GrumpyOlPhartte

Sorry. Being a functional illiterate I seldom catch grammar fails; however, as an ex-sailor I’m really good at recognizing salty language.

@Bluebasser86: Are we allowed to say “frigging” on here? Just wondering. ?

Just went to Tackle Warehouse ... advertising the Team Pro Magnesium for $159.99. Yup! And it’s normally $279.99. Might want to check. That’s an unbelievable price.

My introduction to real bass fishing came in 1972 when I was transferred to the Charleston sub base (long gone) and my LPO took me on my first real bass fishing excursion in his Jon boat. First he took me shopping to get an UglyStik and Mitchell 300 spinning real, a big step up from my plastic Zebco 303 (I think that’s the model). He was smart enough to know I wasn’t ready for baitcasting gear. We hit Bushy Park and he handed me a Mann’s Jelly Worm, seven-inch purple with a red tail. I was certain he was trying to “get to me” but he was insistent and even showed me how to Texas rig the thing. After about a half hour of working the bank, he pointed to a partially exposed log and told me to cast right upon shore next to it and drag my worm along it. And ... if I felt a tap-tap, count to three, and haul back on the rod as if I was trying to yank the fish into the boat. Well, as a rookie with a spinning rig, the kindest thing I can say was that I landed the worm on the shore in the “general vicinity” of the log. He drifted the boat down so I was able to drag my worm over it and as it climbed over the log and fell, sure enough, I felt the taps. So, I counted to three and “hauled back” figuring the poor fish was going to come flying out of the water at me. I got the rod to about the 11:00 position and everything stopped. And, since I was new I had the drag set all wrong. The largest bass I had ever seen broke the surface and headed for points south while the drag screamed and I focused on reeling while maintaining bladder control!!! Finally, by luck, I got the thing to the boat and it turned out to be a four-pound beauty. I have looked and Mann’s doesn’t make that exact style any more, but my brother-in-law has a couple of bags left. Found out this year that they still work when he dragged a couple of two-and-a-half pounders out my favorite fishing spot while I sat there “washing bait” with several of the newfangled worms sold these days. Yup, Mann’s, Creme, and Producto worked then ... and still work. May have to find some!

Wow!! I tried a jerkbait here ... no luck. It kept bouncing off the ice. Did suspend well on the hard water though.

@Lefty76: I fish a lot of small, weedy, natural lakes here in western MA, and weedless rigs are my big concern. Having said that, if you are looking for smaller swimbaits, you might want to consider Reaction Innovations Little Dipper. I have had great success (for me) using the Sungill color, either creeping then along the bottom (weighted hook) or slow rolling them and letting them settle to the bottom. Just a thought. No shad here but lots of bluegill and golden shiners.

Okay ... this could get a little windy, but I really don’t care. If you’re interested in this effort, grab a coffee, beer, someone else’s beer, or whatever and plunge in. If you aren’t interested, at least look at the pics and read the last paragraph. A few days ago, I received a PM from @.ghoti. letting me know he had some samples of stuff from vendors who support this site and offered to send me a few if I sent him my e-mail addy. He explained that this offer was being made because I was a veteran. Of course, as a skeptical senior citizen, I immediately leaped to the wrong conclusion. First, since I (as all of us elderly types are aware) am constantly being pummeled by gimmicks to buy insurance, hearing aids, drugs for conditions which I don’t have, step-in tubs, and contraptions to haul my sorry butt up and down the stairs; I attempted to politely decline. I also felt that if this really was a legit offer, there were plenty of members more deserving than I. Heck, I was in the submarine service during Nam; I wasn’t mucking through the jungle hoping my young self was not going to be subjected to little pointy projectiles entering me at a high rate of speed. Nope. All I had to worry about was being locked in a boat designed to sink that was built by many high-tech companies, all of which were the lowest bidders! Anyway, I did respond with my courteous “Thanks but no thanks,” and put it out of my mind. Didn’t take long for me to get another terse PM, “Check your e-mail.” With a rather grudging acknowledgement of his perseverance, I did. Not gonna bore you any more with the explanation of why I couldn’t ignore his request. I’ll just show you three of the images in that e-mail down below. I’m completely unable to tell you the emotions, the excitement, the feeling of gratitude for the honor bestowed by this organization. Furthermore, when my rod arrived yesterday, I held in my hands a work of art that I would never be justified in buying! To think I am going to fish with that next spring - that is mind-boggling!! And I can while away the winter trying to select (and save up for) a reel worthy of such a beautifully-crafted instrument. LAST PARAGRAPH!! (Okay ... TWO paragraphs!!) Folks, the Warrior Rod Project is for real!!! And you don’t have to be a big-time member or a tournament-capable fisherman to be a recipient of this honor. Geez, if you look at my few comments, I would guess my ranking would fall somewhere between “minnow” and “crayfish poop on the bottom of the lake” but the point is that if you are a veteran, the folks in this organization care! I can never thank Gary, or all the donors who made this happen enough, but I know every future fishing trip will be much richer because of the members of Bass Resource. And just one final thought: I took some of the bucks I was saving for a new swim bait rod and sent them to @roadwarrior. (Send him a PM and he’ll provide all the info you need.) After all, I’ve got a long winter ahead to save up for more toys. Can’t give a lot but I hope I can help another veteran share this experience. If you’re a vet and you’ve been a beneficiary of this group’s largesse, maybe you can pay it forward. And if you aren’t a veteran, maybe you can chip in something to say, “Thanks” to a veteran. Trust me on this. You have no idea how much it means to the recipient. Thank you all, Art

At my age such a trip would revolve around where the “roadside rests” are located along the highway!! I may have set the bar too low, but I now enjoy just using a kayak to explore local lakes (and there are a number of small lakes and ponds around here) that I could never thoroughly enjoy when limited to bank fishing. Every bass from a heretofore unknown location is a revelation to me. Still ... when I hit the lottery ...

I turned 70 this year ... had to give up my sit-in kayak for a sit-on-top; just raising the seat a few inches made all the difference in the world to getting in and out of the kayak. (The “Geezer Strap” helps immensely!). Been fortunate though; other than a loss of flexibility I seem to be doing ok. Sounds silly, but I bought one of those Simply Fit exercise gizmos three years ago and use it all winter. Using that plus doing various squat exercises all winter have really helped me stay limber enough to keep on yakking.

This may have been the most depressing fall ever. Started off with a bang, For my 70th birthday my wife had saved up her pin money all year and bought me a Pelican Catch 100. Love the wider, sit-on-top style with slightly elevated seat ... although the Old Geezer Strap will have to be lengthened. She also bought me an automatic/manual PFD because it “matched” the yak color. But ... from there things went downhill in a hurry. First, I can attest to the performance of an Onyx A/M | 24 PFD! Through a combination of overconfidence, my natural grace, and a slime-coated rock; I performed an inadvertent yak quick dismount and even though the water was less than knee deep, the resultant rather impressive splash lit that puppy up with no problem!! (Side note: the PFD lists for $160.00 but the local DSG was selling them for $109.00. Spare arming kit lists for $29.99 but DSG sells them for $24.95 and since my kit was hanging on the rack meant for the manual kit, they gave it to me for $19.99.) To sum up, in the only three outings I: 1. Performed my acrobatics (Forgot to mention I managed to break my new TP-1 spinning rod and bend the handle of my Manley baitcaster in the process - although the Manley problem was easily corrected so it adjusts good as new.) 2. Snagged my anchor and lost it along with about 12 feet of anchor line (Note to self: Don’t use commercial heavy grade tie-wraps to rig the anchor. Those little suckers are TOUGH!) 3. Used an S-Waver for the first time. Three casts, two monster pickerel, the second of which fled the scene with my lure. So ... I just stowed the kayak for the winter and now am brooding and already planning for spring. Gonna try to hide from the Bait Monkey and focus on good waterproof footwear, new spinning rod, new S-Wavers, and a BIG bottle of KVD Line and Lure. Winter in Massachusetts is not a happy time.

@Gundog: Would love to have that luxury ... but would be tough to fish from a kayak turned submarine. Been there, done that for eight years in the Navy.

@J Francho: You must have a truly amazing boat to install that! I gotta stick with an empty bottle on my yak. Sigh!

Can’t help but wonder ... did he ever catch a sturdgeon. (Sorry, but I’m old and my mind, when it works, works in mysterious ways.)

@Sifuedition: Just recently obtained some Biospawn Exoswims. They are 4-inch ribbed baits which, while not inexpensive, arguably are more durable than Kaitech baits. I’ve mentioned before that if you make up an order, let it sit overnight!! Usually the next day they offer to knock off 10% as motivation. My experience with these is limited but so far, so good. Website is www.biospawn.com.

Don’t forget about the oft-overlooked kayak chimp! Actually, the chimp is my new best friend.The little bugger grabbed my wife yesterday and she bought me a new sit-on yak for my birthday ... and threw in an inflatable PFD - because it was color-coordinated with the yak! (And I was hinting at a St. Croix rod.) Under the circumstances I can’t say I’m sorry the rod will just have to wait. Definitely gonna keep that woman!!!!

Since I just had my butt handed to me by a half dozen bass while using a M/L spinning rod, I feel I can speak with a little (darned little) authority on this subject. I was using small square bills, small Husky Jerks, 1/8-oz shakey heads with 4-inch senkos, and unweighted Exosticks. Used 2/0 shakey heads and 3/0 light wire Owner CPS with the Exosticks. Oh, and 10-lb test mono, which probably didn’t help. Results: Square bill - Hooked 3 ..... Boated 3 Jerk bait - Hooked 1 ..... Boated 1 Shakeyhead - Hooked 2 ..... Boated 0 Unweighted - Hooked 4 ..... Boated 1 I was in my sit-in kayak and I don’t get the greatest hook sets, but from the number of times I nearly fed myself my worm, I would definitely say the fine folks above aren’t lying! I love wrestling a feisty bass on a M/L rod, but i’m going to stick with treble-hook lures. Just a guess, but I suspect that spinning or baitcasting rigs would probably produce similar results.

So ... whatever happened to “Catch and Release”? They shoulda thrown him back.

One of my life’s little frustrations is finding an inexpensive cutter for braided line. I tried a couple of others mentioned here and maybe it’s just my luck, but even the highly-touted ones ... eh, not too impressive. The only reasonable, locally-available choice for me has been a little pair of scissors I found at Walmart which cost $7.00 and was good for a couple of seasons of casual fishing; haven’t seen ‘em in a couple of seasons. I may have found the answer at Dick’s Sporting Goods. The local store is carrying a cutter called CERAMAX Super Cutters from a company called RIGRAP. I picked up a pair ($10.00) and dang! They seem to be the real deal. The blades are ceramic and cut 50-pound braid really well. I tested ‘em by letting a piece of braid hang from the spool (no tension) and snipping away. After a bunch of cuts with nary a fray or frizz, I have decided to snap up a couple more pairs. In my opinion, they are excellent. A couple of notes though: The blades are ceramic and the manufacturer cautions about dropping them. I have no idea of their long-term durability; however, they won’t rust. I keep mine on a lanyard attached to my PFD. (Keeps them close at hand ... and encourages me to wear my PFD.) Just thought I’d mention them if anyone is looking for what appears to be an inexpensive alternative to the Pitbull cutter. (And for those of you that swear by those little blue snippers ... been there ... done that ... and got the frayed braid to prove it. I’ll pass on any more of those.)

I just saw this post and another post related to my favorite worm, the Biospawn Exostick, so I’m gonna jump in based solely on personal results. I fish western MA small lakes and have never had much luck with the small Zoom worms but seem to do well with the Biospawn. Funny thing is that when I use the larger Zoom worms, I have great results. Any Zoom product from the Magnum Trick worm to the Ol’ Monster has been productive for me. I wouldn’t normally even buy the smaller (under 7”) Zoom worms; however, I did get a pack of Zoom 4-inch Fatheads that I intend to try for finesse fishing. (Hope springs eternal ... ?) If they don’t work, I’m going back to snipping segments off my Exosticks.

I tend to agree with @Burke. I use two bobber stops; one ahead of the sinker to keep it close to the bait and one between the weight and the hook. It may or may not be true but I like the second stop to keep the weight from coming into contact with my knot. (Thank you, YouTube for bringing it to my attention!) I can’t prove it helps protect the knot, but it does give me peace of mind when fishing the weeds. Oh, yeah. It lets me position my weight as close or far from the bait as I desire.

I just happened to hit our local Walmart this past weekend and saw Z-Man bladed jigs in four colors, the aforementioned BooYah, Zoom, and Yum products, and various sizes and colors of StrikeKing spinnerbaits. Not a large selection of jigs, but some basic jig offerings. Almost forgot to mention a fair selection of plugs. And all this in a small town in western Massachusetts - hardly a bass-fishing Mecca! Just my opinion, but when I got back into fishing on a budget, I could have outfitted my first tackle bag at Walmart (except for my favorite hooks) ... even had the required tungsten worm weights and some decent line selections. As many of the guys suggested above, ya might want to sit down and figure out just which type(s) of fishing grabs your interest before you start. I always was a soft-bait enthusiast ... well, until I found this site and was introduced to the evil Bait Monkey. Try not to get carried away ... focus on a couple of techniques. Personal favorite mail-order stores are BioSpawn (love their Exosticks and Vilecraws), Z-Man (bladed jigs and all kinds of good, tough, buoyant soft plastic stuff), Tackle Warehouse (for me a great source of terminal tackle and line conditioner although they have everything), and Siebert (great for required tungsten jigs). Hope this helps!

I just love jumping in when I am totally clueless about a subject! So ... in general, I believe it’s risky to throw lures with weights exceeding those rated for the rod. I’ve tried it and while I’ve never broken a rod tip, I have found it exceedingly difficult to control my casts because the tip behaves in strange ways when it loads up on the cast. For me, it was an effort to get my heavy lures in the same zip code as my target. I found it an effort to lob cast the lure accurately, and, when combining that with the constant concern about rod damage, completely ruined the fun of fishing. The sport is supposed to be fun and the distractions of using the wrong rod really spoil the fun and relaxation of fishing. Just not worth it in my opinion. And a plug for one of my favorite rods here. I got an Okuma TCS Frog/Swimbait rod (7’3” rated for 1/4- to 2-oz) for around $110.00 on Amazon and it flings 130 and 190 Whopper Ploppers well, not to mention jigs, frogs, and T-rigged worms and critter baits. Heck, for me, it even works with 3/8- and 1/2-oz spinner baits and bladed jigs. to top it off, I just got an S-Waver 168 and a Shine Glide for my first foray into small swimbaits. I’m sure the purists will shudder at this, but for a hack like me, it works fine. I tried it after seeing a review by Glen on YouTube. Just a thought.

Around here at this time of year ... ... but not so good for catch and release!! Seriously, for overall productivity I would have to say your choice of T-rigged soft plastics.

Don’t think of it as my screen name ... think of it as truth in advertising!

I’ve been using a Malone Downloader rack on my Subaru Forester for three years. There are two reasons I chose this rack. 1. It is designed so the kayak does not touch the vehicle at any time during the loading process. The yak is lifted against two “pads” (for lack of a better term), then slid into position. 2. The rack itself folds down flat when not in use. It’s been tough, reliable, and easy to install and use. It did cost $170.00 but it’s saved my vehicle from a lot of scrapes. Speaking for myself only, I think it was the smartest investment I’ve made in fishing-related gear. You might want to check out the Malone racks. Hope this helps. Oh, and you might check Amazon or E-Bay for prices.