BrianinMD

You are like most people I know, including myself. Its all personal preference nothing more. The key is to be comfortable, no need to worry about what all the reasons others will tell you its wrong.

One thing that has been successful for me that I see a lot of others do not for some reason is working the frog with a quick pace across the cover then killing it when you get to a hole or break in the cover. A lot of times will get a big strike once its sitting still, have a few come clear out of the water then land on top of the frog. Very hard to wait for the fish to actually take it, great site to see. Do the same thing when there is a different in types of vegetation or wood mixed in. Otherwise, like others have said experiment with different speeds and cadence of pops to see what provokes a strike that day.

You will get a huge variety of answers, from everything to nothing but here is my 2 cents. Better build quality, better components are two general ones. As you move up the price range, lower weight, ability to throw lower weight baits come into play.

Location, location, location. then technique

The one thing about waiting is, it doesn't mean to stop reeling. Continue to work the bait as normal, when weight is felt swing fast and hard (buzz baits tend to have pretty thick hooks).

I have had these days and it turned out they were eating bugs from a hatch. No interest in any thing else, just the bugs. Although they would hit close to a popper or other top water they really were not after it. Not much you can do unless you have a fly which resembles whatever is hatching sometimes.

My shakeyhead and other finesse fishing is done with 8lb Invizx flouro, tried mono, and co-polymers but found bite detection with the flouro was a lot better. The density of flouro helps on slack line techniques.

I use a 7:1 for spinnerbaits and it works well. Line depends on cover, I will use anywhere from 12 to 20 pound flouro. The one caveat for the reel ratio is larger spinnerbaits or larger blades. I can get tiring if you are using the high speed ration when using these.

Most of the degree covers the a broad spectrum of policy, response, and legal handling of evidence. My electives, and what I do for a living is forensics based. My plan is to get a lot more fishing done, the past couple years had to opt out of some trips and tournaments because I had to much homework to do. Not anymore....

For the past several years I have been putting a lot of enjoyable things off, but this weekend it all comes to its positive conclusion. I have been working towards obtaining my 4 year degree in Cyber Security. That goal has been reached and I am walking the stage tomorrow afternoon. I was not planning on walking the stage but my mother and 16 year old daughter wanted me to and as usual they win. The feeling of accomplishment is outstanding, the odd part is now trying to figure out what to do with all the free time I now have. This year in an effort to improve myself in other manners I have lost 20 pounds and feel great. Now its time to take a break and determine next steps.

Another for KVD L&L, I apply it when I spool up and the night before a trip. Works great.

i would keep it to myself, announcing it gets nothing for you except some public attention which is worthless and could lead to the destruction of the fishing in that body of water.

TxGator is 100% right about getting 4x4. You may not use it a lot but when its the difference between getting out and being stuck it becomes well worth it.

With the towing capacities of 1500 size trucks going to a 2500 for that size boat is overkill and extra expense you don't need.

Nice fish Bill, hopefully sometime this year I will get down there for some stripers. Got out for a little smallie action yesterday, caught a few, lost a few. Overall a decent day of fishing. Got surprised by a storm at the end of the day, ended up getting completely soaked but got back in safe. This is my best one of the day.

Black Hills has been a tough bite but the fish are there. Had a tournament there last saturday, boater side was won with a little over 20 pounds. I won co-angler side with 13lbs 10oz. The way the weather has been so far this year most places are mixed up right now. I may stop by tonight with a club friend for a couple hours.

einscodek, the one thing to keep in mind on the IM graphite ratings is they are not a set standard. They will vary from manufacture to manufacture. It really doesn't tell you anything, just a marking ploy. If at all possible its best to actually handle a rod to determine how light/balanced it is.

We have guys in aluminum jets that go 25mph tops, to 22 foot glass boats with 250HP. It is not about the boat, the 25mph guy has been angler of the year and won on big lakes like Gaston. The smaller boats come in with a game plan and stick to it since they cannot just jump spot to spot. That is not necessarily a bad thing. The spring Anna and Gaston tourneys were in April, Only tourney left this month is Deep Creek at the end of next week. If you get a chance check out the website, a lot of info and pics on there. Feel free to PM or ask any questions.

We fish Black Hills, multiple on the lower Potomac, Deep Creek, Smith Mountain, Lake Gaston, Anna and Conowingo. You do not have to fish all of them, you can pick and choose which ones to do. We have a meeting the first Wednesday of the month at the same place, everyone is welcome to stop by and get an idea of what happens if they are thinking about joining. Its a good group of guys who enjoy fishing and we have a mentality of teaching. At the end of each tourney we speak to how/where we caught our fish to everyone can get better.

I will assume baitcast setup for what those techniques, a 7 to 7 1/2 foot MH/F rod paired with 6:1 gear ratio reel will cover all of those pretty well. Personally would go with something in the Dobyns Champion Extreme lineup with a Chronarch or Core.

Welcome to the forums, SlayinPigs, check out www.fishonbassanglers.com. We are based out of Germantown, Md, We have a meeting tonight, its at Dicks Sporting Goods in Rockville at 7pm. If interested just stop by.

The semi-v will cut thru waves better, for a little better ride. Won't be the ride of a Ranger but better than a flat bottom. And the shape will also make is a little more efficient since its not trying to shove the boxy front thru the water. If I were you I would go with the semi-v over jon or v bottom.

I think its depends on what kind, spinning its the rod, for a baitcast setup the reel is more important.

Bill, No problem, the way I have been going this year at BH I will leave all of them for you.

Bill, we have to be on the water at 6:20, "blast off" at 6:30. Weigh in will be at 3pm. This time its only 11 boats.