J.Vincent

No, as a sport angler I release every Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass I catch. I've heard about underharvested waters, which become over run by smaller bass and bluegill, but in most situations in healthy and balanced fisheries with other predatory fish like Northern Pike and Musky, this doesn't happen. I also don't like the taste of Bass and see enough people harvesting them, so I don't feel the need to harvest bass for food.

Picked up 5 of the Revo X Baitcasters beginning of the season , all in 6.6 gear ratio. Overall I'm very happy with the performance and find them perfect for SquareBills, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits; but I've noticed they are kind of loud on the cast, is this typical for the Revo X ? Who has these and what has been your experience so far ?

Kids get bored quickly, I would drift live crawfish. Or if the boy can cast and retrieve, I would be throwing 1/4 and 3/8 oz SpinnerBaits. They are easy to rig and will snag up less. Look for current breaks and good luck!

I treat these Bigfoot stories the same way I treat the kid telling stories about a 15lb Michigan largemouth....with a grin and a smile

Medium spinning tackle and 8lb line should work

Well if you are fishing big waters like Erie or St Clair....those Smallmouth can regularly be caught on 4 inch jerkbaits, 1/2 oz tandem willow spinnerbaits and 4 inch Sammy Topwaters. I even find the occasional 4 and 5lb smallmouth striking these same baits in the Huron river, but rarely in the Raisin River. So it really depends on the body of water.

How is it we have the technology to send automated remote control submarines thousands of feet below the ocean surface to discover new microscopic organisms smaller than the tip of a ballpoint pen, but with modern technology we can't get solid evidence of an 8 foot tall gorilla man which lives in the forests of America ? Just some food for thought

Doesn't look like a Northen bite, could be a prop scar.

Not every river is created equal; for example here in Michigan we have the Huron River and the Detroit river . Both are rivers , but they have very different habitat, depth and current flow. But the areas or spots I look for no matter what River I'm fishing are the very edge or beginning of slack water on the outside bends of the river and any obstruction which creates a current break. Even an underwater boulder which sits a few feet below the surface in very heavy current will create an underwater break in current flow. Those smallmouth will Setup on the downstream side of the break and can be caught with a variety of reactions baits. I like 1/2 oz Tandem Spinnerbaits, Mepps 1/4oz and Shallow 1ft CrankBaits; fished over the top of submerged boulders or obstructions. The bite will more consistently be on the backside of the underwater obstructions . If the Smallmouth are bedding or gorging on crawfish before the spawn, it's pretty hard to beat a 1/4oz Tube Jig drifted with the current using a very slow retrieve ; just slow enough to keep the head a few inches up off the bottom and only occasionally making contact with the top of rocks and boulders. You may be amazed how effective that exposed hook tube jig is when it can be retrieved this way. The key is keeping very minimal if any slack in your line and rod tip pointed at about 10 or 11 o'clock while slowly turning the Reel handle. Good Luck !

I was referring to when getting an EXTRA unexpected gift of cash...not referring to spending a 1/3 of expected income : )

There are a lot of really good rods on the market and I've fished with Abu, Daiwa, Shimano, St Croix, Berkley, South Bend, Quantum, *** and more....here are my favorites right now: 1) Team Daiwa S (Green Blank from the 90s, discontinued) 2) Abu Garcia Veritas 3) St Croix Premier all excellent rods in the $100 dollar category

The ChatterBait is an excellent Springtime lure, and probably one of my favorites for pre-spawn Largemouth. I choose a Medium Heavy Moderate Fast Rod with 15 or 17lb Monofilament. If you want more sensitivity and abrasion resistance, then choose a good quality fluorocarbon line in the 15 or 17lb test, but I don't think Flourocarbon is needed in this presentation unless you are catching bass in chunk rock or wood, and absolutely need the better abrasion resistance. Personally I like the most amount of line stretch I can get when fishing chatterbaits and will avoid Braided line like the plague on my ChatterBait Rod. Also, Brett Hite is the master of ChatterBait fishing and he actually uses a Graphite/Glass Composite Rod and Flourocarbon. Check out some of his tutorials on YouTube, you can get a years worth of knowledge in 10 minutes. Good Luck !

Well you want fishing advice but I'm going to give you financial advice also. Spend $100 on gear and put the remaining $200 in a savings account . When you get another extra $300 dollars , do the same thing. Spend $100 on gear and save $200. Do this for the rest of your life and you will be a happy man !

Thank you this kind of confirms my gut instinct about the parabolic graphite of the Veritas Winch. I'm definitely going to try and see the rod now in person before buying. Thanks again and good fishing !

I find more success with shorter plastics like 3 inch tubes or Craws ...I've even gone down to a 2 inch Strike King Bitsy Tube in some situations.

Also check out Dean Rojas, and how he fishes that frog....he also fishes it with a head up bobbing action , but I've never been able to recreate this in my fishing....but he is another one of those Frog Specialists !

I guess personally, I would go to spinning tackle and rig a 3 1/2" Tube with a 1/4oz insert hook , in that situation. But I can see maybe what your saying. Though I guess when I think about skipping anything, a worm is last on the list, because of the elongate shape. Plus I've never seen a worm skip on the surface, but I have seen baitfish do this when being chased by a Bass. So that tube is a more effective approach for me when skipping and also to create the fleeing action which can provoke feeding behavior.

I'm not sure how things have been in WV, but in Michigan we are already starting to see the bigger female bass in the shallows gorging and owning the reed line up in the creeks. The first phase of spawners are probably about a week or two away from bedding in some creeks leading into Lake Erie. I would (just guessing) think that in WV, the weather is at least 5 or 10 degrees warmer? and the spawn would be over in some places by now. But again this is just based on geography and the fact, that every state south of Michigan should be warmer and therefore will spawn before us, I think ? So Im still willing to bet some of those fish in WV have spawned and that's why there are empty beds

Im sure it can be done, but I've never tried. Yet I'm curious as to why you would want to skip a shaky head worm ? What fishing situation would actually call for this ?

Yes, this is a very capable frogging combo and should cover 90% of the situations an angler may face when casting Hollow Body Frogs in Florida. Only reason to step up to a Heavy Fast, would be for punching through slop or casting frogs to the back pockets of a Pad field; and even then the Heavy Fast is only adding a bit of insurance. Other than that you are set with everything you mentioned and your casting will be better on the Medium Heavy !

If you are also planning on doing any light inshore saltwater fishing, then definitely get the Shimano Curado K. But if you are only doing freshwater bass , then I would actually look at the Revo X or Origin C before I considered the Revo SX. Both the Revo X and the Origin C perform at a much higher level than their price point would indicate. I'd put them on par with most any $130-$150 dollar reel.

Are Water Levels High in your area ? If so, could the spawn have already occurred with that wave of fish and the Fry moved into flooded brush and reeds ? This has happened before in my area of the country, especially on heavily flooded waters with very thick weeds and reeds around the shore line. It can sometimes give the impression the spawn hasn't occurred, when it actually did. Or maybe those aren't Bass beds ?

New bodies of water are always exciting to explore, and sometimes its easier to pinpoint a few key areas on the Map a day or two ahead of time, where you think the Bass should be, based on the season. Personally for Smallmouth, I'm always looking for high percentage situations in shallow water first (1-5ft). If there are no signs of Bass and no activity after a half hour to an hour, then I slowly move my way back out to secondary points and primary points (6-10ft) and then I look for deeper structure bass (12-30ft) off and away from those points. Wherever I'm finding concentrations of baitfish, is where I focus more of my attention. For Smallmouth I also like to cover shallow water with JerkBaits and RattleTraps first and if I find fish , I will spend more time in the area or similar areas, otherwise I will look offshore with CrankBaits and Plastics. But I have found most of the time when an angler isn't getting bit, its because the fish are heavily pressured by other anglers or the external conditions , or the fish are not in the area. And as easy as this sounds, there are plenty of times when I get skunked, especially new water .

Thanks for the reply, my main concern was if the Medium Heavy Winch would have enough in the Mid Section of the rod. Because I have the 7ft Medium Winch, and its almost always under load, even during the retrieve. Is this how the Winch series performs in general ?

I'm interested in getting a dedicated rod for SquareBill CrankBaits 3-5 foot divers. I've been using either a 6'6 Abu Veritas MH/Mod-Fast for SpinnerBaits and SquareBills and I've also used the 6'6 Berkeley Shock M/Mod-Fast. The Veritas Mod-Fast is very capable , maybe too much power; and the budget Shock Rod felt about right but broke yesterday about 7 inches from the top on a 1lb bass I tried to flip over the side. I'm wondering what some of you think about the 7ft Veritas Winch MH for Squarebills ? Anyone fished Squarebills with this exact stick ? Will it have enough steering power ? Or should I stick with the Veritas MH-ModFast for this presentation ?