the reel ess

I tend toward spending more on the reel. There are techniques that don't require a lot of sensitivity that allow you to save $$$ on the rod. For instance, spinnerbaits. I use an old $40 Lightning rod for that. But the reel is a $130 Lew's because I want it to last a long time. It already has, actually. On the other hand I have a $79 Daiwa Fuego on a $130 Falcon Lowrider rod (bought used for $50). But that's the only exception. I'm one of those guys whose pain threshold slows him at around $100. I've never spent more than $130 on a rod or reel.

Yes, I use a $500 fishing kayak. I rigged it with a free milk crate and a bunch of PVC vertical rod holders. I had a bigger, better one that you could stand in, but it weighed almost double my cheap one. So I sold the nice one. I'm in the market for a lighter one with a stadium seat. I do alright from the kayak even in winter. But I am confined to smaller waters. That's fine by me because I used to run and gun the local lake and compete for 1-2 pounders. I'm not looking for competition anymore. And I like the physical activity of it. That said, I may still get a jon boat with electric motor at some point.

One of the first bass worms I ever used. It slayed 'em.

My buddy made me a believer that huge bass can come in winter. He has caught them while trolling for crappie. But when I actually bass fish with him in winter, we are usually lucky to each get a bite. But that tends to be a good one. Spring here is nice because big bass must spawn and they'll usually do that shallow enough to be seen. Also, the big females will weigh more before they spawn because they're holding eggs and have been eating well. The month of April is pretty much the spawn here unless weather has been way out of whack.

I can't keep fish off black and blue. I have other colors, but they don't get used. If I lived in an area with really clear water, I'd probably experiment more.

Just wait until early spring and they'll heat up. You'll be able to beat the banks and catch them. My biggest adjustment to bass fishing was, coming from crappie, I didn't know how to sense a bite or set a hook. But also, we would fish for whatever species was biting. No bass? It's crappie season. No crappie? It must be catfish season.

It takes practice to feel a bite. But if you're using a T rigged worm or even a lizard, which I highly recommend as THE starter bass bait, you'll feel a tap-tap-tap and it's in the fish's mouth. Set the hook. Big bass won't tap so much as just inhale the bait and move along. Again, set the hook. The T rigged worm in 6" or 8" is all my dad would ever use for bass for years. And I'll admit he wore me out often because stuck it out, whereas I would switch up lured quickly. The spinnerbait is a great lure for covering lots of water. Bump it into stuff and reel it over limbs. That turns the bass on. A lot of bites will come just because you made contact. In my experience, and mind you I don't live in the north, you can fish a double willow leaf spinnerbait in the winter pretty fast and still get bites as long as you can locate shallow fish. I caught the bass in my profile pic on a gold shiner War Eagle 3/8 oz. spinnerbait on a 38 degree morning. She bit as soon as it hit the water. And the cool thing about the SB is you don't even need to feel the bite. Now you have lures for the bottom and middle of the water column. If the water is warm, you can use a couple topwaters. The first two I would buy just based on my own experience are the Rebel Pop R and a buzzbait. If I were forced to choose, I'd take the popper. A Chug Bug is another great topwater that I've caught a lot on. It seems to have a better hookup ratio than the Pop R. The latter has smaller hooks. These three things should get you bites. The first and second will get you bites more often. Topwaters are usually warm water baits and often they don't produce during warm months. Warm meaning greater than, say 60 degree water temp. But they're extremely fun to use when bass want them. I rule them out in winter. In fact, when I fish in actual cold water, I'm usually fishing for maybe one bite a day.

I had one of them I found at Goodwill.

Well, if you always have one tied on and hit the likely spots with it, you'll always know if they wanted the jig or not. I've had days I couldn't keep bass off it and days I couldn't buy a bite. But one thing I always do is try the jig around all the wood cover. Laydowns, docks and overhanging trees. Bass won't always be in those so I don't always catch them. Or maybe they just didn't want to bite. But I'm a relatively firm believer that, if there is a big bass in some cover and I present a jig in its face, it's going to inhale it. Try flipping/pitching a T-rig around grass cover.

And it could just be where I fish. I've caught a few on the retrieve, but it's usually when I'm burning it back from the target and the fish just reacts.

Just tie one on your worm/jig rod, whatever that may be, and don't take it off. I decided a few years ago to do that and have caught a bunch of bass 6+lbs on it. But there's no need to leave the rest of the combos home. To me, a jig is a good lure for specific targets. The best targets are wood, stumps, laydowns and docks for me. I rarely catch anything throwing and retrieving a flipping jig. I'm not talking about football head or swim jigs. When you're between prime jig fishing real estate, it's good to throw something else or you'll be skipping a lot of water. You'll still get a lot of practice. Almost all my bites come on the initial drop at a certain target, usually the first pitch to the target. So pay close attention on the first cast, pitch or flip. The way I notice a good many bites is the line just starts moving left or right. My go-to is a black/blue 3/8 oz Arky style and Rage Bug trailer. The Rage Bug skips better than most craws. You can have a box full of jigs, but this one generally gets the job done. I recently tried the Trashmaster weedless jig with success. I only caught one bass on it, but it didn't get hung up all day. Nothing worse than getting the jig hung on the first cast to a sexy laydown, ruining the spot. I bought a combo specifically for jig fishing. It's the Falcon Bucoo SR jig specific rod. I use 30 or 50# straight braid and tighten my drag way down. When you do feel one and set the hook, you really can't set it too hard. When you're pulling a big bass out of a pile of limbs, it's hand to hand combat. Just set it and crank away until you've landed him. Give him no slack.

I fished the morning of my first weeding. It was good for the nerves.

I had a 13' Feelfree Ride that weight close to 100 lbs before the motor and battery. While that's not enormous, it is a good bit more than the 50 or so lbs my Pescador weighs. I also dig the exercise.

I bought a kayak a while back that had a trolling motor kit on it. It was very cool except it was too heavy and too much trouble to load and unload and set up when I got to the lake. I found myself going back to my older kayak because it was easier to handle. I sold it and I'm still sitting on the money I got. I would rather have a jon boat with a trolling motor on a trailer than that particular kayak. I do still have a 1st generation Perception Pescador (old Wilderness tarpon mold) that I'm using. I'm 50. I'm getting to the point my back, hips and tail bone remind me for the whole next day that I've been fishing from this kayak.

I've told this one before on here. The story of the ghost catfish. When I was a kid I was catfishing off our neighbor's dock with a piece of hot dog wiener. It was raining so I set the rod up in a holder and walked back to their gazebo and watched. A while later the rod bent over so I ran out and set the hook. It was something big. It fought a while, then I just felt dead weight. I reeled it up and it was just the head of a small dead catfish. I assumed maybe I'd hooked a soft shelled turtle because they also like hot dogs and the turtle was in the act of eating a dead fish when it came across my hot dog, then the turtle got off. leaving me with just the dead fish. Anyway, I told my parents the story and they told me to quit telling tall tales.

My Trashmaster jigs were delivered last week and I used one yesterday. It is much more weedless than a conventional jig. I didn't get it hung up at all. You do have to get the hook through the craw, so it could cause a few more lost fish. I caught one on it. It also skips just as well as a conventional jig.

Spring: Trick Worm Jig Frog Topwater Spinnerbait Summer: Jig Frog Topwater Another topwater (sometimes I take 3 topwaters) Spinnerbait Fall: Jig Spinnerbait Frog early fall/T rig late fall Lipless crank jerkbait Winter: Jig Spinnerbait T rig Lipless crank (I know this is 4 rods, but I usually catch all my fish, and that's not many, on one or two rods in winter)

Nice toad! Congrats.

Several ways. People throw them in. They can flow downstream from one pond/lake to the next when they're overflowing. I was told that someone recently put 250 blue catfish in my favorite fishery. I have no idea why he did that. I hope the bass eat every one.

I have.

I fish a place that has a good population of bigger bass. There are a good many in there 6 lbs to just shy of 8. But I've only caught 1 barely over 8 lbs and I've been fishing it pretty hard for 7 years. Occasionally I'll hear someone tell me they caught an 8 pounder there and I'll ask for pics. They never have any. I assume it was probably 6+ and they didn't weigh it.

I'd be more likely to use shiners if I were to use live bait. They're in my local small lake. .

It's the same way here in SC. The smaller the pond, the worse the overpopulation gets. You either take a lot of small bass out or you pay someone to shock them up. I guess you could drain it and start over if you owned it. But public fisheries aren't in our control.