Fishlegs

Hit the river with @roadwarrior yesterday. This man knows how to find smallmouth. He put me on my best smallie of 2022...so far. He had a new digital scale that we were excited to try out. We clamped it on, and saw 1.7. No way! I thought I must have done something wrong so I tried again. Same thing. Then we realized it was set to KILOGRAMS. DOH! We weren't sure how to switch it to pounds so we snapped a picture, and put her back in the water. Google says 1.7 kg = 3.75 lbs. I'll take that. Thanks again, roadwarrior! It's always a pleasure my friend!

This is very true. It can be insane at times.

Pickwick is an all you can eat shad buffet in the fall. Shad imitators work well. Lipless, squarebills, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, underspins, or paddletail swimbaits are what I’d recommend.

Don't forget that @TnRiver46 knows where the Forensic Anthropological Research Facility (a.k.a - the body farm) is, OK? I don't want you to disappear. ?

I've been trying to think of how you could use those guys. The names you listed are legends so anything from them would be incredible, but IMO they have too much to offer just to field mundane questions about what rod, line, or lures they like. One of the main things I love about fishing with more experienced anglers are the stories they tell of how they became the fishermen they are today. I love learning from their experience because it makes me a better fisherman. Imagine the stories those guys have. To become the best ever, these guys mastered the art of knowing why, when, and how to do certain things. What I'd love to hear are the hows/whys behind their decisions. Getting into the minds of those greats could be extremely entertaining and educational. It would be great in video format or written articles. The stories those guys could tell would help us all become better bass fishermen. Sharing experiences, and learning to be better bass fishermen is why we're on this site. That would be my wish from them. That...or a chance to fish with them and hear the stories myself. ?

I'm working on the problem. I've been clean for about a month so I'm pretty proud.

I haven't gotten to fish as much as I'd like lately due to life & the heat, but I got a little break this week was it was good to fish again. It started out with a friend who bought some property with a pond a couple years ago asking me to come see if I could catch a bass. He's seen them in there, but he hasn't been able to catch one. It only took me a few minutes to catch this guy. The pond appears to have a great forage base so they should grow quickly. Later in the week we decided to take the boat out and see what was happening on the river. It started out slow, but we ended up catching 15 on the day. The only real question was which of these is smaller? lol Fishing on the Tennessee River on a holiday can be tough, but the weather report gave a 60% chance of rain...so we decided to fish. Most people believed the weatherman so we had the lake to ourselves. The weather was perfect for fishing. It was overcast with temps in the upper 60s. The bass were schooling up, busting shad, and tearing up the lipless cranks. Nothing big, but we caught 25 about like the one below from 7:00-12:00. I'm really looking forward to fall. Around noon people realized that the weatherman was wrong so we decided to go grill burgers and hot dogs to celebrate Labor Day. Doesn't get much better than that.

Finding bass busting on shad is always exciting. I've had days when they'll bite anything I throw into the feeding frenzy, and days when I throw every lure I have at them, but can't get a bite on anything. The key is to keep trying until you find what works. I usually seem to have better luck when I throw something that looks similar to a shad, but has a slight variation in color so that it stands out. A lipless, paddletail swimbait, or popper usually work best for me.

Internet friends can’t compare to a lifelong mate, but know that you have a lot of folks pulling for you, and praying for you. All of us on BR think highly of you. Hang in there, man.

Glad to hear it went well. Keep on pushing, and believing.

Aren't we all weird in our own way? No doubt he's different, but I enjoy his show. I watch it whenever I can. I usually decide to keep watching a fishing show based on whether or not I'd go fishing with the host. I'd go fishing with Zona. I bet it would be a trip you'd never forget.

Maybe it was just an unfortunate bad batch. I have rage craws, rage menaces, rage bugs, and rage swimmers in probably 10-12 colors. I have not had that issue with any of mine. They’ve all looked pretty consistent. Did you get them online? Is it possible to return or swap them?

I'd say you're REALLY good at putting your friends on fish, and we're very grateful for that. You're also REALLY good at catching smallies. I've netted some for you that would make @A-Jay proud. As for my special skills, I think I'm pretty good at recovering after losing a good fish, not getting discouraged after a tough day on the water, and backing the trailer down the ramp by the 4th try. ?

Gorgeous fish! Well done.

If it’s the blue that’s so loud on the rod then Legalis might look OK since it’s also blue…if that matters.

Daiwa Fuego, Exceler, or Legalis are solid reels in that price range. They can all be found below MSRP.

I think we need to see if there’s a spinnerbait on the back of that shirt. ? ?

I can’t answer how long it would last, but I would suggest that you consider using a mono backing. Filling a 4000 size reel with all fluoro would be fairly expensive.

I don't have a picture, but I use the type of hooks you referred to for my rod storage. I hung them horizontally because of space constraints. They're screwed directly into the studs in the wall in my garage. Three hooks per row seems to support the rods pretty well.

How awesome is it to live in a bait shop? Curious minds want to know. ?

If you've caught zero fish on a plopper that means I'm ahead of you by one. Maybe we're doing it wrong. Congrats on the fantastic day @ol'crickety!

Got out a couple times this week. The fishing was tough in the heat, but fishing is always good for me. The first largemouth hit a 3.75 Rage Swimmer, and the second one was on a baby brush hog. The smallmouth is my first smallie of '22 so I'm happy about that even though it's a dink. It always amazes me when a 10" fish attacks a 7" worm. ?

Nice smallmouth!

Looks like a fox that isn't in very good shape to me.