the reel ess

Black, black/blue, purple...and watermelon. I usually buy a pack of black and a pack of watermelon in most things. Then I end up using up the black over and over while storing the packs of watermelon. I guess it's just the water here. I'll usually dist off the natural colors in mid-summer when bass just won't bite anything and I have to go finesse to get a few dinks to bite. Purple seems to do well with worms. In the Trick Worm I catch WAAAAY more on the bubble gum and limetreuse than any of the other colors. Naturals do well when bass are in post spawn and the aforementioned mid-summer.

"Jigger poling" was what I remembered. Here is a vid-joe. Looks like the rat would be a good bait for it now.

That's cool and I'm going to give it a try. I remember reading about how old timers used to do this with a cane pole. It would likely work better if you could get the bait a little further away from you.

Depends on the bass's mood. If you see movement in a mat of vegetation, throw that frog to make some disturbance when it plops down. That bass is actively looking for prey. If you see one in open water you should probably try to be stealthy not to alert the bass to your presence. But how many times have you gotten a bite from a fish as soon as the bait hit the surface? That's pure instinctive reaction. The fish were responding to the sound and vibration. They can also respond by fleeing.

A little after 8 AM October 19th 2018. I dropped my daughter off at school about 7:45 and headed right over to the spot. Put the kayak in and paddled straight to this spot because I had a good feeling about it. I caught her on the first cast at that spot. Air temp was 38 degrees, but water temp was much higher. It's the fish in my avatar.

I got a bunch of frogs. Booyah is always tied on.

Just steer clear of the infomercial fishing tackle and you'll be better off. Look up the top 100 bass lures and this one won't be on it.

Of course I take 6 or 7 other rods with me. You need to have other avenues if you plan to catch bass every trip.

I used a jig instead of soft plastics all of 2018 because I wanted to get better at it and I did. My best jig fish of 2018 was a 6.92 lb. If I may give a little advice, don't overthink it. I bought several different styles and colors, but I ended up using one jig pretty much exclusively. It's a 3/16 oz. black/blue custom jig made from a grass style head. I don't suggest you need to order custom jigs or use the style, color or weight I use, but wire tied jigs made with premium hooks will last a long time. Detecting strikes, especially of bigger bass, takes a lot of practice. You might notice the bait move more than you'll feel it. Set that hook really hard as soon as you can and don't let up. Don't try to play the fish and tire it out. Yank them all the way in the boat. That means a good, stout MH rod, tight drag and good line. I use 30 lb braid with a leader of 15# mono. Line is whatever you feel comfy with, but it should be able to take a beating in cover. Trailers are more a matter of preference than anything else. My favorite right now is the Chigger Craw. Just make it match the jig size. I've had the most success fishing the bait right up on wood structure and cover next to the bank, but near deeper water. Cast it right up in the cover. Here's another little tip I learned. If you want to get more bites, you can use a smaller weedless jighead with a Hula Grub or plain twin tail grub. These will entice more bites from smaller fish, but the big mamas will still eat it. It will give you more practice that way. You can overthink the jigheads or you can just start with an Arky style. It will cover most bases. Then you can branch out as you see a need. Most bites will come on the drop as it enters the water or right as you start to move it. No need to get in a hurry. I'm guilty of this all the time. Work it slowly. Big bass can't tolerate it in their living room. You can still cover a lot of bank in a day if you're casting directly to targets. Let us know how it went for you. No need to wait unless the water is hard. They'll bite the jig in cold water.

It's my #1 cold water lure.

I'm reviving this thread once more! I ran across this BMP350 in my dad's stuff. The handle was loose. I surmised the cap nut on the aftermarket handle was stripped and it would slip one thread after you tightened it. I took the nut off the old Daiwa Procaster in the pic and used on the Shimano handle. It's nice and tight now. The reel seems to be in perfect working order, except for some "gear feel." Well, it is decades old. It's the biggest reel in that line so I'm not sure what to use it for. Maybe a dedicated Trap/Spook-type combo. It will require some weight to spin the spool. The side plate has "Extra High Speed" on it. It's 5.1:1. LOL

Yeah, I definitely needed some more in there. ? Check out the old ice fishing tip-up in the corner. At least I think that's what it's called. We don't get much hard water in SC. It has a license tag from NY Mills, NY that actually has the person's name stamped on it. The reel is a wooden thread spool.

I was going through some more of my late father's rods and reels today. There were a couple Ambassadeur 5000's, an early Shimano Bantam 350 and a Daiwa Procaster (lower end). The latter two seem in pretty badly worn. I don't know what, if anything, I will do with these. Messing with them just reminds me of the times we had together. The rods look like they're in good shape. From left to right: ABU Garcia Harold Ensley Signature 96% graphite 6' Light (this one intrigues me because I was complaining earlier that the small Pop R really needed a lighter rod. Vintage Berkley Lightning Rod 6' MH. It feels like a Hvy-Fast to me. Dig that short pistol grip! Probably the most my dad ever spent on a rod. Renegade Pro Series 6'6" MH Shakespear Sigma Titanium 96% graphite 6'6" MH I know none of these are really good quality. That was not my dad's priority. He just wanted something to take with me.

Fireline was my first foray into superlines. I used it on a spinning combo. It was OK, but braids are better. I switched to PowerPro and I'm very happy with it. Now I use 20 lb on spinning gear, 30 on my worm/jig rod and 50 on my frog combo. I am considering trying a different brand next though.

I'd do the same stuff you did. Sometimes it doesn't work. I'd target visible cover with a dark jig, bladed jig and/or spinnerbait. Make some noise. Bump into stuff.

Topwaters are my best and favorite technique because I love (live) to see the blowup. The frog is in this group, but a different kind of fishing. I'm trying to make the jig my best technique because I catch bigger bass with it.

I use a junebug Zoom Super Fluke on a black/blue Chatterbait in early spring. It works well in stained, shallow water.

I have two Trion reels. One is a size 40 that's a bit too heavy. The other is a 30 I put on my "finesse" rod. I bought the latter in a pawn shop, still sealed up in the plastic. It feels just right for the 7'M rod I put it on. Good reels.

I used to be a member of the Bill Dance Outdoors message board. If you asked a question, everyone on it would either give a sarcastic remark or no one would ever answer. It seemed there were only about 4 regulars on it. I guess I'm still a member on it, but I haven't been on it since I discovered this board.

Around here (SC), in March bass could be anywhere from deep water pattern to making the beds, depending on weather. But They will usually be in the "staging" areas. Like the points or dropoffs near the spawning flats. They'll usually still be deeper, but a warm trend will bring them shallower and they'll be hungry. This actually begins in February here. A good bait for the deep ones seems to the lipless crank. If they're shallower, the spinnerbait and blade baits can be good. It's a great time to catch a big mama.

My buddy and I mopped up on the bass one spring with the floating rapala minnow in gold. I have only caught one jerkbait bass since. I see it as a clear water bait. And we rarely have very clear water here unless it doesn't rain for weeks. I have one of these. I used it ata place where there are monster bass to no avail. I took it to my buddy's dink farm and caught 12 dinks on it. LOL. I was amazed those little bass couldn't leave it alone. That was a very steamy summer evening. I have the natural mouse color. This is one of my best producers in mid spring to late summer. It produces best in a place that has no real deep water. Bass just seem to respond to topwaters better in a place where they can see the surface from almost any spot. The trick to it is to use it when you know bass are in the weeds. I mean, you see bass attacking bream or minnows in the lilies or mats. They'll usually let you know they're there. Another tip is to spot cast it to any wood or other cover or structure in the mat. If there's a bass there, you usually won't even move the bait before it gets bit. Trim the skirt legs to about the same length of the body or a little less.

Big swimbaits. Especially glide. I know they require patience. But when you can get big bass to bite the usual stuff, I just can't make myself throw the swimbaits for long. I want to take about 6 hours and go to my local dink factory and see if I can catch the biggest bass in the pond, throwing only the biggest baits I have.

T rigged worms and craws and creatures. I know that's crazy because they work so well, but I started forcing myself to use the jig and the fish got bigger. Deep diving crankbaits. I fish some very weedy and shallower places so the lipless crank took over.