cheesemaster

I will probably get slapped around for what I use but here it goes anyway. 6'6" Carbonlite from Bass Pro. I like the backbone and tip action. All my other rods are 7' and I end up hitting the side of my boat or slapping the water with the rod tip. I am about 5'9" or 5'10" and anything over 6'6" is too long for my liking. I use it left handed too - I can snap it better with my right hand for better action. It took some practice reeling with the left hand but you get better at it.

Happy wife = Happy life!!!

Sign me up Quillback!!!

Is the importance of the fluorocarbon for the sinking or the no stretch? Maybe both?

What about a "Lazy Ike"? My father told me that back when he was younger his favorite lure was a Lazy Ike. Of course he only fished farm ponds and sand pits in Nebraska but swears it was a fish catching machine. Any thoughts?

The ice was 1/2" thick on the river about a half mile up from where we were fishing. No ice on point 14 down though.

Don't be hating on the Huskers. It's perfectly fine to make fun of Missouri, Illinois, Texas, even Kansas..... but the Huskers are off limits....✌out!!! Happy New year all!!!

I have a garbage can full of worthless Deep Little N's that I am collecting for people that want to throw them away. You can send your worthless ones to me and I will dispose of them properly in a single hazardous materials container with all the proper hazmat labels.

Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to fish TR pre 1999. But my personal best on TR is from 2013 at 8.22. Caught her on a Deep Little N. And have never caught another fish on that type of lure ever again. The DLN is pretty much worthless anymore and no one should ever throw it.

I was working the jerkbait real slow. 6 or 7 seconds between " twitches " not jerks. I didn't catch anything working it any faster than that. Everyday is different and they might want a grub or a fast jerk tomorrow. Anyway - good luck and I am looking forward to seeing your report.

Most came on a jerkbait- - blue backed - orange bellied Smithwick Rouge with chrome sides. A few came on a shaky head craw dad that was Watermelon color.

Launched at 9:45 am with my daughter that's back from college. Turned out to be a good day. She caught a nice 5-6 lb muskey, tons of whites, smallies and blacks. I missed out on the muskey. We stopped counting at 50 fish. Lots of fun and I am supper glad she decided to spend the day with me. Here are some pics.

Thanks Hammer Time!! Is this report a month old or did you mean 12/23???

Quillback- I will be there again. Lots of fun last year and looking forward to it again this year.

I am from Nebraska!

Ok. I will stop if I see you. Please do the same - I am in a white and burgundy Triton, mostly have my bulldog with me. I was up river a little past point 15 last weekend.

Agreed.

I have to start by saying how much fun it was fishing today. What a blast!!!! Launched at 8:30 with a light mist and a couple Bald Eagles flying right over me. What a sight. So I started with a jerkbait and jig for a couple hours and set the hook 2 times - once on a stick and the other on a rock I guess. So I ran down the lake a little and tossed around a Ned, Wiggle Wart, Jerkbait and jig. For the next 2 hours - it was the same story - but one less hook set -- so just 1 and it was on another stick. Ran down a little farther and I actually set the hook on a fish - I couldn't believe it. 1 in the boat that was 13 inches. It was great. In the next 3 minutes I set the hook 2 more time and 1 was a swing and miss but the other was another Beautiful 13 inch black. Total so far is 2 in the boat - both 13 inches. Ran down another 1/2 mile for the next 1.5 hours with no more hook setting. I went home at 2:00ish. Fantastic day on the water with very little catching!!! But it was fantastic out there!!!

Good luck with the recovery Quillback. I can't wait to see your next report. .

Hammer Time and I launched at Bridgeport at 7:00am and it was chilly. Started at the riprap on the bridge and Hammer caught one black after about 2 casts on a homemade jig and I thought it was going to be crazy good all day in the rain and clouds. I caught a short spot right after he caught his on a jerkbait and I was really expecting an exciting day. We caught a total of 20 or 25 with 4 or 5 keepers. Hammer caught the largest bass at 3 lbs even. We had a couple keeper Smallmouths. Caught several on a Wiggle Wart and jerkbait, by far the most productive lures today. I landed a 40lb Spoonbill that took 15 minutes to get up to the boat. Snagged her in the tail - wow - that was fun, just ripping off line!!! Off the water right at 2:00. Here's a couple pictures of the man eating Spoonbill. Fishing is so much FUN!!! You never know how it's going to turn out.

Thanks M&M. Nothing better than doing a little fishing!!!

I picked up the PQ on a Black Friday special last year or the year before for $49.99 - of coarse I had to get 2 for that price.

Ya, the bb1 does real well and I have a couple Bass Pro - Pro Qualifier reels that when set right will cast anything a mile. I also have a BP - Pro Qualifier that doesn't do so well (it hasn't been taken care of like the other reels though). The PQ on sale is a very good reel in my opinion.

I don't know what I am missing out on with a high dollar cranking rod. My first cranking rod is a H2O from Academy sports. The next 2 I bought were from Lew's in Springfield, two steps up in price for sure, with zero performance improvement. Not sure what I will go with next - so I will keep reading this thread and do more research with the "hands" like Abkeenen suggests to do.

I launched about 10 minutes after sun up. I ran up the James a ways and the water temp was 54.3 with good color/clarity. I threw a Lucky Craft jerkbait almost all day (5 hours). I had 3 keepers - 4 if you count the crappie -haha. I caught around 20 total with a few that came unbuttoned, one was a nice Smallmouth. Biggest was 4.4 (picture sucks - but you get the idea.) and another that was 2.15 and the last one was just a line toucher (no pic). Loved every minute of it!!!