the reel ess

My dad always did the opposite. He's use flip-up sunglasses over his prescription glasses.

Yes, I'm at that ripe age where I need readers to tie a knot. Is anyone using the glasses with reader lenses? What brand would you recommend? I'm a cheapskate, but not above buying a good pair because i know I'll use them a lot going forward.

I have seen them as a trailer on conventional bass jigs in an ad on my facebook feed, but I can't find it now. I see no reason it wouldn't work though. Anything's worth a try or two.

I think they're both bluegills, of the opposite gender. When one of the sexes gets large it turns very dark as you have there. Nice fish. It's very rare for us to see yellow perch in SC, but they are here. They just don't seem to follow the patters of crappie or bluegill so we don't catch them much. I bet I've caught fewer than 10 my entire "career" and never a good size one. When I was young, we called the green perch. Here we catch them on the smallest Rapala jointed minnow and Rooster Tails.

There's an outfitter that guides kayak inshore fishing trips fr $160/person. Black River Adventures. If you're interested. That's a lot cheaper than a guide with a boat.

This is a well-kept secret for wintertime trophy bass. My buddy trolls for crappie a lot and he has caught several big'uns on tiny jigs, including one over 8 lbs. I have a friend with a pond who says the best bait there is a pink and white tube jig. This kinda blows the big bait-big fish theory.

It's clearer water. I went striper fishing there once and was struck by how deep you could see your fish. There will be a lot of boat traffic since it's near the city. I would expect the offshore structure to be the best bet. Given a choice, I would choose either of the Santee Cooper lakes for largemouth. From what I'm told, you can just about put in anywhere and find fish in that area.

Yes. Hang around Dick's in the fall for some real deals on Live Target lures. They thin out the fishing gear to make room for hunting, at least at our local store.

I bought the 1/10 with the weed guard, but now I wish they were lighter and plain hooks. The bait weighs a bit like a Senko so it helps cast. The weed guard on a small bait doesn't look that natural and it's wire, so it catches weeds. It still gets bites though and I could cut them off.

Here's my little secret. Zoom Trick Worm. Don't let it get out. Catches fish all year. It's effective weightless when you can find fish shallow. Use it on a T rig when they want it slow. Use on a C rig when they're deep. I know I have one tied on now. Don't be afraid of the loud colors in any kind of off-color water. If you really can't buy a bite, rig up a lighter C rig with the Zoom 4" Finesse worm on a smaller hook in a more natural color. This is my modern "do-nothing rig" that can be rigged weightless. I really don't like to "go small' when bass aren't biting because it's really fishing for small bass. But when you've been fishing and gotten skunked a couple times, it's time to break out the finesse and occasionally, there will be a good one mixed in. I haven't used the Ned much but when I have, it has produced bites. If I'm at a place with a lot of wood cover early or late I'll throw a dark color buzzbait and make contact with the cover. Don't be afraid to "show them something new". I caught some decent midsummer bass in the middle of a hot day on a bait I bought at the beach for reds and sea trout called a Trout Trick. I rigged it on the aforementioned finesse C rig.

Well, we fished for crappie before sonar was really popular. We either put out the fish attractor or we know who did. Most were near shore so landmarks helped relocate them. The state also put out some and marked them with buoys. But ours were almost always better. As for bass, we would pound the banks in the spring when they would bite until early summer. You could blindly fish general areas where you saw others fish and narrow down the good spots that way. Now I fish smaller bodies of water that you can pretty much mentally graph with your lure. A C-rig is a good depth finder and fish locator and will tell you the composition of the bottom.

This looks good to me http://www.livetargetlures.com/freshwater/golden-shiner-swimbait

In a deeper lake probably a C rig with an 8-10" ribbon tail worm. But where I fish now, it's shallower. And it's pretty much just "summer". So I go later and try a spinnerbait and some big topwaters. I recently bought some big soft plastic swimbaits so I'm going to go after only bigger fish for the rest of the season.

You might get ticketed for dumping without a license.

I only have one, the field mouse. I have obnly gotten one fish to blow up on it. The SPRO Rat is a better bait, but they aren't meant to be used in the same places. As for frogs, I prefer the Booyah Pad Crasher and Poppin' Pad Crasher.

Here they can just call in your license using your driver's license number. If you have one, you're good to go. When the wife and I were dating she agreed to go crappie fishing with me if I'd bait her hook. Well, I did and she caught fish off our dock so fast I didn't get to fish. By the time the bite stopped I only caught a couple channel cats. I used to occasionally plan to get off work an hour early and drive an hour to fish the evening with my dad at his lake house when we knew the bass would be at a certain spot in huge schools where we could slay them in good numbers. Well, he would show up an hour earlier than me and go catch all the bass off the spot then come get me at the dock, leaving me with a few backup spots.

If you're going to fish alone, I would suggest not going with the canoe. I got one and it was almost too much for me to paddle and fish alone. A transom mount trolling motor would make it more useful, but that requires registration as a motorboat in my state. Eventually, I succumbed to the kayak craze and never looked back. Even got one for my daughter.

Hey from the Piedmont of SC! Are there smallmouth in the Tyger?

Haha. Here it used to be NC boaters. They were inevitable bass boaters. They would come off plane and fish their way from the mouth of a cove or creek all the way to the back. Then they'd crank up and run full blast from the back of the creek all the way out, ruining that spot for some time for any other fishermen in the creek. We were primarily crappie fishermen back then. You can't convince me fish will ignore a 250 Mercury running full throttle in a narrow cove.

You'll get scratches. You'll have fun though.

You can put in at the landing below Lake Wylie. If you want to float down you can go down to River Park. But you can just stay near that landing. I have a friend who has caught some really big bass along that stretch. I wouldn't eat any though. Sewage spills are pretty common there.

I hired a guide out of Little River once. It wasn't worth the $$$. We couldn't find any reds, flounder or trout so we caught some sharks off a nearshore reef. That was fun, but not $350 fun. You can drive down to Huntington Beach St Park. There were people fishing on the beach last time we went. There's parking, bathrooms, etc. I think there's some freshwater there too because we saw some gators on the way in/out. We usually stay in Pawleys Island. I take my kayak and put in the inlets behind the island. I've caught a few flounder and a toadfish. I have seen reds swimming there, but couldn't catch any.

That's near my stomping grounds. What interstate? 77 or 85? I wouldn't get off to myself alone in or near the heart of Charlotte. The company I work for is located there, but I work remotely in SC. It's a great place to get robbed or worse. I guess if you're always packing heat it could be OK, but not advisable. Whatever you do, don't stay on the West side unless it's the airport hotel. Drive on down the interstate to Fort Mill or Rock Hill, SC and stay at a hotel off an exit. In Rock Hill, they have a River Walk on the Catawba River that's a long walking distance from a hotel. The Ramada looks possible, but I don't know anything about the quality of it. Comfort Suites in RH is where all our customers used to stay when in town for dealer's meetings. It has a good reputation but isn't near the river. There's a pond behind Lowe's there that looks like you could walk to it. You might get run out. Charanda's is near there. That's my favorite Mexican restaurant in RH. The Baja fish or shrimp tacos are fantastic. Ask for Cholula sauce. If you want upscale food, the Pumphouse is in the Riverwalk area. Another fav. good luck.

LOL that. I was at the local full service gas station where all the old men sit around and lie when up drives a HS chum with a big bass in his cooler. He showed me and said "guess the weight!". I immediately said about 5 lbs. because my fishing buddy always underestimates fish by a pound and he's usually closer than me. He said "Shoot! That's the biggest bass I've ever caught. I'll weigh it and have it mounted." I saw him again a few weeks later and asked the weight. He frowned and said "5 lbs even-not even close to my PB. I ate it."

All other people annoy me. How dare they go fishing at the same time and place as me! That really grinds my gears!!! Really, if someone mishandles a fish that's a pretty minor offense. It's a fish. Most ponds have too many for the good of the pond anyway. You can try to explain it once, but if they aren't listening, let it go. Plenty of fish in the sea, so to speak. I don't like the bucket brigade asking me for my fish. They can take all the eyeballs they want but I'll do what I'll do with them regardless of their desire for more meat. I had a guy ask me if I was going to throw back a trophy size fish once and I let it go in front of him for spite and said "Yep." Later learned the guy was trespassing, sneaking in by driving on a pipeline right of way. He had permission once but it was revoked. Don't know specifics. Trespassers annoy me. If the aforementioned bucket brigadier had followed the rules, he would not have been banned.