the reel ess

Does that happen a lot that you catch big bass while musky fishing? It seems like the same type baits, just bigger.

Booyah, Strike King, War Eagle should cover all the bases. My favorites are old Uncle Bucks from BPS that I bought for maybe $1.50 more than a decade ago. They discontinued them I guess to sell more expensive options, but they flat caught fish. I caught my PB on one last fall. Something else they had that you don't see as much these days is hammered blades. They put off more vibration and look like fish scales. I still have several that I keep replacing skirts on. The last two fish I caught on spinnerbaits were on the trailer hook, including the aforementioned PB. Even some tourney pros will tell you forget the trailer hook. I simply can't understand this. They will say they don't miss many short strikes, but they can't possibly know how many they're missing. And a trailer hook can keep a bass hooked if it comes off the main hook. I use trailer hooks on all buzzbaits as well. I never use a trailer per se. But I will use a fluke or even a grub that I think matches the forage well. Fish will bite it. You can even buy some now with a swimbait body. I have one for redfish I'm going to give a try. I look for gold blades because there are gold shiners where I fish most of the time. But the PB came on tandem nickel with white skirt. Go figure. You can do most of what you need to do with chartreuse and/or white spinnerbaits in 1/2 oz. I'd start there in willow leaf blades unless you want to use in cold or dirty water. Indiana blades are a good compromise, but harder to find for me. Or if you're fishing at night or really dirty or cold water, black/Colorado blades is the ticket. So just a few models for starters then branch out for specific purposes and conditions. Search videos by Jimmy Houston and Hank Parker. They've made careers on spinnerbaits. I haven't come up with a good way to fit spinnerbaits in a flat package so I'll take the ones I think will work with me on the kayak. I use them on 15 lb Big Game mono. Bump into cover you can see. That triggers strikes.

I think you're using good ones. I like the Booyah Pad Crashers. I haven't gotten as many bites on the popping model. I truly dislike the one that shall not be mentioned on this site that has realistic looking soft legs that come off and fills with water after a couple bites. I bought an H2O Xpress frog from Academy because the price was right, but it's difficult to walk and the plastic is harder. I caught what held as my PB for about a decade on the Snag Proof Original Frog that you see in my avatar. I have caught pond bass recently on that frog as well but it requires spinning tackle to cast it well. They now make a model for casting reels.

My family had a lake house most of my life. I started out fishing from our dock with a cane pole and walking the banks, catching bluegill and small bass. My dad bought a pontoon boat and we started fishing from crappie. Later he bought an aluminum bass boat and we took up bass. We didn't have sophisticated electronics that bass boats come with now, so it was hit and miss. Sometimes we just didn't know where they went. On the other hand, there is the added bonus of a large striper or catfish or whatever as a bycatch. When I finally had enough money to buy my own boat I ran the lake for a while. I tired of going over to the lake, putting the boat in, spending the night so i could be on the water before every one else just to discover 2 boats already where I wanted to be...on a weekday. Did they sleep in that cove??? Then I'd end up at my backup spots trying to salvage the day. I started going to our local reservoir with a friend and never looked back. The access is owned by the property owners around it so it's usually deserted. The most I've ever seen on it is three boats on July 4th. I can go with my buddy or put my big boat in. I started taking my kayak anytime it's warm enough. It's about 30 acres, with weedy and wood cover and some deeper structure so it's big enough for fish to be holding in different patterns in different places. It's just a smaller, cleaner lake. The forage is gold shiners and bluegill mas well as crawfish, I'm sure. The big bass are bigger here and less stressed. Therefore, I'm less stressed and have a better chance at a PB. In fact, this is where my PB came from last fall. I'm 46 now and I'm not looking to compete with throngs of anglers whipping the waters for smaller bass. I can't always get in the reservoir on short notice because I need a key from my buddy so I asked around for other places to fish and got permission. I have at least limited access by permission to 5 private ponds and there are a couple more I can go to anytime I like. These are nice to have when you're kayaking because you can put it in any puddle of water where often it's just too windy for a kayak on bigger waters. And the smaller the water, the more likely it is fish will be cooperative, but not always. That's a nice consolation prize. Also, I don't see fish schooling on bait in ponds in an "organized" manner as much as I do in lakes. They relate to where bait is, but don't seem to herd it to the surface. Others will disagree, but that's my experience. That's probably due to the type of bait present, not the bass since a bass is a bass, wherever you find him. I don't notice one piece of cover holding groups of bass in ponds as much either unless it's during the spawn. Bigger the bass, the more likely they're loners. In a pond, you know you'll at least drag a bait by some fish, probably some big ones, even if they don't bite. All the same baits work in ponds as lakes, but I find it a lot easier to get topwater strikes in ponds. I imagine that's because the pond is shallower, therefore easier for fish to locate topwaters and food is more limited. Just theories. That's my $0.02 in the pond vs lake topic. Some of my ideas are anecdotal and I'm sure people will have other opinions. Good luck!

Fish are captives in their environments and can get used to anything that doesn't kill them. There's a video on YouTube of Captain Shane fishing in the Everglades as airboats go by and he continues to catch fish right where the boats passed over. I recall just slaying the bass on a bank one day as a ski boat pulled skiers through a bouy course over and over. We had a hard time keeping our distance from the bank, but it was worth it. I think about this when I see trash like chairs, sunken boats or dock parts in the water. Fish don't know that's trash. It's habitat.

I've always reeled them fast before I started fishing a local reservoir. They like them as slow as you can reel them and keep them off the grassy bottom. You have to just about put it in their mouths. But I still like a fast reel for it because it's fewer cranks per day.

Last fall I had an owl try to take my topwater bait on two consecutive casts in daylight. It flew across the cove and swooped down and landed. Then it came back the opposite way. I had to yank it away both times. If I was a Darling on The Andy Griffith Show I might have been a little superstitious about that occurrence. My dad and I caught the same fish once. It bit my worm, I let the rod tip down and set the hook. I said "I got one!" and my dad said "Me too!" We reeled up the same 1 lb bass. My buddy, who is a smallish guy, was fishing a public place when a car stopped beside the road and a big guy got out of the passenger side and the car drove off. Big Guy walked up to my buddy and asked him if he was doing any good. He said no. The guy asked my buddy if he had any money and he said no. My buddy said the guy just stood next to him for an uncomfortable length of time and finally just walked off down the road. My friend said he thought Big Guy was just standing there deciding if it was worth the trouble to try to rob him and finally thought better of it. My dad and I saw a fish basket (trap) in shallow water and went to investigate it. It took both of us to pull it up. When we did there were several dead catfish and a live softshell turtle in it. The turtle was thrashing so hard it threw dead catfish bits all over us. We stunk so bad we had to knock off fishing and head for the shower.

I got Kayak Angler mag in the digital format for a year as a Christmas gift, but it was one big ad from cover to cover with very little fishing advice I could use. Years later, they still send me emails all the time with links to free articles.

Look into the Charleston area of SC. It's a great city and there are lots of places to fish. There are plenty of lakes in SC. That number you throw out for a house on a lake is about right for Lake Wateree, near Camden.

An old, cheap BPS Uncle Buck's white double willow, hammered nickel blade spinnerbait...on the trailer hook.

I can't very well criticize the alcohol ads when I greatly enjoy a good beer or two.

I go to my primary 6 combos and rig them with what I think I'll use next time I go fishing. I usually do this three times for every time I actually go in the winter. And I order new baits so when they come in, I tie them on as well. Sometimes I go to the back porch and toss them a few times. My next door neighbor's always asking if they're biting out back.

The printed word is dying partly because everything you want to know is out there virtually free in video form. I don't read them unless I'm in a waiting room. One thing I've noticed lately is some of the mags are now down to 10 or 8 issues a year. If you subscribe to Fill-in-the-blank-Game and Fish you can save a couple years worth of mags and just re-read next year. They recycle content a lot.

Absolutely. I recall G-Man, Ike, Ish and Hackney all being reprimanded in some way (the pocketbook mostly) and they all seem to be doing alright. None of them agreed with the penalty at the time, but a person can take that punishment like a man or they can miss the point of it entirely. I still like all these guys and value their advice. But I respect G-Man most. I think he has become a better person over the last few years. And he has had a few obstacles to overcome.

As for the sinful sponsorships, where do you draw the line? There are as many people killing themselves with fat foods and baked goods as there are with alcohol. As for the bad behavior, I think BASS has done a good job not tolerating it. I recall the fight between Ish and another angler and the time Ike kicked his American flag. The federation deals harshly when its anglers embarrass them all. When the reward is high people will find themselves morally flexible. I do see guys who would run their mother over to fish a spot though. That's a gray area and has always been an issue, even before tourneys.

Neither do I. I will as well in a pinch or if I want to narrow down a color choice. I have a Trion Spinning reel and a 7' M Lightning Rod I'll sometimes use for treble lures. It's interesting to me that a M spinning rod blank would likely be a ML BC rod blank.

I hear you. My dad tells me about when he was a kid on the farm. The kids did all the work. Their idea of a good Christmas haul was a change of clothes and some oranges and nuts in the stocking. I will say they ate well though. My grandmother cooked three meals a day and if you said you were hungry, she'd put a biscuit in your mouth. She sewed us quilts for Christmas and I still have 2 of them. They grew and canned everything, slaughtered hogs and raised chickens for meat and eggs. My dad got off the farm as quickly as he could and went to work in a factory. It was like vacation to him. But he has a tightly knit family and we're all still very close. G Man's my favorite pro bass fishing personality.

A cold

Any topwater. I like the vicious strikes the frog and Spook attract. I will trade 2 subsurface fish for one on topwater anytime. Buzzbaits are cool and I like the feel when a good fish inhales your spinnerbait.

I forgot: Brush Hog and that style of baits. Just haven't bought any. I never the tried Trick Worm until about 4 years ago when my buddy killed me on them. After I watcched him catch half a limit, he finally threw me a couple. Now I keep one tied on and I'll use them for any worm method. I just bought a bag magnum size. I have another buddy who only fishes when he's with me and the Bubble Gum TW, weightless is all he ever uses. It produces year-round.

I'll try harder. Well, I've had it a year. But it is my frog and jig rod, so it usually has something heavy tied on. I have several reels older than a decade. Reels have come a long way n that time.

I have that reel in 7.5:1 for frogs and jigs. I was thinking I'd like to have another because I have yet to backlash it. And they make one with a higher capacity spool. I have a 6-6 M rod to get me by for a while. I'll probably replace with a 7 footer someday.

Do you guys use a specific reel just for lipless cranks? Is it a higher line capacity reel? What's your preferred retrieve ratio? I'll be replacing mine soon.

I can't speak for how you like to fish, but I have a MH 7' spinning combo for single hook presentations. It's a Viper combo that I bought from BPS on clearance about a decade ago and it just keeps on ticking. The rod doesn't have any action or power info on it, but it loads up pretty fast, so I'd say it a MH/MF. I usually try to avoid buying matched store brand combos, but this one has been stellar. When the reel finally quits I'll replace with a Pfleuger size 30. Now we have 6 or more and catch most of the fish on one.

I have avoided buying painted ones just because I'd have to buy several colors of several weights.