the reel ess

Spawn is around the corner. She'll be shallower at some point.

You got a goo deal. Who cares what it looks like? I use my daughter's pink spinning reel sometimes. It came off a girls' Ugly Stik combo, but I changed the rod to one my dad had. The Ugly Stik rod was a little too "whippy".

They are routinely found in ditches that dry up seasonally

I'd prefer a lighter weight "grass jig" with a vertical line tie. If the jig is too bulky try a jighead with a craw or a T rigged craw that doesn't have the curly type appendages.

If you fish a place with more big bass, they won't be as "smart". But I believe big bass in a place with a lot of smaller bass, that sees a good bit of pressure are more well-educated. Add to this that most people don't keep any bass anymore and you get bass that have seen or fallen for several different artificials. Even a worm can learn from negative experiences. How rare they are depends on where you're fishing. And "big" is a relative term. In a place where 5 lb. catches are common, "big" takes on a different meaning.

I have 3 BC combos are 3 Lew's LFS reels on rods that are more than 10 years old. Though one of them is a Falcon Lowrider. I have one newish reel on a Cabela's Frog model rod. This is the newest combo and it's a couple years old. But I cleaned up several of my dad's combos from the 90's and even a Daiwa spinning reel from the 80's. I rearranged his rods with my arsenal and his to maximize the lot of them. There were a couple Ambassadeurs a big ol' Shimano Bantam and a couple spinning reels that are usable. I'll use them from time to time if only to be holding a reel my dad held. The Procaster in the pic is about shot but I'll keep it.

One of the best days I've ever had for numbers came in a shallow pond in February. It was the last day of a 3 or 4 day warming trend. But fish will bite a jig, T rigged craw or even a spinnerbait slow-rolled. They just won't be "on fire" until the water warms. You might have to slow way down. You can downsize too. Good news is the fish that do bite will probably be bigger. Around here, February can be the best month to catch a monster as they stage for spawn. Try the shallower end of the pond if you have full sun and work all the wood cover you can find. Try the deepest end if overcast. This time of year, you can probably use just three lures.

Paper clip, with a bullet weight. If it falls off, who cares? Here's one I made up but haven't used. I also considered one with this weight. It has some tiny rattles built-in.

It certainly does help take a lot of the mystery out of fishing. I should probably go back to it.

I kept a log for a while but I got tired of it. The wife gave me a log for Christmas one year and I used it for a couple years. It was fun to look back on a couple years worth of fishing, but I got tired of writing it down. After several years of fishing the same places, the log tends to be in your head. I don't have a photographic memory, but I do remember if I caught a bass off a particular rock, point or log. I do take pics of any fish of noteworthy size.

Stay away from the Academy H2O UL reel for $20. Awful drag. Agree on the Trion. I have two of those in size 30 & 40. Great reels for the $. I only paid $20 for the size 30 new.

Black, black/blue, purple...and watermelon. I usually buy a pack of black and a pack of watermelon in most things. Then I end up using up the black over and over while storing the packs of watermelon. I guess it's just the water here. I'll usually dist off the natural colors in mid-summer when bass just won't bite anything and I have to go finesse to get a few dinks to bite. Purple seems to do well with worms. In the Trick Worm I catch WAAAAY more on the bubble gum and limetreuse than any of the other colors. Naturals do well when bass are in post spawn and the aforementioned mid-summer.

"Jigger poling" was what I remembered. Here is a vid-joe. Looks like the rat would be a good bait for it now.

That's cool and I'm going to give it a try. I remember reading about how old timers used to do this with a cane pole. It would likely work better if you could get the bait a little further away from you.

Depends on the bass's mood. If you see movement in a mat of vegetation, throw that frog to make some disturbance when it plops down. That bass is actively looking for prey. If you see one in open water you should probably try to be stealthy not to alert the bass to your presence. But how many times have you gotten a bite from a fish as soon as the bait hit the surface? That's pure instinctive reaction. The fish were responding to the sound and vibration. They can also respond by fleeing.

A little after 8 AM October 19th 2018. I dropped my daughter off at school about 7:45 and headed right over to the spot. Put the kayak in and paddled straight to this spot because I had a good feeling about it. I caught her on the first cast at that spot. Air temp was 38 degrees, but water temp was much higher. It's the fish in my avatar.

I got a bunch of frogs. Booyah is always tied on.

Just steer clear of the infomercial fishing tackle and you'll be better off. Look up the top 100 bass lures and this one won't be on it.

Of course I take 6 or 7 other rods with me. You need to have other avenues if you plan to catch bass every trip.

I used a jig instead of soft plastics all of 2018 because I wanted to get better at it and I did. My best jig fish of 2018 was a 6.92 lb. If I may give a little advice, don't overthink it. I bought several different styles and colors, but I ended up using one jig pretty much exclusively. It's a 3/16 oz. black/blue custom jig made from a grass style head. I don't suggest you need to order custom jigs or use the style, color or weight I use, but wire tied jigs made with premium hooks will last a long time. Detecting strikes, especially of bigger bass, takes a lot of practice. You might notice the bait move more than you'll feel it. Set that hook really hard as soon as you can and don't let up. Don't try to play the fish and tire it out. Yank them all the way in the boat. That means a good, stout MH rod, tight drag and good line. I use 30 lb braid with a leader of 15# mono. Line is whatever you feel comfy with, but it should be able to take a beating in cover. Trailers are more a matter of preference than anything else. My favorite right now is the Chigger Craw. Just make it match the jig size. I've had the most success fishing the bait right up on wood structure and cover next to the bank, but near deeper water. Cast it right up in the cover. Here's another little tip I learned. If you want to get more bites, you can use a smaller weedless jighead with a Hula Grub or plain twin tail grub. These will entice more bites from smaller fish, but the big mamas will still eat it. It will give you more practice that way. You can overthink the jigheads or you can just start with an Arky style. It will cover most bases. Then you can branch out as you see a need. Most bites will come on the drop as it enters the water or right as you start to move it. No need to get in a hurry. I'm guilty of this all the time. Work it slowly. Big bass can't tolerate it in their living room. You can still cover a lot of bank in a day if you're casting directly to targets. Let us know how it went for you. No need to wait unless the water is hard. They'll bite the jig in cold water.

It's my #1 cold water lure.

I'm reviving this thread once more! I ran across this BMP350 in my dad's stuff. The handle was loose. I surmised the cap nut on the aftermarket handle was stripped and it would slip one thread after you tightened it. I took the nut off the old Daiwa Procaster in the pic and used on the Shimano handle. It's nice and tight now. The reel seems to be in perfect working order, except for some "gear feel." Well, it is decades old. It's the biggest reel in that line so I'm not sure what to use it for. Maybe a dedicated Trap/Spook-type combo. It will require some weight to spin the spool. The side plate has "Extra High Speed" on it. It's 5.1:1. LOL

Yeah, I definitely needed some more in there. ? Check out the old ice fishing tip-up in the corner. At least I think that's what it's called. We don't get much hard water in SC. It has a license tag from NY Mills, NY that actually has the person's name stamped on it. The reel is a wooden thread spool.

I was going through some more of my late father's rods and reels today. There were a couple Ambassadeur 5000's, an early Shimano Bantam 350 and a Daiwa Procaster (lower end). The latter two seem in pretty badly worn. I don't know what, if anything, I will do with these. Messing with them just reminds me of the times we had together. The rods look like they're in good shape. From left to right: ABU Garcia Harold Ensley Signature 96% graphite 6' Light (this one intrigues me because I was complaining earlier that the small Pop R really needed a lighter rod. Vintage Berkley Lightning Rod 6' MH. It feels like a Hvy-Fast to me. Dig that short pistol grip! Probably the most my dad ever spent on a rod. Renegade Pro Series 6'6" MH Shakespear Sigma Titanium 96% graphite 6'6" MH I know none of these are really good quality. That was not my dad's priority. He just wanted something to take with me.

Fireline was my first foray into superlines. I used it on a spinning combo. It was OK, but braids are better. I switched to PowerPro and I'm very happy with it. Now I use 20 lb on spinning gear, 30 on my worm/jig rod and 50 on my frog combo. I am considering trying a different brand next though.