SVT THUNDER

Good Lord...

It does look like something that would be swimming around Chernobyl.

I mean...I don’t fish for Perch. But this is pretty cool. Adam Mann crushed the ID state-record perch outta Lake Cascade to the tune of 3.22 lbs (went 16.25" long with a 15.5" girth).

I didn’t tell him to pick it up lol. But I’ve survived 45 years by knowing what snakes are venomous and which ones aren’t. That’s just something that is taught from a very young age when you live in the Deep South. But I would never advise someone to mess with any snake. That’s the best policy.

I’m pretty sure we were talking about Ohio...not Africa.

Congrats on your first Hud catch.

Just looking at the head, it’s non venomous. Not sure what snakes are common in your area, but I’d wager it’s some species of a garter snake or rat snake.

I bought a bait on here from a member in Texas not long ago. He shipped on Feb 22 and tracking showed it leaving the facility. Arrival date came and no shipping update from USPS. I finally got an update that it had arrived in another Tx location and nothing. Then it was here in AL. It came on March 4th. I had no issue with the seller at all. I knew that USPS was mixed up. It was my first time buying in the BM. But the Seller did his part. And it’s not the first time or longest time USPS has had a bait I ordered in limbo. It’s just how it is in some areas right now. I bought another bait from the North that same week and it arrived in 5 days. I got some baits last month from Japan and they arrived via Fed Ex in like 5 days.

Going back to my younger years, but the flying lure may have been the most overhyped bait ever. When fishing lures and infomercials collided.

Back when I fished tournaments and guided, I wrote down everything everyday. Water temp, fish caught, location, baits, casting direction, wind direction, wind strength, water clarity, depth, sky and weather conditions. I have notebooks full. But once I had to get off the water everyday due to degenerative bone disease, I stopped. It’s all different now that the eel grass has taken over my home lake. But I have shared copies of my notes with others on different lakes and most still seem to help. But all the years I was on the water daily, I would look back through my notes from previous years and sometimes I was amazed at just how much they helped when conditions were similar. Even now, I don’t put the boat in the water very much anymore. But I love looking back through my notes. Some of the best days are all in there. And some of the worst. But either way, it does help. And some day you will look back over your notes and I promise you will have some smiles and a few good laughs.

For a hardbait, 6” HPH. Softbait, STC Swimbait. Either will catch keepers to toads here year round.

I won’t go into the long story of how I got into swimbaits back in 2001. It’s on some of the FB groups. But I use to fish tournaments full time and guide. I was at my best when I could catch them stacked up deep. (14’ and deeper is deep for me) I was on fish in a tournament. Had been all through practice. But they wouldn’t hit anything I had caught them on in practice. So I had two optimum 8” top hooks I bought on a whim. Long story short, had no clue what I was doing. Partner backlashed, I let a cast sink to 14’ on top of a ledge and after fixing his line, I decided to pop the bait once like a jig. The rod about got yanked out if my hand. Fished that way the rest of the day until both baits were torn apart past the hook. Won the tournament. So I still fish that technique with soft baits on a Recon head in deep and shallow water. I also slow roll them in deep water around structure. With hard swimbaits in deeper water, I’ll try and use a fast sink if possible and let it sink until it’s just above the structure and swim it in that zone. Once I’m past the key structure, I burn it in and recast again trying different angles until I get bit or move on. I have caught some on the burn back in over the years. I’ve also pegged 1/2oz to 1oz tungsten weights about 15” - 18” up the line in front of slow sink glides with mixed success. Still experimenting with that. And I’ve had success on Huds of course. Hope some of this helps.