Functional

I go through at the "end of the season" and cull anything I used that didn't produce or anything I bought that seemed good and I never used. Other than that everything stays in the boat but I keep it very organized in planos or bins from Walmart with labels. Culled bait is given away to kids and/ or my nephew.

Since we had a thread about people not following up...here's a follow up. Fished the Manns and the KVD wake quite a bit recently. I really prefer the KVD over the Manns. I can fish it very slow and it gets a lot of action, the Manns really needs to be reeled in pretty quick to get good action and then its under the water and I dont get the wake thats been successful for me. When jerking the manns back it works great, the KVD just lets me do both styles as well and better.

ALX Zolo ML+ Maestro rod has been fantastic for me. Ned Rigs Wacky lighter shaky heads weightless flukes/worms

I like having options between manufacturers honestly, particularly with soft baits. There are plenty of copies but some hold up better than others. Kind of a pain to find out which hold up and which dont though. For instance, Keitech easy shiner hasnt been very durable for me vs a Zoom super fluke. Havent tried yet but my BIL was having issues with the 6th sense Divine swimbaits holding up too. At the same time the Keitech Swing Impact FAT has held up great.

I dont know if I should be happy I use a lot of whats mentioned....or worried that I have a LOT of whats mentioned ? Reaction Innovation Sweet Beaver (warmouth) Zoom Super Fluke (smokin shad) Zoom Lizard (pumpkin) Zoom Mag 2 worm (black grape) Zoom Horny Toad (green pumpkin pearl) Should cover majority of the water column depending on how you rig them. If I rig something up T-rig or C-rig its 90% of the time with one of these.

I go from hardly ever a chatterbait bite to it being my biggest producer this year. Mini dragging two 4lbers in 2 weekends among 90% of my other fish.

Not sure if I'd have a change of heart if I was willing to spend that much but if I was going to spend more than 200-300max on a rod I'd probably go custom instead. I'm sure the Megabass/st croix/Loomis top of the line are very nice but I'd want exactly what I want down to thread color for spending that cash. That said the megabass line is super sexy looking.

I came in here to say I think I found him and the biggest bait monkey is myself...Always go in to replenish 1 pack of worms, flukes, etc. and before you know it I have $60 in baits and a new rod. @Big Hands beat me to it though.

So I asked about co vs boater simply because it's a smaller group (they have a club member limit which puts max boaters around 12) and the way its set up encourages a co vs boater situation. Prevents large number of boats and "bonds" the club members. If multiple people have boats they rotate. Cos have a say in where they fish for half the day but boater remains in control of the boat. There are situations where I can be a solo boater but won't know until the monthly pairing meeting if that's the case or not. As far as offering gas money, it's in the bylaws the co has to put up half the tow vehicle and boats gas money and split any launch fees if there are any. Read through the whole thread here on being a co and honestly it's just common courtesy it seems. I'm not a heathen so I'll be fine haha. Mainly considering being a Co just to have a less pressure into to the tournament setting and to learn some of these lakes I've never fished. There are a few I've heard can be stumpy and it'd be nice to learn about it before I blow my lower off my motor.

Ran into a guy yesterday and he told me about a local bass club I'm likely going to end up joining. Not a money tournament and its more relaxed but seeing as I have ZERO fishing tournament experience I'm debating going as a co-angler for a round (or a few) rather than taking my boat and potentially being responsible for another. Any input some of you more seasoned people have? Any input from people who recently go into the scene?

Still cant just go stroking away with it...

Seibert strikes again. I've never owned so many lures of one type and hardly catch fish. Going to dedicate 2 days and only keep Jigs on deck. Very excited to try this daiwa tatula SV. Been wanting to give skipping a real try and this seems like the ticket. Already completely exploded 2 reels trying.

about every year I go through my stuff and if I havent touched it that season it goes in a box for giving out. This year my nephew turns 5 and has been going out with my BIL often so hes getting one hell of a box this year. Previously if I struck up conversation with someone who had kids fishing i'd give it to them, or put it for free at work if it went to someones kids who fish.

I've got the 7'3" mhf casting rod and really like it. Sensitivity is right up there with my st Croix Victory. Cork seems good quality so far and has held up well. It's currently my chatterbait rod but will likely end up as a dedicated bottom contact in the next week or 2 once I find a different chatterbait rod. I don't think you'd be unsatisfied .

Still may end up with another rod and will keep it in mind. Bought a new reel and now have a spare. Overall I feel the same though and I'd be curious how a mod fast works for me.

To follow up on this, different day but I swapped the trailer from Chartreuse to white and caught everything under the sun. No short strikes and everything stayed pinned on the Kage. Thinking back my hint should have been all the tails being pulled off, typically my hint to switch color on my spinners. Also looked back into my notes and I'm using 12lb yozuri hybrid on the kage and 17lb trilene XL on the Sierra. Going to swap reels on my next outing and see what kind of sensitivity difference I get between the two. If no difference both will be mono, if the sierra wakes up I'll swap it to hybrid.

Looks like the black crappie have put the feed bag on or this is a female full of eggs? I don't know anything any crappie. Hit a 1/4oz mini chatterbait.

1) Spinnerbait 2) Chatterbait (if im tossing into new weed growth with old dead stuff) 3) Black/Blue jig with craw trailer (or t-rig creature bait) 4) GP jig with craw trailer (or T-rig creature bait) 5) Squarebill (or this year a wake bait) 6) Depends on conditions I can only fit 6 rods on deck, the rest I rig up for a few conditions based on what the weather is supposed to be or potentially be. Reason for the 2 color jig/creature types is depending on where I'm fishing on my lake it could be muddy or it could be clear. Creature vs. jig is just how I feel that day, usually its 1 jig and 1 creature to see what they prefer.

I was going to put a separate topic up for this but feel it could add to this discussion. This is a SW wind opposed to a NE wind, I'd say its 50/50 on how often we get either around here. I was fishing the wind side of the lake but noticed only ever getting hits on the "dead" areas (highlighted) protected by trees or points. I'd always been told fish the spots where the wind hits (unhighlighted areas). Is this just dependent on the fish's mood or is this "typical" of bass behavior. For context this is a really shallow area of the lake, average depth following creek path is 4-6', anything outside is 2-3'. What I was fishing along the east bank was all 3'MAX.

from my minimal experience the colors and jaw look more threadfin to me. stock up on some sexy shad color.

I feel kinda dumb but I did have a different trailer on than typical now that I'm thinking about it. Didnt fish the sierra yesterday because I wanted to really see how the Kage handled spinners/chatters and had to use a different trailer because I ran out of my typical. I'll give that a shot this weekend and see how she goes.

I've had my Dobyns Sierra micro 704c dedicated as spinnerbait and vibrating jigs for the past 1-2 years now but after rigging up my Kage 73MHF I've realized how much sensitivity i've been missing out on. Both run the same lb test mono and I plan to do the same with a new rod. While I dont need to feel EVERYTHING I can definitely notice the blade vibration feels a lot more muted on the sierra. Before someone says "just use the Kage", I feel I need something a big slower action. While I caught fish with spinners/chatters on the Kage my hookup ratio was definitely lower than the sierra. Could be me reacting faster with more sensitivity but I honestly feel a proper fast doesnt let the bait get inhaled as good as whatever Sierra's Fast is. My question is what rod series/brand/etc. have a similarly slower action for their rating like the Sierra line and is more sensitive than the Sierra. Looking to keep this under $175 but would stretch to $200 if the performance is noticeably different. No brand loyalty as long as it works like I'm looking for.

any particular reason you wouldnt consider a canoe with electric trolling motor instead?

Haha I'll follow up. But I've been throwing a bitsy bug in pumpkin with a baby rage bug/versa craw/zcraw and had no takers yet.

ive caught 2 fish on a jig despite having 2 tied on at all times. A jig is what a spinnerbait is to you.