Bassin Bob

I've been fishing for a long time and used many baitcasters. Of all my current reels, I only have problems with my Revo. A buddy took it, adjusted it, and he had intermittent problems too, so it's not just me...and it may not be you. Here's what I did to solve the problem: I casted the Revo as far as humanly possible, then pulled out an additional 10 yds or so. Then I placed a strip of electrical tape across the spool, covering up the remaining line. That keeps the coils from "springing" out. It's been about 3 months now and I haven't had any problems using this system. I have to give credit to an old Bill Dance show where I saw that done. It sure has worked for me!

I fish West Point every spring (and sometimes during the summer as well). Fish the main lake and secondary points with a carolina rig (I use a june bug finesse worm). Sassy shad and other minnow baits also work. Keep a rattle trap handy in case hybrids start schooling. It's a good lake, good luck!

Curiously, I've had a lot of luck using buzzbaits over pads. They don't hang up and bass seem to jump out and smack them (but don't use a trailer hook). If frogs and flukes fail, try a buzzbait.

I think the sun has to be out to push the bass under the pads.

I almost crapped, but I was too busy trying to whack him with my carrot stick. Funny, I was almost more worried about breaking my rod than him getting in the boat.

While fishing Lake Guntersville today, a water moccasin decided to pay my buddy and I a visit. I saw him swimming in our general direction, but never thought he'd come after us. Well, I was surprised when he not only came toward us, but he climbed up the transom and was about to get on board. I pushed him off with a rod. He was pretty riled up and made another lunge toward the transom. I smacked him with the rod then saw his pop up over the transom, with every intent to get in the boat with us. I again pushed him off again with the rod, and inadvertently hooked him with my senko hook--good thing. With him hooked, I was able to move him to the side of the boat. He coiled, yanked, and struck until he freed himself from the hook (I was reaching for the scissors to let him have the senko--my compliments). He took off after that, never to be seen again. Aggressive buggers! He was about 4' long and not in the best off moods. Interestingly, we did not initially molest him in any way, he came from about 100 yards away to mess with us. I guess he doesn't like bass boats.

Modified Albright (or Alberto) beat the Uni to Uni knot in knot wars. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_2xautA1U.

I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands. It stopped my fishing for awhile, until I regained strength in my wrists. Afterwards, I feel as if both hands are a little weaker than before. I cast more now with two hands because I feel like my grip with one hand is not quite what it was. Otherwise, it has not affected anything else. Just make sure you give your wrists time to recover and regain strength in your hands.

Leave just a "grunt" more line off your spool (not quite 1/4"). See if that's the problem. If it is, eventually you will work your way back up to 1/8. Also, make sure you put tension on the line as you put it on the reel. You can use a glove or rag to hold onto the line tightly as you turn your handle. On occasion, I've also spooled my reel, tied the end to a tree, and walked off the entire length of the line. I then cranked it back in using a lot of drag while making sure the line was tight the whole way. I sure hope this helps--it can't hurt!

When you first start with braid, I recommend not filling your reel until you get used to it. Most of my first braid backlashes were caused by overfilling. When I cut the line, it stopped. Now, with many years of braid experience, I can fill the reel with no problems. But give it a try--might work for you too.

I use straight braid on my micro guide rods (frogs, etc.), and only use a leader on the macros. The micros are just too narrow to permit passage of any type of leader knot (and I've tried them all). You can also go to straight mono/flouro on your micros.

On a private pond, we fixed a PVC ring (about 15 feet in diameter) and threw dog food in the ring. The ring kept the bait from dispersing. Dog food floats so we waited, usually just a few minutes, for the shiner frenzy to start and the water to churn. Then we either used a cast net or threw an unweighted hook baited with a super small grub. We cleaned up on shiners and then used them to go after the big boys. Shiner fishing is definitely a lot of fun!

While maybe not the best, an effective and cheap method is to take a 2 oz sinker, attach a snap to it, and run it down your line. Most times the weight will knock the lure free (you might have to shake the line a few times). It's quick and easy. But if it doesn't work, you only spent less than $1 on it. I've used hound dog retrievers, pole types, and ones with chains...they all work but the sinker seems to work just as well. I always have a few rigged up and ready to go just in case. And did I say, super cheap!

Academy is pretty good at accepting returns, no questions asked. I did the same thing and they swapped it right out for a new one. Gotta love that service!

Try using a flouro leader (2-4 ft long) tied to braid. You get the low visibility advantage of flouro (where it counts) and the strength and castability of braid. I think it's the best of both worlds.

My son and I caught one of those on Lake Toho in Florida. He bit a shiner and I thought I hooked a submarine! When he got to the surface, and I saw what I had, I grabbed the scissors to cut the line. He came up hissing and flailing about. Mine wasn't as big as the article, but it weighted about 30lbs or so. Ugly and mean!

I haven't been to Pickwick, but Wheeler and the TN River have been tough. We got skunked on Wheeler this past weekend, fishing vegetation and beating banks. We probably should've fished deep. Plus, a huge cold front just moved thru the area. Good luck!

A few years ago I tried a Coffee Press and I will never go without. It is simplicity taken to the extreme, but it takes a little time and effort--but it is well worth it. It makes coffee as it was intended to be. It is great if you like coffee without all the hooey. If you like flavored stuff (I hesitate to call that coffee), then it probably isn't for you.

Try Carolina rigging them also!

Adjusting the pointer requires taking the head off. It can be down fairly easily, you just have to remember how all the pieces/parts go back together. When the trolling motor is stowed on the bow, the pointer should be in line with the foot of the motor and pointing opposite to the orientation of the prop. That's the easiest way to check and you can do that on dry ground.

I was on Wheeler yesterday (where the Elk River comes in) and caught 5 in about 2.5 hours. Biggest was 3.9 lbs. But be careful, there were limbs and whole trees floating everywhere due to the recent tornado activity. It seemed like once the sun got high in the sky, the bit slowed way down.

To stop the fraying, I recommend using heat to fuse/cauterize the strands. I have a Berkley Hotwire Line Cutter, designed especially for that purpose, that I use and no more fraying. It's $10 at Academy. It uses two AAA batteries and works great.

It's not really near Nashville, but I fish the Elk River in southern middle TN for smallmouth. We use pop r's primarily, but also finesse worms. In clearer parts of the river, I've thrown sassy shads with luck. I also saw a Fishing University show where they were using kayaks on the Duck River (just south of you) and catching smallies. I don't remember what they were using, but they were hauling them in!

I like to use braided line with a fluorocarbon leader. The micro guides won't allow this setup as they are too small to allow the joining knot to flow thru freely. Therefore I prefer the ghost. But if you use straight braid or mono, the micros are great!

I wonder about the theory of bass being shy about line visibility. With Alabama (or Umbrella) rigs, the lure is hooked to plainly visible wire leaders with gaudy heads, and big bass hit them with regularity. So I wonder if it makes a difference???