the reel ess

And one with a Fast or XFast tip if you can find it. I bought a Cabela's Frog BC rod a while back. I planned to use it primarily for frogs, but also for jigs. At first I was not pleased with it for jigs.A little too stiff. But after a visit to a very weedy pond, it's just the ticket for frogs. My point is, 7'3", HVY-Fast is just the ticket for frogs in vegetation.

With free shipping. I know people on here complain about the fact it's usually not repairable. But, honestly, it's priced at a disposable cost. It's as much reel as most $80 name brands. With an average rating of 4.6 stars, out of 5. For all the guys is see posting "BC reel under $100?" you can get two with a 1-piece solid aluminum frame! Or you can get the rod, all for $100. Hard to beat.

Wear a hat, a buff and long sleeves. Slather the SPF 70 on the hands, legs & feet. Take 2 bottles of water and one beer. I use a kayak most of the time, so I can hang my feet over the side and transfer some body heat. You'd be surprised how well it works. My buddy with a sit-in kayak just can't take the heat like I can. You can also fish a river below a dam (tailrace). There will be cooler water coming off the lake bottom and fewer people to contend with. But be very careful. I usually go about 6:30. The hotter and more humid the season gets, the better the sunset pattern works. When I get an occasional vacation day, I go very early and do the same in reverse. But it seems to me that bass are feeding at night so they're fuller in the AM than in the PM. And they MUST feed due to the high metabolism. My buddy will go AM

Could be a male fish that has grown larger than average. Could be there's not enough food at this particular time, but there was for most if the fish's life. Could be a genetic freak. It could the the balance is out of whack with the majority of the forage fish (bluegill) getting too big for bass to eat and in turn, eating some of the food the bass would normally eat. Once a pond gets into this condition, it's very hard to correct because you have to remove a large number of both species to return it. And if you're fishing someone else's pond, they usually look at people taking their fish as theft. I've seen the Pond Boss shocking fish up to remove them and restore balance. Some ponds stay in balance on their own, but most don't. I fished a place recently that nobody takes fish out of. The average bass was over 2 lbs. I caught a 3. And the owner said the largest to ever come out of it was 12 lbs. He has an 8 on the wall. I feel certain it has a healthy self-sustaining balance of predators and prey.

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I usually have my best luck right on the outside of lilies or in the open patches. I'll let the froggy sit there for maybe 10 seconds before I resume the retrieve. That seems to tear a bass's nerves up. They just can't allow something smaller to survive in their den. And sometimes, I'll get the bite as soon as the frog hits the water before I even retrieve.

A parasite called fish grubs or yellow grubs. If you fillet the fish you'll find them throughout the flesh. The fish is host to one of the stages of the life cycle of this parasite. Snails are also host during another stage of the life cycle. If you can get rid of the grass, the snails will die out and the worms will disappear. If you introduce shellcrackers, they'll also kill the snails and solve the problem. Grass carp may help as well. My friend's pond had these last summer, but I haven't seen any this year. They don't hurt the fish and if you cook them thoroughly, they won't hurt you. But once you know they're there, it's hard to forget.

I did this as well. It's funny how many things have changed over the years. A lot of the conventional wisdom of the past has been turned 180 degrees. And if you subscribed to one year of Game and Fish Magazine for your state, you really didn't need to buy another one for 5 years. The articles are recycled over and over. Nowadays, more than you really ever need to know is FREE! I do appreciate that advertising is what allows us to see free content and watch informative TV shows. I try to avoid the ones that are basically info-mercials.

I either fish alone in the kayak, with another kayaker (my buddy or my daughter) or from the back seat of my other buddy's boat. They're all fine with me because they all have advantages, but I just seem to catch more and bigger fish when I'm alone in the kayak.

My favorites: Bamabass, Brendan's Fabulous World..., Sea-Money & Adamitshalnu (Uncle Steve). I'm subscribed to these and watch all their videos, but i also just click and watch the suggestions based on these. And I don't like unboxings or reviews that don't include some fishing. You cannot actually review a bait or a rod or reel unless you use it.

You use spincast reels when you LOVE twisting your line for no good reason. Or if you're fishing for fish that you know are extremely slow swimmers. Or putting yourself at a bigger disadvantage than necessary to the fish. I know there are expensive spincast reels, but they are still not as useful as $40 spinning reels, IMO.

I'd say no less than 2 years. I'm on my third year of some 50 lb that I'll probably replace with 30 lb when I finally do respool. You can reel used braid onto another reel and you'll be using the new end again.

Pretty fish. There's a large pond I go to that has a landing. They spawn on the gravel at the landing every spring. Shellcrackers are pretty hard to catch the rest of the year. But they'll bite in plain sight when spawning.

According to my Petersen's Guide To Freshwater Fishes, it looks like a yellow, brown or black. And the maps show only the yellow and brown in FL and the yellow stops about the Everglades, while the brown covers the entire state.

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You can rip the big, strong hook thru the lips too. I did that recently. The bass came off at the water's edge and I could see I'd pulled a hole in the soft tissue, dragging the fish with 5 lbs of lilies.

I still have not caught a smallie. There are a few places in SC you can catch them, but I haven't been there yet.

Yeah. Or more to the point, you won't catch a 10 pounder in a body of water that has none larger than 5 lbs. There are places that just grow bigger fish. There are places where a 3 yr old bass is 3 lbs and places where it's barely a pound. Fish the former every time.

Right on! I've read many articles about how to target trophies and this is the top advice in every one of them.

I've seen a couple shows where the host takes the EWG and bends the hook point out. Gives you the space needed for the worm to get out of the way and the point to snag the fish.

T rigged Berkley Chigger Craw. I've caught almost all my fish over 5 lbs on it in the last 2-3 years. You can probably swap out any of the premium craws. Another good one is the Zoom Super Speed Craw. I'm convinced bigger bass eat more craws. But they'll also catch smaller ones.

You won't be disappointed.

I knew people who would sink brushpiles or gutted appliances at night. Then they'd return to fish the new cover/structure with T-rigged worms. Once you located the fish attractor, you just make note of the landmarks and mark your map. That would be hard without GPS, so they were usually close to shore, but not on the bank.

I have an anchor and 20' of thin rope as well as a cleat on the kayak. I don't even take it with me because it's more of a pain than the wind. I just use the paddle and make minor corrections all day. You can find a weedy place to set your boat to make casts while stationary. If there's standing timber or stumps, you can get yourself stuck in them. This can be a hassle though. Another option is to have smaller bodies of water to fish. I have reservoirs/ponds from 25 acres to about 2 acres that I've gotten permission to fish. If you have choices you can walk the banks somewhere if it's too windy to paddle.

I hired a saltwater guide once who showed up with a 20' center console towed by a V6 Honda Passport. Now I have a 17' fish and ski and claimed I needed a Silverado 5.3L 4WD to tow it. I asked him how the Honda handled the boat and he said just fine and he'd been doing it for years. But it was a very good ramp that he probably uses all the time. He probably only tows a few miles each time and takes it really easy on his tow rig. I don't think it would do well on long tows or on tough ramps. But at 2500 lbs you should be just fine. But the transmission is the major concern. You can buy a cooler kit for most vehicles.