GrumpyOlPhartte

Hmmm! First confidence bait? In 1954 it was any worm (not even night crawler) that my dad hooked on my cane pole. He always spat on it for luck and I always knew it was going to get me a perch or a crappie. Wish he was here to spit on some of the stuff I'm pitching now. I need all the help I can get! Er, does this count?

@fishnkamp: I certainly don't disagree with your argument. You make a lot of sense. I could not take your suggestion from a financial perspective; o I just don't have the bucks! Certainly would be nice though. Just as an example, when I got back into fishing, I started with a 6'6" spinning outfit and a 6'6" casting outfit based on the GX2 rods because it's what I could afford. Now I've "upgraded" to a Manley (I fish from a sit-in kayak) and an Okuma TCS (same reason) and again my budget was a concern. Dobyns are beautiful rods and if I ever hit the lottery they will be on my shopping list! But, I have reconciled myself to the fact I'll never have the gear you big guns use, so I enjoy what I have ... And even catch a nice bass! Heck, I probably wouldn't do a whole lot better with expensive gear - until I get a whole lot better as a fisherman. Still, I completely buy into your point of view. Poverty sux!!!

@BassMan: My bad. The topic header said "... Radar". Radar is typically used for searching for air and surface contacts; sonar is typically used for subsurface contacts. I just conjured up the image of a rotating antenna on a bass boat being used to track flying fish and it tickled my funny bone. Your question IS a good one and it appears you're getting some excellent advice. If I were you, I'd do what most folks do. Chalk it up to my advanced years and failing mind ... and ignore me. Oh, and good luck!

A fairly inexpensive possibility might be one of the venerable UglyStik GS casting rods. They aren't glamorous or "the latest thing" but if you go to the UglyStik website you will see they have 5'6" pistol grip rods in both one- and two-piece configurations and M or MH styles. If you aren't sure how serious she is about fishing, you can grab one for forty bucks. Pair it with an inexpensive, light-weight reel and she will have a serviceable rig for under a hundred bucks - and they are almost indestructible. This may not be the way to go if she is as gung-ho as most of us.

I apologize in advance, but I have to ask, "If ya pick 'em up on radar are they flying fish, by chance? Maybe smallies; they can jump pretty high." Aw, I'm just jealous 'cause I can't afford either one.

@Sholt and @J Francho: just for the heck of it I looked up the state records for MA and NY. I found this at wideopenspaces.com. Massachusetts : 15 lbs, 8 oz Sampson Pond Walter Bolonis - 1975 New York: 11 lbs, 4 oz. Buckhorn Lake. John L. Higbie - 1987 Just thought you'd like to know.

After viewing @Glenn's review of the Okuma TCS rods on YouTube, I bought a Frog/Swimbait rod and it chucks a two-ounce swimbait just fine. And as @Bluebasser86 pointed out, it's just fine for jigs, not to mention the big (10-inch to 12-inch) worms that I love to use. Just a thought. Oh, I also like the fairly short rod butt which doesn't threaten to eviscerate me in my kayak!

If I remember correctly, the MA state record is over 15 pounds. (Must have translated it to doggie pounds - if I divide that number by seven I get a more realistic number for my typical catch ... on a good day!) Seriously though, I did buy a rod with the intent of trying a weedless Hud 68 which I think weighs around two ounces. I figure if I cast that using my patented (meaning I screwed up) mortar cast, the concussion when it hits the water should stun any large bass in the vicinity and I'll just scoop them up when they float unconscious to the surface! Only thing left is to make the wife understand why I need a couple of twenty-five dollar lures!

@Boomstick: Well, the bad news is that I haven't exactly been killing 'em in either. The good news is twofold! 1. I left ya lots of fish. 2. Between the two lakes you mentioned I've managed to wash a lot of lures. Buckley Dutton and Ashmere are next to undergo my vicious assault.

Don't have any of the Lew's glamour reels but I do use the Tournament MB (LFS) and Speed Spool (LFS) and I do try to oil them the night before I go fishing. I learned one lesson early. It only takes ONE drop on each end of the spool shaft to slick things up. When I got carried away, my casting distance dropped to about, oh, I'd say 11.3 yards. I also wipe off and put one drop of oil on the shaft over which the line guide travels. Seems to help. Also made the mistake of attempting to use a Q-Tip to clean up excess. That was definitely ungood. Those little fuzzies can gum up the works. I'd say oiling is good, but ya don't want too much of a good thing. Hope this helps.

@Boomstick: I'm gonna take a guess and say you fish Cheshire Lake. Did I do good?

@wdp: I'm not divulging my age, but my birth certificate IS written in Cuneiform. Heck, when I was born there was no history, just news. I can go on but I'm too modest to mention I hold the patent for dust.

I've got a system that seems to be working. I've been back to fishing after a long, long break and am fighting in vain the urge to buy all the new toys that have been developed. I found my wife is quite amenable to my new tackle purchases if I've done something productive around the house first. For example, today I am power washing my privacy fence (Heaven knows it needs it!) and I know when I'm done she's gonna say, "Honey, it looks great! You worked hard - don't you want to take some time to go fishing?" The door is now open and I tell her I need to pick up a few things first. I see the tackle monkey grinning from ear to ear as I head for Dick's or make up an online order. I figure that "enough" will only be attained when her Honey-Do List is complete. Like THAT will ever happen! And everybody is happy.

Always enjoy seeing what other guys dream up to catch bass. To me, part of the fun of fishing is just playing around to see if I can find a new way to present my bait. Gotta admit I'm not sure I'd go to all that work, but some rainy day I might just make up a couple of these to see what happens. I'm just getting into jig fishing, so ... what the heck? Can't hurt to try.

@The Patriot: I see you're from western MA and in the same predicament as I. I have always stunk up the joint with spinnerbaits until this year. Funny thing is, I've still never caught anything on white and/or chartreuse. Only way I could catch a bass with those colors is to wait until it jumped, then hit 'im in the head with it. This year I did learn I will have success with more natural colors fished on windy days when the lake surface is a little choppy. I won't even bother with spinnerbaits on clear, calm days. (NOTE: I'm the last guy to tell anyone how to fish those things, but I do feel I'm making progress.)

Those torpedo-looking beasts have to be the rudest fish in any lake! The little beggars have absconded with lures, Texas rigs, even jigs. Frankly, I almost prefer it when they do - I hate having to deal with all those teeth!! I figure that from the past two years they owe me $176.89 for hardware. On the other hand, that bass made it all worthwhile! And just wait until one of his older siblings lights you up. Ain't nuthin' better!

I originally posted this item buried deep within another topic but haven't seen any responses so I'm reposting it as a topic in hopes of hearing from some of you more-experienced (or less-experienced if you've tried it) fishermen. I've not fished chatterbaits to any great extent, but did have an interesting experience with a chatterbait (trimmed skirt) and chigger craw trailer. I was having no luck with the chatterbait and craw rigged in the normal fashion so I cut off about 3/8" from the craw, rotated it 90 degrees so the claws were vertical, and remounted it. A half a dozen casts later I caught a small (1 1/2 pound) bass and shortly after had a second strike (I'm guessing pickerel) that "liberated" my chatterbait. I've acquired a couple more chatterbaits and intend to try this again. I wonder if the vertically-mounted craw claws more closely resemble the caudal fin of a baitfish or was this just a coincidence? Any of you experienced guys have any thoughts on this? It does have me wondering. Was an easy "mod" with the small-bodied chigger craw but at home trying it with a craw fatty and a pit boss I discovered I couldn't rig down the center of the creature body, rather, I had to thread it more to one side to provide more hook exposure. Anyway, I don't know if the two bites were coincidence or a result of the rotated craw. Would really appreciate any thoughts. (Snickers and slams will also be grudgingly accepted.). Thanks, folks!

Hmmm. Wonder how much flak I will get for even mentioning the possibility of a Lew's Tournament MB ($139.99). Got mine at Dick's during one of their 20% off sales ... and that certainly eased the pain. To keep it in perspective, I do only fish a couple of times a week but it has served me well for the past two+ years. And I have had great responses from the company when I had questions about this and other models. (Just thought I'd add to your plethora of very good options.) Dang! I gotta quit getting fished in to responding to ancient posts! Sheesh!

If I dropped $250.00 on lures, I'd be sleeping in my yak out in the garage! I believe @Jaderose nailed it. If you first assess the type of fishing you will be doing, you can drastically reduce wasted dollars. Most of the lakes I fish here are already getting weed-choked so blowing money on crank baits isn't a good idea unless you are gathering salad ingredients. For me, the plastic worms, creature baits, and weedless-rigged flukes seem to work. I also have a few spinnerbaits and chatterbaits which I have used with success. Evaluate the style of fishing in which you are interested. I wouldn't recommend big swimbaits or many of the finesse baits if you are not patient! Personally I enjoy the suspense and excitement that attend a topwater explosion so I have several frog-type lures. You may also consider the type of bass for which you are fishing, the water conditions (such as clarity, depth, temperature) in which you will be fishing, and even the time of day at which you generally fish. The tackle monkey will bite you, but I am rather proud of the fact I haven't purchased many lures that just sit in my tackle boxes. The goal for me is to minimize the damage he does! One final thought. After having two credit cards with big box stores (not fishing-related) and a go-around when someone hacked my income tax number (fortunately other than having to do a mountain of paperwork I came through unscathed), I have gotten very cautious about credit cards. Now, when the tackle monkey chomps my butt, I do one of the following: 1. Figure out my bill in the website "shopping cart" including shipping and taxes, then buy myself a gift card for the exact amount of the purchase. This is my favorite method. 2. Buy a gift card for myself in the amount I wish to spend ($250.00 in your case) and use that for making multiple purchases. If you end up with a few bucks left on the card, you can always apply it to a local purchase. It costs a few bucks to buy the cards, but the peace of mind is worth it. i apologize if this wandered a little far afield, but hopefully it will help someone avoid the hassles I went through. The tackle monkey is bad enough, but the 800-pound Hacker Gorilla really sucks. Have fun and good luck!

Really? I need to explain?

@xtraorange: With both a medium and a medium light setup, I would do the following: 1. Check both rods, particularly line guides to make sure they're clean and in good working order. 2. Check YouTube and maybe clean, grease, and oil the reels and change the line on both. (Old line can be a heart-breaker but I would suggest you consider mono or copolymer to start, just to save a few bucks!) 3. Recognize that as mentioned above, you really are ready to fish many different baits, so pick a couple of styles such as finesse and worm fishing or maybe finesse and spinnerbait fishing and obtain appropriate terminal gear to rig one rod for each style. 4. Get a small number of the appropriate baits to start. There are about a bazillion recommendations for color choice in these forums made by folks with far more experience than I. In any case, don't go crazy at first! Keep a little reserve cash for expanding your choices later. In my opinion, you should be able to get a couple of packs of finesse baits and a couple of spinnerbaits for twenty bucks. 5. Maybe review some of the excellent vids put out by BassResource on the styles you are going to fish. Between this organization and a fellow that does videos under the nickname of InfomativeFisherman you will learn a ton of good stuff. 6. Get out on the bank or water ... and kick some bass!

I'd say, "Enough to be proud of the catch!"

I'm not sure if this is the kind of info you seek, but I started out many, many years ago (1972) in a similar situation. I owned a Mitchel 300 spinning reel and a six-foot UglyStik spinning rod and very little cash. My bassin' mentor took me fishing in his jon boat, supplied me with some what I considered ridiculously large (4/0) hooks, a handful of Creme rubber worms, and coached me on how and where to use them. The result was my first four-pound bass and a love of bass fishing that sticks with me to this day. Up until then I just fished ... no rhyme or reason. Sorry to be long-winded, but I was trying to make a point. I love bait-casting ... and spinning gear. And with a tight budget, you appear to have a tough choice. First, I personally believe there are some quite decent bait-casting combo packages available for under $100.00 at Walmart, Dick's, and numerous on-line retailers. Or you can search E-Bay, Craig's List, and flea markets for good deals. But, in all these cases you will be faced with a depleted budget and no tackle. The other option is to really examine the gear you have; maybe have an experienced friend you know take look at it. If you provide as much info (usually found on the rods) and brand/model in this forum, you may also get some really helpful advice. You may find your rods, reels, or both are adequate and you can focus on getting some new tackle. Even if you need a new rod or reel you still have bucks left over for some terminal tackle, a few packs of soft plastics, a couple of spinner baits, and a couple of lures. The worst case is that your gear may be unsuitable and you are faced with option one. i suggest you don't be in a hurry to blow your budget on a bait-casting outfit right away; there is a lot to enjoy about bass fishing using either style and personally I can live with either - as long as I'm fishing. Then while you enjoy fishing with the gear you have, you can start saving (and researching) the bait-casting rig you will purchase in the future. To me, the most important thing is to get out there and enjoy fishing!! A lot of us can't afford all the fancy gear but I'm willing to bet I have just as much fun as anyone here using the stuff I have. It ain't about the toys - it's about learning to outsmart a bass! Good luck.

One possibility for making length-adjustable weights for drop shot weights is to use a bullet or egg sinker with a rubber t-stop. After tying the hook to your line, slide a sinker onto the "tag" end, insert a t-stop, snug it up, and trim the t-drop. If you're worried that the sinker will slide off the line too easily, tie a figure-8 knot (or other bulky knot) at the end of the line. I use this to employ steel sinkers for which I have substituted tungsten sinkers. They are probably less sensitive for feeling the bottom, but I do not have enough experience to appreciate the difference. The big plus for me is that the distance of the weight is easily adjustable and, in my limited experience, less likely to break the tag end while adjusting. Oh, yeah, and did I mention, "inexpensive"? And, of course, lead sinkers work too, where legal. I realize the tag end may extend past the sinker as it is moved up the line, but I can live with that.

@Catt: Yup! Got some of those for "punching" although I use the term "punching" quite loosely. From my sit-in kayak I "punch" by firing a mortar shot up in the air and ducking until I see where it comes down. I gotta work on that technique some more!