the reel ess

I was told by a bass guide to use a T rig in vegetation and a jig in wood cover. I was flipping a light punch rig with skirt at the time. I use a jig a lot now, but it's almost always on wood.

Me either. I think the fish laugh at that bait.

They are a sporadic lure for me. I got my PB on one though. The place I catch the most bass on the spinnerbait is a little pond full of standing timber. They can't resist it when you're bumping the logs with it.

The smaller one gets more bites. The bigger one seems to only work on big gals and on fewer occasions. Though I've caught a 6 lb. on the size 90. The drawback of the 90 is that it's more prone to spin on retrieve. You need the rod tip high, which is difficult from a kayak.

Have you seen the fish from Springfield Lake?

As do I my friend. And I doubt very clear water will be an issue here. Most likely it will be dark stained from roots. Thanks.

Thanks. I do have a kayak. This is a new place for me so I don't want to presume I can use it until the landowner says so. But he may do that after I've fished there once. He's an old acquaintance of my dad's and I went to school with his daughters. I just haven't spoken t him in years.

IDK all those things because I haven't fished it. But it's somewhat of a local legend because double digit bass have been caught there. Looking at it on Google Maps, it looks like about 3 acres with standing and fallen timber at the shallow end. A very typical pond in these parts. I'll try to post a pic from Google Maps. It is my experience that I can usually fish with 2 or 3 rods in winter. But I'll take the arsenal, complete with kitchen sink.

And there are likely some PBs in it. I chose the 27th because it's full moon so I hope it's a decent day, something you just can't count on in Feb., in SC. Water temp will likely be around 50 unless there's a warming trend beforehand. Tell me what you would be throwing there.

It was boat issues when I had one. Now I don't have anything that ruins a trip that I can think of. I'm sure something could happen. I fell off the kayak once. I have gotten to the lake, put the kayak in before realizing I had no paddle.

I had some leftover Gulp stuff that I used up on bass. It was the dog days and I couldn't buy a bite with the usual rigs. The Trout Trick makes a great finesse C-rig bait too.

That's is what I'd do next. Or I might get a Med BC combo for topwaters since I love them so much. This combo is also useful for cranks, lipless cranks, jerkbaits, anything with trebles that isn't very heavy. I actually have a 6-6 Med for lighter lures like a Pop R and a 7' MH I use for walking baits, Whopper Plopper and lipless cranks.

I'd love to catch smallmouth, but we don't have any. My understanding is they can't tolerate the bathtub water temps we get in the summer. There are some in the western and northwestern parts of the state and in the Broad River basin, but that's a pretty good drive for me. I have largemouth 2 miles away.

Heavy, Fast (not XF) and long. I say not XF because a little tip is good for pitching. Also if you like to pitch more than flip, a little shorter rod can be helpful. I Kayak fish so I'm usually pitching from a seated position. I bought a Falcon Bucoo H/F 6'10" that I really like. It's stiff enough for jigs, but the tip is flexible enough to use as a T-rig rod. If you want it to double as your frog rod I'd go with a longer rod with less tip. That's a compromise because a tip action is quite useful in flipping/pitching.

Here's my experience yesterday and today. I caught two yesterday at the local reservoir. 48 degree water. One on a lipless crank in about 5' and another on a jig/craw off a log at the dam. Today I caught one on the lipless crank in about 2' of water. These were in areas that get the most sun. Today I only focused on that area. Do all the things mentioned in the posts above and don't expect many bites. Those are just icing on the cake.

How about Chickamauga? The Tactical Bassin guys relocated there and have some good videos up on YT already.

About the only place I couldn't live is the desert. That's out. The Brazos River is a possibility though.

If you're like me you'll find the fishing opportunities no matter where you move. So find yourself a place near a jerkwater lake that's not far from a town. You might be surprised how many retirees are in the area. I grew up on L Wateree, SC and there were retirees up and down our road. They would ride up on their carts and introduce themselves. It was not our primary residence so we were glad to have them looking after our place.

Too many drug cartel types around there. ??

In my neck of the woods it's just a matter of personal preference. People persecute the bass during spawn here and it never seems to hurt the population. I'd have to skip the month of April to avoid spawning bass. I mean, catching & releasing is better for the population than keeping them. Many of the same people who won't fish for bedding bass have no issue taking a limit of crappie during their spawn.

I try some new things every year. If a buddy tells me he's killing it with a new bait/technique, I just have to try it. This past year I tried the Johnson Silver Minnow in gold with a trailer with success. But I never get away from topwaters, spinnerbaits and jigs. I've caught my biggest fish in the last few years on these baits. I've hardly fished a conventional T rig in a few years. But I do what I enjoy. I really don't enjoy fishing slowly. I think I need to move further south.

Mine too. But I keep a Chug Bug handy. It does better for me when the water is bathtub warm.

For me, drag setting depends on the lure and technique. It's a matter of feel. But you can put more drag on a single hook lure like a T rig (maybe 50% of tensile strength, assuming mono or fluoro) than you can on treble lures (1/3 or less of tensile strength). If you yank a fish in on heavy drag with a treble lure, you'll likely rip the hooks out. Then there's the frog and jig, which I set very heavy. I'm using 50# braid and not worried about it breaking or bending hooks. I set the hook and winch the fish in as quickly as possible.

I think we're about a month ahead of you. Our spawn is usually almost completely over before May. I would too if I was in So FL. ? In fact I walked the dog almost all day for two 6 hour days last winter.

2 springs ago I got a head start on them with a big WP before spawn. It seems it angered the bigger females. But last season my first topwater fish was off a bed on the frog.