the reel ess

Yeah, I go get it. But I'm in a kayak. Much easier for me to do so. I don't buy 5 of the same lure every time I buy one. If the fish want a particular lure, cost doesn't matter and you'd better not lose it. There are a few lures I'd climb a tree to retrieve. If you make noise in an area that you know should hold bass, just leave it alone and come back in 30 minutes or more. They have short memories unless you stick them.

I do. The jig still skips much better for me. If you can skip T rigs you're a better skipper than I (you probably are). ?

My dad and I were fishing with plastic worms. I got a bite, reeled down to set the hook and my dad said "I got one too!". We reeled up the same dink bass. Sort of the opposite of a double on one lure.

Fishing with my dad and his buddy once when we heard a gunshot. A couple minutes later a doe came down to the water and swam across the cove. It got to the other side and couldn't get up the bank. We trolled over and waited on it to bleed out. Once it did we hoisted it into the boat, got off the water and took it to be processed. This is the extent of my deer hunting career except for a couple I've killed with cars. Walked up to the edge of my friend's pond once and there was a nice 3 pounder sitting there, looking at me. It made no attempt to leave, just swam back and forth in front of me. This was not during spawn-it was probably July. I had my frog rod in hand so I pitched it a few feet in front of the bass. It immediately attacked the frog and I landed, weighed and released it. My friend was watching from his golf cart when I caught it. I asked him if they feed fish there and he said no.

I do this in the dog days when I can't buy a bite. I use an 1/8-3/16 oz. bullet weight and a T rigged 4" Zoom finesse worm or lizard. I had a day this past summer where the lizard saved my day. The bobber stop gives you infinite adjustability of the leader length. Since I use braid on both my bass spinning combos, I'll use about a 4' leader of low vis 10 lb mono. The mono is plenty long enough for the entire C rig. I call it my Finesse C rig. Very similar to a split shot rig except the weight is not fixed. Use 2 Carolina Keepers when 1 won't suffice. I've used two successfully before with heavy weights.

Awesome story. I admit I had to look him up.

At least. I still have a bunch of my late father's rods and reels that I can't bring myself to sell or donate. They're a mismatched bunch of things. So I keep some mismatched combos just to say I need another reel for this rod and another rod for that reel. My dad was notoriously cheap so most of these combos are not "nice". I'll buy a reel and put on a cheapo rod, then I need a rood for that shiny new reel. But I do love to catch fish on my dad's tackle. I'm currently trying to come up with a use for an ABU Garcia Harold Ensley light baitcasting rod. I think it will have to be light topwaters or maybe inline spinner.

You don't have to do it all at once. I bought myself a new Lew's reel three years in a row when my ancient tackle started to fail. All three are still working like new.

Awesome. I'm jealous. That spinnerbait looks like a winner. I'm going to order a few.

Wow! More power to her. Some people really enjoy work. I've never been one of those. It keeps getting in the way of fishing.

If I may make a suggestion, get at least a 7' rod if you can find one. Mine is 7'3" XH/XF. It's a technique specific FROG model that Cabela's used to sell. That line was discontinued when they merged. You need all the leverage you can get when they bury in the mat. And they will. You don't need to break the bank for sensitivity. Durable backbone is what's most important unless you want to use this rod for other techniques. In cooler water, I'll put a T rig for flipping on my frog rod. I ahve a different combo for jigs. The frog rod is not ideal for casting or pitching accurately because the tip is so stiff. But for classic "flipping" cast, it's decent because it's the longest rod I have. But once the water warms again, the frog gets tied back on and stays.

Rick Clunn. I saw a documentary about Takahiro Omori in which he asked to fish with Clunn when he was getting into BASS in the US. Omori didn't speak any English at the time. Clunn said he fished from the front of the boat all day mostly in silence while Omori sat in the back and observed. They became good friends. I've always thought Clunn is really good dude. Or Gerald Swindle because he's fun. Or Brauer because he specializes in the jig, one of my favorite baits. Also, a couple guys who seem like a blast to hang out all day with are Timmy Horton and Ish Monroe.

I don't have a smoker. I'd like one, but I have limited space.

Mostly saltwater. Grouper, snapper, tilefish, mahi. Any of the "white meat" fish. I'll also eat all the usual freshwater catch that's big enough to fillet. Crappie, bass, stripers/white bass/whiteperch, catfish. I usually throw them back because I don't enjoy cleaning them. I like to maximize my free time for fishing. My family also won't eat most freshwater fish with the exception of crappie. That means when I cook them, I have a lot to eat by myself. Nobody wants leftover fish.

The "bug" style craw, like the Rage Bug, when used as a jig trailer skips better than the larger profiles like the Rage Craw.

Well, the jig's a big bass bait and that's why people skip it into places that might be easier to reach with a different lure. Big bass won't tolerate it. And, I would add, I've made noise at a particular target and still caught a big bass with the jig. You just never know what a crazy old bass will do.

I used an older 6'6" medium Lightning Rod for all my treble lures for years. It had just the right action. I have replaced it with an older 7' MH Lowrider from Falcon that was designed to be a lipless crank rod, I think. Of course, this is not a cheap rod of bought new. I got it for $50 from a guy I worked with. Used rods abound. Check EBay.

I can do this maybe 2 out of 3 tries. On the third I get an overrun that I have to pick out. Invariably, that's when the bite happens. I have reeled up after picking the backlash out to discover a bass is swimming around chomping on my jig. I've also reeled up on top of a backlash when I got a bite. That tells me I need to let the bait sit sometimes right after a pitch.

"Ess" is a 30 year old nickname that a few old friends still call me. It started because some guys I worked with couldn't pronounce my last name. So they took to calling me Ess. Then another guy with the same nickname came to work there. They then started calling me Old Ess or The Real Ess. I preferred the latter, so I just changed Real to Reel to make a pun about fishing

There are guides on here as well. Those are pros.

Pflueger Trion for $40. You can afford $20 more rod. I have three Trions of various ages and they're all great reels. One of them came from a pawn shop, still in the package for $20. SCORE!

They definitely don't feel the same to me. I've had bass swim around with the jig in their mouths. That's often how I've detected the bite. Nothing feels any different yet, but the jig is just moving in a completely different direction. More often, I detect the bite when I pitch the jig into a desirable spot and start to lift it only to feel it get pulled back. That's usually the case of a big bass not wanting to let its prey escape. Big bass are also much easier for me to set a jig hook into. Small ones just come with the jig when you lay the wood to them.

Mine too. Sunrise is a magical time. And a good part of the year here, it's the best bite. Most of the big fish and most bites have come early.

Same here. The wife is in her last year before she retires. She's a public school teacher. I don't know how long I can stand working with her retired. I just turned the big 5-Oh! She's 53.

I went to So FL last winter. I fished a couple days down there. One for peacocks and one for largemouth. It was very successful both days but I didn't catch any monster largemouth except for a 7 pounder the guide actually hoked on a freelined shiner ?. But I'll go to Okeechobee next time. The guide told me that's the best bet for a double digit bass.