the reel ess

I use black & blue most of the time. When I need a change of pace, I use blue & black.

Good post. It looks like a good read. I ran across this book in a thrift shop, so naturally, I had to take it. It was not fundamentals. I'm neither a novice nor a fisheries biologist, but this was info overload. https://www.amazon.com/Fisherman-Critical-Concepts-Largemouth-Fundamentals/dp/189294734X I'm also shocked at the price. I'm sure I got it for less than a buck.

I should also add that whether or not I use a topwater can depend greatly on where and when I'm fishing. I know in a shallow pond fish are much more likely to take a topwater. If the water is 3' deep a fish can easily locate that bait. Iyt can irritate him into striking. In a reservoir where the average depth might be 20', there are going to be a lot of bass that won't rise to a topwater. Not to say I don't try them. But it's usually just an early and late thing. Even in shallow ponds, your bites on topwaters will be much more in low light periods. Except on the frog, I rarely catch a bass on topwater in the middle of a sunny day away from any shade. If it's overcast or raining, your chances go way up. As for colors, I think that matters least with topwaters. I prefer darker baits when it's dark. Lighter or natural patterns when the sun is up a bit. But you can get bites on a pattern of fish that aren't in your water. Fish can only see half the bait at any given time and most fo that half is the bottom.

I don't know. Now that I'm looking for it, I may be wrong or have the wrong state in mind. I can't find it. Sometimes i misremember things. I'll keep digging and let you know if I can find it. I can tell you though, that my biggest bass ate a spinnerbait as soon as it hit the water. When i made the first turn of the handle she was on. This may be what I was thinking of. It's DE, not MD. It was Feb. https://www.***.com/record-fish/giant-delaware-bass-breaks-state-record/

A topic dear to my heart. Whichever one they'll bite whenever they'll bite it. In spring, I'll usually start with a Pop R. It will work great through the spawn. Right after the spawn I'll experiment with a Chug Bug and smaller Spook. A prop bait like the Devil's Horse can be good after spawn as well. As the water warms toward summer I'll try buzzbaits and Spooks. Then there are times I'll dig one out like a Hula Popper or the SPRO Rat just because I want to try them. There are guidelines, but no rules. Consider the conditions. If the water has a bit of a chop or if fish are actively chasing bait, I'll try to use a noiser bait. Fish probably won't be able to locate a quiet Spook as well as a popper type bait in choppy water or wind. The Spook and buzzbait are good search baits and cover lots of water. Sometimes fish will want you to start your retrieve right away. But try to let the bait sit a few seconds to start off with. You'll get some bites before you turn the crank. Then there's the frog, which is a different thing altogether. From spring through fall I keep a frog tied on a dedicated combo.

Well, I went yesterday. I got one bite on the spinnerbait and missed it because I was reaching for the paddle when it bit. I caught 5. I probably should have switched over to a Colorado blade model to slow it down, but I didn't. Water was very clear and not much of a breeze. Caught one on a Cordell Spot and 4 on a Swimming Super Fluke. As the sun got high the water in the weeds 3-4' deep warmed up to about 62 degrees. I had to work hard for the bites. Fish were very spooky in the shallows.

I'm going this afternoon and, as usual, I have one tied on. I'll let you know. But we are in a warm trend. 73 for a high today. I'm going to a big, shallow pond.

The MD state record largemouth was caught on a spinnerbait in water so cold, the fisherman had to look for some openings in the ice. They'll still bite big willow leaf spinnerbaits here in SC in winter. You can reel them very slowly if you need to. But the fact they weren't catching tells you perhaps they should have slowed down. Sometimes in the dead of winter, nothing works.

He is a good one to watch for novice anglers. Most advanced anglers will know most of what he will tell you. And his shows are usually filmed at private lakes like Bienville Plantation where he's likely to catch lots of bigger bass. But I started watching him when I was maybe 10. His show came on Sunday afternoons at 12:30. I asked my parents to get me my first baitcast reel and filled it with Stren mono because he was using it on his show. I thought he walked on water. It feels like he's an uncle to me.

A frog combo? Never mind. I see you covered that one.

Just my opinion: You get what you pay for. If one fails, it won't be on a dink. But if you already have them, run what you brung.

Oh, I remembered a grandpa story! My "good grandpa" told me of a time he was fishing from a boat at "the river" as they called the lake. They could remember when it was just a river. He and another guy caught a limit of crappie while fishing around a stump. They needed to take the fish back so they wouldn't get caught with more than a limit. So my grandad sat on the stump while the other guy took the fish and dropped them off and came back. This is one of those stories that I feel pretty sure was a "fish tale" told just for my entertainment, especially since I never heard of him fishing any other time. But he told it like it was the Gospel.

The good grandfather I had died young of cancer. The other one was a no-show and not a very good human. I have no idea how my mom turned out to be a good parent. But we had a house on Lake Wateree. When my parents first bought the place we had a pop-up camper. If it rained we had to pack up and get all the cars and camper out of the lot before we got stuck in there. Later we had a used single wide trailer moved in. It was heaven to me. We would head over to the lake on Friday evening and I would bug my dad to buy me some worms so I could fish early the next morning. I would wake up with the chickens on Saturday and sneak out and grab my cane pole. I would fish off our dock for bream and walk the bank down to a blow-down. I would go back and forth until I was called up for breakfast. These are my earliest fishing memories. Later, we used our Glassmaster runabout to go out and tie up to stumps and fish for crappie, still with cane poles. Then we got serious. We got a pontoon. Everyone on the boat used two poles and we anchored (cinderblocks were $.50 anchors) over brushpiles that we put out. These were probably the best days of my life. I tried to pass it on to my daughter, but she isn't interested anymore. But maybe one day she'll have a kid who is before I'm too old to take them with me.

I'm going to use my frog rod for starters.7'3" Hvy-XF. But ideally I would like a longer rod and a reel with wide spool and slower retrieve. I've also used this rod for the A rig (to no avail-yet).

Spawn is around the corner. She'll be shallower at some point.

You got a goo deal. Who cares what it looks like? I use my daughter's pink spinning reel sometimes. It came off a girls' Ugly Stik combo, but I changed the rod to one my dad had. The Ugly Stik rod was a little too "whippy".

They are routinely found in ditches that dry up seasonally

I'd prefer a lighter weight "grass jig" with a vertical line tie. If the jig is too bulky try a jighead with a craw or a T rigged craw that doesn't have the curly type appendages.

If you fish a place with more big bass, they won't be as "smart". But I believe big bass in a place with a lot of smaller bass, that sees a good bit of pressure are more well-educated. Add to this that most people don't keep any bass anymore and you get bass that have seen or fallen for several different artificials. Even a worm can learn from negative experiences. How rare they are depends on where you're fishing. And "big" is a relative term. In a place where 5 lb. catches are common, "big" takes on a different meaning.

I have 3 BC combos are 3 Lew's LFS reels on rods that are more than 10 years old. Though one of them is a Falcon Lowrider. I have one newish reel on a Cabela's Frog model rod. This is the newest combo and it's a couple years old. But I cleaned up several of my dad's combos from the 90's and even a Daiwa spinning reel from the 80's. I rearranged his rods with my arsenal and his to maximize the lot of them. There were a couple Ambassadeurs a big ol' Shimano Bantam and a couple spinning reels that are usable. I'll use them from time to time if only to be holding a reel my dad held. The Procaster in the pic is about shot but I'll keep it.

One of the best days I've ever had for numbers came in a shallow pond in February. It was the last day of a 3 or 4 day warming trend. But fish will bite a jig, T rigged craw or even a spinnerbait slow-rolled. They just won't be "on fire" until the water warms. You might have to slow way down. You can downsize too. Good news is the fish that do bite will probably be bigger. Around here, February can be the best month to catch a monster as they stage for spawn. Try the shallower end of the pond if you have full sun and work all the wood cover you can find. Try the deepest end if overcast. This time of year, you can probably use just three lures.

Paper clip, with a bullet weight. If it falls off, who cares? Here's one I made up but haven't used. I also considered one with this weight. It has some tiny rattles built-in.

It certainly does help take a lot of the mystery out of fishing. I should probably go back to it.

I kept a log for a while but I got tired of it. The wife gave me a log for Christmas one year and I used it for a couple years. It was fun to look back on a couple years worth of fishing, but I got tired of writing it down. After several years of fishing the same places, the log tends to be in your head. I don't have a photographic memory, but I do remember if I caught a bass off a particular rock, point or log. I do take pics of any fish of noteworthy size.

Stay away from the Academy H2O UL reel for $20. Awful drag. Agree on the Trion. I have two of those in size 30 & 40. Great reels for the $. I only paid $20 for the size 30 new.