hunterPRO1

I've been snake bitten a handful of times, there is no better feeling than the realization that the "cottonmouth" that just bit you has round eyes.

80% of my fishing is either weedless plastics with mono line or frogging. i dont have an abnormally hard set, atleast i dont think so, but its a hard stiff swing for sure.

any tree stump or stickup in 2-4 foot of water when the temp is between 50 and 80 is a high percentage area over 80 degrees i focus on grass, under 50 im back to stumps but deeper.

For the majority of us it won't change to much, gas prices will probably be 2 to 4 times higher, electric outboards will be under heavy research and development as companies scramble to master the tech before gasoline either is banned or depleted. Sonars will be clearer, side and forward imaging will be able to see farther. Some lakes will suffer from higher pressure while others may thrive as we gain a better understanding of fishery management. The new IGFA world record bass will come out of lake baccarac, mexico. it will weight 23lbs 8oz, and people will still be arguing whether or not Dottie is the true record.

old rotten kill switches can break so make sure your lanyard is in good condition, happened to me in an atv wreck, didn't really matter since the impact was enough to KO the engine and most people dont use them on atvs anyway, but still a good lesson to carry over to boating.

I've started fishing a 4-inch white grub on a dropshot pretty regularly in water with sub 12inch visibility with mixed results. I think the tail on the grub moves more water and creates more vibrations compared to a traditional shad lure or straight tail worm.

Considering that both are used by people to shoot each other I would hope not. On rare occasion really high-power airsoft or paintball can break skin at close range, but i seriously doubt it would have the power to knock out a person, much less a deer. (Btw deer are not fragile creatures, they are very durable. I have seen one run over 200 yards with its heart in 3 different pieces.) Tranquilizer gun would be a much more likely method to achieve what you are describing; Not sure what legality issues could arise. Personally, there is no way shooting a deer with a paintball gun would give me the same feeling as archery hunting. Catch and release fishing gives me the same feeling as catch to keep; if not better. They aren't comparable in my opinion.

you're from texas and probably around some cover and bigger fish, do not listen to the people saying 10 or 12lb for the mh casting setup. 17lb mono. personally recommend either berkley trilene big game or sufix siege.

15-17

that's gotta be expansive.

on the topic of poppers, i have personally not had as much success with them as other topwaters, and when i have it was by walking them; not popping. i did however fish with someone once who would fish a popper and another bait simultaneously. he would cast the popper, let the ripples disperse, and pop it lightly 3 times. he would then set the popper rod down and make a cast with whatever else, fish that bait back to the boat, pick the popper back up and make one small blurp before putting the rod back down and then casting the other lure back out. the first two times i fished with him he never got hit on it and i just wrote it off altogether. the third time we fished together he did it again, only this time, about an hour into our excursion, i heard a massive splash and turned to see an eight and a half pound bass that had lunged clean out of the water to eat that popper. to this day ive never tried this mostly from lack of patience with a bait i dont have confidence in, and to be honest I had forgotten it until the posts in this thread about poppers brought it back up. ive had similar experiences with fish eating frogs after long pauses, including a 7 pounder that ate it after I counted to 45.

frog for grass/cover and spook for open water. Or be like me and throw a frog regardless of where you are because you want to.

abu garcia black max, i have one that is 8 years old and still works fine, dvt did have to tell me to clean up the drag washers once when they started giving me issues, but other than that the reel has been beat up for years and never not done what i told it to do.

if it has white legs i cut them very short to keep fish from grabbing just legs. i have caught fish on legless frogs, i dont think it makes a ton of difference.

My .02 is that what WRB (no disrespect the the biggest bass catcher of bassresource) and the op are saying to do is wrong, braid cannot grab the spool like mono and should not be tied around the spool or even to a hole in the spool. Even if tied through a hole there can still be light slipping and the knot can fail like it did for Cody and then you are really in a mess, especially if a fish takes off with your lure and a full spool of line. Always coat the bottom of the spool with mono backing, then tie a connection knot and start spooling your braided line.

personally i would use 20lb braid because with a leader i can use whatever line i want via leader. if you dont want to fumble with leaders, 10lb mono is my next choice. if you fish for smallies which can be line shy i would say 8lb flouro.

thats possible, i threw around in the yard alittle bit and it never made a sound, it only seems to happen when wet. next time it happens ill see if pressing the thumbar up helps. it still is easy to turn and smooth feeling, it just sounds awful. thats why im unsure, i feel like if the pinion wasnt seated it would be a no doubt thing, maybe there is a tiny nick in the spool that is making that metal-on-metal sound, but if it is i cant see it with the naked eye. im gonna fish it a few more times to see and then open it up to clean it and see if that changes anything. just had a thought- maybe it's not the springs that are week, maybe its just dirt keeping it from fully engaging, i fish from the bank and lay rods down on the ground occasionally so its very possible. on second thought ill clean it first just to be safe and not mess up a gear. just incase, anyone have any experience with shimano customer service? do i have to pay to ship the reel?

I don't think so, it still has the first spool of line I put on it, 40lb braid, and hasnt been removed since except when i took it off the other day to check for trash because of the noise. is this a common issue that i havent heard of ?

my shimano slx has been making a weird noise when reeling, if youve ever taken the spool out of a reel that didnt have good pinion gear support and heard it rattle around as you turn the handle that is the noise im talking about and im worried that it is possible that is what is going wrong. haven't had time to open the reel up yet alittle worried what i might find. its been happening ever other cast for the first few turns after engaging the spool and gradually became worse until it was happening for most of the retrive and i finally decided it was best to put it down. the reel is only 5 months old and hasn't been used to heavily.

anytime you have a lake that is basically a shallow "bowl" type of lake with very little structure, what little structure there is will be a major hotspot. i would focus on those areas, in the middle of summer any shade, deep water, or grass will make a big difference. i had to wade into a pond to get back an A-rig the other day, its a smooth banked pond like you describe but has a layer of grass on the bottom. There must've been a ten degree difference between the 8 inches of water under the grass, and the 2-6 feet above it, that explains why im only getting bit near bottom on this lake, but actual depth didn't seem to matter. on another pond its much like you described, this pond had a smooth sandy bottom, no grass due to grass carp that had been stocked very little major depth changes, and smooth treeless bank except for one small point that was very overgrown. i fished around the whole lake getting only one bite, a 3lber on a submerged stump. when i got to the point that had trees to provide shade, i caught nearly 20 bass, two crappie, and there were baitfish absolutely everywhere, it was crazy how many fish were in that one area compared to the rest of the lake. my lesson from my last month of fishing, in structureless ponds, structure is more important than ever.

back left pocket followed by the trashcan,

A 1.5oz punching weight to the gonadular region will wake you up in the morning. Don't ask me how I know.

Tournaments aren't won with average bags, they're won with the best bag. If you average 12-14 and need 18 to win, you are a big kicker, or a couple better than average fish away. if anything, maybe spend a little more time specifically looking for that big bite or two, but don't mess up what's working trying to get a winning weight every time, you are doing good.

1/8-3/8 cover 95% of my fishing. 1/2-1oz for flipping heavy grass. I'm a dinosaur, still using lead weight and mono line.

I got a lifetime license so in state, which I've only fished out of state once, is free since I coughed up $350 dollars when i was 15 to get a lifetime sportsman. drive to a lake is 50 miles average I'll say, 100-mile round trip average (to any big lakes is abt 100-miles), that'll burn about 6 gallons at 3.60 so 21.60 half bag of plastics $3 and i figure ill probably lose a hardbait for 5-10 dollars more. so, I figure a normal trip where everything goes well i average $30 dollars or so. as crazy as gas is that's the main concern, its dropped about 60-80 cent in the last month, hopefully the trend continues. pretty much any trip costs double what it would have 3 years ago for y'know, reasons....