islandbass

I don’t know because I didn’t have a scale. I lined her up intentionally with my right shoulder for perspective. Caught her on a Cotton Cordell.

What are you trying to do? Wake up my bait monkey, lol? ? The lures you mention I am going to focus on the season. Dare I say, which model? update: never mind. You listed it at the bottom of your post.

Sorry to hear this, blu. I know someone who bought a two person kayak and he invited me to join him. I declined because I couldn’t find my life vest and was surprised to learn he doesn’t use one. It didn’t seem right to me. I almost convinced myself that it would be okay to go with him anyway and what a tempting opportunity for someone who is shorebound. My jimini cricket was relentless and sounded the red flag alarm and in the end, I managed to convince him that we should fish from the shore. I felt so relieved. He outfished me 8-4 but the potential for disaster with completely averted. I’ll gladly accept a loss like this every time.

You provided great advice, but that was not the problem. JediAmoeba called it right. It is clear that the arm of the handle was tightened up but not in the correct position. The handle should be pointing away from the reel when it is in the proper position. In the picture, the handle (paddle part the fingers hold during the retrieve) is actually parallel to the spinning with respect to the rod. The handle should look like this. Sorry I couldn’t post a pic. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=images+of+spinning+reels&t=iphone&iax=images&ia=images

You have a good mystery on your hands, but I believe in general, that FC is supposed to be good at not absorbing water. Just my opinion, but I think the line should have broken in your 10# example because a knot was tied. When properly tied, I think the palomar is roughly comes in at 90%. That would suggest to me that it would break when exceeds 9 lbs. Update: I typed my response before reading WRB's post. I find the 80% knot strength retention surprising to be the expectation.

I didn't either. As a matter of fact the only reason I used stren 14# blue was because it was the only line I had greater than 10# test and less than 20 and I really wanted to use 12. It was also at least 9-10 years old too, used for a season of saltwater salmon fishing. The line was kept in a dark place the whole time so I wasn't worried about its age. I could not keep the bass off. The first outing I caught 5 bass in like 15 minutes. Thought it was a fluke. 5 bass in 15 vs. 0 bass in 14 years. I tried mono of many tests, and braid... Zero, zip, nada. I am open to hear why this mono color and this strength of line could be the difference. Two different lakes/ponds too. I caught a bass in every 15 minute stint in which I used a spinnerbait. The mystery is afoot.

If you have them close by, check a local outlet mall. Outlet stores tend to sell the same shoes at a discounted price than the regular mall. The typical $120 shoe at the mall will probably be in the $60-90 range. Outlet malls are the place regular stores attempt to clear the inventories that didn’t sell at full (fool) MSRP prices.

Still applies. Anything 30# and up probably won't yield line dig. If you need distance in your casts, throw 1/8oz things with 12# mono is not ideal so 50# braid might follow suit. With that said, this may well be your excuse to expand your arsenal, lol.

That was me for 14 years! Inline spinners, yes. Spinnerbaits? I’d be dead if my life depended on catching a bass on a spinnerbait until last year. I did everything just as you. Oddly enough the thing that made a difference was a change in my line. I had 14# stren (talk about old school, lol) fluorescent blue. That was the difference. When I ran low and didn’t have any fluorescent blue line, the catching stopped again. Give it a try. My spinnerbait rig has 14# test but it isn’t fl blue and guess what... no spinnerbait bass yet this season, lol. I’m switching to fluorescent blue which I found finally.

Until last year spinnerbaits and buzzbait.... for 14 years. Last year I couldn’t keep them off of them. @diversity210: Hang in there on those spinnerbaits. Try a 3/8-1/2oz version with a willow and Colorado or double willow. Now don’t run me out of town. Honestly, how could any man call himself a bass angler and NOT catch a bass on it... drum roll, please... JIG-n-PIG Yup, I admit it. I’m talking the traditional deal. I’ve come close. Now jig and something else like a worm, yes, but not the jig-n-pig. Wah, wah, wah, and this piggy had none and cried all the way home. With regard to traditional bass catching lures, I don’t think mine could be beat.

I’m with jimmy joe. Do you know what line dig is? Under some exertion braid on a spool will “dig into itself” anytime sufficient pressure is applied to the line. This line dig really shows itself in braid 20# and less. It significantly decreases by 30#. And is no longer a show stopping problem by 40# braid. Its not even a true birds nest in the traditional sense. The line is stuck on itself and as it tries to go out on the cast it slows the spool and hence your nesting. If you step up to at least 30# braid, this issue should disappear.

Hope you get back sooner than later.

Those things look terrible. I’ll do you a favor and offer to take them off your hands for free because no self-respecting bass angler would use those things. Here’s my address... Honestly, those look things look like bass killers. I love fishing cranks. Offer still stands, lol.

There one scenario it won’t. Before I go further a little bit of slack is acceptable but not excessive slack. Detecting a strike with too much slack is a great challenge because the line’s ability to transmit feedback a vibration to us is limited and compromised. This is when you will need to have other clues that are indirect and not revealed by the line via vibration to provide you the missing pieces of the puzzle that suggest a bite. Case 1 - Working a cadence once you’re tuned to your cadence, as already mentioned. Anything that disrupts your cadence is likely to be a strike. I think the more descriptive word is it’s likely to be a take. I say this because they might nonchalantly take your bite instead of giving a viscous strike. Case 2 - On the dead stick This what I am sharing from my experience and I might not be able to describe it well but this is to answer your question and to illustrate the importance of not having excessive slack. For lack of a better term, let’s call it semi-slack. So there is a bit of slack but it is something you can instantly correct with a mere couple of inches of your rod tip moving. Say you pop the bait off the bottom and let it fall back to the bottom. You are aware of how much slack you have in your line and know how much you need to move your rod to get your line taut. You deadstick it for a bit and as you start move the bait you noticed your line is still slack... Well son, you’d better be reeling up the slack as fast as a bandit gets out of dodge because that fish took your bait and is swimming toward you, lol. Had the fish taken the bait and moved in any other direction, it would be revealed to you by your line becoming taut with no input given by you. In all these indirect cases, it can be summed up as something different changed your retrieve equation and you just have to be ready. You’ll get better with experience that can only be gained by your own personal experiences that get deposited into your knowledge bank.

If the excellent advice offered still doesn’t help, keep in mind that not all fc lines are equal in their suppleness. Some are hard and “wiry” and springy out of the gate while others are supple and more manageable. I would never go higher than 6# test and the best “supple” fc line I’ve used that works great on spinning reels say in the 2000-3000 class is 6# invisx. I’ve heard great stuff about tatsu but I haven’t gotten around to trying it. Save the wiry fcs for casting reels and use only fc lines that are a little more supple and manageable on spinning reel like invisx.

Sometimes I think there are occasions we set the hook but our hook was not in position to get set. Lets say the bass partially inhaled a bait like a dinger such that the part it is latched on to does not have the hook. I don't care how good of a hook set you have, you’re going to miss. Some even hold on tight enough to fight with their mouths but it is all over when they open up. Conclusion: fish was on but not by the hook. As for hard jerk baits, I personally witnessed the horror of watching my bait get struck by bass in the dead center yet somehow they evaded the trebles. Come on, bass!! Give me some love. ?

Exact same for me almost all the time but I live in Seattle so I don’t have an excuse, lol. And now, I’m too busy fish with work and other duties for now

Are you using braid without any kind of backing? Braid is so slick that unless a spool is “braid ready,” you will need a backing to prevent it from slipping during the retrieve. Mono and tape are the two most common ways to address this. Let us know.

Try to incorporate the drop shot to your arsenal.

Now that is what fishing is about. Thanks, G. Since I can’t go fishing anytime soon vicarious fishing is the only left to sustain me.

Looking forward to reading your reports. Go get’em!!

All it takes is one imperfection (like a kink or nick) in your line that you did not detect and remove. The number of birds nest we undo, every time we yank on the line to free it, wear and tear every time the line touches grass, rock and other things, a poorly tied knot can also weaken the line right above it during the cinch, etc. No line is free from this. So unless we’re talking about vanish, surprising line breaks imho, are user initiated. Not pointing a finger at you. Now if it happened like 3 times and you know the line is new and fresh, that’s a different story.

That sounds like a replacement program and very similar to lamiglas when I did a similar my fault deal. It was $75 but here’s the kicker. I could get the same rod OR any other rod in their line up. ANY. I was such an idiot. I could have gotten their equivalent of the GLX but I was feeling guilty so I got their certified pro drop shot special. Yeah, people seem to either associate a rod replacement program with a lifetime warranty which has already been explained. They’re not the same. Im of the camp if you get at least 3 years out of a rod and it breaks chances are I did something likely inadvertently and and unknown to damage it.

That sucks. Perhaps a call to the dnr so that they can handle that

It’s up to you to take that Muskie out. However, because I also don’t believe it wasn’t the Muskies fault for being placed there, I would research if there are any nearby lakes the legally reside and release it there. If this were me, I’d now have an excuse to buy a large cooler because I don’t have one but wouldn’t mind having one for it’s safe transport. And an excuse to buy Mepps musky spinners to add to my arsenal of hand made ones.