Senko lover

Frogs will work; and "punching" the grass with a heavy jig and braid will work too. Spinnerbaits are also pretty weedless.

I forgot to add in the forum starter that I have caught a Northern. It was a small 20-incher on an equally small Bomber spinnerbait. I rarely target species besides bass, but I want to catch both a big carp and a big cat, which are present in the ponds I fish. I see giant (20 lb) carp all the time finning and stirring up mud in one of the ponds. There is about 10-20 of them, including a koi which is bright orange and you can see it from across the pond. That would be fun to catch! I'm told they are great fighters. I don't eat any of the fish I catch; my parents aren't too big on cleaning fish. (I'm thirteen) Bummer. I would if they'd let me, though.

How often do you guys catch the wrong species of fish or animal while fishing for bass? What's your biggest wrong-species catch? I catch turtles and bream with regularity on fake bait, typically by foul-hooking, but sometime's they'll actually eat it. I've caught some crappie as well, but never a big fish like a cat or a carp yet. I know a guy who foul-hooked a goose and had a terrible mess getting the hook out. Not fun! Share your stories.

All the time. My neighbors laugh at me when they see me casting out in my front yard ("Tryin' to catch a grass carp?") every time I forget to cast in the back yard. What's wrong with practicing in my yard? Would I say "tryin' for a hole in one?" if I saw them practicing a golf swing? No. I always take my newly-purchased combos out in the yard to get a feel for them and then I hone my skills by casting, flipping, and pitching with them all the time after that. It's a fishing thing.

I've been bass fishing for about a year now, and I've had more painful hook experiences in that year than I care to remember. Thankfully, though, none have got very deep. The worst I've had is when a friend and I were fishing the bank together from a small spot (bad idea!) and he cast an EWG into my head. It didn't get deep but it still hurt bad. The same friend later cast another EWG into my arm, that wasn't as bad, but I don't fish close to him anymore! I've never had a Bill Dance moment where trebles got through my nose or anything like that. My personal least favorite are when hooks get stuck in my clothing or my carpet. I always have to cut them loose, and I've ruined several nice pieces of clothing. One instance was when my brothers and I were walking back to our car after fishing, and my little brother refused to put his lipless crankbait (never give a ten yr old a lipless!) in his hook keeper and was swinging it around and guess what? It got stuck in my shorts and my older brother had to cut it out with his pocketknife. I liked those shorts.

http://www.amazon.com/Garcia-VNGC662-5-Vengeance-Two-Piece-Casting/dp/B0071BXEZY/ref=sr_1_35?s=hunting-fishing&ie=UTF8&qid=1412002382&sr=1-35 The above link leads to a Abu Garcia Vengeance rod seemingly on sale; but the price seems a little too good to be true and the seller is Berkley, not Abu. Have any of you guys checked this out or bought rods from Berkley? The rod is two-piece, but Abu offers this same model on their website for $50.00. I'd appreciate any help.

Unfortunately, losing lures is an essential part of fishing correctly. I used to lose sleep over lures I lost, but now I accept it and realize that you're not using a lure to it's full potential if you don't risk snagging it. That said, I was kicking myself when I lost my $8.00 X-Rap last week. :X