Bluebasser86

A bass is a bass, except not exactly. I catch countless numbers of fish on my bladed jigs in shallow, dirty water in the lakes here, especially around grass. Several years ago, I visited a friend at his private lake that gets very little pressure in South Carolina. Shallow, had a distinct tannic stain, and plenty of weeds, bladed jig paradise. A week later, it had accounted for exactly zero fish, not even a bite despite me trying and conditions being about perfect for it. Now maybe another time it would have set the world on fire there, but if I could have moved that lake and those conditions back home, I'd have worn my thumb out with all the fish I would have been catching on them. I hear guys up north talk about how difficult it is to catch smallmouth when it's cloudy, which is the opposite here. You're supposed to go deep to catch smallmouth also, but don't try that here, unless you want to catch a bunch of drum/white bass/wiper/catfish/walleye, basically everything except smallmouth. They just rarely seem to get deeper than 10' in our lakes when they're actually feeding.

I was a teacher's aide for my first block my senior year of highschool, in chemistry. I couldn't help grade any papers, and my teacher Mr. Wells was a fisherman himself and winding down on a 40 year teaching career. I was there for maybe a months worth of class total, otherwise I went fishing before school.

The cows are standing/walking the fish will be biting is the silliest thing. Cows aren't wild animals. They're driven by food and that's pretty much it. Now if you see a bunch of actual wildlife out and about on your way to the lake, then you might expect the fish to be more active.

Wind pushes baitfish

Flathead is poor man's lobster here. Guess it makes sense, I don't like the taste of either of them much ?‍♂️

We have very few true perch where I'm from, but I have caught them on a Ned rig. Drop shots with live bait or plastics are a popular way to catch perch in some areas also.

I know people still fish them, but spinnerbaits are not nearly as prevalent as they use to be IMO. Seems to be really rare that one plays a major part in any of the major tournaments.

Welcome!

I've used them for trout but can't remember every catching a crappie with them. Jigs or suspending jerkbaits are always more successful for me when casting for crappie than crankbaits are.

This has not been my findings at all. Fishing 3 people in the boat all fishing ploppers, they'll often show a clear preference for one color over the others. The 90, 75, 110, and 130 are all good sizes for largemouth. I'd probably go with the 130 if I could only have 1 and was only going to target largemouth. Bone, Monkey Butt, and Sooner have been my best colors. I know a lot of people love Loon but it has not been a productive color at all for me.

I've had a really good year. 3 fish over 7 and at least one more really close. First year fishing kayak tournaments, won almost half of the tournaments I entered and never placed lower than 6th. Won AOY, the championship, and big bass. Fished 3 boat tournaments, won 2 of them. Had some really good trips with the family, one just epic day catching blue cats with my wife and kids. Still lots of fishing left to go this year too.

Got me on a technicality

Some frogs have lousy hookup ratios also if you're sticking them and losing them.

Haven't met a person yet with one that was faulty but that isn'tto say it couldn't happen. I believe the CC80 was the only baitcaster under in that price range that Tactical Bassin was actually willing to give their star of approval if that helps.

Is the spool filling evenly? Sometimes they'll fill more towards the top or bottom and you might have to add or remove a spacer on the spool shaft to fix it. Reels that have this issue will wind knot constantly.

I'd put my Daiwa CC80's up against it. I bought them to be beater reels for bank fishing and to haul around for kayak trips that I don't want to take my nicer gear but there's not much of a downgrade between them and my nicer gear. They'll cast baits a mile and don't have that cheap feel to them when fighting big fish like they're flexing and about to blow up at any moment. Same weight as the Caius, 1 more BB, $20 cheaper

I use snaps a lot with treble hooked baits, but rarely use a swivel or snap-swivel. Swivels are for C-rigs and baits that cause line twist.

What's your frogging gear look like? If my frog disappears, I swing on them. The feel thing is a load of bull to me. If the frog disappears after a strike, what is the most likely cause? The fish grabbed it with it's mouth. Can you feel the difference between a fish that has a frog choked vs one that only has the legs? Me neither. But, while you're wasting time feeling for it, that fish is headed further into the cover it was hiding in, making it harder and harder to 1: Get a solid hook set, and 2: Get them back up and out of that cover. Cross their eyes as soon as that frog disappears and they're right near the surface where you can get them moving up and out of the grass with the quickness and have a more direct path on the hook set to get a solid connection from the start. Frogs are like any other topwater, some days they'll blow up on them again and again, but rarely hook up. Sometimes, changing color, cadence, maybe size of the frog will help, but no way to really know without trying.

I fish both of them a bunch. In general, the buzzbait is king for largemouth, whereas the plopper shines for smallies. Buzzbaits work great around shallow cover where the plopper is constantly fouling or hanging up. Neither is a great option around stringy grass. Buzzbaits work earlier in the year and later in the year for me, starting in March when the water temps hit the high 40's, and ending in late November/early December with water temps around the same mark.

Fall is the only time I really every use the 1/4oz RES but it is a regular in my rotation this time of year.

I've caught bass that one could eat and still be hungry for more. This isn't even the smallest but this is a smallmouth on a 1.0 squarebill, which is only 2" long. This largemouth while I was catching flathead bait is the smallest I think I have a picture of.

Them seagulls lie all the time around here. Diving like crazy into big schools of shad with nothing under them.

My good fishing buddy had a period for a couple years where he flaked on me about every other trip it felt like and it was always like 10pm night before or I'd wake up in the morning and have a text. Then one day I found out he was getting divorced and he'd been having marital problems for the last couple years and that played a big part of why he kept canceling on me. Made me glad that I kept inviting him so he had the chance to get away occasionally when we did.

Welcome!

Welcome!