Bucky205

Great advice on the box for a rod holder. The only thing I would add is to roll the rod while the ebpoxy dries so it dries nice and even. I use the 5 minute epoxy and thread from Walmart as well. The only thing I struggle with is finding guides. If I see a rod at a garage sale with fuji's on it. I scoop it up.

Good call on the 5'. I tested it today, sure enough under 5' is where I start having trouble seeing. I thought the grass was causing it. Now I'm thinking depth. Good thing I search that junk with a spinnerbait.

LOL, Do birthdays count? Tomorrow is my B'day and I'm looking forward to a few BPS gift cards from the wife and kids, so I'm pretty stoked. Being retired military Veterans day and Memorial Day carry a lot of meaning for me. Thanksgiving the food is great. Memorial Day for the start of summer, Independence Day is usually a day at the lake with friends, Labor Day because the weather is starting to cool, New years because I enjoy dancing with my wife as we start a new year, I enjoy Easter, and Christmas because I believe. This is a hard question, ask something else.

Saw you guys in 4th, congrats on making the cut.

Anything with vertical stems and connected to the bottom and I have trouble, it just looks like a wall on the display. Really any grass in under 3 feet of water and I have trouble picking out fish. Things like alligator weed, and torpedo grass and my si is useless. Hyacinith, I have a decent view as long as I have enough depth under it. My SI is great for deep water structure, I just have trouble seeing under things in shallow water, and the water is usually either to shallow or the grass to thick to make the DI useful because I can't get the boat on top of it. I will do some screenshots this week and post them, if there is a way to pick fish out in shallow vertical grass I haven't figured it out. On the SI I'm looking for the white dashes and I just don't see them. The Helix 7 SI runs out of warranty in August. I talked to them yesterday about them checking the unit and the transducer just to make sure it is functioning at 100%. Another area I struggle with is rip rap, If I have bass holding tight to the rip rap espescialy where it transitions to a soft bottom I have trouble seeing them on the SI.

I have a Humminbird DI on the bow and an SI GPS at the helm and I can find fish and structure with them. Sonar onits will not usually show fish through thick standing grass Here we need something that will rapidly search through a large areas of thick stuff and find active bass. I've fished LA and know you guys have some heavy cover as well. How are you guys locating the active bass in the heavy stuff? The competition here is crazy. Casey Martin caught a 5 fish limit weighing 40-11 to win Guntersville this year. Here you don't just need to find fish, you need to find big active fish, and it's tough to do.

Simple answer is tournaments, new areas, and changing patterns. Spinnerbaits are effective because they can imitate what a bass eats in a variety of conditions. You can throw it shallow, deep, grass, under docks, jig it, brush, rocks, whatever, and a spinnerbait will catch fish. It can imitate a lot of different hatches that bass feed on. I've even seen shad chase them back to the boat trying to mate with them. We have a lot of submerged structure, and grass here. Something that doesn't hang up is crucal to searching without hanging up a lot. Tournaments are very popular here, finding active fish and getting at least a limit is important to have any chance of winning. Search baits cover a lot of water in a hurry but don't always catch the bigger fish. If you can find active fish then retie with something enticing to a larger fish your odds of catching larger fish improve. In a tournament here your normally are only allowed to weigh five fish per boat, so size matters. Search baits help you find where active bass are, trying to catch larger fish is why you sometimes change from your search bait. The average tournament entry here runs anywhere from $30 to $150 a boat, with 100% payback or a portion going to charity. There is usually a tournament within 75 miles daily and multiples on weekends, and very popular. I don't want to sound like a big time tournament fisherman because I'm not, my partner and I fish a lot of the $30s and they are a lot of fun. I would estimate over half the people you see fishing here are either in a tournament or practicing for one. Sorry this was long, just trying to answer your question and explain why a bait that covers a lot of water and different profiles is valuable to people who enjoy tournaments, or even to someone just trying to figure out where the bass are.

anything with an IM6 blank around 7' MH/F are usually good rods for the money, around $30. http://www.berkley-fishing.com/berkley-rods-casting-rods-berkley-lightning-rod/berkley-lightning-rod-casting/1251643.html?utm_source=Mercent&utm_medium=PLA&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&mr:trackingCode=202B2345-9ABB-E411-9D7B-ECF4BBCCF2F4&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=86348878160&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:tid=pla-18283950120&mr:ploc=9012513&mr:iloc=&mr:store=&mr:filter=18283950120&jt=1&jap=1o4&js=1&jsid=38046&jcpid=8a8ae4cd4f1f3d21014f445da37e76d1&jkId=gcp:se_38046:pp_18283950120:ag_24210812480:cp_322384280:n_g:d_c:cr_86348878160&gclid=Cj0KEQjw6-PJBRCO_br1qoOB4LABEiQAEkqcVQ9LCz7C2LjZjqdGKd_1DxBJPfCc7ONrQUgxegsNo5oaAjqF8P8HAQ

The Nathan's hot dog and drink deal fot $1.50 at Sam's Club is pretty good

What's a backlash?....................Just kidding.

Welcome to Alabama, hopefully you guys will have a great day. You might wanna read this if you haven't just in case your bite quits. https://anglerschannel.com/nick-harris-and-keith-phillips-win-2017-alabama-bass-trail-lay-lake/

I don't have a loyalty to a particular manufacturer, if I see a good deal on a quality rod or reel that feels good I'll buy one, but I won't hesitate to take it back if it doesn't fish well.

Both are very good rods. You just need to see which feels right for you. I like to put the actual reel that I am going to be using on the rod and see how it feels. The balance and how it fits your hand makes a major difference.

LOL, I saw that as well. May give some validiity to the scent argument. I can't think of any other reason she whould have hit it.

Whats the verdict on the KastKing Assasin now that youv'e had them awhile? I have a 4600 C3 on an 7'3" Duckett that changing out that C3 would drop the weight 4 oz. I know 4 oz doesn't seem like a lot, but after several hours of pitching and flipping I notice my arm starting to wear out.

With the amount of pressure nowdays I wonder how much seasonal patterns hold true for a small area? Our bass move, usually at 60+mph. The 50 mile stretch of the Coosa river that they call Logan Martin sees on average of 5+ tournaments a week. These Tournaments normally launch out of one of two areas D&S/Riverside, or Lakeside Landing/Town and Counrty which are probably 25 miles apart. By this time of year I would estimate that several thousand bass have been moved either to weigh in sites or culled away from where they were caught. You can be on good fish one day and by the next weekend they have moved or been moved. I think after release they move until they find good habitat they like and stay there until they are caught and moved again.

In that situation, the angler that has the knowledge to get on the best fish will usually win.

only thing I spend much on is my spinnerbaits, and swim baits. I can't ever get the cheap spinnerbaits to run right.

I love my treble covers, I may spend 20 seconds putting on a set and a rod sock but I can have a rod out and ready to fish faster than you can grab something out of the cooler, and I never have a tangle or snag. LOL, I didn't realize this was an old thread until after I posted. I never see anyone talk about treble covers and I really like them.

Went out Sunday afternoon. Water temp was 81. Lot of boats, jet skis, and wind. Caught a few back in a small shallow cove on plastics. Really wanted to fish the points on the main channel, but the traffic chop would have made it difficult.

Shoe Drive is a good cause. Wanted to fish it and trolling motor went out. Fishing with your dad is always special.

One place to start is where you see things sticking up out of the water. Grass is also another producer. Bass love structure and grass. Pay attention to the water. Bass will follow the food. If you see shad running chances are there is a bass chasing them. If you see something bust the water early morning or late evening, chances are good it's a bass feeding. I've fished for over 50 years and finding the fish that will hit a bait remains the largest challenge.

There are big differences in store pricing here as well, some stores are 10-15% less for the same baits. Then like mentioned above watch for specials.

Well I'm back in the game. Ended up being $208 total to replace the primary. I'll keep dreaming of a new motor and try to fish this one a little longer. The advice from everyone is appreciated.

I love my lure retriever, it has paid for itself many times over. I keep the drop line wrapped around a 10" piece of a bright swim noodle. LOL I'm not above throwing it out for a marker. Myself and a lot of my friends seem to have started with plastic worms. That would probably the first technique I would work on. You can throw plastics in so many different ways to catch fish.