stk44

I usually hear that people use bait casting reels because they can cast heavier line. Well, I have a spinning reel that holds 185 yards of 30 lb braid. It's a penn conflict, I believe a 3000 series. I've used it for bass, and also use it for bluefish and other inshore fishing. Why is this the standard? I will say for one, that the penn conflict is pretty heavy, so casting cranks or spinners would get tiring. Are there any other reasons why bass anglers primarily use bait casting reels primarily for heavier setups and spinning gear for finesse fishing? It seems to me that spinning gear could be used for both. Thanks in advance, Steve

I have been using some finesse tactics for the last few weeks and it has really paid off. But, I received my MTB today and was a really cool looking 3" sebile lipless crank in the box. I want to fish this, but don't want to lose it unnecessarily. Would a 7' MH spooled with 30lb powerpro be out of the question to fish this with? I usually use 12 lb Pline copolymer, but I will be in and around moderate weedbeds/ lily pads the majority of the time. Thoughts?

Are there any benefits of using a thinner diameter main line and a thicker diameter leader?

I was using flouro for a while, and when I broke off my leader, I just tied direct to my 8lb smoke colored fireline and still was catching them. Do you use a heavier flouro leader than your mainline? I only have 10, 12 , 15 lb seaguar leader material. I usually just tie on 10lb flouro.

Guys, Just wanted to say thanks for the advice on switching to smaller baits and smaller line. I've been getting about 5 or 6 bass in a 2-3 hour period fishing mornings and evenings. The ticket was the lighter gear. I really like using heavy line, heavy weight, and big baits. It took not catching fish for a couple of outings to switch to a more simple finesse setup. Been having a blast moving a 4" senko in and around weeds and lily pads and having bass crush it. Thanks, Steve

Ok cool. Please keep the suggestions coming. I'm going to apply most of these techniques this weekend when I fish lake arthur. Wish me luck? Thanks again, Steve

Yes, I have a light rod with spinning reel spooled with 8 lb fireline. I have another question ... Is a 2/0 gamakatsu EWG worm hook considered light wire or heavy or somewhere in between? I use this hook with my M to MH rods. Also, I use a heavy duty flippin hook with my MH, is that OK? Or would you recommend something else? Thanks, Steve

I have a sonar unit. I Haven't launched my kayak out since early June though. Most of the lakes I've been fishing I've only fished a handful of times. I've been fishing the places that seem the most productive to me: a cove of the lake, a deeper weed edge, and honestly, this particular lake, there's not much else visually so I just roamed the shores and fished every spot of the lake. Morning: started with top water then switched to cranks on a 7'4 medium action, revo sx reel - 6.4:1, 12 lb co-polymer, 12 lb flouro leader. 7 foot medium heavy, revo mgx 7.1:1, 30 lb braid with 15 lb flouro leader with a 2/0 hook for tubes, worms , etc Pm switched to a lite action rod throwing small rapala originals, husky jerks, and shad raps. Also kept using my MH rig.

I think I just needed a pep talk. I fished the creek behind my campsite this morning and caught tons of perch, rock bass, and 1 nice rainbow. Really built my confidence back up. I thought I was fishing pretty slow. Crankbaits I would get them down to depth and very very slowly crank the handle. It's a 6.4:1. With my t rigged or drop shot rigs, I was fishing tubes with a pop-pop-pop pause 5-10 seconds. I did have one bite and lost one fish on a crank. The problem with fishing after dark is that most of the lakes that I fish are dawn-dusk. Maybe I will try the river one day when I get time.

I don't know what it is about summer, but I suck at bass fishing during July- August. I fish mostly within a 2 hour reach of pittsburgh, pa and fish mostly smaller lakes that lack good visible structure. I either fish from shore or kayak, but from shore about 80 percent of the time. Today I fished sunrise - 10 am and 6 pm through sunset. I covered water from 0-9 feet with crankbaits, jerkbaits, spinners, swimbaits and 9-13 feet with dropshot or Texas rigged worms, tubes, creature baits, etc. what am I doing wrong, I always seem to be researching this and never seem to get any definitive answers. Extra: stable weather, sunny, no wind, temperature estimate is upper 70's low 80's.

I think I will continue to back off the drag if I remember. If not, I'll just wait til I got out in a few days. I would always back it off when storing it for winter. Thanks for all of the help! -Steve

Yeah I know that. I'm just wondering when I'm tired after a fishing trip, and forget to back off the drag, is it worth pulling them back out before my next trip? It's really just laziness on my part combined with not wanting to form a habit based on something that is/ isn't true.

I received a revo mgx the other day. I was always told growing up to fully disengage the drag while not using the reel. Is this something that is still necessary to do? What about with carbon drag systems on most revos? What about on spinning reels?

I used to have trouble fishing with a texas-rig or burying the hook with a flippin hook. Reeling down, feeling the weight of the fish, and firmly setting the hook seemed to work for me. Are you fishing with at least a MH rod?

Ok, they were more like boils. Like when a trout rises to slurp a fly. There was some sort of hatch on the water, but they were coming to the surface ever so slightly, they may have not been bass.

Northemoreland

Not really, I just saw that the underwater structure definitely looked good where I was marking the fish, and there were some rise bubbles a little later in the evening which I'm assuming were mostly bass.

Yes, the lake has a pretty good crappie population. I don't have any spoons or much experience with them, but I do have some lipless cranks to try out the next time I'm on the lake.

I have the sonar setup with a 20 ft range, frequency is 77 I think for shallow water, have the gain on medium and started with the fish ID off but I'm not really good at determining what is a fish and what isn't so I turned the fish ID on.

I also marked a lot of fish schooling close together, definitely not bait fish, at 2 ft in anywhere between 10-15ft of water. I was assuming they weren't bass, what are your thoughts?

A few weeks ago in a much smaller lake/ large pond, the bass were spawning and crushed them on crank baits. Yesterday, I went kayak fishing with a friend of mine on a lake we are not entirely familiar with. We fished from about 4pm- dusk. Surface temp was about 68 degrees. Water temp here was about 72 degrees and all the fish I graphed were about 6-10 ft deep ( I'm using a portable echo 150 which I'm definitely not proficient with yet.) on average down a ledge that is 19-20 ft deep. I was fishing DT-10's on 30 lb braid with 15lb flouro leader, DT-6's on a 12lb P-line, Crankin Raps and shallow strike king cranks. I also was jigging with stickbaits, and tubes on 20lb fireline with 10lb flouro leader. I finally caught one fish about 30 minute before dusk in the shallows. Is it likely that the active fish were in the shallows the whole time? Or were the majority of the bass in post spawn, suspending and hard to catch? Would someone please be able to give me some suggestions on fishing post spawn or post spawn from a kayak? FYI I've looked up dozens upon dozens of post-spawn articles, I'm just looking for a few more suggestions, tips, etc. Thanks, Steve