Joedodge

So I need to respool my reels for spring. Some are low one is blown up lol. I fished braid, mono and flouro this year and loved them all. Flouro is just so hard for me because ya are one mistake away form a $20 mistake lol. I love braid for the hookset ( sometimes it’s too aggressive on small fish) my options are 15 pound big game 40 pound power pro 15 pound seaguar invizx i just don’t know what to do lol. I hate deciding

For me? Sometimes if absolutely can. I don’t buy much that isn’t on sale or a deal. If it’s comparable and a better bang for the buck I’ll try it. But I also like the buy once cry once approach. I try to buy smart with all my fishing gear. You don’t need to mimick the tackle shop walls in your garage or basement.

Reminds me of fishing the saltwater piers as a kid in Florida. We accidently hooked more birds and pelicans. Or had them steal a fish ya caught and swallow it and the hook and try to fly away. What a mess at about 13. We didn’t know what to do haha. Thanks for trigger for some good memories Pat.

RIP Tom. Thank you for everything you contributed to all Of us. Deeply saddened by this

Merry Christmas everyone.

Man I’m not sure where it came from. Some of the stuff actually looks nice. Hopefully I’ll catch some bluegill on some of it this year

Work did a secret Santa. I’ve never participated in one. This is what I got. I thought it was pretty cool to get something that actually interest me

Some small 1/8 ounce strike kinds I found at fleet farm. They aren’t much bigger than a beetle spin

Not sure that I want to make the full bfs commitment

Sounds like a good trip to me. I’ve never really been in a position to hunt monsters. It’s usually productive numbers I look for if a few big ones pop up I’m happy.

Nope been here 10 years nice try tho lol. Thank you. I can’t wait to hear about your success this coming year. One day I’ll be floating on the water again lol

Whys that lol

That’s great to hear!! I’ve never fished a drop shot ever lol. I really need to. It would keep the bait out of the silt bottom. I’m not sure why I’ve never tried it honestly.

I try to be super stealth appreciating the water. And plan my first cast to be long. Then I usually. Trip over something, someone yells did ya catch any! I slip walking down the sloped bank you name it lol. First cast gets a lil bird nest or into the cat tails and snagged. So after a good 15 minute struggle we are in business!! that said when I used to bass and inshore fish in Florida from my aluminum canoe or kayak. I was always as quiet as possible. Trolling motor on the canoe shut off far away. And push poke the rest of the way. Kayak as quite as possible and not drop anything. Again good luck with all that if I’m involved lol

Very nice I’ve never tired the finesse worms

I agree. Grew up night fishing in the gulf. When I lived in Florida. @A-Jayhits into on the head

I never knew about those! Thank you I’m gonna grab a couple of those to try! Wow thank you tom! Love the history lessons. And the advice! Your waters sound a lot like mine. I fish sunset a lot. But haven’t night fished for bass. Did saltwater night trips for many years.

Oh absolutely. I won’t hesitate to fish a 5/16-3/8 jig still just a more compact skirt that’s all. And thank you I totally forgot about underpins. I do well on those as well. Usually a 3/16 with a 3-3.5 swim bait. as far as cranks and hard jerk baits and lipless cranks and such. The areas I fish are just so shallow and silted and in the spring vegetation grows in I spend more time cleaning treble hooks off than I do fishing lol My pb was on a full skirt 5/16 ball head jig with a zoom super chunk trailer. So I’m definitely not afraid to throw a meatier looking lure. But the areas I fish see so much pressure. I caught one small fish this year that had a beetle spin, a win hook and a truck worm rigged all stuck in its lip lol

Thank you. That’s excellent advice. I will say on these pressures areas very early morning or the exact time you are referencing is the best I’ve done

Been sitting around contemplating a lot about march/april. Depending when winter breaks this year. I’ve never been a real power fisherman to begin with. But I think this year I’m going to try a lot more finesse im planning to fish light Ned rigs. Fishing TRD and hula sticks. I’ve had success in years past on hula sticks. finesse jigs or compact jigs. Nothing different from this year. spinner baits are gonna be in the 1/8 ounce range on spinning gear. weightless plastics like always. top waters will be 1/4 ounce buzzbaits and size 75 choppo. Neko rig will be a staple as well like last year. This rig really impressed me. im basically not gonna fish moving sub surface hard baits. I will mix aim e light Texas rigs in there as well. And some weightless caffeine shads. really gonna work hard to keep it simple this year. Last year was simple but gonna try harder. And show the pressured areas I fish something a lil different. In also found two ponds fed by the river by my work I plan to explore. Since my work schedule changed fishing will be after work and evenings anyway. And Saturday or Sunday mornings.

I do throw a lot of that style of jog in 3/16 and 1/4. Hmmm I’ll have to get on falcons website and take a look

Thank you so much! I appreciate the help. Now I’m wondering if I should just stick with what I got and use spring gear for light stuff

So I’m contemplating a bfs set up for this spring. But need some advice and help. I fish mostly local ponds. Some of them get thick with vegetation though. To the point a medium spinning combo and 20 pound braid they can get stuck in and get off when I’m fishing a fluke or neko. Some are not so choked out in areas though so i I think it will work. I’d like to try weightless plastics, and jigs and spinner baits in the 1/8-3/16 ounce range. can anyone recommend a decent entry level rod and reel to try out?

I’m interested to see the results! Good luck. I’ve always grabbed shaky heads and for some reason put them back on the shelf before I check out lol. I think because in Florida and Iowa the ponds and lakes have such silt scum bottom I talk myself out o Why is that? I know elaztech can be hard to thread on a spring holder.

I don’t have a ton of input. But a dead sticked Stick bait or trick worm used to kill them in florida. When it cooled off I worked deeper spots really really slow. Like some low make a hop with it and then check bass resource on your phone and then make the next hop. Did really well like that.