Airman4754

I'm the same way.

I haven't been on a boat that has one of these TM's for bass, but I've been on a boat with the Minn Kota vertical jigging for lake trout and one with an Xi5 jigging for walleye and they are incredible. The Minn Kota setup was so cool. He had a Humminbird linked to it and it was one of the TM models with the auto-deploy feature. He would be behind the steering wheel running the big motor until we got over a fish. He would put the cursor on the fish, mark the waypoint, drop the TM, send the point to the TM, and it would hover us over the fish. He never even had to move or get up. You could put a day one fisherman in that boat and they would be able to put up pro numbers. It's the next major purchase I will make for my boat. There is no question it's an absolute game changer.

Or just tie an albright. It's super easy and if you lubricate it when you cinch it down it won't fail.

Yeah the HP.

If I'm fishing wood I'm using a jig, pads are a jika rig, docks are a bubba shot, grass is a chatterbait or swim jig depending on how thick it is, and canopy is a punch rig with something from Gamber on it. Off shore I have the same pattern. Throw a 6XD or 10XD depending on depth until I hook a fish then go C-rig with a Rage Anaconda or 12" lizard , a wrecking ball with a Crazy Flapper, 6" Speed Shad, football jig, and finish up with the drop shot. On points I drift a 10-12" ribbon worm with a 1/8oz unpegged across them. I hate fishing in the summer so I just try to catch toads.

I fished one of those Lami Senko Specials for about 10 years. It has a really short handle for a 7'2" rod and it's top heavy, but still a good rod. I upgraded to the 723 Infinity and it's an amazing stick, but over the $200 range. The current Lami Pro-X line is very nice. I have the 735 model and for the $180ish I spent on it I feel like it was well worth it. They are built by hand in Washington. They are very comparable to a Dobyns Champion.

I just got a 745 Dobyn's tonight and was throwing a 3/8oz jigs on it. It's definitely not too stiff.

I have the ML/XF SCV and after about three casts I retired it from the drop shot arsenal. Fantastic Ned rig rod though. I would recommend the SCV blank as well for the drop shot, but go with a medium power and you can throw finesse jigs and shaky heads on it too.

The Oregon state record isn't even big enough for Tom to bring into the boat. He would just let it work itself loose at the side of the boat so he didn't have to mess with it. There are tons of bass fisherman, but location and local water will cull out about 95% of them when it comes to giant bass.

The most useful book I have ever read is the Big Bass Zone by Bill Siemental. It breaks down spot-on-spot, boat positioning, cast position and accuracy, etc. I've read just about everything out there and they all provide knowledge and you'll learn something new every time. Big Bass Zone is the only thing I have read that legitimately stepped up my success more than just time on the water has.

To me, their ML's are too soft at the tip to drop shot anything above an 1/8oz weight comfortably.

I use 10lb P-Line 100% fluoro on a 6'8" SC Rage M/XF with a Lew's Tourney Lite. I only spool it about 2/3rd's full and have very little problems with back lashes trying to cast a long ways.

I fish pretty much everyday. I've caught a bass 71 days in a row now. I have to be averaging around 35 fish a week. Sometimes I catch way more than that in a week, sometimes less. I was going to do something next year of trying to catch a bass all 365 days in the year, which would be tough because I travel for work quite a bit or try to catch 2,000 bass in a year. I would have to keep actual track though which would be annoying.

I like 14lb Shooter as an all-around Fluoro.

I've heard three reasons; 1. A slower presentation with a big bait makes for an easier meal to trigger more strikes. 2. To keep the bait lower in the water column. The bigger the bait the more lift it has. 3. It's easier to grind in a big fish with a lower ratio. All three make sense.

They will even bite on a dreary day on your lunch break!

It depends on what model and what sink rate you got. Did you get one of the smaller shad baits or the 6" or 8" trout shape ones?

I separated a 12" smallie with a 9" perch stuck in its mouth floating on top the water last summer. They do eat big stuff, but I'm not sure it's as common as largemouth.

Awesome trip!

Sage advice. I will add one thing; it's perfectly fine to swing and miss, and it can actually trigger the fish to strike again or get another fish in the area to bite. Having said that know that you missed and stop right away. The fish or an object contacted that bait. In live creatures when they get knocked they make a quick move then get stunned. Go look at a boxing match that ended in a knock out, you will see what I mean. Your hook set gave the crazy escaping motion, let it go after that. I can't tell you how many hundreds of fish I have picked up dead sticking after a bite. Depending on water temperature I will leave it there for over a minute sometimes without moving it.

I've caught quite a few smallies over 4lbs in the last three years. I caught one on a spinnerbait while it was falling in open water, so that was a fluke. The rest were on a 4.8" pearl Keitech. I couldn't get them to touch the 6" version. An S-waver 168 in Rainbow trout. They wouldn't touch Lite Trout, Perch, etc. or the 200. The last were Keitech Custom Leeches in I believe it's called Ice Fish. The bigger ones never hit the other colors, but tons of 2lb class smallies did. The three over 5lbs were in a river on a tiny Panther Martin. So in all of my years bigger has never amounted to better for brown fish.

For just a minnow type the tiny flukes and Power Bait minnows are great.

The smaller females are hitting the banks so that's always my sign to start throwing a bream colored chatterbait. I caught three fish in the 3.5 to 4lb range. I didn't get a picture of the first. I had a hell of a time getting her released. Oh and Go Ducks! First Final Four since before the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!

I've only lost two monsters and both were on 6lb test. I wouldn't have hooked either without the ultra finesse approach and I couldn't really control/land them from where I hooked them. The catch22.

Good for you!