the reel ess

Unless you're in a high level tournament, there really is no "pressure" to catch fish. I enjoy looking for a way to break the skunk. I'll try some technique that I haven't before. It really builds confidence if you ****** victory from the jaws of defeat with a method you haven't used.

A Ned rig and a Rooster Tail should tell you pretty quickly.

If you caught some near 3 lbs or the average is anywhere near 2 lbs., that, to me, wouldn't indicate they're stunted for a pond. Even so, the recommendation by experts is that someone else harvests a minimum of 20 lbs. of bass per acre per year. So, if it's a 3 acre pond, you need to harvest a minimum of 60 lbs. of bass a year. Ideally, those would be the dinks, leaving some larger fish to grow and hopefully become trophy size. So, basically, you should probably keep all the fish under 2 lbs. that you catch there, unbless you can't for some reason. I fish several ponds, but I only practice this at one pond because it's my buddy's and the bass are severely stunted. And my friend tells me to put EVERYTHING I catch in his basket. He either eats them or gives them away. I'll take a mess of them from time to time.

There may not be anything new that you can see about them on the site. But they went on sale at the end of the year. Some of them were sold out. They came off the site and now there they are, regular price. Either way, they're good rods. My 7'3" frog rod is the lightest rod I own. Granted, I don't own any $200 rods. The Falcon LowRider is still better a better rod though.

That's the other $100 rod I have and it's good. Mine could probably be better, but I have the frog model. It could double as a pool cue. I think they updated the models because they had them $20 off for a while before they went MIA.

Falcon Lowrider. I own a couple $100+ rods. The Falcon is far superior to the other.

I all but cinch it. I use a Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool LFS reel and a Cabela's Frog model Tournament ZX rod. I haven't found the fish I can't pull out yet. Just use common sense about how much weight a rod can lift. I lean on my rod pretty hard because it's a frog model. You expect to be able to abuse it a bit. But I doubt I've ever put 10 lbs. of load on it.

To those who think there's no use for a trailer hook, try one. Every fish you catch on the trailer you would not have caught without it and I've caught a lot on the trailer. Needless to say, I always use one on SB's and buzzbaits.

Almost equally because they have different uses. It depends on what the fish want. But I own 4 BC combos and 2 spinning combos for bass.

Shoes, purses, toenails, fingernails, eyebrows waxed, $50 haircuts, $80 dye jobs, etc., etc. Mine never says a word about fishing. I mean, I don't have or even want an expensive bassboat. I'll probably drop $1000 on a good replacement kayak one of these days. Other than that, i'm set for rods and reels for a while.

And bubble gum...trust me

I have to say that the weightless T rigged Trick Worm falls very similarly to the wacky rigged worm. It's weedless, skips well under brush and can catch multiple fish. When the "head" of the worm gets torn, you can pinch or bite off the torn part and re-rig it. I've used this worm wacky style and it works, but get more bites the T rigged way.

I worried about that with my dad. He was displaying some rather poor decision making and he accidentally discharged his pistol through an exterior wall and into his Honda. He had several handguns at his disposal. But as it would turn out, he died suddenly from a GI bleed.

I was in Academy the other day and I started to take a pic of the Trick Worms. They were fully stocked of every color except Bubble Gum, which they were out of. That tells you everything you need to know. I also have watermelons, pumpkins and limetreuse. But I'm always running out of bubble gum. I've caught much more on it that the others combined. Limetreuse is my next favorite.

The same reason I don't get that dancing is fun.

On a side note, those "wild" tilapia would also be healthy to eat, unless there's something contaminating the pond. They're in a clean environment and part of the natural food chain. They'll have omega 3 acids at greater levels than farmed fish with no antibiotics.

People throw around "I'd shoot that guy" like it's all justified and no one else would be affected. Nice and clean, one less idiot in the world. When someone is killed, it affects their entire family, your entire family and you. You'd never stop thinking about the life you took even if justifiable. Not to mention, shooting someone you didn't absolutely have to in most states will get you charged with some kind of manslaughter and you'll need a good lawyer and most of your savings to stay free. You could end up taking a plea to a lesser felony and lose your gun rights. I have a concealed carry permit and I do carry often. But with that right comes a great deal of restraint. You'd better know you're in grave danger before you pull a trigger on a human being. He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he Is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance. David Hume

Think about that. You have gasoline on you and you're going to fire a FIREarm. I'm not saying the guy was in the right in any way whatsoever. But there are illegitimate reasons to get very near other people's docks too. The guy should have done what i used to do and watch the fisherman. Let them know you're there and speak respectfully. Ask how it's going or if they ever catch anything from your dock. Being belligerent just makes them dig their heels in. I always wanted to learn something too. If he wanted them to leave he could have just made noise on his dock. In SC people can actually walk on your dock and there's no legal right to tell them to get off. There are docks I used to get out on to jig for crappie if no one was home. But people being people will often do whatever they can get away with when no one's looking.

The Swiss army knife of BC rods would probably be a 6'6" MH of some kind. That's the rod most people start out with. It won't do everything perfectly, but it will do most things. Personally, since you threw the frog in there, I'd probably choose a 7'. I don't like too fast a tip for spinnerbaits/buzzbaits so I'd make sure to use trailer hooks. I'm with @Delaware Valley Tackle on the setups I use for those things, except I also have a 6-6 MH for the SB's and buzzbaits.

When I first started using this bait, I thought of it as a springtime jerkbait. I started catching a lot more when I experimented with fishing it slowly. One of the best days I ever had with it I was simply dropping it near wood and letting it sink like a wacky rig.

Cool trick. My buddy turned me on to the Trick Worm several years ago and now I almost always have one tied on for smaller bodies of water. I'm going to try this trick next time out.

I've had better years. ?

The most expensive combo I have is a $100 rod and $130 reel. But it is my dedicated frog combo and I didn't want to skimp. I still use 3 Berkley Lightning Rods for presentations where sensitivity doesn't matter. I tend to spend more on reels because i've had some cheap junk in the bast. I do have a Falcon rod that would have cost me $120 new, but I bought it used from a friend for $50. Deal of the century!

There's no way to know if you want braid without trying braid. And there's really no replacement for it on frogs in slop and around heavy wood cover. The frog does guerilla combat with bass in heavy cover. Braid's not expensive despite what the cost on the box says. Just tie the Big Game to your spool and spool up more than halfway with it. Tie a double uni knot to the braid and finish the spool off with it. You can fill a BC reel 3 times with a 150 yd spool of braid by only using 50 yds at a time. That's $5 or $6 a spool, but you won't need to refill it for a long time. It doesn't rot. It just fades in color. If you want to get really cheap (and I do), when you're done with that braid, reel it onto another reel and you'll be using the new end again. If you're using identical reels, (I have 3 identical ones) you can take the reel you just spooled the used braid onto and put it on your frog rod. I have yet to lose a fish because of braided line. I have lost plenty of them with mono in my life. Mono also won't give you as good a walking action on your frog unless you tie a loop knot. i change the Big Game on my reels a couple times a year to be safe. It's cheap insurance. As for the treble lures, I use 15 lb. Big Game, but I don't deep crank much. Most the places I fish are pretty shallow. I use a BC reel with 30# braid for jigs and T rigs. I'll usually use a leader of 15# mono with it. Cuts down a lot on line stretch and gives good hooksets. I change pout the leader a lot because I trust the mono a lot less.

Good point. I didn't think about it until I reread your post, but I just don't like live bait fishing. When i've gone saltwater fishing, it's been inshore with artificials. Though the artificial has usually involved a Gulp mullet in some way. It's more fun for me to cast and retrieve.