Dan:

Happy B-day, Russ!

My friend that lives there actually goes to Tipitinas a lot so we will probably end up there. Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't buy it. If Barry hit every ball over the plate in the exact same way then I might be suspicious but he often times rolls over the ball or gets under it too much and pops up or grounds out. If this thing were a swinging machine that produced the same stroke every time that wouldn't happen on pitches over the plate. Most of those "6 advantages" are stretches anyway. Like the extra weight being an advantage in power behind the ball and the flap keeping his arm in that keeps him from only using his arms in his swing. Most major league batters keep their front arm in to drive the ball, especially on inside pitches. And the part about it making his swings ultra consistent--major leaguers spend hours and hours in the batting cage trying to get their swing to be the same everytime. When I played ball I could go in the cage and have the same swing every pitch easily. The hitter's goal is to make their swing as mechanically sound as possible and then practice that swing as much as possible to commit it to muscle memory.

I am so FREAKIN' jealous, Muddy! That sounds awesome! BTW, I'm going to New Orleans next week! Probably going to check out some of that great live music down there

congrats dude! that's a dandy

that's weird, I caught a smallmouth with a very similar jaw problem. I'll post a pic later. now that I think of it, it reminds me of bitter beer face

reminds me of a Case Jack's Worms which are fantastic shaky head baits so I would use it for that.

Stradic for a few weeks and love it.

Yeah, I'd say we've had them at the store for at least a month, maybe two. If you find a good way to rig them, let me know...I've been having trouble finding a good method. I tried putting them on a jig head but I didn't like it too much. Maybe I'll give it another shot later.

It's pretty easy to see from the enlarged picture that the fish was no where close to 13lbs.

try the sinkin' salty shad. they are the only bait i've been using this summer.

JERKBAITS!

We've had them at Dick's for a while now. I just got a few to give them a shot on the local rivers for smallmouth.

Matt, that definetly looks like AT LEAST $35 worth of fine craftmanship. If I threw swimbaits, I'd order some.

that's not a bluegill. Looks like either a pumpkinseed of green sunfish.

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I wish I had taken measurements but it's hard to do that while wading by yourself. The fish in the pictures with just my arm were longer than the one in the picture of me holding the fish. For reference, in the second pic there is 4'' of a 5'' jerkbait hanging out of the fish's mouth. I judged that one and the third one to be in the 20'' range.

dangit! now I'm upset that I just bought a Stradic. I wish I had known new ones would be coming out so I could have waited and got the newer model.

Awesome, congrats! I hope to get familiar with jigs this summer as well. I think I need to just put away the jerkbaits and shaky heads and make a few trips and only take jigs.

it sure is! My favorite type of fishing by far is wading shallow rivers. If the fishing is slow, you can always go swimming.

YIKES! I fished the Juniata near Mifflintown a few weeks ago! I would have been more careful if I had known there were piranha!

Now, I know these fish aren't huge, but I've only been fishing for a year and they are vast improvements since last summer so bear with me. I just caught two new PB smallies today so I figured I post the three big fish I've caught this summer. And remember, Virginia isn't a great smallmouth state right now (besides the James and New Rivers) so these fish are huge compared to what I normally catch. This one I caught on the Juniata River in Pennsylvania from my new jonboat. These two are from today on the Rapidan River here in Virginia. My best so far. ;D Very long but skinny... Got a new spot with some good wading. All were caught on soft jerkbaits (green pumpkin) Sorry, no weights.

Looks like different markings to me. Gorgeous fish.

^^I agree, I have been doing very well on the green/brown worms on jig heads in small rivers all summer long. Those and soft jerkbaits are my best baits for smallies this summer. Try either of those options in a color that matches the bottom of your river. Retrieve them from shallows into deeper, rockier areas in or around current. If there are smallmouth in the creek, that method will catch em.

I've never been hooked past the barb either. I would probably try the string-yank method but I honestly don't know if I could get myself to do it. I know it's not supposed to hurt very much but I just can't get past the whole yanking a barbed hook out of your flesh thing....

Heading off today to try the reel on the rods, hopefully I'll be able to find a Avid to try it on. So basically what I'm hearing is that the Avid is going to be lighter and more sensitive and has a few higher quality components and a lifetime warranty?