the reel ess

If they don't catch fish, they won't remain on the market for very long. In most cases I'd say yes. But everyone has his own pain threshold. I try not to spend more than $10 on a bait but I've broken that rule when I just HAD to have something. The bulk of my fish are caught on some soft plastic that costs less than $4.50/bag. In the case of the Trick worm that's a bag of 20.

When I attempt a Palomar with something with trebles I usually end up finding at least three hook points. I try not to rety in the kayak unless it's completely necessary. But I only have one rod with braid that I use for treble baits.

Yeah, I have a crate rigged for holding 4 rods, my kayak has a flush mount rod holder and I just hold one in the cockpit, so to speak. I keep a couple rods rigged with soft plastics and carry bags of the ones I think I'll need.

I used to use them and speed clips then I had a big fish straighten out a clip and lost it. I've been considering going back with a reputable brand, but that's not on the shelf at Wal Mart and I haven't looked at Academy. So I tie directly right now. It's what I see the pros doing and their paychecks depend on it. I think a snap will help some baits' actions and can't think of any that will be hurt by using one. It will add some wider wobble to cranks. Just understand it's probably not as strong as the hook on most baits unless you get a very heavy duty one. So set that drag and play the fish. I would only use one on the rods I change baits on a lot. And those would be my treble lures. In that case I would have the drag preset loose. I never use swivels because I don't fish in-line spinners anymore.

Doubtful since I've never caught one there. But it's possible I guess. I know there are bass that big and bigger there. I've already caught a 6.4 the first time there this year.

Big Bite Baits. Got 'em at Academy.

Yeah. It was a smaller EWG hook as well because the Hula Grub is a small bait.

Perception Pescador was an older WS Tarpon. They bought the old mold. But Pescador was just redesigned. I have the older model Pescador 12. It's a great little SOT for the $$$. But you won't be standing in it. I'm clumsy so I just fish sitting. BTW, get a SOT.

I have that friend too, Give him a T rigged worm. He might outfish you with it.

If I made a mistake it was probably going too hard with the fish. I had straight 50# braid and a good Gama hook so I thought I could horse it. But after seeing I barely had a hook in it, it seems it would have been wiser to go easy.

If you're bank fishing and you catch a big fish you have to handle it and get it off the hook. They don't always cooperate and you wouldn't want to break a rod supporting a huge fish when you don't have to. Just try to keep it to a minimum.

I lost what would have been a new PB by quite a bit today. I was fishing a local reservoir that's private and has a lot of big bass in it. All the usual baits were either failing or the fish were striking short so I downsized from Chigger Craw to Hula Grub. I felt just a little mushy resistance that seemed to be pulling the opposite way so I set the hook. I kept good pressure on it and it felt like a log that was barely swimming. I got it close and it still hadn't shaken its head. Then the hook came free. I can't imagine what I could have done better. The hook had barely broken the skin of the soft plastic. I couldn't see where the hook came free from so maybe it was just hooked weird or in a hard place of the mouth. That happens. Anyway, my buddy told me it was at least 8 lbs, which would break my PB my at least 1.5. He ought to know because he's caught several in there over 8. On the bright side, it's still in there and it's not the only one that big.

I suspect because they are under the Rapala umbrella and there was overlap of some things. They still have this one: http://www.rapala.com/terminator/in-line-spinners/snagless-in-line-spinner/snagless-in-line-spinner/Snagless+In-line+Spinner.html?brandname=Terminator&id=7 Inline spinners were probably the first artificial I ever caught a bass on using the old Zebco 33. And probably the first crappie, and white bass and bluegill. This one: http://www.mepps.com/information/comet-mino-5/157#description~C1M%20S

I argue about this topic with my friend all the time. Any time he catches a big one he wants to keep it to eat. He ain't starving and in fact has a gut on him. I tell him if he puts it back he can catch it again. He says if he doesn't put it back he's making room for another big one. But I got my friend into kayak fishing and he finds it hard to keep any from that platform. Bob nails it when he says a 3 pounder won't grow to 5 pounds in a skillet.

I'd buy a tackle box first. If it was me, not knowing where you fish or what kind of water (weedy, sandy, rocky) I'd start with T rig worms and medium and deep diving cranks like the Normans L'il N. Mostly because when I transitioned from crappie to bass fishing, those were all I had and managed to catch fish.

A. Don't peg it. No reason to. Fish will hold it longer if you don't. I'm sure people will disagree with that and there are exceptions. But not many people would tell you bass hold a jig longer than a worm. So it does matter. B. The shallower the water, the less weight is required to keep the bait down. I usually will use 1/8 oz min. on spinning and 3/16 oz min on baitcasting, the latter only because I'll birdnest with 1/8 on BC equipment. Higher winds might require more weight to keep contact with the bait to feel a bite. You'll get more bites with less weight. If you can stand it, try a Trick Worm, weightless. Then you can fish it from top to bottom and in very heavy cover. This is always tied on a spinning rid if I'm at a pond. Second Mike L. I use a black glass bead between the weight and hook and am convinced the click-click draws some extra bites. Another reason not to peg.

No pike in SC. There are pickerel in a few places but nowhere I fish. Yet.

I bought a Hvy stick just for frogs and jigs and told myself I was going to learn jigs or die trying. But jigs tend to get hung up a lot more than T rigs for me. I'm not a big fan of jigs for this reason as well as the bites don't feel as positive. I started fishing T rigged craws and got really good at it since I've always fished T rigged worms. I like the Berkley Chigger Craw, the Zoom Super Speed Craw and just bought some Zoom Z Craws. My biggest 5 fish came on the craw last year. I bought some heads that allow you to t-rig them that has a weight like a jig. Hopefully this becomes so much like jig fishing for me that I can just transition to a jig. The advice about starting smaller is good and I need to heed that myself.. I've found that the Hula Grub is a good smaller jig option as well. It'll pull more bites an help gain confidence. I need to buy some Bitsy Jigs and just practice, practice, practice until I have a feel for it. If you have a place where the fish are dumb and hungry at your disposal, take the jigs there.

I fish a couple places with so many carp it's not worth trying to get away. The bass are captive so I imagine they're used to the carp. My friends bought some sterile grass carp for their pond. The carp got huge, yet there's still a lot of grass in the pond. Hmmm...

Not that I think he's in any way justified in this behavior, but it's kinda (evil) genius to even think of this. As I understand, he was measuring the same fish on 3 scales and 2 of the scales were not accurate. So he was basically catching 3 fish to others' 1 fish. The lengths to which people will stoop to cheat never cease to amaze me.

Heddon Tiny Torpedo in natural perch pattern. I caught 50 bass in a couple hours on one last spring. I had to fix the blade a few times because they wouldn't stay off it . And there aren't any perch where I was fishing. But I keep trying to make the Devil's Horse my fav.

But beware, if it's on top it will come at you like a missile.

I have a black frog and the rest are natural frog patterns or at least a shade of green. If the bass is looking up at a frog or if it's a low light time, it'll see a silhouette. But if it's open water, a good bit of the frog hangs in the water. Honestly, when's the last time you saw a frog walking across the surface in a place with bass? That's suicidal. A toad will swim on top to land, but I imagine it's rare for a toad to cross a pond by choice. But then I catch bass on hard bait topwaters in frog patterns. It's universal. I guess I don't believe that the bass is thinking "FROG" when it sees one. It's just thinking "there's something in my domain and I am honor-bound to murder it." And as long as it looks like it kinda belongs, he's good-to-go. So, from that POV, it could be a bumblebee, bird or cicada-colored frog and they'd still kill it. All that said, I buy frog colors.

I go 99 problems, but a pike ain't one.

Me too. I have a slot I'll keep. usually between 12-15" fish. That works out to 1-2lb fish and every pond, lake and river has plenty of those size bass. When a bass reaches 3 lbs, it's starting to beat the odds and you should leave it alone if you like catching fish over 3 lbs. I never see a bass that's 14" and 2.5 lbs where i fish. Even the big bass over 5 where I fish don't haev big guts on them, but 5-7 pounders are common.