the reel ess

Good for kids who could break an anvil. I bought a GX2 spinning combo for my daughter. It' decent for pond bass and panfish. It's pink, but I'll still use it or take for buddies to use.

I have two older baitcast LR's and a newer spinning one. The cork on the older BC models is starting to break away. The newer spinning rod is of better quality. But I've never had a real problem with any of them. All they do is work.

Good ideas and I'm not arguing, but the bead has never broken on me. But pegging the weight might make it click even better. Food for thought.

This will help If you don't use a bead, the tungsten weight can cut your line. That's why I started it, but I've come to believe the slight click of the two together produces better.

When the sun came up this morning I took the time to watch it rise And as the beauty struck the darkness from the skies I thought how small and unimportant All my troubles seemed to be And how lucky another day belonged to me Today is mine I think this was Bill Dance's song when I was a kid. I'm not sure if it was the Glen Campbell or Jerry Reid version, condensed. But it's fitting poetry.

Any time you catch a fish there's a chance you'll kill it. If the population isn't suffering, you're not hurting it. On the other hand there are a lot of fisheries that are in need of fewer bedding bass. At least from the standpoint of average size. We have over-conserved fish in a lot of bodies of water.

I fish beds in the spring and when I'm in my buddy's boat we even keep most smaller fish. I let every bass I catch over 3 lbs go and lately i don't keep much at all. If you take too many they'll get bigger on average. I think the places that would be adversely affected by fishing during the spawn have seasons set so you can't. Anyway, I have no problem catching big mama off a bed. I let her go right back.

If you were fishing with a Chigger Craw they'd still have it.

That's just smart. I'm not even smart enough to give drop shot a good chance. A few times last season I used a split shot rig, which is just a poor man's Carolina rig or a "finesse C rig." It's a killer rig for getting bites when NOTHING will get a bite. After it worked, I switched to a regular (but lightweight) C-rig though because the fish don't feel the weight of it.

I have a leftover bag of Gulp Mullet. Have you ever caught a bass on one?

Yeah, I meant to say at Academy. Hey, they'll all catch fish at some point.

I'd pay that for one. Actually, I guess I wouldn't because the Live Target Sunfish was in the clearance area last time I was there and I passed them by. I'm still dubious of this bait because they look like such a gimmick. I could see myself fishing this thing for 5 summers without a single strike.

Hootie has one for $100.

You can do 1 & 2, add backing to another reel, then reel up the old braid onto the new reel. BOOM! New (free) braid!

Weightless Trick Worm Spinnerbait lipless crank lizard Topwaters

And there would be some jerk there trying to get her down to $15 for the whole lot. I'm a veteran of many a yard sale.

Welcome. I think of trout when I think of Montana.

Bet his ex sold it or gave it away. I had an antique clock that I think my ex sold. She claimed she never saw it, but it was at the house until she moved all her junk out. It was maybe worth $600. She probably yard sold it for $20.

Stole it!!! Great get! That's why you always check.

Something dark, as a rule works well in dark waters. combos with black in them work well. Purple is killer. But I fish off-color water year round and I have success with bubble gum, methiolate and lime as well as those dark colors. Try them all.

I used to think the same and I did downsize from 65 to 50#. I went to 30# on my T rigs combo. But heavy braid definitely helps keep the line from digging into the spool when you're frogging. That will happen a lot if you're fishing frogs in weeds. You'll set the hook and drag in a 2 lb fish and 5 lbs of salad. Next cast, will go about 20' and stop and you'll have to pull some line off the spool because it dug in. It's not a big deal, but wastes your time needlessly. And that big braid is not hard to cast at all. I used to catch fish on T rigs using the 65# braid and no leader.

You can of course use a short leader. Short enough that it wouldn't have to go through the guides, especially for pitching.

I have a 6' ML Eagle Claw rod that feels more like a L power these days mated to cheap UL reel that I use at the creek or small ponds where I'm reasonable sure the fish won't exceed 2 lbs just for fun. It's quite mismatched so I'll probably buy a properly matched rod and reel for each.

50 lb braid, min for frogging. If you intend to use it for pitching, and the whole visibility thing is an issue for you, you can use a short leader of fluoro. I would imagine that line visibility is not an issue in very sloppy weeds. There's always the issue of the extra knot failing. It happened to me once. I use straight braid, no leaders, on 4 rods now.

I'm not a beginner but I still use two of these for moving baits. I have a 6-6 MH and a 6-6 M as well as a newer spinning 7' M. I'll replace them at some point but they're tough and light and get the job done. The cork on the foregrips is starting to come apart on the casting rods after 10 years of heavy use.