the reel ess

They only exist on the Isle Of Doctor Moreau.

I think it'll work. Colorado blades have a lot of drag. If you ever see the bait in action from the side, the blades get level and the body rides nose up.

Somebody's making one now. I saw Bill Dance use one on his show this season. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-enticer-buzzn-humpin-toad-buzzbait?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions War Eagle has one too. I've done it in a pinch. A homemade one might not track well because the skirt offers more drag than most toads. A bulky one like the Horny Toad will probably work best. It works because the skirt is just the target for the bass to focus his annoyance on. A buzzbait just annoys the bass into biting. Try it.

Around here (SC piedmont region) you have a few choices for species. There are stripers, blue and channel cats, crappie, all species of bream and largemouth. There are a few others like carp, pickerel and bowfin that most people don't target. There are some smallies and stocked trout within an hour's drive of here, but on small rivers and harder to access. So locally (in a 10 mile radius) my choices are channel cats, crappie, bream and bass. I do most of my fishing within that radius because I hate to fight the motorboat crowds. I'll fish for any of those occasionally, but when it comes to overall knowledge of a species and my ability to consistently catch them from the kayak with the equipment I have, the largemouth is the only one that is constantly accessible. It's pretty much in every water in this state. Anywhere I can put my kayak in I can catch largemouth. And they're just plain more fun to catch.

Caught my BP on an old BPS el cheapo Uncle Buck's, but my favorite is a tandem willow War Eagle in gold shiner. It rarely lets me down.

I’ve watched it and almost every frog fishing video on YT. That just hasn’t been my experience.

I find the Popping Pad Crasher much easier to walk. I have a bunch of different frogs, but I only use the others when I wear out a popping model until I can get another. You'll usually have more luck on a mat of some kind, but sometimes they're out from the weeds a bit and want to crush it before it gets away. I notice when fishing from the bank that if I cast out to clear water then walk the frog toward the weeds, bass will often hit it just before the weeds. Sometimes they'll just crush it when it hits the water.

It happens. I went to my standby pond full of stunted stupid bass and large bluegill Thursday. It's a place where I expect 15-20 fish in a few hours. First trip around the pond I got 2 tiny bass, 1 decent bass and a large bluegill. Mind you, I was bass fishing. Second trip around, just as the shadows were falling and I had changed over to topwaters, I got a goose egg. Had I just shown up for sundown, I would have endured a skunk. Bass weren't even interested in a frog in the lilies. Unheard of. Go somewhere else for a couple trips.

between the two I'd start with the popper because it moves slower. You can pop it at greater intervals and it won'tmove far. I tend to feel that's a little cool for fish to chase far and fast. I could be wrong though. That's why I use a high quality snap on my lipless crank/topwater rod.

They will crush a crawfish before they swallow it.

Well, I wasn't alive until 1970, but I know states do a better job of managing the fish populations now. I think there are bass in a lot more places than there were then. Bass aren't native to a lot of places where they are caught now.

I had a good day fishing the Pop R during spawn this year. I usually don't even try it until the water is a little warmer, but glad I did.

I have told work some white lies, like I have an appointment and won't be back. It's not really a lie, I just don't elaborate. But lately, work has been to steady to take off. Also, it's hot, so the bite has moved to morning and late evening. It's not dark until about 9:00. I can make that.

Use the smaller size. Not the one with the split tail grub on it.

Beetle Spins are like crack to small bass. My buddy has a pond full of tiny bass and big bream. I'll tie on a tandem rig of a Beetle Spin in the rear and tie a crappie jig, usually a red/white tube jig, on a loop in front. That does a really good job with both species. The bream will go for the crappie jig and both will go for the Beetle. I'm trying to catch a double of course.

Every time I've sold anything on OfferUp or LetGo, someone will lowball you, then when you get to a desired price they'll want you to drive halfway to them, then show up late. I drove 20 miles to meet a guy who showed up late with $15 less than we agreed on and asked me to take it because it was all he had. I told him how an ATM works and waited there for him to come back. I said "C'mon man! You're late and short of cash? I'll just keep it out of principle." He got the cash. Ask for more than you want because you'll be expected to haggle.

I think I'd rather have an 18' Grizzly or other comparable bare bones aluminum boat that's fully equipped the way I want it. The less stuff you have on a boat, the less stuff will look like crap in a few years. And I would only want the stuff I want, not a preassembled package with things I don't want or things I might have chosen differently.

You'll get more bites with the Jr. size. The full-size can slay them when they're in the mood, but the Jr. is a tasty morsel that's harder to pass up. The one I have also has a rattle, whereas the big original ones do not. I can't catch a fish on a big glide bait or magnum worm. Understandable because I'm culling smaller bass. The times I've tried a dropshot didn't "net" anything. I've only gotten one bite on a toad, though I'm really good with the soft body frog.

Haha! You said...

I second Trick Worm. I might try a bluegill color around docks, but bubble gum and limetreuse are my favs for stained water, which is what we have here. I usually T rig them, weightless. This is really easy to skip way under docks with a spinning combo. Getting big ones out can be a different story though. I use a stout MH combo and 20 lb braid. Where weeds or lilies intersect with pier pilings of any other wood, I'll always toss a frog there. You'll be surprised how many big bass are very shallow, even in the heat.

Piedmont, halfway between Camden and Lancaster.

Well (F350 Dually With DuraCraft Crappie Boat Guy) is a friend of mine and it doesn't really raise my BP. I just find it funny. He also has a big pull-behind camper. He justifies the $55K dually to pull the $65K camper because he can camp once a year for cheap at some campgrounds. How many hotel stays or house rentals could he afford for $120K? Probably $150K after financing. But I know he just has to have the biggest of everything. When I was looking to buy a new pickup, he strongly discouraged me from anything smaller than a standard bed 1500 because you need to be able to carry 4'W sheets of plywood or sheet rock (Duh!). Told him I'd buy whatever fit my needs best, especially since I've never carried a sheet of plywood in my life. It just looks so funny when he pulls his little 2-man boat with the big dually.

I started getting these type knots on a more than decade old BPS reel. It was a "Viper" branded combo I bought for $70. It served well and the has been really good quality until recently. I've caught some big gals on it. This wind knot issue with braid just started early this season. I tried cutting off the knot and retying and later stripping the line and replacing with the same issue. I guess the line takeup spool on the reel bail seized. "Knot" sure. I just stopped using the reel and gave it to our small town version of Goodwill. Someone could probably use it for crappie trolling with mono. I replaced with a Pfleuger Trion reel I already had and problem is solved, so I know it was the reel. I always flip the bail by hand but the other end of the bail (away from line takeup) was getting loose too. It was going to fail me eventually and probably not on a dink. I don't have patience with worn out equipment anymore. If it happened on a new reel, I would suspect another culprit.

I own three Lew's now and I've never owned a Shimano. But I had a 1983 Daiwa Procaster PMF1000 that they sent me parts for as recently as 2015. ABSOLUTELY FREE! That's the world champ of reel customer service as far as I'm concerned. I really should go with Daiwa now that I can afford some quality. As for Shimano reels, BPS has parts for most reels, by any manufacturer. They would be worth a try. You can ship your reel there and most repairs cost $19.95.

Doesn't know it's reversible. This reminds me of TV shows and ads where they obviously know nothing about fishing. They'll have a fly reel on a baitcast rod or a combo with no line on it.