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how do you define out fish another reel?

I just thought I would snap a shot of a bass that my wife mounted for me in 1979. Now take note, that though over the years, it has become somewhat discolored. Also, I would like to point out that she had never attempted anything like this before, and never has since. They used to sell kits, that would supply enough whatever, to mount one ten pound bass, or two five pound bass. So she wanted to buy a kit and give it a try. This bass weighed just a shade over 4# on a butcher scale. I just want to say, all things considered, I think she did an awesome job. Nearly 37 years have passed and it's still here. Oh, and so is she, by the way. Hootie

Expensive is relative.............to some people a $12 lure is cheap, to some it is not. At the end of the day, fish with what you like, and can afford, be happy with it, and don't crap on someone who either can afford or has more expensive stuff or vice versa, cheaper stuff. I'll always bang the drum for bass fishing on a budget because I am saddled with a budget myself, but if I had unlimited funds, you can bet your rear end the stuff in my arsenal would be top shelf, but for now, I do the best I can with what I have to work with, and I am pretty happy with my stuff and the end results.

What is the purpose in this post regarding the OP's thread question? The guy said he wanted to treat himself. Are you telling him to save his money cause sometimes persons you fish with who use more expensive equipment don't catch squat at times? I've never understood the reasoning behind these types of comments.

Heres a few of the new rig. 2011 Bass Cat Puma

There used to be a company called Hammering Hare baits. The fur holds water for days and rust the hook like no other.

+1 that music. I'd like to add to that Ride of the Valkyries and Hall of The Mountain King.

No lure is strictly clear water or strictly muddy water! Bass in clear water are mostly sight feeders while muddy water bass are mostly lateral line feeders. Adjust accordingly

After all my rants about not liking senko type baits, I caught my first on them today. Out of seven bass, four came on the senkos. The biggest one on one. 17 1/2", one 16", and two 14". I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks....lol. Hootie

Got my TW order! I really like the Tatula rod!

Define upgrade? when i bought my first kayak i did some stuff to it that was waste of time and money. My last kayak (number 5 in my life) i didn't do anything to it until i had about 100+ hours in the boat. Demo boats and get what you like and if it is out of your price range, save up and get it in your price range because you will get it eventually anyways.

Did some kayak fishing today. Did pretty well! Between my friend and I we easily landed 75-100 bass, most of them being smallmouth in the 8-13" range, but we caught a few nice largemouth as well. Biggest fish of the day 3.3lb, one of the prettiest largemouth I have ever caught. Watched him swim out of a laydown and eat my jig! A little swimbait love too Brown One Fish were caught on squarebills, texas rigged creatures and worms, wacky rigged trick worms and senkos (wacky jighead), spinnerbaits, and an s-waver. The bait of the day from around noon til 5 when we left was a stupid little 4" t-rigged senko with a 1/16oz bullet weight. Fished it just like a ned rig. Not the most interesting way to fish but we sure did get a lot of bites.

Had a first for me happen last night. I did some shore fishing from the small pond at my parents camp. I had a popper tied on and during the second cast something sucked it under. I hooked it, and it thrashed on the surface once then started tugging hard. I thought I had a real nice bass on the line just because of the weight and how hard it was tugging. When I banked it, this is what I find: Never caught two fish on one cast before, especially not on top water. I got 3 bass, all on a Storm chugbug in about 30 minutes of fishing.

My prep work this time of year is to ensure I have enough beer and snacks on hand for college football.

Lews.

Falcon all day

Frankly, I don’t understand your question. Do I Like Bill Dance? Yes, ever since the late 1960s (Green & Murski era). There's no one in my circles deriding Bill, in fact he's one of the most universally respected bass pros Does Bill Dance Fish Privately Managed Ponds? Yes, it’s pretty obvious that he does Is That Cheating? On the contrary, if Bill filmed infomercials on well-worn public waters, he'd be cheating his audience by forcing them to watch paint dry ;-) Double-Standard? That sails over my head, like a piece from another puzzle Roger

I recently posted about soft plastics not being in my confidence baits, well I was wrong, now they are. I lost a few to the bottom but then Texas rigged a worm and got a nice one, thanks for all the suggestions, now I can put my stock pile of plastics to use. 20 inches, and I still haven't got a new scale, I have a feeling if I buy a scale I'll never get another good one lol.

Take the time to take a kid fishing. There's no feeling like putting something back to this awesome fun sport. Take all the neighborhood kids fishing. All the kids who hang out together have a great time fishing. A few dozen night crawlers and let the fun begin. My neighborhood kids are in there 40's now and still are thankful I took them fishing. They never forgot it. Get a kid interested in fishing. He won't have time for anything else. God bless, have a great weekend fishing. BB

The variances from manufacturers is what makes it so hard for me to order rods online. I wish there was an accepted standard as well.

really really sad to hear that. Perhaps "lost bag" signs near the dock will help?

I fish the Vilecraw top water like I would do a Zoom Horny Toad or a Ribbit frog. Try that next time you fish top water it's very very effective

"Lake George is, without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw; formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony." -- Thomas Jefferson, May 31, 1791 I grew up fishing this lake, for 25+ years, but hadn't until this summer spent serious time on it the entire season. I ice-fished a few times in Feb-March, and went out a few days after ice-out, then over the next 3 months made about 25 trips, about 300 hrs on it this summer... mostly dawn-dusk trips, a few overnights, and two very grueling 24 hour marathons. I mainly fished for SMB/LMB, catch and release but did keep bunches of rock bass and pumpkinseed for eating a few times, they were everywhere. Perch were here and there, a few jacks but nothing consistently, probably because I wasn't jigging much. A couple trips I targeted either Northern Pike or Lake Trout but had very little success. Overall what I learned is: - LMB and SMB populations are doing great here - Most people I see out in boats fishing seem to fish way too shallow - Shallow water (<20 ft)- any time, any day, any weather- is never productive for LMB/SMB >12" here in July or August. Period. - The key with both species is finding structure where the thermocline (30-32') and bottom intersect- humps, submerged points, sunken islands, drop-offs, or even just flats- at 28-38' deep and near deeper water. - Locating and fishing around "cover" (fallen timber, weedbeds, docks, et) is not very helpful on this lake in the summer - Best baits are the ones that stay at the target depth (20-30') the longest - jigs, drop shot rigs, texas rigs, etc. - ...But the most efficient methods (catch the most fish in the least time) keep the baits at target depth while also covering the largest area in the least time. For me this was speed trolling (3-4mph) deep diving crankbaits and weighted plugs. Honestly, the bigger the better. StrikeKing 10XD, 2-3oz Matzuo Kinchou plugs, etc. The boat: Pants: Fjallraven Vidda Pros. There are inserts for foam knee pands so they were great for a canoe or small boat where you can be on your knees a lot. Also plenty of pockets, and reinforced seat because, well, you're sitting a lot. Some of the routes and fish: I covered a lot of the South Basin, mainly around the major islands and open water structure. Humps and reefs. Only parts I didn't get to were Diamond Island, Dunhams Bay or any of the very southern end. Since I was in a canoe I didn't just jump spot to spot, I trolled along everywhere I went and found some fish in very strange places. Dink SMB will suspened 10-15 ft down almost anywhere in the lake, but esp over structure 30-40 ft deep. And the larger SMB and LMB will also suspend 20-35 feet down sometimes in up to 60 fow. Didn't really weight or measure any of the fish this year but I think largest of each species was around 20" and 4-5 lbs, not necessarily pictured. Storm approaching: Got caught between 2 thunderstorm cells north and south of me on the lake, this one to the north dumping huge amounts of rain. Wind and waves got a little sketchy. I headed into a small bay and some people offered to tie up to their docks. It passed and I survived. 1. Northwest Bay at sunset, 2. Moonrise in Harris Bay, July 3. This was an awesome night. Full moon, calm waters, tons of people at the lake but not much boat traffic since it was at night. When I first got there around 6-7pm the entire bay smelled like grilled steak. Fishing was great until around 11pm when it slowed down a little. Even though it was early in the season and at night topwater wasn't producing. Shallow crankbaits over 15-20 ft weedbeds on sunken humps worked best. 3. Sagamore Hotel at night. Lac Du St Sacrament - largest of one of the cruise ships on the lake. Snuck up on me one time while anchored at a mid-lake hump when the wind was from the opposite direction. It came within about 100 yds. Dome Island about 10mi down the lake. I did fish Dome quite a bit and it does have prolific numbers of SMB around it and the extensive reef structure to its north. The drop-offs to the south seem hold the bigger fish, but overall I found Dome Island to essentially be just a big dink sanctuary... tiny smallmouth after tiny smallmouth. It was hard to fish deep enough to avoid them while still catching something. There seemed at times to be hundreds, even thousands, of 3-5" smallmouth bass around the island and the reefs and it became a real hassle compared to other places. I have not once caught a LMB around or near this island. SMB have taken over, and I've started to think the lake is overpopulated with smallmouth. Most productive lure of the season and the year by far. Perch were there but I wasn't able to target them specifically. I plan on focusing more on them in the fall. Small cottage on the lake... Owned by Red Sox owner John Henry. No one was ever really there until August when the Sox were 15+ games back. One of many very nice SMB. It was very hard to fish for SMB and LMB separately. Toward the end of the summer SMB have been a bit harder to find. Beat up bass. I have been noticing a lot of jaw and mouth wounds in various stages of healing on basses mouths as the summer has gone on. This LMB actually had the entire lower jaw bone broken in the middle, bones no longer connected. It looked like it was healing though and the fish looked well fed. If anyone is interested I have 4-5 very specific spots that always produce big fish, PM me. I trade info for fluorocarbon line.

X2 for Lew's. I have a bb1 lefty on my deep cranking rod and love it. It casts a mile and is very nice feeling. Lew's offers a lot of left handed reels (I fish lefty) and I have nothing but good experiences with their reels.

Reels don't outfish reels, fishermen outfish fishermen. I have a couple of these bought 20 years ago that I use for pier fishing on the coast. Not much metal in them to corrode in sea water. I see that they haven't changed much in 2 decades, including the price! Good value for little $$. But will they "outfish" a more expensive Shimano or Daiwa spinning reel in fresh water? Definitely not if we're talking quality of components, design, smoothness, ergonomics, durability, etc. But I've caught a lot of bluefish, sea trout, spots, etc, etc with them and have zero complaints. Glad you like the reel Anantha. But let's not get carried away

The Mojo rig is a modern split shot using the tubular mojo weight with a rubber strand to hold in place. Today I use Owner #5133 down shot hook for weedless split shot rig and prefer the brass weight to slide (slip shot rig) using a pegged glass bead or Karolina plastic keeper as the brass Pro-Jo weight stopper. Lots of variations to the split rig. Tom

Is your $1000 budget just for the boat, or do you need a pfd, paddle, rigging, supplies, etc.

Those are some really nice looking baits!

I love the Chug Bug

I know I'm nitpicking, but not 100% made in CA. They have Fuji guides and reelseats (China) and cork (Portugal). St Croix is the same, Fuji and Kigan (Korea) guides and Fuji seats. If you want a 100% USA made rod, you'll have to go Custom. Its going to be expensive and it will not perform as well as it could. To get the best possible performing rod, it requires global diversity.

Will do.

Cool -- sure! They do look great on a shaky head. And the vile craw really does look like something created in a genetics lab, lol. A very different look than most other craw baits I've used. I'm eager to try them out too next time I get a chance. BioSpawn has clearly put a lot of thought into their lure designs.

Yep...part of fishing. If the hook is sticking out enough.....I will take the diagonal cutters I have and cut the barb off....to make hook removal easier for the fish. That's just me.

I have a previous model, white, chronarch in left hand wind and 5:1 ratio. Does a good job. Maybe you can find a new or near new one on ebay or somewhere?

UPDATE: Thanks for everyone's input on helping me narrow down and finally decide on a rod. I spent countless hours over several days trying to find what I hope would be the ultimate rod for my Pixy R. Well after a little searching and a conversation with Gary at TTT I decided on a MegaBass Destroyer X7 F2- 63X7 Super Cliffhanger. A somewhat local dealer happen to have one in stock so I grabbed it and boy let me tell you what....... she's a beaut Clark! This rod simply is a work of art. To say that I am impressed is a gross understatement and this coming from a guy with NRX, GLX and Steez rods in his arsenal. The Pixy feels perfect on the rod. I would know what else to ask of or expect from a light casting BFS set up. Maybe after the honeymoon is over I will do a rod review and give share my observations and my overall opinion. Again thanks for everyone's input. You all have helped in one way or another with your comments! A few pics with the Pixy on it:

Bearing count is a poor measure of a reals quality. A reel with 6-8 bearings is more than enough. The lexa will serve fine as a deep cranking reel. If you want something different, look for the previous generation daiwa zillion (not the TWS). Bullet proof reel that that will perform flawlessly and last a lifetime.

10lb big game

maybe you could grow a trophy bass

I have the Daiwa Lexa, and Abu Orra WInch, both quality reels that are not $$. The Lexa is a steal right now at TW for $60 on sale, it was around $130-$140

Norman Fat Boy (red ear) Rapala DT6 (Demon) MegaStrike StrikeBack Spinnerbait (white w/ double willow blades) Siebert Outdoors Cosmic Double Willow

My introduction to plastic worms occurred in 1957 at lake Shasta in California. I asked 13 years and asked 2 old timers how they caught thier bass. The old timer gave me a package od Creame rubber worms, natural crawler color and explained how to rig them. Take off the pre rigged harness and propeller, use a size 4 bait holder hook in the nose likes night crawler, clamp on a split shot to hold a dipsey bass sinker up the line about 2 feet and drag it along the bottom anywhere you see rocks along the shore. Today this would be a C-rig, in 1957 it was magic. Not a split shot rig but my first plastic worm rig. The bait holder hooks were pre rigged on a card with mono leader, we had Dacron line and knuckle buster reels. This rig caught a lot of big bass.

I use zoom finese worms and lizards on shakey heads and i cast them everywhere.Best for me is probably shallow around banks and structure with a super slow retrieve.

Fish a brush jig in rocks for a day... You'll figure out little differences make a HUGE difference in particular situations. (After you get done cussing that is)

Without a trailer? That's pretty amazing.

caught this one playing around in one of the ponds on our farm. Held onto the JJ's Magic dipped Chatterbait like trailer trash on meth. first catch on a chatterbait to.

If you want to use Lakemaster in your Helix, you have to use the 2015 issues. This is the first year Lakemaster has had the MSD size card and it is because of the Helix models. Lakemaster may or may not be more accurate than Navionics for a particular body of water. No opinion just fact. It would only be if the survey is Lakemaster High Definition, not the other two possibilities, LOOK at the Lakemaster Lake listing for the region you need to see if Lakemaster has any coverage at all that you need. Navionics is updateable and can have two map layers. Nautical Charts is Navionics data, and Sonar Charts is user generated data. You can view the current maps on the Navionics website's Web App. Navionics has used MSD cards since 2010. If you want to try Lakemaster for one body of water, you can purchase some individually with the Chart Select program. That takes an Encrypted memory card of at least 2GB in size to download the map to. Check the Humminbird Lakemaster website for the available waters for that program.

Send me one and I'll call it mine.

Managed to get back out on Sunday morning. Managed two- one went 20" on a senko being dragged on top and another going 14-15" on a Live Target frog. It's a pretty short window with no bites once the starts shining bright.

If you're dumb enough to cheat on your wife then you deserve to be caught.

Josh there is a big difference between a public pond or lake and a managed private lake or pond. The managed water is private with controlled fishing pressure. It will not have a stunted fish population but a maximized quality fish population. Depending on its age there could be a large population of big fish. The owner typically maintains a strong forage base so that the bass reach maximum size & growth on an accelerated basis. Knowing the differences between the public & private managed water the fish caught from the managed water will be bigger & healthier than the public water. They might also be easier to catch but not always because they might be more than adequately fed. The question is it cheating is up to you as an individual to determine. Most guys I have fished with do consider the private pond to be easier to catch a big fish than public water. I think the average knowledgeable fisherman realizes that a fishing show done on private water is not going to be as difficult as filming on public water hence the bias. Rest assured the Bill Dance does catch more & bigger fish from his private waters than he would from public water. It's just an easier film job.