the reel ess

But the high end ones have frames made of some solid metal alloy, right?

To me, the solid frame is the minimum for a reel. I've owned two composite or graphite framed reels and both were junk. Maybe they're better now, I won't know. They're the reason I bought the first Lew's Tourney MB. Then I liked it so much I bought two more. But I ain't married to Lew's. I've bought another reel since.

I have three Lews Speed Spool reels of a different model. They range from 4 to 1 year old and I have yet to experience an issue with any of them. And they get some heavy use. But then they cost twice what a Mach reel costs. Send it back for a replacement or credit on another reel. Quality issues will occur from time to time with any manufacturer. Mine has a Korea sticker on it. What reel did you replace it with and where was it made?

Bama Bass is the best pet bass channel on YouTube. And he also fishes for and catches some monster bass. Hands down, my favorite YT channel. Bluegill are pure savages. Bama Bass has one on his channel named Sheriff. It's a stone cold killer. It would eat the bass if its mouth was bigger.

@jrwerner310 There is a widely held belief that straight braid is too visible and bigger (more educated) fish will shy away from it. This may or may not be true all the time, but why take the chance. I use a surgeon's knot to join the leader. Dbl-uni works great, but surgeon's is easier and quicker. The water is not clear enough here for me to use FC. The mono will also allow you to break off the jig if you get hopelessly hung up deeper than you can reach. Big Game is cheap and strong. If I were fishing in some really heavy vegetation, I would use straight braid. I usually use 3/16 or 1/4 oz. jigs with grass heads because I fish some grassy places. But the Arky head is the all-season head for almost all situations. The all-terrain jig. I have some plain weedless Arky heads that I sometimes rig with a plain Chigger Craw or a Yamamoto Hula Grub. You asked someone else, but I find it best to use the jig around wood. Overhanging brush is killer as well as flooded timber. Whenever you come across weeds or lilies and some wood cover or structure, that's a killer spot. I just do better with it hitting specific targets.

Welcome. My sister lives in Mooresville. They call that lake the dead sea. If you have a boat, I'd head over to Badin Lake or Tuckertown. I've fished them a couple times with my dad and my uncle. You might not catch a boatload of fish, but you'll probably get to be alone. Tuckertown has almost no development on it. Very pretty lakes. If you want to travel a little ways, follow the Catawba R chain down to Fishing Creek, Stumpy Pond (my fav) and Lake Wateree in SC. We had a house on Wateree when I was young. It's a pretty good bass fishery. All 3 of these are great crappie lakes as well. There are trophy size catfish on Wateree and as well as stripers.

There are many ways to skin that cat. Here's mine: 7' casting MH-M/F rod. Reel is your choice, but I keep my drag set tight. I'd use a quality reel just because this is guerilla warfare. You'll hook some bruisers in heavy cover. 30# braid with a 5' or so leader of 15# Big Game mono (leader is not strictly necessary around here, but might be in clearer water). It's very strong, but will allow you to break off if you need to. An Arky headed jig in black/blue and one in brown should do the job almost all the time. Whatever trailer you like, really. I'm partial to the Chigger Craw. Get lots of practice and set the hook very hard. Harder than you think is necessary. They'll still come off sometimes even when you think you did.

I bought the bass boat (a very old used one) only to discover it was more complicated than it was useful. There was always something that needed to be fixed or replaced. It's sitting there with a new(ish) tire that won't stay inflated now. I then bought the $500 kayak and used it for 5 years and caught more and bigger bass than I ever did before. And I am able to put it into places I could never put a boat in. Some places I fish are so small, if you put a boat in, the water level would rise noticeably. And they have areas in them you couldn't take a boat. But they have better fish on average than the nearest hydro lake. Before the kayak, I never knew big bass could be so shallow, year-round. No competition, bigger and more bass and exercise. It's a no-brainer for me. I just bought a better kayak, pre-rigged with a fish finder. I can use it year-round without ever getting wet. It seems like it would be more work to lug the kayak, but it's way less work. I kept the $500 kayak for when company comes along (rare).

I like Lew's and own 3 of the Tourney MB model. I can't say that I've used them all and neither can most people that will swear by one brand. But the Lew's reels are very good quality for the cost. The only other one I've bought in the last few years was an Academy H2O brand that has been a very good reel as well. I'm not into spending $200 on one reel. I would really think that the upper half of the lineup of all reel mfgs would be just as good or better than what I have.

You're so vain, you probably think this thread's not about you, You're so vain!!!

Take one cast with it. If it works, keep casting until it stops working. If it doesn't, don't waste another cast on it. It was already marginal. That's my motto.

Come to think of it, same here. Some of them have been right on the bank. So close, I'd spook them if I walked up from the other side. The thing about the boat is, even if you just beat the bank, you can beat all of the bank from the boat. Most of the time, you can't beat all the bank if bank bound.

I just watched this a while back. It seems the trick to catching giant bass from the bank is to go to a private pond in FL where the bass are enormous and have never seen a lure. AWWW SON! Who'd've thunk it?

When my dad and I started bass fishing, it was with a friend of my dad's who knew much more than we did at the time. We had been mostly crappie fishing. That guy would always use a T rigged worm in that situation and it often worked. He said the bigger bass would be near the bottom mopping up, letting the dinks do the chasing. This is quite a challenge sometimes. I've thrown the kitchen sink before and never caught one..

I just use all the rods I used when I was boat fishing. I have an older Falcon LowRider 7' MH-MF that's really designed for heavy cranks that seems to do the best at this technique so it's my jig pitching rod. It has a good tip, but loads up in the first foot and a half with lots of backbone. The model used to be called the Big Cranker. It also happens to be the most sensitive rod I own. My frog rod IS NOT a good choice for pitching jigs. It's a pool cue. But i do put another jig on it anyway when the frog bite is out of season.

See youtube

I usually use a custom jig in black/blue made by @cadman in the grass head style because I fish around a lot of grass. I like the Berkley Chigger Craw in same color. The water here is usually off-color at best. I have other colors, but my confidence is in black/blue. Custom jigs are certainly not necessary, but the wire tied ones last. I also have some Arky heads that I bought just to use with the craws and no skirt. This can be a killer bait and a good way to get practice jig fishing. You'll get more bites with it. It also skips easily. If you're fishing in lots of weeds, get an arky jig with a vertical line tie. You'll retrieve less vegetables. And buy one with a quality hook. Whatever fish want. When the water is warm, more action is usually better. It's usually a bump-bump. If you're doing it right, you'll be pulling through and over some kind of cover. In winter, less movement.

I'd go where there are the fewest other human beings. They can be a real drag on my fishing experience. One place I fish is private, owned by all the landowners around it. It's about 30 acres, but I'm still a little bummed when I get there and see just one other person on it.

And I, for one, am already tired of it.

Quite possibly. I don't ever use a whole spool of braid. I use Big Game mono as backing line and join the braid to it with a double uni knot.

Bill Dance broke down some data on one of his Q&A shows (really, that's what most of his shows are now) and the overwhelming evidence showed that bigger bass bite better around a new moon than any other time of the month.

That much drag isn't really necessary. My frog rod is a Cabela's Tourney XT frog model with a Lews LFS Tournament MB reel with 14 lb of drag. It gets the job done, but it's mostly the rod. That frog model rod is a pool cue. But that stump in a lily field is a killer spot, ain't it? If you fill half the spool with cheap mono you can save some $$$ on the braid and it won't slip on the spool.

It's on my bucket list.

Someone who can put me on a 10 lb'er

I like the 'Cuda.