Jar11591

That’s a rod sock! Goes over a rod to protect it.

I am of the strong opinion that waiting on a book set in any scenario will in the long run do nothing but reduce the amount of hooksets you convert into hookups. Realization, followed by dropping the rod, reeling the slack, and setting the hook is more than enough time for a bass to inhale a bait and reject it.

There aren’t many dogmatic opinions I have in bass fishing, but this is one of them. Don’t wait, ever.

The Swampy Armada! Sounds like you got all the bases covered.

I slather the cob in butter and then coat it with Trader Joe’s Elote seasoning and then char it on the grill. Absolutely delicious. 

I agree with @Bigbox99 about the Lews. 
 
I would also advise against any Abu reel from the Max line. They are firmly in the “junk” category for me. Just my opinion. I started with a black max 15 years ago and it felt like junk, so I upgraded to a silver max and that was even worse but more expensive. Upgraded again to a Pro Max and it just equaled more expensive junk. So now I don’t even consider Abu reels. The only reel company that I’ve used that felt so junky and cheap, across 3 different reels. Now of course they were budget options, but there are so many budget reels from other manufacturers that are great reels that perform and function well above their price point. Abu Max reels aren’t them. 
 
No external brakes isn’t a big deal to
me so I wouldn’t rule out the SLX because it has internal brakes. Besides taking the side plate off which should only take 2 seconds, it’s just as easy to set internal brakes as it is external ones. 
 
If it were me, I would go with the Tatula, the SLX, or the Speed Spool. 

That’s exactly how I do it. EWG for the wider baits, offset straight shank for the thinner ones. Usually only finesse worms and ribbon tails.
 
Although lately, the EWGs are becoming my all purpose T-rig hook. I like being able to “texpose” the hook, and it’s easier to do that with an EWG. 

I’ve fished George a few times, June and July. I remember having a lot of success with the smallmouth around islands. It’s been over a decade ago so I don’t remember which islands, but I think the majority of them should hold smallies, and if there are a bunch of islands grouped together that’ll be money. Poppers, specifically a 2.5” Chug Bug, and 4” wacky senkos were what I was throwing. Lake George has all kinds of structure, drops offs, islands, flats, ledges, rock piles and sand bars. Water is clear, too. Visibility can be 8-10’ or more. 

Here’s a link to a contour map, as you can see it has a ton of structure, and every shoal and sand bar isn’t even on the maps. Shouldn’t have to paddle your kayak very far to find fishy spots.
 
South end:
https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/lkgeosomap.pdf
 
North end:
https://dec.ny.gov/places-to-go/maps/lake-george-north-contour-map-region-5

 
Also should add, Lake George is smack dab in the middle of vacationland USA, and it is loaded with camps, marinas, and lake houses and during a nice day the lake will be an absolute ZOO with pleasure craft. Luckily it’s a big lake and the north end gets a little quieter, and there are islands, points and coves to hide behind. 

If you’re using it as a leader, you don’t need to worry about factors like suppleness and memory. I suggest Berkley Trilene XT. The XT stands for extra tough and it’s just that. And it’s cheap. And if using it as mainline I suggest the XL version. 

A senko rigged wacky style on a finesse hook. 

I have one Kastking reel that I bought as try-out. I figured if it was junk I wouldn’t be out much money. It’s a KastKing WhiteMax casting reel. It’s been slinging Spinnerbaits for me for well over 5 years now and hasn’t had any issue. I can’t speak for their spinning reels or anything besides the White Max, but surprisingly the reel holds up and does it’s job reliably. For a $70 reel, that’s more than I expected. 

Tardiness drives me nuts. I’m a very punctual person. On time equals 15 minutes early to me. For a job, showing up on time is about the easiest part of any work. If we’re going fishing at 9, I’ll see you at the ramp at 8:45. 

Make sure you have a web browser downloaded. Safari or Chrome I recommend. Open your web browser and in the URL bar type: BassResource.com. When the homepage comes up, in the top left hand corner you should see 3 white horizontal bars inside a green square. Click that, a menu will open and you should see “Forums”. Click on that, and you should be on the forums, optimized for a mobil device.  

This for me as well. Can damper an outing for sure. 
 
Some other aspects I don’t care for jet skiers and other obnoxious pleasure-crafters, as well as people who think the boat ramp is just a concrete beach and not a spot for people to, ya know, launch their boats. Seeing litter on my pristine mountain lakes can really make me see red as also. 

This is a River2Sea Bully Wa in “Goliath” color. 
 
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/River2Sea_Bully_Wa_2_Frog/descpage-RBW2.html

Site sponsor @Delaware Valley Tackle should be able to take care of it for you. Does great work. 

Edit* I was erroneous in my initial response! 
 
@KSanford33, Both esox and walleye season is open until March 15th. Both are active in cold water and abundant in the Mohawk. I forgot it’s only March 1st.

Yup. This past fall I was fishing on my home lake, driving over the middle of the lake to fish a different spot. Water was 40’ deep, flat bottom and then a small hump came up to 35’ and it marked several fish right on that hump. In years past I would have considered them to be some hold-over trout from Spring stocking, but given all the new revelations FFS has shown us, I’m now not so convinced they weren’t bass sitting on that hump. I’ve caught them up to 23.5” in that lake, so maybe that’s where they haunt. This spring I’ll be going back to that 35’ hump and really probing it. 

Just read that Hamlin was released from
the hospital. Remarkable recovery. 

Most likely your braid is slipping on the spool. 9/10 when drag stops working on a casting reel, this issue is actually line slippage. Unspool all your line (braid I’m assuming), and put some cheap monofilament as backing and then fill the rest with braid. Mono will grip the spool and prevent slippage. If you don’t want to use backing, when you tie the braid to the spool just put a piece of tape over it, then fill the reel normally. Try that and I bet your drag issue will go away.