Boomstick

I find that it is much easier to keep a slow sinker in the target strike zone most of the time when fished slowly.

Every year I set some goals, fishing and otherwise. Lately everything is stressing me out and I feel like I don't have time to think about much of it. Fishing related, I had a very good year last year with finesse fishing, usually the drop shot. I found the points where the fish congregated and several times either myself or one of my kids fishing the other side of the point pulled in a bass and had every boater in the area admiring it saying that must be a 6+ pounder (didn't get any over 5 last year, but plenty of 4s). So this year I want to continue down that path somehow. I also did quite well at one of the most beautiful but most difficult lakes I have ever fished. I always like returning to that spot simply because of the amazing scenery surrounding the water (plus the fact that I know there are big fish in there, several state records came from that lake). We never got skunked and landed a few nice ones and had one giant smally that followed my jig to the kayak but I couldn't have got it to bite and lost another large one and ultimately hooked a fallen tree (and lost my jig). So I plan on going back there again this year and using what I know.

It's the same for me as well, but I use a 6.3:1 because I have one reel that I generally use for all my cranking needs.

My drop shot rig is simple. I use Owner Mosquito hooks almost exclusively. I will use #1 when there's only largemouths and no smallies around otherwise #2 for smallies or both. And I use a 1/0 and occasionally a 2/0 for a wacky rig. Also will go a step down when there are weeds present. Smaller hooks hang up less. From my experience, it seems to help with hooksets. They often hook themselves like a circle hook - when my kid was learning the drop shot, he missed the bite a few times but still got the fish. I use the larger sizes for a wacky rig and even though they are not the conventional hook for that, they work quite well.

This is my thoughts exactly. If you are fishing with heavy braid on a heavy rod, a stiffer weed guard becomes less problematic.

It's possible that they messed up a bunch of 10# spools and later corrected them. I once had bought several bottles of a habanero carrot hot sauce. One bottle listed the ingredients correctly where the other one listed cayenne peppers but no habanero peppers but they tasted exactly the same, and I've had enough habanero carrot sauces to know.

I’ve switched to pretty much all Owner for hooks. The offset wide gap ewgs have a good hookup ratio. The j ligjts are great for light line. Pretty much all I need for TRigs

Learning new lakes is basically another day in the life of a pro really. But the outcome of this would really depend on the skillset of the amateur. There are guys who know the lake in and out and would be pretty hard for a pro to beat on day one, and there are guys who can't catch a fish to save their lives. Is there any qualifications required besides owning a boat?

I do most of my fishing across the Vermont border, so that says what you need to know about my state's bass fishing

I'm in!

I picked up this book on your recommendation and was not disappointed.

I'm admittedly a Daiwa fan boy. I do own a couple of St Croix rods and a Pflueger reel and I keep thinking about adding a Shimano reel for bomb casting crankbaits, but most of my rods and reels are Daiwa.

The plastics rod has a longer tip and a little more backbone. It largely works for the same presentations too. I don't have the jerkbait rod, but I'm fairly sure it's just the plastics rod that's shorter.

I have the 6'8" M/XF casting rod. My kid broke mine on a weed when I let him use it and St Croix replaced it under warranty pretty quickly and no issues since. My #1 rod for this is my Daiwa Tatula Elite 7' M/F Brent Ehrler dropshot rod. It's a finesse-style medium and generally throws anything I normally throw on spinning gear pretty well. My second is a now discontinued St Croix Avid X 6'9" ML/XF which has slightly less power but it's pretty close.

Is this the 6'8" St Croix? While that is an extra fast, it works well for treble hooks because there is a lot of bend throughout the rod. I usually use mine for generally poppers and jerkbaits. I use a 7:1:1 speed reel with about 29" IPT so I can give it small turns when fishing either. The 6'8" M/XF St Croix rod generally has a good amount of bend throughout the rod, so despite little tip there is still plenty of bend which is why it works so well for treble hooked baits.

If you put line on it and tug on the line or simply set your drag, it's pretty easy to narrow it down to a spot on the XF rod with the softer tip, since it goes from a quick bend to solid backbone quickly. It's a little more challenging to do the same on the rods with a stiffer tip.

They always do up there. I posted my camping & fishing trip in August and also had some great clouds on the lake.

By longer tip I mean the rod is maybe 30% tip instead of 20%.

I fish a lot of single hooked baits, but I do tend to give more casual hooksets. It has became a habit to reel down, lower my rod and then give a hookset which usually gets the job done. This is pretty second nature for me. Occasionally, depending on my angle I may give a sweeping style hookset too, mainly because that's the best I can do given the situation, usually being my kayak turned. I seem to lose fewer fish with a more casual hookset. When I used to give it the quickest hookset possible I found I was more likely to pull the bait out of their mouths where the short pause I give it now gets the job done.

So hiking up the Rattlesnake Cliffs trail to the vista overlooking Lake Dunmore (one of my favorite fishing spots) has been on my to do list for the past few years. Yesterday I finally got around to it. I got halfway up the trail and remembered why I called it the stair master trail. This trail kicked my butt, I am still sore today. But the views from the top were worth it. My only regret was not getting up earlier so I could walk down to the water fall that we passed on the way. I decided to do that on the way back so I didn't tire myself out walking back up the steep incline early. My pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhZmMB-Fz0_2jvsN6U0z944HALpprw

Typically, extra fast typically refers to the length of the tip, not the stiffness. It is common that extra fast tips have softer tips than the fast from the same line. Of course as we know all manufacturers are different, and some are not consistent in this regard in the same line. A perfect example is the St Croix Victory line. The 7'3" H/XF "Full Contact Finesse" rod has a very short but soft tip, and then it's solid backbone after that, but it makes a very good jig rod. The 7'3" MH/F "The Marshall" has a longer tip, but it's much stiffer.

Absolutely! When the spinnerbait bite is on, I get as many smallies as largies. The largest bass I ever caught was a smallie on a spinnerbait, and I've gotten a few nice ones on the same lake on a spinnerbait as well.

Only within the same brand, and not even then. I have seen extra fast tips with a short and soft tip and a fast tips with a longer bit stiff tip in the same line of rods. Then some extra fasts have a slightly less short tip but a stout one. For bottom contact, I like either a MH or MH+ power and either an extra fast tip or 80/20 rod with a soft tip, or with a fast tip, a 70/30 rod but with a stiff, powerful tip. I probably prefer the latter, but it's close. Length doesn't really make much of a difference other than casting it comfortably, maybe skipping.

Hard choice. I really like my Steez AGS Bottom Contact rod, but I'd like it more if it was 6'10" with the same power and action (but I manage with longer rods too). If not that rod, my Tatula Elite 7' M/F, the Brent Ehrler dropshot rod. That basically throws everything I can throw on a spinning setup and the this year was very productive for me.

I'm going to have a difficult time doing anything anytime soon. My dad fell and sprained his ankle so I'm short on time between work and doing things for him. I could do something on a weekend possibly, but I still try to get out and fish when I can on weekends. If someone else wants to setup the next one that would be great. I could also setup the call and toss someone Zoom admin priv's even, which is probably easiest since I have the email alias setup and whatnot.