the reel ess

I T-rigged a generic sour gummy worm that was about 3" long at my buddy's pond just to prove I could catch something on it. I got a bite the first cast and caught one on the second cast. The worm was too dense and inflexible to be practical though. I took it off and replaced with a finesse worm after the first fish. the the rest of them I had in a sandwich back melted together. I also made a lure I call the "Wrench Wrig" out of a wrench after watching a YouTube video about it. I keep forgetting to try it. I thought I might even put a gummy worm trailer on the Wrench Wrig hook.

I caught about 5 more on the Booyah Poppin' Pad Crasher last night. Given that this bait walks more easily than the standard PC and you can pop it when you want to, I see no reason to take it off for the rest of the summer.

Yeah, I use green PP. It's less visible in the permanently stained water here. I used to use no leader with pretty good results. But I thought I'd try a leader just to see if it helps. I can't really say that is has, but it hasn't hurt anything.

PowerPro 20 lb braid is all I use on my dedicated bass spinning combos. I'm guessing you're referring to the knot to your leader is catching on a guide??? I usually tie a leader so short that I can cast it without reeling it up or I just don't use a leader at all. Either way, I've never experienced that issue. I just checked and I have about a 2.5' leader on both rods. I can actually reel up the knot and cast it with no problem. I'm using a surgeon's knot to the leader. It's a lot easier to tie than the others for me.

Make your wife flip the bail manually before she starts reeling. This may help.

nm

It had lived so long it was trying to commit suicide.

That's interesting.

I hadn't caught one on this popping frog yet. I usually use the standard Pad Crasher. But I was fishing a little more open water with a few laydowns here and there. So I tied on the popper with little expectation of getting bites on it. I picked up the frog rod at every laydown and lily pad patch and was rewarded with a couple, including the big fish of the day-only a couple pounds. I was with my buddy and his nephews.

Booyah, baby! I caught two this morning on the Booyah Poppin' Frog. The popping model walks more easily too. There's the possibility of two actions.

Bass and crappie. What do you soak them in? Thanks.

I'd rather use the cheap rod with better quality reaction lures because the sensitivity wouldn't matter as much. But I really don't want to use any more cheap reels unless it's for panfish. Some cheap rods can hold up to big fish, but cheap reels will break your heart. But cheap is a relative term.

Yes. But I wish I'd bought the larger one.

I currently have mine on a medium 6-6 Lightning Rod with 15# mono. It loads up the medium rod excessively when I cast. It would probably work better on a MH rod. I don't think this bait has been around long enough for there to be a conventional wisdom regarding the rod/reel/line setup. I used it at my buddy's pond Sunday and caught about 10 on it. It was overcast all day. I don't think I lost a single fish on it.

Spawn stress. A lot of fish survive to the spawn for only one reason-to fulfill the biological imperative. Once that's accomplished they can move on to that great pond in the sky.

I have the Perception Pescador 12'. It's a decent ride for about $550. Its major drawbacks are the seat and the stability. It's plenty stable enough to sit and fish, but you wouldn't want to stand and fish much. It has a padded seat with a back, but it's decade-old technology. There are better seats available now than there were then. I believe this model would be a decent budget-based kayak that would at least remedy the seat issues. http://www.basspro.com/Ascend-12T-SitOnTop-Kayak/product/170284/ The Pescador pro looks like a decent tradeoff as well. This is a 10' model, but the weight capacity is pretty high. http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/perception-pescador-pro-100-fishing-kayak#repChildCatid=3342502

I'm a "bottom guy" LOL. But I saw a YouTube video of a guy using a smaller finesse hook and nose-hooking the bait. I tried it with a Mann's Hardnose fluke and it made quite a difference in action and hookups. It seems the bass bite the bait head first when they can and I was hooking almost every one in the roof of the mouth. These are almost like circle hooks. If you yank too hard you'll pull the hook out. Just tighten up and keep reeling and the fish will stay hooked up. The hook in the nose allows for more shimmy and realistic swimming action in the middle of the body. And the Hardnose fluke is made of some tough material in the nose that lasted all day. In fact, that same bait is still on that rod.

I have a buddy with a pond full of eager stunted bass and I loaded all my rods up with big bass lures hoping to catch the "biggest bass in the pond." Well, yesterday I got a good many bites on the Rat, size 40. It was overcast all afternoon. None of these bass were "big", but given the average in the pond, they were better than I usually catch there. Now I wish I had the size 50. I also tried a Savage Gear S Waver in bass pattern-no bites. I caught a good many on a gold spinnerbait. I left him 24 bass and bluegills in his basket. The bluegills were caught on a 1/4 oz. Rooster Tail. This also caught a few small bass, which are fun on the light combo I was using.

Good advice and a very hard technique to force upon yourself. I've had a bass blow up on a Spook a few seconds after it hit the water and I had a moderate backlash. I picked out the backlash as quickly as possible and reeled up tight on the fish and it was still there, maybe 8 seconds later. I think it got so many hooks it couldn't spit out the bait. I certainly don't recommend the 8-second method.

I'd like to add that going to a pond known to have big bass will get your lure in front of big bass on a regular basis. Whereas going to a large impoundment might mean a lot fewer, or no big bass or see your lure. All the bass in a pond are within reach in one visit.

Depends on what the bass want to bite because I use them for different type of lures. I usually have 4 BC combos and 2 spin combos. But I'd bet I use the spinning gear half the time.

Plastics, when I feel the bite and see it move I'll lower the tip, reel up the slack and WHAM-O! An awful lot of the time, bream will tap-tap a soft plastic, so I like to see it move or feel pressure. Bass will hold soft plastics a good while. Trebles, soon as I feel the fish. That goes for topwaters too. Don't yank the bait away before feeling the fish. If you swing and they don't have it, you'll pull the bait away from the bass's area of awareness and they won't find it. For the plastics, it's a hard, upward swing for me. For trebles, buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, it's usually a rod sweep to the side and keep reeling, keeping the pressure on the bass. I don't want to encourage the bass to jump with a lot of line out, thus the sideways sweep. This is all just my opinion, collected over the course of about 35 years. Practice will get it right for you.

NM

Because the big bass knows the difference between a real egg-gobbling bream and an artificial that she(?) associates with a person she can see.

Too much boat to be a kayak and too much kayak to be a boat. For that money, I could fix up a nice aluminum flat bottom for my bigger boat option.