MassYak85

"And here we have X Plastic worm from XYZ Company in, oh hold on, let me check.......green pumpkin" *Repeat 30 times* Really boring IMO. The only time I like "unboxings" is if it is an unpackaging and review of a new lure, just to see if I might want to get it.

There aren't a ton of YouTube fishing guys I really follow in terms of serious fishing advice, keepinitreel and tac.tical.bassin are probably my favorites. Matt has some great advice and keepinitreel is nice because he is a northeast angler like me.

All I have is their LFS speed spool but I like it. They have very good customer service if that is going to play a role in what brand you choose.

For those of you guys who fish at night, do you find that there are certain times that are better? I haven't done much myself but in my limited experience it always seems to get hot at dusk into that first hour of darkness and then it slows down again. Anyone got tips for fishing at night? I might do a couple 6-12 or 8-2 night trips in my kayak this summer.

Me too, their golden shiner color caught my eye.

River 2 Sea right now

Anyone else excited about this lure? I just saw BR's iCast video with the savage gear booth and it looks awesome, in and out of the water! I like the thought they put into the design, instead of just throwing on two treble hooks and calling it a day. The ability to add the on-top stinger hook and take off the bottom trebles to fish it in thicker cover really caught me on this. I love my Spro rat but I wish I could throw it into some thicker stuff sometimes. The dual line-ties is also a very nice feature depending on how you want to fish it. And it is very affordable considering the price of other rat lures in the market. I will definitely be picking one of these up at some point.

I sometimes feel the same way, not necessarily to show off but I just like how interested people get when I catch something.

I swear every one of my friends, and coworkers under 50 has that app, I refuse to download it.

The Spro frogs are definitely the most durable I have used.

Me and my dad fished Quinsig for the first half of the day. Not a terrible day, but a lot of small ones. Nothing over 2 pounds. Caught them on a variety of things, frogs, whopper plopper, spro rat, drop shot, paddle tail swimbaits. Couldn't seem to find the bigger bite though unfortunately. Caught a few really shallow in the pads, and some on deeper dropping weedlines (10-15ft). Water temps varied from 79 in the shallows, to 72 on the main lake. Anyone have any success there during the heat of the summer?

I used the Sufix 832 15# I bought for the first time today. I liked it a LOT better than the super slick I had on. Weave seemed tighter and held better, felt smoother, NO WIND KNOTS THANK GOD. Looks like I am going to stick with that for a while. Power Pro did get back to me after I contacted them and said to send them a piece of the line to test. I decided I didn't want to deal with the hassle of shipping, waiting for them, and then the potential "we found nothing wrong with the line" response. I'll just steer clear of it for a while. Won't need anymore 15# yellow for a couple years.

TW order including the following: 130 size whopper plopper in the "loon" color A couple packs of big Upton's Customs worms Some Gamy straight shank hooks for said worms Some glass beads Gearing up for some deep summer worm fishing

A bass will eat anything they feel is worth the energy to eat. If you plop a 3" grub right in front of the nose of a 15lber, all it has to do is open it's mouth and bam! Instant calories. Meanwhile you could catch the same fish on a 10" trout swimbait and have it chase it 100 feet to get it. Because the meal is worth the chase. I think what it comes down to is bigger baits appeal to the bigger bass, but a big bass can be caught on any bait. But what really matters is whether you are putting your bait, no matter the size, in the areas that larger fish are hanging out. You can throw Hudds all day long, but if you are in the wrong spots, you might be dissapointed. Or you could fish a 4" senko for an hour in the right spot and beat your PB.

Luckily no hooks past the barb for me yet. I am super careful handling any fish hooked with treble hooks though.

Sounds more like carp behavior to me. They do get your heart pumping until you realize what they are.

Can't go wrong with good 'ol Slug-Go's

That was another thing I wasn't too happy with when I was using it. I actually picked up some yellow 832 to try out instead. I'm hoping I will be happy with that. @hookset on 3 That's on my list of braid to try, thanks! @IgotWood Over the past couple years I have been doing that exclusively for the reasons you stated, it does help but it seems to me the loops are forming on the cast.

Tungsten is definitely more sensitive, it's just a question of whether you think it's worth the price. And for some of us, lead is legally not an option. Massachusetts has banned lead under 1 oz, and alternatives like steel are massive in comparison at the same weight as tungsten.

x2 The rat has me the most excited.

My biggest challenge is slowing down. Even if I was getting 5 fish an hour on something like a shakeyhead just slowly worked back to the boat, it pains me to fish that way, even though I can't deny the effectiveness at times. Meanwhile I could fish all day for 5 fish burning a spinnerbait by cover and I would be happy.

If it is a keeper and I know it is going to die I usually try and keep them if I can, just so it doesn't die for nothing. I usually only have to do that if they swallowed a treble hook lure past the point of no return, or gills were torn. That hook removal technique posted above for single hook techniques is a game changer, unless a complete dink swallows it and it starts getting hard to maneuver the hook.

This Also using direct braid I have noticed makes the issue much worse than with mono/fluoro. Seems to slide around less with fluoro/mono.

They have tons of videos of pike absolutely destroying the thing, but I'm not sure about it's affectiveness as a bass lure. Bass have been known to eat birds though, so who knows. What grabbed me the most about both the duck and the rat was the ability to take off the bottom treble, and rig them with the stinger hook on top. I doubt I will get the duck but a semi-weedless rat will be huge. I love my Spro rat and it has really delivered but there are times I wish I could throw it into some slightly thicker stuff, these savage gear rats should be just the ticket. Plus the alternate line tie to get it to dive deeper when fishing more open water.

It looks cool, not sure if I am going to get it yet. I am more excited for their rat.