the reel ess

I've been using these little jewels (3.75") lately and can't keep the fish off them. I've been rigging them on an EWG hook with a 3/16 oz bullet weight. But they're only good for one fish usually before they're too far gone to use. The last place I fished warmouth wore them all out. Is there a more durable alternative?

You can look up average weight of bass by length. If 20" it looks like it should be about 4.68. And that rounds nicely to 5 lbs. ? Nice fish. Congrats.

I'm very sorry for your loss. These are tough times to lose a family member because you can't get the normal closure. I lost my mom almost 8 years ago and my dad almost 3. What's so odd is my parents were 10 years younger than my wife's and in good health. My wife's mom had MS and dementia and her dad had dementia. They both outlived mine. Nothing takes the wind out of a your sails as an adult quite like losing parents. You finally have life by the tail. Then BAM! you lose a parent. It's hard to handle but you still have one and they serve as the link to the other. Then you lose that one. I'm not over mine yet. But you've had to deal with an entire other level of grief most people don't. I told my wife after my dad died it felt like getting kicked in the stomach every day for months. If I may suggest something. My parents named me the personal rep of their estate. That only served to prolong the grief a couple more years. It's another weight hanging over your head when that's about the last thing you need. Knowing what I now know, I should have handed it all to a lawyer and let them do the legwork. I would recommend that to anyone unless there is nothing left in an estate. Anyway, hang in there and remember all the good things you shared with them. In time that's what you'll hang on to.

Years ago my buddy that I carpooled to work with called to tell me I had to drive to work that day. He was going to put his car in the shop because it wouldn't crank. I brought my tools and showed up early to see what was the problem. It was an RX-7 with the Wankel engine. I knew next to nothing about it, but it uses fuel and air and spark to go. I figured I would check the plugs, wires, distributor, look for a fuel filter, etc. I took the air cleaner off and tried it. It cranked right up. C'mon man! Learn a little something about cars if you're going to drive an old one. He was so put out with that car he just wanted to be rid of it.

Now that I look it up it may have changed. Reading the law now it appears there's a lower weight limit of 3000 lbs. where only reflectors are required. That may be why my dad was never affected. Most boat trailers come with them now anyway-probably all of them.

I'm sure we did as well at some point. That's another thing about SC. Even the cops are big on personal liberties and look the other way a lot. We always tried to keep it wired, but you know how old wet trailers are.

We don't even have to have lights on the trailer in SC as long as you don't tow it in the dark. I love SC.

nm

Bass react slowly to warm air temps because the water does. But we react quickly because we're dying to get out there. In the spring, when planning a day off to go fishing, I'll look for the third or fourth day of warm temps. They still sell something like these in my local hardware store. my dad and I used to make them, minus the propeller.

IDK why anyone would post good fishing reports from their favorite lake. I would only say "I tried Lake X again today and not even a sign of a fish. I think there was a fish kill. I would not recommend going there. BTW, the fish in all my social media pics came from elsewhere."

I grew up in a town of about 1300 with no large cities around. the closest small cities are 20 miles in opposite directions. I moved away to get closer to work. Got divorced and when I met my current wife she was living right here in the town I'm from and where my parents still lived. So I moved right back. We have an active gold mine that has added a few hundred to that number but I doubt it will ever grow much in my lifetime. It's a great place to live, but you have to drive a ways to find good work unless it's the mine. I work from home now, but the company I work for is in Charlotte, NC.

The first Christmas my in laws knew me my sister in law gave me a clemson tiger whipping a SC Gamecock Christmas ornament. On the way home I told my wife I don't understand why she would give me that. What made her think that was a gift idea for me? The wife said "From the look on your face I doubt she'll ever do something like that again." And she hasn't.

I'd like to supercharge or turbo one and put that to the test. There's a Dodge short bed pickup manual transmission in my neighborhood with a slant six that's begging for the ratty sport truck treatment. I was interested in it for a project until the owner told me it was a 6 cyl. Fav: My '08 Silverado 5.3l has been the best engine I've owned. Completely trouble free for 12 years. I work from home now and it only has 114K miles. I'll likely keep it another decade. Runner up: 1981 Toyota Starlet 1.3l. It averaged over 40 MPG when I was driving it 40 miles each way to college. It was a hand me down from my sister with a lot of miles but it kept plugging along until I wrecked it. A mechanic told me it didn't make enough compression to wear itself out. LOL Worst: 1978 Chevy 305 2 bbl in a Camaro. It was worn out at 80K miles and so weak I got outrun by 4 cyl Mazda truck. I'd still like to have the car back now that I could afford to wrench on it..

For me the tail depends on the season. Curly in warmer water, ribbon in really warm water, flat or straight in cooler water or heavy cover. Of course, the presentation matters. You don't use a monster ribbon tail worm to do what a Trick Worm does. And the Trick Worm works all the time, rigged in different ways.

True. It mostly feeds him. I leave everything in his floating basket by his dock and let him know. He comes by in the golf cart ans throws me a beer sometimes while I fish. I can't complain. But I would still like to get a bigger average if possible.

I got together an order on Academy's website. When I clocked PLACE ORDER I got the message that all of it was out of stock. ALL OF IT. So I did it all again. Same message. Looks like, if this thing doesn't lighten up soon, we'll all be fishing with our old reserve stockpiles. I think I'll troll eBay for some Zoom Speed Worms.

I harvest practically every bass I catch there as do a few other people and the owner and his family. I haven't put a dent in the problem. It is a great place to catch a mess of good eating size bass and 'gills though. It's funny because I met this guy through my wife. When we were just dating we had dinner at his place with his family, then he and I went out in his jonboat and I caught a 6.5 pounder. I was ecstatic to have a new pond like this in my rotation. I'll bet you could count the fish over 2 lbs I've caught there since on one hand. It's been 17 years. And I've fished there a lot. The attached pic is of a bass that was maybe 14" and had a bass down its throat. For comparison, that's a 2x4 on the dock. It's by far the biggest bass I've caught there in years. I did throw it back because it's a killer and if it can eat small bass it has a chance to grow large. I even tried monster baits. I catch dinks on them. ? I suspect there's some reason other than just bluegill-bass population disparity. I even discussed rigging up a shocking device to get rid of some numbers for the owner. He's too lazy for that and too cheap to pay an expert.

Welcome. Take a long look at Google earth near you and then get to know your neighbors. You'll be surprised how many people really would like someone to fish their ponds. Also, most bridges across a decent large creek/small river will have some bank access. If you see a dirt road at the bridge, there's access. Consider a kayak. That's what I use. $500 for a brand new one will get you on the water with a decent rig. Cheaper if you get it used. Looks like you're near Raleigh. Check out Uncle Steve's YouTube videos. I think he was from that area and uploaded some great fishing videos at creeks, rivers and lakes in your area. He was bank bound as well and caught a lot of bream. But there are bass in all those waters. Maybe not monsters, but they're all fun with the right tackle.

I think the main thing hard baits give you is noise that you just can't get with soft plastics.

My buddy's pond is a dink factory where all the fish are 3/4 lb. clones. I expect 10 fish min. every trip. I've caught 50 fish there in a day that probably didn't weight 40 lbs. It's an awesome place to learn new techniques. I caught one on a Gummi Worm just to show my friend I could. And the bluegill are enormous...thus the small bass. It's way out of balance. The hard baits I throw most are topwaters and jerkbaits. I could replace those with soft baits if I needed to and still catch fish.

I was thinking 9.9 lbs. If I read that right it's 9 lb 9 oz. No way to round that far.

In all my years of fishing, when I've seen frogs, they were never on the surface walking like a Spook. When you scare them off the edge, they dive to the bottom. So I could see how the T rig would work.

5-ish on a white Hart Throb buzzbait. There has been a 10 pounder taken from the same pond. It's a place owned by my buddy's father-in-law. He doesn't mind me going whenever I want, but he won't allow me to use my kayak. That's a travesty because it's full of flooded timber that I could ply with a jig or monster worm. My buddy says it's for liability reasons, which I fully understand. I would sign a waiver. In fact, I've told my wife not to sue should I die fishing private property. It's my choice and they're doing me a favor. There's another downside to this pond. The road into it goes right through an old man's yard and he's somehow ALWAYS outside. So he assumes you're there to see him. He talks your ear off on the way in and out. He tells me 5 times each way the fish won't bite there when the wind's blowing. I know that you're a man of integrity. 95% of fishermen would round that bass to 10.0.

I put sunscreen on before I go and I'll wash my hands after it's dry. I try to just wash the palms. Then I don't think about it again. I've never added scent to a lure.