FishTax

@Rocky998 the SB had a standard split tail zoom trailer. Your best chance of a bite for lmb is on senko, IMHO. Spinnerbait, for me, is very hot or cold bite. Senko gets bit way more often. Don't over think color. Maybe people slay on green pumpkin. I know people who swear by black or June bug. I think they all work and color is not too important compared to other factors.

I was at work.. in an office without the cool glasses so I missed it entirely. My kids saw it though and were pumped, so I'm more happy they're happy then anything else.

I'll be in the mountains this weekend, smallie country. I've never fished for them. The house I'm renting is on a creek with trout, unknown on bass but you know I'll try 😎 I'll probably hit a river, definitely a creek, we'll see. If you absolutely had to catch a smallie of any size, fishing Creek or small river (French broad), what would you throw and where? No idea on water temp, I'd guess around 50. I'm definitely bringing ned, not sure what Else or where to look for them as Creek fishing is a whole different game than lakes in my kayak!

Bass pro sells them. I stumbled on it in store and picked one up.

On the question about what size fish bite spinnerbait, I've caught fish well under 1 lb on 1/2 oz standard spinnerbait. See photo. I've caught crappie on lures that wouldn't fit in their mouth.. so I wouldn't worry about that. With that said, I recommend sticking with senko. Go slow. Either wacky or Texas rig with light weight (1/8) around cover. Cast it, wait until line goes slack when it hits bottom, then slowly life lift rod and repeat.. If rod feels anything different, set the hook. When you're learning, set the hook a lot 😎 they're free. You'll have a bass on before you know it!

Don't rule out tuckertown. There are big fish in all of the listed lakes. I won't know what they're doing but would assume pretty similar to rest of the state. Trying to spawn, bouncing back and forth depending on weather. If they're spawning, look up the river off high Rock. Lakes are full and fish should be shallow with this week's warm weather and muddy water from rain.. I think?

Is that a snagless Sally? I bought one because of you a while back but haven't tied it on yet. Where do you like to throw it?

I'd focus on one body of water and try to get some bites and learn the area and patterns before moving to the next. You need to learn and build confidence, not get confused by the thousands of baits and colors we Constantly discuss here. Start with high probability stuff, like senkos. I didn't fish rivers often but a senko is universal fish catcher! Ps I crossed the Neuse a few hours ago on my way to the beach 😎 would love to fish it sometime when not with family in the van 😊

Just opened my box from BPS spring sale, it had senkos in it. I'm an idiot. Then I bought more at Academy sale. Now bait monkey says I should buy more at TW sale, but I'm fighting it because I have enough to last me 3 years already.

I think I'm more stubborn than anything else. I'll fish 5 hours and get skunked, and only come off the water to keep promises at home but I'm ready to go again as soon as I have an opportunity. Then every once in a while I find a big fish hooked on my line, and that's just the motivation needed to get skunked a few more times 😎

I've never been but it looks beautiful online.. Trying to find something my wife will enjoy also and that's been on my list a while.

Lol I'll pay you to guide me sometime if you want to haha I can support the bait monkey for you! It's probably too short of notice to do a guided trip anywhere, this just sort of popped up this week as an opportunity and now I'm trying to capitalize on my parents taking the kids for the weekend. Wish it wasn't bad weather at the coast, I was excited to do saltwater trip and I think my wife may like that more than bass fishing with me

I'm thinking of going out with a guide next Saturday for a half or whole day somewhere in the state for my birthday. Was going to go to the ocean but looks like potentially bad weather for that. Now I'm thinking of going west, maybe Lake Fontana? My wife is coming and that looks beautiful, I'd like her to join me but she's not into fishing... I'm curious if anyone has recommendations of anywhere in NC they think would be good for a guided fishing trip with short notice. I don't have a particular species in mind and am open minded. I'm not good at fly fishing but like to have fun and would consider it. Maybe this isn't enough notice or is a bad idea, but thought it was worth asking.

Nice! Which version of steel shad do you like? I bought one recently but haven't opened it yet

There are definitely bigs in all the major lakes, and they are definitely hard to catch. I would avoid Norman and Hyco, they're more spots and less LM although they're in there I'm sure. High Rock and that end of the yadkin chain, the Greensboro lakes, mackintosh, Jordan, falls, michie, etc all have bigs. That's my region, if you go further east those Bodies of water have them too. Good luck catching them though 😎 every time I get skunked I'm that much closer to a DD!

If you can gain access to an unpressured pond, those are always fun to shake off the skunk. I went to one last weekend and was catching a good number of them on a spinnerbait, while the lake I usually fish is heavily pressured and I have never gained confidence with the SB there. I love pond fishing.

Academy has Bill Lewis, Yamamoto, and power pro 25% off.. I rarely see Yamamoto on sale so this seems like a good opportunity

Dang @Pat Brown 3 bank monsters! That's awesome! Y'all are gonna get me in trouble at work. I'm supposed to be doing taxes and now I want to sneak down the road and wet a line (ok I always want that, but more when it's 80 outside with a cold and wind coming the rest of the week).

For kids I go cheaper than lightening rod. Watching them try to smash a spider on rip rap with the rod tip will quickly have you buying the cheapest rod Walmart sells. So... Depends on age and experience of the kid. I like ugly stick for it's toughness.

I rarely see them on beds, but one time I was on a buddy's boat on Norman and we found some and watched them for probably 20 minutes. I was very intrigued watching them build the bed and interact, it was very entertaining to me.

Yes that's the one. Tell us more about what you got! That's exactly what I'm looking for right now!

I've only had one I had to cut out. Casting sitting down in kayak, I was tired and apparently the lure touched the water as I was preparing to launch it. Total disaster, but lesson learned. Kind of. Almost did it today from bank, caught a tree but had a quick thumb and salvaged it.

Hit a family pond today. Put my nephew on a beetlespin on my 30 yr old zebco ultralight ugly stick I just cleaned up and he caught this one on second cast. Now he's interested in fishing 😎 my work here is done. Definitely the highlight of family Easter, for me at least.

Offer stands, just let me know if you ever head my way! @ol'crickety that was very generous of you, you're a great Fisher and person!

I generally don't shop at Dick's for political reasons. I don't buy googan baits and I forgot why 🤣. I prefer to buy from small guys like Seibert but also love a good deal so I have a pretty diverse brand selection in my tackle box. Also don't buy Ozark at Walmart for psychological reasons, I'm convinced they can't catch fish. I know that's incorrect, but it's a personal mental block the bait monkey has convinced me of.