Blue Fleck do you find these rods strong enough to throw a swim jig back in the pads or eel grass and fight the fish back to the boat?

Wow what interest this subject has. I just thought I would give my opinon. This year in Iowa tournamnets being held are reguired by law to be over by 2:00 PM in May, the early part of June. During the middle of June thru August tournaments are reguired to be over at 1:00 PM. Then back to a 2:00 weighin for the remainder of the year. At first I thought are they crazy. But after I thought about it if it helps the survival rate of the fish and it helps keeps the peace between the DNR, the public and fisherman of all kinds so be it. If you think about if you have done a good job of pre-fishing and throw a little luck in there most of the time your limit is caught by mid- morning anyway.

As an angler you keep searching for the last big bite later in the day anyway. We fished a tournament out of pool 10 this past weekend. Getting to weighin at 2:00 PM and having the weighin being finished by 3:15 and being on the road home by 3:30 was kind of nice. Granted this tounament was only a 20 boat tournament, but even with bigger ones it does help everyone get their business done and enjoy the excitement of the weighin. Share a few laughs and say goodby to the next time.

On another note being a tournament fisherman, I really enjoy the thrill of the competion of tournament fishing. And what I found out, I am more self-concience about how I handle a fish, how I release not only a bass but any type of fish I catch. I am dilligent on how the bass are doing in my livewell.
One more note, I have found out done only have I devolped into a better fisherman but I am more selfconsience about my environment. I am carefull about lose line and garbage that accumulates in the boat during a day of fishing.
If you ask any serious bass fisherman the thought of puttin a knife to a bass is inexcusable. At long time ago we would go to a lake or river and see how many bass we could catch and take them home and eat them.
It is funny how bass fisherman over the years have changed. They have came from being meat eaters to conservationists. Conservation knowlege about catch and release have shown this is a major reason the bass populations have exploded all over the country. Take notice at the times you see people on the banks along the dams in the spring catching big smallies and largemouth and putting them on the their stringers. Some days these areas produce fish for a few weeks at a time. There is no catch and release there. Go up and down the river on any given day, people catch fish and take them home and eat them. No catch and release there. That is why you have limits. There is nothing wrong with people eating a few fish. My point is fishing is fun. It brings families together. It relaxes people. I makes people happy. They share alot good times with their friends and family. We can all share the same body of water. Let’s just take care of our particluar type of fishing, respect others. And keep finding ways to make our sport better.

Thanks for the advice!

Hello,

I was reading your response to my question. Do you own the 7′ composite cranking rod? Is the handle to long? I will be fishing the Mississippi river mostly. Is it sensitive and does it have a slow tip like the ones I have been reading about? I am looking to throw shallow crankbaits and rattletraps. How about throwing spinnerbaits or buzzbaits on it?

Thanks

My fishing partner and I were really disappointed when we heard the news about the cancellation of the Team Sumpreme circuit this summer. We enjoyed fishing the Team Sumpreme circuit the last couple of years. Even though it was tough competition, it made for a fun summer trying to figure things out on the river, and trying to catch quality fish to place high each tournament. It felt pretty good the times we caught some nice fish and brought them up to weigh scale to see how we did. Even when we did’nt do that well, you still had a good time just fishing. On the way home we already were talking about the next tournament. There is nothing like good competition to get that competitive spirit going. So I am wondering, are there any other circuits in the Lansing area besides Bassworld. Nothing agaisn’t Bassworld, but uptill last years payouts, Team Sumpreme payed pretty good the years leading up to last year. There was talk last year after some of the tournaments, that they would like to see a 4 or 5 tournamnet schedule. Increase the entry fees and pay out alot more and pay more spots. I think this would create great excitement in the four state region. With the Everstart tournaments not being held in La Crosse or anywhere else close to the midwest this year, I think these tournamnet guys would like the opportunity to fish some high payout tournamnets. These are just some of my thoughts. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

jim, what is your website address? I would like to look at your swim jigs