the reel ess

In my opinion, it's a violation of man law to wear a jersey of the other sports if you are only a spectator. But at least the fishing jersey is functional.

Slower water, deeper pools. Wherever something breaks current. Wherever there's that little line between the slack water and a good flow, bass will like to sit just in the slack side in wait for food washing or swimming downstream. That goes for bream and catfish as well. In a big pool you'll sometimes see a bass or several cruising it. But they'll be easily spooked because, if you can see them, they can see you. After you've fished it all a few times, you'll take the mystery out and be able to go straight to the high percentage spots.

I like to use them more than diving ones because I fish a place that's pretty weedy most of the year. Even in winter there are weeds there. I can fish the lipless ones very slowly deep or speed them up a bit in the shallows and barely contact the weeds. I have no problem with strike detection as the fish normally slam it.

You can buy mid-to-high quality used reels off Ebay all day. But they'll usually have a worn out cast control or drag. Many of them are trade-ins that a tackle shop is trying to recoup some on. If you're reel-savvy, you can fix it and make out pretty cheap. Sometimes, you can take out the cast control washer, flip it and replace. Or you can send to BPS reel and rod repair and they'll usually fix it for the min fee of $19.99, especially if it's their brand. They have parts for almost any reel ever mass produced. I've done it with two reels and they never were "like new". I still ahve one and I use it only with heavy lures because it has a tendency to "professioanlly overrun." But used reels might be better than you can afford new. I eventually settled into the $100-130 range for new reels that will last for years to come. I just added 1 a year until I had a stable of 5. Most are Lew's Tournament MB.

Even if they don't come back, we are on a better trade footing with most other countries. China cheats at every turn.

Bingo! As with the NAFTA jobs that went to Central and South America, as soon as there is a cheaper or less costly alternative, they'll leave and go there. Corps have no choice but to remain competitive.

If you decide to add a rod you can easily add a flush mount rod holder or two. My Perception came with only one and I added one on the other side. After looking at the Perception kayak your wife likes, My Pescador has the same seat. Thecall it their Comfort Seating System (CSS). I added a little comfort by just using a stadium cushion in the bottom.

Kayak is the native American word for backache. Get one with a stadium seat. And I echo the sentiment that you should buy used. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck. I own two. The first one I bought was a Perception Sport Pescador 12'. Tracks well. semi-stable (can't stand on it). It has a padded seat and back, which was a bare minimum requirement for me. It was the old Wilderness Tarpon mold. It was and still is $599 at Academy Sports. There are a few kayaks in this range with better stadium type seats now. There were not when I bought it. It has since been redesigned, but not by much. It served me well for about 6 years. I upgraded to a Feelfree Lure 13.5. HEAVY, doesn't track well, really needs a rudder, has a comfy seat and even has the upgraded high back seat. I ended up trading for another of the same model, but with a stern-mount trolling motor kit. But I kept the first kayak because I can easily throw it in the truck and it only drafts a couple inches, so it's good for very weedy, shallow ponds full of stickups and so-forth. If I'm only fishing a couple hours or if I'll take some stretch breaks, I'm taking the smaller one. It's also a pretty gone one if I'm taking a friend or my daughter.

Yes. I don't use any fluoro either. Lately, I don't use any leader with braid.

I caught a bass once that had an offset shank (T-rig) hook in the roof of its mouth half rusted out. Most likely, someone broke off setting the hook. It was healthy and still eating. I kept and ate it though. It might be harsh, but I'd kill that fish to get my frog back unless it was some kind of trophy already. In that case, you could probably get your fingers to it. Killing an occasional fish is unavoidable if you routinely stick them in the mouth with sharp objects. Just remember the pliers next time.

Right. I get outfished routinely by my buddy, who until recently didn't even own a baitcaster. If I was a pro and spent 3 out of every 4 days on the water, then I'd want the best. Although I've seen a a lot of BPS Qualifiers on pros' decks over the years. They're probably specially tuned. My best combo is a $125 Lew's reel and a $130 Falcon Lowrider rod. But i bought the rod for $50 used. I cut corners where I can. I have two Lightning Rods for techniques that don't require sensitivity. They're light and have a great action. In fact, I caught a 7 pounder this spring on a decade old BPS Johnny Morris reel I bought used and a fossil of a Mitchell "100% graphite" rod that I know is more than 30 years old.

One: Texas rigged 6" worm, purple. But I was really bad at setting the hook because I had only caught bream and crappie before that. I mean, I'm sure I used an inline spinner like a Mepp's Comet and caught bass, but it was more of a catch-all-species lure for me. A little later, I got a second combo and used the Rebel Deep Wee R with some success because fish would hook themselves.

I guess the left one is the one the Pentagon prefers.

I used Daiwa when I was young because Bill Dance did. Now I don't want to buy their top of the line reels because I want to have 5 baitcast reels on the boat and I can't justify $2500 worth of reels on a kayak. So I settled in a comfy spot with 3 Lew's reels, 1 H20 and 1 BPS reel that fit my needs at a price point I didn't have to feel guilty about. I didn't buy all those Lew's at once. I liked the first one so much for my preferred price point that I kept buying them. I just like to stick with what has worked well for me and is a known quantity. I under stand some reels of different brands and store brands are made by the same factory. I have less brand loyalty with rods. When it comes to beer, I buy whatever strikes my fancy. I rarely drink the same one twice in a row.

Many, many times My dad and I would catch one each early and comment that it was a good sign, only to have the fish get lockjaw right after. get lockjaw. My dad would always say we just hit the tail end of a feeding time. I don't believe that now. No matter what the solunar table says, morning is the best time when the water's warm, followed by late evening. Then there are occasional bursts of activity during the day. I used to think it was a jinx to remember the net and/or the scale.

I'm pretty sure it's illegal and I'm sure it happens, but I've never heard of a case of it.

I fish a good many places that are privately stocked. What would they most likely be?

I have two kayaks. On the lighter one, it's good enough to run a strap through the handles in the middle, near the seat and hook into the rear anchors on the truck. The other is a Feelfree Lure 13.5. It's 1.5' longer. I do the same with it, but I run another strap on the front through the handle built into the bow. I wrap the strap once around the handle before I hook it in the front anchors and tighten.

I have a Cabela's ZX frog-specific model. It's a pool cue as well. It does affect your ability to walk the frog, but it's nice to be able to drag the fish up, out of and across slop and lilies. The trick is have a bit of slack in the line to pop against and it will walk. Fish will bite the frog in colder water than you'd think. I was able to get a few bites earlier this spring than I had ever tried before. If you have a dedicated combo for it, just keep trying it until it doesn't work. Then, when it's too cold you can use that combo as a second jig pitching rod. One cool method that works in cooler water is to cast the frog over a limb and dangle it into the water like it fell in and is struggling to get out. If you scoured YouTube, you've already seen this on Bamabass's channel. just fish it slower as the water cools.

I can tell a difference in how the fish fight between locations of FL bass. I can tell a difference between different seasons at the same location. I'm in SC so I doubt I've ever caught a northern strain largie.

That's just begging for poachers.

Sprinker Frog, Zoom Trick Worm, hollow body frog, weightless T rigged Senko. If it's not a complete mat of vegetation, I also agree with the soft swimbaits.

I'm all for conservation, but what you describe there is plain robbery. Come see us in SC.

Academy is the closest store to me with a good selection of tackle. The only competition they have in town is Dick's. As we all know that's no competition at all. I talked myself into one of the Mettle reels because of the good customer ratings. When i went to get it, I opted for the TAC-40 to get the higher retrieve ratio and it just felt like better quality in my hand. It has been a good one thus far. It's on my jig rod, spooled with braid, so it gets some abuse.

I fished my buddy's dink factory pond a couple hours yesterday and caught 7. It was almost direct sun the whole time. But about halfway through the trip a cloud came over and the wind picked up a bit. I saw a dust devil near the pond where my buddy had plowed a deer food plot. It moved on down into the pond and started to spin the water. It was actually lifting water off the pond in the familiar tiny tornado motion. My mind couldn't immediately process it. My first thought was that fish were chasing bait out of the water. Then i figured it out. As it came across the pond, it spread out to where it just looked like a circular wind. It came right by me and I held onto my handles tight. It just rocked me a bit and went on past. It left a trail of foam on the water. It continued on land on the other side. I'm almost 50 and have never experienced this first hand in my entire life. It was quite a sight to behold.