Fishlegs

What a fish! Congrats!

Great fish, and super cool fly by. Have you seen yourself on the facebook page?

Wow! What a beast @FishTax! I bet that was fun. I love that the kids saw it.

A 15 1/2 ft gator in a 17 ft boat?

I hope you had good shoes on when you stepped on those lures @Blue Raider Bob! From the stories you tell it seems like you never have a dull day on the water. 😂

Nice fish!

I don't have any stories, but I wish you a speedy & full recovery.

That is a very beautiful, and peaceful looking lake @Jar11591. Nice intro music for your video. If you're going to sing that song you need to make sure you choose an appropriate hat. 😉

Welcome, and congrats on the beautiful smallies! I hope you have a great trip.

I went to the river after work on Friday. The park where I fish is always jam packed when the weather warms up. This was no exception. My favorite spot had 3 people on it so I had to start somewhere else. I ended up catching a decent smallmouth on the third cast, but then it was nothing for the next hour and a half. The wind was starting to blow pretty hard so I moved to a more protected area. I wasn't the only one who had that idea. There was a boat, a kayak, and 3 others fishing from the bank within sight of where I stopped. I didn't see anyone else catch a fish, so I felt pretty good catching 3 bass within 10 minutes of getting there. None of them were big, but it's better than nothing. After a few minutes I saw a blowup on some shad so I cast in that direction. It was a perfect cast, right in the middle of the ripples where the blowup happened. I let the lizard sink to the bottom, and felt a tug on the line. I set the hook. The fish immediately swam toward me so I couldn't feel the weight of the fish. I assumed it was another small one until I caught up with it. Once I got some resistance on the fish it jumped. This was a nice one. The splash got the attention of the people around me so I had an audience of a boater, a kayaker, 3 other fishermen, along with an older couple who were walking by. All eyes were on me. I was using a spinning reel with 6 lb line so there was no chance of flipping this fish up over the riprap so I had to climb down the rocks to get it. I managed to keep the fish on while climbing down. When I pulled the fish out of the water I heard several "atta boys" from the onlookers. It's cool to see people pulling for each other. It started out tough, but turned into a decent night. Two smallmouth, and three largemouth with the last one being a 4 pounder. Not bad for a Friday night bank trip at an overcrowded park.

Wow! A 4 lb white bass would be mighty fun to catch.

If you’re planning to start with small soft plastics I’d start with a medium spinning combo for yourself. You’ll want to dedicate more time to helping your grandson than you will to learning to cast a baitcaster. I’m sure Bass Pro will have plenty of good options in whatever price range you want. As for your grandson, I’d recommend taking him with you and letting him pick out his own. They make tons of color options that kids like. If he likes the rod and reel he’ll be more likely to get excited about using it. Whatever you choose, I’m sure the time with the grandson will mean more than the equipment he’s using. Good luck, and feel free to ask any questions you may have on this forum. It’s full of good info, and great users.

Nice!

Maybe you should see if he wants to go fishing now that he has more time.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Your big fish videos are always great, but the ones where you get to fish with your wife are your best. Congrats on the day! I hope you get more like that.

I’ve heard it said that a good fisherman never gets skunked. They only run out of time. Fishing can be tough some days, but even the tough days fishing are more fun than work. Take care of your family, yourself (you’re probably tired), and keep casting my friend.

It was not long ago. I bought a bunch of rage swimmers on that deal. Give it time, and it’ll probably cycle back through.

Zoom trick worms. All colors work at some time IME. I rig them weightless, TX rig, Ned heads, shakey head, nose hooked, as a trailer, and just about any other way you could think of. One of my favorite lures.

For most of us 50 bass is a fantastic month. Swamp Girl says...

You need to go to Maine to let @Swamp Girl show you how it's supposed to work. 🤣

I was able to get out on a boat with a friend over the long weekend. This friend is willing to let me help run the boat. The last couple of times I've fished with him he's been helping me learn how to operate a boat so that if/when I get one of my own I'll have some valuable experience. Every time he lets me do it I realize that there's a lot I have to learn so I really appreciate him doing it. If I had a boat as nice as his I'd be scared to let me operate it. 🤣 As we were leaving the ramp, he said that I was in charge, and to go wherever I wanted. Our first spot started off with my friend catching a feisty 3 lb 10 oz smallmouth right up against a grass line with a speed worm. He said he thought it was the biggest smallmouth he's ever caught. A PB is a perfect way to start the day, right? We moved on down the bank only catching a couple away from the grass. We decided to run back up, and try the grass again. We caught a couple more pretty quickly so we decided to stick with the grass pattern until it quit working. It worked all morning. We caught 12 fish before lunch time, and 8 of them were caught on the edge of the grass with a speed worm. Nothing big. Mostly 2 to 2.5 pounders along with the 3+ lb smallmouth, but it was a fun morning. My friend's grandson joined us around lunch time, but we had no luck finding fish after that. The picture below shows everything I threw all day. I caught none on the pink trick worm, one on the chrome lipless, two on the spinnerbait, and 4 on the speed worm. My friend caught all 5 of his on a speed worm, including the smallmouth which was the big fish of the day. One interesting note is that I didn't notice how many bugs there were while I was behind the console driving the boat. I let the grandson take over when he joined us so I moved to the center seat. I found out about the bugs pretty quickly. I had to wash my hair 3 times when I got home to get all the dead bugs out of my scalp. It was definitely worth it though. I made some mistakes navigating the boat, but I gained some valuable experience. I doubt that I'll ever own a boat as nice as my friend's, but I do hope to have one of my own some day. He's a brave man for letting me operate it, and it is appreciated.

That's on the epic level like Glenn's @MN Fisher.

No doubt.

Whatever size the person standing next to me is catching fish on. 🤣

@Glenn I think videos "other than BassResource" is (or should be) implied in the original question. Your videos are great. Watching one on Youtube is how I found this site.