The Bassman

I use the morel head and it works great except for the keeper. It needs to be sharper. Can't keep the baits stuck. My experience with 'shroom heads is that the hooks are very brittle and break even without corrosion. Still looking for the ideal ned hook. I'm starting to think the whole mushroom thing is unnecessary as I swim rather than jig the bait.

Been a while. Good to hear from you. Can't imagine what was deleted from such a good post.

Funny thing, when I fish with others it seems my mojo goes out the window. When I'm alone I get in the zone and do real well.

Believe it or not @BigBassLoveSenkosit's a large retention pond.

Got on a real good bite yesterday with Booyah One Knocker lipless. Could see shad moving on the surface. As long as I followed the shad I caught fish. I'm curious of your guys experiences with turnover. I thought yesterday's freeze would get it going but obviously not.

I'll generally get McD or something beforehand. I'm on foot so I don't carry much. If I get on a good bite I'll often stay out too long until I get loopy from not eating. I more than make up for it afterwards, though. I'll frequently stop at Steak'n Shake. Not the best nutrition, I know.

I've got an Aldebaran 50 that I changed out the knobs. The old PG II knobs are much more comfortable to me. I even use them on my Stradics. Makes all my reels feel the same in my hands.

A body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Now there's a physics lesson to apply with winter coming.

Much appreciated.

How do I embed a member's name within a post without embedding their whole post? Saw it one time and forgot.

Anybody having trouble getting bit this week? Easy to blame turnover but I don't think it's happening yet.

Two points well made. I get lazy checking braid and 30 lb. Smackdown is real thin, closer to other's 15. I had this particular lure ( a #5 Rippin' Rap) on for several fish. The line was clearly fuzzed at the break.

I go back and forth on the whole leader issue. Since I haven't been wading creeks lately most of my fishing doesn't involve abrasion issues. That said, I got cut off of about a three pounder on 30 lb. Smackdown. No knot failure, just mouth abrasion I believe because the line is so soft. A good hard mono leader gives a bit of peace of mind but on the flip side it's nice not having to think about your terminal knots failing.

My hat's off to any grade school kid that can throw a baitcaster with any proficiency. I know I probably couldn't have even if I had today's equipment. But then I never got the hang of catching a fly ball.

Tom's advice is real good. To that I'll add the lipless crankbaits you mentioned. They're my go to when the wind's up. They cast great, too.

Don't know how the fishing would be but I'd bet you could do some serious frog gigging.

And don't forget Homer Circle. He was my favorite. Had some funny lines. (no pun intended)

Looks like where I used to fish below Westfield Blvd. spillway at the mouth of Williams Creek. Had some 50 fish days there in the spring in years past.

Then buy lots of tackle so you can reminisce 40 years from now.

This was actually my first reel coupled with a Garcia Kingfisher rod handed down by my dad. I was probably 8 or 9 and incidentally it was a Christmas present, too. I didn't care that it was used. It made me feel very grown up.

My first quality gear was a Mitchell 300 on a brown Garcia Conolon 6'6" rod. Christmas 1970. Couldn't wait to spool it up with blue Trilene that came in the twin spool pack.

Had mentioned in another topic about a friend's little girl fishing with us using a plastic worm gobbed live bait style. She caught fish! Sometimes I think we overthink. (BTW I fish senkos T-rigged w/bullet weight also.)

Here in IN a freshwater drum is a white perch. Boy are we confused.

I enjoy using my Shimano Aldebaran 50 paired with a Loomis Classic Bass 722 IMX. I bank fish so the 6' rod works best for me. Right now I'm spooled with 10 lb. Big Game but I like to try different ones. Red Eye is one among several lipless that I use. I spin fish a lot and do well with a #5 Rippin' Rap.

Thanks for the write up. Can't believe I missed this yesterday. Always enjoy objective input.