the reel ess

To me, the Trick Worm is about the most year-round lure there is. It's versatile. It can be a jerkbait, a weighted T rig, wacky worm or you can just drag it weightless (my buddy's method). I will also second the spinnerbait. You can get them with tandem Colorado blades that allow you to almost drag the bait on the bottom with the blades still spinning.

When I walk the bank I take a couple rods with me rigged with whatever baits I think I stand a good chance with. Or the baits I just like to fish. I'll fish each spot with both, unless one is killing it, then move to the next spot. I'll almost always start off with a bait I enjoy fishing, then progress through the ones I need to, trying to figure out what the fish want. In other words, I'll give them what they want (as a last resort). LOL

I'm assuming you were ignored by the local park authority. Call the city councilperson who's district the pond is in. If they blow you off, gather as many people who fish there as you can and attend an open council meeting. They probably will ignore you until they see that it affects a number of possible voters. If it requires public funds to fix, their hands may be tied. Also, the DNR suggestion is a good one. They are more likely to care though they might have to ask permission to do something about the issue if it's in city limits. Around here, the DNR taking action usually means they designate only 2 or 3 days a week people can fish there and they set the size and number limits based on what they think is best overall for the fishery. Sometimes, that means they couldn't care less if there's a trophy bass in the pond. Perhaps @MartinTheFisherman has a good point. You could speak with a biologist at the DNR about general issues regarding ponds and not even have to ask for their intervention.

Dead of winter in the middle of a cold spell for me. You might get one day that's 55 and sunny, so you go. You are usually fishing all day for (hopefully) one bite. But it can be a big bite. Also, in March-early April, we will get several days of warm weather (middle of the week while I have to work) and I get good reports of big bass jumping into the boat. Then by Saturday we get a cold front with rain and it throws a wet blanket on the bass's prespawn festivities. Usually, followed up by a bluebird sky day and wind out of the NNE. Again, fishing all day for one bite. It doesn't affect crappie as much because they are usually deeper. But it gives bass that were getting in an amorous mood a bad attitude.

It sounds too long for me. But maybe not for you. It would lend itself well to the big swimbaits with that extra length.

Ah, I was looking at the 120 size. Even so, if given the choice between a jig combo and a dedicated swimbait combo I'd take the jig. You can dabble in swimbaits with the jig combo. The swimbait combo is less versatile. If you look around enough, you can probably get a frog combo that's capable of all three techniques, though not specifically tailored to swimbaits. There will probably be complete days in a row nothing will bite the heavy swimbait.

S Waver is not that heavy. You can get by with the MH/F for that particular lure. The two other setups you mentioned were more useful, IMO. You can even use the jig rod for the swimbait. I have a few big swimbaits and the only one I've gotten much action on is the SPRO rat. I just use my basic MH rod for it. Swimbaits are a niche and I wouldn't buy a dedicated combo for for them until I had all the other bases covered. Besides, monster bass will bite a jig or spinnerbait. Google "6 bass rod system" and that will give you the basics. Just my $0.02, FWIW.

War d**n Eagle!

Depends on a lot of factors. But the biggest is probably whether you're in open water or cover. Also, whether you prefer a weightless approach (duh). About the only soft plastic I rig on a jighead is the Hula Grub and that's so I can fish it like a jig and trailer. That would be a weedless jighead. An EWG will suffice for most soft plastics. I use a straight shank offset bend worm hook for thinner worms, like the Trick Worm. If you're going to be flipping/pitching a T rig into heavy cover, it should be an EWG for superline. Hope that helps some.

9 lb 10 oz Gimme the prize

I feel good throwing the double tailed Hula Grub anytime. I don't think there are many fish that can leave it alone if it drops in their personal space. There is not much difference in the comparisons you're asking about. Find a few that you have gained confidence in and go with them. They all catch fish and you can't fish every one every time you go out. Time is better spent finding fish than it is worrying about minute differences in baits.

As expected, BPS will turn them into the K Mart of outdoors outfitters. No way will BPS allow them to have anything of better quality than you can get from them. That's a real shame. One of the first things I noticed after the merge was the Tournament ZX line of rods disappeared. It was a line of technique specific bass rods in the $100-or-less range. They have no higher-end line of rods anymore. I don't know what line of BPS rods compares, so I probably wouldn't look to BPS-Cabela's for another one when and if I buy one.

I fish from a kayak so my retrieve is more horizontal than it would be from a boat. The 90's lure body has a tendency to rotate until it gets closer, then it runs true. The 90 works better on shorter casts or from a boat deck.

Academy has a store brand now as well. $6.99. https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-double-plop-bait#repChildCatSku=115983131

May I introduce you to the 6-bass rod system? And then there are other species and specialties like dedicated hollow body frog and swimbait rods.

My buddy caught an 8 lb bass one winter while trolling jigs for crappie. It's not uncommon. In fact, it's essentially the float/fly method. He also uses a crappie trolling crankbait in spring for bass with some success. I have a combo that's "old school medium" spinning rod and a light reel. It has 6 lb test mono on it. I use it for Rooster Tails and Beetle Spins. I'll take it down to the creek sometimes or to my buddy's pond that's full of stunted bass. It's a hoot because that combo catches anything in the water. 8 lb. would probably work better for targeting bass though. I miss the hookset a bit with the whippy rod and light line even with those light wire hooks.

A lighter jighead and a bigger trailer helps.

Yes. Bluegill got really big and are competing with bass for the same minnows. You're right. They aren't growing because they're eating very little. If it's public, there's not much you can do. You can only take your legal limit. That minimum size is exactly the opposite of what they should encourage people to do. They need to persecute the dinks and always leave the big gals. If it's managed by the state, you can probably speak with a DNR biologist about them doing a shock study. They might remove some. My buddy's pond is like this, and we keep everything there. The fish bellies are concaved sometimes. The fish are desperate and will bite just about anything. They're starving. I've caught 50 in a couple hours there before. And the bluegill have shoulders.

I don't fish from a big boat much. And when I do, I'm on the back deck, so skipping is not easy. But from the kayak, I've learned to skip under things reasonably well. there's a touch to it. It helps to tighten the cast control a tad. I'm in a kayak, so I can usually get closer than I would with a fishing boat. I caught one 6.0 lbs. out of a pine tree laydown so close i was almost flipping, not pitching. Skipping with a spinning rods is a good skill. There definitely are times you want to do it with a Senko or fluke But you don't pitch your jig with a spinning rod, so eventually, you just have to practice getting under brush and docks with a BC reel. The underhand pitch is easier to get down from a boat than the sidearm skip. From a kayak, you can get under most things with a sidearm pitch. From the kayak, you only need to skip when you're getting waaaay back in gnarly stuff (which is exactly where you want to get to).

I have one of the smaller ones in bluegill. Some swear by them. I haven't even gotten a bite on mine. It sinks fast and swims nose-up, which looks unnatural to me. But I see people on YT catching them with it.

I saw this tip by Roland Martin on his YT channel. I tried it but didn't have the right size swivels on hand. Matter of fact, your swivel looks a little short for it as well.

I finally got good enough weather to go out for a few hours yesterday afternoon. My buddy caught two 7-pounders last week on the Whopper Plopper of all things. The air temp was in the low 70s, but water temp is still around 50. It was windy (whitecapping in the commode as my dad would say). I was confined about 1/4 of the reservoir in my kayak. I didn't get a bite on the WP, but I got two on the @cadman custom black/blue jig. The first was the 6.0 you see in these pics. I caught her out of a laydown pine tree and had to wrestle her out of the heavy cover. The second was a dink. It only takes one to make a trip worthwhile. Notice the red spot she has under her gills. I may recognize it if I catch her again.

30# PowerPro with a 15# Big Game mono no longer than 5'. That allows me to pitch or flip without the knot being in the rod guides. But most of the time I probably don't need the mono. It's a mental thing. It also allows me to break the jig off if necessary. I use this same combo for my T rigs, though I've basically replaced the T rig with the jig.

Yes, it's Char-Broil model463242516 Commercial 3-Burner

What the literature that came with it said was to reduce the heat by 20% from what you're used to with a gas grill. I grilled chicken breasts last night. I preheated the grill to about 300 and cooked with the lid up. That did the trick. I used a meat thermometer to be sure they were heated to 165. They were actually a little overdone, but that was my fault. I can subtract 10 degrees for chicken. A cool thing about grilling with the lid open is you can stand the cold temps. It's like standing around a fire.