We hosted our first bass fishing forum in The Record's community media lab last night as part of our on going "Community Forums" series at the newspaper, which drew a healthy crowd of 26 individuals throughout the evening.

Sean Wilkes, author of the TroyRecord.com blog, Fishing Out Loud, hosted the forum and did a great job engaging the audience with data from his own fishing experiences, first account accounts of what tactics worked better for him in different fishing situations, and, especially, the variety of equipment and tackle he brought for a show-and-tell session afterward.

He made it clear to the audience that this was the first time he had given such a presentation, but from their reactions afterward, they would have never known otherwise.

Sean touched on a number of topics throughout the night including general techniques for fishing near a lay-down  (a downed tree or other piece of wood in the water), what types of line tend to work best in certain situations, and which lures and fishing rods he had found to work best for him so far.

He even provided a discount card for the purchase of any new Kistler rods to all who attended - not a bad deal for a night of anglers who got to learn more about the pastime they love.

Check out the video below to watch a full recap of the nearly 2-hour session.