justfishin

Nice fish, congrats !!!

I am just going to tell you, nice fish. I would however go to the local butcher shop, and check my scales. They have to be recertified every so many days and are usually very accurate. See if your local butcher will let you weigh some items using his scale and your scale. You are not going to get a state of the art scale for 29.99 but, you can buy them that are close enough for pleasure fishing.

I would have to agree with George and Catt on this one. I think there are a lot of factors like water temp, time of year and yada, yada, but, I think bass, day in and day out, both brown and green are opportunist.

Have a ball !!!

Welcome. Its great to have another smallie fisherman on board. Brown bass rule !!! I am looking forward to your insights.

Good job RW, of thinking outside of the box. What is the old saying " When in doubt, improvise ". Something else I will have to give a whirl.

I have a AB switch on mine but, I have two transducers. I run a jet outboard with stick steering and set up front. I have a transducer on my TM and one mounted on the transom. When I am running I use the transom mounted one and when I am fishing I switch over to the one on the TM. I am not seeing you putting in a AB switch for two FF's and one transducer. I think you would run into some performance problems if you did. Goodness knows, I sure as heck am not a wizz at wiring but, I am sure one of these guys will know.

Number one, if you are catching smallies over 24" long you are having a good day. A smallie at over 24" and only 4 1/2lbs sure does not seem right to me, especially given your description. If it was one fish, it happens, more than one fish with these characteristics should raise a red flag that your water has a problem. Smallies over 20" can vary greatly in weight. Time of year, river, stream or lake, forage availability, area genetics, etc. You need to contact your local fisheries biologist and report this. If he is not already aware of this situation, he needs to be.

Congrats USA.

What RW said.

I have no better fishing buddy than my five year old granddaughter. Out of all the the things to do in life, this is certainly one of my favorites. It creates wonderful memories. By the way, how did the surgery go?, I hope well.

For the pads in the Lower Potomac I use a 7' Team Allstar Big Boy, Abu Garcia 5601 reel and 25lb test XT mainly because of the Zebra Mussels that attach themselves to the stalks. This setup works well for me.

I have been flippin Bigmouth Jigs, Oldham Jigs and War Eagle jigs for a long time. I really like the War Eagles for flippin. I think the KaRu jig I have is going to be a awesome jig for pitchin and swimmin. You guys need to check them out.I have not used them yet but, I received KaRus' jig in the mail the other day and I was real impressed with the craftmenship. Great hook style, great weed guard and the strand count was just right. I am sure they will be great. As far as trailers I have used Zoom Super Chunks for a lot of years. 85% of the time I throw a black & blue jig and I usually tip it with Zoom Flippin Blue or Sapphire. It just works for me and I throw jigs more than any other bait. I tie my own hair jigs for smallies in only three colors, Deer hair or Fox Squirrel Hair in brown & orange, black and green, and blue & white. I always use Uncle Josh 101 pork frogs on my hair jigs in winter.

Who was one of those scarey flying monkeys Muddy? I already know who the witch was, I divorced her years ago. ;D

Hey, you fish for brown bass, we need you in here. I enjoy your post as well.

Hmmmm, so its legal for tourneys ? I find that a little strange unless its a sponsor thing. I did not know that, I would not think it would be legal for T fishing, thanks.

Flechero, its more my fault than G. Loomis that I break them. They are thinner walled. I have a real nasty habit of my hooksets being ridiculous. Its one habit I worked on and could never break. How the other guys broke theirs, I don't know. I would love to break that habit. What is it " Can't teach a old dog new tricks ". I rarely miss a bite but, the rod better be up to my hookset,lol.

Yea Dave, in my area R. Capaso used to be the dealer and now its a guy named Zack. He is a good friend and I get them at cost. Gators sure are decent rods. Ken and some of the other guides have been using them for years. I wish they had the blank exposed as well. My Tenn handled ones are great. They run stiffer than their rating. For instance if you want a M 6'6" it feels more like a MH when you get one in your hand. I really like them in M for smallies. Thanks.

Yes, I am already a big Team Allstar user. Same with Gator Rods. I am certainly not knocking G. Loomis rods either. I am looking at one now. I just feel they are a little too fragile for me. I have gotten the same response from other guys I fish with here, as well. Maybe the walls are so much thinner or something, thus their lightness. I like the feel of them and they are certainly sensitive but, they just don't hold up, for me personally. I have a Gator Rod that is my Spook, Spittin Image and Husky Jerk rod thats all scratched up from the trebles and they don't break. I had a similar fragile issue with a War Eagle rod I owned once. Have a good year guys.

Awesome motor. Wonder how the old 17' Express boat would run with that outboard with a jet prop,lol. I would bet that is one heavy motor as far as weight.

Although, I am a summer kind of guy by far. I hate snow and cold weather but, the smallie fishing is the best in cold water, thats for sure. Thank goodness for snowmobile suits,lol. Just before the turnover when they go on that feeding frenzy for a week or so, which is usually around the end of September here, then the lull when the bite is tough until the water turns completly which is usually around mid to late Oct. here. When the water stabilizes, its on. When does the turnover start and stabilize in your neck of the woods?

I like the idea of the dual beam on the Hummer and the extra pixels but, factoring in dependability puts the Hummer out when compared to Lowrance. Thats why the Ranger dealer and Express Boats dealer here quit putting Hummingbird on their boats. Too many returns and problems. Over all these years I have had both and one of my best ones was a Hummingbird. I also had two that it seemed I always had problems with. I currently have had a Lowrance in my boat for about 8 years without any sort of problem except me trashing the transducer ( I run a Jetdrive Outboard ) and my next purchase is going to be a Lowrance X135. JMO

I wasn't even considering buying it. I was just curious. I thought it was funny. They showed the product being hooked up to a battery, raved about it, but, never showed the product itself other than a long case that contained it. I guess they fiqured they could not sell too many lights for 200 smackers,lol. I have heard of this " Black Box " though, and thought this might have been it. What is the Black Box? I heard of KVD a while back being accused of using it. Possibly another rumor I guess?

I know this is not going to be popular and sorry RW but, I have had five G. Loomis rods and sold them all. I just never cared for them and I had two break on the hookset in which is partially my fault because of my ridiculous hooksets, I admit. I was recently looking at a Loomis smallie rod to give them another try after everyone in here raves about them. I have been in some conversations lately where the guys around here are beating Loomis up because they don't hold up. Two good friends, and good fisherman, I might add, have broken their G's. A lot of the guys here are going back to http://www.gatorrods.com/. A real popular rod here. Have any of you had the same experiance with GL fragility?

Sounds pretty good to me. I guess I will have to up my Lotrel 10/20 and start on some Plavix. ;D