bpm2000

Nope. I've only caught 1 bedding smallmouth before, and I let it go immediately in the same area - no worse for wear. I didn't feel too badly about it. Now if I catch a fish and I nick its gills or drop it in the dirt on accident or something of that nature, then I feel bad.

Good deal - i have a pack but havn't used em much yet.

sweet fish! the mouth on that first one is huge.

I think catching big fish like that is difficult enough for either situation, but if all things were equal otherwise I'd have to give it to the guy fishing with plastics.

where in WA are you? that thing is a beast!

alone 85% of the time, but i think that has more to do with my friends not being into the fishing thing.

very informative rolo!

i usually bury my hookpoints t-rigged. having exposed hooks around riprap and trees are just too much of a headache (esp going uphill fishing from shore). you will lose baits, thats just the nature of the game though. ;D

good lookin fish!

What do you think about maybe something like a in-shore heavy action rod or something of that sort? I guess what I need to know is what makes a good rod to throw these kind of baits? Fast action? Heavy power? Length?

I lost what couldve been my first lm of the season because of this recently - hopping along for the ride! (as an added note, I couldnt get any fish to hit my grub until i directly pitched it into the cover im trying to get them out of)

I currently have a MH 2pc basspro bionic blade that I've been using, but want to throw some lighter swimbaits so I thought I might get a heavy action rod of some sort to throw these with. Anyone using spinning gear (other than Fish Chris) for swimbaits? I am primarily interested in the smaller Mattlures variety of baits, like the bluegill and baby bass. I know he uses a 1pc okuma rod, but I need a 2pc rod for portability reasons. What are the other people out there using for heavier baits? (if there are any spinning gear people out there for swimbaits...) I'd also like to keep it in that pricerange, 100~150 max. thx *I did try a search and came up with very little to nothing...

if you think theres gonna be any chance of lightning, you know what to do

Grubs/spinnerbaits have been the most effective for me. Cranks, jerkbaits, senkos, finesse/shaky worms, all have worked but simply dragging a grub or pulling a spinnerbait seems to bring in the most fish where I am. (I t-rig my grubs to avoid hangups, fishing from shore)

nice fish - im looking for a 3lber at the moment, but wouldnt mind jumping to 4 like that either

thats a pig!

nice pics - your son is a lucky kid to have a dad to take him out like that!

You have to be really careful jerkbaiting close to cliffs, though. You might get distracted and fall off! That one's for you, Muddy! lol oh man, i'm almost ashamed I laughed out loud at this ;D

HOLY SH** thats the bigges squawfish ive ever seen. I catch a few of those every year but not like that. They are usually the dissapointments of dissapointments, you always think you got a big bass on when they hit ;D

yea the yellow perch here really get me aggrevated sometimes with the "missed hooksets".

I just might stop fishing for LM at this rate

A few more from the past week:

Where were you when I cast my LC pointer into the lake after my first 2+ smallie? ;D It was almost worth it though - double hookup on one pointer! They reallly messed up my line. Now I check after every fish for sure. Dont forget to check before/after your day of fishing as well.

A good day of bass fishing leaves me in pain for sure! But to wind down I like to sit on the dock and do some panfishing once in a while as well. Both are forms of therapy.

Sometimes it pays to start with a softer presentation instead of ripping a searchbait through an area and spooking fish - try starting with a trig then going for a reaction bite - sounds backwards but if you bank fish its a good idea.