Royal Blue

The time that I fell in on Taneycomo was saving a rod. Hitting that 55 degree water on a 95 degree day was a shock to my system!

I realize this is the wrong post but I figured that for the price of a Trion, I might as well grab a couple. I'd been talking myself into and out of a new Tatula spinning reel so this was probably a much smarter way to go.

I grabbed two of those last night too!

That's the one I have too. I use it for arigs and treble hook swimbaits. I have a broomstick Okuma for big jig hook swimmers.

I also have a basic Dobyn's Fury. Pretty darn good budget stick too.

I have a couple of the Jackhammers and paired them with the Zako trailers. I like them a lot. Haven't really thrown them enough, but I do know that the action engages immediately and not after a couple of cranks like some of the others.

See if they'll swap the rod out for a TP-1. You'll be glad you did.

Tackle Warehouse has been out of those off and on all spring. Bass Pro has been low on those and warts that color as well.

I have a couple of the Bucco SR rods and like them quite a bit. Having said that, IMO the best spinnerbait rod out there is the Lew's TP-1 spinnerbait/soft plastic rod. It's literally my favorite rod and is the best one I've ever used for spinnerbaits.

What're you fishing for?

Isn't it a regional thing though? Growing up in Iowa and going to Minnesota all of the time, I remember seeing OMC motors 3-1 over Mercury.

This is a great question. It really hits home today too. Fished a derby over the weekend and chased an a-rig bite that we'd been on in an area where it just wasn't happening yesterday. We did catch a couple, but we also spent hundreds of casts and 3-4 hours in what ended up being a really unproductive area. The water was gin clear and bites were very few and far between. Both of us were convinced that we were doing the right thing and frankly it may have paid off by waiting for it to warm up. It was a big gamble and it didn't pay off. We ran to dirty water and caught a ton of 14 1/2 inch fish. Those things were pretty fat and heavy, but just short. In hindsight, we should've chased the colored water from the very beginning and stuck to our guts and not the "plan." I'm one that will stay too long in an area if I'm convinced that they're there. I like to make repeated casts to the same spot, especially shore cover like a bush or a laydown.

Where there was wood shallow, there were fish. Not in every spot, but enough to make it interesting.

We had mid 50's water temps on Wednesday up the Kings. Strange how things aren't just leveling off at all.

I'm convinced that Sunline is far superior to Seaguar. The difference in casting quality with it is immediately noticeable.

I've tried several brands of flouro and have settled on Sunline FC Sniper. I'm running 12lb on my spinnerbait setup, 10lb on my crankbait rods, and 16lb on my jig setups. Everything else is Excel or Big Game. I have one big swimbait setup with 25lb Big Game, and the other is set up with 65lb Power Pro braid. I fell in love with the Sniper because it's so much more supple than most others and the casting distance and control is so much better.

I think Excel mono and Big Game are the best monos out there. They're less expensive too.

What's that trailer you're running on that blade?

What color blades are you throwing in that super muddy water? I picked up a double colorado blade War Eagle the other night thinking it just might be the ticket right now.

Keitech makes a really nice tungsten jighead that works perfectly with their baits. The heads are much smaller due to being tungsten. I've also come across some new Trokar swimbait heads that I really like. I have both brands in 1/8 and 1/4oz. The Trokars are 3/0 on the hooks, but I think the Keitech are a little smaller.

We simply waited too long to go to that type of water and should've turned left instead of right when we made our move upstream.

And then I come upon this today...https://www.bassmaster.com/jason-christie/tremendously-tough-fishing

We were one of the skunked boats. Tried to go up the creeks above KC and the schools of shad were literally amazing. I've never seen so many everywhere we went. It was pretty obvious early on that there was just too much competition for our A-rigs. We ended up going toward the mud and caught a few shorts on crankbaits and I had a nice fish on a jig come off a few feet from the boat out of net range. All in all it was as tough of a day as I've soon on TR. If I wasn't so frustrated by the lack of bites, I'd have really enjoyed seeing the massive schools of bait. It was unreal and everywhere that we went. Kudos to you guys for going the right direction and getting a few bites.

I'd consider Buster Loving as well as those mentioned already.

Wasn't there a report of a 10lb largemouth caught in 2016? I think I remember hearing about that one, but they're super rare. I have most definitely done better at night for average size, but most of my best fish have been caught over on that pond to the east. I think it has to do with the crazy wakes and the insane pressure that Bull doesn't necessarily get.