10,000 lakes Bassin

Are these the same blanks as the Steez AGS just without AGS guides and with EVA grips? Or what’s going on here? Hard to imagine Daiwa would replace their $700 model with a $450 rod. Are we going to see the zillions get discontinued??

First full year in a boat with electronics so I’m not very good at reading my graphs. Also I don’t have much knowledge about thermoclines in general. To me it looks like the top of a thermocline at ~13ft and some fish suspending over it. Do you think thsts what’s going on here? Thanks.

A magdraft freestyle in perch rigged weedless would definitely be an option. 2for the price of one 6” rigged version. I think a 8/0 beast is the standard hook.

Personally I would really focus on that deeper, less choked out area. I’d guess that’s where the bigger fish would be holding. When I’m in my kayak with no electronics I like to a heavy jig as a search tool. A 3/4oz arky jig will let you feel the bottom and feel grass but won’t get miserably buried like something with no weed guard or with treble hooks. Methodically work your way around with the big jig and try to make a mental map of the deeper area, a fish at this stage would be a bonus being that you’re really just mapping it out. Then I’d focus on the spot with your normal stuff, or whatever you have confidence in that won’t get bogged down in the weeds. You know there’s 6” perch in there so that could be a could starting point for bait selection. You know there’s crappie in there too, both those are likely what the big girls are feeding on. 4.8” or 5.8” keitech on an owner beast or flashy swimmer could be good. On the other end of the spectrum I’d look in the thickest of the reeds and other thick cover. A punching setup or a frog would be about all you could use effectively. Hope this helps.

Are you in a kayak or are you shore bound? You’ve checked the whole lake and there isn't anywhere where it gets deeper and the weeds thin out? Did they stock in with walleye or are they naturally reproducing? ’d think there has to be some deeper water for it to hold walleye. I don’t think walleye would thrive if there was no deep water or hard bottom anywhere. Also do you know what type of vegetation is growing out past the reeds? Have you spent much time up shallow in the reeds with a big jig, punch rig, or frog? That's a lot of questions but I think I could help ya out a lot better if I have a better mental picture of the lake. Without any more information I’d go with @softwateronly’s advice and throw something weedless in the 6” range. Maybe a big topwater over top of the grass in low light. The sad truth might be that there really aren’t many 14”+ fish. You might have to spend lots of time and commitment to work through the small fish for the occasional big one.

This is some awesome information so I’d love to hear a bit more about it if you don’t mind. My first question is how do you determine when a bite window is happening? Probably sounds stupid but are you just catching more fish, seeing more blow up’s, seeing more activity on electronics etc? Or is there a lot more that goes into this? Also you said that this is what happens on the lakes you fish, but is it a very different across the country from what you’ve found? This is definitely something I overlook in my fishing and im interested to learn more.

Yeah too soft would be the obvious guess but that’s strange. Maybe it’s not too soft to get good hookups most of the time but if it’s hooked in a weird spot then it doesn’t have the power to get the job done? Only thing I can think of.

Lots of the time bass fishing is an experiment for me. You never know when something could be working better than what you’re using now and vice versa. I can think of multiple examples off the top of my head when switching what was working paid off, and I can think of many more of when it didn’t. But that’s the fun of it for me, the constant steps of putting a puzzle together by trying anything and everything. Atlest that’s how I justify my craziness.

Are you loosing fish on the treble hooked baits or single hooks or about the same equally?

Big pike are sure fun to catch. They can pull on you as hard as you can pull back on them, something the north country bass normally can’t. I had a 32” lock me up on my frog setup last week.

I’m very OCD about my bottom of spool knots. I normally tighten them super tight with the help of a pliers . If I get a fish that takes me to the bottom of the spool I want her coming it the boat. Probably not a bass but a toothy fish could definitely do that even on 50lb braid. I’m going to fish the reel more today. If all seems well I’ll try to stop thinking about it.

@A-Jay Ive got a question for ya. What happens if a new state record is caught after someone has entered a fish for that state? Will their score stay the same or will they have to change it include the new state record? Chances are very low but it got me thinking…

Putting some new line on a ‘21 zillion and I pulled hard to tighten the knot at the bottom of the spool. I heard a little “pop” and it got me really worried I messed something up by pulling on the spool too hard. If it casts fine and reels normally is there anything to worry about? I’m not to good with reels so I’m not confident in taking it apart and double checking to make sure it’s all good. So fish it and see if there are any issues? @Delaware Valley Tackle has some advice? Thanks.

I spent most of my evening today mid strolling. I decided to tie a jig and minnow on a casting rod and I’m glad I did. I used my Expride 6’10 M and it worked well for this technique and I preferred it over a spinning rod surprisingly. I might have liked it better just because that rod parred with a 70 size reel is so light and fun to fish, and my spinning gear is all much more budget friendly than that setup but I figured I’d ask if anyone else prefers strolling with a casting rod over spinning gear.

Also better sensitivity. There’s a noticeable difference in feel along the bottom. Plus I don’t love the idea of spreading little chucks of lead across the lakes I fish.

So the lighter weight gives more separation in your experience?

Tungsten for me. Siebert outdoors is where I have found some of the best prices. I normally stock up from his website. If I’m just throwing something into a TW or Omnia cart then whatever I can get on sale.

Ive got a couple questions if you guys don’t mind. How heavy of weighs are you running? I’m thinking about some middle of the road size stuff. 3.8”bellows gill, 3.8” bull flat, super fluke, bronco bug. Something like 1/4oz in 3ft-10ft and 3/8oz in 10-15ft? What about weights for some smaller stuff like a 2” and 2.8” bellows gill, 3” bull flat? I guess I’m pretty much wondering about your whole weight selection process in general. To tie into that, if you go with a heavier weight how does that affect the whole system? Does it make the plastic have less“floating time”because it’s pulling the whole rig down faster, or does it give the plastic more “floating time” because the heavier weight barrels to the bottom fast and gets more separation from the plastic?

Did you catch any close to that size other times of the year?

I’m curious how many of the anglers here at BR caught their personal best during the prespawn? If you didn’t catch during that time of year how much do you think she would have weighed full of eggs?

You had sun down there this morning? I got rained on terrible and forgot my rain gear at home. Caught a couple little ones before I got absolutely drenched.

Exact same way here. You can only wonder on those. Every time I loose a fish like that I’m convinced I lost my PB for a few minutes. Last year I hooked a snake northern pike probably around 16”. As I reeled it up to my kayak a watched a giant bass dart out at the pike before it me and swam away. One of the reasons I’ve been collecting some big swimbaits. Lost a fish about 100 yards from that spot a couple months later on a deep crank. Buckled my rod in half under the boat and shook my bait. I wonder if it was the same one. The first fish I hooked opener morning of 2025 was easily 5+lbs and had a possibly for 5.5+ but I dumped it at the side of the boat. Not sure if I was trying to boat flip it or what but I had 6 months of rust built up from the winter. Im curious to hear if @WRB-2.0 has any potential world records that came off.

Very interesting thanks for sharing

From my knowledge best time to throw them is when bass are holding in deeper water and gorging on larger panfish or bigger shad. I almost put them in the same category as a big swimbait being that it seems they have a lot of drawing power and draw a big bite for sure. Lots of times it’s a good option when you have a school located and want a bait to throw first to target the biggest fish. It’s also good way to get a big jig hook in the biggest fish from the school and power them to the boat before you have to worry about treble hooks or light line. Take this all with a big grain of salt being that I’m far from an expert with them. I’m sure someone more experienced can give you a more specific answer, but that’s the best I can do.

I’m pretty much the same way. I’d almost rather be catching a few fish on something new/different than be catching a bunch with pattern that I know I can capitalize on. lots of the time I’ll spend the first couple hours messing around and trying something different but if that’s not working I’ll go back to something tried and true for the last part of the day. The exception is when I don’t have much time to be on the water or I’m fishing on a new lake. In that case I’ll stick to a few things and go with that.