the reel ess

Absolutely! I've caught more bass on one black buzzbaits than all others combined. I can't keep a skirt on it. Right now it has a soft plastic on it.

That's a long name for one reel. But I liked thee one I got last winter so much I just purchased another to replace my old worn cranks and topwaters reel.

You asked about Rat L Trap colors. By far, my best is metallic gold. A lot of people swear by the red craw, but it hasn't done it for me yet. My buddy does OK with a chartreuse/blue.

Get everything this guy mentions. he guides: https://www.facebook.com/broadriver.smallmouth?fref=ts Friend him and talk with him. If my box was empty, I'd go get a bag of Trick Worms in watermelon and one in bubble gum. And I'd get one shad, one chartreuse and one brown craw color Bomber Model A medium diver. I'd get a 1/2 oz white and one chartreuse tandem willow leaf spinnerbait. If I only had the money for one bait, it would be the Trick Worm. I always have one tied on weightless and usually have one T-rigged, 3/16 oz. It flat catches bass.

I just drag mine by the front handle if I'm alone, which I usually am. I can carry it by the two side handles, but only do that on pavement. If I used one of those carts that flips over onto the rear of the kayak, I'd lose the space I use for my milk crate. I have it rigged with 5 vertical rod holders and use it to hold a tackle box, soft plastics bags and used plastics, etc. (trash). I have even put a Playmate cooler in it and kept some fish.

That was about the only complaint I had. The food wasn't great. We stayed at the Polynesian and did the luau for our first dinner, which is supposed to be all-you-can-eat roasted pork and beer. Well, if you can get a waiter's attention, you can maybe get two servings and two beers before the show starts and they all disappear. We also ate at the Moroccan restaurant in Epcot that was pretty good. Other than that, we had a lot of bland meals.

Same here. We took our daughter when she was 5 or 6 and it was my first time. I was 41-ish. It was the best time I think I've ever had on vacation. We had it all paid for before we went. Spent maybe $100 of our own money for souvenirs. I don't think my legs have ever been so tired. My feet hurt to my knees.

Very nice. Sounds like a bluegill swimbait might have done the trick. I saw a BamaBass Youtube video where he and his wife caught them in one of the Disney lakes on live shiners.

Hey, I do two of those things.

When I was a kid, BD hawked Stren and I thought he spoke the Gospel, so I used it for 20 or so years and it was premium stuff for a long time. I also asked my parents for a Daiwa Magforce reel for Christmas because he used it on his show. I just retired that reel after 30 years of pretty regular use. Maybe Stren has improved their quality, but it won't give me the bang for the buck that Big Game does even is it's the best mono on the market. I have no issue with anything he endorses. He has to produce a show after all. Did you all notice he had his fish finder unit blurred out for a season? I guess maybe shows were in the can, so to speak, before he changed sponsors. Or could be that he just liked the old one better. He hawks Quantum and I don't care. My last two reels are Lew's.

Not in my humble opinion. But we all have different priorities. I have been known to fish for more than 5 hours and I've never said "Dang, this paddle is too heavy."

I noticed that about his last show too. I love BD. But the last Stren I used was inferior to Big Game. I threw the spool away. That's why I use Big Game.

I read that thread when it was new. Good ideas. i bought a headlight a few years ago in anticipation of going one night with a buddy and it stormed. I never did. I would probably be in my kayak, which worries me that a snake might swim up in it with me and I freak out and go swimming.

Right now it's middle of the day. But most of the year, and in SC, it's summer a good bit of the year, I prefer evening until sundown. Once the summer pattern sets in that seems to be my best bet for bigger bass. And I do so love the topwater action. Often times, when I don't have time off, I'll take a few hours in the morning and go to a local place. I'll make the time up by working more later in the week. Then I want to be on the water as early as possible. I want to try a few nights this year.

I've never wanted to fish for any reason other than my own recreation. It's either ads for something to treat ED or ads for the things that cause ED. That's quite a racket.

I use a weightless Trick Worm for the sole reason that I almost always have one tied on a spinning combo and sitting in my lap (on the kayak). It falls level and perfectly vertically so it looks like something a bass just stunned and is slowly dropping to the bottom.

I have an older 7' MH combo with braid that I threw it on. I just kinda lobbed it instead of trying to force a long cast. It still spins a little at the end of the cast and it's not ideal. There are people catching fish with it on YouTube and they all are at ponds, so there's something to it. The spawn has to be a good time to swim it fast past the beds.

Here are my reel/line rules of thumb and some will disagree: BC trebles, incl cranks and topwaters: Mono BC spinner/buzzbaits: Mono BC single hooks (T-rigs, weightless Senkos, etc.) 30# Braid BC frogs: 30# braid, min. 50 lb. braid is what I currently have on. Spinning: 20# braid for everything. I will use the M/Mod rod for smaller trebles because the action is quite moderate. I'll use the MH for weightless Trick Worms and light T rigs, etc. The reason for braid on spinning is the lack of line twist. Braid on a spinning reel will last longer than you want it to and will almost never twist if you remember to flip the bail up by hand. You'll be coloring the end of it with Sharpies to make less visible.

I have one and also have never caught anything on it. Ditto all the above issues and I'll add that it sinks too fast so you can't really swim it slowly. Sure, you can, but it looks like the nose it pointed up unnaturally. I agree with how hard it is to cast so I used it on MH spinning gear. I'm sure there's a good time to use it and I haven't found it yet. I also haven't used it in a place where bluegill would be the primary forage (a small pond).

Craigslist, LetGo, etc. Honestly, if you go too cheap, you'll regret it. I spent $550 on the Pescador new about 6 years ago and now I'd like to upgrade for a more stable kayak with stadium seat.

Your post reminds me I caught a turtle lsat summer. Not really unusual on live bait, but this was on the back hook of a Spook. This is one of my favorite topwaters, so I tried hard to get the hook back but it broke that prong of the trebles off and I dropped the turtle.

Expecting to get fed probably.

I dig your point, and I can agree to an extent, but a 25 acre manmade "lake" with a spillway is a lot different from a manmade hydroelectric lake in terms of tactics. I fish a reservoir that's big for a "pond" and I had to change a lot of my thinking to have success there. There's rarely a noticeable current there. It's big enough to have structure and different things bass can be doing at any given time, but small enough that you know you've drug a bait by a bunch of fish in the course of a day. Bass on that hydro power lake can get away from you.

Ascend from BPS and the Perception Pescador Pro are a couple that come to mind. I have the previous Pescador and it has served me well. But the seat just puts kills the behind after a couple hours. I even have to move my legs a little to keep my feet from going to sleep if I fish a long time, and I usually do. Both of the options I mentioned have a stadium type seat and come in under your budget new. The seat is more comfy and keeps your butt out of the water. Well, I just checked on the Pescador Pro and I have to say that one's $729 new. It didn't start there, so it must be selling well. I have the Pescador 12 Angler, which Academy sells for $529.

I did that a lot as a kid, especially when the lake was in winter drawdown. I still have some of those in the box.