deep

You know Tom, that's fortunate for you guys, but also sad. There's enough pressure as it is anyway. Is San V open again?

Didn't go through the list, but did any SoCal reservoir make the cut?

Any new success stories? I was doing a ton of pitch-skipping under overhangs yesterday and was reminded of something very basic. Practice your backhand casts, skipping and pitching in your spare time. I do all three with baitcasting gear (my skips aren't very pretty though but I don't have any spinning gear). If you can't get your bait in front of the fish, you're not going to get bit.

And then, there are popping frogs.

I have almost always had tons of bites/ bumps on the bait with not all of them ending in hookups. Guess some days they don't really want to EAT the bait. Well, today I (accidentally) found a way to catch some of those non-eaters. When I would feel a bump but no hookup, I kept cranking for a few reel turns as if nothing happened, and then stopped reeling and gave the bait a little slack. More often than not, the fish (still following I guess) hammered it on the fall. P.S. Here's a rather feisty bluegill that wanted to play with the bait a few days back.

Sensitivity. For short line situations, the difference probably isn't noticeable. When my bait is sitting in 25 FOW with a 100 feet of line out with the wind blowing sideways, I want every advantage I can get to detect the lightest bites. The only reason I put up with the price, questionable knot strength, line memory, stretch, etc etc. Braid has a time and place. For me, it's only around vegetation in short line situations (punching) and topwaters including frogs. YMMV. P.S. I do recall a somewhat funny incident. One afternoon, I was fishing a jerkbait on an 893/ 12# Tatsu. I was missing fish after fish because I was setting the hook too soon (they were not really eating the bait). Tied the bait on another setup that had braid and leader, and landed almost 100% of the bites the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes lower sensitivity can be a good thing!

http://top10bestpro.com/top-10-best-baitcasting-fishing-reels-2015/ P.S. There's a reason I put this in "everything else".

This means you need to pull the small lever and then turn on it. To release the sideplate maybe? What reel is it?

Perfect 8" ROF5 rod. Supposedly was designed for hardbaits. You'll love it.

WTG!!

I wish I had your problem. It gets worse as you grow older.

I think I'm going to buy a couple dozen just to make you guys giggle.

Power. I like my baits to *slightly* overload the rod while casting and retrieving.

You seem to be starting out the right way lol. I don't have any input, except that the 893C (JWR) is a little too much rod (for my preferences) to fish 5" (unweighted) senkos.

I've almost given up on skipping with casting gear. I pitch-skip these days, so much easier with my skill level. To answer the original question, I change nothing. Just keep a closer eye on the thumb.

No, the texas rig weight is free to move up along the line.

5 pounds. 10 on a good day.

Well then, I guess you need some inshore grade gear. Punching to me is just a way of getting the bait under the mat. It doesn't matter if you need to flip, pitch, or throw the bait straight up (not exactly straight up of course- then it'll land on your head) to do that. From rod tip: bobber stop (or stops), flipping weight, snelled flipping hook on ~65# braid. Bead and skirt are optional. Use a compact bait.

Spider jig.

I agree, it's ridiculous. Try braid.

Yes, yes, and yes.

Well, my first *big* bass- in hindsight, she wasn't that big (a little over 6# IIRC)- was caught deadsticking a Rapala F7. Unwittingly, I should add.

Matt makes floating hardgills too, you know. Oh btw, it's a she- the bass that is.

I'd start with a hardgill, but that's one bait I have a lot of confidence in. Something with joints preferably that you can twitch in a spot.