Tim Kelly

With a bait that small I'd imagine you'd be getting a lot of pecks from tiny fish, which may lead you to think you're missing bass bites. Put a 3-6" bait on any try again. I have almost ridiculous faith in a 4" Reins bubbling shaker, in scuppernong.

I tried that when I was his age. Got some strong cotton and made a slip loop. Put it round the tooth and slammed the door. The cotton slipped up over the tooth and caught round the bit of flesh that holds the tooth to your mouth. There was blood and pain! Good on lake for not making my mistake! ?

If it doesn't do it when you're fishing then don't worry about it. Spinning the reels hard when you're at home will cause some funny noises.

Honestly, there's nothing much to not like about any of the reels you mention. If you generally prefer one brand over the other, then choose the one from that brand at the price you can manage, they're all great reels at that price point. If it were my choice I'd have the Certate, but any of them would be excellent, but then so are the $200 reels from both companies.

Check your transducer hasn't been knocked out of position. As you're not getting a bottom reading at all it might just be the transducer pointing the wrong way. Presumably it has worked OK in the past? Also check the connections in the back of the unit. If all that checks out I suspect the transducer's gone bad, but hopefully it's a simple fix.

I don't imagine those graphite arbors have any structural strength at all. They might be marginally lighter than masking tape, but probably less strong. I've used masking tape on nearly every rod I've built and never had a seat go lose, except one of those stupid SK2 seats, which I would never fit on a rod again as they have no strength, are uncomfortable and are generally a daft design.

It's good to be back. Nice to see the clock is still ticking. ?

He may be old and wobbly legged, but get him near water and he'll swim for medals.

Did you have permission to fish Menderchuck south? I hear the coast guard are pretty strict on poachers.

All this "don't judge people" stuff, nah. If you're interacting with people, as a customer or an employee, it's just basic good manners to be polite and engage with each other. I don't care if the cat's died, you're out in public interacting with people, put on a front, then go home and be sad.

Have you tried trimming the motor up a bit to see if it's seeing the motor? Also, do you have a TM sonar on? Could be a bit of cross talk? Go into the menu and reset the sonar to factory settings. I had a sonar that I couldn't make look right, reset it and started again and it worked fine. Sometimes we've fiddled with so many settings it's as well to go back to factory and start again.

You have to set the scroll speed to match the speed you are travelling through the water. Might be as simple as needing to slow the scroll speed down, or do your side scanning at 5mph. If you want to go at 3mph, then slow the scroll down.

It's the previous series Daiwa, before the LT series. Got the air bail, so it's not one of the very budget ones. I prefer the drag knob on that series as I sometimes touch the new drag knob accidentally and change the setting when I'm casting with the LT reels. Should be a nice solid little reel.

Very good. A lot of those "Playing for change" films are worth watching. I always enjoy watching group of musicians who really understand what they're doing play together. A very enviable skill. Whoever mixes the various parts does a very good job too.

If you can buy a new boat for $5K pick me one up too! ?

There are lots of places to fish, and I go most weeks, just no bass. Perch are the most bass like fish we have, very similar to yellow perch, though they grow to about 5-6lb max in the UK, a bit heavier in mainland northern Europe. My heaviest is 5-04, which is exacty the same weight as my best smallmouth. Zander, very similar to walleye and pike (northern) are all here, just no bass. Access is another issue here. Most lakes and sections of river are privately owned, rather than state owned, so you have to pay for permission to fish each different section, if you can gain access at all. Teddy Roosevelt is my hero. That guy nailed it for public access!

Portabote! A 10 or 12ft one is a pretty stable platform to fish from and doesn't take too long to set up. Can carry it up the stairs to you apartment and only needs a 5hp, which is also easier to carry. Otherwise, yes, you're mad. LOL

I live at least 1500 miles from the nearest place I bass fish, so I get to go between 0 and 2 times a year, depending on life. This year life is not working with me! I was supposed to be bass fishing in Spain next week. That's not happening. I was invited to fish in Canada in July and it's hard to believe that will happen either. I was supposed to go fishing for zander (walleye) in Holland at the end of March, that didn't happen, and my usual fishing here in the UK for perch, zander and pike has been banned since mid March, so I've developed a tick. Lol I'd go bass fishing a lot more given the choice, especially smallmouth fishing. But short of a lottery win I'll spend as much time as I can thinking about it and watching others doing it and enjoy every moment I get to actually do it. I usually go fishing most weekends here and enjoy it but my bass trips are very special.

I have a 12ft boat with a 55 TM and a 20hp outboard. The TM will pull me upriver in a 3mph flow, but it's working hard, I wouldn't dream of going out on the river with just my TM. Your combo is probably nicely suited to a small protected pond, but I think it may be foolhardy to take it anywhere more challenging than that.

Completely normal with new braid. Most brands will do that, though you might not notice with darker coloured lines. Spiderwire has so many different braids. Most of them don't suit me, but the smooth 8 is superb line. Been using it on my main spinning rods for 3 or 4 seasons and it works very well, no degradation in that time, no wind knot issues. It suits me.

You need to balance the leader with the technique. If you're fishing from the bank and chucking a 1/2oz Tokyo rig as far as you can, then 8lb isn't going to work. The 20 would be safer, though probably on the heavy side. 15 might be a better choice. Knots are important with fluoro, but understanding how the whole system works and balances is as important for it all to work as seamlessly as possible. You're doing really, well considering you haven't been fishing very long, and getting to the point where you want to try more things and expand your knowledge, which has a learning curve. Keep at it.

Superb. Hope his recovery is also perfect.

Poor guy. All the best for him.

You're right to go back to the braid you were using last year and keep the fluoro for leaders if you feel you need them. Fluoro on a bass size spinning reel is difficult and the advantages of sub 10lb fluoro over mono are pretty questionable. Above 10lb it has enough weight to show a difference, but that's not relevant here. Fluoro on spinning reels requires careful selection of brand and diameter as well as very good line management skills. Even then it won't cast as far or as easily. For someone relatively new to fishing you're doing well to find a system that worked for you last year. Stick with it. If you want to expand your techniques then a medium heavy baitcasting outfit with 15 fluoro would be a good next step, but it will be a learning curve. Your spinning outfit will serve you well for lots of techniques with the braid.

That's my preferred method too. The unevenness is just a result of the line not being "precision wound" onto the spool at the factory, so it lays on top of the layers of line below and distorts them. I don't think it has any real effect on the line and it's more noticeable on stiffer lines. Most japanese monos a precision wound and I think Sufix lines are too. Probably more brands I don't know about.