jimf

A 7.5" Culprit is almost always going to be tied on and ready to go. Very rare is the day when I won't throw that at some point. Last year, my #1 day in terms of number of fish caught were on that rig.

St. Croix sale? Do you have any specifics? My local store starts the sale this Friday.

I always have a spinnerbait tied on, and I doubt that a fishing day has gone by in the past who knows how long where I haven't at least thrown it a couple of times in a day. It is my #1 choice working water down to 3', I probably fish spinnerbaits better than any other lure. I have developed a technique fishing cover where I sidearm/underhand it to keep the bait low to the water. Right as the bait is going to land I lift the tip up to soften the entry and begin reeling. The result is an almost ripple free landing with the bait already swimming. I can't tell you how many fish I've gotten within the first crank of the reel handle. I caught my first bass on an artificial lure using a spinnerbait, and since then it's locked in my brain as my confidence bait. I rarely use a trailer because back when I started fishing them people didn't dress them up too much. I should definitely use a trailer more often.

When it comes to fishing equipment, I really only have one brand that I am loyal to and that is St. Croix rods. I know there are other great rods out there, but for some reason I've just settled in with these. I am particularly fond of the Avid line, it's not "very high end equipment" but it's not far off at a price point that I can handle. I prefer the full cork handles, which limits my selection somewhat.

Not only are not all bass the same, but not all individuals within a species are the same. I remember reading something in In Fisherman last year I think where they implanted sensors on the fish and studied it for some period of time - a year maybe. What they found was some cruised all over the place, and some stayed put more or less. I can't remember the details but it struck me that individuals in the same body of water with the same conditions would behave so different. But then again, me and my brother behave differently so maybe it shouldn't be such a big surprise.

I just noticed that the Revo STX is going on sale next Friday for $135 at the BP spring sale. I had my mind all made up to get a Lew's TP (I own one already and can definitely recommend this as a great reel), but then I saw the Revo on sale and they are practically giving BPQ's away for $49. I could get a Revo and the BPQ and have money left over for lunch. That's probably the way I will go - when it comes to reels I feel like so many of them are so close in quality and features that the deciding factor for me is price. I know many reels are made with the same components in the same factories, so I try not to get hung up on brand loyalty too much with reels.

I could see this coming. I have a Ganders Mtn and a BPS near me. The Gander Mtn store is huge, and always empty. To me it's amazing that it's stayed open as long as it has. As far as less competition for BPS, that's true to an extent I suppose but with online options like Tackle Warehouse, Ebay etc... I can't imagine BPS can just run amuck.

I use only mono fishing line.

I think you hit the nail on the head Dinky - adjust. I was watching a tourney show a couple of weeks ago, cold front, bright blue skies, early season ... one guy just refused to change his pattern of fishing deep on the main lake points. He kept with his convictions that this was the right pattern, and I'm guessing usually it probably is. His convictions didn't put fish in the boat, and a guy that went back into the coves and fished 2-3' of water all day just tore it up. I think you have to let all of these variables guide you, but be willing to adjust through the day - including throwing the entire chunk of advice out the window at times. Moon phases ... there is another one. edit to say that even though I say this, I'm stubborn as a mule. Which might be why the pros are pros and I'm not.

I had no intention of picking up a BPQ, but for $50 I'm not going to pass that up. I generally like Lew's, but for that price it's a no brainer. And while I love my Lew's TP's, for $99 I think the BPQ is a better reel than the Lew's $99 Speed Spool. As mentioned above, for $50 that's an excellent reel. Heck, for $99 it's a nice reel.

I don't put much thought into color, although I will use more blue/grape the deeper in the water column I am fishing. More or less I use colors based on depth and how that color penetrates. Shallower stuff - spinnerbaits, topwaters I'm using yellow's and red's and stuff like that, deeper stuff on the bottom grape and blue and black. It's not 100%, but in general that's how I pick colors. I keep it really simple, rarely will I switch something out just to try a new color. If I do that, I'm desperate because I've tried about everything else.

Agree with the phrase as it is used to bass fishing. I've spent *alot* of time poking around small spring creeks trout fishing, and "Match the hatch" is a phrase that makes total sense when you see clouds of mayflies being gobbled up on the surface by trout. The phrase doesn't connect with me bass fishing. I do agree that trout can get crazy selective, but I observed that color has very little if anything to do with the bite. 1)Presentation, 2)size, and 3) shape in that order were what I considered important. I think the same thing is true with bass fishing, and I follow these simple guidelines when trying to figure out the bite. I focus heavily on presentation - location in the water column, quiet entry, right action etc... Color is very simple for me, and I don't fret over it much.

P At those prices, all three. I'm not passing up on a $50 Pro Q, that's for sure. On the trade-in, as long as the reel/rod is functional they take it?

Does the trade-in only work on certain products? I'm going to get a Lews' Tournament Pro, what are the odds I could trade something in on that? $49 for the qualifier - that has to be after the trade-in, right?

Such a simple but thought provoking question. I'll summarize with a few quotes from one of my favorite authors: "They say you forget your troubles on a lake, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not that big of a deal anymore". "I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't." "I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream without actually landing you in an institution." It's a noble pursuit that has no end. You can never stop learning, never stop being amazed, and never stop being humbled.

I've owned both, and like everyone has said it's a compromise. My current boat is a small 16' deep V (Lund Fury) with a 25 hp tiller that I bought new last year. Previously I had owned two different bass boats, one fiberglass and one aluminum. I wanted a small boat to get on some 25hp restricted lakes, and I went with the deep V because some of the lakes by me are open and perched and can get really rough. I'm so happy I did, I've been out in some pretty rough stuff with whitecaps and the little boat cuts through them great. And the tiller option was maybe the best decision I made because it opened up so much space, although as a poster above mentioned that might not be the case with a big engine. But small engine - tiller. It's just so much more practical. I really don't have an issue getting back into some really shallow water with the deepV, I've never once not been able to get into water I need to. Again I have a small boat. The biggest disadvantage is getting pushed around in the wind. I love the deep V, and the tiller really allows for alot of space. This boat is the smallest and least powered boat I have ever owned, and my favorite that I have ever owned.

I picked up a St. Croix Mojo last year for the purpose and have been happy with it. 7'4" Heavy Fast. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-STCROIXRODS.html?from=basres I like it.

Fly fishing I have caught a bat and a couple of birds while the fly was in mid-air. It's not that uncommon to do actually, I would bet many fly fishers have done that at some point in their lives. Such a weird feeling to execute the backcast, feel the rod load, and then transition to the forward cast when something feels really really wrong. Kind of like picking up that empty can of beer that you thought was full.

If a landowner is going to confront me, I'll find somewhere else to fish. I came to this revelation after maybe the 2nd best day of trout fishing in my life. I had ran into a local guide that morning who shared with me a gem of an unmarked stream that he said held big brown and brook trout. He also warned me that when I got to a particular bridge, there was a chance a landowner would not be happy to see me, even though I had legal rights to the water as long as my feet were wet. Everything was exactly how it was described - enormous hook jawed brown and brook trout, and greeting me at the bridge was a very agitated guy carrying a shotgun and accompanied by two very large and unfriendly sounding dogs. I was right legally, but he had the gun and the dogs. So I never went back, and I decided that I'd do anything to avoid confrontations in the future when fishing.

I've probably learned more from Bill Dance about fishing (not just bass) than any other TV personality, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy that would be fun to spend a day with.

I vote the Lew's, I'm a fan. I myself am trying to decide between the MB and a Lews TP. I own the latter, but I'm thinking I'll be happy with an MB with some change left over. Or will I regret not spending a few more bucks?

One of my "bizarro" fishing stories had something to do with this. Boy scout camping trip - we were fishing a small spring fed pond with gin clear water and when the kids would hook up a bluegill the bass would emerge from the depths and investigate. Kids figured out pretty quick that what that bluegill on the end of their line really was was bait. One kid had a bass on shore but didn't lip him - the fish was not hooked by a hook, but rather the splayed dorsal fins of the bluegill that lodged in it's throat. The fish broke off as the kid was trying to lift him. Fast forward a few hours, nighttime, kids around the campfire, I finally get a chance to do a little fishing myself. I take a fly rod out with a big deer hair popper. BOOM. Something hits it hard, I end up landing the fish, it's probably 5 pounds. As you probably can guess, it was the same fish with the bluegill still lodged in it's gullet. That was a hungry fish that day.

I have had quite a bit of experience with this issue fishing small streams (sidewalk to driveway width) for trout in SW Wisconsin. Everything boils down to what a state defines as "Navigable". If you can access a "Navigable" waterway on public land, then you are good. Differences between states can be huge - in Wisconsin "Navigable" means that you can float a canoe on it *at some point* during the year. Like during high stages. So basically in Wisco, if your feet are wet you are good. Illinois is completely different - it defines navigability as being able to act as a highway for commerce in it's natural state. This means in Illinois some bodies of water that are easily navigable by water craft aren't legally navigable. You should be able to find your states laws online.

Stren Original or XT, although I've never really used Big Game and I probably should give it a try. I've kind of settled in on fishing mono with everything, although I will probably have one reel rigged up with braid. I certainly recognize the advantages and disadvantages of other lines, and totally get why tournament fisherman use what they use. But I grew up on mono and catch fish on it, and I just like how it fishes better. That's pretty much the end of the story there for me with fishing line.