MossyBackDaddy

Nope never would of guessed that.

For some reason I never thought yall had walleye down in TN. That's cool!

Reserecting an old thread but I just used the mouse for the very first time and lemme tell you it gets bit! It casts a country mile with my frog setup. Straight retrieve was the ticket but it did tend to wobble from side to side but the fish didn't mind. As far as taking on water it did a little but not to the extent that some people said. IDK if they tried to fix that since 2016 or what. I use the gray/white small mouse. Funny thing is I had no action throwing to the pads. All my strikes came in open water over submerged grass.

Went out this morning to a private pond and it was a good day landed about 8 or 9. Used the Live Target Field Mouse for the very first time (any mouse lure for that matter) and let me tell you that thing gets bit! All fish were from 1-2.5 pounds. One that got off felt like he was about 3-4 pounds. This guy was caught on the BPS senko which he choked. Funny thing is this one and another one were caught using the senko and a weedless finesse hook but when I went to remove the hook saw that the weedless wire was still engaged. Anybody else ever had that happen to them? Like I said the LMB bite has been fire for me but the SMB bite has been pathetic.

100% large deep rocky lakes. No bass in the rivers around here.

I want to throw more swim jigs for SMB but I haven't had much success. Those of you who are good with throwing swim jigs for smallies are there any tips/recommendations to improve my chances with them? Also post some pics of your favorite swim jigs.

Thanks for the replies fellas. I took some of the advice and came home with a med fast bait caster.

Going to BPS tomorrow (my very first time) and I'm looking for a dedicated rod to throw tubes for smallies. Not sure if I should get a medium or med/hvy or what type of action is best. What do you use to throw tubes?

Finally got the stank off! Hauled in a few but these were the best ones/ones that stuck around to pose for pics. After throwing Senko style baits here and there for a couple of seasons I decided to focus more on them. These are my very first soft stickbait fish (BPS brand). I'm hooked on soft stick baits now. One on the grass I estimated at 3 pounds and the other goes for about 2 pounds. At the same time I was crossing the eyes on the ones above my fishing partner caught this nearly 5 pound smallmouth (yeah he didn't even invite me). Gonna go and try to catch his twin tomorrow.

Way to go Blue that's a nice one. Stay safe bro.

5 pounder in a 1 acre or so pond. I cheated and caught her on her bed using a flippin jig. Lost thge photo of her a while ago.

Finally got the stank off. Here are a couple from yesterday's trip to a small lake/pond. A probable 3 and 2 pounder respectively. Not huge but better than dinks.

I'm beginning to think these fish are paid models who only show up for the photo shoot with you then bounce. I'm highly suspicious....J/K nice job.

I've been reduced to hitting up the golf course ponds near my house. Shallow water uneducated fish should make me feel better. **Sniff Sniff**

I'm sure they are jumping in the boats here in WA but apparenty I'm using baits without hooks.

That seems to be my problem as well. The other day they kept pulling the skirt halfway off of my jigs. I've never had that happen before. I was standing there scratching my head like whaaa...? Yeah you guys in the midwest seem to be stuck in a early spring pattern weather wise. Shoot we already have had 85F here in the Seattle area. Hopefully things change for yall soon.

Take care with the flooding. That's way more serious than me trying to be funny. Hang in there dude.

Anyone else having a bad start to the fishing season too? I'm averaging less than one fish per trip? You know it's bad when your wife see that you are getting skunked and she's not then offer's you her rod and bait just so you can catch one lol. I think those of us in a slump should support each other.

@deep bruh you ain't suppose to lip pike! J/K

Yes sir! No doubt. I think I will "mount" her. Plus it helps that her Pops was a tournament fisherman back in his day. As a matter of fact now that he does not fish anymore he gave me his PB 12lbs. LM skin mount as a gift. I have some big ole shoes to fill.

Hey gentlemen after reading and considering all of your recommedations and checking out a few vids online I restrung and retied the casting plug for another try (after wifey cut out the backash when I was sleeping as a surprise). Can't lie I was kinda nervous. Started on #4 and all went well albiet the cast was a little short. Couple of casts later and put it on #2. The plug took off like it's hair was on fire! But into the trees lol. Got it out with no problem and made about half a dozen more cast and only had one small lash that was my fault because I was late with the thumb. I would like to thank yall for all of your advice and words of encouragement. I think yesterday boiled down to a few things that led me to having issues (not counting the ones only a shrink can fix). #1 Wimpy cast. #2 Believing I could get by with no thumb action. #3 Only having 2 hours of sleep prior to foolin' with it. One thing I learned today is your thumb has to be "educated" differently for the DC than you do for any other reel. The only down side is I was casting into my mono backing since wifey cut away like 20 yards of line getting the ash out so now I'll have to buy another spool and switch it out but I'll take it. I will still need to practice to get it burned into muscle memory but I feel more confident taking it out tomorrow with plans on throwing swimbaits for those pretty brown bass. Again thank you Bass Resource bros.

30lbs test.

Wifey surprised me the other day with buying me the Shimano Curado DC I had my eye on. Due to work I have not been able to spool it up or anything until this morning. I put a spool of PP Slick 8 V2 on it and put it on a rod and couldn't wait to throw it. Very first cast about 20 feet...$%^* bird's nest! I don't understand? I put it on 2 for braid and everything (left tension knob alone as per company instructions) but still got a huge backlash. Went online to learn how to remove backlash. Watched a couple of vids and it seems pretty easy. Nope. My backlash is pretty deep and complex one of the worse I've ever had (the irony with a DC reel). So over $20 is PP line ruined 5 minutes after spooling and a let down after anticipation with using this reel for a while. I'm so frustrated I feel like returning the stupid thing. I wasn't expecting perfection but I wasn't expecting the mother of all backlashes either.

That's what I'd plan on doing. I was just not really sure which application is best for this rod. After searching the web maybe some shallow water smallie tubing.(?)