LakeDaze

My first memory of fishing was with my dad, fishing for trout in the sierras on a camping trip. I vividly remember using salmon eggs and actually seeing the trout in the river. My grandfather had property up in the local mountains and a few of his neighbors had ponds on their property. Fishing those ponds is when I fell in love with bass fishing. Every weekend I wanted to go visit grandpa so I could go fish. I had a favorite lure, my blue and Crome rattle trap, and it worked for me every time. Looking back I think most of the fish were no bigger than 2 pounds, but I remember one year there was an explosion of frogs at the ponds. My grandpa told me to go catch a frog and he'll make sure I catch the biggest fish in the lake. Rigged up a bobber, hooked the frog through the back leg and cast it out. I kept thinking I had a fish because the frog swimming was sinking the bobber, but my grandpa said to wait until it stays under water for 3 seconds before I set the hook, and set it hard. Well, it finally sank for 3 seconds, and I set the hook as hard as I could and I got a good one. It was probably only 4 pounds, but it was the biggest bass I had ever caught. I was hooked:). Every time I would go up from then on I asked if the frogs were back, but no luck. So, he taught me to catch bluegill and use them for live bait. Man, what great memories:)

So a little update, mostly to help future readers. I again changed line to 12lb. Seaguar invisix, and that again increased sensitivity for me. After that I purchased a Daiwa Tatula XT 7'1" MH, and paired it with a Tatula CT TypeR, again spooled with invisix. I can say the sensitivity in the tatula is noticeably better. I took both the vengeance and the Tatula out on a crystal clear day with no wind and when the bite slowed down I rigged a 3/8 oz jig on both of them and dragged them over rocks and what little wood I could find. The vengeance had a "dull" feel when the jig hit structure, while the Tatula felt much more crisp. That being said, I could still feel the bottom with the vengeance. I also picked up a Dobyns fury crankbait rod, and I love that rod. I wish I spent the extra money and got a fury for my "single hook" rod. In the end, I spent 40 bucks on my blackmax/vengeance combo, and I still feel it was worth every penny. I still use it. I put braid on it and use it for pitching frogs. But for my workhorse rod/reel, I'm glad I upgraded. My arsenal now consists of the following: 1. 7'1" MHF Tatula XT/Tatula CT Type R for jigs, T rigs, C rigs, soft swimbaits and spinner baits. 2. 7' MHM Dobyns fury crank rod/Tatula CT Type R for crank baits, lipless cranks, jerk baits and top waters. I spooled this with big game mono so I can use it for top water, and most of my lakes are pretty shallow so I don't need to get the cranks and jerks too deep. 3. 6'6" MM Abu Garcia vengeance/cardinal combo for light weight and finesse. I spooled this with fire line and use a leader depending on application. 4. 6'10" MHF Abu Garcia vengeance/Blackmax combo used for top water frogs. I find that these 4 (mainly the first 3) currently fit my needs quite well. As I gain more experience, I can find flaws within each one for certain techniques, but not to the extent I feel I need another setup...yet:). I hope the info in this thread helps others looking for a little advice, and again, I'd like to thank everyone that shared their experience and opinions. And please, if anyone has any additional advice on my setups feel free to post it up. I still have a lot of learning to do! shaun

Thanks for the advice! I had already decided on the 3 rod system:) It works with my situation best as I'm mostly shore fishing at the moment. When I bought my black max combo I also bought an Abu cardinal reel vengeance rod spinning combo. I actually went with the intent of getting just a spinning combo but after the rebates I got both combos under 100 bucks. The bait caster feels much more comfortable in almost all aspects so all I use the spinner for so far is drop shot and panfish lures. Since I changed to better quality line as well as cleaning up my technique a bit I'm feeling a bit better about my current set up so I'm gonna piece together a new one:). I am definitely leaning towards the tatula line of reels as they get praised multiple times in just about every reel post on here. if only the rod was as easy to decide:). I'm glad I'm not in a rush so I can research all my options. I appreciate the input as well as suggestions.

So a little update. I swapped line to yozuri hybrid soft and could definitely tell the difference over the cheap mono I had before. I also tightened up the slack a bit while throwing t-rigged senkos and felt more bites. Thank you all for the input. It's helped a lot and is much appreciated! shaun

Definitely gonna upgrade that too?. The good thing for me is I haven't fished any better equipment yet so I don't know any better. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks for replying. I am currently using 12lb mono and a pretty cheap brand at that. I figured I was going to be replacing it often while learning the reel. I did just purchase some yozuri hybrid soft in 15lb and was planning on despoiling before my next outing. I never even considered the line affecting feel. Thanks for pointing that out! These are all great points! Thank you for taking the time to share all the info. I will start with line changes and see how it goes Great point! I can't help but think of the blindfold scene from karate kid? But it is true. Take away one sense and the others tend to increase. Thanks for the reply!

Hello all. I'm fairly new to bass fishing and currently have an Abu Garcia vengeance 6'9" MHF. I've mostly been fishing jigs and senkos and I'm not sure if it's the rod or my lack of experience, but I'm not feeling the bottom like I read you should be able to. Does anybody have any experience with this rod? How's the sensitivity compared to a mojo bass for example? It's only a $50 rod and I bought it with the black max reel for $40 after rebate so I don't expect too much. Would it be worth it to drop $100-130 on a nicer rod? I've kinda narrowed it down to the following: St croix mojo bass-$120 Duckett ghost-$100 Fenwick Aetos-$126 on sale Cashion CRT-$120 all would be a MHF in the 7 ft area Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm kinda at a stand still never have used a nicer rod i have nothing to compare the vengeance to. Thanks. Shaun

Hello all. I've been using these forms so much I figured it's time to make an account. I'm from San Diego Ca. And grew up fishing salt water. It was more for fun than an actual hobby. Took a long break and have just got into bass fishing. I'm taking it a bit more serious this go around:) I've been fishing all the "lakes" around San Diego county but so far my favorite spot has been Dixon reservoir. I've already learned a lot from from this site and look forward to learning more! Shaun