the reel ess

After using the Chigger Craw a few more times, I prefer it. I've caught several nice bass on them. They smell like a seafood restaurant's dumpster. Fish won't drop them even if they feel pressure from you.

I just put a 15# leader on my pitching rod to use it for a Carolina Rig. I put about 6' on it and used a Carolina Keeper to hold the weight. How long do those of you who do this prefer the leader to be?

I prefer as fast as I can get. But I use a 5.3:1 Johnny Morris reel because it's the best reel wit the best drag that I have. I can tighten it all the way down. I have a 7.1:1 BPS Clunn series reel, but the drag is weak to the point I use it for treble lures like topwaters and cranks.

The craw works well for me in spring. It's the first craw lure I ever had.

I have read that they'll still bite it with one flipper. Maybe even better since it looks less defensive.

I got another 5.88 pounder on this bait Saturday. I discovered how easily Powerbaits get chewed up when fish are biting it well. If they don't completely tear the hook out of the nose of the bait, you can flip it over and rig upside-down. Like putting money in the bank.

I have a friend I just got hooked on bass fishing. He used to never catch anything, but he would drink beer in the back of the boat and have a general good time. He caught a big'un that broke his rod once. I gave him another rod to use but he sat down and took pics and started texting the pic to everybody he knows while talking smack to me about having the big fish of the day. As we came back to the landing, I threw out a Rat-L-Trap once and caught one bigger than his, which disappointed him. I told him you won't catch any fish without a hook in the water. I've gotten a lot better in the last few years at figuring out what to do during the day. But mostly I just TRY HARD. I record my trips in a journal and make mental notes for future. I have a nearly photographic memory of what I caught, how and where. And I'm never afraid to try something different. If they aren't biting, what do you have to lose? I also use advice from others, but I don't take it as Gospel. I've caught some of my best fish ever this past season when my other buddy says bass "aren't biting".

For my birthday, I'd like something I don't have and is so expensive I probably wouldn't buy for myself. Like a +/-$20 Matt's Bluegill swimbait. Something along that line or a gift card/certificate to someplace I could get it.

My best is Pop R-type popper. Get them all because there'll be days when they'll hit one and not another. My favs: Chug'n Spook, Jr. Frog Chug Bug Pop r

If you haven't already seen it, here's a fantastic interview with Bill Dance by who I think is a local sports newscaster It's a tad annoying because Bill is trying his best to answer questions fully and the guy only has about 15-20 minutes so he's hurrying the answers along. You could talk with him for 2 hours and only scratch the surface of his experience. But it's still very informative. If you thought you knew everything about him, you'll still learn something from this video. Then there's some golfer at the end. Hope you enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BmR8FLH2no

I use a 7' MH spinning combo wit 20# Fireline for Zoom Trick Worms, rigged weightless. It gets the job done. You still won't be casting a mile, but you'll get it far enough. Might I suggest you try one of their "neon" colors like Bubble Gum, Methiolate or Limetreuse. They flat work.

A few topwaters. A Pop R, A walking-type bait, like Spook or Spook, Jr. Maybe a Chug Bug. There are two good opportunities to use topwaters every day at least half the year.

Check this out: http://www.stripers247.com/sitemap.php I only have caught them in fresh water and mostly while bass fishing. But I'd like to know how to target them specifically too.

Academy has become my go-to. It's way closer then BPS or Cabela's. Their stuff is QUALITY. And they have big box prices. It doesn't matter how cheap WalMart is if they don't have it.

It used to be light a cigarette. That would cause a bite that made you waste the cig. But I quit more than 20 years ago.

There are ponds upstream of rivers all over the place. Heavy rains will cause small fish to flow over the standpipe/spillway. If you fish behind it, you'll see fish you know aren't supposed to be in a tiny stream. If its a big enough flow, those fish are heading downstream to whatever river or lake is below. Dig a pond and see if crawfish don't appear. Wateree Lake in SC was not stocked with blue catfish or white perch, but they're there in spades. It has become a trophy blue cat fishery. White perch had displaced white bass completely. About 15 years ago they had flood water going over all the dams in the river chain. My dad and I caught more than 60 white perch, white bass and stripers on one trip. I asked the DNR guy what was stocked in Wateree in the last 20 years. Only stripers were.Therefore, white perch were placed there and the white bass we caught that day, and haven't since, came over the dam(s). That's my hypothesis, anyway.

Well, you'd be a pretty shoddy fisherman if you had divorced the lady who mounted a fish for you. You're living the dream.

No care here

Jig, T-rig or what?

I will. But I don't know how much good it will do if I can't find any more.

Qualities: Stretch (being a bad thing), advantage: braid. Stretch is nice when using trebles. Not so when using a strong single hook. Visibility, adv.: Mono. If you want braid, but less visibility, you can use a mono leader. Bouyancy: Mono. Nice for topwaters. Also nice for not yanking topwaters out of the fish's mouth because it stretches. Breaking off if you need to: Mono. You'll probably have to cut the braid sometime if you can't straighten the hook. Price: Mono by a mile, but the braid lasts as long as you want to keep it. If you have two empty reels you can take it off, turn it around and use the other end. Braid's nice for frogs, T-rigs if visibility doesn't bother you, I like it for spinning because the line memory is way less than mono. It isn't great for topwaters because it fouls in the hooks sometimes because it's limp. Mono does a few things well (trebles, crankbaits) but there is stretch and lack of sensitivity to it. You can overcome some by going heavier. It's all I used for 30+ years. I got rid of floro. I just didn't like it. Now I use braid on some combos and 15# mono on others. But I'm not out throwing deep crankbaits and trying to get down 18'. Opinions will vary, but those are my own.

I'll give it a try with some Zoom Ultra Vibe craws I bought by accident. I wanted the Super size but wasn't paying attention when I ordered off Amazon Prime. It's a decent way to buy mail order because of no shipping. But you have to pay attention. I've bought the wrong size twice.

I won't buy Stren mono again unless it's the only mono made. It's pitiful to me that a "premium" brand of mono is inferior to Big Game, which you buy by the pound.

+1 that music. I'd like to add to that Ride of the Valkyries and Hall of The Mountain King.

I've only been catching bass around here by dragging the bottom. Occasionally, you'll get a dink on the Trick Worm. So I thought I'd try a split shot rigged Trick Worm. The split shot was gone after the 3rd cast. But I had my trusty T-rig craw on another rod.