gulfcaptain

My thoughts exactly. Depending on the water temps when the trout were stocked the bass may be keying in on them. As I'm sure you have heard, trout make great bass food. The parks where I live do the same thing. Once the fish are stocked, the week after it's a dessert. You almost have to fish the day of the stock or the week before. The week after, their full. Look to see when they are stocked #1, also carry a thermometer with you to check water temps. If the waters cool, don't worry too much about fishing early, look to fish mid day on the sunny side of the shore where the fish can get up and warm themselves. Look for wood and fish slow, jigs are a great choice to fish slow. Think you're fishing slow, slow down. Fish like you're watching paint dry slow. Swimbaits may be an option, but tough if you're not geared for it as it can be an expensive technique to get into. Look for stocking reports when they plant and try to fish before the plants incase the fish are feeding on the trout.

Let me make one thing clear, I have nothing against a person sitting especially if it's for health reasons. Would rather you sit and enjoy your time then end up in the ER. With that said, honestly if I saw an older gentleman trying to carry all his stuff and a chair I would honestly help. I do see most people that do carry a lot of equipment and their chair to fish from the bank have their little carry cart they load up with all their goodies, rod tubes to hold them and everything organized. Even working on the boats, I felt the older gentlemen figured something out quicker then us younger ones.......less work is much easier. They would have all their stuff organized and loaded on a little metal cart while we lugged our rods and our 40lbs of tackle along with a duffle bag(if it was an overnight trip) tryng hard not to drop anything while they simply just wheeled their little cart down with one hand.

In what part of the country? I would say a jig and pig would probably rank somewhere close to the top of the list though.

Well frog fishing I have narrowed the baits down to 4. Snag Proofs Ish's frogs (both), Live Target's Field Mouse, and Sproz's Bronzeye Shad. As for the list of plastics, Kietech Netbait GY Missle Zman Zoom Yum Strike King & Rage Tail Gene Larew Lunker City Each bait has it's place and time. I've swapped craw/creature baits several times till I find the look they are wanting. You know when you find it. The only way you find baits you like is to fish them all and keep the ones you like. The others, give them away to the local kids at the park fishing or buddies that want them.

Now. Prespawn in S. Cal normally starts right after fall. The bigger fish target the larger swimbaits and trout stocks. But gernerally Feb starts to produce more fish.

How are you gonna walk around and fish on the move if you have a chair. Chairs are fine for bait fshing and the sit and wait for catfish and trout, but bass fishing.....not so much.

Yeah Mission Viejo had a big fish kill off due to Golden Algae bloom. As for a guide, being that I live in S.Cal, honestly wouldn't need a guide, maybe a friend with a boat would be helpful more. Diamond Valley would be a good start, many of the San Diego Lakes, Castaic and Casitas, also have Parris. Honestly most lakes in S. Cal have the ability to produce double digit fish including most of the city park ponds regularly stocked with trout during the winter. Think the park about 3mi from me has a lake record of 15+lbs.

Normally down sized tackle and line. Tubes used to be considered finesse, dropshot, smaller baits, weights, etc. More suttle approach. Growing up, shaking a 4" Western Worm with a glass bead and small weight on 4-6lb with a spinning rod was pretty finesse. Split shotting could also be considered finesse fishing.

Shot me a PM if you want the down low on the city park lakes around there. There's a few good ones that are close, but can be tough. Right now all of them have water temps in the high 50's or right at 60. Fish right now are schooled up and pushing bluegill up on the banks or shad in the lakes/ponds that have them. And ofcourse that will all go to crap the min they stock trout for atleast a week until they are hungry after eating a few of them right after stocking.

I'd say a jig or a jerkbait.

As long as you can get me back to Houston I'll stop by on my way home sometime. Not sure how work will think with me bringing a few bass rods and tackle with me to work, but they'll get over it.

The medium bucco is a crankbait Moderate action rod. It's made to be that way and be forgiving. The MH (moderate fast) seem rated fine and have power. Their H is on point (which is a fast action rod). The Jason Christie rods are different action blanks but same material.

I'm going to go with the Falcon Bucco. Sorry, love the Carbonlite reels (black ones), not a fan of the rod. Don't like the handle lenght, don't like the rounded butt cap. Just don't like them. My opinion. Like the way the Bucco's feel, although all of mine are the micro's. Have 2 7ft M casting, 2 7ft MH casting, 1 7'3"H casting and love the action (although it's a mod action) on the 7ft M spinning rod. Now I'm finding myself torn between the Bucco's and the Black Omens, so figure the micro rods will be Bucco's, and the others will be Omens. So for the OP, I'm going Falcon Bucco.

Inside info cheat sheets!!!! I need to cross check these lists and see what I'm missing....j/k

What's the rating on it. Lure weight?

C Rig, followed by jerkbait fishing, then dead sticking, and finally those wacky rigged senkos. But I continue to push through and hope for the best even though they aren't my preferred ways of fishing.

Look around at Academy. You can get a nice rod for $60 (one of their H20 Ethos Rods IM-8) and one of their house reels for probably $50. Put you right in your price range or $10 above. The reel you have listed will work, but the rod could be better for sure.

Very true, but that would be most women in general not just wives, could be girlfriends as well. I make them a deal, I go shopping with them for their clothes, they have to go tackle shopping with me. Seems after the first time spending an hr and a half in a BPS, they don't ask me to go shoe shopping anymore.

I used take long drives with mine to fish places that were about that distance, but it was all saltwater gear. Usually had the reels in the cab and the rods bundled together as well as wrapped where they would ride on the tailgate( couple were 9'7"). if I needed to go inside anywhere, then I put them in the cab with the passenge window down. Then roled it up to the point where it was almost touching the blanks and then locked up and went in.

I like the Snag Proofs Ish's Poppin Phatty.....in black.

If you're asking me I set it with a full spool. Most of my fishing is done within 30yrds of me and the fact I use 20 and 30lb braid, the amout of line off the reel doesn't decrease as much as it would with heavier lines. But I'm always checking my drag and adjusting. It's probably set lower then needed, but like I said I tend to ride my thumb on my spool when I fish and tend to set the hook the same way....exceptions would be spinning gear and all reation baits like spinnerbaits, cranks, buzzbaits...etc. I just wind thru the bite. I would say my rods have about 3-4lbs of drag on them.

IF this theory works for all, my biggest disappointment was those Senko's....caught one fish on them all year, and those dropshot baits I have. Only had a couple good days fishing either. Then again, I fished mainly a flipping rod and punched thicker weedbeds so those baits weren't my baits of choice for what I was doing. Learning new ways and not getting stuck into a certain type of fishing and putting yourself in a bubble will result in tough days. I have gone out expecting to fish one way and ended up totally changing my game plan after seeing what the water conditions were. Each year is different as conditions change. If you are already giving up on the bait you're fishing because it didn't meet your expectation then you have already taken yourself out of the game since you have no confidence in the bait you have tied on.

And it doesn't matter what mono you fish, if you swing for the fences on braid then you're gonna break a few off or pull hooks.....my drag slips if I swing too hard which is great, I still get the hook set, but don't break the fish off. Have a tendency to ride my thumb on the spool at that moment as well so I know how much it's slipping when it does.

Depends on what you want to fish. I fish braid on all my rods, topshots are dictated by conditions, and drag set accordingly. Just because I have 30lb braid doesn't mean I can't fish 10lb mono topshots. You just have to make sure your drag is set right.

Down around my area they have a lake that is in San Diego. It's open 6months, only 3 or 4 days a week. Have to buy tickets on ticketmaster as only a select number of anglers are alowed on the lake. All lures are to be barbless. Can't bring your own boat but can fish out of one of the ones they have on hand (you are allowed to bring your own trolling motor. Probably one of the best fisheries in S. Cal and there are NO florida strain fish in there......Lake Barrett has worked out all these issues and thrives as a fishery with no problems (unless you can't get a ticket to fish the days you want cause they are sold out).