the reel ess

I have a 6-6 M I use for cranks and topwaters, a 6-6 MH I use for spinner/buzzbaits and single hook lures and a 7' spinning M that I use for finesse baits. They're decent rods for $35 and have been very durable. I caught these on closeout for $25. The BC ones are over a decade old and their's nothing wrong with them. If I broke one, I'd probably replace it with a higher quality rod. But that just doesn't seem to happen. There are certainly more sensitive rods though. I use these for techniques that don't require sensitivity.

NM

I like that EWG style better than the screw in type because the bait will stay on it after catches. But I'll poke the hole thru the nose of the plastic with the point then feed the eye backwards thru the hole. I don't try to run that hook and weight thru the plastic.

You know those neat looking ponds that you drive by all the time and never give a second thought? Find out who owns them and ask to fish them. You'll be surprised how many people will say yes. Seems to me fewer will turn you down than will say yes. Most people want their ponds managed in some way. Then hit those places early or late with topwaters and everything else you already mentioned. I like to use the big bass baits in those places. In most ponds the dinks are starving so they'll still bite. It's a great way to get your confidence back and catch something, even if it's just dinks. If they're extremely small, I switch over to lighter tackle and bust out the Rooster Tail and Beetle Spin. Some of these ponds have monster bluegills too. Any action is better than no action.

I filled this spool by reeling the used braid off the reel I was replacing, an old BPS Johnny Morris reel. That reel was half filled with a mono backing and finished off with braid. I didn't even get down to the mono. I'd guess 50 yards of 30 lb braid. It's about half a spool, though it claims to hold 100 yds. No way does it. That's why I'm using it for jigs. But it will cast for decent distance.

The last rod I broke was about 10 years ago and it was a 9' crappie rod and I broke it with my truck tailgate. Before that one I'd have to go back to when I was a kid. And I've use some really cheap rods through the years. I have 3 $30 Berkley Lightning rods that have caught a lot of bass over 5 lbs. and I fish from a kayak. One of those fish pinned me against a dock. One of those fish swam under my kayak and pinned me against a dock. I had the rod stuck into the water with the fish jumping under the dock on the other side of my kayak-LOL. I had to put my thumb on the spool and yank that fish out of there. I landed it with no rod damage. I do have a couple better rods...a Falcon and a Cabela's ZX. You might want to at least look into an Ugly Stik Lite. I think they have a 5 year warranty.

I have 3 of the MB's and I love them. I did recently buy the Academy Sports store brand TAC-40 reel. I like it a lot. Strong, fast and very light (LFS). It is more compact than the MB. It only has the centrifugal brake, but you'd never notice. My experience with mag brakes is you set them and probably never touch them. The TAC-40 retails for $100 and is a lot of reel for that money. It would be a screaming deal if caught on sale. It's on my jig rod and has caught a PB.

I'd T rig it or put it on a jiighead and experiment with retrieves until the bass tell you what they want. Also might do well on one of those chatterbait type jigheads.

Cool thing about it is you can probably cut out half and respool. I remember when I was 13 I got my first baitcaster before my dad even got one. I can't tell you how many days were cut short because of a massive professional overrun. It was the only bass reel I had. That original Shad Rap, in 1/5 oz. I believe, was murder to cast on my old Daiwa Procaster. I finally had to go down in line size.

Just go somewhere with dirtier water. That's what I do. Just kidding. I don't know if fish really care about braid, but even in the stained waters I fish, I use a mono leader with braid. I figure it can't hurt.

Hear Here! for Big Game. It's the only mono I use anymore except on my light spinning combos. I also use it for leaders on my combos that have braid on them. I don't know if I need to, but I feel more confident having a clearer line tied to the bait. Not a long leader, just about 4 or 5 ft. I use 15 lb for that and it's strong enough to bale hay with. I do change it a couple times a year if I'm fishing a lot. Fluoro just isn't necessary here.

You should thank them for showing you how not to fish. Now you can avoid their tactics. My dad and I had a guy tell us once when I was a kid to leave a spot alone because he had a tournament the next day. Naturally, we caught as many fish we could there and came back later and did it again.

I made one first that worked fine but I couldn't keep the tail on it. My Sprinker works fine but has yet to catch a bass. I guess in that way you could say it doesn't exactly work. But it does function as seen in the YT videos.

I bought the Teckel Sprinker. I haven't had any luck with it yet. But I'm sure there will be a time that it slays 'em.

Seems I heard that most minnows that are raised fro bait are hybrids and can't reproduce. But I guess there's no guarantee. If you think about it, if you own a pond and stock it with any fish, those species are going to end up downstream, possibly to the detriment of the native species. But maybe they can coexist. I've caught bass from small streams that I doubt got there naturally. And those same streams still have white suckers and creek chubs.

He cussed you? Throw him outta his own boat then do circles around him until he apologizes. Or just turn his sorry butt in. Be very descriptive of how he does what he does. You don't want the warden to catch him catching sunfish legally. On the other hand, it's not illegal here and that sounds like a killer way for me to get a PB. Actually, I fish a private lake, so there aren't even limits. But I recently watched a Bamabass YT video of a guy with a private trophy lake using 1 lb goldfish for bait. Gotta use the right kind of hook so you don't gut hook the fish.

I've been looking for some polarized fishing glasses with 1.5X reader bifocal lenses to help with tying knots on the water. I ran across some Orvis ones on Amazon for $80, I think. Couldn't be happier with them. They're great for fishing and driving. They are a little hard to walk in because you can't see what's at your feet. It feels like you should be stepping up all the time. Just not used to bifocals. So I'll hold onto my el cheapo Calcuttas for when I'm not fishing.

I liked my first Tournament MB so much I bought two more. it's a heck of a reel for the money and very easy to tune and use. I can't speak for the Crush. I also recently bought the Academy store brand reel, the TAC-40. It retails for $100 and works as well as the MB does for me. It does not have a mag brake. It's very user friendly for the money. I can't say how long it'll last yet, but I've caught a new PB (6.92 lb.) on it and it's not showing any wear. It's my jig reel right now. The only possible drawback is that the spool is larger diameter so the reel has pretty low line capacity. That's why I like it for jigs, but it wouldn't make a great cranking reel.

1. Zoom Trick Worm 2. Berkley Chigger Craw. I like to rig on a plain weedless Arky jighead. It'll get more bites than a skirted jig, it's a big fish bait and they'll bite and carry it around all day. They won't spit it out. 3. Tie for Zoom Super Fluke and Swimming Super Fluke. The latter I like to rig on an EWG hook with a 1/8 oz. bullet weight. 4. Others.

MURDERERS! Oh, The Humanity!!! If you drew it down, they would grow in the newly shallow water. They'll grow as deep as good sunlight can reach. And they'd probably come back in the shallows when they raised it back up.

Not until I start catching something on them. LOL. I tried one again last night to no avail. It's 0 for 4 with me.

@MichaelCopeland Nice fish. I would have guessed it bigger than 4.5 lbs. Could possibly be a big and very mature male. They sometimes get long and skinny.

I use the same rod for both those baits. You'll get more bites on the worm. But the jig bites will average better in size unless you're using monster sized worms. This might help determine which one to start with. If I was trying to cull the dinks in favor of size, I'd start with the jig. On the other hand, if you have one hour to fish a 6-8" worm will probably fit the bill. I have gone all day without a jig bite. Be careful about the drag. If you're fishing a jig you can tighten down the drag. With a worm, usually the hook is lighter wire and will bend more easily. It has cost me a fish before.

There is this little spot next to a creek that I drive the Jeep to when I'm out riding with the wife or daughter. Last time i was there I had my sunglasses on and I could see a few small bass swimming around. I made a mental note of that and went back on my lunch break today. I caught 4 including a bass. there were bigger bass there and there were more pools to wade, but it's a lunch hour. I'm going back when I have more time to kill and can walk further.

They usually bite when I have a major professional overrun. The last time I fished in the inlets at the beach I got a backlash on the first cast. I picked it out and started reeling up to find I already had a fish on. It was a toadfish and I didn't get another bite that day.