thediscochef

I find that "less drag" in this situation is often like, one click on the star, not much more than that. Maybe two clicks on my spinning reels. Just enough to gain some extra forgiveness from the bass gods if she decides to dive into something sharp or give a real hard kick/run, but not enough to change how the rod loads or make a particularly noticeable difference in the ability to fight the fish. As my mono loses stretch it also loses a little strength, and the pressure on the knots starts to cause them to abrade the weight bearing lines regardless of how well they're tied. A little extra give is insurance. I would note that I don't do this at all with my topwater, finesse, 110s, and lighter wire presentations. The ned rig, topwater (non-frog), 110, and light wire tubes get set at the lightest drag I think I can easily set a hook with

As has been stated, you have effectively illegally stocked the COE lake and then posted about it online. You risk introducing diseases and parasites to the COE lake when you do this as well. Shallow water in warm weather can increase these risks. You should start eating those fish or maybe find someone else who wants to gamble with their private pond, but from a legal and aquatic ecosystems standpoint you should stop doing that right away

Just depends on where I'm at and what I'm doing. I have a "short-walk box" and a couple options for a "long-walk box". The short walk box is a flambeau T4 orange/white, I use the two big trays up front and a smaller one next to them, the space above for scale and tools, and the space behind for a wide array of plastics. Allows me to carry a lot without a huge box, but it gets heavy on a long long walk. I generally bring it if I'm gonna be parked somewhere for a while picking an area apart. The long-walk box is a plano weekender 3500 softsider. Allows me to bring a handful of confidence lures and 3-4 bags of plastic plus a scale. Light weight and I can carry it for a longer way without being so worn out. In the winter I have a plano 3500 stowaway that I use to ferry more hardbaits but downsizing the amount of plastic I carry. The nice thing is that the same 3500 trays fit across all of the boxes so I can sort of just have one terminal tackle box for both the flambeau and the stowaway. As far as baits that's just dependent on where I'm going but generally with the short walk box i like to have 2-4 different types of topwaters, some lipless, a jerkbait or two, some chatterbaits, and stuff to rig plastics 3-5 different ways (texas, ned, shakey, carolina, free). Generally lets me cover all depths and speeds until I get dialed in on something.

the reason I've never caught a jig fish is because I don't keep the jigs long enough ? my favorite spot to fish gets choked up with invasive milfoil on top of the rocks, I wish so dearly that it could be hydrilla. the milfoil clings to everything and makes punching a real task. As long as it's not filamentous algae I'm good with it though. It was a beautiful morning

Tough morning, snapped off more tungsten than I'd like and also a very nice looking football jig. Nested two reels bad bad. Flubbed two of the three bites I got, but that's just fishing sometimes. I'm not in a bad mood about it...it was 58 degrees outside this morning. There wasn't much that was gonna spoil my mood.

This community is filled with some of the nicest and most openly helpful people in all of bass fishing. There's so many examples that I'm convinced of this fact. I had an issue with a guide on one of my rods, @Chris Catignani sent me some new guides out of the goodness of his heart. I still haven't completed the repair because of who I am as a person, but I haven't forgotten that he did that, and when the time does come I know I have the right parts. Thanks Chris!

You have to be the menu

Also, that spotted bass of mine was on a whopper plopper in the rain. Channeling the inner @ol'crickety !

I had a blast! You are the Mag II Master! Thanks for such a kind write-up, you are fun to fish with, smart, and skilled at taking on new challenges

My palm is 4" wide, but don't let that fool you. This is a pure, unadulterated, tournament-winning Walleye

Out here slayin monsters ?

Be safe, @ol'crickety! My sister is up there right now too, all hoping for the best. This did make me think about what happens to the bass that get drawn into a waterspout. I think I'm gonna throw a frog at the next one and see if I get a bite ??

That minimax is a killer! Spot remover color + Yamamoto Shad shape worm = 6-13s

Night Dinks by Bob Seger

Dink and a freebie, life is good. Fish are shallow shallow right now, the Texas rig bite is fun. Got the jigging spoons off the bank, still in package and no water in the package. No rust. Gotta love an easy $10

I'm not horsing with anything less than 14lb line, and even then if it's pulling drag I'm gonna let it. I have a tendency to back off my drag after a hookset into a good fish, I had way too many snaps at the bank when I first started because I was using the drag to horse the fish, not the rod. I try to get them in my hand ASAP because the longer we fight the more likely it is that something will go wrong, and in the summer time heat stress becomes a concern. I just try to keep the fish pinned and get it in as soon as I can will it. Those techniques are responsible for the 4# SM I caught in May, and one of the 7# I caught in June. The 7# was on 6# line with a tiny light wire crappie tube jig through a bunch of invasive milfoil. There is no horsing in that situation lol

Dink fest on the ol monster. Fall fishing officially arrived on 9/12 at sunrise. Yee haw

in general, i always try to go back out the way i went in

I understood a straight tail worm to be more like a zoom shakey head worm, a senko, or a sluggo (all directly tapered from the hook bend entry to tail); and that trick worms were their own category of worm defined by more subtle yet present non-swimming tail tip features but that's the beauty of open-ended fishing definitions. it's all made up and the points don't matter. welcome to whose line is it anyway

I own exactly three and they don't even get looked at unless it's shad spawn

I mean the Mann's Jelly Worm is a texas rig bait for a lot of us, it's basically just a giant trick worm. I've never had any luck on a texas rigged trick worm, but I also haven't fished it much

I cut my teeth fishing a chatterbait over riprap...if you let it fall, say goodbye LOL it's one of the main reasons I started off using the micro version...way cheaper when they inevitably get snagged. But a chatterbait over riprap is deadly. I've never caught a bass on a standard skirted jig, though I got close last week. Never caught a fish on a crankbait. Never caught a double.

That's a pretty fish! Nice

I kind of learned bass fishing with chatterbaits. But small ones. It is not too hot for chatterbaits in Texas right now but my use has been limited to morning shaded areas around boathouses/marina docks, or in later afternoon when open water feeding comes close to the pier for a brief moment. I like a spinnerbait for shad spawn season and fall fishing, I just haven't had so much summer luck on it. I've not caught a fish on a traditional skirted jig yet, that I can remember. But if I'm forced to fish in hotter water then that's probably the choice of the three

Lipped crankbaits and the dropshot. I can get bites on a dropshot but settinf the hook has been my problem. The lipped crankbait is a nemesis. I don't think I've gotten into the right conditions for it and as far as I can tell its just crank and wind with some pauses. The lipless on the other hand is my bread and butter. I tend to throw the same stuff over and over a little too often but I consider myself a more well-rounded fisherman than I was a year ago. I wanted to do more with a lizard this year but I can't force strikes on anything. My strongest point is definitely fishing riprap