gulfcaptain

The 7'3" M Black *** is a great rod, as stated above, up to 1/4 to 3/8 on the finesse jig would be fine. Also like fishing the Falcon Bucco 7'MH for this and have had great success with the H20 brand 7'MH.

LOL, hey if it's over 8lbs, 99.9% sure it's gonna be a female.

Very true, I have become a big believer and user of Mend-It, may let me get a few more fish per bait, This year think my ratio is about what you stated (5-1) in favor of soft baits, but then there were years I did better on wakebaits, cranks, and topwaters.

If you're casting on the grass, keep tension on the line as you reel in to keep it from getting sloppy and loose on the spool. When fishing this won't be such an issue but practicing in the yard it can be. Learn to feather your thumb on the spool as you cast. I don't think I even use the brakes and have my tension knobs loosened as much as possible without the spool being sloppy (too loose causing side to side play which can result in line getting between the spool and the frame. When casting, your rod is just as important as the reel. If you keep your lure tight to the tip you will end up with more backlashes then if you give yourself 2ft or more and use the rod and lure's weight to get it out there. This comes with time on when to release in your casting swing. I'm going to end up teaching my son how to cast and this is how I'm going to start out with him #1 Set the brakes about the half way mark. #2 Tension knob set to wear it slowly falls (yes slowly). This way if he casts too hard the spool will not explode into a nice beginners knot. #3 As he progresses slowly ease the tension knob as so the breaks are the main controller. The better he gets the looser the knob. Then work on backing of the breaks if you like to where you won't need them. This isn't going to happen right away, be patient and I would look into buying some 1/4 lb spools of 12lb to keep yourself spooled up with fresh line. If you start feeling bad spots from the occasional backlash, respool half or two thirds. And lastly, don't give up.

So if those who are wanting to eat the fish, simply keep the smaller fish IE 12-14inches depending on your states regs ofcourse and release all the rest over 2lbs unless it looks like its overly skinny or unhealthy. And only take enough for a meal instead of trying to fill the cooler. Throwing all the fish back depending on the body of water can be a bad thing. If there is an over abundant amount of smaller fish, then they need to be culled to improve the predator to forage ratio (normally an issue in ponds). Taking a few fish from a lake or pond normally isn't a problem, just do it smartly, larger fish should be returned to keep the quality fish in place and to keep a heathy breeding pool, same should go with panfishing. Those bigger fish should be left in place and keep the smaller medium sized fish. That way you keep the food for the bass as well as the breeding fish to keep supplying the food for them.

I don't know about cheaper then a hard bait. If you buy a crank for $6 and a pack of Senko's for $7-8. A great day of fishing your crank may have some scratches and look warn, but your Senko's are trashed, have fallen off, and all but gone so now you have to purchase another pack. I can honestly say the amount of money I have spent in soft baits over hard baits is probably 2 to 1.....and that is including those expensive $50+ swimbaits. So as far as way cheaper, I may have to disagree with that statement.

I use the shorter shank trebles and that normally keeps them from tangling and often go up in a size without an issue. But most hooks on cranks are either a #2, 4, or 6.

Make sure you have a backing of mono before you spool up your braid. Use whatever size you feel best using. I posted a question on here about why everyone fishes heavier braid and most match what size mono they normally fished. I have had no issues with braid as light as 15lb on a baitcaster. Normally fish 20-30lb braid (may use 40lb next year for fishing a frog) on most of my baitcasters and 10lb on my spinning rods. Don't think I have a single rod with straight mono or fc anymore. Lighten your drag some since there is no stretch. Most "damaged equipment" from fishing braid is caused by user error. Backing off the drag will help and will keep you from pulling the hook on fish. And use just a quicker hookset, the more you fish it the more you will become comfortable with how much presure you need to use. You will also find there is a huge difference in sensitivity. And always check your braid for wear, if you see some fraying or you think a knot doesn't look right, cut it off and retie. So with that said, buy yourself a pair of sissors to keep handy as well as your pliers. I have never damaged any guides from using braid so that's not even an issue.....more of a myth in my opinion. And if you use tungsten weights ALWAYS pay attention to your knot at the hook, I have had wieghts over 1/2 oz cut into the knot overtime while pitching grass end up failing due to the wieght hitting the knot(over a day of hard fishing).

Mustad's KVD 1x strong 2x Short Triple Grips, VMCs, and Gammy's.

I thought I would never purchase a reel with a higher ratio then 7:1. Then I found myself fishing and flipping more grass mats and decided to try a higher ratio 2 move the fish out of the grass and got a *** with the 8:1 ratio. It does have it's place flipping and pitching to get the bait in and out quickly and being able to move the fish. Now I could have gone up in reel size but liked the idea of a 100 size reel instead of say a EXO200 which would have given me the same IPT but then in a bigger reel. As for an everyday reel, 6:6 and 7:1 are my most used and have a couple in the 5:4 for bigger blades and cranks. So my answer to your question, for me it's flipping/pitching as it gives you the ability to make more casts since you can get your bait in and out of the water quicker. Yes it may only be 4 inches faster per turn of the handle, but given the amount of flips or pitches you make in say an hr, that extra bit of line could give you the ability to pitch an extra 15 times or more.

I fish S. Cal city park ponds/lakes and I wish it was as easy as walk up and catch a bunch of fish. Lakes are heavily pressured, have either a ton of weeds or are void of them. The challege to get a city park bass to bite let alone produce larger models in the 4+lb range(most city park lakes have fish over 10 in all of them) is a challenge. Almost everyone I know that fishes these parks are highly competitive among ourselves for sure. It's great to watch someone that has a boat and can catch bass on bigger bodies of water out of it get their butt's handed to them trying to figure out the park fish in these ponds. Think they did a City Limit's show on some of S.Cal's parks, and they ended up going to a private comunity because the "pro" managed a meger 3 fish and his partner 0 before they moved to the private comunity and finished fishing out of a boat. Yes, the professional angler even found it tough to get these pond fish to bite. So I do prefer fishing ponds where I live as it is a challenge on heavy pressured waters and when I get the chance to fish from a tube in a bigger lake or a boat, I have no problem putting the hurt on them.

$100 for a 6'10" or 7'01" ML Black *** and $75 for an Okuma Trio (either the 20 or 30).

I would look for the steep walls/banks that have deep water close by. The fish don't have to move much except up or down and a 1/4 to 3/8 oz finesse jig with a small trailer. I like the tiny paca chunks for 1/4 oz and the next size up for the other jigs. Jerkbaits in the same area would more then likely produce. Look for transitions on the bank...small rock to bigger, brush to rock. And note where each fish you catch come from. And I would probably look into late morning/afternoon and fish the sunny side where they can move up and sun themselves. Also late afternoon you may get a topwater bite. Had a great topwater bite in a pond one year in OK on Thanksgiving during an indian summer. Also, look for the baitfish, if you find them odds are the bass and other predators aren't far behind.

On what DVT stated, that Green *** is an inshore rod. But brand would be up to your preferences. Good luck.

Keep your neck and head covered, ladies nylon's under your fleece will also help. Yes it sounds strange but it works...(it's a bit oldschool) and not really a warmth tip, but keep the belt snug incase you happen to slip. May not keep you totally dry but will slow down the amount of water flowing in if it's snung. And as the water cools even more, think about a possible PFD just incase you end up slipping in waters 50 degrees and below. More of a safety thought.

I would look into a 7 H or 7'3" H. Or look into a MH 7'6" that you would use to flip or pitch. I use a 7'6" older Bionic Blade to throw Hudd 68's and 6" swimbaits and for River 2 Sea's Whopper Plopper. Off the top of my head a good thought might be one of Fishing 13's Green *** 7'2"MH. Have the 7'7" and use it for A-rigs and smaller swimbaits up to 6 inches.

Nice fish, I'd say 5+ on the weight, she looks pretty fat. I'd label it at 5lb's and look into buying a scale to keep with you for the next one.

Odds are most all the above posts are spot on with the problem. Salt + water = rust. Francho is spot on with the prevention method. So if your trailers are salt infused, take them off, rinse your jigs when you get home with freshwater and hang dry. If you used some and they are in your box, open your box up and let it air dry as well and that will help a lot in preventing other jigs stored with them from rusting as well.

Looks as though the honesty route is the way to go.....although I did like the "tried to be an FLW Pro and worked a crappy job for gas" reason. But have found honesty is always the best way to go. Show's character, you're up front and not trying to hide anyhing.

I used to use this all the time when I would dj a club or bar.

I have both for swimbaits, have a Cardiff 300 and a Lexa 300. If you wanted something bigger the the 400 size in the Lexa or Cardiff/Calcutta is an option. On mine, I have 40lb pp on the Cardiff and 65lb pp on the Lexa and fish both with topshots, the Cardiff gets 25lb mono and the other 25lb fc. But to answer your question of weather one reel could handle the task, I would say yes. Of the two I have if I was to fish Muskies as well as large swimbaits, I'd go with the Lexa as it has a bigger handle and better drag over my Cardiff. And I can get a little farther casting distance out of it as well. Just my opinion.

Being it was night, the baitfish may have been on that side instead. And bass in ponds atleast around me cruise when feeding at night especially when there isn't a whole lot of cover to be had.

Depends on what you want to do, if you want to burn a bait at a deeper depth, then a little heavier bait will keep it down. If you wanted to say use a oversized blade on a spinnerbait, the heavier baits will keep it from wanting to role. I'm sure there are other reasons too, just can't think of them at the moment and these came to mind.

The only time I limit myself to 1 type of bait is when fishing a big swimbait....why, because it forces me to keep fishing it and not decide to try something else. But then that is a time of year pattern for me normally from the midde of Nov. to Mid April depending on the body of water I'm fishing.

If you want a 50 size reel, I would opt for one of 13 Fishings Concepts.