islandbass

I would recommend using for mono both baitcasters until you’ve become familiar with them. Newbies, unless they wish to suffer, intentionally or not, will try to learn with braid 30# or less. Just speaking from experience, lol. The last thing a newbie will want to deal with when learning to use a bc reel is Line dig, which can happen with braid definitely 20# or less and occasionally with 30#. I ruined with my first cast ever with a bc reel a new role of 30# power pro on my very first cast. It was so bad that I had to cut it off. It didn’t help that I didn’t realize all of my vbs brakes on my curado 201bsf were off. ?? 10-14# mono is great to learn on.

Minimalist here wrt lures and tackle. Although I might carry up 3 rods, 1 bc, spinning and UL, my rod quiver allows me to travel efficiently and unemcumbered. One tackle bag that contains a little of everything. There is one downside to the minimalist approach and that is sometimes what you have on hand is not what the fish want. And you start thinking internally, #€~%>~%!! I knew I should have brought this or that, lol.

Could have fooled me, lol. I’ve caught bass on many color schemes associated with crankbaits. Rapala, Cotton Cordell and my home made crank and jerk baits are the only ones that seem to work best for me. I like others too but many are practically zeroes, but gosh darnet, they sure caught me. the chromes and silvers, especially with a black top, chartreuses, parrot, bass and rainbow trout schemes too. One other thing that I think gets overlooked because we are so accustomed to focusing on color — and that is the crankbait’s wobble. Some are wide and others are tight and others yet are somewhere in between. I have observed that bass in my lakes seem to be more receptive to those with a wider wobble, winter or not. Not sure why.

Thanks for a great write up, A-Jay. The plausibility is great and makes a heck of a lot of sense — and because you formulated it based off experience, that bears great weight to me. I have been focusing a lot on weighted and unweighted T-rigs this season and as a result, treble hook lures in my arsenal have taken a back seat. With that said, my initial approach to treble replacement was just, “buy a quality treble (gamakatsu, owner, vmc, mustard, etc.) of the same size and be done with it. I also arrived at the conclusion of going shorter shank in cases trebles get caught up on each other. The next time I replace trebles I’ll be keeping this post in mind.

I guess I have to thank myself then, lol. I’m self taught. However, and I’ll cherish this until the day I die. I took my dad fishing and taught him how to fish. It is a small token of gratitude since he taught the other things in life.

Unless it has some sentimental value to you and it probably doesn’t, Sometimes it’s just better to cut your losses — especially if you got a full refund. I probably would keep the guides and use from the base to the first guide as something to help me spool my reels.

As angler that has until recently been more on the finesse side of bass fishing and never cranked anything deeper than a DT10, I can’t recall being ultra fatigued from bass fishing. However jigging heavy lures like buzz bombs, lead type jigging spoons for hours with a minimum 8’6” rod for salmon will put a hurt on you such that you’ll force yourself to switch hit just to keep going.

Welcome, and we do put up with Californians, lol. Just kidding, of course! There are a good number of folks from Cali. Glad you’re here. ?

I don’t know! Never gave it much thought. Dang it, now I need to find out the next time I catch a fish, and I might lose it as a result wondering which hand will lip the bass. Being right hand dominant, I would guess the same as the OP. By the way, it is ?% inappropriate to ask a cabin fever/winter type of question in where you’d have a ton of time to think about it in the summer. I might have to report this topic to Glenn or one of the mods. ??

During the week, I keep it to lakes in the vicinity. If liberty permits, I might venture a bit farther if the gut feeling says to. The thing about bank fishing when it’s good one day and tough the next day, it may not be directly due to the pressure we put on the bass but it’s definitely part of the equation. I think slower days are more a function of not being able to get to them when they are not in the spots we have access too. simple as that. You can’t catch what isn’t there. Also, the lm bass in my lakes don’t seem to care for patterns. If I catch one on a senko for example, I’ll be lucky if another bass hits the senko again. Even if the other bass follow. It’s as if the first one caught released a pheromone signaling danger, stay away, lol. And if a “pattern” is “established”, maybe 3 bass and that is it and this is rare for me. Makes me want to leave WA for a state with bass that follow patterns, lol.

Luckily, that is compensated for by “thumb drag” lol. I’ve had it happen occasionally but since I didn’t know any better I thought that was normal. It has never cost me a fish. Come to think of it, maybe my drag slippage is the result of setting my drag lighter than I thought.

I’ve experienced that with crankbaits. I’ve seen with my own eye bass knock my lure with a full smack right between the trebles. Their mouths were closed too. It seemed like a defensive move to repel or shoo something away vs. attack something. The weird thing was they did it completely avoiding the trebles like Neo avoiding bullets. I imagine if they did the same thing to a spinnerbait, they’d avoid the hook. In this situation a trailer hook might not have helped. I’ll best guess in both cases something was off about the lure color or action that perhaps made the bass react it’s an intruder vs. a meal.

Thanks for sharing. ??

Yup. I definitely use those too. But at home, if I have to toss some, I just put it in the trash. Until now I didn’t give it much thought. Is there a better place to dispose of it?

Awesome! Took 14 seasons to finally catch a bass in a spinnerbait so you’re doing quite well. That blade combo is solid. When you get the chance, try to and another producer, and that is the double willow. It is usually a combination of a large willow and a smaller willow blade. I am seriously considering making my own from pre-made spinnerbait jig heads and customize skirt material and blades.

I do alright. I ain’t the best but I ain’t the worst either. I probably hit my intended target 80% of the time. However, I am a master of a little known subset of precision casting. Since I suffer from this the most I’ll dub it the IB precision cast and it typically happens when I am underhand casting a spinning rig Let’s say my intended was a spot 40’ away. I will be online with the target but miss it short by about 2’. Sometimes it will bother me such that I immediately reel back the lure and re-cast. And guess what? I will missing my intended target precisely by that same 2’ like 5 times in a row. That is IB precision casting. Super precise, but not the intended target. ? I look okay on the outside but inside I’m steaming like Yosemite Sam gets when Bugs riles him up, lol. I bet the bass are laughing too. Bass: “Come on, IB. I ain’t hitting your t-rigged senko if you’re pitchin’ it that short. I have a rep to protect. One more miss, and I’m outta here, lol.”

For me, just a tad above too many. I have quantity and none super high end. Also, nothing multiple (but that would be nice) for any technique. I probably have 15 rods to cover everything from blue gill and bass to salmon and steelhead. And as mentioned, so many never see the light of day. Admittedly none of my true bass rods have seen any action in the past 2-3 seasons because the 2-piece trunk rods have been used out of convenience and practicality. Therefore, in conclusion, I would say to the OP that he is not alone, lol.

Welcome from the Pac NW!

Maybe, if it’s possible, have your next custom build it’s replacement with the same power hump. I don’t yet have rod building skills but I imagine as one who has built poppers, prop baits, crankbaits, and minnow type baits, I would assume that shaping cork to make a power hump to not be too difficult, ie, not any harder than shaping a wooden body. Its only cost is a little bit of elbow grease. Anyway, that’s what I’d do if I had the skills. Imagine that - your new power hump handle rod with the thread colors, guides, and blank of your choice. Sounds like a great plan to me.

That is awesome. Ain’t no way that won’t work. ???

Wow, Glenn, that’s incredible. Thanks!!! ???

Congrats! You face says it all. ??

Ain’t that the truth, lol. Dryest summer I can recall 30+ years living in Seahawk/Kraken/Sounder City, lol. ?

Wow. What killed them? Hopefully natural causes and not angler caused?

Welcome, fellow Washingtonian but from the western end!