TnRiver46

Next time you come through TN, let me know!!! Hahaha

This gives away my location but oh well! I rarely take good pictures but I like this one. We never seem to catch anything downtown so I was pleasantly surprised.

The hooks don't grab the line

Wish I could help, i winterize mine by driving it down the river all winter. You can drain the gear lube yourself if you have a giant flathead screwdriver. Don't use a regular one, you can get another 1/2 turn if not more with the giant screwdriver

You already named the best one. The only other option that I have had success with are homemade

If a bass caught me they would say my torso is too long and I'm a little too thick in the middle

Menace

I've done that twice. Luckily I lived 2 miles from the ramp, walked/ran home and got the spare. Spare is in my wallet now

Who cares why they are there if you found them and can catch them!!! Hahaha

They all work great, they sink a lot slower than a silver buddy so it's not my favorite in windy conditions. 1/3 oz is one of my favorites, my preferred color is the one that looks like a spoon out of your silverware drawer

We call them Tennessee redfish or Alabama smallmouth to make it sound like we accomplished something haha. In all seriousness though they are fun to catch and hit about any lure.

Vols could potentially have the worst team since the 1800s

One time I only took a spinnerbait to the lake. Fished it exclusively for hours and hours and didn't get a bite. I still hate spinnerbaits

Nice boat paddle size bass!

Heckuva bag of smallmouth! you cracked my code of hints with ease! I would think soho would be much better the colder it gets so that will be good timing

Nice one!!!!! You better pack 2 lunches if you plan on wrestling one of them

Oh Lordy look at that. Is that a lake that you fish sometimes on a state line (hint hint)?

The fish and the trees in the background? D*%# I love this time of year! If only my football team wasn't the worst in over a century....

I agree with @WRB, the pole is the problem. A spinny pole has no place in the world of spooks in my opinion. That being said, I have thrown them on spinning gear plenty of times and had success, it just isn't ideal. You can gain line much faster with a baitcaster. I can throw a Zara puppy a long way with a cheap baitcaster, which has to be the lightest walking bait on the planet. Even with all the best gear a bass can throw a treble hooked plug at any moment, especially a big bass. They come off your hooks because they are extremely strong and jump a lot. Keep practicing and you will get the hang of it, sometimes we can overthink the whole process. One thing I would try is Texas rig a floating worm or fluke and fish it like a spook. The odds of losing a fish on a single hook are far less than with treble hooks

They will eat up those little swimbaits all winter long down here! We don't have sunny beaches but we have hungry bass

Surely you jest...... everyone around here blames the otters. They reintroduced them in the early 90s and they are everywhere now. I deal with nuisance animals for a living and we get calls about them cleaning out koi ponds. 330 conibear is the way to deal with an otter, they can fetch decent coin for the fur too. That being said I would only trap them if they are truly causing problems or trap them in winter for the pelt. Like several folks already posted, they can't kill all the fish in large watershed but they can do damage on a small one. The best smallmouth rivers near my house are loaded with otters and have been for years. These rivers still produce lots of big fish, it is rare not to see 4+ Otters in the middle of the day at the prime honey holes

Good point, I don't fish with jerkbaits until it gets really cold, which in most years is never in Tennessee. But it seems if I scroll through my fall/winter smallmouth pictures I always see a bunch of nice fish when we are bundled up with a cloudy background. The river smallies will eat on a hot summer day but the lake ones seems to like horrible weather

Daylight savings celebration week continues. All I got was a dink or two but my buddy got a nice one throwing a tiny square bill probably diving 2 ft max over 15 ft of water. This particular bass didnt realize the bait has to be slamming off wood or rocks to get bit. Couldn't find the measuring tape in the dark

They work great for any fish in any situation. Smallmouth shred through a bag of them really fast, I get mine hand poured at 2.5 inches

A