retiredbosn

Ok this is getting ridiculous now. The sultans of spinning gear are living is some sort of alternate universe. There isn't any fish a BC can land that will be lost on spinning gear. There aren't any applications that the BC really is better for. Quote your can do everything with a spinning reel that you can do with a BC, the answer is no you can't. Using this logic we would all still be using our old Zebco spincast reels, in reality there isn't anything you can do with a spinning or bc that can't be done with a spincast, plus you can cast a spin cast into a strong wind! Must be a better set up! Please. Is spinning gear effective? Absolutely yes! Is it as strong as a BC? No. Are there applications where a BC has the advantage? Yes. Can you flip a jig with a spinning reel? Yes! The question is can your spinning gear with inferior drag, limp rod, etc horse the fish out of the twisted pile of wood and grass? Probably not. Good night, no offense to Fish Chris I respect his obvious angling skills, but his post makes the perfect reason for using a BC. Lets say you fish from shore and don't have the luxury of chasing your fish down with a boat, you either turn the fish or loose it, better be using a BC. Or you are fishing flooded timber and can't move the boat, when you hook the fish you have turn the fishes head now or loose it to the timber, again better have a BC with heavy drag and 50lb braid, 10lbs of drag just isn't enough in these situations. So in short unless you are fishing open water, have unlimited line or a boat to chase the fish with you are better off with a baitcasting set up. Or another way if you pond fish, fish an open lake etc there isn't nothing a spinning reel and BC can't do, but if you fishing water like the rest of us with logs, limited access to run the fish down etc, a BC has advantages.

I have four all abu garcias, three EXT Pros and 1 4600C3, I use mine for everything. I recently sold most of my lp's as I switched to round reels. The only LP's I have now are an Accurist for flipping and an 05series Extreme for the really light stuff. I love the classic look, feel nostalgia of a round reel I guess. Seems to me that you get more bang for the buck with a round reel as well.

I agree as there is also the treble adjustment. Who doesn't adjust their treble hooks?

Here is why I chose vaseline, lard will melt when hot, crisco the same, even Megastrike gets somewhat runny when sitting on the hot deck, but more like vaseline than a animal fat. I AM NOT SAYING THE MEGASTRIKE HAS PETROLEUM JELLY IN IT. Here is another idea I came up with today, how about fish oil supplements? The liquid jells or even codliver oil, mixed with some vaseline? I think I need to check that out.

From your other post I am going to assume you are talking about fish you are catching on crankbaits. If so what kind of pole do you have and what kind of line do you use. I used to have the same problem with loosing crankbait fish near the boat. The problem was that the rod was too stiff, I purchased a BPS Crankin stick, problem solved. A crankin stick or a graphite rod with a slow to medium action will give to the fish and not pull the trebles out. If you are using a crankin stick of some type I would look at the line, if you are using a line that doesn't stretch any, then I would switch to either mono or a hybrid line. Same problem as a stiff rod, the rod and line must give enough to keep the hooks in the fishes mouth but not enough to give too much slack. If you are talking about throwing jigs worms etc then take this advice and reverse it. Good luck

I really like the MH's either 6'6" or 7', seems like this is a good all around rod, if not that then the M. If you are going to focus on fishing the bottom, i.e. worms, jigs, carolina rigs, and deep cranks then the MH would be a good choice. Team the reel with 12lb Yozuri Hybrid line and you have a good all around combo, which will also do buzzbaits and topwaters fine. If you are going to work more cranks, spinnerbaits, topwaters(spooks etc) and buzzbaits then I might go with the M. I tend to believe that you have better control and less backlashes with a MH, the more whip action of the rod the more likely I am to overrun, there are many that will disagree with this but for me this is the set up that works best. Out of five rods I own 4 are MH's, and one ML. I have different actions but the same rating, my CB rods are BPS crankinsticks, my bottom rods are quantum tours, and the ML is a KVD.

what a deal!!! Hey wait didn't I have your brother as a teacher too? lol

OOPS You typically have to follow that song up with "It's to hot too fish too hot for golf and too cold" at home anyway!

Awesome fish Chris, the largest I've caught on an ultra light is a 20lb cat, I was confined to the bank and had to switch line, she was guarding a nest and bit anything I put in it. After she broke my line 3 times I put some 17lb mono on the reel, I think it held like 10yds. The water was so snag infested that I couldn't turn the fish before she fouled my line and snapped it, that changed when I put the heavier line on. I have little problem in landing fish while in a boat with ultralight rigs, typically what happens though is the boat is taken to the fish not the other way around, (small aluminum job, doesn't work in my fiberglass boat). No I don't use the trolling motor to chase the fish down, but the boat has less water drag than a big fish pulling. The only time this doesn't happen is if the fish gets into current then the fish typically spools me or breaks the line, I need to switch to braid from the sounds of it. On an unrelated note, you mentioned getting your scale certified on another thread. Do you use a special portable scale? How do you go about getting a scale certified, I guess it would vary from state to state, but knowing the process would help me know who to contact, etc.

Brad Paisley's "I'm gonna miss her" always cracks me up. It is the one that starts out with him singing his wife threatens to leave him if he goes fishing one more time. The chorus has him sitting on the lake shore talking about missing her when he gets home, then wait I think I have a bite. Cracks me up, I play it for my wife whenever she starts talking about my fishing.

It is just about doing something to make the fishing more enjoyable to me. I guess it is sorta like the fly fisherman who ties their own flies, sure you can buy them, but there is some satisfaction in doing it yourself. BTW I have a tube of megastrike, and it was JJ's magic that gave me the idea for mincing up the garlic, cause that stuff stinks, and so does the stuff I mixed up. Just having some fun.

Umm I think I definitely fit the category of a tackle junkie. Right now I have more plastics than I will ever be able to use, but I still buy new stuff. I once kept a bag of worms that didn't work worth a flip for 7 years, just in case I may need them. So not only am I tackle junkie but I'm also a pack rat.

Been messing around in the kitchen, actually quite by accident. Cleaning out the refridgerator the other day I came across some minced garlic, I also had a new near can of vaseline. Well long story short I put the garlic in the food processor, and also the vaseline (don't ever do that, the wife doesn't like vaseline in the food prossessor), kept adding vaseline until the mixture was what I thought was good. End result went fishing today, we have had 10 days of rain straight, awful cold front low last night was around 38. The water temps have dropped, etc, etc, I figured the fishing would be terrible, I was right, but I wanted to experiment with my mix, end result the only fish I caught had the vaseline mixture on. I know it is way less than scientific, but I would love to think that my attractant was responsible for helping me land the fish. The fish all inhaled the rubber lizard, and were hooked deep in the mouth, so I figured from that, that the scent was helping. Anyway does anyone make their own attractant?

I don't believe anyone was telling him to buy a bc, just the differences in between the two. I still use my spinning reel, I however love the bc setups I have. For me I think I caught just as many fish with my old zebco 202, but I get more satisfaction out of a bc, which is the reason we go fishing. I know a local pro who cannot use a spinning reel, and skips under docks with a zebco 33. Different strokes different folks. Use what you like, but the differences between spincast, spinning, baitcasters and conventional reels are real. Bottom line I loose less lures with the baitcaster.

The Greenbrier river has been at flood stage for a week now, stopped raining today. All protected coves have fast water running through them. One of my favorite stretches has a slot limit, and I typically catch some nice bass there. Now with the river at flood, what will happen with the bass? Will they be washed downstream? Will they respawn? I figure all the nest are silt covered now, and/or the eggs washed away. I know whenever we get a flood like this, the bottom of the river changes, and I have to search and find the new holes, etc. So what do you guys think, will this flood result in a failed spawn or will the bass respawn? If I recall the same thing happened last year, so this would be the second year in a row with a failed spawn unless the bass will re-nest

Check the flea market forum on this board, ebay, also Bass Pro Shops have their Extreme reels on sale now, last years model is 40 bucks, the extreme combo is on sale for 110, which is a steal. There are several tips on here on how to set your baitcaster for optimum performance etc. If you know someone who uses baitcasters they can teach you in 5-10 minutes how to use one, they are not difficult to learn to use. Baitcasters have come a long long way, I hardly get backlashes now. You will also be amazed with the increased sensitivity of these rods and reels. If I were looking to add a new set up, I would definitely get a BPS Extreme combo, for you to learn with I would recommend a 6foot 6inch MH pole with a 6:2:1 reel for 110 bucks it is like buying the rod and getting the reel for free.

The main differences to me are that a b/c pole is much more powerful. You have more control not only over your bait but the fish, say a big LM wants to run into the cover, you'll have a much better chance of turning that fish using a casting pole. Add to that spinning reels as a general rule have no where near the drag power that a bc reel has. Line capacity, strength of the reel, etc. An example that I can give is I fish jigs, worms, carolina rigs, etc a lot, when I fish the river with a spinning outfit I loose many more jigs to hangs than I do with a bc outfit. I credit this to the combination of heavier line, stronger pole and reel. When my jig gets hung under a rock, most of the time I can flip the rock over and retrieve my jig. I was a die hard spinning outfit fisherman, and thought bc were for the macho set or pros, however since trying a bc, I hardly ever pick up my spinning outfits, I even bought a finesse reel to handle the light baits. Good luck

The Greenbrier river has been at flood stage for a week now, still raining today. All protected coves have fast water running through them. One of my favorite stretches has a slot limit, and I typically catch some nice bass there. Now with the river at flood, what will happen with the bass? Will they be washed downstream? Will they respawn? I figure all the nest are silt covered now, and/or the eggs washed away. I know whenever we get a flood like this, the bottom of the river changes, and I have to search and find the new holes, etc. So what do you guys think, will this flood result in a failed spawn or will the bass respawn? Thanks

I'll let you in on a secret, ssshhh, a strike king golden shiner bleeding spinner bait works great, esp if creek chubs make up a large portion of their diet. Also get some 4" grubs and a 3/16 jig head, cast upstream and work it back, guarantee you'll catch smallies. Also there is three articles on this site that have great info on catching smallies.

One of the fishermen on this site mentioned getting his scale certified by the state. screen name fish chris, he may be able to point you in the right direction to getting a scale that can be certified, then half of the battle is over. The only problem I would have is getting other fishermen to be my witnesses, because as soon as the new state record comes from your favorite body of water, it will be hammered by every one, perhaps by those who do not respect the fishery or laws. We have a catch and release lake nearby, and I truly believe the next state record will come from that lake, however many people who frequent the lake do not respect the lake or the laws. Fortunately however the lake now has cell service and I have the CO on speed dial now. Many fishermen here think a 4lb largemouth is a fish of a lifetime and think nothing of taking it home.

Congrats, awesome fish

Was in Ronceverte today, if you are familiar with the ramp there beside the ampitheatre, then you will have an idea how high the water is. The stage of the ampitheatre is underwater, in fact the water is above the first row of seats, that means that the ramp in Ronceverte is under about 4 feet of water.

Cup, I hate to tell you but I would say your float is in serious danger of being cancelled. The river is higher today than yesterday, the ramp at Caldwell is underwater, and we have rain in the forecast everyday until Sunday. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Also you can use google earth to check the river conditions.

I know that most large if not all large bass caught are female bass. So in short I am wondering ow large a male bass can grow? Does any one have that information?

High muddy and fast right now at Caldwell, I'll be by the river probably every day this week will update conditions for ya later this week