bp_fowler

I will throw spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits on the same combo. A Daiwa Tatula Elite 7’3” Medium Heavy power Fast action. I prefer a fast to snap it out of weeds which is usually what I throw chattterbaits in and around.

Hardcore!

8,10,12,15 and 20lbs fluoro (Seaguar Invisx). Lighter weight used for braid to leaders setups on spinning gear. 12lbs for cranks, Chatterbaits, and football jigs, 15lbs for spinnerbaits, and 20lbs for pitching. 10,12, and 15lbs mono (Trilene Big Game) 10lbs for squarebills and small poppers, 12lbs for small buzzbaits/ploppers, 15lbs for spooks. 10, 12, and 50 lbs braid ( Suffix 832 and Revolve) mainline for spinning gear and 50lbs for punching.

I’m not much of a TV person either. I’ve never seen it although it sounds like an interesting concept. Being alone wouldn’t bother me. What would do me in would probably be starvation.

2026 hasn’t been kind to me so far. I haven’t got to fish as much as I had in previous years and when I have it’s typically been sink city. Today was my time fishing in several weeks and I caught eleven but they were all smaller fish. To make things worse I spotted (spooked) three very large fish that I had no idea inhabited this particular reservoir. Anyways here’s my best three fish for what it’s worth.

Woo hoo!

My drop shot rod is also my ned rig rod so I like to have it tied ahead of time if I think I’m going to use it.

I’ve spent my last few days off exploring some of the more remote ponds that I yet been to. Unfortunately the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze as 4 out of the 5 ended up being total dink fests. I did add to my abandoned water craft count for the year. Today being my last day off I decided to fish a tried and true spot. 77 degrees and cloudy, winds 10-15 with gusts up to 27 wsw. Water clarity was about 6’. Started things off with the white/chartreuse jack hammer which caught 3 for me before I straightened the hook out on a snag. I then switched to an Evo elite in blue gill and caught another 4. Tried a jig, crankbait, and even the choppo but they would only eat the vibrating jigs. Here’s the best of the bunch: On another note I also lost three. I’ve always used fast action rods for vibrating jigs even though I know lots of folks prefer a moderate. Never been a problem for me before today and if this turns out to be anything other than a fluke I may have to reconsider my approach.

New pond this pond this morning. 54 and clear skies. Winds out of the South at 3-4. Gin clear water. Started out with the wacky senko, winds picked up switched to an Evo Elite. Found a nice shallow flat on the north end of the pond and caught 22. Bad news is they were all dinks. Still a beautiful day to fish.

@thediscochef Congrats on the new PB!

75 and blue skies. Winds out of the south gusting to 22. Water vis about 18”. Fished the crappie hole this afternoon. Started at the north end dragging a football jig with no luck. Moved to a rocky point and got a nibble but when I set the hook no one was home. Switched to a big Colorado Spinnerbait and began working a pocket which is a shallow flat with plenty of submerged brush. Caught 2, one dink and this gal just shy of 5#.

I like their stuff that I have tried. The drop minnow has caught both LM and SM for me rigged on a drop shot. The sneaky underspin has been especially good for me. Especially in clear pressured ponds where I caught quite a few LM with it last year.

Nice ride! With your increased towing capacity you’re going to be getting a bigger boat right? 😆

Happy birthday @Dwight Hottle !! 69 and partly cloudy almost no wind to speak of. I reminded myself today why I don’t fish spots in the wildlife area without doing on the ground scouting first. I thought I would have a pleasant paddle up the creek to get to the pond. Started out like this Then it became this Which meant I had to do a lot of this After I finally got launched back into the pond I fished around a couple pockets before catching them in the second one I tried. Got 6 all together. A 20” An 18” The rest were all 12-15” All 6 caught on a 1/2oz bladed jig in white/chartruese. Besides the rough portage it wasn’t a first canoe trip of the year. Also I found this and I really want to know how the heck the got it back there after I struggled manhandling my canoe through the woods.

I have a couple of new rods and one old one that have cork handles. I’d like to treat them with U40 or something similar. How does it work? Good/bad experiences? Anything I need to know?

I’m either on the bank, a canoe or a co-angler in the back of someone else’s boat. So I’m limited on the number of rods I can carry, sometimes it’s as few as two with 5 being the most. That being said a rod just isn’t as useful to me if it can only do one thing. Thankfully most rods can do more than one thing regardless of what the label says.

Got out today before we get another round of storms and cold weather. High 85 and sunny with wind out of the SW putting a nice chop on the water. Decided to throw the spinner bait at some dark spots out in the middle. Caught three. Used a tandem with an orange kicker blade instead of my single Colorado. Best Spinnerbait fish. Moved down along the bank with cattails and a deep hole in front of them. Pitched a jig around that area and caught another four. Had to horse them through the reeds to get them on the bank but it worked out. Best jig fish.

I can’t think of any lure that I stopped throwing because it stopped catching fish. I can think of plenty I stopped throwing because something else caught my interest or attention.

Doesn’t have to be glass. I crank with a moderate graphite rod. Personal preference kinda thing. You have an idea of what you want/price point?

No problem! Yeah the DT is probably my favorite Crank bait so far. I know you’re getting off the bank soon and I think that’s where the DT 6 shines. Especially working that transition between shallow and deep water.

I just began fishing cranks in the last few years. I was on the bank a lot when I first started. That meant I mostly fished square bills early on in the season before the aquatic vegetation got too thick. Anyways, you already mentioned the Frittside, I just started using that this year and have had some success. A more traditional square bill like a Strike King KVD 1.5 or Bill Lewis ATV have been good to me also. For your mix diving stuff I’m a big fan of DT 6s and 8s I’m pretty basic when it comes to colors. I like to have something more natural like a baitfish pattern, Shad, bluegill, perch whatever is in your particular body of water. I also like something in a more bold or contrasting color for dirty or stained water. Think fire tiger, chartreuse or even the bright reds and oranges. If I’m going to have a third color it will usually be a craw pattern.

Ah yes, the good ol’ lunge to nowhere. I remember those from two-a-days in high school and still shudder 😂

Post frontal conditions today. H 44 degrees bright and sunny with winds gusting out of the NW. Returned to the Pork Chop ponds I first fished last week. I started in the SE corner of the first pond. The previous night’s rain and today’s winds had stirred up the bottom enough to reduce water visibility by a good margin. This particular pond was almost devoid of any kind of structure or cover at least that I could perceive. The exceptions being a rock culvert in the NE corner and a beaver lodge on the southern bank. The bank sloped at a gentle angle creating somewhat of a flat that extended at least 10 yards out into the middle. So the plan was to work my way around the whole pond fan casting out over this shelf. My first cast parallel to bank caught a dink with a white mini max which would end up being welded to my hand. and I would end up with 4 on 6 bites. I moved on to the second pond which I blanked on the first time I fished it. This time however I moved along the northern bank hoping the sun warmed water might treat me better. The terrain and vegetation made this a tough row to hoe but I ended up catching my biggest of the day just in front of a submerged bush. The third pond which previously had been the only one where I caught anything stymied me. Called it a day after that.

I’ve got two small ponds about 10 minutes away from. Both hold bass but only one has bigs. A 15 minute drive puts me at 6 different small reservoirs. 5 bigger lakes/reservoirs within 30 minutes. The wildlife area with 100s of strip ponds is 35-45 minutes depending on how deep I want to get in there. But my longest drive is the 12ish hour one to MacGregor Bay Ontario.

The short answer for me is: I don’t know what I don’t know. Every time I buy a new rod or reel I tend to spend a little bit more money than last time. Right now I’m at the $250ish although some of that was more expensive gear that I got a deal on. All that being said I could see myself spending more. I just don’t know what my limit is yet.