Airman4754

I am moving right next to Wheeler Lake in a month. So, essentially I will be learning how to bass fish all over again. What I consider shallow will be about the deepest water I can find. It will be interesting for sure. I don't consider anything a strength or a weekness. I own just about everything, I fish all of it, and sometimes I find what they are on and have a great day, sometimes it's the opposite.

I was three in this pic and I'm 33 now. So at least 30 years.

Both. I like to power fish to find active feeding fish and finesse fish to catch numbers.

Fiberglass has very little feel but keeps a fish pinned like no other. I throw square bills and up to an XD6 on my 7'8" M/M glass and anything bigger than that on a Crankenstein. I like this combo and don't see myself changing it.

I use a 7'6" UMBX rated for 1/2oz. I throw all the way up to 3/4oz heads on it though.

I run Dirty Jigs. They work great.

Always. Trim the skirt about 1/4" past the main hook, add a trailer hook, and a split trailer. Catch fish.

For me personally I can tell the differenece between a $200 and $400 rod way before I can with a reel. A Calcutta, Corado 300, and Luna will handle the big stuff. Anything between $180 and $250 will handle everything else. If you think a higher end reel will make you a better fisherman. When you're sure it's the conditions or the fish and not equipment you can't put a price on that.

I own four color and will never own another. Craw, Black & Blue, Green Pumpkin, and PB&J. That will cover everything anywhere forever.

Must be rough scraping together a 22lb bag of smallies...

Most of my reels.

Telecasters and bass, nice combo.

8" Hudd, S-Waver 168, Hudd 68 Weedless, SPRO BBZ-1, Osprey, Rago, etc. The gear to throw them is important too.

S-Wavers are solid baits for the money. When you get it put a split ring on it and grind the sides on the front of the joint until the back joint doesn't touch the sides anymore. You will get an extra 8" of glide both ways on the 200 by doing this and about 4" on the 168, which makes a big difference. Replace the stock trebles with a 2/0 on the 168 and your ROF will be much more useful and it will stay down. These glide better on lighter line too. I switched to 12lb CXX for all of my glides and it added more distance to the glide. If you have a long rod with a lighter tip like a mag crank bait rod you will get even more action. A rod where the tip loads up when it glides swims them better than one that doesn't.

If it were just me I'd have a 17' boat max, but I have two young boys so I just bought a TR-21X. The little guy still doesn't go out yet, but my 6 year old goes with me all the time and started going with me when he was 4. I have his "go-pack" with us. It has TONS of snacks and drinks, toys, his tablet, pillow & blanket, etc. He knows how to fish on his own and when he wants to fish, he fishes, when he gets bored he does something else. If their only option on the boat is fishing you're going to waste a whole lot of time and money taking them out for an hour.

Good for you man! Awesome fish!

If you put that idea in a bottle you'd have something sweeter than YooHoo!

I'm sure it has happened more than this but the only two I can think of are the SPRO rat (the big one). I was running a bank and wasn't catching anything. I had the rat on deck and wanted to see the action. I tossed it to the other side of the boat in open water just to mess around with it and boom, 3.5 pounder. A top water bite when you're not even trying to fish is quite the shock. The second was a Kicker Fish lizard. I had just bought a new C-rig specific rod and had one of those lizards tied on. I was just getting ready to head home and realized I hadn't used my new rod. made a cast, drug it about six inches, and a 5 pounder about ripped the rod out of my hand. That was the hardest fighting largie I've ever caught. I thought I had something way bigger on, but was very memorable.

This time of year I throw Shad Raps as my search bait and they get bit so well. I'm sure others have favorites but I've never found a more productive crank after fall turnover.

That's a good season to most people!

White Keitech Custom Leech on a drop shot, it will literally blow your mind. It's really expensive as you get two fish at most per leech and they aren't cheap, but when they're on the little fry you won't find anything like it.

I use a 7'2" MH/F BPS Johnny Morris signature for that stuff. It has a really long handle section for a rod of that length so you can tuck it like a big swimbait rod.

This is the same for me too. I had my best year for largemouth last year and put over 25 fish of 5lbs or more in the boat along with my PB. This year I fished the same places during the same times and landed one 7, one 6, and only eight 5's. On the smallmouth front this year was by far my best year ever. I didn't forget how to fish for largemouth. The winter conditions were much harsher this year, the water levels fluctuated much more, the temperatures during the year were way more sporadic, etc.

Fish deeper or shallower than you have been. If you're fishing a lot where big fish are they're going to bite eventually.

I approve this message. I fish 8's for top water. Most techniques on top leave slack in your line a lot more often than others, so a lot of line per turn is good.