tentimesover

I've been using a Shimano Symetre 2500 spinning reel for about a year now along side my baitcasting combos for light weight lures and fishing plastics. I'm looking to add another spinning rig to my boat and wonder what your opinions are about spending the extra dollars for the Stradic?

I fish with both the Curado and the Johnny Morris baitcasting reels. They are both nice reels but the Curado is definitely the nicer product. It's smoother casting and feels better in my hands.

A friend recommended rods from this mail order/web outlet. They have a buy one-get one free offer. Anyone have any experience with their products, specifically their M series rods and their EC-7 low profile casting reel?

I also have wondered why it's a popular spot for bass. Many times the walls are near docks, either private or condo docks. I've thought that the walls provide a place bass can chase bait fish and reduce the dimensions of escape by one - and, then they can go back and rest under the docks when the sun is high.

It's a public reservoir. I've sent photos, description and request for feedback to the state Missouri Dept of Nat Resources and have not received an answer as yet.

I caught two nice bass this morning and both had the problem illustrated here: I recalled the prior post, "what's wrong with this bass" and went back and so that these fish are different. Previously this season all the bass I've caught on the lake have looked really healthy and recently, with all the shad available, fat. Any idea what's the problem?

Just returned from fishing. Just as others have suggested I tightened up the handle and it's working GREAT! Very simple solution. Thanks to all.

I recently traded up to the Symetre from a Pflueger President both in a 2500 series reel. I like the reel for the most part but one thing does bug me. The handle pivots inward and many times I find it is blocking the bail as I'm either releasing or engaging it. Does anyone else find this annoying? What's the purpose of designing it this way?

I have that same reel and use 8lb test YoZuri Hybrid and have no problem with looping off the reel. I like the combo a lot and use it for tossing light stuff -- but, more often pitching Sinkos and other creatures into tight places. It works much better than using my baitcaster.

THANKS Roadwarrior. Now I'm wondering if I should go back and look at other alternatives for my stated purpose. What would be the recommendation for the purposes I noted in the first post?

I went to BPS and bought a 7 ft G Loomis GL2 PR845C rod, med heavy with mod fast tip yesterday. I was looking for a sturdy rod to throw medium to larger cranks and spinner baits. Now I'm looking on the G Loomis web site and can't find this specific model. What specifically is this rod designed to do??

I had the E21 up until I lost it overboard a couple of weeks ago along with a Curado E. I fished with it for 4 months before it went over. At first I really liked how light the rod was and the split grip. I've already ordered the Curado to replace the lost one; however, I'm looking for something else for a rod. After time I began to not like that foam grip a lot and now am looking for something with cork.

Is this bass a largemouth or spotted bass -- and, what is the key features that you can tell from?

Got to be TOP WATER!! Knowing that with every twitch that the water can explode, or, those kind where there's a big swirl and the lure just disappears. Plus, I think I catch bigger fish on top water.

I'd be pleased to know that someone was getting good use of it -- but, tell me how you recovered it from the 60 fow open channel????

Walls = Poured concrete sea walls, e.g., in front of condos. Area = Hurricane deck bridge to 36MM

Thanks to all for sharing your pain. On the way to dinner on the lake last night I saw this 52 footer parked on a seawall. It put my loss of the Curado E/carrot stick in perspective for me.

Sad day. After a good morning fishing I was heading back home and hit some wakes. A couple of good bounces and there goes my E21 carrot stick/Shimano Curado E overboard. It hung on the line of another rod just for a second and I grabbed for it -- but, there it went. I did have the deck strap over it -- but, the butt of the rod was facing the stern so it just slipped through (lesson well learned). The worse thing is that this is the second rig I've lost this season. I didn't even see whenever my spinning rig went earlier in the season. I also witnessed another fellow loose his rod/reel when he got hung up while his boat was moving and he didn't have the presence of mind to release the spool. :-[ > What kind of gear have you lost overboard?

Those walleyes are good eating! When they come into my boat they don't go out.

I've been fishing LOZ every day for a couple of weeks. The bait fish are in droves up in coves and I'm sure that the bass are having a field day on them. In early morn I'm getting some nice ones against walls with top water lures. When the sun's high I've been catching them on the front corner, shady side of the docks on top water lures. Sure is great fun to see them hammer those top water lures! My favorites are the Devils Horse (#1) and the Zara Spook (#2). Also had luck on jigs with worm or grub or tube or lizard trailers pulled down ledges along the deeper water channels. These tend to be spotted bass and run a bit smaller. Wish I could say something about cranks but I guess I just don't know how to fish these. I have picked up a few but nothing to write home about. Good luck.

I have a Mojo 7 ft MF (about $80 as I recall at BPS) coupled with a Shimano Stradic 2500 spinning reel and I have YoZuri Hybrid 8 lb test on it. It's probably what people normally think of as a flip/pitch combo -- but, I have two bait casters and I've gone almost exclusively to the spinning combo for fishing around docks or down rock ledges with weighless sinkos and light jigs.

For sure I'm just a student at this issue of IDing spots vs largemouths. However, I have to say that the mouth of these bass I'm catching don't come back behind the eye. Also, in Simp's post above he mentioned checking for a rough spot on the tongue. I did just that today and discovered that these bass have a patch about 1/8 in wide that extends about 1/2 to 3/4 in long in the middle of the tongue that is darker than the rest of the tongue and feels like sandpaper. Is that distinctive of spotted bass? After reading your post I looked at some internet descriptions and see that there is supposed to be scales on the base of the back dorsal fin of the spots. I will have to look for that too. Anyone else have any comments specifically on Lake of the Ozarks as to whether there is a mix of spots and largemouths? With what I've been catching I'd say that I'm getting a much higher number of spots than largemouths now.

Until recently I didn't realize there were two types of "bass." I do a lot of fishing on Lake of Ozarks and was happy just to catch a bass of any type. Now I've been looking more closely at the position of the mouth relative to the eye and it appears that most of the bass that I get are the spotted bass. They typically range from "kidde" size up to about 1.5 pounds. While it's fun to catch any bass I'm really eager to get something bigger than my personal best so far this year (4 lb 6 oz) and I don't think these spotted bass are going to do it for me. My question is, do the largemouth and spotted bass have different hangouts? How would you try to target the largemouth in a mixed population of spotted bass and largemouts?

During July/August the bass seemed to love white -- white spinner baits, white senkos, white cranks. Now it's September and chartreuse is the hot color. It seems that anything I throw better be chartreuse if I want a hit. What causes these changes in preference? I know the lake is clearer right now than I've seen it all summer. Does their preference have something to do with water color/clarity, or, is it what their feeding on, or, something else???

I was out this morning for about 5 hours fishing for bass. I was cranking with a pearl white Bomber type lure. I caught 4 bass, 1 catfish and 1 buffalo. The buffalo was a 3 pounder and put up a very good fight. This bomber lure seems to be the most multicultural in the different types of fish it catches. Yesterday I caught a 1.5 lb hybrid bass on it too. What species do you catch while bass fishing?