TournyFish001

let the fish tell you what they want- usually but not always a spinnerbait bite is best with choppy water and cloud cover- match the baitfish as best as possible with your color selection. A crankbait works well in the same conditions but usually better deeper- that being said there are a lot of shallow crankbaits as there are also deep running spinnerbaits- best advice I can give is put time on the water with both, swing for the fence build on your last experience- the more diversified you are the better bass fisherman you will be- do not let one bait replace the other- use one bait for the right situation. That being said I am a tournament fisherman and have both on the deck- Good Fishing to Ya

Hmm...I think I'll quote you on that! I agree, completely. 8-) yep

Have you weighed a 4LB fish before?- I catch smallmouth all year- the dead give away is the thickness of the tail before the tail fin. Its a nice fish but no 4Lber.

top fish is 2.5 to 2.75 bottom fish is 2 to 2.25

2 maybe 2.25LBS I got a 2.75 last weekend thought it was over 3 til I weighed it. Nice pic and fish

Well if it were me Id be getting some zoom horny toads or anything else that I am out of and that everyone else around here is out of- get what you can't buy locally that is how I use basspro.

When I read the first post I about fell out of my chair! Bill Norman for president- love those baits long live Norman Lures

crankbaits suck don't use them just give up! I will PM my address send them all to me- LOL I love crankbaits- use them early before the sun comes up when you are on fish and every other time of the day here and there. Sometimes it is best NOT to just to grab the rod and use it no matter what that will not gain confidence especially when unproductive- throw your jig, t-rig, spinner bait, shakey head whatever- but here and there put them down and crank it- the fish will tell you what they want- but by all means do not give up the crankbait I crank all year long that being said some days are better for it than others- just do it dude it will happen, took me a while to get into it now I always have one on the deck ALWAYS

just put my last ones in a box and shipped them away thanx to ebay- I will not cut corners on reels anymore- BTW the Daiwa Megaforce is Mega junk its all good except for that terrible drag simply junk.

Walcot is the best for us southern Idaho dudes great smallies in there- Dworshak is very scenic a great place to fish- well worth a trip, PM me if you go I will point you in the right direction

I have kept an open mind and fished most all brands- that being said I now have my favorites- you will know when you sit in your boat and grab one rig over the other. That being said I really like shimano reels and G loomis rods, I fought it on this site just out of ignorance and the aspiration to be different and tried almost everything else, when it is go time, I want my trusty loomis and shimano in hand- Daiwa reels are pretty dang good too though my fuego is my favorite spinning reel... hope this helps. It is your budget stay with in it.

Smallmouth 5.62LBS- drop shot rig prototype Kamakazee hand pour fish (basically a 4" fluke but hand pour) the color was a light smoke black and red flake. 1/4oz weight with a #2 drop shot hook Largemouth 4.04LBS- 1/8oz pepper jig black and chart skirt- water mellon yum crawbug trailer. Both fish were caught in the middle of the day blue bird sun straight up.

Right on good work from a Kyak for sure kudos to ya- my money is still on dworsahk for the next state record- the weekend I was there a 6.5 was caught and a 7 the weekend before. It is under fished and that tells me there is a good population of big dawgs in there- there is a ton of kokanee in that lake, those monsters got plenty of fuel up there. Anyway It would not suprise me if a beast came out of Pend Oreille- you guys get bigger bass up north for sure the Largemouth record is even from up north.

The drop shot is my go to and probably my specialty presentation- I have cashed checks using this technique alone- unless you are in the rough stuff use as light of line as possible, that you are comfortable with- you will increase your catch rate- check your line for fray due to previous fish caught or the bottom, retie retie retie I cant stress it enough- I use 6lb braid (same as 1lb mono diameter) with a 4lb flouro leader 8 to 10ft long tied together with an albright knot- tungsten kanji weights and gamakatsu #2 drop shot hooks almost exclusively. My rod is a G Loomis GLX drop shot rod with a diawa fuego 2000 spinning reel. I have absolutely amazed myself as well as some co anglers. This technique is so fun for me because you can change the baits so easy- add some leader or take some away- wow great tactic just typing this makes me want to go fishing. Oh yeah I had a guy tell me its good for catching small fish only... well that is not true I can prove it-

I think it will be close til half then USC pulling away with depth and homefield advantage

I was just there, it is a very long reservoir over 50mi in length but it fishes fairly small. I have my doubts of every fish caught being over 4lbs even during the prime time. I had some success up there catching 2 fish over 5Lbs and 8 over 3Lbs. I figured out a couple main points- a lot of guys in my club had a hard time figuring the place out- you can waste a lot of time where there simply are no fish. My advice is to locate some points mid reservoir start deep fish progressively shallow til you are on fish. Early morning they are up shallow til the sun comes up well at least thats how it was the last weekend in August. The main forage is kokanee which are beginning to turn red and of course crawdads. There are some monsters in there- the elevation is only 1600ft the growing season for those fish and habitat/forage is pretty optimal- Smallmouth have not been in that lake for very long heck the resevoir was not buitl until 1973- the smallmouth were introduced much later and the fishing only became popular with in the last 10yrs. The guy that caught the last 2 state records Dan Stiegers swears there is at least a 10lber in there- Its all fish stories and I am not saying the World Record will come out of there but it is fun to think about- As far as baits and exact locations, Id be lying if I told you on here. :-X

Some guys are starting to throw some pretty heavy shakey heads well at least around here. I like my 7'1" med fast action loomis. Great tactic and also if you drop shot you can cross over using the same rod.

As soon as you feel your bait hit something stop/pause this is really good for triggering strikes plus you will keep it from fully engaging in a bigger snag- that being said if you just constant retrieve it no matter what after hitting something firm you are gunna wedge that thing in a snag more frequently. It takes a bit to get the feel for it- Cranking into structure is very rewarding- hint check my avatar <-----------------------------------

Our club the ones who spent the gas money to drive 6hrs- It was worth it. Dworshak is just amazing I tell you, never move to Idaho LOL J/K- hit me up if you want some more info.

My 5.03Lber from the same weekend 8/30/08-

It will work but the line twist will be rediculous-

5.62LB Caught 8/29/08 Dworshak Idaho. The State record is 9LB 11oz from Dworshak there are some very big smallies in there. I caught another one 5.08LBs. I still have not caught a 4LBer yet lol my previous best was 3.62 before the weekend!

I hate that white cable- there is much better line out there

drop shot on 2lb test flourocarbon line #1 gammy split shot hook- 2-4" straight tail worm

I am not sure if it has the same drag set up as the megaforce- if it does that drag system is pretty crapy- that drag is very inconsistant- you tighten it up good but as soon as enough force is made for it to give line it is like having no drag at all- catching fish over 2Lbs is a challenge with the all or nothing drag system- I bought 3 to have extra "burner" reels not one of them are on a rod now- A good drag is a must and a challenge when going low end.