the reel ess

They'll bite an Alabama rig and it's a wire umbrella. I use a 15# mono leader most of the time. But my jig rod is straight 30# braid. My frog rod is straight 50# braid. I still get bites on them, even out in open water sometimes. It's important to note that the water is rarely "clear" here, usually at least stained, often green.

Gammy is my preferred brand and I've never had any issue with one.

I'd make the main line 20# braid. That will work very well with the 2500 reel. Then a leader if you're in pike country.

The kitchen sink until they start biting. That's my standard approach. If the bite is really tough due to pressure I'd try a nightcrawler.

It was waiting to be fed.

I struggle with jerkbaits. I don't enjoy fishing with them and it shows. I pretty much have refused to use a dropshot.

I didn't catch a fish on the WP for a couple years. Then I decided to only throw it one summer morning and I got a few bites. It paid off big for me a few times since, including this spring. I still have a 110 tied on now, though the bites are getting smaller as the females are moving deeper, postspawn.

Another thing that helps is a lighter jig and a "bug" style trailer, like Rage Bug. One way to increase the bites on topwaters is to fish them early, late or in the day when it's overcast. Low light conditions. If you can get it into shady areas even when the sun is high you can still get a few. I'm not saying bass won't ever hit a topwater in broad daylight on a sunny day, but it will usually be less seldom. You will probably get more bites on the popper than the WP. But the WP will likely deliver more quality size fish on average.

'Tis better to make a racket getting the lure back there than it is to not get it there. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I've literally paddled up to a laydown and done everything wrong including making noise and having to yank a jig out and still caught a big bass out of it. I find that big bass in heavy cover are a little too confident in their safety. And sometimes the racket gets them focused on the bait that drops in.

A one-armed guy came trolling by our dock once. He had a rod holder on a belt around his waist. He would cast, put the rod in the holder and retrieveD. I still remember he was fishing a crankbait. My mom said to me after he was gone "That would be you if you lost an arm." Yep.

About 1986 I got a graphite composite rod while I was at the beach to use with the Diawa Procaster reel I got for Christmas. I don't remember the brand, just that it was stiff as a board and had a rubber pistol grip. Then in 1988 I took a job at WalMart while I was a student. I would ask my buddy in sporting goods when rods were going on clearance. When they did I had him hide a couple for me until payday. They were both Shakespeare. One was a 5'6" M 96% graphite with a pistol grip and the other was a 5'6" MH. I got another heavy Quantum graphite rod a little later. When Quantum was new they were basically a slightly upscale version of Zebco. Thus began my days of being able to use multiple techniques without retying. I eventually replaced these rods with the newer grip, longer rods from a little store that bought overstock and going-out-of-business stuff. it was slam packed with $20 graphite rods. You had to pick thru them but some were pretty good quality. i still have an Eagle Claw brand composite rods I bought for probably $9 in WalMart. Guess what? They still sell them for about the same price. Does anyone remember boron rods? Does anyone still make them? Do any of you still use them?

Yeah, I tried to use an ABU Garcia LP series BC reel for my jig combo. It didn't last a season. Now it was not new. But that reel retailed for about $80 back in the day. Anyway, lesson learned.

One of the best topwaters out there is the bass pattern Spook. But if there's a style of bait that color matters the least it's topwaters. A deadly way to rig them is tie a Frontrunner a little ahead of the bait so when you walk it, it looks like a small bass chasing a baitfish. It increases the chance at a double as well.

I'd like to add that, with cheaper graphite framed reels, you often get cheaper components throughout the reel.

True but I want the barbs on my trebles. Mono also floats. This matters more when you fish from a kayak because your rod tip is lower than it would be from a boat. So you might start your retrieve off by pulling the bait under until your retrieve is closer. If you tie a good leader knot you're not going to have an issue. And if you break a 20 lb mono leader using a topwater, your drag was tightened way too much.

Since this thread started, and it is 6 years old, I have fished Kendall twice and Godale once. I caught exactly 1 bass each time. Once when I was putting in there a couple guys were taking out. They told me be there early or go elsewhere. They said they ahve no idea where the fish go when the sun gets up. I also fished Lake Shamokin, that pond at the Shrine Club on 521. Same experience. You can now bank fish at the new river park on the Hwy 1 bridge. It has a kayak/canoe landing and there's a big creek behind the park.

Falcon Lowrider or Bucoo rods are a great value at their price point. They're technique specific, so there's no guessing. I own the "big cranker" Lowrider ($129) and the Bucoo "Pitching Stick" ($99). Love them both.

I prefer a metal frame. I've owned a metal framed reel that lasted nearly 30 years. I did repair it a couple times, but it was normal wear. Then I've owned two graphite framed reels that just didn't last. Once that frame is warped it's game over. Now there are a few graphite framed reels that I suppose are high quality. Lew's makes a graphite framed reel that's $140. https://www.lews.com/en/shop/casting/mh2ac I would expect good service out of any reel at that price point. I'd avoid the really cheap ones and focus on the $80 and up range, no matter the frame. Honestly, getting a BC reel cheaper than that would worry me. That said, I believe any BC reel that cost more than $50 should be able to land big bass.

I've seen Seibert and Delaware Valley tackle post on here. I even interacted with someone at Academy about one of their house brand reels, though they aren't sponsors.

I like it. I'm starting to collect additional boxes that won't fit in my bag.

Last time I had a surgery I went about 5 weeks. That was about 6 years ago. I may have gone longer in winter if the weather was consistently bad. But I try hard not to go very long. It's important to my mental health.

I caught this bass at my buddy's pond. It was maybe 2 lbs., big for his pond though. It had about an 8" bass down its throat. I have to estimate because, obviously, some of it was digested. It looked as big around as it did long when i caught it. He tells me to keep everything because they're stunted, but I just had to throw that one back. It's a stone cold killer and stands a chance at getting big. There isn't enough bait in that pond for both the bass and bluegills. And most of the bluegills have gotten too big to be eaten. So any bass that can eat bass stands a good chance of being "special".

I never stopped using mine this winter. But we routinely get 50 degree days in winter. I'd really like to move either south or east, near the coast to get more warm days.

A what?

Whopper Plopper. You can get some big females to bite it, prespawn or even postspawn when they're still shallowish. I like the 110 best, but I scale it down to the 90 model after spawn if the bites stop.