hoosierbass07

I want all my rods to be versatile because I do mostly kayak fishing and usually only take two rods with me, sometimes three. I like all my rods to be able to be used with Texas rigs. The only other rod I'm looking at is a Shimano Clarus spinning rod that I saw at Academy for $100. That rod was seven foot and a MH and it looked and felt sweet. But, my small collection of rods is made up of $75-$100 rods and I want to buy something a little more nicer like that Avid X.

Oh, I forgot one of my 2015 goals that came true - wear my life jacket every time I went kayak fishing and not drown. I'm happy to say I kept my life jacket on every time I went out on my kayak and didn't take it off once and didn't even come close to tipping over on my sit-ontop kayak.

Your trouble started after you cleaned them? Are you cleaning them too much or oiling them too much? I never clean my Shimano reels because they just keep working and working. And that Sahara is one of the best spinning reels in the world. What kind of oil are you using? If I remember right, reels only need very super light oil.

Oh my, with all the new fishing shows on TV I'm in the mood to buy some more fishing equipment. I have my eyes on the St. Croix Avid X spinning rod. I've not seen one in person though so this would be a blind buy off the internet. What I what to know is the difference between the M and MH. The MH is rated up to 3/4oz lures. I would be using this rod with eight or ten pound line and Texas rigging (I Texas rig with eight, six and ten pound mono). My favorite rod is a Fenwick HMG 6'6" spinning M rated at 1/4-3/4oz. I have a Fenwick HMG MH rated up to 1oz that I also like. The only St. Croix I have is a Triump M rated 1/4-5/8oz. I really like that rod too. However, I'm wanting to jump from the $70/$100 range of rods to the $200 range and get a nice St. Croix and I like how that Avid X looks and I noticed it comes with a fifteen year warranty. The lures I would be throwing are five inch Yum Dingers and seven inch Power Worms using 3/16, 1/8 and 1/16 bullet weights. This rod would also be used for other lures like crankbaits/spinnerbaits etc... But I Texas rig 99% of the time. Thanks!

The Shimano Sahara is not a low/mid level spinning reel. I have a couple of them and I love them. They are solid and work great. Yeah, they are around $70-$80 dollars but they perform great for me.

http://www.majorleaguefishing.com/News_Details_No_Photo.aspx?id=2839

So this is how I view my 2015 bass fishing year: 1. I only caught one large bass at the strip pits I fish at. Plus one semi-large bass (by my standards) at a state park bank fishing when the lake was flooded. Depressing. 2. I discovered the power of the drop shot. This was the first year where I really tried to use the drop shot and it sure produced. In fact sometimes I thought it was kind of cheating. Plus, if the soft plastic I was using did not get any bites I could quickly reel it in and replace it with another soft plastic and cast it out again. The only bad thing about the drop shot is that many of the soft plastic lures would come off the hook because I was nose hooking them. Besides that, I'm a believe in the drop shot. 3. Strike King Cut'R tail worm. I'm really shocked at how well this thing works. As some say - it's the bomb! I received four of them in one of the monthly bass fishing boxes I was subscribing to. I was skeptical at first until I caught a bass on it in early spring. Those things worked good all spring and summer. I ended up buying two packs of them from Tackle Warehouse and I can't wait to try them in 2016. 4. The Ned rig. Yeah, I jumped on the band wagon and used the Ned rig a lot in early spring and it worked. There's not much you can say. It's a small lure that works and works good and fun to use. I think that's the main thing - the Ned rig is fun to use. 5. Tubes - I discovered how fun it is to use small bass tubes. I was putting a small bell weight inside the tubes and Texas rigging them. They didn't get hung up so I could cast them almost anywhere plus they would spiral down while sinking. I mostly used Bass Pro Shops Double Dipped tubes. 6. Crushed barbs - I started crushing down all the barbs on my hooks and it's increased my enjoyment more. It's a lot easier to get a hook out of a bass mouth (or throat) plus if I would ever get stuck in the finger I shouldn't have a problem pulling it out. I wish the big hook companies would offer hooks that are barbless in the big chain stores. The Negative: 1. My baitcaster. I've tried to find some love for my nice Shimano baitcaster. But it just doesn't suit my style of fishing. I even bought a nice Abu Garcia baitcasting rod just for crankbaits. Yeah, it worked nice but still - my spinning reels can do all that I need - throw Texas rigs, small jigs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc... The only thing I might have problems with are heavy super deep diving crankbaits but I don't use them much anyway. I think it's all spinning reels for me for now on. 2. Jerk baits. I don't know what fantasy lake people fist at that have success with jerk baits but I sure haven't had any success with them. Plus, using them from a fishing kayak is awkward. Plus, they are so long it's a pain to do a Palomar knot on them. No more jerk baits for me. 3. Crankbaits. I used crankbaits a lot in 2015 and didn't really have much success with them. The only thing I can say is that I probably increased the chances of me getting a treble hook in my finger. So I'm going to reduce my crankbait usage to about 1%. Frankly, I don't enjoy using any lure with treble hooks. I'll admit I still do buy crankbaits it they are pretty. 4. Night fishing from a kayak - I tried it twice and both times got scared from all the new animal sounds and splashes I was hearing. lol. I don't think I'll be night fishing in 2016. Now for my goals for 2016: 1. Make extremely long casts. I fish on clear strip pit ponds and Iv'e been trying to figure out how to consistently catch larger bass. Iv'e been analyzing the few big bass I have caught and Iv'e come to this conclusion: one came when I made a very long cast with my spinning reel. The other came after rain when the clear water was stained. That tells me if I'm going to catch the big bass I have to make sure they don't see me or hear me. So I have to make extremely long casts. 2. Stick with my spinning reels and don't touch my baitcaster. 3. Experiment with spinnerbaits more. 4. Use the drop shot more. 5. Keep on Texas rigging and split shotting. 6. Visit Florida in July and pay a guide to take me red fish fishing on the mosquito lagoon. Over all it was a pretty disappointing fishing year for me. How about you all? Any thing you discovered that surprised you and any new goals for 2016?

Maybe I would had more luck with jigs if I would have thrown them like I throw Texas rigs, basically into anything. But I just cant think about getting a three dollar (or more) jig stuck and losing it. Texas rigs are not only cheaper but catch way more bass. I probably have a hundred bass hooks and tons of soft plastic worms to last a lift time. If I loose a hook, worm and bullet weight it is no big deal. But if I loose a jig it is like (oh man, that's four dollars down the drain plus I didn't catch anything on it in the first place.)

Oh my, my life has always revolved around Star Wars! The last time I've seen a movie twice was Return of the Jedi when it came out in the 1980s. I went to see this new Star Wars film two times too. They are saying it's a religion to some and yep, it is. It ticks me off when I ask people I work with if they are Star Wars fans and they say "not really." How can anyone not be a fan? No, this film was not perfect but I don't care, I consider it awesome! Luke at the end looked bad to the bone!

Oh, I forgot to mention - Texas rig creature baits don't work for me either, except lizards. I'm at the point where I'm not even going to take creature baits with me anymore unless it's a lizard.

Right on brother! I've been bass fishing for four or five years now. The first thing I learned - soft plastics rule and the Texas Rig rules the world! I fish very clear strip pits 99% of the time. Like others, I've bought lots of other lures, crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, spinner baits, etc... The only thing that produces is the Texas rig with soft plastic worms/stick baits/lizards. Drop shot works pretty good too. I've tried fishing jigs for the last four or five years and have received almost no good results. That's too bad too because I think they look cool and I like having my lures sink to the bottom, which is why I like the Texas rig so much. But jigs, not worth my time anymore. Crankbaits, not worth my time anymore. Jerkbaits? Total joke. Jigs? The only jig that does work is the Ned rig which is a little jig head and half a soft stick bait on it. I could throw a Texas rig all year and in fact that's what I plan on doing in 2016 with a few spinner baits, drop shots and Ned rigs thrown in. Jerk baits are a marketing gimmick as far as I can tell. Crank baits too. Jigs, don't work for me. Maybe it's the state I live in or waters I fish at. But the only thing that works is the Texas rig. I might have a different opinion if fished at Kentucky Lake or some other good fishery. But it's fishing - use the lure you want.

I saw it Saturday. I really liked it. I'm going to see it again next week!

Five inch Yum Dinger.

Oh man, I want to try at least once to get my Ride 115 out on a strip pit pond when it's really really cold this winter but I don't have a dry suit. When I'm kayaking in the spring/summer/fall I hardly get wet. My Ride 115 is very stable. So should I buy a dry suit or not?

yum Yum YUM DINGERS!!! They are cheap and you get a lot in the pack. Also Berkley powerbait worms. Those two are my favorite. My third - RoboWorms.

This is sort of sad news. The Big Indiana Bass site is shutting down although it will stay up on the net. http://www.bigindianabass.com/big_indiana_bass/2015/10/turn-out-the-lights-the-partys-over.html#comments That site was one of the few sites I probably checked once a day, particularly in winter. The articles on the science and news were the best parts of the site.

Next year - stick with my spinning reels and don't touch my baitcaster. Focus on making long casts in the clear water strip pits I fish at. Also slow way way down when using my favorite lure - the Texas rig. One of my Homer Circle books says the number one problem people have is fishing too fast and that you want to fish like you have all week to sit there and let your lure sit. I'll admit I've not let my Texas rigs or split shot rigs sit still very long. Also in 2016, I need to get back to six pound line. I sort of got hooked on my one baitcaster with twelve pound line throwing crankbaits at the expense of throwing my Texas rigs on six pound line. Sufix six pound Elite mono is awesome stuff that I should not neglect.

I don't know if the clear water strip pits I fish on with my kayak are changing over now or not but last week the water felt warm to my hand, warm enough to swim in. Sunday evening I went to another strip pit close by and noticed the water is a on the cool side, too cool to shower in or shave with. So they are changing here in west central Indian. Also noticed some gunk floating on the surface.

I would only take what you really want to use or have fun using and ditch the rest.

So summer is basically over and the spring/summer rush is over. I assume they will be releasing them some time in spring 2016. I've not seen those motors on the WD site or Austin Kayak site.

Two new videos from Wilderness Systems featuring their new motor drive and also a new Tarpon that holds the motor drive - Tarpon 130X. I hope they put that motor drive in more and more kayaks, maybe the price will eventually come down if more and more kayaks have those drives. Anyway, I want one! https://youtu.be/6nIl4k4mOAw https://youtu.be/R0OIqJAlKtk

These things look sort of cool. I just might have to order some from Tackle Warehouse. http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/vmcs-gliding-jigs/

Shimano Saharas 2500. They are my work horse reels. But I bought a Shimano Stradic CI4+ 3000 last year and Iv'e been fishing it a lot this year and Iv'e been grabbing it more and more when I go fishing. I really love how light it is. It weighs super light.

Unfortunately I'm out of fishing for a while. I just started a new job three weeks ago and I'm using my hands and wrists a lot more. I'm making more money (a good thing) but I'm using my fingers, hands and wrists much more and I've been getting sore. So over the weekends I need to let my hands/wrists rest. So I don't want to go fishing and make lots of casts after casts. I hope my hands/wrists get used to the work and I will eventually be able to go fishing again on the weekends but the way it looks now I just might be done with fishing for the rest of the year.

Yeah, fishing in private ponds is kind of cheating. But Bill Dance doesn't come off like a know it all arrogant overconfident buffoon like Dave Mercer (Facts of Fishing) and Mark Zona (Awesome Fishing Show). Bill Dance will tell you how great a lure is. But Mercer and Zona act like a new lure is the second coming of God.