Glaucus

It's just so stupid right now. I've never gone this far into a new year without a bass to show for it. Weather is cold, water is flooded. Each year gets worse with weather and storms and people still laugh at climate change. Don't wanna get political but the only people I know rejecting the absurd changes are doing so because of their corrupt politician of choice. Unbiased fishermen know what the hell is going on and it's nothing good. Caught some tacos today and that's it.

Wife and I are on our way to our next spot so I have time to share something. So we're fishing today and she crossed my line with her line and we had a memory come back from a couple years ago. We were fishing with my buddy and his lady friend. She didn't know what she was doing and they weren't really in a serious relationship yet. She crossed his line and he explained why that sucks and how to avoid it. Next cast she does it again, on purpose. She's laughing and giggling. Mind you he's still feeling this girl out. He looks at her says with a straight and serious face and voice: "It's not funny and it's not cute." Never did see that girl again.

This too. Matter of fact I'm about to leave myself and what I'm taking is ML spinning with 10lb braid to 4lb YZH, M spinning with 15lb braid to 6lb YZH, M casting with straight 12lb Trilene, and MH casting with straight 12lb YZH.

Definitely copolymer. I like Yo Zuri Hybrid as an all purpose line. It's economical, strong, and manageable (especially with line conditioner). 4 or 6 lb on spinning gear, 10 or 12 lb on casting gear. Poundage depends on where you're fishing exactly and what gear you're using. On ML and M, it would be 4 and 10 for me. On M and MH it would be 6 and 12.

One of the Fury casting rods I got from TW had a bent guide with cracked epoxy. Almost guaranteed to have happened in storage or shipping. Amazon would be even worse with storage and shipping. Some people say their rods from Amazon come in hard tubes, others say they come in flimsy cardboard. Not sure how your rod came. Either way it's guaranteed that Amazon doesn't store rods how we would expect reputable tackle shops to store them. Eventually you'll get one that isn't messed up, or you can send it back for a refund and spend a little more from a reputable tackle shop. I highly doubt Dobyns makes their stuff cheap and messed up out of the factory. Problems I've had are the messed up guide on one, a bad bend in another, and reel seats not fitting Pflueger reels (however this was a Pflueger problem as the feet weren't consistent from one reel to the other, getting Daiwa Legalis reels fixed that issue). I'd say the bend was also a storage issue from TW. Aaron Martens has some information out regarding this. No rod is perfectly straight, but it shouldn't be noticable at a glance. This rod was. He says - and I agree - that if a rod is left to lean against something, or left at a bend, over a period of time it will take to that bend. These are just issues with ordering online. Some people are lucky, others are not. However I will say that I've never had issues with rods by other companies when ordering online.

Get a Fury at 120 and then get a Daiwa Fuego off Amazon for 70-80 bucks.

That should still help a little bit. We're right there with you though temp wise. 60 today and tomorrow, 40 for the next 4 days, and doesn't hit 60 again until April 3rd. What a tease it's been.

Your ice out is takes an eternity, doesn't it? Only the most patient fishermen in the world can do what you and A Jay do. If it makes you feel any better, although we've been open for 2-3 weeks, it's still been cold and flooded so ice out hasn't done a single thing for me other than letting me cast I suppose.

I'll be heading out to a largemouth and striper lake in a little bit. I've got a 3/8oz chatterbait with a 3.8in paddle tail trailer, 1/2oz lipless crankbait, 5in Senko, and a Ned Rig tied on. Hoping to get this skunk off of me.

Exactly right. The Plopper being a hard topwater bait, it's going to be awhile before they need replacing.

I would like to fish a Choppo but I don't know anyone with one and I can't justify buying one when I have several Ploppers that I know work beautifully. From what I see it's like the topwater version of Senko vs Dinger and if the few bucks saved is worth it.

If there really isn't a single thing you need, save the money or pay a bill or do something nice for someone in your life.

Sometimes downsizing is the only way to catch them. Smallmouth bass go nuts on mayflies during the mayfly hatch and those things are really small. One of to think of it is, you don't always want the sandwich but you might walk by the table and grab a chip or two. I think your input is as valuable as anyone else's. Hopefully you know that and continue to give your 2 cents.

Lol it's filthy because it snapped his rod and he had to drag it up the Sandy island we were on by pulling in the line by hand.

A shallow dock screams Senko.

I think they lied. The top one is tetanus colored.

Bass will hit small lures. The only problem is that you'll weed through a lot of crappie, bluegill, dink bass, etc on your way to landing quality. Which isn't all bad. That's a lot of fun too. My favorite thing in the world is take medium light tackle with a Ned Rig and wading or yaking shallow rivers. For me, with what's pictured, I'm taking medium light spinning gear with 4lb Yo Zuri on a size 1000/25 reel. Last year I caught hundreds of dink smallies with the Ned Rig. But I also caught the biggest smallies I've ever seen come out of that river using the Ned Rig. Tons of rock bass and crappie too. Shoot my buddy even caught this on the Ned Rig

I certainly do. She's beautiful and she's got attitude. Thankfully she's my dog's best friend, but by the time she's older I'm afraid he won't be around to scare anyone off.

This girl can't even go to sleep without watching fishing videos with me first.

"Sorry officer, I thought for sure a crappie was going to eat my 1/2oz jig n craw, not this darn largemouth. I'll for sure toss it back."

The only thing I successfully skip almost every time is a Texas rigged Senko. Anything else is hit and miss, touchy. With casting gear that is. The squarebill skip was completely accidental but at the same time I didn't backlash so I have hope I can replicate this.

Trees are budding. Still flooded. Went to a LMB/SMB quarry and where there is usually 15 yards of gravel to travel down to launch or fish from has turned to a few feet of gravel. River that averages 2-4 ft is roaring like the mighty Mississippi.

First time I realized this was a "thing" was when a buddy and I were fishing a river dam that has a busy bridge 10 to 15 yards off of it. The idea is to stand on the dam wall and cast under the bridge where the SMB like to hang out. Well I missed with my Ned Rig and it stuck to the concrete on the bridge like glue.

Ever smack something with elaztech? Exact same thing as the sticky hand things we used to get as kids to throw at walls and windows.

I love that story. I practice pitching in the house all the time. Not so much practice anymore I guess because I'm good at it and I just like to do it. When my wife comes home and sees pots throughout the house she knows exactly what I've been up to.