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I'm just giving you crap for hijacking every thread with "should've gotten a shimano" lol.

BPS bound this afternoon with the $200 in gift cards I got from the family yesterday. Didnt have the money for the Veritas rod, so the Citica E is now mounted on a MH Lightning Shock rod I had. The Citica E is now my spinnerbait rig, and the Chronarch 50E is mounted on a MH Sellus rod with 50# Power Pro for my soft plastics. Cant wait to try it out tomorrow.

Both baits work all year long but punkers seem to work best for me from spring through fall. I tend to throw them when fish are more active and willing to chase. This is going to sound contradictory but if your getting a lot of follows on a wakebait and the fish seem unwilling to commit, try a punker. It's a great cat and mouse bait. Incorporate pauses and twitches and get those fish to react. I tend to pick up baits like the floating bbz in low light conditions or when there is a good chop on the water. Some of the best days are when there are 3ft rollers. Everyone else is trying to hide from the wind but I welcome it. I also like to long line these types of baits over humps submerged trees, and long tapering points. They also work well along ledges. Try dead sticking and fishing them really slow. The real answer is really kind of generic. You have to mix it up and see what the fish want. One thing your going to see throwing big baits is that bigger fish live by their own set of rules. You will learn things that contradict common bass folklore. Just look at what the A-rig exposed. We were told that in the winter you need to slow down and fish deep. And that suspended fish are inactive. I hope people continue believing this because its going to fatten my wallet.

A-Jay I would like to catch that pike when she hits 50".

I have 2 coming in 4.9:1 for cranking

If it's not frozen, I'm trying!!

I've been using one since this spring. It's a fine reel. It's actually gotten smoother with use. Casting wise it'll hang with my lews tournament pro and okuma Serrano. As for the plastic drag star, I'm not sure how you'd break one anyway.

Sounds more like you found a great location for cats than bass.

Went to the Cape Cod Canal this afternoon and landed 27 stripers (me and my dad put together) here was the best of the day...

They're pretty much impossible to rig on a screw lock unless you modify it. I cut the lock so it's about 1/3 of it's original length and then use pliers to straighten it out and put a 90 degree bend in the very end. Then you just push the worm onto the spike you just created and rig the rest as usual. Works very well with plastics that are too thin to rig on the screw lock also.

I'll be out there too!!! I love it, nothing like getting to the lake and seeing no one else on the water. I live in the South, and still anglers stay away during the cold days.

should have got a Zebco 33. Better track record than your Shimano and its a proven budget reel. It will last longer and out cast your Shimano as well.

Just yanking your chain....LOL.

As long as the water is not frozen over I'm fishing.

I'm a big Shimano fan. Nobody makes a better derailleur.

my profile picture is the fish

8# is a good bass, congrads. I only use the $1.00 spinner baits, bet Walmart is out of stock on them this morning.......lol.

After being on this site for several years and have read 1000's of posts, it appears to me that most fisherman here relegate spinning gear more for open water type fishing. IMO line management is the paramount concern and not breaking strength, especially for those that set the drag with a scale relative to the pound test they are using. With the drag set properly I'd have no qualms in landing a 6# fish, if I had enough line capacity I could land a 30 pounder, others have posted pics doing that already. To me the brand itself isn't all that important, I've had equal success form the bottom of the line to the top of the line.

Tungsten weights are more sensitive than lead. The deeper the water and the more windy the conditions are the more they shine. I have been using them for two seasons now and would never go back to lead.

I have several TPs. You can buy them for around $150 NEW on Ebay, and at that price point they are my favorite reel.

There are farm ponds with huge fish but it has been my experience in my area that many of them are not managed properly resulting in an over-population of bass and skinny fish. There is one pond I have fished for eight years. When I first fished it there were a number of large bass in the 3 - 5 lb range and occasionally a 7 lb'er could be had. The main forage in this pond is bluegill and green sunfish and back then the owner was actively involved in managing the fishery. The population of bass outpaced the population of small panfish for food and the pond has evolved into a poor fishery for large bass. I have made suggestions to the owner to restock the pond with more small bluegill and I and a few others that fish it have tried to selectively harvest the smaller bass. The owner has not added any more forage and all of the bluegill/green sunfish that I see are so huge they would be difficult for the small bass to eat. In just a matter of a few years this pond has gone from a big bass fishery to an also-ran. I rarely fish there now because I have a better chance at big bass in the public lakes.

The thing with big bass in smallish farm ponds is that the forage has to be present for them to grow to any size. Also, there must be the right ratio of bass to other fish in the pond. There can't be to many bass either because they'll just compete for food and it will stunt their growth. The size of the pond has to be large enough to support big bass too. Too small and they won't be able to grow due to lack of forage, cover, etc. Depth of the pond also plays a part in producing big bass so they have a place to stay cool in hot summer months.

Depends if I'm fun-fishing or not. Sometimes a "follow" will make my day when I'm not fun-fishing. When I am, I start getting bored if I don't get a bite every fifteen minutes. fun-fishing = when I'm not targeting the biggest bass in the reservoir.