DogBone_384

I just saw these critters on Dirty Jobs. I wonder if they'd make good Striper bait?

3 or 4" tie wraps also work like O-rings. They're cheap too.

Two Pflueger Presidents and some left over for more tackle..... I have Abu Garcia and Pflueger spinning reels in your price range. I use my Presidents more & can't really justify the extra $90, or so.

You should get a college degree no matter what, unless you're striving for a career in the trades (UNION) or are planning on military duty (opens up tons of opportunities). Geeze I sound like a parent.... Best of luck to you!

Great to hear you bought a kayak. You'll be able to get to places boats and feet can't go. Congratulations.

Congratulations. Must feel great!

Sounds like you've got the Bait Monkey by the tail! Best of luck, and be careful .... That Monkey can be tough to get rid of. Have a great time learning your bait cast setup!

Recently bought my first JDM Shimano from them. Service and communication was great. Have you checked your spam folder, just in case?

Very impressive. That's got to be a difference between Missouri & Massachusetts. I don't know that there are 100 bass in most of the waters I fish. Best of luck!

Funny ... Aleve is a little blue pill, isn't it?

Grampa Casey used to say. " believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see" ....

So far only pickerel, so I'll let you know when I bag my first LM.... perhaps Sunday, time permitting. If not, next Friday when I take a family friend's son fishing. He's currently under chemotherapy treatment but it itching to go.... Gave him this forum's address today. Hopefully he'll join.

Happy Wife = Happy Life..... I learned quickly, been married almost 20 years and fish more now than ever... listen to Grampa -

Macallan 12 on the rocks & 2 Aleve....

I have 6'9" MH 2 piece Veritas. It's light as a feather, loads up well, and well, just feels really good to me. For $99 the only thing I've fished that's comparable is ***'s *** series. They're also feather light but have a very different feel. Of the two, the Veritas load up better.

I have nice equipment and don't overspend based on our needs/income. I don't think about my fish to dollar spent on gear ratio: it's a hobby. I just enjoy fishing and try to improve every trip out. Besides, my wife is an accountant, not me.

... just another reason for me to leave Massachusetts when I retire...

X2 I've seen many hawk and osprey (that live in the marsh adjacent to our house) snag fish from ponds I fish, but never a bait. Saw a bald eagle at a pond I fish in Plymouth, MA, cruising the tree lines. Never an owl, though my parents have them in their neighborhood ('burbs). I live in a city just south of Boston, MA.

Finished work at 2:30 and had a couple hours to myself so I drove up to Blue Hills Reservoir. Water level is very low compared to last Fall and water temp was 52. Threw a pumpkin colored jig for a little bit because I never have. No bites with it, but it told me the rock shore continues much farther than I originally thought. It got caught between some rocks and well, is still there.... I tied on a Kreature for the first time, dragging & hopping it as slowly as I could across the bottom. It too got snagged many times but I got it back. There were five other folks fishing while I was there. Nobody caught anything that I noticed. The last couple of years I've not caught much there. I've seen people taking their catches home for dinner, and only being open since 2008 I'd have to say the bass still there are very tough to catch. I've also not seen many sunnies or perch there in the shallows in the last year too. The food supply might be small, which would cause the bass population to react accordingly. It's still too soon to tell for sure, it's still a nice location to stop and cast for a short spell.

Yes, it's as simple as that. My wife and I are both college educated and have great jobs, but reality is that houses in the Boston area start at $350,000 for something livable and a bachelor's degree at a state school is $100,000. If we can give our daughter as big a head start in life as possible, the better off she'll be. The boss, er, wife, and I have our retirement in good order already. OK, enough hijacking... got to get back to work figuring out which of my dream combos I'm going to catch that 12+ pound LM with! Thanks for your comment.

This is a tough question to answer. I got serious about bait cast fishing again only 3 years ago, so I'm still learning the basics. I own a BPS, Lews, Diawa, Shimano (Core 50 & 100 Mgs, CI4), *** and Abu Garcia reels ranging from $99 to $350+. My rod collection consists of Diawa, St. Croix, ***, Abu Garcia, BPS, and Fenwick. Currently my favorites are my Core and Concept reels mixed and matched with Veritas and *** rods. I'd love to say my ultimate rig would be a top shelf Dobyns, or custom rod and a Shimano reel made of unobtainium, but reality is my daughter starts college in 3 years and I have this crazy idea of paying off my mortgage within the next ten years, which puts a bass rig that potentially north of $1,000 pretty far down my priority list. Yeah, I'd just have to say my dream combo would be one mentioned above, just with a 12+ pound LM attached to it.....

Had free afternoon so out to Whitman's Pond I went. I started between 10-20' deep areas, moved to 5-10', then middle ground @ 12-15'. Stayed somewhat near points and the couple spots I caught fish last Summer. Used in-line spinner, chartreuse chatter bait, a couple different Rapalas, and a Fat Ika (my 1st one, figured 'what the heck'). Managed one Pickerel on a suspending Rapala, working it as I did @ Jacob's Pond. Water temp ranged between 48 - 50 degrees. The Lowrance didn't reveal much in the way of fish, even on the drop offs and areas I've seen them before. Perhaps they're still in the deepest part of the pond, which is 20-27' in the channel coming from the rte 53 side.

Don't forget to keep a travel rod in your club bag so you can fish the course ponds between holes....

Got the kayak in at Jacob's Pond in Norwell this morning. Water temp at 8:30 was 48, by 1:00 when I left is was 51. I threw a brass in-line spinner, chartreuse spinner bait, a couple different Rapalas and a t-rigged U-tail worm in gourd green (my best performer). Managed only one small pickerel on a suspending Rapala yellow perch(jerking and pausing it). Can't complain for a first day out. It got too windy for baitcasting, luckily I brought a spinning setup with me.