EC1

Awesome job there mike! Nice fish, and lots of photos are always great!

Nice. In Haliburton, ive tried jerkbaits, and topwaters without much luck this year. Will try tubes and Cranks next time if I go back before the end of summer.

Wow these are beautiful setups. Hope you get some monsters with them!

Congrats on the PB. If you target bass for the rest of the season, I almost guarantee you will top that a few times to come! The chug bug remains as my favourite popper bait, but I'm having a harder time throwing it each and every time as I always want to throw something more "productive" because it's more expensive And damn, I haven't even caught a single fish on topwater this year! It's getting awful late!!!

I think the part about the technology for lighter and stronger materials is still marketing. No matter what, your hand still is the fulcrum, and has x amount of inches more of rod to deal with. My rod's balance point is right at the reel seat too, so it might be just my own opinion. I have no problem pitching into very small areas with a 7'6 flipping stick, but really started to dislike handling a rod over 7' for anything that requires a casting motion. I agree with garry that the industry just makes up bull for us to buy stuff. On a side note: After switching almost exclusively to braid, I'm trying to move away from braid again(except slop of course)! It's almost like we forgot that as kids we used mono, and it caught just as much fish! My dad still fishes a lot of live bait, and braid is just something doesn't make sense for him. Who really needs wind knots and line wrapped around guides and breaking rods? Don't forget about the senkos that seem to suspend on a windy day(With none other than....BRAID)! If anyone tells me they can't feel a fish when on mono, then they are just leaving out too much slack.....and didn't we all agree that rods today are more sensitive than ever!? Guess that's my rant....for having not caught a bass over 13" in two trips on perfect weather days. Thanks for reading guys.

Lol Vic. And PITB, thank you for the additional info. I was thinking that a 7'3 General Application stick would be something that I love but it didn't turn to be what I truly wanted.

I've been noticing that, each year, they are making more and more 'bass' rods that are in the 7-8foot range. These rods claim that they can cast further, give you more leverage when fighting a fish, and according to the marketing, these two factors already outweigh each and every single disadvantage that these longer rods have. (Tip Heavy, harder to maneuver, not suitable for certain techniques.) Anyways, I fell for this marketing, but now that I own these rods 7' and longer, I'm finding that the shorter rods make me a lot happier. I feel that the sweet spot that would for almost all of my rods other than the flipping stick should be 6'6 - 6'10. In general, you will be having a lighter rod, and your rod doesn't limit you to not being able to do certain techniques (ex. Jerkbaits). How do you guys feel about this?

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Chronarch_50E_Series_Casting_Reels/descpage-SCH5E.html Here's the details. I honestly don't know why they made it look almost exactly the same as the new Citica. Daiwa seems to be the buzz this ICast.

I've been happy with my T1i, I'm not sure how they compare with the Nikons though. Don't think you can go wrong with any of them, but hopefully someone else will be of more help than I am.

Nicely done! 17-20FOW with a topwater! Sounds awesome!

Beauty fish! I see lots of NRX's on board! Beauty rods too! lol

Awesome fish!! EVEN BETTER FACIAL HAIR! Nicely done Cudz!

Everyone seems to have their own methods, Mine is to use some laundry detergent while washing. I'm going to bet all of these work and just choose the easiest one for you and go for it!

I can't see it working because a sinking float won't start suspending lower in the water column. I'd also feel that you've killed the action of your lure because there will be no slack line at all from the dropshot weight to the float. Sorry to burst a bubble. You can go out to prove me wrong though.

If I was around there anytime soon, I'd be the first to accidentally run one over. I'll gladly celebrate thanksgiving with a wild turkey in June!

Awesome fish! Congrats!

So I went out over the weekend, and asked for a few pointers and was awful glad that I was given these tips! Special thanks to singingdog! We actually ended up being quite behind schedule as we arrived at the campsite around 11pm. We were all hungry, but it didn't matter what time it was. I was itching to fish. After a few steaks, we actually decided to drive out to the lake to see whether we could catch any fish anyways. We were there for maybe 15 minutes, and I had caught my first rainbow! I had caught it off casting a spinner with a worm behind it and I was happy as can be to catch my very first inland rainbow! The rest of the night yielded some rock bass for the rest of my friends, but no more rainbows showed up. The next morning, I was the only one who could wake up to go fishing, but there were no more rainbows to be had. Tried trolling, and casting, but ended up with some OOS smallies and rock bass. Fished pretty much the entire day to try my luck, but only ended up with one more rainbow for the rest of the weekend. In the end, I cooked up two of the rainbows from the lake...and BOY were they tasty. Just sprinkling some spices on and putting them on the BBQ was all that we needed!

I'm still in the under 25 age group, and I actually had something like this happen to me a few months back. Rubbed my eyes for 2 seconds, and slammed into 2 cars ahead of me..Was looking at insurance skyrocketing too....Was terrible to think about it. (Wasn't too worried about being driven everywhere, except I wouldn't be able to drive to go fishing anymore!) Consider myself about as lucky as I can ever be, as my insurance didn't go to an unaffordable rate. This is why I do feel that people should get a second chance. Ontario insurance I hear is amongst the worst though...

Texting and driving is definitely one of the worst things you can do. Live and learn, hopefully she doesn't get it too bad, but remembers not to do it for the rest of her life.

Nice looking build, matches nicely with the reel too!

You can't go wrong with slammers either!

I started using the crosstail shad by jackall this year on a dropshot(Only problem is that they are not readily available in the GTA). Unbelievable action, and the fish love it. Even got a 40+" muskie to chomp down on it!

I actually feel that they were pretty good! It's like having the colours from an artificial bait and putting it onto live bait! Haven't used them since I was 12-13...so it might have just been a kid's logic. Lol.

Awesome info! Thank you gentlemen! Don't know if I will be able to go to other lakes, as I'm probably going to be the only one in the group that will be seriously fishing. Gonna see what I can do on the lake and report back!

I don't like to buy the tubs, just because they're so damn expensive. Crappies love the 2.5" minnows though. Can never go wrong with them! Keep in mind that no matter what, IT'S NOT LIVE BAIT. You will need to impart action to it.