kiteman

7-10 acre pond, I'm not really sure. I am a big guy at 6'6" 225lbs so it might dwarf the size of this guy, especially in a selfie pic, but my carppy scale went between 4.6-5.1lbs. pretty good for a pond that size I think!

I was using a 10ft crankbait about 2" long. The first cast I caught a 4lb bass, the 2nd cast I was reeling and something hit it HARD. I know setting a crankbait usually just means reeling faster, but this hit so hard my instinct had a little jerk to it, almost as if I was setting the hook with a T rig or something. Needless to say something, either in my rod or reel, made a loud crack as if it was breaking. I kept reeling in and nothing was there. I really don't know if that was a big bass, or if maybe I caught on a stump or limb and when I jerked it came off. I could see how that might feel like a bite. But I have been fishing for a while now and in that moment, I really didn't think it was anything other than a fish. Just curious if you guys have ever snagged something not alive but initially assumed it was a fish. Also, I kept fishing there and couldn't snag that *stump* again...

Dallas area. I've tried the jigs on the bottom and cranks that go deep enough to scrape the bottom. But non of that is working for me.

I'm in Texas, I guess not quite pre spawn time but I've had a lot of luck with some orange shallow-ish crainks. But nothing else is working. Jigs, swimbaits, not happening. Wonder if you guys recommend anything different out there!

Hi, going to Jamaica in December and was planning on buying an Emmrod. I am like a 4/10 on my Abu baitcaster and a 10/10 on my spin reel, but although I like more room in my bag with the BC, I think the spin makes more sense! Anyway I was going to rent a kayak and try some sea fishing. I have 30lb braid and no idea what lures to use. I was hoping someone could recommend lures and also whether or not this idea is completely bonkers or not, heh. Thank you edit: west coast of jamaica. they do fishing but it is all trolling, which i think it boring

My in-laws inherited a cabin in the woods in a private community. They have a pretty decent-sized lake. It's probably 50 acres or so I would guess. Not big enough for skiing boats, and most of the people there are old and only use it to swim in. In fact, nobody really fishes. However, there are smallmouth bass there that are up to 8lbs I've been told. I have seen one in a picture and I can tell you, it was probably over 5lbs. However I only went there many years ago and haven't been back in a while. At the time I did not fish, otherwise would have! My wife was there this weekend and she said they saw some in the water that were over 2ft long, and I know that sounds exaggerated, but she fishes LMB with me, so she has a pretty good idea of the size of fish. Since I saw that picture of the other one, I believe she is close to right. And the place is spring fed, and nobody fishes there, and they have a lot of bluegill, etc...it's a healthy spot. Anyway, to access the community they have to cross over a dam that's maybe 500ft long. It's dirt, and now there is apparently a code problem with an exit pipe of some sorts? I don't fully understand, but they are planning to drain the entire lake next year, which means all the fish will die. We are talking about nearly priceless fish catching IMO, and I'm pretty ticked they won't just build a d**n dam next to the current one, instead of draining the entire thing. What do you guys think? edit: pictures of this weekend (i wasn't there, i think these are bluegill of sorts? she tried to take pictures of the bass but they were too deep and the pictures didn't really show anything)

That's reely (see what I did there?) good advice. I don't know if I can remember that next time in the moment though. I guess I'll loosen the drag for starters anyway. Another question is when do you know the drag is too tight? I didn't feel like it was until the fish just took off the other direction. Perhaps when I saw how big it was I should have anticipated this, but it really is a skill to make these assumptions in the moment.

I have 15lb test mono with an Abu Garcia Veritas pole and Revo baitcast. I was bank fishing with a 2 inch 10-15ft crank and about 10 ft out it drops off after thick weeds. I slow down my reel there to let the crank float so it doesn't get stuck in the weeds. As it floated up it got a strike so I reeled fast and got the fish through the weeds. Then it was in 1-2ft of shallow water and I could see it very clearly and I can tell you it was in the 5-7lb range as I weigh all my fish and have a good gauge. It was coming in with a lot of strength but just as I thought it was coming towards me, it rerouted and went full throttle back to the pond and broke my line about 3ft from the lure. The crank appeared to snag him on only one treble in the side mouth, but it all happened so fast it's hard to say. What are the chances it can shake that? I stayed around for a while and never saw it float. Also, should I have loosened my drag in that instantaneous moment or is that just chalked up to bad luck? Also a side note, I'm somewhat new to baitcast and I find the tension movements on the drag on a baitcast difficult. That was probably the biggest fish I've seen in my pond, I later caught a 3.25 and 3.75 and I can confirm this other fish seemed it was close to twice the size, and it's probably the biggest I've ever seen there. I don't care so much about not hauling it in, it would just stink to have accidentally killed it. Thanks for any responses.

If you're in AL then I think you fall victim to similar patterns as I do. Spring can usually be categorized as pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn. Pre-spawn is when I catch the most and the biggest fish. Spawn I barely catching anything, and post-spawn is about as successful as pre-spawn. So you're probably in the spawn phase right now as well. If you see bass just chilling around shallows and not moving anywhere, they are males guarding nests, while the females are just roaming around finding other males to spawn with, so none of them are particularly interested in feeding. In fact one of the most successful ways to catch fish during spawn is to mimic predators like lizards. The bass won't eat them, but if it gets in their nest they will pick it up in their mouth and spit it out beyond the nest. You're supposed to set the hook in that brief moment before they spit the predator out. I think the females are even harder to catch, but they are the bigger and more desirable ones...

I live in Texas where the winters aren't usually that bad and fish can be caught. The pre-spawn and summer months are both excellent. I find spawn to be without a doubt the trickiest time to fish, and thus hardest time to catch them. It's particularly hard for me because I bank fish in a deep quarry pond, and it is very windy usually so the water is choppy and it's nearly impossible to see beds with that depth and choppiness. Even though, the water is actually very clear. I feel like it's almost a waste of time, actually. I'm wondering if this is a sentiment I share with other bass anglers, or if I'm just doing something wrong...

thanks, good advice! i fish a wacky senko/dinger weightless a lot though i haven't recently. i have found it's hard to cast far because the lack of weight, so i've been wanting to experiment with something than can get me a little more distance to some other points on the pond, hence the drop shot. a texas rig with a weight just buries in the vegetation and is rarely all that productive--the weightless seems to be a better choice, but again i was just hoping to try something heavier to reach other parts of the pond that might have big fish lurking.

the pond i fish at most frequently i can only access from the bank. there is about 10 feet of heavy vegetation between the bank and the open water of the lake, then at the bottom at least 2-3 feet of really think vegetation too. i think it covers just about all of the pond. when the wind is still i can see this vegetation on the bottom, but otherwise i know it's there from having a shallow crankbait get caught in it. i'm only guessing its growing 2-3 feet off the bottom, but it could be more. anyway i'm wondering if trying a drop shot is even a worthwhile venture. i feel like i might need so much lead between the weight and the lure that it would be difficult to cast, but even more concerning is it just getting stuck in all that vegetation. on the flip side i also think it could be an intelligent fishing method if i can just hang something right on the top of that vegetation to attract some of the bigger, lazier bass that sit in the vegetation that normally aren't interested in chasing the other lures i have that go right by them. thoughts?

It's a pretty long story but the teeth on my main gear broke off in one place recently, I swapped out the gear and had a REALLY hard time turning the reel after. I posted on here and even called Penn, turns out they put my reel together from the factory with extra shims/washers in places because they couldn't get certain parts flush. I had to work with what I had and was able to get the reel to an operable level, and even though it's not REALLY hard to reel, it still has more resistance than my Pfluger Presidente by quite a bit. I don't know if that's a good frame of reference or if I should find another Penn Battle II to compare to in a store or something, but it doesn't seem quite as easy to spin as it was when it was new. Since I'm not sure what I can do about it other than requesting Penn fix or replace it since the original manufacturer's installation was obviously not up to spec, I wanted to ask any of you if replacing a gear in a reel does sometimes cause it to have a stiffer turn after the fact? So far I've only done free air reeling (nothing on the line) and it's definitely not terrible, but i'm sure once i'm tugging a deep diving crank behind it in the water it might cause some pretty severe hand tiredness. I'm not entirely sure though. Thanks for any feedback. EDIT: maybe this is a helpful frame of reference, but if i spin my Pfluger handle around 1 full rotation as hard as I can and let it go, it will spin freely for 4-5 more rotations before it stops. If I do the same exercise on the Battle II, it only makes it about 1 full rotation back around until it stops. Like I said I don't know if you can really compare the two, my Battle II has always felt way more sturdier than the Presidente, but that doesn't mean their action should necessarily be that far off.

Great hookset, it was on a crank so not too much work. It was out of water less than a minute for a couple of pictures. I did not put it on the ground and I only touched it outside of its lip when I set it in the water and held it underwater by the belly to hold it upright while it caught its breath and swam away.

Well guys I wanted to tell you I went out today for the first time since this original post and caught a 3.9 and a 4.2 (I have a pretty good scale so they were both in the 4lb range). They were both in about a 20 minute span and I only fished for an hour total and just caught those two in total. Admittedly after those two it was cold and I wasn't really trying hard to catch more I was so excited I caught two in the 4lb range. They were two of the bigger I've caught out there before, and I've definitely never caught two near that size in the same day. So for now my fear the fish are gone is at bay, so to speak. I thought at first it was the same fish since I caught both in the same spot, but I noticed they had not only different weights but also spots in difference places. It was a really cool experience! For some reason I moved off of that spot after the fact. I didn't want to catch another 4lb at the risk of catching one of the same ones I just caught and stress it out more than it needed to be. I might be being overly cautious, but at least I know they are there, hopefully for another day. But maybe had I kept fishing that spot I could have caught a 5+? Bank fishing in the wind and weeds is hard though, you have a limited surface area you can cover and I just assumed I had a better chance of catching the same fish than another one bigger. Silly logic? In other news I counted 7 comerants at the 10 acre pond today, so it is entirely valid the smaller ones have been somewhat taken out by those hideous birds.