the reel ess

Welcome to the club. I went to the Sportsman Classic show in Columbia, SC many moons ago and there was a pro seminar going on . I made my wife sit through it. I can't remember the pro but the bait was a wacky stick worm. I bought the bait (big baits Trick Stick). I tried it the first time out in late winter/early spring. I pulled up to a stump on a point near a creek mouth and tossed it and got a bite on the first pitch. Maybe the only bait I ever got a bite on the very first cast. BTW, setting the hook on tiny bass is very difficult. They just come with the bait and you never set the hook past the barb.

Senko (PB on a black/blue Ocho worm) Lizard craw Whopper Plopper Chug Bug War Eagle gold shiner spinnerbait (see my profile pic, I also have an 8+lb on one)

Also good in winter around here. Water is usually very stained.

I've tried both. But I fish a good bit of heavy wood cover and eventually, that flipping hook point comes through and I hang up, especially if trying to reuse a soft plastic beyond the first bite. Nothing worse than approaching a laydown you know can hold fish only to hang up in it on the first pitch. I like the superline EWG hooks by Gamakatsu. I've dragged 7-8 pound bass out of trees and heavy weeds with them. I caught my PB pitching a Senko-style bait with one of these hooks. I feel the straight flipping hook is better suited for vegetation. I fished with a FL guide who had some big flipping craws. They were thicker left-to-right than vertically. He rigged the hook sideways instead of vertically. Basically, he discarded the bait after every catch.

Two-part warranty. If it breaks in two, you get to keep both pieces. This is a tad off-topic, but we bought some pretty expensive gutters with the leaf guards that are guaranteed not to clog and for any defects in product or workmanship. It still cost us $90 to get two guys out here for a service call to do some caulking to stop leaks.

My kayak has 2 built-in vertical rod holders. These get my go-to combos. I have a milk crate with 6 vertical holders zip tied in, 3 in front and 3 in rear. In the center, front is my frog rod. Right, front is my jig/T-rig rod. This is just so I can reach back, overhead and grab the right one without looking. The other 4 holders are up for grabs. I usually carry no more than 6 unless I think some good crappie or bream fishing might break out-one place I go, that happens. The rear three are hard to reach so they get the last resort rods. I have two bad shoulders from working out/getting older and the rear holders require some contortion. Often I find myself with 2 rods "on deck", switching it up regularly.

A salesman at my last job wrote a form letter to clients who had signed contracts for us to build their pools. It said "You've have made a excellent choice." He sent one before one of us read it.

Caught so many bass on the Wee R in silver/blue back.

I always tell my wife that if I was ever forced to live the survivalist lifestyle I would be the commercial fisherman of the tribe. She says my tribe would be extinct pretty soon. There's no shopping there. But...last summer I hired an inshore guide near Tybee Island, GA. At the last minute my daughter asked if it costs more if she goes. It was the same for two people. Well, the fish were there, but I did a terrible job of catching them. I got a little trout and lost a red. She caught a doormat flounder. Normally, I would consider this a poor use of funds. But back at the dock she said "I had the best time just being in a boat with you, dad." It became the best $300+ ever spent just like that. Also, the flounder was big enough for all three of us to eat.

They come and go. What's the hot thing one year will be forgotten the next. But soft plastics never go out of style. The hot local color doesn't change much. Most of the waters I fish are stained. Black, blue, junebug and similar shades seem to do the trick so well that I rarely buy watermelons and pumpkins anymore. I have one locality I fish that has shiners and gold is the color of choice for blades and hard baits. Sure, people will say it doesn't matter. But those same people have their own fav colors. After you get skunked while your buddy doesn't a few times and the only difference is the color, you relent.

110 size Whopper Plopper - Fish just want to murder this lure T-rigged craw or bug Frog or Toad - It's is like hand-to-fin combat.

LMB from clean water are pretty good. Not up there with flounder, crappie, etc. But good enough when fried. I had a friend with an overpopulated pond who told me to take everything I caught. I wouldn't waste them. But my wife and daughter just don't care for fried fish, especially bass. He had a floating basket, so I would leave them in that if I caught a lot or just didn't want to take them.

@CasketSix Welcome neighbor! What part of SC might you be from? I live in Kershaw, about halfway between Lancaster and Camden along Hwy 521.

I use it for lighter T-rigs. I rarely use heavy lures, for that matter. Mostly a 1/8-1/4 oz. weight. It's a very versatile rod.

I have the 6'10" Falcon BuCoo Heavy/Fast jig/worm model and it has a really good tip. I think you'd be happy with it for finesse jigs. I actually use it mostly for pitching and casting T-rigs. It's durable too. I've pulled 6-7 pounders out of laydowns and vegetation using 30# braid with it and it's probably 5-6 years old. I guess the corresponding model would be the Head Turner in the Lowrider lineup. BTW, I also have an older MH 7' Lowrider I bought used for $50. It's reaally a heavy crankbait rod, but I used it as an all purpose MH until I could afford more rods. It's hard to go wrong with Falcon. https://www.falconrods.com/product/bucoo-sr

I have two bass over 8 lbs. They're so close I can't say which was bigger. The first was on a Gold shiner color War Eagle spinnerbait with 2 gold willow leaf blades. The second was on a T-rigged, pegged black and blue Yum Dinger. The latter was caught as the bait fell off the edge of a mat of lilies. I've lost a monster on a T-rigged craw and another on a Whopper Plopper.

My experience is limited to Rat L Trap, CC Super Spot and the H2OX from Academy. The Spot and the Academy brand have consistently outperformed the Trap. Sad, because I have a lot of Traps. The newer Traps have better hooks, so I have swapped some of the others with Trap hooks.

Dropshot. I refuse

9 Topwaters and a T-rig. OK, replace one topwater with lipless crank

I don't know if I'm mainstream. I try to get away from other people. I fish from a kayak, which most people do not and that allows me to be alone more even in public waters. I either want to pitch to cover or fish topwaters. It's a bonus when I can combine them, like with a frog or lizard on the mat. I would trade 2 fish for one to catch them on topwaters. That said, you gotta do what they want.

I use 30# PowerPro. As I said in the other thread I do fish in some cover whenever I can. But I keep a spool of 15# Big Game in my bag in case of catastrophic backlashes. It has saved a trip for me before.

Yeah, when you cast it into a laydown and the fish grabs it before it hits bottom, you'll only feel it when you start to raise the lure and they pull back. Those tend to be some quality fish.

Many, if not most of my bites while pitching are detected by the line just moving on its own. You become a good line watcher. Or you raise the rod up and the bait pulls against you. Fortunately, bass will hold a bait for a while before they determine it's not food. If you want a jig for really heavy cover, the Trashmaster is a winner. For heavy vegetation I like a slither rig. But I mostly just throw T rigged plastics now instead of jigs. Less hassle, cheaper and more weedless.

Good hooks (Gamakatsu superline) and braided line (PowerPro). Stuff to fix my old car.

You sir are ready to start a punk band. I've been very fortunate in my 54 years to never actually get a hook past the barb. My dad got a Norman DD22 treble through the fleshy part between thumb and forefinger while the bait was attached to a striper that was flopping all over the boat. I dispatched it with the heel of my Adidas flip flop. We cut the hook and he actually fished a while longer. I mean, we were in a school of stripers.