Hook2Jaw

@TnRiver46 I went out and slayed them this weekend with the poor man's ned rig which consisted of a YUM crawbug and an itty bitty jig head.

Decided to learn jigs this year too. One of my first jig fish was a 10 pounder, my current PB. I haven't really stopped throwing them at things since. I fish them pitching, but I also enjoy casting them.

I'm looking into a whole lineup of Fuegos. Thanks for making this thread and all the positive feedback!

Went back to the basics this weekend and caught about 50 dinks with a zoom curly tail grub on a jig head as well as a YUM crawbug. The little guys were fun. There's not much forage in this pond but some large cannibalistic females that will try to eat their babies off your bait, and the small bait for small fish to get the sharks hungry has become my go-to tactic. This is the pond my 10 pounder came out of, and a 13.5 was caught out of it last year. I'm after her. I managed one good bass doing this, getting them close with the small fish and then tossing a jig and craw chunk in their face. She's the one pictured with my Abu. Then I found a savage staring down some bream beds and had the finesse rod in hand, and I'm so surprised the tiny hook held. Penn reels have great drag. I also caught what I'd estimate to be an 8 pounder on the same pumpkin jig with craw chunk, and my phone was on the charger at home. She hit in about 2' of water early in the morning, I guess she was up there feeding. The pond owner has me asked me to remove carp, so I was actually trying to snag what I thought was a carp when I casted to her. She picked it up as soon as it splashed. Here's Craig the Bass, who also happens to like to catch big fish. This is his PB 4.5" swimbait. I'm looking forward to taking the kayak out to the lake soon, beating the banks has made my legs sore on this Monday morning at work!

I truly appreciate the suggestions, everyone! While I could go up to 300 a combo, I think I'm going to keep them around 100-200 a combo by going with Daiwa Fuego CTs and a variation of Daiwa rods. Here's my plan. I'm open to suggestions! It was due to suggestions from this thread that made me really look into the Daiwa Fuego CT. Frogs/Large Topwaters : Daiwa Fuego CT 8.1:1 on a 7'3" Daiwa Fuego Heavy power Fast action. 40# braid. Pitch/Flip/Punch : Daiwa Fuego CT 8.1:1 on a 7'3" Daiwa Fuego Heavy power Fast action. 40# braid. Jerkbaits/Small Topwaters : Daiwa Fuego CT 6.3:1 on a 6'6" Daiwa Aird-X Medium power Fast action. 12# monofilament. Cranks/Lipless : Daiwa Fuego CT 6.3:1 on a 7' Daiwa Tatula-XT Medium power Regular Action. 12# fluorocarbon. Texas/Carolina/Jigs : Daiwa Fuego CT 7.3:1 on a 7' Daiwa Aird-X Medium Heavy power Fast action. 14# fluorocarbon. Spinner/Blade/Swimjigs : Daiwa Fuego CT 7.3:1 on a 7' Daiwa Aird-X Medium Heavy power Fast action. 14# fluorocarbon. Swim/Glidebaits : Daiwa Millionaire S300 on a 8' Daiwa Fuego Heavy power Extra Fast action. #30 copolymer. A lot of thought went into this with room to have a complete lineup with a lot of matching setups so they can pull double duty in the situation where I want to cycle through two colors/sizes to accommodate the fish and really nail what they're after. The choices were also made in the case my girlfriend or brother is fishing with me and we're tossing the same baits. Should I go with a slower gear ratio reel for spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, and swim jigs or is the 7 speed money? How does the Daiwa Tatula XT 7' Medium Regular do for cranking and lipless? Is the Daiwa Millionaire S300 a decent reel for swimbaits? How does the 8' Daiwa Fuego Heavy power Extra Fast action sound for swimbaits? I think it should work for stuff with stout hooks, but treble baits probably won't work out. Tagging @ww2farmer and @ClackerBuzz for their experience with the Daiwa reels and casting rods. Give me your thoughts, fish junkies!

I've fished the St. John's near the Jaguar stadium once before I knew anything about fishing the salt and caught diddly squat. I wanna get up early one morning, very early, and hit Lake Seminole. I don't have a bass boat and prefer my kayaks to the jon so I haven't river fished much this year.

Thanks man!

I would say so. They're all swift water fish and they make for a hell of a fight, and I feel they're on average larger than an Altamaha bass just due to competition from the abundant cats and gar of the Altamaha.

I prefer the Savannah to the Altamaha!

Please PM me the Lord Voldemort reel brand, @NittyGrittyBoy

Definitely going to get a Daiwa Fuego CT and a Tatula CT in my hands and see how they feel. Thanks for the advice, everyone! As far as rods go, I'm still undecided. I'll figure it out.

You got any options that don't cost money? @NYWayfarer and I just switched to Geico so we're not used to paying for things.

The poor cry out so they can ned rig too!

Thanks, @Jelvas! I had a good long look at those Daiwa Tatula CTs and they were in the running beside the Abu Garcia Revo X and the Daiwa Fuego CTs. I should probably spend the little bit on change on a better reel and grab them. I haven't had a look at the St. Croix rods, so I'll give them a gander. Now I'm wondering how visually pleasing they are with a Daiwa Tatula seated on top.

I am a poor man and I'm curious about your poor man's ned rig!

I fish from a Hobie Pro Angler 14 as well as an Outback. My poor jon boat sits under the carport not drinking gas, not having the lights worked on, never having motor troubles, and never worrying about how much charge on the battery it has. I should sell that thing. I love kayak fishing. I've caught everything from redfish and seatrout to king mackerel 6 miles offshore and tons and tons and tons of bass. I'm not the best bass angler, yet, so I haven't dipped into the tournament scene.

Well, someone is going to link the best rod and best reel threads without ever reading this topic because that's the thing to do for some folks, but, for you guys that do read rather than hitting ctrl+v, here's my dilemna. I want to use one brand of reels and one brand of rods because I'm a crazy person. I'd like to keep those reels below the 150 dollar range and the rods as well, and the rods and reels can be different brands. I just want the same brands so I'm matching and more importantly, for maintenance ease as well as the ability to have equipment that tunes in a similar fashion. I also believe having reels that perform close to the same will help me stay away from picking up a "favorite" setup for ease of use so I can broaden the amount of techniques in my arsenal. I want a reel with a 5 or 6 speed on the low end, with a mid range of 6 or 7, and a high speed of 7 to 8. For example, the Revo X is 80 or so bucks on eBay and comes in 5, 6, and 7 speed. The Daiwa Fuego CT comes in 6, 7, and 8 speed. As far as rods go, I fish out of a kayak primarily so I've been thinking of trying out a 6'3" for jerkbaits. That's as short as I want in the rod holders behind me. For everything else, I'm a terribly stiff guy so my wrist movement sucks on the cast and I roll-cast and sidearm a ton. I've got a stack of rods standing straight up in the air, so my overhands are more of a diagonal to not catch a bait on a rod and end up with the mother of all birds nests. So a line of rods from 6-7'6" is key. Can you guys give me a hand with all that?

Glad to hear your boy is doing better, @Bluebasser86!

I'm not here to troll or start an argument, but... Beavers do consume fish. I've never personally seen them do it, but I do know a man that has. There are multiple accounts of it and several articles written about it online, as well as a YouTube video showing one munching away at a salmon head. Much like a red deer biting the head off a nesting seabird to consume it's brain, beavers eat fish brains. Most accounts are of beavers munching on carcasses discarded by bears and humans. I do not personally believe they consume many live fish, but I believe given the chance one will. Mostly, they seem to dine primarily on dead fish, and in particular, the brain. Beavers are the scavenging zombies of the rodent family, it seems.

Welcome to bassresource but more importantly, welcome back to the water!

I've been fishing since I was a little guy but it was primarily in rivers and ponds. Small rivers and ponds, to be exact. Jerkbaits would work year round in the river, the floating rapalas were a bait I grew up on, as well as Texas rigged worms. That was basically it as far as techniques went. My fishing now largely consists of public fishing areas with heavy pressure, so when I found out about weightless senko style worms they quickly became my confidence bait. Now I'm after big bites rather than bites after adding a double digit to my catches, so jigs are my deal. The only hard bait I have confidence in is lipless crankbaits. I'm primarily fishing a jig, followed by a finesse jig, followed by the slow technique that is a Texas rigged YUM Dinger with no bullet. I'm truly a beginner with a year of heavy fishing experience and I keep getting better, but I think I could really up my game by adding some good electronics to the Hobie and finding the least pressured underwater structure on my local ponds and eventually offshore fishing in lakes. I've typed too much at this point. If it's not a jig, Texas rig with a weight, or unweighted worm, my mind pretty much subconsciously identifies it as something that doesn't catch fish. Makes me sad.

Damnit man, I'm about an hour away from the Satilla and 30 minutes from the Altamaha off 169. I've been thinking about throwing the kayak in there once the current is a bit more manageable.

The negativity of the C&R guys is unreaaal. d**n ye, d**n ye to heck, eater of bass! I do, on occasion, eat largemouth along with whatever I can scrounge up for a fish fry. They're few and far between, but very much tradition here.

@BassNJake she's out, then. She said she wouldn't come between me and fishing and what she's done is just unforgivable.

Thanks man, I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. I hope neither of us has to deal with a weekend like that ever again!