islandbass

I agree. I mean what you supposed to do? Fish behind the boater at all times? Sure, okay. His boat his rules, I get that. If he said those exact words to me about fishing one side and then the other, I would have interpreted it precisely how you did. Sounds like he was upset you caught “his” bass. Good for you. I hope he didn’t win the tournament. i can see that there is no right or wrong in as much as the boat owner dictates and lays down the ground rules CLEARLY beforehand.

WRB pretty much covered what I would suspect as the culprits with regard to maybe slightly dull jugs or perhaps not the appropriate wire size. The rod you described is something I think suits my fishing style has piqued my bait monkey radar. Can you tell me the model number and is it two piece?

I would say you had an excellent birthday anniversary.

I am sorry you got taken. That is so upsetting.

Indeed. However, if my ds rig is on a casting rod, I won’t hesitate to use it. I think it’s great you had the observation skills to notice what you did. It’s the mark and trait the benefits any angler a lot.

I choose a mono that is the near equivalent to the braid. So if I have 40# braid, I will use 10# mono. The reason is simple. If the reel holds 200 yards of 10# mono, I will need to fill the spool about 1/4 full, which will be about 50 yards of mono. The rest will be my 150 yard spool of braid. I hope you don't run into issues with line dig. This is usually an issue for braid of 20# or less on casting reels.

If you don't want to know what line dig is, stick with 40# braid and up. Line dig is real on a reel, lol.

I think you were as informed as could be, so don't be too hard on yourself. The curado in general is an everyday reel and a true workhorse. It seems you just need to up to working standard although regrettably, it wasn't out of the box. That happens from any reel maker. It should still be under warranty. It's one of the things I personally don't like about buying sight unseen. I prefer to hold the reel I want to buy in hand. However, that is beside the point. No reel is fun to use if it is not in prime or optimal working condition. Get that curado back up to speed, or exchange it at the store for one that is working right. The curado, in whatever iteration is a true work horse. I'm just sorry it didn't work well out of the box for you.

Since a rod's power can vary between manufacturers, generally speaking, mediums should be fine for treble hook lures (cranks, topwaters, jerks) and even lighter wire single hook lures. I think you're alright that spinning set up serving that role. I think MH power rod and whatever reel you want to use will be a decent first setup. You might suffer in the frog department, but one rod can't do everything and still be a good rod. Besides, it's all the bait monkey needs to coax you to eventually fill in the H powered rod in your arsenal. I don't have an H rod in my arsenal because my situation doesn't have need for one yet, but I'd still want one, and that's messed up, lol.

This, too. Also, when every cast is a bomb cast and fishing is slow, I might play games... dumb games 1) You cannot put thumb onto spool until the instant the lure hits the water. 2) Make the long bomb cast. Look around, basically anywhere except at the spool, look cool, non-chalant, even yawn, and put thumb to the spool based solely on the sound of the spool (Old VBS brakes makes this a breeze). Can also be played in the dark in the cul de sac but minus a long bomb cast. Use the force and wield rod like a light saber. What I'd like to try but since I am solo, toss something up in the air like a frisbee and try to nail it with a lead weight. Kind of like skeet shooting but with rod and reel. I am sure I can't be the first one to think of this. Now if these aren't weird, I don't know what is. Yup. That has led me to believe there are two targets. The "intended" target where you want your bait to be at the lake bottom and the "projected" target, which is the spot you want to cast so that your lure lands at the intended location. The projected target is a bit passed the intended target. You might have to pull off some line with the spool disengaged to compensate and adjust when needed. Something incidentally that a spinning reel doesn't suffer from.

I've heard stories of shimanos doing this in extreme wet weather, but the problem seemed sporadic and infrequent. This was quite some time ago, but I've fished such conditions and not yet experienced it with my symetre. Thanks for sharing this information.

Yup, that is what I also do. Magazines also work.

Nice! Glad you got the handle on the "correct" side, lol (I prefer LH reels but can fish both). Time to go to town!

I would bet, based on 6th grade science knowledge, that it would be gases released from the bottom coming up, or somebody scuba diving. It does not necessarily mean a fish caused those bubbles.

The bass made a pact. Pack Leader: “If Glaucus pays us a visit, let’s all agree not to atttack top water lure, hee, hee, hee.”” Pack Members: “Yes, boss.” Pack Leader: “Shhhh! He just arrived! Remember... Stick to the plan.” On my home lake they seem to hit top water around the dock I fish in the fall. You might get one in the spring and another in the summer, but that is it. I think those bass also made a pact against me, lol.

Smallest imho definitely fight harder than their largie counterparts and I love that about them. To me, the large lmbs I’ve might fight hard in the beginning but taper off quickly and almost seem like they’re playing dead. And that is fine because it makes them easier to lip, lol. I think another reason smallies might seem to fight harder is that we tend to use lighter powered rods. One story about my dad hooking into a smallie. He got my attention and pointed to his rod tip. Something was nibbling and the tip was bobbing and the slam! The rod tip bent down so hard I thought he might have had 30lb catfish or salmon on. My heart was pumping with excitement as I waited for him to land it. Forget me, me dad was holding on for dear life. Man, it was a smallmouth that was just a little longer than the size of my hand, lol. We were both laughing so hard and wondered how such a small fish put up a fight like that. Pound for pound smallies kick phanny over the lmb counterparts in general.

It looks to me that although your rod is bent, it didn’t seem that it got to the meat or backbone of your rod to drive the treble home. If not, that’s the thing with top water too. You miss and they miss too.

Congrats! At least you have the evidence because we all know anglers tell the tallest tales, lol. The word snag carries a very negative connotation in the Pac NW also, but I knew what you meant.

From what you described, it could be smaller fish nibbling, trying to eat your bait, reminiscent of machine gun tapping. That “weightless” and pull sensation are definitely takes IF you know you aren’t the cause. I am am guessing you are taking just a wee bit too long to decide to set the hook. The instant you feel either of those sensation set the hook. Faster reaction time is attained through repetition. Don’t worry we all go through this especially at the beginning. I envision that weightless sensation as the fish takes the bait and swims toward you. The line tension is effectively gone as a result. Start reeling quickly, lol. that eventual pull is a take and if there is enough tension, we feel the tug. This sensation is delayed if the line was too slack during the take but comes to pass as the slack dimishes. This diminishment can be the fish moving away or you reeling up the slack or a combination of both. Sadly, I think we all miss more strikes than we can imagine. There is footage of bass and other fish sucking baits in and spitting it out without us even knowing. That is why we need to set the hook asap. One last thing... lose that vanish line. You’re literally playing roulette, lol. I pray you have a decent batch. I recommend you look up posts about vanish. It is a fitting name for this line. I call it poof. Cause that is what the fish will do... POOF!! And the fish on the line vanishes, lol.

A 30 sized reel is huge for braid that small. Since you're not wanting to use a backing, then you should think about buying a bulk spool of braid. 300 yds of 10# braid probably will not spill a 30 sized reel. You have to account that 10# test has the mono equivalent diameter of about 2# test and a 30 sized reel probably holds 150 yds of 10# mono a a rough guess. The only braid I've used is old school power pro.Great line.

You are fine with the size 30. Even if the BG is “heavier” than other reels in its class you’re young and I’m sure you’re not a weight weenie. This 30 size BG could also serve you in the salt where the extra line capacity can come in handy if you have opportunities to fish in the salt. The size of the spool should not affect how a reel fishes so lay those worries to rest. Now about the military, if it’s not too late, you might want to consider joining the Air Force. All branches know that the USAF has the best bases hands down, lol. Kidding aside, thanks for serving.

Maybe some lemon joy. Yup, a specific dish soap brand that some anglers in my neck of the woods swear by to get rid of the fishy smell from their gear and clean them too. One of my rods has has that foam too so I’ll be watching this thread. Great question!

I like your scientific approach, lol. Personally, I don’t care one way of the other if fc line floats or sinks. Fortunately, we can look to science to dispel the heresay of angler A vs. angler B whether line in question floats or not. All we we need to do is find the density or better yet find the specific gravity of fc line. If I recall fc’s chemical name, it is something like Polyvinylidene Difluoride or something close to this. I think it has a specific gravity of 1.73 gr/ml and I wonder how I can recall stupid bits of info on this on the fly but can’t remember where I left my keys. It’s so irritating. Anyway, we know temperature affects water density so if we wanted to be anal about it we could but I won’t go that far. If the density of fc line is greater than 1 (this is the density of water at 4 C or 39.2 degrees F), then it should sink in water. But I’ll leave the finding of that equation to the rest of you and google. Once you have the equation, it’s simple algebra from that point. I need to spend some time finding my keys so I can buy pizza for dinner.

I’m also a bank angler and drop shot is my most productive technique for bass and many other species. Drop shot or go home, lol. Hopefully, that is enough to get you motivated to try it, and many other techniques. Most techniques fished from a boat can also be done from the bank.

I have a corolla and it can handle 7’ Rod’s if you lower the back seats and place the rods in the middle. The tips will be up front with you nearly riding shotgun, lol this is the one plus of 2-piece rods, the storage convenience factor. As for kayak fishing I could only guess a longer rod is probably better generally speaking. Two things I’d do is check out “kayak” rods and see what their average lengths companies use. This will give you at least an idea. The other is to wait for input for our kayak fishing brethren here. If you could, please report back on that Daiwa BG. I’ve been eyeing it for the longest time but Not yet willing to pull the trigger.