HeavyDluxe

Just got my first order of Siebert jigs in the mail today... They look amazing! It's obvious that you (Mike) put a lot of care into these things. Figures that you'd be stocking these trailers just after I placed my order... Bummer! Oh well, there will be a next time!

Nice pickups! I have, uh, Easter gifts (yeah, that's it!) arriving tomorrow and Monday, if tracking can be believed.

In fairness, I'm willing to grant that there are probably subtle differences between those rods that make them, honestly, different models. At least with more reputable companies, I would bet that there's truth in advertising. But, is the difference really enough to warrant so much specialized equipment? Well, I suppose it is if that's how you choose to spend your bucks.

IMHO, a Berkeley Cherrywood or Lightning UL rod paired with a Pflueger Trion XL would be a nice, but not ridiculously priced combination. Our Wally World just had the Cherrywoods on sale. The upside is that it's a rig you can also use for smaller fish (panfish / perch) in between hauling bass out of your favorite body of water.

Great stuff in this thread! We all like shiny things, and we anglers have a particular propensity to feel like there's one [rod/reel/line/lure] that will revolutionize our fishing. Fishing tackle manufacturers capitalize on this. Neither of those is a bad thing, mind you. But I wager most of us would be far better served by working on improving our ability to analyze water and find fish as opposed to adding more techniques and gear. YMMV. Great advice. I would go so far as to say an angler could easily get by with two - the MH/F and M/F. With care, these can be leveraged to cover just about everything you'll find. The only downside to fewer rods is the need to re-tie every time you switch tactics. FWIW, that's the setup I'm taking to the water this year after getting by all last year on a M/F only. (Ok, that's technically not true... I carry an UL/M rod as well for whenever I want giggles. )

Man, I would hope it's not bad etiquette to ask - if you're genuinely interested and polite that is. I can understand not getting an answer from someone competing. And, I'm also not opposed to a little gamesmanship between competitors ("I caught them all over there..." when, in reality, I was somewhere else). What I do think is bad etiquette feeding a line of BS to someone who asks and seems innocently ignorant/curious. It's one thing to rib one another in good fun, it's another when people use faux 'advice' to have an inside joke at someone else's expense.

Congratulations!

Hi, all... Live over on the other side of the line, but will be fishing in NH more this year as well. See you on the water!

*ahem* You mean graphic novels.

Baptist, Methodist, Reformed, Presbyterian, or Catholic? This is a borderline religious question... My attempt at a non-religious answer: Any of the brands you've listed above will catch fish. On any given day, the action of one brand or another might be more enticing to bass and lead to more strikes... But, in the long run, I think it probably all comes out in the wash. How you fish them and color selection (which probably needn't be as complicated as we make it, either) has way more to do with catch rates than the brand of stick bait. I use GYCB. Why? It was the first thing I bought along with a back of SK Shim-E-Sticks. The senkos seemed (to me) to have more hook-ups. From then on, I suppose I've been reluctant to leave what works. I have used other brands, though (SK, BPS, Yum) and caught fish... So, I know it's mainly a confidence thing. But, I feel better paying the premium and fishing a true senko. Whatever you got/get will work. But, if you're obsessive like me, buy one color in several brands, fish 'em, and then dogmatically stick to the one that you think produces the best. You'll sleep better at night and fish better on the water. PS : In before the link/lock from the mods.

Srsly.

I'm a n00b, admittedly, but... The more I look at the advances in modern lines and modern spinning reels, the more I am convinced that you can really use spinning setups for just about everything nowadays. There's shortcomings there, but the same is true of baitcasting reels. It really comes down to what feels best to you (in general) and what specific tactics you might use more than others. With practice, you can pull off just about anything.

Been hooked since the middle of the first series. Not ashamed to admit it. There's a lot of cool philosophical questions asked in the plots of the show. Since we don't have cable here, I get the episodes from the iTunes store.

I think some of us are trying to say there's a kind of interest we have no desire to see grow. IMO, we've become hyper-competitive and hyper-macho in plenty of arenas already. I'd like to at someplace where, overall, people can compete like gentleman. Sure, there were disagreements and ticking matches back then. But the vitriol was toned down substantially over today, and people didn't air all their laundry in front of the cameras.

I pitch holding the bait in my left hand (reel handle side) and catch the line under the pointer finger of my right/rod hand (just like I would for casting). Flipping is the same, except I just use my left hand to manage the extra line... I just watched a baitcasting video and played around with different attempts to copy what I saw until something was accurate and comfortable. If I position my hands well on the rod, I can also do a little line feathering at entry with my rod hand. Not nearly so elegant in that department as thumbing a baitcaster, but good enough for my applications.

I think you're in for a ton of fun, no matter what. As the previous poster said, just take your time and have fun.

Lunkerville has old episodes online at their website. I'm in the same boat, so I'm watching this thread with interest.

Tex-posed Fat Ika in any of three colors (Black/Blue, Dark Pumpkin/Black, Green Pumpkin/Black).

I love threads like this... For one thing, I get so many good ideas and new 'leads' on baits. I'm so grateful for this board for that! The other cool thing is that threads like this show just how many different presentations can (and have) produced fish for people... There's always new stuff to learn, and probably a lot of productivity hidden in the piles of tackle we already have.

As a fellow n00b just heading into my second summer of more serious bass fishing, I want to say two things: 1) Welcome to the forums... you will love it here. 2) I can assure you that you can catch bass with one rod/reel setup... and a simple one at that. Fishing is what you make of it. If you want to branch out and explore all the varied ways you can eek out an extra fish, or if you like to geek out about learning new techniques while maximizing your equipment, you can do that. But, you can also have one rod (as I did last year - 6'6 M spinning, 6lb mono) and one tactic (dead-sticking weightless or texas-rigged soft plastics in my case) and find yourself having a ton of fun and catching fish. It's your hobby and pastime. Make of it what you will!

I may be in over my head here, but... "Cool story, bro" time. When I was a kid, I had one rod/reel - a MH Shimano, rear drag combo produced for a major retail outlet. I'm pretty sure it was a 'freshwater' package and not a particularly high-quality one at that... That said, the main fishing we did was in the salty waters of the Delaware Bay. I caught plenty of medium saltwater fish (big bluefish, stripers, and the like) along with a couple significantly bigger fish. My largest was a sand shark that was at least 7' long. We know it was that long because we couldn't lay it 'straight' across the breadth of our boat. I know nothing more about it because, despite my 13 year-old pleas, my father wasn't happy to have it in the boat with us. The lesson I learned was that good line, an appropriate leader, functioning drag, and patience will allow you to catch 'big' fish on small tackle. Of course, luck plays a role, too - for example, we were on sand flats away from anything (aside from the fish's teeth and body) that would abrade the line. My largest pike is probably just around the 30" mark, so I'm no expert. But it was caught on 6lb mono and a M spinning rod - again, with an element of luck involved. So, I would think that a MH or better rod, a modern superline, and an appropriate leader would allow you to catch anything that swims where most of us fish.

Posted these elsewhere, but... Get the family out fishing more… I want to have one or more of my children at the water with me per week. We’ll fish for at least an hour, and more if they are into it. I’d hope to get each child and my wife out with rods in hand at least ten times. Having just spend money on a new fishing kayak, I plan to get out in the kayak at least ten different times (hopefully for a couple hours each). I want to specifically work on building skill/confidence in two fishing techniques this season: Pitching jigs into cover or structure and fishing the drop-shot rig. I stink at knot tying, so I want to learn some loop knot and something like the uni knot for attaching leaders to my mainlines. In addition, I want to drill the palomar knot – which is currently my main fishing knot – until it is second nature to tie. I also am incompetent when it comes to cleaning fish, so I want to learn to prep and filet my catch this season. Maybe that will mean we eat a few more, too. Vermont’s Master Angler program strikes me as a great challenge and encourages anglers to chase a wide variety of species. So, I’d like to see how many different qualifying fish I can catch. I doubt, given constraints on my time this year, I’ll get very far… Lastly, I want to learn how to service and maintain my own spinning reels after the ice rolls in.

Last summer, I was trying to learn to fish soft plastic Ikas while enjoying a week at Lake Bomoseen in central VT. I was having a lot of trouble getting good hooksets (too early) in some cases while, in others cases, the fish were getting gut hooked (too late). For the life of me, I can't find the link, but someone directed me to one of Glenn's jig fishing videos. In the one I saw, he talked a fair bit about both how to 'handle' the semi-slack line techniques and what to watch for in the line's behavior. That video changed *everything* for me as an angler. That evening, as it happened, the lake was dead calm and so I was able to work some relatively deep grass beds while having perfect conditions to see the line - both in terms of slack and how it 'moved' on the water. I was much more consistent that night, especially in detecting strikes that I didn't really "feel" at the rod. Hopefully, someone will know which jig video it is and post a link for you... that said, the main takeaways are right in line with what RW said above. Watching the line is crucial in all those semi-slack presentations, whether jigs or soft plastics.

For alternative reels, the Pflueger Trion XL fights above its weight class and might keep the combo price down. Look forward to hearing what you decide. When I looked at that combo, I was on my first (ever) trip to a BPS... I had the joy of going with my son. Hope you have a good run to the store.

To play Plato's advocate, though: The risk there is that the same fish suddenly accelerates with the same force. With your rod tip elevated and drag set too tight, there's nothing systemic to absorb the shock of the fish's sudden pull. You risk the line snapping and losing the fish altogether as a price for not doing 'the landing dance'. Again, if you're using braid or higher test lines, no biggie. But, the key takeaway from this thread for the OP is that the our rod flex, line, and drag are all supposed to function together to absorb the force of the fishes fight. Setting the drag properly will, in many cases, significantly reduce the 'break offs' that an angler experiences.