the reel ess

WOW! Some of you guys have been fishing a long time. I;m still young by comparison! I might still get into the 10 lb club before I expire.

You came along at the best time yet. Heck, when I started you ad maybe two combos and relied on the advice of a few old timers and the 1" thick BPS master catalog. Now there is so much info at your finger tips as well as decades of research and experience. That's a great memory. People have always told us our daughter talked to them on an adult level.I think it's because she was cared for a lot by my mother and father before she was kindergarten age. We were talking politics and world events when she was 5. Having someone around to give you some culture is irreplaceable.

I've been concentrating on bass for maybe 35 years. I'm 46 now. I got my first baitcaster for Christmas at about 12 years old I think. But I've been fishing since before I have memories.

I have a buddy who fishes several times a week, so I get the report on a regular basis. Sometimes he'll text me that I better go if I want to get in on it. I plan what I think might work and tie those on about 6 combos. Then I use the kayak that I have a crate rigged with holders. I usually fish a local reservoir that's private. This decreases the competition and means the fish are rarely pressured. It's a smaller place so I know I'lll drag a bait by some fish while I'm there. There are some really big gals in the small lake. It's small enough to paddle around once in 3 hours. But I usually cut it in half and go where I've had success during similar conditions. It's also big enough for more than one pattern to work. If it's bitterly cold like in Jan-mid-March, I'll go with a buddy who uses his Tracker or I'll go to one of a few ponds that are small enough to walk the bank. I may use my fish/ski if my buddy's working or busy. As soon as it's not deadly cold in the water, I'm back in the kayak. I have a bigger boat but it's such a hassle compared to the kayak and I've caught more and bigger bass since I started fishing from it. And it replaces my cardio exercise for that day. In warmer water I prefer topwaters early, late and whenever they'll produce. I like spinnerbaits and other reaction baits. When they won't work I'll slow down with bottom bumpers. In cold water, I'll throw a t-rigged craw, small worm, jig and black spinnerbait with Col blade.

A Carolina Rig is the poor man's depth finder if you're on water and have no electronics. It'll also tell you the bottom composition and if there's structure besides the depth change. And it finds fish!

All said and done, here's what I use mostly: MH/MF 7' / BPS JM reel 5.1:1, 30# braid for jigs an t rigs MH/MF 6-6 / Cheap Ebay reel 6.1:1, 15# mono for spinner/buzzbaits and other heavy single hook presentations. M/M 6-6 / BPS reel 7:1, 15# mono for topwaters, cranks, etc. H/F 7-3 Frog rod / 7.1:1 reel, 50# braid. This one can whoop a bass in heavy cover and drag him across the surface of mat or lilies. I use jigs on it in cold water. MH/MF 7' Spinning old BPS Viper combo I got about 12 years ago. Just won't quit working. 20# braid for lighter single hook. M/MF 7' Spinning / Pfleuger Trion, 20# braid for lighter trebles. Light 6' el cheapo Spinning / Academy UL reel, 6# mono. This is a catch all for tiny bass in creeks and ponds as well as crappie and other panfish. I have maybe $28 in the combo.

My first 2 combos back in the 80's were a MH (first) then a M. Rods were mostly 5'6" back then. Now I'd go with a 6-6 to 7' M/MF and a 6-6 to 7' MH/F. The M will cover the trebles and the MH will cover the single hooks like T rigs and jigs. These will also cover spinner and buzbaits. A 6:1-ish retrieve will work, but you can get one in the 7 range for fast presentations or just to cut down on effort. I like 30# braid on the MH and 15 lb. mono on the M. Then you can get a couple spinning combos for lighter presentations of single and treble hook baits. 20# braid works well for me. Finally, you can get a broomstick (H/F) for flipping/frogs. A fast retrieve is nice for these to skate fish across the surface when you get them up. I have braid on these. Sometimes I take 7 combos with me on a kayak. You might notice I have no floro line. I hate it and the water is stained here. You have to do what you have to to catch fish.

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If you're going to cover all those techniques with one rod, probably a MH/MF. I have this "big cranker" model Falcon. http://falconrods.com/lowrider20.html But honestly, I use it for t-rigs because it's by far my most sensitive rod. Has a springy tip but is 80% backbone. The 7' is long enough for all medium to large cranks. I use 2 6-6 Lightning Rods for the baits you mentioned. I have one M and one MH to cover all those bases. I reason that these baits don't require extreme sensitivity so I can get by with a decent quality rod of the right action that's light enough to cast all day. They're quite old and some of the cork is coming off the fore grip but they're functional. When I replace them, I'll go with a better quality rod, but at the time I was getting over a divorce and was not flush with cash. There are plenty of rods between $40-$100 that will do a fine job for you.

What's your winter kayak fishing clothing? I have a SOT and don't want to stop fishing this year. I'm in SC and it doesn't freeze over. The water typically won't fall much below 50 degrees.

I caught plenty o' bass when I had a big mullet.

I said I strapped it to the roof rack. And yeah, it's a small SUV. It should have been strapped at each end as well. I admit the issue was mine. I also don't recommend doing it the way I did. But it was a one-time thing and we managed.

I did exactly as you're describing with a canoe on top of my wife's small SUV once except I strapped it to the roof rack. I have a truck but we needed shuttle service up the river. I sliced pool noodles and put them on the gunwales and put the canoe on upside down. It was sketchy at best. I still had to open her sunroof and hold on to the canoe and we went no faster than 35 mph. There was just not enough surface contact on the roof. And that car has a rack on the roof.

That's a decision only you can make. Obviously, you'll get better and better on your home turf. But it is quite an adventure for me to try new spots. A change of scenery is usually welcome. Especially during times like the dog days when you can't buy a bite or when the fishing slows for no apparent reason. If you have a friend who fishes the new place, get their advice. Lures that work for me everywhere, any time of year: T-rigged worms or craws, Spinnerbaits (you might need to adjust the blade, color and size) and jigs. You can usually get it done with one of these all year. A topwater in the dead of winter probably won't work. Honorable mention: Rat L Trap.

I've hired 2 guides in my life. The first one was a striper guide who wanted to set the hook on every fish and hand us the rods. I got wise to that and sat by the rods in holders that were getting bit the most and started grabbing one and doing my own work. He wanted us the get a limit early so he could cut out early. That experience was good because we caught 13 stripers, a bass and a big cat. And I hired a saltwater inshore guide once. We didn't catch the gamefish we wanted and ended up going to a nearshore reef and catching a few sharks. That was like saltwater channel cats. That guy told me after I shelled out the cash to catch redfish and trout and didn't that it was really a bad time of year for those species. Something he could have said on the phone when I asked him. Not worth the money. So I would suggest knowing when is a good time to catch your target species, researching your guide well and getting others' opinions on guides. And pick his brain about techniques. Tip him if you catch anything and tip well if you catch a lot.

The pond has a no-spawning rule? And the fish obey? LOL. Well, it won't have fish for very long then. Most bass don't live past 3 lbs.

Is it the reel hand? You can get the opposite-handed reel or use spinning. I have resorted to using T-rigs a lot more. You can use a reel with a burner ratio to limit the revolutions. You can also take up trolling for crappies. Or you can fish smaller waters where you know your bait will be seen by fish to limit your number of casts. On days when I have to crank it to get them, I just suffer later, but more so with shoulder pain from slinging the bait all day. If you're going to have *** worked on, you can do it now and be ready for spring. edit: I see the last post. Good deal and good luck with it.

More than once this past spring.early summer, they saved my day.

I use a MH/MF 7' older Falcon Lowrider. I have 30 lb braid on it. I don't use a leader as a rule, but I will occasionally take a Sharpie to the last few feet of line. Also, I use this for a C-rig on occasion and I'll use some mono for the leader then. I use an equally older BPS Johnny Morris reel with 5.2:1 retrieve. I bought it off Ebay and had it worked on and now it's smooth as butter and casts light rigs down to 1/8. I usually use 3/16-1/4 though. If I had it to do over, I'd probably have a retrieve in the 6.3 range, but I got what I got. Seems to me these days there's almost no need for a ratio lower than 6.

I hadn't either until about a year ago when I ran across it on YouTube and it coincided with a really good run of summer evening topwater action for me. I carried it through this summer and it has become my favorite way to fish the dog days. Sometimes I'll have three topwaters tied on. Summer lasts a long time in SC and I believe bass do most of their feeding at night during this period. I do tend to fish shallower waters though. If you're fishing a major impoundment, the topwater action probably won't be that great most of the time.

The Carolina rig is the poor man's depth finder. Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits are big fish lures. If you want to catch big fish, it's more important to be where there are some than to use a 12" swimbait. The hottest and most humid evenings and mornings are best for topwaters (night is good too, but most people aren't out then). Crappie jig under a float works for bass in the winter.

If you know a place with stunted, hungry bass, that's a good place to try a new technique for the first time. Using braid on spinning gear will greatly reduce the twists that eventually turn into knots. If you're careful, you can use the same line for years. Braid might seem expensive until you've used it for a loooong time with no breakoffs. When the end of your braid looks old and highly visible, you can reel it onto another reel and you'll be using the new end. You can go cheaper on rods where the technique does not require great sensitivity, like topwaters. It's easier to sneak up on bass in a kayak than in a boat.

Welcome! Is it 3:10 in Yuma?

I have the Lew's Tourney MB LFS reel in 7.5:1. I LOVE IT! I've used it for a whole season and don't think I've backlashed it yet. It's my frog and jig rod on a Hvy/F rod. I'll probably get another to replace my most recent worn out reel.

Pick a good one. At least one with a solid aluminum frame. If you don't, you'll probably not get great service out of it and you may become discouraged and end up yard selling it. You'll get recommendations to the contrary, but I'm right and they're wrong. J/K. You get what you pay for. If money is an issue, may I suggest the Academy line of BC reels. They have all the features available that the brand names have and they're so much cheaper you can afford the rod too. They happen to have 3 on sale right now and anything above $25 ships free. Look at the customer ratings. http://www.academy.com/shop/browse/fishing/fishing--reels?searchType=2&searchTerm=&facet=mfName_ntk_cs%3A%22H2O+XPRESS%22&beginIndex=0&orderBy=&pageView=grid&minPrice=&maxPrice=&pageSize=&