Brew City Bass

Usually I try to find a buddy to come with, but I have an unconventional schedule (third shift) that allows me to fish pretty much every day of the week. So usually the people I ask are working 9-5 and can only come out on weekends. I hate going out on weekends because every lake is a zoo and it's just bad fishing on these tiny lakes while there is 10 ski boats doing laps 50 yards from your boat. That's if I can even find a parking spot. So most day's I fish alone. I've been finding it harder to get the motivation to go alone lately. I absolutely love fishing, dream about it all night and watch videos of the pros all day. But when I come home from work I just have a hard time getting out. It's like the gym. Once I get out, I am so glad I did and have a buncha fun, even alone. Do any of you mainly fish alone? Do you ever deal with this?

It's like a right of passage to owning a boat. I did it within a month of getting my new to me boat. I went out with my buddy and we were in the middle of the lake when he stepped off the back deck into the water. Ankle high. He said "Jason, we gotta go NOW". I knew instantly I forgot the plug. Instead of grabbing it out of the locker and jumping in like I should have, I turned on the bilge pump and plowed water to the ramp. WOT doing about 5mph with the nose straight up in the heavens. I think we were about 2 minutes away from sinking the d**n thing. Took about 20 minutes for the water to drain at the ramp. Doh! Ever since, I always put the plug on the driver seat so if I ever forget to put it in at the ramp, as soon as I get in the boat to sit down I either sit on it and remember or see it before it's too late. Only forgot it once since that time and it was right after I backed the trailer in. I hopped in at the launch and plugged it. Bilge pump cleared the water in 2 minutes.

I personally use the slot car oil my dad uses for his slot cars. If it's good enough for those bearings spinning 20k rpm it's good enough for my reel bearings.

I had a 7'6" H shock lightning. It was fine for frogging, if anything a little too stiff. I'm sure it could easily pull double duty for swimbaits. For the price, I say get it.

Buncha cranks!

Ugh, I messed up! I meant to type RG, accidentally said BG. Doh! My actual BG 2500 I got off ebay over the 4th with the coupon they had.

Sometimes it's just like that. I started taking bass fishing seriously 4 years ago. First year I didn't have a boat and only shore fished. It was often I'd get skunked a week in a row. I'm talking 4-8 hour days with no fish. Next summer I bought a boat and started fishing those same lakes from a boat. I was still getting skunked often. Not as bad, but I'd go 1-2 days without a fish. The next year was a little better. I did a lot of studying, bought a sonar unit and put the knowledge I acquired to use. It slowly and surely got better. I started realizing patterns and where the fish would hangout pertaining to the time of the day or month. Don't get me wrong, I was still terrible at fishing. I was getting maybe 1-2 bass a day, but it was progress. The last year and this year have kind of been light bulb moments for me. I started actually working the baits I've been skunked on the previous years with results. I have yet to get skunked one day this year and most days I'm catching 4-5 solid fish if I'm out for 8 hours. I know that doesn't sound like a ton of fish, and it's not, but I know my lakes aren't numbers lakes and it's going to be a grind for a decent limit. The biggest thing is to keep pushing forward and striving to learn more. Bass fishing seriously isn't as easy as the pros make it look. What we see on TV is them fishing for 45 minutes and catching bass. What actually happens is they pre-fish that lake for 3 days with the best technology and boats money can buy, along with a decade or more of experience in their noggin. Then they grind for 8 hours the tournament days to hopefully catch a 5 bass limit. Sometimes they do, sometimes they catch none. I am still so far from where I want to be it's not funny. I just love this sport so much all I want to do is be better. Nobody is ever done learning in this sport. All you can do is absorb as much knowledge as you can and spend as much time on the water as you can. Even on bad days, weeks, or months, you can learn and practice. I have no idea how good the fishing is where you're going, it sounds pretty tough, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Keep grinding. It's so rewarding when you realize what works. I don't claim to be a good fisherman, but I do know what it's like to grind for so long with nothing to show. But it gets better and the reward is amazing.

Anything with a hook exposed will never come through "anything". I fish some line throughs and I can guide them through certain stuff, but anything remotely thick will just come up clumped on the bait. I have good luck with the huddleston 68 special weedless. That thing will come through anything. On the line throughs, I fish them over the top of weeds, or about a foot off the bottom if it not weedy.

Thanks! Ordered a Daiwa RG 2500 spinning reel for my Daiwa RG walleye rod!

Absolutely. I even carry flares and a air horn on my boat at night. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. My biggest pet peeve is those moron pontoons with literally car headlights on their boat that are actually brighter than car headlights.

I live in Wisconsin. Our summer nights are very mild. Highs usually 70-75 lows all the way to 50. I go out around 9pm and the bite really seems to turn on around 10:30 - 12:00. If it's a full moon it gets wild with the fish sometimes! We have a problem with the locals getting hammered and making slow laps around the lake in their pontoons. I am always looking over my shoulder. I've personally seen two night time accidents. Both were older residents on pontoons and they were hammered. One drove into someones dock, it even had a light on it and all. Other one hit the back of a boat that was anchored and fishing for crappie. He also had his lights on, but the pontoon didn't. Relatively no damage and no one hurt thank God. Just pay attention. I always bring a gun with me as well. I feel very vulnerable at the launch by myself at night in the pitch dark. Just good peace of mind for me.

As WRB said, INSTINCT. I don't think they know what's going on and are like "Oh crap, Billy is hooked!". I bet they think more along the lines of "Billy is getting food, I wan't food, follow". My friend has a pond and we throw crawfish and all other kinds of meals in for the bass and they will legit fight over it. They will T-bone each other to get it first. I'd imagine it's the same when there's a lure hanging out of a bass's mouth.

The one by my house seems to have as many customers as the old store did. It helps it's the only outdoor store within 30 miles. I could imagine them closing down any store that starts losing money and leaving select stores open and doing most business online.

So Cabelas Emailed me this morning because I emailed them when I got home from the store yesterday. This is what they said. "Hello Jason, It is my pleasure to help with your return inquiry. I am very sorry that the associate at the retail store told you that you could not return the fishing rod. Non-Cabela's brand items have a 90 day warranty on them through Cabela's and the associate should have taken this item back for you. You may return this fishing rod back to us through the mail by using the following information. Please take a copy of the shipping receipt to show what you paid to return the item and we can then issue a refund back for the costs." I really appreciated this email from them. I'm going to go to the store Monday and hopefully that same chick is working and I can show her or her manager it.

I'll see what Cabela's says on Monday and if that gets me nowhere I'll shoot Fenwick an email. It's just a $70 beater rod I was using for bank fishing so It's getting to the point of almost being more trouble than it's worth. Frustrating to be dicked around.

A lot of you have great points, I was pretty fired up from a bad day at work and then this. I'll give the store a call on Monday and try to get a name and a manager on the line and explain the situation.

I use 12lb copoly on my frog / pitching rod. There just isn't much in my lakes that can get my line cut. Just vegetation, but not enough for me to really be concerned about snapping off. I just patiently pull em out. I let the rod do the work. If I was fishing tourneys, I'd be throwing 50lb braid for sure, but I'm not. I just like how the 12lb copoly feels and it's way cheaper than braid.

At this point I couldn't care less about the return. It's not even worth my time or gas to drive 60 miles to battle with another dumb broad over it. I'll just keep my business to tacklewarehouse or Gander from now on.

I know it's an easy fix, but it shouldn't be my problem. I shouldn't have to worry about being lied to by the online help or the lady at the customer service. I am tired of this shenanigans. It seems to be getting worse and worse. I am emailing corporate and complaining. I am sure they won't give a flying crap, but I am tired of being told to pound sand when I spend thousands at these crappy stores.

So I bought a Fenwick Silverhawk II at Cabelas a month ago. First month I used it the blank was spinning in the reel seat. I talked to their online support chat to see if I can return it and the lady told me no problems, go to the store and they'll return it. I went the 30 miles to the store to be told "Sorry, we don't warranty defective rods. You're going to have to deal with Fenwick.". I replied "Oh, so Cabelas sells me a bunk rod and I have to deal with it, along with paying shipping and return shipping?" She gave me a dumb look and didn't give me an answer. I walked out. What a crock of crap. The rod is only $70 and not even worth paying the $30 in shipping to get it replaced. I spend thousands every year at Cabelas and they treat their customers like this? Not even a "Sorry for the major inconvenience". Just a buncha lies and shrugging of shoulders. They lost my business. I'll stick to Gander Outdoors. It's a d**n shame every outdoor store has turned completely trash. Nobody cares about the customer anymore.

80* in SE Wisconsin

If I'm alone, no. It seems to be too much work to be worried about camera shots and angles while trying to boat the fish. When I fish with my buddy, we got the cameras rolling. He does some cool editing and we share it with family / friends. I say give it a shot and if it doesn't seem like too much work for you, keep doing it! I love rewatching videos we made when we first started fishing. We have progressed so much and the video's old vs new show it. My recommendation is to get extra batteries if possible, and the biggest SD card you can and have it rolling the whole time. That way you miss nothing. Only downside is sifting through hours of video. We run one go pro on the back at all time to get hooksets / bloopers, and when one of us gets a fish on, whoever didn't catch it grabs the nice camera and starts recording. And absolutely do not feel self conscious. 50% of people on my lakes have cameras all over their boats. Nobody has ever judged anyone for it. I even have kids at the launches come up and ask to be in our videos and we oblige to make them feel special.

I noticed that in the picture, figured they used the wrong pic though. Oh well, they won't go to waste, none the less.

I'm telling ya man, give a serious look at the Daiwa DXSB if it's any way possible in your budget. I misspoke earlier when I said it was 1-4oz, mine is actually 1-6oz.

I have some silverhawk II casting rods. One is currently junk after a month because the blank is spinning in the handle. I got it at Cabelas and don't have the receipt or tags. I don't think they'll take it back. Just be careful about that. Other than that, they're great