the reel ess

I'd do the same stuff you did. Sometimes it doesn't work. I'd target visible cover with a dark jig, bladed jig and/or spinnerbait. Make some noise. Bump into stuff.

Topwaters are my best and favorite technique because I love (live) to see the blowup. The frog is in this group, but a different kind of fishing. I'm trying to make the jig my best technique because I catch bigger bass with it.

I use a junebug Zoom Super Fluke on a black/blue Chatterbait in early spring. It works well in stained, shallow water.

I have two Trion reels. One is a size 40 that's a bit too heavy. The other is a 30 I put on my "finesse" rod. I bought the latter in a pawn shop, still sealed up in the plastic. It feels just right for the 7'M rod I put it on. Good reels.

I used to be a member of the Bill Dance Outdoors message board. If you asked a question, everyone on it would either give a sarcastic remark or no one would ever answer. It seemed there were only about 4 regulars on it. I guess I'm still a member on it, but I haven't been on it since I discovered this board.

Around here (SC), in March bass could be anywhere from deep water pattern to making the beds, depending on weather. But They will usually be in the "staging" areas. Like the points or dropoffs near the spawning flats. They'll usually still be deeper, but a warm trend will bring them shallower and they'll be hungry. This actually begins in February here. A good bait for the deep ones seems to the lipless crank. If they're shallower, the spinnerbait and blade baits can be good. It's a great time to catch a big mama.

My buddy and I mopped up on the bass one spring with the floating rapala minnow in gold. I have only caught one jerkbait bass since. I see it as a clear water bait. And we rarely have very clear water here unless it doesn't rain for weeks. I have one of these. I used it ata place where there are monster bass to no avail. I took it to my buddy's dink farm and caught 12 dinks on it. LOL. I was amazed those little bass couldn't leave it alone. That was a very steamy summer evening. I have the natural mouse color. This is one of my best producers in mid spring to late summer. It produces best in a place that has no real deep water. Bass just seem to respond to topwaters better in a place where they can see the surface from almost any spot. The trick to it is to use it when you know bass are in the weeds. I mean, you see bass attacking bream or minnows in the lilies or mats. They'll usually let you know they're there. Another tip is to spot cast it to any wood or other cover or structure in the mat. If there's a bass there, you usually won't even move the bait before it gets bit. Trim the skirt legs to about the same length of the body or a little less.

Big swimbaits. Especially glide. I know they require patience. But when you can get big bass to bite the usual stuff, I just can't make myself throw the swimbaits for long. I want to take about 6 hours and go to my local dink factory and see if I can catch the biggest bass in the pond, throwing only the biggest baits I have.

T rigged worms and craws and creatures. I know that's crazy because they work so well, but I started forcing myself to use the jig and the fish got bigger. Deep diving crankbaits. I fish some very weedy and shallower places so the lipless crank took over.

These look great. I'm partial to hammered blades as well. Is there a specific criteria where you would choose to use the hammered blade spinnerbait over smooth blade?

Me too. Because it was one I started. 3 years old now.

I'd bet there are craws there. I fished my home lake for more than 30 years, even lived there for years, before ever seeing a crawfish there. The only one I ever saw was in a fish. But I doubt that's the reason for the red in the mouth. I agree with you that it's water temp related. Bass eat craws year-round. but they don't keep the red lips. My theory is their body moves blood toward the lips to help them feed in winter because they're cold blooded creatures.

I'm in Kershaw. How is Lake Robinson for bass? It looks like there might be a warm water duscharge. Is it good in cold weather? Welcome to the OP!

Look fo a used one. Many, many people go gung-ho into a hobby just to drop it the next offseason. Or they are military and have to ship out or get separated and need the cash. Craigslist, LetGo and Offer Up.

My dad and I caught the same fish at the same time once. He said "I got one!" I said "Me too!" Then we reeled it up right between us.

I think I caught the fish in my profile pic twice in a few weeks about 50 yards apart. I'm almost certain of it. You just don't see many fish with a gut like this one where I fish, even during the spawn. The first time it weighed 6.93. Second time it was 7.1-something. In fact, I caught one a couple years ago in the same vicinity that could have been the same fish. Twice on a spinnerbait and once on a jig. That's the cool thing about putting the big gals back. That's three big bass for me.

The President is a good choice.

I feel ya. I had to retire this classic a couple years ago. I got it for Christmas in 1983-ish. I was 13 and it was my first baitcaster, which I bought because I saw my idol, Bill Dance, using it on TV. I played hookie from school that winter to learn how to cast it before spring came around. It worked pretty well for 30 plus years. I did wear out a couple levelwind pawls that Daiwa shipped free of charge, even though the reel was 30 yrs old. The gears eventually fell apart so bad that it couldn't be put back together.

Since low-vis braid turns into hi-vis braid after a few trips, does anyone buy hi-vis (like yellow) braid and use it with a leader? I've been considering this lately to help detect bites. Except for frogs. I'll keep that straight green braid. Maybe.

I was thinking of doing the same because I'm partial to the hammered blades and I can't get that combo in the gold War Eagle. IDK why, but I just like the hammered blades. I feel like they give off more vibrations and resemble scales.

That thing looks HUGE in the back of the S10. Congrats on the purchase.

I think I just get more bites using lighter weight, and i don't fish very deep often. I try to stay with 3/16 oz for jigs or T rigs. When i first started using jigs and had no idea how heavy they should be for the situation, I missed a bunch of bites and always ended up going back to T rigs. Going lighter seemed to get the bass to hold the bait better. Now, they usually swim off sideways with it. The C rig is a different story because the bass don't bite the weight.

Well, maybe they're just in the middle of a redesign. I adjusted my post because I'm not certain. They aren't online anymore and they were on sale for a while before they disappeared. They're good rod at that price point. I don't know which line of BPS rods comes closest to them. I'm a bit put out with BPS and don't know if I'd buy anything from them.