J.Vincent

Peanut Butter Sandwich, Trail Mix, Bananas, Clif Bars, Sunflower Seeds all seem to carry me over when out fishing. Also love Cucumber Lime Gatorade or just plain water !

Nope , only Fish and seafood I eat is Perch, Cod, Tuna, Tilapia, Salmon, Lobster and King Crab. But to each their own !

The Eye of The Tiger Retrieve

For Chatterbaits I like the Abu Garcia Veritas 7-1 MH Moderate Fast Generation 3

Usually Cajun Red 14lb Monofilament ; but I also like PLine CXX 10 to 15lb and Spiderwire Ultimate Mono 10 -14lb

Interesting lure, but not as a 3 to 5 ft diver. With that soft lure body and hook design it might be better if they redesigned it as a wake bait.

Probably only 20% of the time Im rigging a Spinnerbait with a plastic trailer; and usually I like to keep the profile thinner, with Zoom Split Tail or Zoom Flukes in white . I choose white because I can color the body or tail as needed with colored garlic scent markers. It can be effective at times, because those type of trailers really dance and offer added attraction which helps when bass are not committing to the lure.

1/2 of the time

Missing breakfast

At Farm Pond 13 watch out for the giant dinosaurs and the stumps....also my most productive lures on Farm Pond were Lipless Cranks and Live Shiners

Shimano and Abu have the greatest history of quality and performance in my book...but I’ve been surprised with the quality from every major manufacturer over the past two years.

I didn’t even think about checking my spam folder ...Thanks

Just joined the group but I forgot to set my roster for Lanier....it’s upsetting because I don’t get reminders anymore from BASS to set my roster. I even have email reminders turned on? Anyone else not getting upcoming tournament and roster reminders through BASS?

Depends where the tournament is held and what time if the year. My confidence bait periodically changes with the conditions.

Lake Erie Western Basin becomes a small ocean with any substantial wind. Anything over 10 mph (especially from the east) is not safe for small watercraft. I personally wouldn’t kayak fish it ; except in protected bays, rivers and marsh . On a calm day the average kayaker may be able to safely get two hundred yards outside of a protected marina or shallow shoreline, but beyond that and trouble be brewin . And yes always wear a life vest and put your gear in a waterproof bag and tell someone your general where abouts. As for the fishing , I would think dragging a tube, drop shotting and fan casting a rattletrap prior to the spawn ; would produce....after the spawn those better fish are typically in 15 to 30 feet of water.

Aim for these distances accurately and you will be able to target bass effectively: Flip: 1-10 ft Pitch: 10-20 ft Roll Cast: 20-30 ft Side Arm: 30-60 ft

5 years ago it was a Tube Jig and Mojo Rig with 4” Senkos....but over the past few years it’s been Walk The Dog style Topwaters and Lipless CrankBaits with the occasional Spinnerbait.

3x Strike King, ZMan and Berkeley Gulp are the only ones I’ve owned which have ever been compromised with age or when exposed to air or high temperatures. But I’ve got bags and bags of Zoom, Culprit, Lake Fork, Yum, Yammamoto, Mister Twister, Gander Mountain, BPS and Northlands which have been in my inventory since the mid 90s. They fish the same now as they did then.

I agree completely.....I've never noticed the color of my hull affecting the bite, even in water clarity from 1 ft to 8ft visibility.

I think these 5 combos can cover most of the bases; but if you tend to fish a lot of shallow heavy cover, you may even want to add a 7-6 or 7-11 for Flipping. 6-6 Medium Fast Spinning 6-10 Medium Moderate Fast Casting 7-0 Medium Heavy Fast Casting 7-3 Heavy Fast Casting 7-0 Medium Heavy Moderate Casting

Bass season in Michigan opens in late May; all local or club tournaments occurring prior to open are paper tournaments. I think this is perfectly ethical and responsible, because it allows the Bass to get right back into the bedding area in a reasonable amount of time. I think tournament and non-tournament anglers should always observe the laws first and make harvesting decisions which allows them to sleep at night while also allowing the resource to thrive.

With a high population of Smallmouth, there’s probably a sub surface feeding school somewhere on the body of water you fish. Jerkbaits and Spinnerbaits are both very effective for covering water and locating those active feeders. The spinnerbait gets overlooked because some anglers assume smallmouth like smaller lures, but burning a 1/2 oz chartreuse double willow leaf spinnerbait with chartreuse or white blades in open water with a treble hook as a trailer hook can really trigger some big Smallmouth bites. It really depends on the body of water, and I would even consider 1/2 oz Lipless Cranks for those Smallmouth also !

Double Willow Leaf Spinnerbaits and JerkBaits ....especially if there are Smallmouth present .

3^

If I remember correctly there is a legendary tournament bass angler named Rick Clunn who briefly held a similar opinion regarding fishing rods ....years ago he claimed a 7ft MH Fast was the one all and only type of rod he used because he wanted to reach for a rod and automatically know how it would perform....I’m assuming he used various lines to simulate slower action....but it was a short lived experiment because I’m pretty sure he is now fishing technique specific gear again. My opinion is we should always keep a variety of different rod actions and different speed reels to accommodate the various presentations.