PhishLI

Welcome!

Cool! It's special, and clicking drag is sweet.

No doubt. X2 Absolutely!

Nah. You didn't lock down the loops as tight as you think you did. Before you cut the tag off, hook a finger in the hook's bend, then pull tightly to lock down the knot. Use a fingernail to push it even tighter when you pull and make sure the loops are stacked tightly. Then cut off the tag and leave at least an 1/8". If you can't unwind the knot by pulling, no bass can either.

So you're throwing in towel? Gonna grow tomatoes instead? What? It's true that many of us northerners don't have bass factory honey holes to choose from, and it's usually a grind, but where's the reward in easy? Trust me, every molecule of frustration will evaporate once you've found your groove, and it's only you who can find it. This game isn't painting by numbers, and free advice is just that, so there's lots of work to do, which you've acknowledged, but 70 is just a number.

Sure, but I wouldn't exclude them because it goes against your sensibilities. In the post below I did quite well using conventional baits, but my brother caught a slob crawling a MS Slammer on this brutally cold night in frigid water.

You're correct in that's what's printed on the package, but my roll measures .0132. Go figure.

It's possible that most people wouldn't bother with topwater in temps this cold, so there isn't much of a consensus on the matter. Also, I'm fishing very shallow water, and these baits might not be as attractive in deep water lakes. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought to try this several years ago except for the fact that nothing that is supposed to work was working, so I threw a hail Mary pass that paid off. After I got bit by a 5 lber in February on a slow rolled Shellcracker G2 I changed my thinking on the matter.

Yes. Starting at 40 degrees. Mostly on slow rolled wakes, but they'll hit a whopper plopper too. P.S. The Livingston Bullnose mentioned in the attached post is a wake bait.

Had to miss the past week, but by last night I was ready to go. Too bad there was a gargantuan full moon hovering over the lake and not a whisper of wind or a cloud in the sky. I took a hard pass and decided to hit it nice and early just as the moon dipped below the western tree line. My timing was right. Got things going with a crappie on a wake, then hooked a charged up little scrapper. Followed up with a nice one, then a few more scrappers after the sun rose. Called it a win and even made it home in time for breakfast with the wife. The water's cooled down a bit, and they all fought hard for their size. I usually get spanked on full moon days, but the bassin' gods gave me a break today. No whoppers, but not bad for a quick morning sesh. I'll take it.

Technically, you're supposed to voluntarily pay your state or county's rate on any goods or services where they aren't collected by the seller or servicer. Is it worth it not to? You might not think so if you get audited.

This is how I look at the TW 80, 'cause it "seems" miniature to me. I'm throwing Neds and such with it. I'm chucking baits up to an ounce with the Zillion.

The MB Dark Sleeper is a very good producer for me from ice-out through June before the weeds come in. After that, forget it. They get too dense here and the hook snags weeds like crazy. This hack solves that problem. Brush on a swipe of Mend-It on the inside of each side of the dorsal fin leading up to the hook's point, pinch it closed, then hold it for a solid minute. With this mod completed I can now rip this bait through weeds without snagging issues. I usually fish it using straight 30 lb braid on a crisp MH rod, so collapsing the now closed plastic in order to get hook penetration hasn't been an issue. I suppose hookups might suffer somewhat when using this hack with softer rods and stretchy lines, but this isn't what I'm doing here. Anyway, I can now use this bait where it was impossible before during this part of the season, and with all the like-sized bait swimming around right now I'm glad that I'm able to.

Hellz yeah. Why not? When I was still in my teens I was out somewhere with my uncle one day. He pointed out a girl that he found to be attractive. I was un-moved and dismissively told him that she wasn't my type, because I was dumb. I was still in my Italian/Spanish chic only phase, and this one was blonde. He acted surprised, then said "Buddy, they all feel the same in the dark". I was a kid, so I argued a little. I'm way older now, and when I replay my greatest hits film reel, he was pretty much right. Yes, there were differences in fineness, but huge differences, not really. I usually fish in the dark, and I don't observe much in the way of large margins in performance between quality models of different manufacturers. Definitely not enough to make hyperbolic statements about one "blowing" another away, even if I ultimately have a preference. Occasionally I'm struck by how good my "lesser" brands perform when I'm zoned out and not analyzing, but just fishing. The gap between what's good and great is in the eye of the beholder, but is much smaller than some pretend it actually is, IMO. Definitely wacky. I usually have four brands of bait casters with me on any given trip, and no antacids needed. However, occasionally I'll do an all Daiwa trip, or an all Quantum trip, or an all Lew's trip, or an all Shimano trip. I suppose that's a tad nutty too.

It's hard not to like. Feels so solid, and if you're not focused on weight as a big thing, you won't care. I'm not and I don't.

Yup. So many goodies...

Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Willis? Dude didn't ask any questions. He was just riffing. Here, look.

Personally I get bored with fishing "history" until I think I need to. Spots that have all the right elements yet had always kicked my azz in the past interest me most. This year I finally broke through in many of those zones. Felt like I accomplished something. I'm right there with you.

See for yourself. Buy it. Buy a reel cover for it. Don't chuck it in the dirt when you catch a fish. Don't expect to cast with it without input from you. Keep it if you like it. Sell it if you don't. You're welcome?

Fish it like you stole it, Holmes. It isn't a delicate thing at all.

The Elite and BPT pros and all other full schedule touring pros with higher aspirations are built for pressure. Immense pressure to not only win but to keep their hard earned spot in those tours and to build points to make the championship event. Doing anything well under pressure will weed out most people including local hammers. Some people are wired for pressure. Most people are not. This applies to everything, not just fishing.

I wouldn't sweat it. My Lew's TP Pro, Quantum Tour S3, and Vapor PT all have aluminum gears and have all winched in very good fish through dense weeds and pad fields. They all remain what they were when new, The glass smooth Vapor, which is a Banax build, would be the first to show slippage regarding smoothness, but it hasn't yet. I imagine Daiwa's aluminum gears to be better. Also, @iabass8 has already testified that his 2 year old JDM Zillions have held up just fine.

It's been way too long since I've gotten out on the jon boat with my brother. We finally made it happen, and chose a spot we know is weedy, but it turned out to be crazy weedy right now due to the lower water levels here. Good thing we brought the oars because the trolling motor didn't stand a chance. Other than a section on the dam end, where there was maybe 6" between the surface and the top of the weeds, everything else was topped out. 45 acres of shore to shore monolithic astro turf with no breaks anywhere, or so we thought. One good thing about this place in normal times is there are isolated lily pad fields out in the middle that float about 18" over the weeds, but these aren't normal times. Now the lily pads have fallen flush into the weeds, so the gap which served as a great ambush point doesn't exist anymore. Nothing was happening in the pads at all. There were about a billion golden shiners skittering around everywhere, but it was tough to get anything through cleanly. After 2 hours of drudgery my brother was ready to quit. I convinced him to fight on. We decided to paddle as far north as possible into a watershed we've never been into. I was determined to find a break in the cover somewhere as I knew this was our only shot, and we found it. The much narrower northern-most end turned out to have a bare silt bottom of about a foot deep. The water was way colder there. We then doubled back and fished into the first wall of weeds and pads, and that's where the action was. I got one crappie on a small wake right on the edge of a weed line, then lost a tanker bass on a Keitech Noisy Flapper. I noticed small perch darting around when we were in the silt bottomed zone, so I tied on a Spro Bronzeye Shad 65 frog in Wicked Perch and chucked it into the first pads on that line. A few bass slapped at it, but finally a charged up chuck gobbled it down when I twitched it in an open gap. There's nothing better than playing a hunch and getting it right, especially when things seem completely hopeless. Kicking the skunk off the boat is a nice bonus.

Looks more like a "Caught a whiff of a nasty fart" look on your face" ?

Here's something to keep in mind about our region of the country, and if you accept this as a fact you'll be less frustrated. Many of the places we have are shallow water LM fisheries whether they're natural, manmade lowland reservoirs, or old mill ponds. Compared to other regions, or very large deep water lakes, our spots generally have a low population density per acre of Largemouth Bass. There's often quality, but not necessarily quantity. Any spot I've found so far that had quantity is usually a dink factory, or a stunted population of mature fish. Also, many similar looking places with the same forage base fish quite differently. Each lake has its own culture and rhythms. Each place is its own puzzle. Approach them this way, be adaptable, and you'll be better for it in the long run.