Sam

Your reel ratio is fine. May I suggest using 20-pound mono in place of the braid? A 7-foot cranking rod can be beneficial with your setup, too. Swing rod to right or left when setting treble hooks and NOT over your head. Heavy crankbaits are easier for the fish to throw, too, so you may want to change the hook sizes to one size larger if you are using a heavy crankbait. You can use a Floater/Diver or a Suspending crankbait or one that does not float or suspend, like a Rat-L-Trap. If you are using a floating or suspending crankbait you may want to reel, stop, wait a few seconds, reel, stop, wait a few seconds, etc. This will cause the crankbait to stop in its movement and if a bass is following or watching it cause the fish to hit it. Or by stopping it, the crank will either stay in place or rise slowly to the surface. A slowly rising plastic crankbait is good in for cold water and also to have it rise to the surface in warmer months if you choose this technique. Balsa is lighter and more bouyant than cedar and it has a stronger wiggle. So you may want to throw a balsa crankbait this winter. Crankbait fishing is a science within itself. The pros will use four or five different brands and types of crankbaits for different situations. And then you can drive yourself nuts when selecting a crankbait as they come in all shapes, sizes, with rattles, without rattles, wood (balsa or cedar), plastic (Butyrate or ABS), metal (Mudbugs), bill shapes, fat or slim, maximum depths they reach (about three-quarters of the way back to you) and all colors of the rainbow. I have had some wonderful results with the Lucky Craft 1.5 Ghost Minnow this year. Caught seven (7) largemouth bass within an hour of using it for the first time. All I can add is to read all you can about crankbaits on this site, the pros' sites and the internet so you can understand the bait and get all confused like the rest of us. ;D Here are some of the pros' picks. Mark Davis - Bomber Flat A as is his choice for cold, shallow water. Kevin VanDam - Bomber Model 6A or 7A - Water below 60*. Use between 10 to 17 pound mono. Paul Elias - Mann's Paul Crankbait - same bouyance as wooden lures. O.T. Fears - Norman Deep Little N/O - Good coldwater bait. Throw your confidence crankbait and try different techniques and the bass will tell you what they want. Good luck.

Wonderful story. I am very glad to read that your 7-year old has the capacity to fish and not be distracted. The 7-year old I take fishing gets distracted, easily, and his 12-year old brother gets frustrated if he does catch a fish in five minutes. Any pics????

With LSU's Fighting Tigers going down hard again I am free of worry about LSU playing in any BCS bowl game. So I am free at last to enjoy all the games and continue to be a college football fan. Hey, there is always next year! ;D ;D ;D

Never keep a bass. Take a photo and measurments and get a replica made. Do not have ego to have any fish mounted to show people who don't care about fishing a large fish. If they want to see a large fish let them to to an aquarium. All fish are released back to the water.

Good catch. Great picture, too.

Dirt! When you put grease on the outside of your reels you have to be careful to avoid as much dust, dirt and grime as it will stick to the grease. If you can, put a plastic bag over the baitcaster and rod handle. It looks terrible but it works. Now, where do you pick up dirt, grime and dust? In the car/truck; on shore; in your garage; outside. Usually, not much will accumulate on your boat while fishing. So use that grease sparingly and always check reels for dust, dirt and grime after you go fishing and before you go fishing.

And one more thought....have a tweezers ready to help remove the small screws and other parts. The "bearings" may not be "round" so don't get excited if you do not see the number of bearings the reel is supposed to have. Also, when in the reel, check out the plastic gears to make sure they are not damaged. A little oil goes a long way, too. Grease on the major moving gears and oil the other parts. Then have fun putting it back together. ;D ;D ;D

Check out the Reel Mechanic's web site. Great place to visit from time to time. Be sure to have the schematic of the reel when you go to clean it, especially if it is a baitcaster. Have a clean, open place on your desk, table or bench so you can place the small screws and parts in order so you can put them back. You may want to have a clean white wash cloth to place the parts or a clean rag. Check with the Reel Mechanic and he can tell you what parts get the grease and which ones get the oil. If you are in doubt, have a professional clean them for you or send them to the Reel Mechanic in Kansas City. With baitcasters, turn the drag until it is totally off and you may also want to releive the pressure on the spool. By relieving the pressure on the drag you reduce the chance of damaging the drag breaks (there are two of them back to back or face to face) in your handle. And be careful when removing the handle. Certain reels have screws while others you have to push the reel's handle in and then reel it backwards. Some Shimano and Flooger baitcaster models can be very different when removing the handles so be careful. Wash reels in in cold water, dry and put in a cool, dry place for the winter after you use them for the summer and fall. I keep mine in a drawer in my "office-fishing room" during the summer. Remover all reels from the rods when not in use, too. You may want to put some greese on the pawl below the baitcasters' line guide after you clean it with a clean Q-Tip. Not too much but you can see how to grease it by looking at the reel. Just be careful if you take the reel apart as you can misplace those little parts very easily.

Yikes! LakeAnnaBasser, do you mean I have to fish the cemeteries, humps, docks, roadbeds, creek and river intersections, rocks, islands, etc. and not just beat the banks? I'll give it a try next year. ;D ;D ;D For now I will fish the hot side and see what happens. Actually, fishing One Fish Anna with a Carolina Rig or a deep diving crankbait can do wonders for your soul. But I love to fish the backs of the creeks and grass and weeds in the summer. Thanks for the feedback. I may be calling on you next year for some One Fish Anna tips.

On a 7-foot heavy rod with a 5:1:1 reel for winching power, may I suggest 20-pound flourocarbon line? Get abrasive resistive line since you will be in cover. Or....put the flouro on your 5:1:1 reel as a backing, then add about 75 yards of braid and add a two or three foot flouro leader and use this setup. Make sure the diameters of both lines are equal. The above setup will allow you to use only a small portion of your braid line but still get the benefits of the braid in cover. Now, what type of knot should you use to tie the flouro to the braid? Do some research to find the answer on this forum. It has been discussed a number of times and it boils down to personal preference.

Try them all! ;D I use worms designed for shakey head; finesse worms; floating trick worms; GY Kuttial worms; Slider worms; *** worms; and I have tried Gulp!, too. I have the finesse worms; curley tail worms; and shakey head worms. I have used 6 inch to 10 inch worms. I will try the Annoconda from Rage Tail this winter. I have used all types of colors, too. So get some worms; head out to your favorite body of water; fish them; and let us know what happens. Good question and thanks for asking.

Mr. Porter clarifies what we know in a beautiful presentation that explains a lot of information that we have seen while fishing. Super post. Keep 'em coming. Thanks for sharing.

LakeAnnaBasser, Don't worry about it. Unless you fish the hot side you are only going to catch one fish on One Fish Anna no matter what type of rod you are using. ;D ;D ;D

Are you fishing with jjBassjj? If not, let me know.

Good question and welcome to the forum. Have you ever taken a baitcaster apart? You may be surprised at the plastic gears you can find in addition to the lack of bearings. So when you have an old baitcaster you no longer want to use, take it apart and look at the parts, even if you do not know what they do, just to see what is metal and what is plastic. Plastic will fail. Over time and under stress, plastic will fail sooner or later. Higher priced baitcasters should have more bearings and less plastic, but that is not always the case. So if you use a mid-range reel, or go up to Curado, you should have a good balance of bearings and plastic inside your reels. And let's see what the Reel Mechanic says. He is our expert on reels so you may want to ask him via a PM and then let us know what he tells you. He has a super web site so check it out, too. And the main reason to take an old reel apart is that it is really a challenge to get it back together so you do not want to destroy a good reel when learning what is in the inside of the reel.

Plastic Crawfish - None. Use Palamor Knot. Topwaters - Depends on what you are throwing. I use snaps on some and tie direct to baits with Palamor Knot for others. Best Swivel to Use? - Barrel Swivels Just my two-cents.

Great story. Glad you made up for some of your losses. And how come you let Branuss04 outfish you? ;D P.S. Beautiful swimbait, too.

I agree with Road Warrior. Senko type baits. Jerkbaits are not usually called stick baits. They are also called "pointers." All type of Senko knock-offs and Senkos fall within the stick bait catagory. Unless things have changed while I was away.

"Hold On, I'm Coming" by Sam and Dave. I want it played at my funeral. ;D

I like the first one. It is "soft" with no sharp edges and the colors are soft and they flow together. In addition, the water is easy on the eyes. Good balance, too. It is beautiful. Maybe you can submit it to the Maryland State Fair next year?

Hey Roadwarrior, I thought exactly like you until I saw the fry one year on the Mattopani River in Virginia. I was prefishing a tournament last October with my friend, Dave, and I saw these small fry jumping out of the water. Dave said that they were the second bass spawn of the year. I have no idea if they were actually bass fry or some other fish, but they looked like bass fry. Maybe this was an unusual situation. I can't explain it. Hopefully a fisheries biologist on the forum will give us some additional information. By the way, I have never seen a second spawn again.

Leon, No, but how about you trying one or two items and reporting back to us. We are always on the lookout for new and exciting items to improve our odds of being sucessful on the water. Great post, too. Maybe some of the guys know abut Albright Tackle and they can fill us in.

Sent a PM.

First time I have heard that. I have had a bass take a bluegill and waited until he swallowed it but the bluegill came flying out of the bass' mouth during the fight. I was fishing for catfish when this happened.

You are supposed to add to the posts with something that ends with "and then the fight started." We had this post a few months ago so if you search the site you can use what the guys posted before. ;D