TOXIC

@Sam you are partially right. We put in at Hopyard and ran all the way down below the 301 bridge to start. Fished multiple spots and then headed back up river to just below Little Falls. We have spots scattered all through the river that turn on during different tide levels so we were on the move. This day actually got me an award from Game and Fisheries. Their contest was to catch all species of bass in one year. Largemouth, smallmouth and striper or hybrid. Well, I caught them all in 1 day and on the same body of water. ? Fun contest for some bragging rights. ps. I am the back seater.

Yeah, the cowling on the motor.??

I was throwing drop shots before it was really popular. I have found that, with simple adjustments, it is a very versatile presentation. As has been evidenced by the northern swing of all the professional tournament trails, the drop shot is a major player especially for smallmouth. Also with the popularity of front facing sonar, it’s a great presentation for vertical fishing. I have caught fish out of 70 feet and 2 feet on a drop shot. I’ve caught fish in the dead of winter and the heat of summer. As for baits, I have yet to figure out why fish want what they want and when but I have a natural progression of Yamamoto plastics that I will eventually find one that works. Here are my preferred baits in order of my progression. 1. Shad Shape Worm. This line has been expanded from the original to multiple sizes and a floating option. 2. 5” Pro Senko. 3. 5” Kut Tail Senko 4. 5” California Roll 5. 5” Curl Tail. Colors are dependent on a lot of things and the bait I am using. Always Texas rigged on a #1 gamakatsu ewg hook, 6 to 8lb test mono and a 7 ft spinning rod. Not saying it’s the best but it’s always worked for me.

2 pages or suggestions and yet no one has mentioned my style. I do not nose hook dropshots, I use a #1 (not a 1.0) gamakatsu ewg and Texas rig all of my dropshot baits. No swivels, no spin shots, nothing but 6-8lb mono to my hook and a QuickDrop tear shaped dropshot weight most often in 1/4 oz. In all my years, it’s what works best for me. My fish don’t throw dropshots.

I found that over the years, my clients were gut hooking too many on a thin wire Gamakatsu 3.0 ewg, so I stepped up to a thin wire 4.0 ewg. Bonus is that it also is perfect for rigging most all other Yamamoto plastics like a DShad.

Let’s be honest, a fully rigged 20 foot bass boat is inching over 100k. If people weren’t buying them, they wouldn’t be making them. As for not needing a decked out 20ft bass boat, half of us don’t need the vehicles we have to get from point A to point B. Argument could be made that if you fish big water you do need that 20-21ft and 250. I’ve never questioned how another man spends his $$, I just make sure I have full grasp on where mine goes. Yes, I have a 21ft Ranger with a 250 Yamaha but it’s a 2005 model and I am still running gen 1 electronics. Suites me just fine.

You’ve hit the most important. What you can’t really control is the salt action on all of your electrical connections. As I understand it, most saltwater boats are wired differently. Also make sure you flush your motor.

Depends on where I’m fishing but 6-8lb test mono and a 4.0 ewg hook are my preferred.

While I totally agree with you @gimruis personally, I have posted about the importance of proper rigging for a Texas rig to last and I realize it may be just too close attention to detail for most but I don’t rip Texas rigs any more than wacky rigs, so for me the advantages far outweigh the negatives.?

I might ruffle a few feathers but I’ve never seen a situation where I couldn’t catch just as many on a Texas rigged Senko as a wacky rigged one. Properly rigged on the right hook, the action is the same. Neko rigging defeats the action.

When I went to my nieces wedding in Portland, Oregon we stayed in a Airbnb that was close to downtown. My daughter drug me out one afternoon and we went walking to a little neighborhood shopping area and there was an open air restaurant where we got lunch. I had some Korean wings that were unmatched by anything I’ve ever had. Not like regular wings at all, but ridiculously delicious.

Back when I was repping for Jack Links they had a bacon jerky that was really good. I got to be the Guinea Pig for a lot of their new products because my Brother in Law was a senior executive with them. He retired and so did my sponsorship.?

What do all of these brands have in common? Abu Garcia: Originally named AB Urfabriken, Abu Garcia is a Swedish brand, many of their reels and other tackle are still made in Sweden. Berkley: This company originated in Iowa in 1937. Some of their fishing lines are made in the USA (only a few of the Trilene brand). Tough to find Powerbait and other tackle made domestically. Chub: This company is based in the UK and focuses on Carp fishing products. Fenwick: Very popular fishing rods, unfortunately most are made in Taiwan. Fin-Nor: A popular fishing reels brand recently acquired by Pure Fishing. However, not many of their reels are made here. Greys: This company is based in the UK and makes a lot of fly fishing gear. Hardy: Also an English company that focuses on fly fishing tackle. Hodgman: Makes popular waders, unfortunately they are not made in the USA (confirmed with the Hodgman team). JRC: Carp fishing tackle and accessories, based in the United Kingdom. Mitchell: Famous for their spinning reels, based in Marignier, France. Penn: Only a few reels made in the USA, most are made overseas. Full article on Penn reels here. Pflueger: Fly fishing and spinning tackle, most is not made in the USA. Sebile: French owned fishing tackle company. Shakespeare: Founded in Michigan, popular option for kids fishing tackle. Unfortunately not much tackle made here anymore and has had recall issues. SpiderWire: Popular braided fishing line with lots of made in the USA options. Stren: Well known fishing line company, lots of made in the USA options. Ugly Stik: Nope, most of these popular fishing rods are made overseas now. Van Staal: Reels mostly for saltwater anglers. Some components sourced from China, but does some manufacturing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tread carefully. Answer: They are all owned by Pure Fishing which appears to be in a bit of financial peril. Pure Fishing at risk of full default despite parent company’s efforts Sycamore Partners, the equity group that bought Pure Fishing in 2019, has repurchased the company’s entire $255 million second-lien term loan, reports financial information and analytics firm S&P Global Ratings, which describes the move as ‘tantamount to a default.’ Could send some pretty serous waves through the industry.

When we go to St Clair, we are on Harsens Island with limited options for food, so we stop at a grocery store close to the ferry to stock up on what we need for the week. Every attendee is responsible for 1 nights dinner and we work in a fish fry if we get into a bunch of walleye or perch and a leftover night usually the night before we leave. All other meals are up to the individual. As I said, I pack lunchables and my fishing partner packs those sealed packs of tuna with crackers for lunch and we pack in cases of plain water and propel. We are usually gone before breakfast and everyone else getting up. Instead of eating granola or protein bars, this year I packed in a 12 pack of frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage and egg biscuits. 2 minutes in the microwave and I had a nice little hot breakfast. That is until one of my buddies asked if he could have one and I said sure before we left. We came back at the end of the day and discovered my approval was evidently for everyone and they cleaned me out.?

Also depends on the species. Smallmouth act different from largemouth. After a fairly short fight, a largemouth will many times lay over and be a fairly easy net. Smallmouth fight the entire time. And so it begs the question….Do you risk losing more fish from playing them too long allowing them to enlarge the hook hole or throwing the bait or bringing them to the net green and risk you or your net man messing up with the net?

I want performance and durability. The amount of time some guys spend in safeguarding their rods and reels, placing them on deck, putting them in sleeves, transporting them, etc., is too much of a mind bender for me. I don’t abuse my gear but to me it’s more of a tool than a fashion statement. I have a Ned rod that I had to do an on the water tip repair and I was fully intending to fix it properly but I have yet to get to it. I reaffixed the tip that pulled out of the wrapping with some braided line and super glue. Looks terrible but fishes just a good.?

Seems like the TM market has exploded with new models. I’m on my 3rd TM on my Ranger and I still don’t have spot lock. I run a Fortrex cable drive, no remote. I also have gen 1 power poles that are hard wired with stomp switches up front and a toggle switch at the console. My advice is to give it some time and I have a feeling that the used TM market will be worth it. That’s what I’m doing. ?

When I was guiding it was a strict rule for both me and clients. As much as I paid in liability insurance, I didn’t need the risk of someone hooking themselves, falling overboard or wrecking on their drive home. That bled over to my everyday fishing. What could go wrong with operating a vessel with no brakes on a body of water with no speed limit and with other operators who may be more buzzed than me….nope, I can’t drink on a boat, it’s like my throat closes up. Now to be honest, when we are in Wisconsin running a 21 foot pontoon with a 35hp motor and I am not the captain, I will take a mixed drink out for the evenings booze cruise.

I learned a valuable lesson about staying hydrated. I fished a summer tournament solo and packed what I thought were enough waters. One of the tournament sponsors was Monster Energy Drinks. They had a huge cooler full of them free for the taking at blast off. I thought it would be great for me to try them out flavor by flavor over time so I grabbed 6 or 7 of them and threw them in the boat cooler with every intention of taking them home. Well, it was super hot and I ran out of water and I ended up drinking all of them. I was shaking so bad I had a hard time loading my boat. Lesson learned.

Funny story, when I lived in Florida and had Yusuke Miyazaki stay with me when he fished the Elites I got a crash course in Japanese. His English was pretty good. When I moved back to Virginia, I stored his boat for 3 months while he went back to Japan to guide. We got to meet his wife and 3 kids. They all stayed with us. His wife spoke very good English. Both of them only spoke Japanese to the children. When I asked why he said that he wanted them taught English by American teachers so they learned proper English.

You’re going to get a bunch of opinions. It can be done on a baitcaster but it would be much easier on a spinning outfit. Also ribbon tails and not very aerodynamic and will be harder to cast than say a Senko. Finally weightless plastics cast better on lighter line. It takes a fair amount of experience to back the drag off a baitcaster or to even freespool it to get good distance with a soft plastic.

Believe it or not, the same phenomenon can happen with corn storage. I used to own a pest control company and I specialized in grain fumigations. When treating a 300,000 bushel bin, you had to be hyper aware of the condition of the stored corn or it could swallow you up just like quicksand and then it was game over.

I just put a call into my pest control guy even though I used to own a pest control company. I let my license expire so I can’t buy restricted use pesticides any more. I was on the roof blowing out the gutters from all of the hickory nut casings from the dang tree rats and I got swarmed by a bunch of hornets. They are no match for a leaf blower so I just kept them at bay while I moved away. I saw they were going behind the siding where it meets my fireplace. We’ve been gone 2 weeks and when I came home, I found one of them live in the downstairs laundry room and noticed there are some dead in the light/fan unit in the upstairs master bath. Time for my guy to earn his pay.?

You can tune a piano but you can’t tune a fish. Same goes for cranks. IYKYK.?

Question was what is your favorite, not who makes the most different. At least that’s the way I read it. For me, no big surprise, Yamamoto but not for the reason you would think. I am a finesse and plastics fisherman first and foremost. Yamamoto makes every style of plastic that I could ever use and they do it well. Obviously, they don’t make hard baits but for the majority of my fishing I would still buy Yamamoto even if I wasn’t on pro staff.