DitchPanda

I would say that overall live bait is more consistent...as long as the person using it is presenting it in the right way in the right spot. To me artificial is much easier to deal with, gives you more options and gives a bigger sense of satisfaction when you catch fish. As far as learning curve id say it shouldn't be too steep..sounds like your already fishing in areas with fish...that's over half the battle. In general id say a small body of water should be easier for success since there aren't as many places for the fish to hide..your gonna have your bait in there face more often with the watershed being smaller. As long as this creek doesn't receive a ton of pressure they should eat lures no problem. The biggest hurdle is learning how to properly present the lures you intend to use. Articles and videos can shorten the curve...but it will still take some time and practice. Id pick maybe two techniques to start with...let's say spinnerbait(moving bait) and small jig(bottom bait) and get proficient with them. Then you can expand into other baits a few at a time. I think one big mistake people do is try to get good at everything at once never taking the time to properly learn the ins and outs of each technique.

The original Texas Chainsaw massacre is scary in my opinion. It has a real feel to it almost like a home video or documentary so that adds a lot to its effectiveness. Plus it's just gritty and tense through most of the play time. More recently the movie I thought was scariest the past several years was Hereditary. Also very uncomfortable and tense..has a certain atmosphere. Plus there are a few scenes in it that you can't unsee...they just stick with you.

Happy birthday is right! I went this morning and caught 5...biggest was around 3lbs and I was happy. Would gladly trade for your stringer!

Been a fan of horror movies my entire life. I've seen thousands in my life so I'm always on the lookout for unknown and underseen movies. Anybody have any suggestions for good horror movies that aren't well known and flew under the radar or maybe are just forgotten?

I'm a bank guy so that lends itself to a methodical approach. Not saying you can't run and gun from the bank but its more difficult than in a boat. With bank spots being at a premium...at least ones worth a crap...I find myself hunkering down even more than normal. Today for instance I caught my 5 fish from one small stretch about 30yards long. Tried 3 other spots with no bites.

That is indeed a creek giant my friend...little dudes did a heck of a job helping you it sounds like

Sure!...I think...but maybe not...oh heck let er rip tater chip

I almost lost my omen black dropshot rod awhile back. Was fishing for bass and had thrown it out with a bobber and crawler hoping for a walleye or a few gills for lunch. I turned to make a cast and when I turned back I saw my rod fly out of the forked stick and into the water. Had to run in almost up to my waist to catch it. Was a channel cat about 7 or 8lbs.

Another thing I'll add...and remember this is just my experience...but for me a bladed jig is a better bluegill imitation and a spinner bait is a better shad\baitfish imitation. Of course this can be changed with different blades and skirts but I'm general this has been the case for me. Perfect example I fish two local ponds...one has bluegill and shad and the spinner bait rules there...the other pond only had gills and the bladed jig is better than a spinnerbait. Too confuse you more I'll add that at both places a swim jig out fishes both.

To me comparing a bladed jig to a spinner bait is like comparing apples to oranges. I feel like a bladed jig is great around grass but bad around wood..vise versa for the spinnerbait. A spinner bait I fish similar to a swim jig...to me a bladed jig is more similar to a crankbait than anything. While there are similarities they are also different enough to keep both around...different tools. That said I may buck the trend of the past several years by saying I much prefer a spinnerbait.

35 minutes..I've never been skunked an entire trip. Obviously I'm joking...I'm not entirely sure but I would guess several weeks...at ice out and in fall leading to ice up its not uncommon for me to go through rough patches..especially since I'm shore bound.

I tie my stuff on the night before and usually bring a few other options a long in case I wanna change up. I usually look at the weather forecast and maybe the local water temps and let that dictate what I tie on.

I'm far from an expert on spawning but I always thought they would spawn regardless as long as water temp and length of day were correct. Case in point my local ponds border a river and we had terrible flooding the two previous spawns but the fish still got it done. I'm in northern Iowa so our spawn is later than yours in the southeast normally anyhow and I've never seen indication of spawn in late July that I can remember.

Really surprised to see everybody pick the minus. I've never used either like I stated above but I love bandit 100s...they make a solid crank so that minus must be something special.

Ned rig TRD, ballhead and twister,slip shot rigged finesse style worm

I understand the rule it's to keep a level playing field kinda like horsepower restrictions in racing. It's there to give guys that can't afford multiple boats an equal shot. While I don't necessarily agree with the rule I can see it's reason for being. What I can't understand is how a professional fisherman is not aware of the rules in a high profile tournament while the other 200 guys are. He surely isn't the only guy who thought getting a smaller boat into the backwaters would be beneficial yet he was he only one that tried to do it.

I've had multiple guys in boats in the past few weeks see me catch fish then they pull right in on top of where I'm casting in an attempt to get in on the bite but driving over it like morons and ruining it for both of us. I'm always thinking dude you have a boat so you have way more access than me so go find your own fish.Pathetic.

Lately I've been getting on a decent morning bite in a channel connecting the 2 ponds at my local park. They are chasing bluegills and balls of shad in there as the bait moves from pond to pond early and late in the day. My 2 best baits have been a Ned rig and a kvd 1.5 shallow in neon bluegill or summer sexy shad. Today I caught 2 largemouth on the ned and caught a largemouth and a smallmouth on the crank. Last week I had a day when I caught 14 in 2hrs 12 of them caught on the ned\shallow crank combo.

I've been fishing an average amount of time...maybe even less the past several weeks due to working 50 or 60 hours a week for 3 weeks. Numbers wise I'm not sure but id guess I'm between 200 and 250 for the year maybe even North of that honestly...I've has several 15 fish outings...one weekend I caught 50 or so in about 8 hours total. Just last Thursday I caught 14 in a little over 2hrs. Today was the slowest outing I've had in a while and I still managed 3 decent largies and a nice smallie plus had 2 more hit right at shore and pull off. Size wise I've caught several bass around 5, two 6s and a 7. Weirdest thing for me is the same for everybody which is crazy amounts of people fishing..I've had to be creative when I fish and where I fish but I've still been catching them so I guess it's working out fine.

I have not had anything like that happen..well not to that extreme..I've been sent an extra lure and just been told to keep it. I think you just bought yourself some good fish karma.

Do you have a favorite color baby 1 minus? I was checking tackle warehouse and they dont have a bluegill pattern which would be my first choice...the bone color looks good to me

Agreed..felt that way in 16 and 19 when Clunn won in St. Johns. I've been watching him since I was about 5 years old and he was doing it long before that. Awesome to see these guys still competing with all the new hammers.

Haha this sounds like something that could happen to me for sure. I've had a guy tell me I'm just a punk kid(was 34 at the time I believe) and that somebody should teach me some respect since my parents didn't do it. I told the guy id write down my address and he could stop by and get this resolved anytime. I'm usually ok with bickering,yelling,cursing and even name calling...when it gets to physical threat level...well I'm ready to swing. Not trying to be a tough guy that's just how I was raised...who I am.

Well I've recently gotten into super shallow cranking and I've been doing well on the kvd 1.5 shallow. Looking at other options these two seem to keep coming up. Which one do you prefer and why?

Well I guess what we are talking about is how it feels to the owner...know lots of guys with high end gear that love it and lots with buyers remorse for wasting the extra money.Of course you can't put it into numbers because the math doesn't matter the experience of the user matters. To me I've used a $200 rod then a $400 rod and it wasn't twice as good to me..in terms of twice the build quality and twice the enjoyment or even function. So it's not worth twice the money. There is a reason that the pros aren't always using the highest dollar gear. Yes some of it comes down to sponsor responsibility...but they rarely use the highest end gear up the spinners they have. Why do you suppose that is? These guys are fishing for hundreds of thousands of dollars...if there was advantage to this high end gear wouldn't they use it? Let me say that I'm more geared for function over form so where a lot of this gear doesn't matter to me is when a rod or reel is .5oz lighter or a tiny bit smoother. Maybe I'm the opposite of the person these companies are developing this high dollar gear for.