GReb

I take 2 things away from watching the Elite guys. 1. They are all really proficient in one or two presentations and they rely heavily on it. 2. They understand weather, lake conditions and patterns.

It took me years to become what I feel is above average at flipping. Jigs are my confidence baits now. Bait presentation is everything. You want that lure to fall straight down. Ill even let some slack in the line as soon as it enters the water. Just enough to let it free fall straight down. I’ve mentioned here before that I don’t engage the spool immediately and use my thumb to control the line and a lot of times to set the hook. Most bites come on the initial fall. It’s all about hitting the correct spots with the perfect presentations. Hit every pocket, corner, etc. If two pieces of different structures meet your chances of a fish go up. If a pocket is created by wood your chances go up. If there’s a stump beside a Lilly pad, your chances go up. You get the drift. That what works for me. And once you get comfortable with it you can cover a lot of water and eliminate a lot of wasted casts. It basically becomes site fishing

It sucks the life out of you. I had already caught several 8-9 pounders at that point and had been shooting for double digits. I knew a couple were in the small 11 acre lake. A guy had caught a 14 lb a couple years before. This one was closer to 10 or 11. I’ve saw her bedding the next spring but couldn’t ever her to bite. That fall the dam broke and haven’t seen it since. My dad apologized randomly for years. Now he just laughs about it and says I should’ve had a net

You may be better off going the custom route

Can’t tell you. But I can tell you what it’s like to lose one at the boat after your dad missed the lip twice

I knew I was cheated! It’s not so bad. We split the mortgage and bills. We keep separate accounts and spend the rest on whatever we like. I pay for my truck and hobbies. She pays for her $200 hair cuts and clothes. If I go fishing in the morning she’s happy to get the chance to sleep in. In the evening she goes fishing too. And sometimes out fishes me Now I expect this to abruptly change whenever we have kids lol

I thought the fish were supposed to see the lure

But what if they say Hotty Toddy??

I use it for t-rigs, jigs, buzzbaits, whoppers, etc too. It’s a jack of all trades rod.

IMO the number one accessory that is a must are weathertechs or the like. Best $100 you’ll spend on your vehicle

From my experience even the slightest of water temp drops can change things drastically. The fish are eager to start feeding this time of year

The wife went and spent $300 at Dicks on new shoes and workout clothes. She got home and handed me $20 in Dicks cash to make up for it LOL. So I put it to good use getting ready for that fall bite.

I use a Falcon Cara Headturner. It’s a 6’10 heavy fast. But Falcons heavy is a standard medium heavy. 30 lb braid with 12 lb mono leader. I use this setup primarily for spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and swim jigs If I’m throwing larger baits I use a Fury 734 with 40lb braid and 12 lb mono leader.

We have a healthy population here in MS but never have this type of incident. In large it seems like the Florida gators are way more aggressive which is due to human population I’m sure. Some of ours are fearless though. They’ll swim right by you without a care in the world. A 12 footer came towards us one day and got about 10 feet from the boat. It was an awesome sight but frightening as well

Does a kayak count as a boat?

Strictly a guess, but I’d think the baitfish population suffers due to lack of cover to protect them. Also these plants provide food sources for baitfish. Add that to whatever negative effect it has on oxygen levels and it’s all points towards a less healthy fishery.

Ive experienced the same issue at several small lakes and ponds and the fishing takes a sharp downturn each time. It’s unfortunate that people destroy the living habitats for all species just to get rid of snakes.

You’ll find a menace on the back end of my flipping jigs more times than not. Perfect subtle action.

Just have to be careful with jerkbaits. You don’t want to ruin the action and certainly don’t want it suspending nose up or down. Spend a few bucks on several different baits that have differing actions and depth. The beauty with jerkbaits IMO is that you only need 2 or 3 colors. White and something chrome based. Others may disagree but this is my experience

Check out clazzio. I don’t have any first hand experience but evidently they are the best seat “covers”. Katzkin is actually replacement fabric so install is intense and requires special tools and a lot of time . The clazzio goes on top of OEM seats

I tried calling about a trade in last week and was told they no longer do trade ins. They only allow defects and broken rods to be returned for credit

I only use mono leaders with braid. For most presentations I just go straight braid. But when I do use a leader I prefer to have the little bit of stretch mono provides.

https://m.bassmaster.com/video/why-smallmouth-dark

My first mount was done fairly cheap by a guy who did it on the side. It was 20 years ago and the mount is not looking too good these days. If you are going to do it, spend the money on a quality mount by a reputable taxidermist. Today i would go with a replica though. They look great and last forever. Plus the fish lives

Something is throwing them off at the last second. Sometimes a simple color change will fix it. Try matching the baitfish whether be shad or gills. If that doesn’t work switch to a slower presentation. What works one day may not work the next. Move up and down the water column. The fish will tell you pretty quickly when you are on them. Like others have said, finding the fish is the hard part.