the reel ess

I don't want to encourage any illegal activity, so I won't. But I could not live there. I would be in jail. Am I right in assuming you can fish private property?

Same. I use the rods I'd use from a boat. I do have a shorter 6'8" jig rod due to the fact I'm close to the water. Most of my pitches are sidearmed. There are advantages of shorter rods for kayak fishing. For one, if you need to reach the end of the rod, you will have a hard time doing so with 7'+ rods. On the other hand, if a fish goes from one side of the boat to the other around the front you can reach past the end of the kayak with a longer rod. I usually don't though. I just let the fish turn the kayak. So it becomes a matter of personal preference.

Sure looks jiggy to me.

The Arky style head is the ATV of jigheads. It can be used anywhere. It's my favorite jighead design, but I've been using the Trashmaster with good success lately.

Yeah man! Trick Worm is the evolution of the Creme worm. And their 4" Finesse Worm is a great replacement for the old do-nothing type worms. When the bite gets really tough here in the heat of summer, I'll rig up a light weight C rig with a finesse worm. Our local hardware store still sells the pre-rigged Creme worms with 2 weedless hooks and with a prop on front. When I was a kid I remember my dad showing how to tie up a 2-hook worm rig. We had no prop on ours though.

I have an old 7 weight 8' Daiwa Apollo composite fly rod with an automatic Martin reel. It's loaded with floating line. I bought myself an assortment of bream and bass bugs. I even bought a frog bug. But I never use it. It feels like putting myself at an unnecessary disadvantage. Like I'm fishing with one hand tied behind my back.

The standard Spook. The first time I ever used one, I mopped up on a school of 3 pounders. I caught 8 on 8 casts. I hooked a 9th that broke me off and took my Spook. I tied on a Pop R and didn't get another bite. Of course, I immediately went out and bought a couple more. I didn't get a bite on it for almost 2 decades after this episode until I caught one early on a summer day last year.

I fish several different ponds. In one the bass are hopelessly stunted. Vegetation is not bad for bass, just for people. I'm inclined to say they've gotten stunted due to the lack of forage. It can happen when the bluegill or primary forage get too large to eat or they're competing for the same food-minnows. There aren't enough small bluegill for the bass to eat anymore. Feeding the bluegills tends to produce more offspring and increase the forage. But you may be able to add a forage species, like golden shiners. But I'd contact some local authority for advice. Around here we have the clemson university agriculture extension offices located around the state. They may even come take a look for free. It's better to consult a pro to develop a game plan.

Double tail grub, single grub, craw chunk, whatever I have. It all works. My favorite is the small chuck with ripple legs. But the bulkier package can help fish find it on top of lilies.

You could simply warn them if approached. But yeah, our weather sucks right now as well.

I know right? I threw topwaters for two days in the Everglades two Decembers ago. Day one was in that canal that comes out of Okeechobee and runs through Rotenberg. It was blazing hot to me. Went home to SC and zeroed twice in a row. It's a life goal to get to a location where I can fish topwaters longer. We'll see how it goes. The wife is retiring in a month. I could do my job from anywhere with good internet.

Power Pro. That "rip" sound when you set a hook just adds to the anticipation.

I've used Calcuttas for a decade now. Mostly because you can afford to lose or sit on a pair. They're mostly around $25. But my near sight isn't what it used to be. So I found a pair of Orvis with 1.5X readers. They get the job done without having to change glasses to retie. I greatly prefer amber lenses.

Use them. If you're not getting many hookups, sharpen the hooks and bend them out just a tad from the body. Some of the cheaper frogs are made of harder plastic and it's harder for the fish to collapse it and get the hook point. If they suck get you some Booyah Pad Crashers. I'm partial to the popping one.

Laydowns, sparse patches of lilies (they grow much thicker in very shallow water, thus hold smaller bass) and overhanging trees.

I have asked permission from may 20 people to fish their ponds and most have said yes. It's awkward when someone says no. But you never know if you don't ask. Geese are just considered a nuisance by most people in SC. We usually have a nesting pair in spring in the biggest lake I fish.

Different ones for different seasons. Right now frog and jig are my go-to. Year-round would be jig and lipless crank.

Yessir, just one way I like to shift the odds in my favor. I'm more into catching fish than looking for fish. ? And I'm definitely not look to compete for them.

We don't have any of those except in the upstate and the Broad River basin. And the broad river, while broad, is not very deep.

A C rig or heavy T rig is the poor man's electronics. I know the depths and structure of the places I fish without a fish finder. Of course, I'm not talking more than 15'D.

Where I fish the bass are usually in that 8' and under depth so I don't worry too much about offshore structure. If I had to I would, but I wouldn't enjoy it as much. Once it warms I go early or late and bigger fish will come shallow at those times. You might need to fish shallow water near deeper water though. My last two PBs were in less than 2', both in the heat of summer on grassy flats.

Whopper Plopper (I might swap this out with CC Spot at any time) Frog Jig The last couple of outings, if I only took these three combos I would have caught nearly the same amount of fish.

LOL I can only afford half of one.

The standard size Pop R is this kind of bait to me. I just can't accurately place it near targets with BC gear. I can cast it in open water though. So I tend to use the Chug Bug whenever I can instead. What poppers are heavier than the Pop R that I might try?

I'm sure people do it since some avoid BC gear altogether. But I would make it a longer MH rod. I personally wouldn't want to because my manual dexterity reeling with the left hand is pretty bad. Indeed. Casting distance of a big topwater on BC gear is not an issue. Another thing I've noticed about topwaters on spinning, at least with poppers, is the line tends to get loops in it from taking up slack line. You can't stare at your reel all day. Get a loop in braid and try to untangle it wrong and you have a mess.