Junger

So true...I forgot one of the things that actually made me happy was Friday night Open Gym volleyball back when I was in my rut.

This debate comes up so much, you'd think there would be some way of standardizing a sensitivity test at this point.

I think everyone goes through rough patches in their lives. I failed out of college my first year, I partly blame my parents for forcing me to go to a specific school and major, and I was facing real adversity for the first time in my life. While I partly blame my parents, I can also partially give them credit for helping me through it. I enrolled in community college the next 3 semesters, proved to myself I was capable...after choosing the major I wanted, and eventually transferred to another major school and graduated with honors. I've seen other people go through severe depression, including my brother. He pulled through it, but it took a lot longer than it should have because he didn't seek or want professional help. Today, he acknowledges that period in his life, as do I. And as other have said, get professional help, and the more you talk about it, the more therapeutic it may become, as other people will share their stories with you. Best wishes to you.

I'll give it a try, but the plastic is pretty stiff, not like a Senko which fuses real easy. I've just been using Loctite gel, but it gets hard and brittle after each application.

The swivel hasn't come out of mine yet, but the wire has popped out of the tail multiple times now. I probably have to order replacement tails, since the superglue will probably not work after the next rip.

If you're OK with a 6'6 rod, American Legacy Fishing has the ZIL661MHFB for $137.97, and if you sign up for their email newsletter, you can take 10% off that, so about $125 for a Zillion rod. https://www.americanlegacyfishing.com/daiwa-zillion-worm-jig-rod.html

Now that we're in the dog days of summer, I think this is a technique I have to start using more often. The Bubba Shot is just drop shotting with a casting rod correct? I have a Team Daiwa Zillion 7' Medium/XF casting rod sitting around that I'm thinking will fit the bill for Bubba Shotting.

My favorites: Open Hook: 1/0 Coolbaits Down Under 3/16oz Weedless: 1/0 Owner Flashy Swimmer 1/8oz Weedguard: 1/0 Keitech Mono Guard Jighead 1/8oz

The new Tatula will have cork on it, but MSRP will be $149.99-$169.99.

Amazon has Tatula 7'2 HF for $87 right now. That would work for jigs, and even frogs. The rod is extremely light, even for a heavy power rating.

Just wait until you mess around with SV....

Alright, I've resisted going into swimbaits, but after seeing that BBZ Rat, I'm going to have to pick one one. The 40 brown rat is $20 at Amazon right now and I have a cart ready already for Prime Day.

On Friday night, my wife had made plans on Saturday to visit her friend on the Eastern Shore, so she offered to take the kids to their swim meet in the morning to Noon. So I had the morning all to myself and was making a plan to figure out where to fish...I didn't feel like taking the boat out and, it dawned on me to hit up Widewater. I haven't been there since last year near the end of summer, and I had never done well there, other than a follow by a huge bass. I messaged @fishwizzard and he was on board to meet up at 7AM. I got there around 6:50AM and walked from Angler's to the overflow structure. The water was calm, totally shaded, and looked so ripe for topwater. I threw the Rico toward the bluff wall and got hit on the third cast, it was a decent 1.5lber. When Fishwizzard showed up, he started working the same area with a jig and picked up two 1lb'ers in the same area. Then we started working the bank with no hits until the rock wall along the towpath side. The water was really clear, and we could see lots of structure and LMB in wolfpacks coming up and down the wall. I missed one on a Ned Rig, Fishwizzard followed up with a Rage tail (or Rage Craw) and got it. He picked up another 4 LMB, three of which were easily over 2lbs. I thought I had packed some GY Cowboys, but left them in another bag. I then switched to a Keitech on an underspin and missed a good one, and then nothing else for the rest of the morning. Fishing the C&O is always entertaining even if I'm not catching fish...I can listen in on the conversations of hikers along the trail and about 50% of them seem to be first time dates, 25% groups of girls gossiping about someone, and the other 25% are politics. Later in the afternoon, I took my boys to the pool and met up with their friends. They wanted to have a playdate with them and they voted on going over to their neighbors house, so...I ended up with having another 2 hours to myself. Well, having been inspired by Fishwizzard's jig bite, I grabbed the Cowboys I've been wanting to try and headed over to Lake Whetstone. Third cast along the right side from the boathouse, I got slammed by a 3lb'er after just hopping it along the bank.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I understand I should bear right to avoid a collision and even use horns to sound my intention if necessary, but when we're both trolling a bank and have more than ample time to move, I was just curious what other people do. I don't tournament fish, so I'll probably just keep giving up right of way, and I do like to make small talk when passing other boaters.

So, I'm fairly new to boat fishing, but this is a situation I've come across now a couple times. I'll be fishing along a shoreline on my boat from one direction, and I'll see another boat on the same shoreline coming toward me about 100 yards away. What do you do? Who has "right of way"? I have been fishing up to about 30 yards of the other boat before giving way, but what if I'm on an amazing bite and I want to hold course?

Glad you're taking this all in stride, hopefully the person's insurance company takes care of it all for you.

What size hook are you using?

Nope, it’s more of my all around spinning rod but works fine for wacky rigs. That’s why I think a ML would work just fine it open water too.

As others have said, should be fine. I throw a wacky weightless senko on a 7'1 MH/F spinning rod just fine.

Already did. An Ebay seller usually has them for $130-$140, then you wait for a 15% or 20% off coupon. Those deals expired 2 days ago though. Just wait a month for the next sale.

Here's a summary: Echomap 73cv, Echomap Plus 73cv both have built-in LakeVu HD maps, and Quickdraw Contour ability. Striker Plus 7cv has Quickdraw Contour ability and the Plus features (Active Captain, networking, etc) Striker 7cv has no maps and no Quickdraw, just the GPS.

I got mine from Cabela's in May. Thought you said you saw it at DSG for $299? It's discontinued, so the 73cv for $299 is probably going to be hard to find.

Went to Clopper Lake from 7PM-8:45PM, it was posted that they close at 8:30PM, but I talked to some people and they don't close the gates until dark. This is the second time I've fished here in the last 20 years or so. First time was in the spring and the water was really cold, and the lake was crystal clear so I could see the huge drop off about 30 yards from the banks. This time, the bank flats were full of hydrilla and I couldn't see where the drop offs were. I was throwing a Rico popper the whole time, and I started from the boathouse and went all the way to the right almost to the dam, only hits from bluegills. I headed back to the boathouse where I parked my car at 8:30 and threw 2 more casts near the boats and picked up two small guys. I'm not sure how to fish this lake from the bank, since I think all the good fishing spots are only accessible by kayak or a pond prowler.

Evergreen OB Popper (Magic Gill) - 2 3/4" 3/8oz

I would throw topwater next to any kind of cover or near the bank.