the reel ess

I just finally yard sold my last two bass pistol grip rods. After years if clicking the mouse for a living, I like to cast two-handed now. I have one spincast for creeks and live bait bluegill fishing. But I have a light action spinning that I prefer to it.

I like them both. I've caught more bass on the Norman because Walmart had them when I was poor. I think they had an exclusive deal for a cheaper model with cheaper paint and hooks. I've also had stripers pull the back hook off a Norman Lil Deep N-the med size. Also, they can get so banged up they won't tune, but they're pretty cheap. I've never hooked a striper on a Bandit. For the record, the hook has never come off a DD22 for me. I have always bought one fire tiger and one shad color. Bandit seems better quality to me. My fav squarebill is the Bandit FlatMaxx as well.

My two best baits are a T-rigged craw (I'm going to experiment with Rage rigged) and Trick Worm, no weight. Most of my biggest fish have come on those or a Rat L Trap But the Trap is more of a search bait

When I started the 2015 season I had a 1983 Daiwa Procaster PMF1000 MagForce I was still using. It was my go-to cranking reel. It had a push-button spool release, no thumb bar. It was a Christmas gift when I was 13 and retailed for about $70 then. It lasted 32 years. Daiwa sent me parts fro free a couple times to work on it. Finally, the gears got so bad they wouldn't stay meshed. I know that kind of quality is ridiculous nowadays and I should probably go with another Daiwa for my next reel.

1) Finding time to do it 2) Working at it and figuring something out that gets bites in one trip. Or tuning my technique to get more bites. Trying something for the first time with success!!!

I catch a good many on the Rat L Trap on Gold/black, but my buddy catches more on the Cotton Cordell Spot. They're about identical in design but the Spot is brighter gold.

I use a T rigged Craw about half my fishing time lately. I'd start with that or a 6" worm and branch out. Small pond fish will bite most of the same stuff they'll bite in bigger ponds or lakes. I also like topwaters and frogs, though those are out of season here. Often the small pond fish are "dumber" because they're overpopulated. Too many bass for a limited amount of food. On the other hand, a public place can be quite the opposite. In that case, it really pays to go finesse. But try those typical reaction baits to be certain. You never know. And, since most small pond bass are smallish, upsizing baits can put you on the largest in the pond at the expense of number of bites. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

I can get away with the spinning reel because the diameter of the handle is larger. My left hand isn't good for much. The spinning reel has always felt counter-intuitive to me.

For the money? H2O Express brand. Looks natural, has VMC hooks and an oval split ring. $5.99! http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-jointed-sunfish-3-12-swimbait?repChildCatid=22567 But I have yet to catch anything on mine. I'll dust it off when the bass are spawning next spring. I know how they HATE bluegill around the nest.

Well. low or dropping barometric pressure ahead of a front can be good for fishing. Bluebird skies with high pressure following a front are usually bad for fishing. An easterly breeze can be a sign of high pressure and is sometimes considered a bad sign. Wind from the east, fish bite the least. From the west, they bite the best. At least that's how the saying goes. If a front is coming and you have a choice, fish before it. Spring cold fronts affect fish worse than fall cold fronts. Fish can sense a front and sometimes feed up when they know a major weather swing is coming. Generally, mostly cloudy is preferable to full sun, no matter the pressure. Rain is not bad for fishing, only for fishermen. But if you only have one day to fish, that's the day you fish. This is all just my opinion based on 45 years of observations. When the weather takes a turn for the worse, slow down and fish with soft plastics in places where you know there have been fish before. You can still usually catch some, but they won't be chasing reaction baits nearly as well. Full sun will force fish near cover, so they get a little more predictable. Muddy water will force them to shallow cover. I use black and blue a lot in off-color water. I never check the barometer or moon phase before going fishing. Well, I'll check the moon when bass or bluegill are bedding. That's about the extent of my knowledge on weather's effects on bass fishing.

I had some rods leaning against the corner of a room near a baseboard heater that the line got very weak on. Had to change them all.

Did you leave the rods out in the cold? My buddy has line get more brittle in the winter in the boat outside and he changes all of it.

The cheaper the line, the more often it needs to be changed. I use braid on 4 rods and mono on one. The mono is 15# Berkley Big Game and I change it at least twice a year. But you only need to strip off half the spool unless you want to.

I have a Cabela's gift card. I wish BPS would honor the Cabela's card. I have a 10 year old Johnny Morris reel that's still thee best in my collection.

Yeah, it's been slow. But I have managed to catch a couple every time lately. In fact, the only time I've been shut out this whole year was when a storm forced me to pack it in. I can stand catching only two when the name of the game is getting out. edit: I just actually read the original post. I fish mostly smaller bodies of water. I have a couple ponds I can bank fish and I use my kayak in another. I find it a LOT easier to get a bite in a pond almost any time of year.

I use a Falcon MH 7' Lowrider for that application. By far the most sensitive rod I own. I bought it for $50 from a coworker who was getting out of bass fishing and into custom motorcycles. It's really a rod for heavy cranks, but it's hard to imagine how it could be better for T rigs. You can feel a fish fart form a neighboring county with it.

^^This^^ ... I have heard from more than one source - the Arachnid is the way to go (as far as Cabela's) BC reels . A 6:x:1 will be most flexible for a spinnerbait . Well, I got some good news. Gift card fro work is in the mail. I'll be able to get what I want. That opens a lot more possibilities.

For the $129 range, the Abu Garcia Revo S has a lot of 5* reviews.

I noticed that. I may just wait until after Christmas. There is bound to be several more on sale as new models come in.

I have the Trion spinning reel. Great reel for the $.

Two rods in one hand and a beer in the other.

I went into Cabea's to get a classic Rapala #13 in Gold/Black because the #11 killed them but was harder to cast. They didn't have that size and the "kid" tried to hand me a Scatter Rap. I didn't take it. My friend has caught fish on the Scatter Rap, but I caught them at the same time on the Shadow Rap. Where we fish, the gold color and floating vs suspending seem to matter more than specific model. It just felt like Rapala wanted to sell me one more jerkbait.

I like 5.4:1 for soft plastics (I don't pitch too much). I like 7.1:1 for my search baits because you cast a lot and you'll crank less with a fast retrieve. And there are times you just want that cast back to make another, better one. You can always slow down a fast retrieve, but you can only speed up so much with a slow one. I don't think I have one in the 6:1 range now (not all my reels have it on them), so that'll probably be my next BC reel. It'll be for spinnerbaits mostly. Both my spinning reels are in the 5.?:1 range. These are mostly used for Trick Worm, jerkbaits and stick worms. None of this is a rule. It's just whatever you feel is best for you.

Only thing that bothers me about that reel is the graphite frame. I'm replacing a cheaper reel with a graphite frame. My limited experience with graphite or composite framed reels is they eventually fail and it won't be on a 1/2 lb bass when it fails. I may just have to upgrade to one with a solid alum framed reel.

I know. That's why I asked for other recommendations.