Smalls

I have large, clumsy hands and I suck at tying knots. I literally thought the FG knot was a myth til I watched a video of a guy putting the leader material under his foot to keep tension on it. I can tie one in less than 45 seconds, now, and the size/ strength of that knot blows my mind every time I look at it

A small bottle of the cheapest lubricant at auto zone is not only better, but you can buy it with the change in your pocket. Why was this even an experiment?

You’re definitely asking for 2 separate rods. You want a broomstick for punching. You want a rod that has a parabolic bend for crankbaits. Trust me, no one wants to spend all this money on the right gear. It gets downright expensive. And I’m a firm believer that it’s possible to get by and fish almost every technique with less than 5 rods. But there is no magic rod. They all have limitations.

It took me a while to not have my frog flying back at my head every time a bass struck it. It’s a natural reaction. When you see the blow up, start reeling, but wait until you feel the fish until you set the hook. And set it hard. Especially with that rod. You’re a little under gunned. Even without thinking about heavy cover, those are some pretty serious hooks you’re trying to stick through it’s mouth.

The general public does not care about your thoughts or opinions. That’s why we have fines when you break the law, because a few harsh words go in one ear, and out the other. A fine, however, makes the lesson really sink in. Call DNR, they’ve been pretty quick to show up for these kinds of calls in my experience.

I think them keeping the name “Gander” is really gonna hurt em. The one local to me is always dead, too. I’ve... actually been pretty impressed so far. They have a lot of stuff that cabela’s, BP, and Dick’s/F&S don’t carry, and at real life prices.

I work with my hands all day, bass thumb would literally make my day a living hell. I get a lot of hack for not lipping my fish, but I don’t fish for a living.

Not sure if it helps at all, but across the state in SE Michigan, I’m still getting mixed bags of pre/post spawn fish. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about the post spawn the past few weeks, but honestly, most of my fish have been pre spawn. I fish from the bank, though, so I might be catching em all just before they do their thing.

That’s what people say all the time... when they come fishing with me

It’s been a nickname since... Idk, I don’t even remember how I got it.

Wanna see a magic trick with a $20 bill? Step up to a pro max. The rod is alright. Not junk, not a Dobyn’s. But for the price it’s the best combo you can pick up and bring to the register. The reel is what’s up, though. It’s my favorite reel.

I like to slow roll a square bill until I feel grass, then dig it in. I’ll then rip it out as hard as I can, then kill it. This probably accounts for a good 70% of my bites.

I probably carry more stuff with me bank fishing than some guys carry in their boats. I cram it all in the big spiderwire bag. Not very often I think “man, really wish I had such and such bait”.

They’re inexpensive enough you could order a couple different sizes and determine which ones to use and not use when they arrive. I use the second to smallest snap on most cranks.

I use the VMC crank snaps because they’re easy to switch out baits. But I also use them because I always use braid to a leader. Although I retie if a fish nicks my line, I don’t want to lose leader length every time I switch baits.

For water repellent, I swear by Under Armour’s X Storm stuff. It’s not waterproof, but pretty d**n close.

I found open water last week! Couple of small ponds around here. Didn’t catch nothin, but it eased the itch.

I just recently picked up a Powell Max 3D. I’ve only fished it a few times, but I’m impressed so far. We also just had a huge fishing expo not too long ago, where Keith had a booth. He wouldn’t come out and say they were phasing out the Max 3D, but it sounded like they were. The endurance rods seemed lighter, and just as well built in my uneducated opinion, but I hated the trigger on the reel seat. Kinda curious why I don’t see more talk about Powell. They seem like a lot of rod for the price. My my only complaint is the guides being a little smaller than I anticipated, because I use a leader with my braid.

I’ve got 3 brand new KVD 1.5’s that I have to send back because within 2-3 outings of fishing rip rap, the lips are all missing giant chunks. Fishing from the bank, with no exposed rocks. So I have to crank em 3-4 ft just to get to the bottom. But it that’s a good point, if you’re fishing a lot of exposed rock, that’s even more reason for the circuit board lip

I seem to break bills off of cranks any time I’m fishing any sort of rip rap, so I try to only buy stuff with circuit board lips. Arashi, Spro, etc.

Reminds me of that joke- God said he’d put good women in all corners of the planet, then made earth round... God gave us all this water to fish, then made it frozen half the year ????

Hey from the other side of the state! MI seems to have quite the representation around here!

I’ve been a lifetime member since I turned 18. I think they’re almost as bad as the opposition with their fear mongering. Don’t get me wrong, the attack on out 2A rights is very real, and relentless. But some of what they put out there is just to get people in a frenzy. With that being said, they’re the best we have protecting our right. I haven’t always agreed with their plan of action, but I like to think they do the best they can with what they’re given. I also don’t rely solely on the NRA. I have my reps “favorited” in my contacts. ?

I’ve had this happen, as well. But during the mayfly hatch. People have told me that the bass sit and stare at the surface waiting to grab the mayfly as they hit the water. In fact, small top water is often the only thing I can get bit on during the mayfly hatch.

I live right down the street from a few of my spots. There’s a group of young kids I see constantly fishing. Stopped to talk to them once and they seemed to be very nice young gentlemen. They all had “well used” gear. One had a broken rod tip, one barely any line, etc. Told em all to wait there, I’d be back in about 20 minutes. Brought back a spool of line, a tip kit, and a ziplock of random soft plastics. They lived a few miles away in a rougher part of town, couldn’t really afford new gear. Did whatever I could to at least get em set up, and they were very thankful. Saw their mother pick em up one day, and she stopped to thank me, offered to reimburse me. I told her watching them catch a bass was all the reimbursement that I needed, and that they were good kids, I was glad they had a hobby to keep em off the streets.