Glaucus

They've now taken the snow away from us in the Kankakee to Bloomington area.

His tumor isn't fatal.

Treatment of early stage Lyme is cured in 90 percent of the cases. https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/arthritis-lyme-disease

If you catch it early it's curable. Later on it causes some serious issues, but it can still be cured, just not every time.

30lb braid to leader Or 12lb Yo Zuri Hybrid

A tough set of pants, some good boots, spray, check yourself time to time. I'll even wear a long sleeved shirt if I expect a lot of bug issues. Also Napalm doesn't hurt. Anything stings or has eight legs sends me into a 6 year old little girl fit.

How long did this take you? One day I hope to be able to repair my own stuff and customize as needed. Right now I wouldn't even try.

2 summers ago I was talking with a hunter at work. I don't hunt very much, and he's doesn't fish very much, but we still love the outdoors, so we get along. Anyways I was talking about a 5 pounder I got out of such and such pond, and he asked me if I kept it. I was appalled and said, no, of course not. He said it would be hanging on his wall. Bluntly I said, well that's barely 1/3 of the weight of the state record, and I won't be taking you fishing with me if that's what you're about because I'm not about it. Huge difference between sport fishermen and people who soak worms for anything that bites so they can take it and eat it - or worse, kill it for no reason as a "trophy" when it isn't close to being a trophy. Catch and release is still hard for a lot of people to grasp, and as a bass fisherman, it is all that I do.

I think the biggest concern is doing damage to their jaw. I tend to hold most fish horizontally when they reach about 2.5lbs - as much as is possible.

I caught a 1 pounder on the wacky Trick Worm and a 3 pounder pitching the Pit Boss into shoreline cover. Missed one that might have gone 3 or 4 while I was reeling the Pit Boss back to me too - it was skidding across the top of the water and one tried to nail it and missed - had a decent sized head/mouth on it - confirms to me that while the water is still pretty cold they are eating those dang frogs.

I've seen Lake Fork Guy read a no fishing and no trespassing sign and ignore it. Other than that on a rare occasion Kickin Their Bass TV will go to a new place, look for signs, and if he doesn't see any he will fish. But he explains that he didn't see one and if anyone asks him to leave he will. And I've seen him get asked a few times and he's super polite about it. That's the way I do it too.

If I want to eat something, I go buy it. Bass fishing for me is a sport and a hobby. Most guys I know like to soak worms for anything that bites. A few of my buddies bass fish, and so those guys get it.

Any medium rod you have will cover the 90 WP, and your heavy Aird X will handle the 110 WP and more.

Thank you for your post, thoughts and insights. Not wishing to be political, the fishing industry, meaning the people involved, from marketing to fishing, makes it hard for people to speak about environmental issues. This forum is thankfully full of the most amazing people. Elsewhere that is ridicule for caring about how we impact the environment, and from another side there is the "you're a monster for fishing" crowd. It makes a no win situation. That's what makes this forum so great because we care so much about being good stewards of the earth and caring to be a least harmful to the animals we catch as possible.

I don't really get that list. A Senko can be fishing on anything from a ML spinning rod to a MH casting rod and several things in-between. Ned Rig, drop shot, and finesse are all the same thing. Flipping and pitching can and a lot of times is also the frog rod. Seems like a waste.

I'd get the heavy casting setup since you already have light spinning stuff. While they might not be ideal lengths, they will still work.

Temperatures took another dip into the 30s and 40s. It was supposed to snow today but it never did. Tomorrow it will be in the 60s, which begins a 5 day streak of 60s with 1 day in the 70s. Been a terrible spring so far. I've been skunked 4 out of 5 trips recently. I'm going tomorrow to enjoy the warm day. I've got a Trick Worm on a Wacky Rig, a 7in ribbon tail worm Texas Rigged with a 1/16oz bullet weight, a Texas Rigged 5in weightless Senko, a Texas Rigged Havoc Pit Boss with a 1/8oz bullet weight, and a 3/8oz double willow leaf spinnerbait in bluegill ready to go tomorrow. All plastics in Green Pumpkin. Let us pray...

I got that setup for my son and it's great. Hasn't caught a fish with it yet, but the rod has good feel and good components for $55. Seems like it should cost at least $80. The Fuego on his rod is why I decided to put Fuegos on my Furys. Much cheaper than Tatulas on Amazon. If I didn't have OCD about my Tatula rods having Tatula reels, I'd have regretted not having all Fuegos for the cost.

How cheap is cheap? A Berkley Lightning rod and Abu Garcia Silver Max reel is cheap and decent, and can be had for $100 retail or cheaper with sales and deals like on Amazon. A Daiwa Aird X rod and Daiwa Fuego CT reel is the best budget setup, in my opinion. The setup can be had for $165 retail or much cheaper if you again use Amazon. A Dobyns Fury rod with a Daiwa Tatula CT reel would probably be the best setup for the best economical cost. The setup can be had for $250 retail or cheaper with sales or utilizing Amazon. There are many more options too. These are just ones that stand out best to me personally.

I fish lipless crankbaits and squarebills on moderate fast action rods, or a rod that is labeled as fast action but is more parabolic than a true fast action. When I get hit, I reel into the fish, and when the rod loads, I give a soft pull and keep them pinned. I never fish these baits on a true fast action, and I never set the hook traditionally/hard.

Nov-Mar for me

MH/F casting M/MF-F casting M-ML/F-XF spinning Those should be the first rods you own, imo. Meaning get the finesse setup.

River fishing to me means fast current and river dams. At dams its a squarebill, elsewhere it's a Ned Rig or bitsy bug jig or topwater, for smallmouth.

Count me as an EWG fanboy who can't believe people miss fish on them. Goes to show how personal fishing is, and how different people are. I even fish EWG with skinny baits like trick worms.