Hammer 4

4" Senco whacky rigged come close enough..

That is one Big Grouper.

Have used the uni knot a few times, mostly use a San Diego jam knot. Neither have failed me yet.

Nice fish...Umm, the 2 bottom pic's your upside down...

If your near The Long Fin tackle store, give them a try. Good guys and they carry a TON of stuff.

Welcome from another avid golfer.

While it is more effective from a boat, you can use a dropshot from shore. All the lakes you've fished at, I've caught fish with a dropshot. Finding the right spot as avoid super shallow water is a good idea. IIRC, I rigged it so the hook was about 12 to 18" from the weight, depending on conditions, so experiment. I prefer nose hooking a worm. On the hookset, do a sweeping motion, vs. jacking the fish. Worms I like are 4 to 6" Roboworms in shad colors MM, Arron's Magic, and Morning Dawn. There are other good DS baits out there, maybe goggle them to see what you may like.

CONGRATZ !!!!!!!!!!! I have 3 grand kids. And yes, life is good..

^^^^ This, Tom is very knowledgeable, what he says works. I would just add this to what he offered. When things are really tough, I use a spinning rig with 6 or 8 lb fluro, you can use mono. Tie on a #1 dropshot hook, add a 1/16 oz split shot weight about 18" to 2' behind the hook, then rig with a 4" Roboworm in hologram shad. Cast it out, don't try and bomb it out there, let it hit bottom, the slowly reel with a steady cadence. I prefer to nose hook the worm, and yes it will get caught up sometimes. If there's a bunch cover go to a straight shank hook, and Texas rig it. BTW, don't get caught fishing at any of the golf courses..they frown on that.

Spent many a 8 hr days fishing from shore. Time spent will depend on the pond/lake, and the weather. If it stays sunny with no wind, less time, if the wind comes up, or it gets cloudy, then I stay..The more time you put in on any given body of water, the more you learn.

^^^^^ This..All of orange county, and L.A. park lakes/ponds are heavily pressured. Many have some good sized bass in them, however, unless you have the know how, it will be a tough day of fishing. If your in O.C..You have about 6 or 7 local park lakes near you. I would suggest reading all you can re: bass fishing on here, then go out and apply what you have learned. You will get skunked a bunch, but when you do hook into a nice fish, it's all worth it. BTW, weekends are the worst time to go..One last thing, get good at fishing plastics, worms. creature baits, craws , ect..

Lets live'n things up a bit...Y'all remember this...right..?

Old school. I throw buzz, and spinnerbaits on good old fashion mono..Caught many, many bass on both, without any issues. Use what you want, and what works for you..

When I use to use backing, I never paid any attention where the knots were. All of the reels that had backing would cast just fine..

Fish generally face the current which brings the food to them. Also, maybe grab a 6" weedless Huddelston trout swimbait, and crawl it and crawl it along the bottom semi slow. Bass always look for an easy meal..

They do make tackle boxes for spinnerbaits and the like, so they don't get all bent up...

I kinda miss the old days, things were so much simpler back then.

They do this every year at All of the park ponds/lakes around here. However, all have a good aeration system in place, and some have drainage, both of which seem to help. Due to the size of these ponds and lakes, if they didn't kill off the vegetation, there would be little open water. Keep in mind that these ponds have a visual attraction as well as a fishing attraction for the public..Now, I've fished these ponds for many years, and while at times the fishing is very hard, mostly due to Pressure, it's never really went down hill like you describe. I would guess that pond needs some bio management badly.

Clear water means you need to be Stealthy, i.e. quiet, and make long Soft cast's. If there are shad in there try a jerk bait, i.e. a Zoom fluke on a light jig head, or even weightless..Jigs, arkie jig's bounced off the bottom. I would also recommend using fluro line..

Thanks for the link...bookmarked.

Nice reel, I have one too. Generally speaking reel manufactures will call for adjustments on the brakes when going up or down in lure weight..I think once you get use to the reel, you can set it and forget it, using your thumb..Just checked my reel..Throwing mostly a hollow body frog on braid, I have the brakes set to 10. Very slight movement on the spool..Best to experiment, with different weights, see what works best for you. Congratz on the new reel.

Ditto...

Yup. Fishing off shore, and boats flying by 25 to 35 yards from us at Speed...ARGH!

^^^^^ Opps, missed the f/p part...

Here is a video, it's a reel test comparing the Elite vs the Tatula 100. Worth a watch If your considering an Elite.