the reel ess

Look on your rods. I do that sometimes to discover I have it tied on.

I've come to realize that not even most men like to fish as much as I do. I'll fish for hours for one bite. In fact, not getting a bite motivates me even more. I'm stupid like that.

I bought my daughter a kayak and surprised her with it. She likes to go with me when it's warm. It's not her first choice, but if I inform her I'm going and give her the option of going paddling or hanging around the house with mom, she'll usually go. This usually buys me 2 hours of fishing time. If mom's going shopping, she's on that train. That buys me all day to fish. I might even go three places if they aren't biting well. My daughter wants to paddle down a river with me but doesn't care for fishing. Last time we went together, she got close to me while I was casting a frog to some lilies. Then she started beating the floor of her kayak with her paddle. I said "What are you doing, trying to save the fish from me?" She said "No, there's a spider in my kayak."

They told me to superglue the hole in the nose, which I did. But I was catching them on the Pad Crasher by that point. I'll get back to them this year.

Around here, it's mostly the month of April. If you haven't fished the spawn by that month here, you won't be fishing it. If the dogwoods are in bloom, spawn is in full swing. Fish are already staging for it now. You need to start when it's still an uncomfortable temp. Even if spawn is a ways off, your the bites this time of year are mostly from good quality fish as they store up calories for the spawn. Go to drops and weed edges near spawning flats. Fish all around from bank to deep water. They're somewhere in there. The biggest mamas tend to spawn the earliest.

I'm not very good at it either. But last year was the most I've targeted bedding bass because I've lately been fishing private waters. There were beds almost all the way around the reservoir. I caught bass mostly on the weightless Trick Worm, Rapala floating minnow and some on wacky stick worms. I caught over 50 one day on a Torpedo, but it was very overcast and even sprinkled rain. I missed a lot that day too so I think it was mostly bedding males trying to run the thing away from the nest. I couldn't buy a bite on that bait next time out. When I've seen them on the bed, I've cast a worm, craw or lizard past it and pulled back through it. Get the hook point out because sometimes they won't hold the bait long. Use a bright color to make it easier to see. I have a bluegill swimbait to try this spring and I'll try a dropshot after watching people do it on TV. I need to gain confidence at that anyway.

I should add that a lot of people swear by the red craw color in winter.

Lipless cranks are a good cold water bait. I use rat L Traps though. I have fished these where there are little or no weeds with less success. So the presence of weeds seems to be the right scenario. In cold water, I like to reel it as slow as possible without getting fouled in weeds on the bottom. It takes practice. In cold water, 40's and below, fish won't chase a bait far, if at all. so slow is the name of the game. When the water warms well into the 50's, other reaction baits seem to work better for me. I might still catch a few on them here and there and they'll usually be better quality fish. Then these will shine again in the fall when bass are chasing bait ahead of the winter. A faster retrieve seems to work better then. Sometimes you can mop up with this bait in the fall. BTW, I have 7 Rat L Traps and another lipless crank someone gave me in red craw, bluegill, bleeding shad and gold metallic. I almost never use any other than the gold metallic, 1/2 oz. I can't seem to buy a bite on other colors. Maybe just coincidence, but I'm superstitious. Fish have made me a believer.

After a few bites on the 7.5" Trick Worm, it'll get torn and I'll bite a little off the top and re-rig it-how I know it really tastes salty. I swear just the little difference in size seems to turn the fish on again as if it's a whole different bait. I think the action is better on the shortened worm.

With my ex it would be a dare. With my wife, it would be and is sincere. I agree with sending flowers to work on Friday. In fact, I usually do this and it seems to surprise her every time. Alas, we are in a major cold snap right now. I'll just add up the brownie points for a while.

My first frog of the skirt legs type was the SPRO and I got so tired of not hooking up, I put it away. I still have it, but I prefer the Booyah Pad Crasher. Just trim the legs about an inch and start catching them right away. The Lunker Hunt with realistic legs got bites, but no hookups before it was chronically waterlogged. I'll give it another shot and I have a smaller one yet to try as well. I have the old Original Snag Proof with realistic legs that I caught my biggest bass to date on that still catches them. I use it on spinning gear because it's so light but they make a casting model now.

Me too man! Soft plastics are my go-to when I can't buy a bite.

I watched the Bass Dr this morning and the guy had 5 Pro Qualifiers on the deck. That's good enough for me.

Spinnerbait Chatterbait T-rigged craw Rat L Trap (or topwaters) jig (or topwater frog) suspending Husky Jerk (Rapala or another Rat L Trap) Trick Worm, weightless (or right now, my new favorite, T-rigged Yamamoto Hula Grub) I'll get back to it, but when I've tried them I haven't caught a thing. I imagine it's really good around the spawning beds.

I get better hookups with this frog out of the box than any others I've tried yet. Notice there's a slight gap between the hooks and body.

I don't like it. I've fished with a few people who insist upon having it. That's not a problem. The lake I grew up fishing on had horrible radio reception all over it. It's just now getting a good enough cell signal for me to make a call from the lake. I just like to listen to nature. Several guys have told me I need a radio. I never even thought about that. I need a newer graph, a better trolling motor and maybe 10 more rods first.

This is my favorite lake. And this lake is good too.

Braid is probably the only one that won't be affected by temperature. Some people are going to braid on every combo. If I could only ahve one, that's what it would be. If you feel it affects bites, you can take some floro for a leader, but it can get brittle in extreme cold.

Trick Worm, weightless T-rigged. Problem solved. Don't be afraid of the bubble gum or limetreuse color. Visibility is limited in weed-choked waters. I haven't found the place bass won't bite this if you can present it to them. If they won't chase it when retrieved like a jerkbait, just sloooow down and draaaag it. My buddy only uses this one bait when we go kayak fishing. I take 5 combos and he almost catches as many as I do. He caught two on it when we went Jan 2nd in cold water.

Does anyone replace the trailer with a craw like the smaller Speed Craw? Does it harm the action or cause lift? I had one of these years ago and it rusted in my boat hatch so I tossed it. I just got another in black/blue. I never use plastic spinnerbait trailers (I do use trailer hooks though).

I'd like to fish with my dad, but he says he's too old and not interested. And he's the one who got me started down this road. Gerald Swindle seems like a great guy to learn from, but he'd smack talk you all day. LOL Bill Dance is the one I've followed all my life and a national treasure. So I guess just to enjoy a day of catching fish, I'd pick him.

If the dogwood blooms come and go, spawn is probably over. Good luck.

I caught 2 Saturday that were getting the gut though. I'm in the piedmont of SC and the spawn in local ponds is usually all throughout the month of April. Good news is though the bite may be slow (maybe one or none a day) this is a really good time to catch the bigger bass in the pond. The bites tend to be from bigger bass now.

Most people I've seen using them on TV and YouTube have them trimmed so far they don't really look "froggy" anymore.

20 lb braid is roughly the diameter of 8 lb mono. As for your second question, you'll get several answers as well. Try it with no leader. I use 65 lb PowerPro with no leader. They still bite it.