the reel ess

WE hardly have ANY water in our creeks right now.

The day my daughter caught her first three fish-2 white perch and a crappie Numbers-More than 50 bass in 2 hours from my buddy's on a Torpedo Size-Recently caught 3 bass in a local reservoir, including a PB, over 5# in 2 hours. 2 on topwater. These are the times when you take someone back the next day and all you can say is "You shoulda been here yesterday."

I bought the Savage Gear Glide in baby bass. I haven't caught anything on it yet. I know I don't have the right equipment for it, but it doesn't cast well. It tends to helicopter and get the line in the hooks. I'm thinking I'll try it on a MH spinning combo next time. My problem with it is that it's not going to get as many bites a as a lot of other lures. Do I really want to go and get skunked fishing this the entire time rather than a smaller numbers bait? I'm not sure. I also bought that little H2O Xpress bluegill swimbait.

True. Just an observation that it's a highly cash oriented business.

I always palm it. It's a balance thing and a carry-over from when 7' long rods were new and not well-balanced. But it also gives good leverage when setting the hook and fighting a fish. But you gotta do what feels right.

I guess I liked them because fish set the hook on themselves with cranks. It didn't require a lot of attention span, sensitivity or skill. Just keep cranking and good things will eventually happen. Getting a good hookset with t-rigs was difficult for me when I was a kid. My dad didn't believe in good equipment, so by the time I knew I had a bite on my fiberglass rod, they were usually off-the-hook.

How many independent guides do you think report all the cash income they make to the IRS? That's a tip in itself. if they work for Roland Martin on Okeechobee, they probably do report.

That's a touchy situation. I went on one where the guide tried everything he could to get us on reds, then trout, then flounder. We ended up catching a bunch of sharks on a near-shore reef. He offered to keep us out a full day for a minimal amount. The guys I was with wanted to so we did. IMO, that was a tip because we weren't catching what I paid for. I ended up throwing 10% on, which can be hard to do because who carries much in cash fishing anyway? I guess it's best to be paid up in full so all you have left to pay is the tip. But I'd say if they deliver, 15%.

I've caught a good many bass on these. This one excels in the in the dog days on offshore structure in the 12-18' deep range. It's not my experience that they'll run 22' deep on a cast unless maybe you kneel and reel. Loosen your drag. Stripers will take the back hook right off if you hook up with one, which can happen on structure. These cranks are cheaply made.

Recently, I got Fireline over the point of a hook. I had to push the line together to separate the strands to get the line off the hook as daylight was fading. Some people will try to tell you Fireline is "fused". Berkley will try to tell you that. I guess I need to pick up a new spool because my Fireline is braid. It is a little less limp when it's new, but it doesn't stay new long.

I use mono on a BC combo for trebles when I can. But I do have a 7' M action spinning combo with 20# braid that I'll throw lighter treble lures on. It's limber enough not to yank the bait away from a fish or yank trebles out during the fight. I can cast lighter lures with it than I can with my M BC Lightning Rod. Medium BC and Medium spinning are usually two different actions entirely. And the reaction time to set the hook on a strike is really up to you. Don't set it till you feel the fish. You can force yourself by keeping the rod tip low and setting in an upward motion. So the fish gets it all before you set. Usually, topwaters produce during lower light periods so I don't think visibility is an issue. To be honest, I doubt it's much of an issue at high noon.

I went with the canoe first and it was too hard to handle alone. I'm a lot happier with a fishing kayak. I still have the canoe but I never use it unless I take a crowd down the river. Then they use it.

If you had a boat, offshore structure and a Carolina rig with a big worm would be your best bet in the day. You can fish places that are near deeper water with topwaters very early or very late in the day. Or you can find a smaller body of water where fish can't get away form you. That's usually what I do. Then I'll go for the last two hours of daylight. I use a kayak. Most of my fish lately have come on a topwater frog, Spook, Jr and T-rigged craw. But very recently, the bite has slowed greatly. The dog days of summer make it tougher around here.

A friend of mine borrowed a self-inflating one and we went down Wateree R. There's only two sets of small rapids in that river and he was in a canoe but it inflated.

I've used the Zoom Super Speed Craw. It produced so well I ran out of it and no one short of BPS and Cabela's has it so I settled for the Chigger Craw at Academy. I've only used it once with no success. But the timing was bad after a front. The Zoom craw produced so well I caught a PB on it. I've been using it a few years now. I see no reason the Powerbait won't work. It sure smells like fish food. I like black/blue flake, but I also bought a bag of watermelon candy to match the sunfish.

I have all three. I tied the regular Boohay Pad Crasher in cricket frog pattern on after being dissatisfied with the Lunker_Lure Lunker_Frog. I haven't taken it off. I probably need to put the junior on a MH spinning rod to see which gets more action. It's bullfrog pattern. The thing about the regular size is it seems to discourage smaller fish from biting. I must say my average fish on it is better than average.

I've been using two regular Lightning rods for maybe 8-9 years years. I bought a MH and a M BC rod because I didn't want to break the bank. I mostly use them for trebles because they aren't extremely sensitive. But I've started using one for T rigs because I had to poach a better rod for frogs. I could probably sense a bite with a fiberglass rod nowadays. I just recently bought a 7'M spinning Lightning Rod for jerkbaits and the like.

Absolutely! I have another short sleeved one that has the logo of a company I previously worked for on it. But since it doesn't have Columbia or even Calcutta on it, my confidence is low while wearing it. And you know fish, with their brains the size of a grain of sand, can feel the confidence transmitted down that superline like a telegraph.

I see pros using a BPS Pro Qualifier. That's a less-than-$100 reel.

I'm not sure if it's the same chain, but I have a little story about Marshall's. We have those stores around here too. When I was about 22 (a very long time ago) my dad and I hired a striper/hybrid guide on Lake Hartwell. I called him and we arranged to meet at Marshall's Marina in Anderson, SC. We showed up and the place was already open at 5:00 AM and our guide was getting blueback herring for bait. The owner of the marina asked us where we were from and we told him. He said his family owned a store there. We asked what it was and he said Marshall's department store. I think they have since sold out to a larger company though.

This may have already been mentioned. But when kayaking, it's a good idea to have a buddy around. People who know how to swim drown in bath tubs. Having said that, I usually kayak alone. I do dumb stuff sometimes.

I don't fish them much around pads, but I believe the ribbon tail variety don't come through pads well. A paddle tail might be in order. Or even a Trick Worm. If you look through my posts, you'll see I sing their praises a lot.

Take a kid or a novice lady with you. It's a double-whammy if it's a female child. They'll be certain to outfish you with beginner's luck-happens every time. Then just do what they did. This worked first time I took my (current) wife and my daughter. Seriously, my earliest memory of catching anything more than bluegill on a cane pole was of whipping my dad and his buddy crappie fishing. My dad handed me the rod with a white grub on it. I filled the boat that day. They didn't have enough grubs to go around and the fish didn't want minnows. The rest of that season, the white and chart. grub was the ticket. Just start simple by keying on obvious structure, weeds, depth changes, points, etc. and go form there. Use the easiest thing to get bites-Texas rigged plastic worms. Try to hold the boat on the spot when you find them. It's acceptable to use an anchor. That's the best way to know you're still. Gain confidence and expand from there.

I won't and yes, a lot of people care. And if I don't like a product, I'm going to say so. I respect that you like them. I tried to. I really liked the idea and look of it. I have a Pocket Frog yet to try. If it doesn't suck, I'll come back and eat my words.

$8 for a chronically waterlogged frog is a bit much. Especially when you can get cheaper ones that don't have that problem.