The Baron

I’ve had similar issues with my Stradic 2500. Silent drag, then no drag or slipping. I lifted the spool to check the clicker and saw nothing wrong, so put it back together and it was miraculously fine for a 1/2 day. Took it apart further, which fixed it. Put it back on the rod and tied up a drop shot. Literally put it in the garage working, picked it up to go the next morning and it has no drag before I even left home. It’s now boxed up to go to Shimano. Most expensive spinning reel I have and it’s been the most disappointing. ?

Nice! Interesting, because my biggest largemouth of Saturday (the "est" is key... "big", not so much. lol) came on a BPS bargain bin popper as well - mine's gold and black, about 4" long. Funniest part is it was my first cast after tying it on and I didn't adjust my brakes quite right, so I got a minor backlash and my cast got yanked at only about 20ft. The lure sat for 5-7 seconds as I started clearing that, when the fish hit it. I couldn't reel to retrieve, so I had to handline him in. lol

My son and I got out on a small back lake Saturday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day and I had a great outing, catching probably 25-30 largemouth on buzzbaits, popper, spook and a squarebill. Unfortunately, my son struggled and had only a couple of hits but hooked nothing. He was using the exact same setups as me (I’d catch a few, then we’d trade rods/lures… then I’d catch a few and him none, then switch again… ). He got pretty frustrated and gave up a few times. I tried not fishing a bit and slowly sneaking him around the lake coaching but the fish gods were just not having it. Finally, after fishing from about 2pm-6:30pm he said he’d try from shore while I was packing up the gear (seems a 12 year old will do anything to get out of working. lol). Lo and behold, he caught one - he was a very happy clam and I was very proud for him to have persevered and beat the skunk. Oddly, he was fishing a buzzbait and had let it sink when he got bit - I guess he was just meant to catch that one. So, I had a great day but it was a bit tarnished by my buddy’s struggles. I was waiting for a “good” fish to take photos, but I didn’t get any over about 1.5# (the fish my son caught is pretty typical of my whole day, with plenty smaller).

I’m eyeing up one of the Abu Ike Signature Delay series baitcasting rods. It’s their model MIKECW64-5, which is a 6’4” Medium/moderate-fast glass crankbait rod. I’m thinking this might serve well as a squarebill/shallow crankbait/popper rod for canoe fishing. Does anyone have this rod, or a similar rod from the same series? Any thoughts on whether a 6’4” rod would be too short if I was lucky enough to snag a “good” bass (which is 3lbs+, in my world)?

We’re further north, in SE Ontario. Our weeds have died off substantially, with most of the shallow weeds turned brown and their floating tops have submerged. The lily pads are sinking now too, and our bass seem to have pulled out of the shallow/brown weeds and into deeper water that still has some green weeds/weed edges. We were in some shallow bays yesterday and the dying weeds have all slumped down into a solid brown mess that was deeper than my canoe paddle on the bottom. My perception is a frog excels in lily pads/floating grass mats and those are dying off quickly. Lures with more surface commotion (buzzbait, plopper, spook) seem to work better over the deeper water/weeds. I’m not sure if that’s because they better imitate a wounded baitfish (which they’re targeting more now) or if the noise just appeals to a hungry fall bass.

A spook, for sure. My recent favourite is a Yo-Zuri 3D pencil popper 100mm. I run it on 30# braid with a 12# mono leader on an Okuma EVX MH / mod-fast crankbait rod. It casts great and I find the walking action just as fascinating as the fish do. I prefer the double hook spooks to the triples - just that much less to remove or get mixed up in the net on a good ‘er. That said, I tried buzzbaits for the first time yesterday. I will definitely be throwing those again!

Well, I had a great day. Picked up 2 Booyah buzzbaits - 1 black and 1 white. All the store had were 3/8oz. which was disappointing, but once we were fishing I was glad because these were plenty heavy enough for me. I had some blue/black toads so added a trailer to the black one, but fished the white without for comparison. The bass had no clear preference and I caught about 8-10 on each in the afternoon. I did find the black casted further (extra weight of the trailer) and also rose up quicker/could be retrieved slower due to the trailer holding it up (although, that could just be my perception as the black was on a much higher speed reel). I’ll be buying some white trailers - probably a paddle tail (any recommendations on size/brand?). I’ve got no baseline, but hookup and landing percentage was very high and it felt like the MH/F rod was a good fit. The 8.3:1 reel on my St. Croix BassX was my preference over the 6.8:1 we had on our Duckett rod. The mention of wind and and backlash is true. While we had no serious issues, there was some tuning and casting with or into the wind were different experiences. Unfortunately, none of the fish caught were over maybe 1.5#. I kept waiting for a “decent” one for a photo opp to share, but then we were done and I realized I hadn’t taken any fish pics - I was just having too much fun.? Thank you all for the input and advice - it was a big help.

We’re hitting a small (est. 50 acre) lake tomorrow for largemouth (no smallmouth in this lake, which is unusual up here in SE Ontario). The lake is more or less oval, with a creek in/out at opposite ends. I think the max depth is 12-15 feet, but that’s a guesstimate. I’m planning to just cover the whole lake to find them, expecting that near the creeks will be the spot. I’m planning to grab a couple Booyah buzzbaits in the morning on our way out (selection is limited up here and I know the local store stocks some Booyah). I’ve never fished a buzzbait, so have many questions…. - what weight should I buy? - is a trailer “required”? What trailer? - is 40# braid ok? Do I need a leader? - I’ve got option of a couple 7’-7’1” MH/F rods or a 7’ MH/moderate Okuma EVX crankbait rod - is one a much better choice over the other? - colours… black or white, I presume? Thanks to YouTube, I’m comfortable with how to fish the buzzbait, I just want to show up with the right tools.

Welcome!

Green Pumpkin and Junebug seem to work well here for me. I’ve tried Bubblegum with no luck, which confuses a couple buddies who told me it’s a color I need to have/use. ?‍♂️

Good to hear! Every great day of fishing starts with a clean butt. ?

I prefer how I feel at the end of the day, when I’ve been outdoors and active. The challenge of fishing is a great reason to do so. I’m a gear/tackle junky too - I need to overdue everything… and bass fishing is very fertile ground for someone like me. lol Beyond all that, the feeling of a fish (especially a good one) on the line is hard to beat.?

This was going to be my general comment. I found a reel/line/rod/bait combo on the weekend that I love. It’s a good feeling.

Dropshot with a MaxScent flatworm or flat nose minnow. I’m coming back in after a very long break in fishing, so only learned about drop shot a few years ago. I sure wish I knew about it when I was a kid (although, that was 30+ years ago, so no one did. lol). It’s produced so well for us, I need to force myself to use/learn other stuff. I’m getting there, but I’m always ready to grab the dropshot if I need to feel a fish.?

That’s very interesting to read. My son landed a beauty 5lb. 7oz. smallie from shore this summer in Lake Ontario. His drag was a bit light and the fish was very played out by the time we landed it. It was super dark. A buddy said that’s from eating gobies, but most smallies on Lake O./the St. Lawrence are gorging on gobies but still pretty light. Now I’m wondering if the fish was dark from being played out. We did carefully revived the fish and it swam off fine, albeit slowly, after a couple minutes.

Welcome! Thank you for your service. I’ve re-entered the sport myself, after a nearly 30-year hiatus. “Tackle… more tackle… and more tackle” and skunked outings is something I can definitely relate to. ? It’s a lot of fun to keep making progress though.

Our frog setup is a 7’ MH/F Duckett, with 40# braid. We throw around pads and grass - no really heavy mat up here to drag them out of. I’m quite happy with our setup at MH so I’m setting up another with a St. Croix BassX 7’ MH so my son and I don’t have to fight over the one when we’re on a good frog spot. lol

Not that I’m aware of. We’re in central/eastern Ontario, Canada. Thankfully, your delicious bourbon does make its way up here. But I’ve never even heard of a Kentucky bass.

Have you ever seen a smallmouth this orange? This was my last cast of the afternoon and he came up off a shallow rock shoal to smack a walking bait. Neither my buddy nor I recall ever seeing one this orange, but we did notice looking down that the rocks were a similar color, maybe due to high iron in the water. This is from a small, somewhat remote lake in Ontario. The photo has not been altered and he was every bit as orange in hand.

@Kellss I’m in the same boat… a borrowed one. ? Only get to boat fish when we’re at a buddy’s cottage or my Dads place, where we have use of a tinner. A fishing boat is top of our wish list here. Hopefully COVID pricing will settle down and we can find something modest. Fishing has been generally tough here too, with poor results with hard baits. Topwater and frogs have been decent. For any water over 8-10ft, try a dropshot and slow things right down around any structure. A MaxScent minnow or flatworm (if you can find them) for smallmouth or drop shot/wacky rig a senko for largemouth. If fishing shallow, a 5” wacky rigged weightless senko is usually a good bet.

Had a great day yesterday. Did a dawn-dusk canoe/portage trip into a back lake with a buddy. He showed me how to fish structure, incl. hauling a 5# largemouth off a downed tree. We thoroughly worked a big log that ran down a steep slope 20+ft of water and he broke off what he guesstimated was 6#+ at the boat (8# fluoro, working a drop shot). It did a wallowing jump right at the canoe and it was massive - visibly bigger than his 5#. He needed a moment after that but laughed it off. lol I caught quite a few small bass and a handful of decent ones including my PB largemouth off that big log that we estimated at 3# and some change. I grew up catching smallmouth and have really only started targeting largemouth this year, and what I learned yesterday will really help me on future trips. As the sun was going down I tied on a brand new 100mm Yo Zuri 3D Pencil Popper that I really wanted to try, and tossed it out over a hard rock shoal. Time was running out as we didn’t want to be walking the 3/4 mile out in the dark, so I said “OK, last cast” and cranked it out. I walked it maybe 10ft. and it got whacked at but missed, then 10ft. later hooked up the orange-est smallmouth I’ve ever seen. I have not done any adjustment to the photo attached, but would say he was even more orange in person. It was certainly a great day!

Kellss… how’s you do on Pigeon Lake?

I’m looking for a higher gear ratio baitcaster and a local fella has an Abu Garcia Revo Ike 8:1 for sale at a decent price. Is this a good reel? The fancy purple makes me worry it’s just a premium price for flashy looks.

Nice grouper in that first pic.??

We added a couple more spots to our shore fishing menu this weekend. Finally got a hook into one on a hollow body frog, then went for a short walk-in at a small lake and my son hooked and landed his first ever on a spinnerbait. After catching a few on a TR worm, I decided to toss a dropshot out into a bit deeper water and caught a decent one - my son did the honors of landing it for me and holding it for a photo. Gotta start somewhere size-wise and sharing these “firsts” together is a lot of fun. ?