It's the darndest thing

[Glaucus]

My fishing buddy is a really solid fishermen, but as far as the status quo for "proper" gear for whatever technique he's fishing, it's all over the place. The man fishes frogs on 10lb mono and doesn't break off or miss many hooksets. It's stunning when you're told you should be using 50lb braid for frogs. He's all about light mono on baitcasters for everything and doesn't seem to struggle. And definitely doesn't just catch dinks.

[Deleted account]

31 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

My fishing buddy is a really solid fishermen, but as far as the status quo for "proper" gear for whatever technique he's fishing, it's all over the place. The man fishes frogs on 10lb mono and doesn't break off or miss many hooksets. It's stunning when you're told you should be using 50lb braid for frogs. He's all about light mono on baitcasters for everything and doesn't seem to struggle. And definitely doesn't just catch dinks.

Never argue with success. Different things work for different folks in all sorts of endeavors. The trick I think is to get enough data points to figure out what works and what doesn't, and ignore what one should be using or how. Sure there are general rules and themes that make sense, but the fool and the sage are often difficult to distinguish, and the difference between the two can be razor thin. 

[BigAngus752]

When I was 12-16yrs old my best friend's dad annually took us to their family land in Missouri to rabbit hunt.  I loved doing that with them every year.  Camping in a barn.  Cooking over a campfire.  One year my friend's great uncle came to hunt with us.  I remember thinking he looked really old.  I was sitting with him at breakfast watching him across the fire with a .410 pump action shotgun at his side.  I wondered why he had it.  I knew you can't hunt rabbits in open prairie and fence lines with a .410.  My buddy had a 20ga and I had a 12ga.  We headed out for the day and great uncle took the pump .410.  I almost laughed.  Later I stopped thinking it was funny.  He took twice as many rabbits as us.  And I don't mean we each had one and he had two.  I mean I took 12-14 rabbits for the day and he took 25 by himself.  He made kills from a distance so far that I didn't know it was possible.  He hit them on a full run.  I guess no one told him you can't hunt rabbits in the open with a .410ga.  

[Brad in Texas]

56 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

When I was 12-16yrs old my best friend's dad annually took us to their family land in Missouri to rabbit hunt.  I loved doing that with them every year.  Camping in a barn.  Cooking over a campfire.  One year my friend's great uncle came to hunt with us.  I remember thinking he looked really old.  I was sitting with him at breakfast watching him across the fire with a .410 pump action shotgun at his side.  I wondered why he had it.  I knew you can't hunt rabbits in open prairie and fence lines with a .410.  My buddy had a 20ga and I had a 12ga.  We headed out for the day and great uncle took the pump .410.  I almost laughed.  Later I stopped thinking it was funny.  He took twice as many rabbits as us.  And I don't mean we each had one and he had two.  I mean I took 12-14 rabbits for the day and he took 25 by himself.  He made kills from a distance so far that I didn't know it was possible.  He hit them on a full run.  I guess no one told him you can't hunt rabbits in the open with a .410ga.  

And, in doing so, he turned the rabbit hunt into a more sporting event! You still see the occasional .410 but not so many it seems to me. It is sort of analogous to using light spinning tackle to catch big bass. There may be easier ways but it is fun to test yourself.  Brad

[Glaucus]

10 minutes ago, Brad in Texas said:

And, in doing so, he turned the rabbit hunt into a more sporting event! You still see the occasional .410 but not so many it seems to me. It is sort of analogous to using light spinning tackle to catch big bass. There may be easier ways but it is fun to test yourself.  Brad

Eh not really. Sometimes you have to finesse the big ones into biting.

[Brad in Texas]

6 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

Eh not really. Sometimes you have to finesse the big ones into biting.

For sure!

 

But, once a 10 lber. is on a ML rod with a 6 lbs. leader, the game gets really interesting.

 

And, sporting!

 

Brad

[Brew City Bass]

I use 12lb copoly on my frog / pitching rod. There just isn't much in my lakes that can get my line cut. Just vegetation, but not enough for me to really be concerned about snapping off. I just patiently pull em out. I let the rod do the work. If I was fishing tourneys, I'd be throwing 50lb braid for sure, but I'm not. I just like how the 12lb copoly feels and it's way cheaper than braid.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I know what I'm "supposed" to use for topwaters, but there's nothing more fun to me than doing battle with a ML rod.  Maybe I lose a few more fish per year.  Totally worth it.

[Bluebasser86]

@gardnerjigman fishes toads on mono or fluoro and it drives me crazy but it works for him as he rarely misses one. Hard to argue with success. 

[Sam]

Once, it is confidence.

 

Confidence in your presentation, technique, line test, bait size, rod and reel.

 

Actually, there are no rules in bass fishing. We think that there are rules, then we hit the water and find out that the bass can't read!!!  

[jbmaine]

He catches fish with this gear because no one ever told him he wasn't supposed to be able to. 

[CrankFate]

18 hours ago, Glaucus said:

My fishing buddy is a really solid fishermen, but as far as the status quo for "proper" gear for whatever technique he's fishing, it's all over the place. The man fishes frogs on 10lb mono and doesn't break off or miss many hooksets. It's stunning when you're told you should be using 50lb braid for frogs. He's all about light mono on baitcasters for everything and doesn't seem to struggle. And definitely doesn't just catch dinks.

Sometimes when this happens, the guy might’ve learned how to fish by actually fishing, instead of copying what someone else wrote in a book that most people say is a must read. Realistically, nearly everything everyone will tell you is going to be wrong. No matter what anyone says, how to cast, retrieve and set a hook is going to be determined by only one thing—body mechanics. That will change the way every rod, reel and artificial bait works in any given persons hands. Those little differences are what catches the fish. Most of fishing is matching the gear to what catches you fish.

[gardnerjigman]

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 12:27 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

@gardnerjigman fishes toads on mono or fluoro and it drives me crazy but it works for him as he rarely misses one. Hard to argue with success. 

I still remember the fear in your eyes the first tournament we fished at Lone Star and big girl came up and choked the horny toad on my mono set up. lol. 

[blckshirt98]

Fish could care less what rod/reel/line you're using.  If it sees something that can fit in it's mouth, it'll eat it.

[CroakHunter]

My fishing partner is the same way. 10Lb mono for Crankbaits and spinner baits. 12Lb for Everything else. He also has his baitcaster tightened so tight that you literally have to cast them to get line to come off the spool. Almost if you loosened the drag all the way and tried to cast that way without pressing your button. He has caught more fish over 7lbs than me, and his pb is nearly 2lbs bigger than mine. It's a fun sight to watch him swarp in a big fish with his 6' rods and 10-12Lb mono whistling in the wind. Here's a good pic of how his "wrong equipment" saved our butts. He landed his bass (far left) with 10 minutes before we had to head to weigh in. It was a 2Lb cull and we won by around 2lbs. 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

On 7/7/2018 at 4:18 PM, reason said:

the fool and the sage are often difficult to distinguish, and the difference between the two can be razor thin. 

This.

[Backroad Angler]

As long as you have line, a reel and a rod. You have the ability to catch any fish and mabye even a PB. These guides and rules were set because they are popular and have worked for many people, doesn't mean you have to follow them to be as successful.

[Jaderose]

I watched a guy walk up to a pond I was fishing one evening a few years ago with a container of worms in his hand.  He had nothing else.  He obviously didn't have much money and was deaf.  He asked me (he could speak and read lips) if I had some extra line, a hook and a bobber.  I had all three and gave it to him.  He tied that all on a STICK and proceeded to out fish me by a wide margin.  Fish don't care what gear you got.  As long as you have the skill to pull them out with what you got, it's all good.