the reel ess

No, but I have three of the exact same reel. Lew's LFS Tournament MB 7.5:1.

They're probably there, if that's what you mean. I mean every fish I ever cut open to see what was in the stomach had fish of some kind in it-no crawfish. And they didn't regurgitate anything but fish. I fished a local lake my entire life up until about 40 years old. We had a house on it. I never saw a crawfish there. I even told someone there weren't any there and he said he bet there were. Then I caught a bass with a claw coming out. I helped the poor fellow out. I swam in that water and trapped and seined minnows as a kid and never saw a crawfish. But as mentioned before, bass will bite a worm though you don't see them in the water. I suspect bass would bite the craw even if there were none in their waters.

It's simple. They're all black/blue. Not really, but that color always seems to work for me. If they're any other color it's brown. I don't even have any brown craws right now. Here G Man explains the two colors you really need in a jig: Black and brown. But you can catch fish on black jig/brown trailer and vice versa. ut y

Don't get too drunk to fish. Don't pick up another man's baitcaster without asking. First cast is guaranteed to be a bird nest and probably put it out of commission for the day. Don't fish with one Southern Baptist, he'll drink all your beer. Take two of them. They won't drink around other Baptists. My dad's old joke. If you're in the expensive bassboat, please idle past other fishermen into the back of the cove and fish out. Don't fish in and come out full blast. This could apply to any boat, but I've seen it most with out-of-state bass fishermen. NC, I'm looking at you. Don't squeeze between a bank fisherman and the bank. I don't care if you're in a tourney and he's in a pontoon boat. Leave him alone. I fish with a guy whose gear is a rung below mine. But he has the nicer boat. He just started using a baitcaster after watching me a couple years. But, man, he has always caught a lot of fish and big ones. We've learned a lot from each other.

I have a Falcon Lowrider rod for jigs/plastics. I'm pretty sure they have one specifically for this purpose. I actually use the 7' Big Cranker model for jigs. The action is just right. Good tip and lots of backbone. And man, is that thing sensitive!

Running shoes on a boat when it's cold. Olukai flip flops when it's warm. None in the kayak when it's warm enough. I have some muck boots for using the kayak in colder water, but I look for ponds that I can walk the shore in winter. I've got a pair of LL Bean water shoes that I absolutely hate. The most uncomfortable shoes I've ever worn. They wore a blister on both feet the first time I wore them! They constantly get sand, mud and gravel in them, requiring to be removed every so often and cleaned out. I will yard sale them or give to charity. If there was (and there may be) a tough neoprene sock-type footie I'd buy that. Does anyone know of one?

That lipless crank is my favorite cold water bait, especially in late winter/very early spring. I also like the T rig any season.

I went yesterday. Caught three 2-pounders and lost one. I feel blessed to live in the south. But if it turns and stays too cold, I'll take up hunting. I just gotta get outside. my buddy has a feral hog "problem" on his farm and hunting properties and I have a brand new AR-15.

You don't have to get to FL to encounter those critters. Gators exist from coastal NC all the way around the Gulf. The farther south you get, the farther inland you'll see them. I'm in the Piedmont region of SC and there are a few here.

I caught bass all day last fall on a torpedo and they wanted it retrieved steadily. I could probably have used a buzzbait but I was on the kayak and my buzzbait was back at the truck. You should be able to reel it back without it spinning, though it might turn on one side. Catching fish with it can bend the propeller. I had to bend it back several times. Weeds so small you can barely see them can also foul the prop.

To get smallies in all waters and still be in the south you'd need to get to the mountains. But if you can take some hot summers, you can get both species in SC. Largies everywhere. There are smallies in the Broad river and it's tributaries as well as in Lake Jocassee, in the extreme northwestern part of the state. In the Broad R smallies can be caught all the way to the midlands. There are trout fisheries in the mountains as well. We also have some very good blue cat and striper fisheries and you'd be close enough to the coast for saltwater. The cost of living and tax situation here is better than most states. It's funny you asked that question because I live in SC and was wondering where I should retire to. But I'll probably just get closer to the coast so i can add reds and sea trout to my slate.

I keep a jig or craw rigged and will pitch it to any cover around the edge. When the sun is out some fish will find a piece of cover and hunker down. This is a great way to drop something into their living room that they can't resist. I used to use them T rigged, which is great and they caught a lot of fish. But lately I started rigging a plain Arky weedless jighead with a Zoom Speed Craw. Mostly because I wanted practice with the jig hookset.

After buying a couple swimbaits I'm asking myself if they're worth the price. I've only caught bass on the BBZ-1 Rat. The other is a Savage Gear Glide that has been unsuccessful thus far. Well, I also have that cheap Academy H2O bluegill that the bass just laugh at.

Were there days you caught nothing? I agree that bass will kill a topwater more than a lot of people think. I'm a topwater kinda guy. I'd rather catch 1 topwater bass than 2 on the bottom. But I know there would be days when I caught a goose egg if I threw nothing else.

I fish several ponds in the winter. One of them is huge and has depths better than 20'. Fish get deep and really hard to find there and sometimes you fish for hours for one bite. But it might be a big ol' bass. Few dinks caught there in the winter. Then I have some shallower bowl-shaped ponds I fish. In a warming trend, if you see smaller fish and minnows swimming around the edge bass will usually shallow-up in the afternoon. But they won't get far from deeper water because they're going right back when the sun gets low or it cools off.

I went to my buddy's pond this morning and caught this bass, among others, on a Chug Bug. Its gut was stuffed like it swallowed a softball. My friend tells me to put EVERYTHING I catch in his basket because the average is pretty small, so I put it on a stringer since I was using the kayak. When I got back to the dock and was removing it form the stringer I noticed a fish tail sticking out its throat. I used my pliers to pull it out. It was a bass, maybe 8" long. I put it in the basket and kept fishing. I caught maybe 7 bass and a couple nice bluegill. I showed my buddy the pic and we were talking about it. I asked if he really wanted to kill that bass. He said it wasn't huge. I said "Yeah, but it's a stone cold killer. If it keeps eating other bass it will likely get pretty big and maybe help increase the average bass size." I went back to the basket and let it go. I wish I'd been able to tag it.

I used the loose stadium seat this morning. It did fine. It raised the center of gravity noticeably and I had to take some time to adjust. I would not want it any higher than this. It moved me away from my rod holders and crate a little. I was unable to reach the two rods I stow in the back of the crate. It also shifted my weight a little bit forward and there was a little more water through the scuppers than usual. It did help with the tailbone and feet losing circulation though. Overall I give this upgrade a B.

So I bought this off Amazon Prime. It's a Cascade brand stadium seat. I needed one anyway because my daughter is playing travel volleyball and we have to sit hours in bleachers. It has rubber batting on the rails that run front-to-back. It's just the right width. The seat is very soft with a couple inches of padding. It does sit up a few inches higher than the old seat. But it gets my butt higher than my feet. The space between the seats will be good storage for bags of soft plastics. I'm hoping it will alleviate the feet falling asleep and the aching tailbone. I'll be sure to use the PFD.

Call (562)375-6800 or email CSR@Daiwa.com. I had an old Procaster Magforce reel from the 80's and they sent me free parts 3 times for it, even as recently as 2 years ago. I wouldn't check with anyone before them. You can't get cheaper than free. I didn't even pay postage.

I have these: http://www.cabelas.com/product/CABELAS-GUIDEWEAR-GLOMITT-GLOVE/2435081.uts?productVariantId=4951547&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04656679&rid=20&lsft=ref:212,loc:1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvuDPBRDnARIsAGhuAmb2wQmsIuQbnax3htphuKI5cfeEQ1efWJquRnUFEDsjfpmNFkqyeOsaAs9LEALw_wcB I like them a lot. I wouldn't wear them in sub-freezing temps. But I probably wouldn't fish then either.

I guess I'm doing pretty well. I've broken a couple cheap rods. One with the tailgate, both my fault. I've dropped the sideplate of a Johnny Morris reel in water that was too deep and cold to go get it. BPS replaced it for the minimum reel maintenance fee of $19.95.

I usually fish alone simply because I dislike most humans. But I have one buddy that routinely outfishes me. So I might be that buddy to him. But I never make excuses. It's only a fish, right? Right? But I have another buddy that's extremely competitive in everything. He doesn't fish nearly as often as I so I usually whoop him. I can catch a new PB, but if he catches one more tiny fish of a mixed bag than I caught bass he loudly proclaims victory.

I was told by a biology professor that the bananas are picked green and shipped to the US. Once here, they're packed into 18 wheeler trailers in a huge warehouse and the doors are left open. There ethylene is sprayed and they're shipped out early the next day so they start the ripening process right then. But it is correct that they'll help ripen other produce around them because they then have an extra dose of the natural plant hormone. If you pick something out of the garden too soon you can help it along by keeping it close to bananas.

Put one of those on a hook. I caught a bass on a store brand Gummy Worm knockoff just to prove I could.

My best memories from childhood are of my dad and I going and we would stop by my grandfather's store and get a couple cans of Beanie Weenies and saltines with a couple Little Debbie oatmeal pies. I take nothing but a small cooler with water and occasionally a couple beers. I might take a granola bar if I'm going to be there a long time and I might start with one cup of coffee if I go really early. I can't help but think the times my hands are busy with food and drink are the times my PB would have bitten if I'd had a hook in the water.