Jason Admin : Fishing Forum Posts

Yes, I confirmed with Johnny Crews/Matt LaFleur that this is a 1-time discount, but it is an awesome discount. We will look into seeing if we can get a new code for the upcoming year. Otherwise, the Rapala deal is amazing too.

Cody,
Thank you for your comment. We will take this into consideration as we plan our upcoming content. I'm not familiar with Duck River. I looked it up briefly, and most of the imagery is small waterfalls and people in kayaks. Is this mostly only fishable with a kayak or canoe or is this river big enough for bass boat fishing?

David,
I fish Norman quite a bit. I also use Helix units. I use side imaging more than anything else. When I'm graphing, I'm mostly looking for brush piles, and shooting a beam out 75' on each side of the boat saves me a lot of time. When I see something, I can move the cursor and drop a waypoint. My Helix is old (Gen1, I think). You may be able to just buy a transducer with side imaging and add it to your console unit. side imaging does not help me on the bow of the boat, so I don't have mine networked up there, I just have a dedicated Sonar/DI/SI transducer for the console. Check with Humminbird about transducer compatibility. If you do get one, watch a video or 2 on Youtube about mounting it for a clear line of site (I think Humminbird has an official video).

Obviously, our recommendation for a great Christmas gift for a fishing buddy that already has everything would be a bass university tv gift card, if they don't also already have that. We've got them marked down for the holidays, so it's a great price with a lot of bang for your buck. https://bassu.tv/gift-card
Here are some other great gifts to get for someone who loves bass fishing:

Good pliers - https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Frapala-resp67-7in-elite-pliers.html (I was gifted these Gerber pliers https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Fgerber-31-003556-magniplier-saltwater-pliers.html which have similar features), but you can get the Rapala Elite pliers with your Rapala discount for being a BU member. I would never have bought these for myself, but they are great to have. Most guys just grab some pliers from the toolbox, but there's a world of difference between $5 Harbor Freight pliers and actual fishing pliers. Another reason these make a great gift, when I get something I can use, I also like it to last forever and work well. These seem to be build to last.

Sun Protection makes a great gift - https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Fsimms-superlight-sunshield.html
When I was young, I didn't think much about skin cancer. We'd fish all day with no shirt and maybe put on sunscreen once. Now, as an adult with a family, I like to take a little more precaution, but don't like lotioning up 4 times a day. I like these hats with a flap because I can protect my ears and neck (and most of the time my nose and cheeks), even if I forget to reapply sunscreen. This was originally a gift for my wife, but I inherited it when she started wearing the face shields (which also make a great gift https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Ftackledirect-uv-shield-neck-gaiters.html )

I know this thread is a little older, and you have probably already purchased a rod, but I just became aware of the Brandon Cobb Ark series rods. It looks like they have glowing reviews and is priced below $100! All 15 current reviews on Tackle Warehouse are good (which is rare, as you almost always have the 1 or 2 guys that just aren't convinced a sub-$100 rod can be good). Either way, the series has a 7'3" MH Glass and 7'3" MH Fast for whichever way you want to go with your chatterbait fishing rod. Obviously, the 7'3" MH Fast will be your choice if you also want to fish jigs and Texas rigs.

I wanted to revisit this thread because I have another thought on fishing with lighter line and why it can be better. Lure action. One reason I think lighter line does so well in clear water is that the baits have subtle action and a heavy line kills that action. Many anglers are of the school of thought that the heavier line is visible and spooks the fish. I imagine this conclusion was reached because they fished a lure with 1 size line and fish didn't commit to biting, then they downsized the line and caught fish with the same lure. To me, this is just as likely that the bait itself had a more natural action with lighter line. No matter what reason, particularly with clear water, finesse techniques and highly pressured situations, lighter line seems to get more bites.

I know this has been a while, but I have some thoughts on some of these items:
1. I took a risk and mounted my Humminbird side imaging/down imaging transducer slightly below the bottom of the boat. It's been 3 years and I've scratched it a few times and kicked it up, but it still works fine. I am able to reasonable side imaging return at a good clip (probably 5mph), but can still get sonar and depth readings on plane. I mounted while it was on the trailer in a spot where I wasn't likely to hit the bunk board when trailoring.
4. Definitely the bigger unit on the console. You'll do most of your mapping, side imaging and marking waypoints at the console.

JT Kenney has some tips for spinnerbait blade color in tannic water:
https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/jt-kenneys-250k-spinnerbait-secret
https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/fishing-a-spinnerbait-in-tannic-water-jt-kenney

In clear water I never fish a trailer. I want the bait moving fast and the fish not to get too good of a look at it. I fish a heavier head with smaller blades, for the most part. I don't know if this is meaningful or not, but I take a couple of the skirt strands on the inside and pull them back a little further, so they stick out a little, like a trailer, but without the extra drag. In my mind it's a little to "disguise" or "camouflage" the hook. As you stated, swimbait trailers cause rolling when you move the bait fast. I would only use a trailer when I'm looking for a bigger profile, or if I'm fishing dingier shallow water around cover (at which point, I would likely switch to a chatterbait anyway).

RichK LK Gaston VA/NC ,
I've been fortunate to always use neon colors of braid, which means I've never had the issue with seeing the line. I like bright yellow.  I'm not big on the microguides craze. I'm happy with my older spinning rods that have what I would consider average-sized guides.  I don't have a rod with guides so small that my 10lb braid and 6-8lb fluoro joined with an Alberto knot will not glide through effortlessly. I don't hate mono, but in a full day of dropshotting or fishing a spoon, my line is so coiled with mono that I can't keep 6 coils from being wrapped around my rod tip. I use 2500 reels unless I really want to heave a bait a long way. I do think that the bigger spools have the advantage with line coming off more smoothly and with the same gear ratio, you get a lot faster line pickup. I recently started using the 6.2:1 Daiwa Regal reels, which I believe perform well above their price point https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Fdaiwa-regal-lt-spinning-reel.html

RichK LK Gaston VA/NC,
If you have trouble finding them, Nichols deals a fair amount with painted spinnerbait blades and they have a pretty large selection

I'm sorry, I failed to update this thread. At the time of the original post, the mobile app was in development, but since we didn't have a release date for the bassu mobile app, we didn't want to hype it up yet. There are indeed mobile apps for Android and iOS available (more details at https://bassu.tv/app or you can search the app store for your device). Whether the audio will play when your screen is off is partly out of our control, and may be affected by the phone's settings. I hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback. We have another Brandon Cobb on the water (fishing bridge pilings) going live this afternoon. We hope you enjoy it as well.

Robert,
We reached out to John Crews and he provided us with a new code for 2022, which should allow you another order with the 30% discount. Check out the member benefit page for the updated code https://bassu.tv/special-offers

Brandon Cobb has stated that the Revo X is his favorite spinning reel. Coming from a guy that fishes $400 Revo MGX baitcasting tackle, it's saying something that the $105 Revo X is Brandon's favorite spinning reel. I've not fished one, but have looked at them closely and considered getting one, as the specs look pretty good for a spinning reel around $100. https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Fabu-garcia-revo-x-spinning-reels.html

I use mono backing on anything with braid (for one to save money, because I'm only ever going to fish the last 75yds or so on a reel). I don't know if that's the difference, but I don't experience this too much on spinning reels. I have more problem with it on baitcasting tackle. I use 2500 size spinning reels, not sure if that plays a part. Lastly, and this probably plays the biggest role, most techniques I'm using braid on spinning tackle, I'm not snap-setting the hook. It's a lean in and reel, which covers dropshot, neko rig, ned rig and more. I will do a little snap set on a shaky head, just to get the hook through the plastic, but I'm using a light wire hook, so it's almost like a faster lean into the fish than a snap set. I think this is the difference because when I set the hook pitching a jig or a soft plastic with baitcasting tackle, I don't even bother pitching again until I pull the line out, it's almost like knowing you have a backlash, I just pick it out because I know it's going to stop instantly when it gets to that place on the spool.

As a general rule, if I'm fishing clear water, I use the lightest wire hook I can get away with, because I'm likely going to be using light line for a natural presentation (like a dropshot rig). Since the hook is either exposed, or needs to come through a small diameter soft plastic lure easily, this means you don't need to snap set the hook, just reel into the fish. With a heavy gauge hook, you wouldn't get a good hookset with light line and a medium action rod (which I use to fish dropshot rigs). On the other hand, if I'm in dirty water, or fishing a reaction bait, or I need the bait to come through a thicker soft plastic lure without flexing, I opt for a regular gauge or heavy gauge. 8lb largemouth are very rare in Lake Norman, so I rarely need to go up to a heavy gauge flipping style hook. Now, if you're in Texas, California, Florida or other location where 10lb+ bass are more likely caught, and cover is more dense, you might need to go to heavy gauge hooks and braided line. My personal opinion is that people opt for this setup too often and I've seen numerous bass with severe injuries from vastly overpowering tackle and jacking fish on the hookset like 1983 Roland Martin when the cover and fish class didn't merit it. Tackle these days is very good and today's 7'6" heavy action rods, braided line and chemically sharpened hooks mean you don't have to throw your back out on every hookset.

Dock lights attract all kinds of things at night, they're a great place to fish and can open up your tackle box to some of your traditional baitfish baits. When I fished night tournaments, I've fished brush piles and rocky points with crankbaits quite a bit. On some occasions it didn't matter what color we threw, and we intentionally threw whatever model they were biting in colors we had been unsuccessful with, in case we lost the lure. Some lures I fish almost exclusively black anyway, like buzzbaits. I had a lot of success at night with buzzbaits, but no idea if black mattered, that's just what I was throwing anyway.

I'm sorry that I missed this post. The SC classes are January 22nd, 2022 - January 23rd, 2022 in Anderson, SC
Instructors are: Brandon Cobb, Patrick Walters, John Crews, Drew Cook, Matt Arey and our very own Greg DiPalma
You can see all our class dates and buy tickets at https://thebassuniversity.com/class-training

texaginwv, sorry for the late reply. Please ensure that you're not using the auto-fill (where the app/browser populates the login information for you). Confirm that you can/cannot login by typing your login information directly into both the browser and the app. This issue can occur when the user is using auto-login on the browser, then trying to login with what they believe their login information is with the app. When they actually enter their information (often in another browser, where auto-login is not enabled), they realize that they are also unable to login there and they have forgotten their password, or, in some cases are even trying to login with the incorrect email address.
I have confirmed with the website developer that the login processes are tied together, so that if the same information is entered into the app and the browser, they will return the same response. Therefore, something is being entered differently between the browser and the app.

I have been reminded that with the mobile app login, be sure there are no spaces at the end of your email address and password. Recently it came to our attention that some folks put a space habitually after typing information in a form, leaving an extra space after the email address or password can cause login errors.

A good starting place on rods is what size are the hooks on the lure. Often lighter baits (with smaller hooks) are easier to cast, fish and feel bites with lighter spinning tackle. I can't think of a bait under 1/8oz or under that I want to throw on baitcasting tackle, maybe a Rapala shad rap, but you'll do much better in the wind with that bait on spinning tackle as well. There are some heavier baits like a 1/4 jighead I may still throw on spinning tackle, if it has a lightwire (thin gauge) hook. Big single hooks lures like jigs, spinnerbaits and bigger (heavy enough to cast) treble lures like jerkbaits and crankbaits can be thrown on casting tackle, but you probably want a lighter action, as you don't need to set the hook as hard and you will have a better chance of landing fish if the rod has some give. As a general rule, if you are coming through plastic, using a heavy gauge hook, or setting the hook in cover (in grass, trees, etc) you want heavier line.
Probably a great place to start is our 101 series, Ike covers rods, line, lure sizes and more in this series
https://bassu.tv/program/4

* In the previous post, treble baits on casting tackle usually perform better on lighter (slower/tapering tip) rods and single hook lures are more suited for heavier action (faster tip). This may not be true for baits that need a lot of action, like ripping a jerkbait or lipless crankbait.

I'm sorry you experienced this. Are you still having this issue? This sounds like an temporary issue with our video hosting service. I do not currently receive this message and have no history of customers reporting this issue in the past.

For me, as long as I keep my hand warm on the boat ride, I'm ok to fish without gloves, until I get my hands wet. I make sure to have lots of towels. I have Bass Pro Gortex gloves and they have a grippy texture. I have a hard time fishing in them, but they are good for gripping the steering wheel. After a couple of years, the grippy did chip off for me.
I haven't tried them yet, but they sell USB hand warmers now that claim to heat up to 96 degrees all day, and you can use the battery to charge your phone in case of emergency.