Choporoz

I bought two $50 Quantum spinning combos for the wife and I two years ago. We were on a trip and needed something for a couple weeks. We were both very disappointed with them, even for low-budget gear. Neither reel lasted a year and one rod broke within that year. The action felt good in the store, but quickly started grinding and the bails stopped closing on their own. I wish I knew the exact model, but they were largely red reels with silver accents. I see two combos on Walmart that are near your price point that I would recommend far and away before the Quantum: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Abu-Garcia-Cardinal-STX-Spinning-Combo/23608392 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mitchell-308-Spinning-Combo/35739195 I always hate when people give recommendations outside the price range being requested. But, I feel pretty strongly that the extra 10 or 11 dollars for one of those two combos is going to buy you MUCH more satisfaction, a rod that has tons more feel, and a reel that will last twice as long. I have used Cardinals and low/med Mitchells for many, many years and still have one of each in my car right now.

Buy a sweatshirt and get a free Veritas? This one looks like a deal, also: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Home/Rods-Reels-Sale|/pc/105625080/c/109404180/Pflueger174-President8482-Baitcasting-Reel/738971.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Frods-reels-sale%2F_%2FN-1105245%2B4294023753%2FNe-4294023753%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU&WTz_l=Unknown%3Bcat109404180

Great reading. I didn't fullly understand until recently that fishing for big bass was different than bass fishing and sometimes catching big bass. Not sure what I'll do with the knowledge yet. Nothing, probably. I'm still happy with numbers and the occasional 5+. Now, that I know about separating the big bass from the small bass......I'd like assistance in telling which BR advisers are blind. Through experience, I'm starting to learn, but it would have been helpful when I started here to have a big scarlet carp or something for people like me with little valuable knowledge, but no hesitation to pretend we do.

I have not. It could be my browsers are to blame, but every time I click the link, I feel like I'm on my Gateway computer and used dial-up to access a web page in 1994. One time I spent a few minutes and did figure a little navigation into the site....but, soon I felt compelled to link to facebook, perform tricks or do anything else other than shop, and it drove me straight away. Never to return...until I am prompted by a post here and come away feeling the same way. Sorry to sound so negative, but when I click on the advertiser link on the right I'm taken to a page that makes me squirm a little and exit as fast as possible. Nothing about the page makes me feel invited to shop for anything. At all.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/141075-buzzbaitspinnerbait-storage/

I don't understand......Off the top of my head, other than Back Bay, I can't think of any larger bass lakes in VA that don't have bass holding below 15' the last couple months. I suppose for lots of tidal waters, that's probably got some truth

Rough weekend out there.....spent a few hours out there Friday out of Fountainhead and I was skunked while the wife boated exactly one - it was a nice 3.6, but still just one fish for 4+ hours was sad. Saturday was even worse - I weathered the downpour out of Lake Ridge all afternoon and got skunked once again.

Go fishing. Then go fishing some more. Pay your dues, learn the water, learn your prey. Sorry to sound flip, but there's thousands of threads on here about big bass. I'm sure you've read plenty of them. What more did you hope to learn in this one? Keep an optimistic attitude; build confidence and go fishing. While your fishing, consider.....if you catch your life-time PB in the first months or year of bass fishing, it'd be all downhill and disappointment ever after. May every next fish be bigger than your last.

Mostly Rage stuff. But, I am a little surprised at my total inability to get bass to hit a spinnerbait this year.

I don't. But then, I don't suffer from OCD much and never realized I was supposed to care. They jam in just fine even with a little sloppy tag left.

Sorry....that silly 'Sarcasm Smiley' is never around when you need it

I can almost promise that your same $37 at Siebert...maybe 7 jigs and some Rage trailers....will make you happier. But....I should have added to my last post....that I do still have (and use) all those 360 boxes from BPS

Haven't bought it, but I understand the attraction. FWIW, I've bought a few different kits from BPS; creature kit, finesse kit, stick-o kit and maybe one or two others. I consider every single one of those purchases to have been a mistake and never made it through more than a quarter of the options in the kit before getting other branded items that I considered far superior.

Hey guys, he did say they were chunky. According to: http://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html That 14 incher would only need a girth of 16" to tip three on a scale

Numbers from the bank....I immediately think finesse-size worms - try 'em mojo, then worm-weight texans and/or c-rig....and even weightless if there's any surface activity at all.

I'm more confident with the heavier shakey head. The connection from worm to my hand on a tauter line just feels better. With the lighter heads, I"m afraid I'll mistakenly be dragging the bait when I'm just trying to maintain good contact. Especially if there's any wind and/or good distance between rod tip and plastic.

My wife loves and does pretty well with marabou jigs with twister tails and other grubs and/or hulas. I never really took them seriously because I felt they were a walleye or crappie lure. But, then, I'm not too bright. She doesn't get a lot of big ones with them, but oranges and yellows consistently draw pretty decent numbers as long as they're fished erratically --- they work best on the drop....as opposed to skirted and other swim jigs which can often be as productive horizontally.

Thank you! Even I can understand much of that. Very instructive. I appreciate your taking the time to explain.

DVT, Would you happen to have a link to a site with some rod basics in first grader English? I think I like what you said, but then again, I'm not sure I understand it.

It's amazing how much more water becomes available to you when you put on waders. It's also so very cool having a big bass smack your lure just a few feet away from your legs.

What are the pros of micro-guides if using mono or hybrid? Is the list of pros the same for spinning and casting? Is there a 'good' site or reference for me to learn more? Thanks for any more info.

Nice fish, BP! Wife and I spent a lot of hours out there yesterday and just a few dinks to show for it. Nice day, though. As we trolled past Fountainhead, we did see a couple tourny fishermen releasing some hawgs. No clue what they were doing different. Except for range, of course. We are limited by trolling motors, so never get very far up. Worked flats, ledges, banks, Ryans Dam, points....etc. What little we did catch was on cranks and swim jigs. Biggest fish of the day, by far, was one of the stranger catches of the year. Pulled in a four pound cat. He hit a DD22. Don't think that's ever happened to me before...lol.

Advil. My wrist is sore today.

We plan to give it a shot tomorrow

It IS satire. Why do you find it 'sick'?