the reel ess

For a while my PB was caught on a BPS spinnerbait that cost a dollar. It was the old Uncle Buck store brand that was about 20 years old. When I got into spinnerbaits, I bought several different size and colors combinations. I still have a few. Then that PB was eclipsed by a soft plastic craw on a plain weedless Arky jighead. That's a pretty cheap lure. As already mentioned, the Zoom Trick Worm is a great bass-to-buck ratio. After the nose gets chewed up, you can cut off a little and re-rig it and catch one or two more. In fact, I believe it gets more bites when it's shorter. As for hardbaits, you generally get what you pay for. But you don't have to spend $10 or more on, say, a walking bait or a popper. For instance, the Spook and Pop R still really get the job done. Academy house brand hardbaits can be a deal. I think they're made by different companies because some are better quality that others.

C'mon down.

Yeah, spinnerbaits are more "woodless". Having them knock up against wood cover is one of the best ways to trigger a strike.

Water that isn't hard. You'll be surprised how slowly you can fish a double or single big Colorado blade spinnerbait. I'll add one: tiny crappie jig. My buddy has caught a few really big gals in cold water while trolling for crappie.

BamaBASS, anyone? I know he's fishing trophy places. But DANG! And he even has his own backyard bass pond with pets.

If you had a Firestick you could get it on your TV by downloading the app to your Firestick.

I had a big ol' gal come all the way out of the water to knock a topwater up in the air with her mouth closed. I cast it back across that path and didn't get a bite. I threw a couple more baits around there then moved on. Sometimes they just want to kill the bait, not eat it. A lot of times, and this usually happens to me when I've been successful with the topwater early, they'll nip at the back hook then shy away. If they aren't striking the middle of the bait and they're just getting one barb of the rear treble it's a lot easier to lose them. The Plopper is a heavy bait, which gives them good leverage to throw the hook when they do the head shake.

It is certainly relative. To me deeper than 8' is deep. I catch 90% of my fish shallow, if that's the line of demarcation.

Given those two choices I'll always choose shallow. Let's say you have a jon boat or a kayak with no electronics. In that shallow water you're going to drag some baits by some fish. But this time of year is shallow time for me. It's the last chance for the year for me to get a big gal in less than 5 or 6' of water. But skinny water bass will be shocked more easily by bitter cold snaps.

Amber. I'm not spending big money on a 2nd unnecessary pair of glasses. Actually, I'm not spending big money on one pair. I use Calcuttas.

I went into a tackle shop at the beach and asked them for artificials for redfish, trout and flounder. They gave me a gold Johnson Minnow and a pack of Gulp Mullet. They said I could spend all I wanted in that store but those two things would get it done for less than $10. I caught a flounder on each. No redfish or trout though. I've thought a lot about the Johnson minnow in our local lake, but only tried it once with no success.

How did it work for you? I caught my first bass on a full-size regular Spook in more than 10 years last Saturday. It's a lure that i really love to fish, but I've all but replaced it with the Pop R, Chug Bug and Whopper Plopper. Because they make more noise, they seem to get more attention unless there is no ripples on the whatever whatsoever. I also have a Chug'n Spook that worked well for me a few years back. It's a good bait, but from the kayak, it has a tendency to dive after the line gets a little waterlogged.

Treble lures. I like to use snaps on my medium combos because they're almost always for trebles. A snap makes the action of most topwaters better. Use a good quality safety pin type snap. I see some people like the speed clip. I lost a really nice bass on one once and haven't used them since.

I've always thought they should make them with the seats on an adjustable track so you can ditch the 2nd seat after the significant other gets tired of it. It also looks like the front person would constantly be in the way of the cast you want to make if you actually try to fish from one. But the NuCanoe Frontier with swivel seats looks doable. On second thought, it loos too small for two, but it might be fishable with one seat out.

I've owned both. My first small watercraft was a canoe that I tried to fish from. A stiff breeze would take it away from me. If you have two people in it that know how to paddle and work together, you can certainly enjoy it. And when it comes to taking a long trip or camping, a canoe is great for two or three people. If you intend to fish a SOT kayak is the king. I never look back and think I'd like to have that canoe back. If you're thinking in terms of flipping one or the other, the canoe can easily be flipped or swamped, especially if you have an inexperienced partner. I've never turned a fishing kayak over in probably 8 years. You just need to get you and your partner on a kayak in still water a few trips so they gain confidence with handling it. Yeah, just make sure one of the seats can be removed. LOL. A lot of couples get one thinking they'll be using it together a lot only to find one of them wants to use it a lot more than the other. Buying two singles is a better idea so you can at least sell hers (or his) or leave it at home when the spouse doesn't want to go, which happens to most of us.

I don't clip off the tip of a new worm unless there is some molding irregularity. But after a couple bites on the Trick Worm, I'll bite off (they really are salty) the first 3/8-1/2" and re-rig it. Fish don't care and you actually probably get more bites on the smaller worm. But that's not a weighted T rig, though I don't see any difference weighted.

I don't know about every course. But a lot of them will allow members to fish before or after hours. I've only fished one course and I'm pretty sure the ponds there only had carp. People will also throw some fish in there without permission just so they can come back and fish it. people are crazy like that.

I tend to agree. If fish can change color to match their surroundings, fish in shallow water are in a less murkey environment. The further light has to travel through water, the darker it gets. I've caught a lot of bass that are almost black because I fish shallow a lot. My dad used to say they got a tan.

Getting very specific: Double Willow spinnerbait Chug Bug jerkbaits CC Spot Jig and craw (year-round) Fluke if they're actively chasing bait

Depends on the size of the place, if they're biting, weather, etc. I want to walk all that i can reach. If it's big enough 3-5 hours. If it's evening, until dark, however long that is. Sunset/sunrise is a magical time to be on the water.

Maybe they're inbred.

Catch as many as you can and eat them all. They're supposedly good.

Before it. LOL. That's really a temp swing of about 30 degrees. I would concern myself with the water temp and not the air. But it's still warm here and we rarely ahve a swing that dramatic.

They will if there's an active school and you already have a fish on the main hook.

I have ML I don't use. I use the M and MH only. I don't use a lot of finesse though. Many days I don't even use the spinning combos.