sdoug805

I de-barb my hooks for catch and release fishing. It makes hook removal a lot easier, especially with treble hooks. A good pair of long nose pliers are also an essential piece of equipment to have on the water with you. They make hook removal much easier, and trust me if you catch something with teeth you'll be happy you have them

Circle hooks do a great job of preventing gut hooked fish. They let the fish hook themselves as they swim away with the bait and hooks them in the corner of the mouth. I set up a carolina rig with a circle hook and haven't had a gut hooked fish yet. I also like to de-barb my hooks for catch and release.

What is the weight of the lure you're trying to cast? I would recommend that you engage the brakes and try casting the lure as you normally would with your spinning set up. If you're casting an unfamiliar way to try and avoid a backlash, doing this will help minimize the chances of a backlash so you can spend more time getting comfortable casting. Once you are comfortable casting accurately you can fine tune the reel for distance. Heavier lures require less braking, and lighter lures require more braking. Also, this may sound obvious but it's worth noting, don't use the thumb bar as a trigger for when you want your line to be released during the cast. I press the thumb bar down, and then use my thumb to keep pressure on the line, and then just release my thumb from the spool during my cast.

Once the carp showed up at my one bass fishing hole last year that was about it until they were out of there.

+1 on the wacky rigged senkos, there's a lot of great information on this site on how to rig and fish them. I like to fish suspending jerk baits this time of year in the cold water until the lilly pads start to come in, and then it's top water frog time for me. If you're not sure where to look for the bass, you can't go wrong with fishing structure. Look for downed trees, wood poking up out of the water etc. Weed beds provide great cover for bass. It can be tricky fishing weed beds at first, texas rigged worms are a good way to work weed beds. A great and simple lure for fishing weed beds also is the johnson silver minnow. I like to fish a half ounce one with a 4 inch swimming grub as a trailer. Can't go wrong with it, just a simple slow retrieve and don't let it sink.

I can't imagine fighting a fish that size. I bet it was pulling their tiny boat around.

I didn't see anything about store bought dough baits so I figured I'd give them a mention. I've had some decent success using King Kat dough bait that I got at Walmart. Liver and cheese is my favorite scent. I recently got Secret 7 catfish dip bait from Team Catfish but I haven't really tested it out yet. I'm thinking of doing some catfishing tomorrow so if I have any luck with it I'll post about it. Also, when fishing chicken livers I usually tie them to a circle hook with string or use something like pantyhose or cheesecloth to wrap around the liver before you hook it. Definitely helps keep the liver from getting sucked off or flying off during the cast. I've heard time and again that catfishing is best in the late evening into the the wee hours of the morning. I've caught the most catfish at a time between 9PM and 1AM but caught my largest cat in the middle of the day so who knows.

I don't have a boat either so I go wading around in the coves. It definitely helps get your lures out farther and cover a lot more water.

Thanks for all the welcomes, I'm in berks county between Reading and Allentown.

Just joined up today, looks like an awesome forum. I've been bass fishing for two years now and fish about 4-5 times a week when I get the chance to between March and November. I do just about all of my fishing by wading with a baitcaster. I also like to target catfish at night in the summer and have been meaning to get out and target trout with my fly rod, but once the bass start biting I have a tough time getting myself to go fishing for anything else! I've been meaning to fish for carp too because I see so many huge ones in my lake but bass fishing is just too much fun. I was just out this morning and caught a couple bass in the 1-1.5 lb range and got a huge chain pickerel to top it off. Great start to the day. Cheers