Spankey

I could be wrong but I believe I saw where on line that DICK’S or Sportsman’s warehouse sells that Creme in more of a bulk pack. Might help ya. Been years since I’ve fished one. Wish I had one to try again.

You have a nice selection. Like you I don’t claim to be a fly fishing guru either. I like fishing Wooly Buggers and streamers for bass and trout. Also beaded nymphs but don’t believe I’ve ever caught a Smallie on a nymph. I’ve picked up a few different worm patterns (small worm) that have worked on both trout and Smallies. I believe they are called San Juan Worms. Don’t quote me on the name.

Arky/Arkie is branded junk that is floating around Wally Worlds. I believe they make Crappie style type jigheads. But an Arkie Jig is a true style of jig, not to be confused with the Wally World stuff being sold. I’m under the impression that all Wally Worlds are not created equal and some have terrific fishing departments. Not any in my area. Some of y’all are lucky.

Not sure if this something y’all say to yourselves at some point in time. But there are time when you can’t buy a dang bite and I threaten myself to sell off all my stuff and go at it with a Zebco 33, a rod holder, and a few live baits. And the heck with it. But it never happens. You just go back out and grind away at it until you make something happen. I’m not knocking the old Zebco 33. Still have a few of them floating around.

Don’t want to see that. I’m all for Wild Trout. Stocked and native also. To each his own, I don’t fish for them (carp) but they seem to have a decent following. Over the years I caught a few (were huge) while river Smallie fishing. Coincidentally on a gold w/black back Rapala and Gold w/black back Rat-L-Trap. Sort of resembles a carp. A couple on tubes and grubs also. When I was a kid a Jewish doctor who lived close by use to pay us for carp. But he wanted them alive. We delivered them to him in an old handled styled galvanized wash tub. We didn’t fish the big river than. We caught them in the creek. The deep holes seemed to hold the carp. Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Made a few $$$ bucks doing something you like. But we just had to keep them alive. I believe he use to put them in the bathtub until he took care of them one way or another. We use to laugh our butts off back then.

Put a 5/0 hook in that shiner and possible the big one hits that.

Did you catch them stream fishing for trout? Over here in the S.E. corner small LM and Smallies are common to pick up. Water is getting warmer so that bite should start to pick up. I caught a 9” Smallie on Sunday morning fly fishing a streamer. Streamers and bead headed nymphs have been working half decent.

I believe there is a skill set to fishing live bait for bass. And catching bass with it. I know that I know nothing about. Sure I can put together a nice rig and throw it out into the river and set back and listen to the radio and kick back a beer/iced tea or two and wait for something to jump on it. But that could be a Cattie, carp, walleye or a nice perch. Not knowing how to target the bass with live bait might be a waste of money and bait. I be better off going to the shop and picking up a new Shad Rap or a Rat-L-Trap in a new pattern and have better results.

I don’t know about the balloons and big floats but I’m under the impression in Florida a lot of guided bass fishing is done with large shiners. I’ve never fished Florida Bass. Would love to. Please correct me if I’m wrong. People who told me they were there, this is how they went about it. If there comes a time I can get there I think I’ll drag my puddle jumper down, seek some advice from local shop, patron his place by buying his recommendations and have at it. I would think this is a good honest approach. Than maybe not. I don’t know.

That’s how we bass fished as kids at the quarry.

I fish them. They work just fine. Like the others I tried them to compare to Grammys. The Grammys seem to be lighter wire which I like. I like the XPS straight shanks for some plastics I throw. I’ve had guys tell me they fish soft plastics with off the wall brand Wally World specials. I’d like to believe BPS is far better than a Wally.

That's great to hear. Over all the years I've been fishing I've never owned or fished a Fenwick. Rod breakage is hard to judge because a lot of people are their own worse enemies causing a rod to break. Never hear what they were doing when it broke.

Back many years ago while smallie fishing on the Big "D" I had a similar situation happen. I hand lined it in and it was a Charlie Brewer Spinning Setup. It was not really in the water that long because it was in excellent shape. I cleaned it thoroughly and fished it a bit. One day I gave it to a kid fishing at the ramp area with a real POS, made his day.

Guys thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to pick up a 5', 1pc, Ultra Light. My trout season is on the winding down side now but I trout fish through the winter. I did like the action of the rod was a moderate fast but felt more toward the moderate side. I'm thinking about retiring my favorite trout spinning rod, make a wall hanger out of it. Old Loomis/Lew's UL combo. Bought it back about 1981. I think my old work buddies use to fish the UL Fenwicks w/Shimano Symetres. The 7' ML fast had a nice feel. My trout rods get put to hard use. Maybe I can get in an HMG of the UL and the ML so to compare both models as well. I know a few guys who fish the UL Eagles. It does surprise me that the reviews are not better on these rods. I realize this is a bass site and got off track with the trout a bit but I like my trout fishing also.

Stopped past the shop today on my way home from work to possibly see what all the hoop-la was surrounding the St. Croix Victory rod was. Have never seen or touched one. No Victory rods in stock. Dealer must be on the short list to get them. Anyway, a lot of Fenwick HMX rods there. I have never owned a Fenwick. Back when I was a lot younger I trout fished with some work buddies who fished Fenwick. I thought they went out of business, and was always under the impression the old Fenwick was a quality rod. After handling a few HMX rods the 7 foot ML fast rod did have a half decent feel to it. May have felt better with a reel on it, don’t know. I felt the need to search reviews on that series of rods while having them in front of me. They don’t review very well. Either 5/5 or 1/5. A lot of breakage during use. Very few mid point reviews, I could be wrong but they seem to be more accurate. They look nice but.......

I would have to agree with you on that about St. Croix Rods. XF is going to be that. I fish my plastics on SC rods. I don’t fish all my plastics XF some are just fast action. I prefer the XF on drop shot and split shot rigging.

The Missile grub they call it a Ned Bomb is a great little bait. Spear tail on it. Still a grub to me but I’ve found it to be pretty productive. I don’t fish it any differently than any other grub. Good color selection for Smallies.

I sort of agree with what you are saying. But some people don’t even realize they are getting bit. They are not in tune with what that are throwing. I’m not really referring to guys on this site, I’m referring to if you brought a friend, coworker, neighbor or someone like that that hasn’t seen a lot of bites. I can see them struggling some until you pointed them in the right direction. This has been my experience. I get my share of trout fish in for stocked, wild and native trout during the year. Spinning and fly fishing. Countless times I’ve seen guys struggle to catch these stock trout. Though I realize this is not the same as bass fishing but presentation of what you are using is important. Maybe more important in bass fishing. A lot of my bass fishing is during a tough bite. I just never give up and fish hard to make things happen. Skill? Maybe. Persistence? Most likely. I often wonder if fishing live bait like shiners or crawlers would make a difference during these non aggressive times. But I think it would be a tough bite with them also. I believe a reaction strike from a lure still may be the better approach.

We are not that far apart. I’m not seeing spawning evidence on the river yet. The recent weather has been the issue. River Smallies might just be spawning up into part of June. I’ve seen this numerous years. I’m not sure how smaller retention bodies of water work but imagine they warm faster but are more susceptible to colder nights. Mornings have been cold. Have been doing a lot of trout fishing at sun up.

Electro/mechanical heavy industrial equipment repair. Shop group leader. Anxiously waiting to retire soon. Won’t come soon enough.

I’d be up for it. I’m not a Maryland guy. Nice road trip. Pretty sure I can do my licensing on line.

I might be wrong but I think you can still get the components for the salty spider. I hope so. I’ll look see.

Know the feeling of being butt hurt when that happens. Hurts twice as bad when a 6 pounder does that to you, especially when you think you did everything right on your part.

The think are making that “Winch” rod in two versions now. White new Veritas, PLX or something like that. They have the moderate action than I see where the spinning version is a mod. fast with a new handle design and the rod blank is black. I don’t have a Abu Garcia dealer out my way to work with. Don’t really have a tackle shop worth a dang out my way for that matter. I used the guys out at TW to help me out with the first rod I selected. My second was just the next power up. I realize they are not maybe a St. Croix Tourmanent Grade but I think the moderate action of the Abu rods are true. At least true to my likings.

I find the Abu Garcia “winch” crankbait rods to be decent rods. I’m fishing them on Revo reels. I’m pretty much a creature of habit and very rarely stray from things I’m use to but I took the chance on some Abu rods and reels and I am glad I did. Fishing Squarebill and deeper cranks on them.