the reel ess

These look great. I'm partial to hammered blades as well. Is there a specific criteria where you would choose to use the hammered blade spinnerbait over smooth blade?

Me too. Because it was one I started. 3 years old now.

I'd bet there are craws there. I fished my home lake for more than 30 years, even lived there for years, before ever seeing a crawfish there. The only one I ever saw was in a fish. But I doubt that's the reason for the red in the mouth. I agree with you that it's water temp related. Bass eat craws year-round. but they don't keep the red lips. My theory is their body moves blood toward the lips to help them feed in winter because they're cold blooded creatures.

I'm in Kershaw. How is Lake Robinson for bass? It looks like there might be a warm water duscharge. Is it good in cold weather? Welcome to the OP!

Look fo a used one. Many, many people go gung-ho into a hobby just to drop it the next offseason. Or they are military and have to ship out or get separated and need the cash. Craigslist, LetGo and Offer Up.

My dad and I caught the same fish at the same time once. He said "I got one!" I said "Me too!" Then we reeled it up right between us.

I think I caught the fish in my profile pic twice in a few weeks about 50 yards apart. I'm almost certain of it. You just don't see many fish with a gut like this one where I fish, even during the spawn. The first time it weighed 6.93. Second time it was 7.1-something. In fact, I caught one a couple years ago in the same vicinity that could have been the same fish. Twice on a spinnerbait and once on a jig. That's the cool thing about putting the big gals back. That's three big bass for me.

The President is a good choice.

I feel ya. I had to retire this classic a couple years ago. I got it for Christmas in 1983-ish. I was 13 and it was my first baitcaster, which I bought because I saw my idol, Bill Dance, using it on TV. I played hookie from school that winter to learn how to cast it before spring came around. It worked pretty well for 30 plus years. I did wear out a couple levelwind pawls that Daiwa shipped free of charge, even though the reel was 30 yrs old. The gears eventually fell apart so bad that it couldn't be put back together.

Since low-vis braid turns into hi-vis braid after a few trips, does anyone buy hi-vis (like yellow) braid and use it with a leader? I've been considering this lately to help detect bites. Except for frogs. I'll keep that straight green braid. Maybe.

I was thinking of doing the same because I'm partial to the hammered blades and I can't get that combo in the gold War Eagle. IDK why, but I just like the hammered blades. I feel like they give off more vibrations and resemble scales.

That thing looks HUGE in the back of the S10. Congrats on the purchase.

I think I just get more bites using lighter weight, and i don't fish very deep often. I try to stay with 3/16 oz for jigs or T rigs. When i first started using jigs and had no idea how heavy they should be for the situation, I missed a bunch of bites and always ended up going back to T rigs. Going lighter seemed to get the bass to hold the bait better. Now, they usually swim off sideways with it. The C rig is a different story because the bass don't bite the weight.

Well, maybe they're just in the middle of a redesign. I adjusted my post because I'm not certain. They aren't online anymore and they were on sale for a while before they disappeared. They're good rod at that price point. I don't know which line of BPS rods comes closest to them. I'm a bit put out with BPS and don't know if I'd buy anything from them.

Since Cabela's sold out to BPS, I think their Tournament ZX rods have may been discontinued, I guess due to overlap in the two product line. There might still be some in a store though. They were some technique specific rods in the $100 range. They were usually $80 when you could catch them on sale. I have the frog model and I would recommend them. Go with a Medium/Mod or Mod-Fast, 6'6" to 7'. Sensitivity is not necessary and can even be a negative for topwaters. I don't want to talk you out of a high priced rod, but, to me, this is one area where you can go cheaper. I would be most concerned with the right action/power and the weight of the rod.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/War_Eagle_Gold_Spinnerbait_Double_Willow/descpage-WEGSS.html Mine was a 3/8 oz. The 1/2 is probably best all around size, but using the 3/8 oz. allows you to slow it down a lot an still keep it off the bottom.

It sounds like you're getting bored. I would probably learn some topwaters (Pop R, Spook, Torpedo, etc.) and some medium depth lures (spinnerbait would be first). Then you'll have something for top to bottom. Read up on the best times and conditions to expect each to work. I didn't catch whether you were bank bound. When I was, I looked for someone with a boat to learn from. Just being exposed to other people will teach you a lot because everyone fishes a little differently. And you can probably teach them a lot about the Senko. interestingly, I don't do too well with a Senko. I like to power fish.

I'll be using 3.5" Rage Swimmers. What do you use or recommend? TIA

You're right about the others though. They're all I used for 15 years or so. Now the gold is almost always tied on, even when I fish a new place.

And then there's this

For the buzzbaits and 110 Plopper, I use my spinnerbait rod. Those heavy baits can load up a M rod a little too much. The buzzbait casts about like a spinnerbait and the backbone of a MH is ideal. I use a M/MF 6-6 rod for my other topwaters like the Pop R or Spook or the 90 size Plopper. A 7' might be a better choice to get longer casts and cover more water, but maybe not for making casts to specific targets like docks. It's an older Lightning Rod. By today's standards, it's a heavy rod (weight-wise, not action or power). I'll replace with a higher quality rod it if it ever fails me, but it just keeps getting the job done and the action for medium weight treble lures is just perfect. It was the best quality I could bring myself to buy for at the time and I needed to buy more than one rod. This is not a technique where sensitivity is required or even beneficial.

A previous PB of mine was caught on an old BPS Uncle Buck's spinnerbait. When I got into SB's I bought a bunch of different weights and colors and immediately got started catching fish on them. I still have several of them and caught that PB last fall. Cheap SB's can work and be very sturdy. Just change out the swivel for a good one.

I use a 1/8 oz. Rooster tail for dink bass in my buddy's pond. It's chock full of 9" to 12" bass as well as big bluegill, so this is a natural bait. I like the firetiger color with gold blade.

These are bass on the bed that aren't interested in eating. They're just trying to move the bait.

I made this bad boy up from a redfish spinnerbait and one of @cadman's custom grass jigs he made for me in gold shiner color. I figured it's worth a try since gold SB's work so well for me. I haven't tried it yet though.