LrgmouthShad

Don’t do that to me ?? ? If I discover that spooks become a big deal for me, I may consider it.

Those are the ones I got because of castsbyfly’s reasoned explanation. I also picked up a few Sexy Dawgs, just because they were readily available and offer a different size. Hope to be fishing with them soon and hope I don’t wind up opening up a bait monkey rabbit hole. Already went down that with crankbaits Thanks!

I can't do it man. I can't. That rod is admittedly really good for a lot of different things, but to me, it's my sacred spinnerbait rod, and I want it to stay that way. I want one always rigged, and I want it on that rod. Thanks though. Maybe once I come to my good senses, I'll take the recommendation

Yeah.... I thought about that. I have 6'9 MH (kinda close to M) F rod, but it is a fast, and I am less confident about it holding fish on treble hooks. Otherwise it's M spinning gear or my 6'10 H Falcon Expert and there ain't no way I'm taking a spinnerbait off that thing... ever.

Okay great, thank you. Closest I've got is iRod Genesis III Cold Stone Swim and Vibrating Jig Rod 7'2 MH MF. Nowadays I use it for a variety of lures, but it's been a great lipless rod for me. Seems to keep the fish pinned. So pending other recommendations, I'll give it a shot for the walking baits

Thanks man. Could you also walk me through your setup? Rod and line

Hey y'all, Looking at getting some super spook jrs. Seems like a simple place to start with walking baits. Midway USA offers some with feathers and some without feathers. Wondering which I should get. Thanks y'all.

Really fantastic answer thank you

Tom do you think there was and continues to be… a population of large bass on a lake possessing really thick, really difficult shallow cover that tries to seek out the absolute most difficult place for bass boats to get too?

I started to try to learn recently too. If I could go back and change what I did in the past, I would stop old me from fishing a point just because it’s a point. I want there to be some cover, or at least something. A brush pile, some rock, tires, standing timber, whatever. Just some kind of target. Makes me a whole lot more comfortable and I’ve had better luck offshore when I have something clear to throw at. Not to say I won’t throw at structure without any cover. But I want there to be something. Maybe it’s just a hard spot. Something Yeah as soon as I got back to the house I struck up conversation with somebody who had fishing poles in their truck and they mentioned at some point that somebody they know just caught “like a 12lber” out of a pond. And I just thought, yep, definitely could be true ?

Okay gotcha. There’s probably some people that will be surprised at your definition of shallow. Historically, larger than average bass that I’ve caught have been in relatively shallow water close to deep water. But I haven’t been in this part of the country for very long, and I also haven’t fished in big drought periods I was looking up some information on Lake Conroe recently and saw that the lake record at almost 16lbs… yes 16lbs you heard that right… was caught in mere two feet of water at the back of Weirs creek

Nope, completely disagree. I think there is no way to say for sure. I think on some lakes, there is so much shallow habitat that a more numerous and potentially bigger population lives shallower. Think of all those big bass that are caught flipping in Florida. Also worth considering is what “shallow” and “deep” exactly mean. How shallow is shallow? And a hump offshore could still be shallow but it is nonetheless “out there”

And the first few casts… “Gosh dangit… how do I do this again?”

While out today, I switched the reel on my jig rod just for funsies. Moved Lew’s Speed Spool LFS to it to replace the Daiwa Tatula 100. Very surprisingly… I don’t drastically prefer one over the other. Tatula is 70 dollars more, I think. Not a Lew’s commercial. I like both reels, for the most part. But the price value of the Lew’s is persuasive. I did a little skipping with it too. thats all

Hey man, very sorry to hear you’re going through this. I can offer you a story of what I did to help heal my shoulder to try to help, but I understand your injury and mine are certainly not exactly the same. Nonetheless, maybe you can find something useful. I would first try to see if you can do without surgery. That means actively trying to heal your shoulder, putting down both the rod and the paddle. I, like you, and like other bassresource members, tried to help my shoulder while still fishing by making some adjustments to how I fished, including changing how I cast. It’s a losing battle, in my opinion. Take a break for a while, get a diagnosis from a doctor if you do not yet have one, and after a period of rest, seek out professional or DIY physical therapy. PT will hurt some, but as long as you are not overdoing it and it is “good” pain, you should see progress. If PT fails, and I’m talking about after months of effort, someone else can offer better advice than me. I took a break from fishing for maybe a couple or few months and got so fed up with it that I started getting more aggressive with PT. Turns out, by that point, PT is all I needed. My pain steadily lessened and my strength steadily improved. I just got back from fishing for over 8 hours, power fishing for most of it, even crankbaiting with a heavier stick. I have zero pain. Sincerely hope you are able to make a recovery Edit add-on: Also, for context, before my recovery, I had pain whenever I brushed my teeth or pushed a shopping cart, as examples. It was really bad for while

Yeah he's the guy I learned that from. I will continue to do it. But once he talked through how it's done, I just found and entered everything myself. And oh yeah, it takes hours.

You know the ol' Texas historical Google Earth imagery trick? Go to around 2011-2013 drought period and look around? Thought that it was a secret but I discovered that it's talked about enough that it's not really a secret. Plus only seems to work around Texas cuz we get big droughts

Man I was a trigger pull away from heading to Conroe. But the wind made me cancel those weekend plans. I'll just be back at Somerville tomorrow.

Oh yeah. That's decently far. I'm talking Somerville

Okay. Our lakes have experienced vastly different weather then. Kinda surprised by that. My lake has come up about 3.5ft from the rain. Water temps last I was on the water was hovering around 70. That was two weeks ago though. Pretty far southeast of you.

Nice fish and good finish! What are those fish doing? Talk to me. Has the rain pushed em up? You got a lot of shad spawning?

Good to see you made it back alright. How was the tourney?

? Nice. And it worked out for you too. I just finished my workout of the day.

Hey y’all, For the past few years, whenever I’m asked what my strengths are, I generally respond someplace with optimism. I think a lot of that trait is born out of my passion for fishing. If I was a pessimist, there’s hardly a way that I could enjoy fishing. I tell myself every day - multiple times - that I am very happy exactly where I am at, and even if circumstances worsen, I will continue to find a way to be happy. Are you an optimist? If you are, how do you think you learned that trait, or were you born with it? “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be” - Abraham Lincoln Lastly, I try to give thanks often that I have a pretty good life. I understand many others have it harder than I do, and that I cannot fully understand someone’s life unless I am in their shoes.

I am loyal to the FG knot on my braid to leader spinning setups. It occasionally gives me pains to tie, but most of the time I get it done in about 45sec and it never ever fails me when I tie it correctly, which is just about all of the time. Couple things on the FG. I agree with your original assessment that a smoother 8 strand is going to be a little more troublesome if you do not cinch each turn tightly. If you cinch each turn properly, you’ll be fine with 8 strand or 4 strand. Another note: the FG works best when the leader material is a bit thicker than the main line. The most trouble I have with the FG is when I’m using a setup like 15lb to 8lb. Again, I’m fine if I cinch everything tight enough, but the smoother the braid and the smaller the leader, the more careful I have to be. Check every FG knot you tie. Pull it hard. If there is any slippage, any at all, even a little, retie