-F 7' would probably be best. If you find you like light plastics, maybe a M would be better. I fish with mainly lighter baits and trebles so my all around rod is a MF and in a 6'6" length due to length restrictions with my car.

Yep got ran off last week, sad because it was such a good place to fish too. Another place you guys could try is ooff Nuckols road too, take a left on Nuckols from Cox road and you'll see it on your right inside an office park place (west shore?). I've had alot of luck here too recently, nothing big aver around 1lb but fun if you're just looking to hook into something.

Nice fish! that cove area is also really good for panfish if you like to fly fish at all.

Third Lake on your left as you past nuckols road

Sometimes the bargin bins have great deals on yamamoto's and other brand name plastics. My recent trip to Gander mnt produced bags on Mann's 4in Hardnose tubes .82 a pack! in black/blue black/red and pumpkin! Dead on colors for cheap. So go bargain bin diving you might come up with some gold!

I felt it was too rough and grainy, I guess I'm too use to the smooth-ish feel of cork

I just held one yesterday, wow was it light.... But the grips didn't feel great and the guides do suck!

'grats Sam! You deserve it! You've helped me out countless times and put me on to some great places to fish, thanks!

LOL my wife says that too. Most of my friends also. They dont like fish that tastes "fishy". I tell them to order a hamburger then! Its a fish!! Its supposed to taste and smell like... fish Vic Hmmm I don't know about that...Rockfish doesn't taste fishy to me, flounder, croaker, halibut, tuna, sometimes salmon does. I've always been taught that fishy tasting fish meat is a sign of either unfresh fish or bad tasting fish. To each their own! next time I'll try frying though, it seems to be the consensus for cook method.

x10 I've used this knot exclusively when tying leaders. I've never had the knot fail and I've pulled my share of snags out. The terminal knot will fail before this knot does.

Ahh that sucks! You'll get em next time....did your line fray or something?

Lol yes I have! I actually started fishing on ugly sticks and kept them stored in my closet. When I first heard of pony pastures + smallmouth I took my 5' Ugly and tried fishing with it, it was my only ultra light! To get a proper hookset I'd have to set as hard as I could while doing a little jump just for extra power =P it was funny, lol

Wow, I know of a few local ponds that I frequent that spray algaecide ... I hope they're ok, sorry to hear about your ponds!

I'd rather eat oysters raw and some vegetables for that matter!

Well, had my first 9 bluegill tonight...looks like the ones we kept were "big" for that body of water but not big compared to some that you guys catch cause I'm still not full =/ What I ended up doing since we were a bit short on cooking time was mix butter, garlic, basil, old bay, and some salt mixed those all together and added some white wine. Brushed that mix on the fish and broiled them about 3 mins each side. Turned out tasty. We also tried the asian way with a few, the sauce for that was soy sauce, sugar, scallions, a bit of oyster sauce and a bit of water. Heat up some corn or veggie oil til it starts to smoke then pour the oil into into the soy sauce mix fast. It'll flash cook the scallions and other stuff (sort of like a flambe). The sauce turned out great but the fish ended up tasting a bit ... fishy when steamed. I'll try frying next time!

Student - double major bio and physics... Hopefully I'll get into a Medical Physics masters program! *crosses fingers*

try something less heavy duty, like a 6 or 8# line, in my experience, in general the lower the test the less memory it will have compared to the same product.

What I find really funny is when people buy those huge thick white poles from walmart about 8ft long or so and as thick as a D sized battery they toss out a bobber with a worm and catch bluegill on em.

Did ya put any backing on your spool before you put the braid on? or a piece of electrical tape? maybe it's slipping when you cast? How tightly did you spool the braid? another thing braid is infamous for is digging into itself leading to decreased casting distance.