bloom

yesterday I caught several bass on a brand new swim jig, the first one was hooked from the insiide through the cheek plate, and I had a tough time getting it out. I'm sure the fish did not appreciate getting his face jerked around. I took my pliers and pinched the barb down and caught several more with no issues. Normally I pinch barbs on all my flies and panfish hooks, and I have taken the time to file large barbs into micro barbs. Wondering if anyone else goes barbless on bass lures?

loons can't land in trees, they cant land or walk on land, must be cormorants

Johnson Century guy here, still have it and it works fine. The rod was an eagle claw multi piece travel rod don't think I still have it.

good luck!

I tried one of those this summer and love it, in addition to sun protection it is very comfortable in the heat. Mine has thumb loops so it also covers half the hands.

Those trails are called active tracks and they can get pretty cluttered after a while. With the screen on mapping press menu, one of the choises are waypoints and active tracks press that one, next one of the choises is delete active tracks that is the one that clears your screen.

A great day on the water--congrats.

Cool fish and a great story to go with that fish, you will remember that experience the rest of your life.

What a heartbreaking tale, I feel for you, to be that close and have the big one slip through your fingers--ouch. I would have been kneeling in the pond scum crying also. I would check the hooks to make sure they are sharp enough to dig into your fingernail. I usually don't change hooks unless one of the hooks get bent or broken. Sometimes it seems that every fish in the pond hits the same way, and it seems to me all the little ones were just batting at your lure rather than grabbing it to eat. the big one of course wasn't messing around but got away anyhow. Better days are coming.

Welcome to the forum, sounds like you have some wonderful fishing right out your back door'

the last 2 or 3 inches are the best part of the rod, you can certanly glue another tip on and get a usable fishing rod but it will not be the rod it once was.

I also use a tiny spatula, about 1/4 inch wide. cleanup is just a quick paper towel wipe. and if I forget to clean, the hardened epoxy scrapes off with a razor blade.

Finally got out on the water last Saturday and Sunday. Did not find any concentrations of fish but kept moving around, catching a fish here and a fish there, mostly on jerkbaits. Caught largemouth, smallmouth, walleye, and northern pike and had a wonderful time. My favorite fish was a bass right at the boat on a jerk bait. He takes a swipe at my bait and misses with a few inches of line out, I'm bummed and saying darnit or something to myself with the bait still dangling there and he comes up for another swipe and miss, 2 or three seconds and I give the bait the tinyest twitch and he nails it! I imagine he was sitting below giving my lure the stinkeye waiting for it to move.

I sure do, but I 'm not sure what retrieve ratios we went from or to. I'm thinking the reels came with 3.7 to 1, and the High speed gears were five point something to one?

The skunks come easy for me, but I always have a good time.

spank em spankey!

way to go, congrats!

How bout used? some good deals in the fishing flea market.

I also use the diamond file on my leatherman. I sharpen 3 sides, one across the back and the other two kind of angled towards the point forming a triangle of sorts. Do an equal number of strokes per side maybe 5 or 6. The fingernail test mentioned earlier is what I go by to see if a hook needs sharpening or if it needs more sharpening.

hello and welcome

jerkbait

well that's a dandy, congrats!

Hayward, I get to fish the Chip quite often.

A bit to the north, we missed the brunt of that snow storm, maybe 3 inches wet slushy and heavy, Another storm of some sort on the way today. Not much open water around here, the bigger lakes will be sometime in May. Thanks for the report, it was a fun read.

What a great day, You must be walking on air. congrats.