Paul Benner

We fish chubs in the creeks around here as they come upstream to spawn. Generally we've only known them to bite on live stuff when they're upstream spawning, but they make amazing Pike bait. Best, Paul

Guys and gals, This last Saturday I spent the morning tooling around a large pond in this area. The bass fishing was slow, but the morning was overcast and it had rained the night before. Between three people we caught 20+ bass in a couple of hours, and I lost the biggest bass I've ever seen this far north within eye shot of the boat. I've never personally fished a pond with this layout. There are large patches of lilly pads and not alot of open water. There are live plants across the entire bottom. I'm not sure on depth, but it is more then 9ft as that was the longest tester that we had to attempt to touch at all points. There appears to be a strong bluegill population as well as some perch in the body of water. Everything we caught was on a slow fished rubber worm with the exception of the one that got away and it was on a perch colored rapala 3-5' diver 2.5" Anyone else have a pond similar to this that they'd shape some tips or tricks? I have a feeling that this may be a trophy fish holding pond, I'd like to get in there and see one, haha! Thanks, Paul

Hey guys, I've decided that it's time to upgrade all my hooks on my lures. The problem I'm running into is that some like my Jitterbugs are attached directly to eye screws. My question is this: Do I cut the old hook off and use a small split ring to attach the new hook? (What size split ring would be good too) Also, how should I gauge what size hook to use on any given lure? Please let me know, Best, Paul

X2 The important thing right now is for him to have fun. That way he'll want to go again. X3 most six year olds don't have the attention span to learn to use baitcasters or even spinning reals properly. My son is 10, not 6. He is not a total newbie when it comes to fishing, he is proficient with a spincaster (He has previously used mine) but has never owned his own fishing pole. If he was one of those things, I think the Zebco 33 would have been my choice hands down and I wouldn't have had to ask this question. I should have been more specific in my first post. Thank you all, he's having a blast with the longer casting distance on a short pole. He also very much enjoyed fishing by feel with an ultralight. This forum is great and has been good to me. Best, Paul

Thank you all for your responses. I had previously taken him fishing and he really enjoys it, but for the first time I was buying him his own gear. He's previously used my Spin Casting setups that are older and fished them well. I took and bought him a Shakespear 4'6" UL combo with a few small spinners and let him go nuts on the panfish from the paddleboat on the pond at work, Had a good time in the hour we were out on the lake. Tomorrow, I take him out bassin for the first time in his life. Best, Paul

Yeah, Spinning setups are what I'm talking about. Sorry, I grew up calling them open faced and never broke myself of it. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully he likes the pole. He gets some say in it, but I also want to make sure that I get him something that won't be an issue for him. Best, Paul

Hey all, I'm starting my 10 year old with his first pole. He loves the sport but doesn't get to go often due to visitation with his "real" father. I'm seriously considering buying him and open faced combo as a starter and not gimping him with a spincaster. Does anyone have a strong opinion as to why I shouldn't do this? Best, Paul

Hello all, I'm lucky enough to have a private pond on the property that I work at. During lunch, I can sneak out and plug this pond for an hour or so every day. The pond has alot of open spaces, and not much cover, but I've been trying to work a pattern on this pond. So far, I've caught about 6 crappie, 5 of which were under 7" and the last was almost a pound, so I know there has to be some decent fish in there. The owner of the company that I work for threw 20 large crappie in it and 10 large bass in it about 25 years ago and it hasn't really been fished since. The pond is 2-3 acres would be my guess, maybe more. But, you can see it on google pretty easily. I have an ultra light that I store at the office, it's a 4 peice 4'6" spinning rod with an ultra light spin casting reel. Nothing really amazing, but it lets me have some fun. What I'm attempting to do is put together a box of small lures that I can store in the drawer of my desk and keep with the rod, my so called "Box of tricks". So far I have a couple Rooster Tails, a Beetle Spin, and a couple of tiny crank baits. Can anyone suggest some good top water action for this box? Also, anyone have any other smaller favorites for feeling out ponds? Best, Paul

Hello all, I live in North Central Indiana, I'm about 10 minutes from the intersection of 30 and 31. I am having some issues finding good places to bank fish seeing as that I am currently lacking a boat of my own. I've tried fishing down at Maxicuckee outside of Culver, and while they'll let you fish from the school's docks, I can't seem to pull anything worth writing home about out of this lake. I've also looked at a few of the local ponds that are public access, but none of these are very forgiving in the way of bank fishermen. Can anyone recommend a lake or a pond in this area that will provide decent bank fishing, or am I just up the creek with no paddle until I get a boat? Please let me know. Best, Paul

I assume that there is a mjor difference that you can notice between the Sahara and the Symetre, yes? Best, Paul

In the same price range or 60-80 dollars, is there another model of Shimano reel that fits this model? I'm still a semi-beginner when it comes to spinning setups, I understand how they work, and I know how to cast, just haven't really gotten out to practice. Let me know, Paul

Does anyone use this reel? I was looking at adding this to my "father's day wishlist" since I need a new reel for the spinning rod my father passed down to me. Time to replace the AX200 on it. Anyone have any pros and cons about this specific reel for softbait applications and small lures? Thanks, Paul

Been down a few times the last couple of weeks (it's a 30-45min drive for me). Walleye haven't been hitting that's for sure. I don't own a boat so I haven't been able to get out and go bassin. Best, Paul

I'm not having many problems with casting, I still haven't gotten to the point that it's natural, I still have to think about it, but I'm getting some decent casts on the Abu with the Bass Pro Rod, was just thinking about swapping it over to the Shimano reel to see if I like it any better. I haven't actually gone out to cast the other one. How bad can I screw the setup up if I don't hit anything with it or strike it with anything? I assume the worst I can do is birds nest the spool, but I can get that out. Let me know, Thanks, Paul

Hello all, I haven't seriously fished in quite a few years, and now that I'm getting back into it, my wife managed to pick me up a G Loomis GLX 6'6" fast action casting rod that was paired with a Pinnacle Senatra ST10. The guy that was selling it included a Shimano Cruzar CRZ-200 that was previously on the rod. I've never really played with bait casters before, I pretty much have stuck to spin casters previously, as I had previous problems getting the hang of spinning reels. My father recently brought me a rod that he had bought for my mother. It's a Abu Garcia Ambassaduer Mag Plus XT. The rod and reel have never seen any use in the last 10-12 years since he had bought it (long story) so now it's in my possession, it's paired up with a Bass Pro Shops ProComp II casting rod. I've been practicing with the Bass Pro rod and abu garcia reel, but my question is should I just start learning with the higher end equipment, or should I get to the low foul up point before I swap over? Also, should I remove the Abu Garcia from that rod and swap reels to the Shimano? Best, Paul