the reel ess

Man, You need to get your priorities straight! Just kidding. I long for the days when I was young. I could go from dawn to dusk 7 days a week. You can still go when most of us old geysers would rather just relax.

Places like that are bad for your confidence. I'll throw the whole tackle box at those places. I'll try new techniques I've never used there. Then after maybe three bad trips I'm done.

I got skunked first two times out this year. No bites first time out. But I lost a monster on a spinnerbait second trip. But my buddy caught a monster when I got no bite. Haven't been skunked since. That time of year you're fishing for one, maybe two bites from big fish. But you can fish year-round here. No ice, just slow fishing.

Family commitments.The wife had surgery. I have a 10 year old daughter. My presence is required at a weeding rehearsal and wedding next weekend. I'd like to fish at least once a week. Sometimes I only get 2 days a month.

+1 on the Rebel Craws, especially in rivers. I even caught a striper on one.

10" worm

It depends on the body of water. If it's a pond, you know they're there, within your grasp. Sometimes they show themselves by splashing in the shallows chasing bugs. Sometimes it's a mayfly hatch and they'll be all around that. Sometimes they're on the bed near full moons from May-July. When they are, nearly any lure designed for them will catch them/ Mayfly hatch it a great time to use a flyrod and Betts poppers. If it's a lake and you don't see visual clues, try to hit spots that have brush in 7-15 feet deep. Beetle Spins, Roadrunners, small grubs, crickets and worms all work well.

Mega dittos. JK, welcome!

It's incredibly stable here: hot or hotter with the occasional rain for a little relief.

My friend just starts trolling for crappie or bream fishing. But he likes to catch those as much as I like to catch bass. I'd rather catch 1 bass than 5 panfish, especially good bass.

Oh, and an 1/8 oz Roadrunner And a T-Rigged Zoom Speed Craw (black/sapphire)

If I can go to a different place where the fish are less educated, I will. That usually, but not always, means smaller fish. If I only have time for one spot, I keep on trying different things. That takes a deep tackle box and patience. If it's the summertime blues that you're talking about, go very early or for the last couple hours of daylight. Man, I really love fishing topwater anyway. I'll end up with three topwaters tied on. My personal best was the only fish caught that evening by me or my buddy.

That's a decent reel. My dad had one when I was a kid. It's still useful. I just finally retired my first BC reel, a 1983 Daiwa Magforce.

Last time I bought Stren I was very disappointed. And I was faithful customer. It's gotten lower quality than most store brands now, IMO.

Berkley Big Game cuz I'm a cheap skate. I put some on as a leader for 50# braid the other night so I could break off if I needed to. And I straightened a Gamakatsu 5/0 EWG hook getting it unstuck. Good enough for me. Also, because I'm a cheapskate, I like BPS's brand mono. It's a bit stretchy compared to premium brands. But there are times you can use that to your advantage. And I think Trilene XT is the bomb.

I've caught a bunch of channel cats on Shad Raps, especially in the springtime. A good sized one will wreck a Shad Rap. Not to mention getting slime all over your line and making a mess of your boat. I'm disappointed when I get one because I was hoping it was a striper. They do primarily eat shad wherever shad are available, so it's not surprising. To each his own. But to me, the bigger the catfish I catch, the bigger nothing I have.

I do watch him on Kayak Bassin' on WFN. It's what really got me interested in the hobby. My dad was my first mentor and I was neglectful by not thinking of him first. And he had a buddy who introduced us to bass fishing. But to be honest, once I was bitten by the bug, I became his mentor. I would drag him fishing. He bought a fishing boat for me and I know he went a lot with me when he didn't really feel like it. Now he's in his 70's and doesn't really want to go anymore. I think he would if we could take it easy, like fishing from a pontoon, but I don't have one. I have a daughter, and she has her own kayak, but fishing isn't really her thing, as much as I'd like it to be. At least she's not into fishing for 3 hours at a time.

Yeah, we have permanent health advisories due to PCBs or mercury on most fish in most rivers/lakes around here too. Bigger fish are worse than small ones because they've been alive longer. Catfish are worse than stripers because they are bottom feeders. But in one way or the other, they're all bottom feeders. They all eat something that ate something off the bottom. Lakes Norman and Wylie on the Catawba R chain have sewage spill after sewage spill as well as fertilizer runoff from people's lawns. The water treatment plant below Wylie overflows into the river when they get torrential rains. The fecal coliform level goes high enough the city gets fined for river pollution every time it happens. And it's cheaper to pay the fine than raise a tax to fix the issue. The closest lake to me is Wateree, downstream from these on the same river. People still take these 30 lb blue cats out and eat them. So I'll take the pond bass, thank you very much. Also, a good argument for eating the smaller fish you catch.

Even an earthworm can learn to avoid negative stimuli.

Farm raised fish don't have the Omega 3's that wild caught fish have because they aren't fed aquatic food. And they're swimming in their own waste, shoulder to shoulder with as many fish as will fit in a sesspool. Imports are even worse because there is no government oversight there and they've all but put ours out of business. Eat wild-caught seafood whenever you can.

Bubble gum Trick Worm, Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw, black/sapphire. But my fav's are Frog or anything topwater. Getting a good bite on the frog is the BEST feeling.

Topwaters early and late. I like frogs if it's weedy or scummy. Poppers if in open water. T-rigged craw, Rat-L-Trap, wacky rig, anything else I can think of if these won't produce. I recently bought a swimbait, so I'm trying that a little every trip as well as several different frogs.

Texas rigged Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw. 3/16 oz weight. This has saved me maybe 5 times from getting skunked. It seems to me if you drag this guy by a bass, more than likely, he'll grab it. It also seems to attract keeper sized fish. I like the black/sapphire color. I'd say I like it best, but it's the only color I buy. A wacky rigged worm is another good bite producer when they won't chase a reaction lure. Everything catches fish at some time. But no lure catches them every time. If it did, you'd have an empty tackle box. Start keeping a log of your trips with the date, time, temp, conditions, lures used, and results. You'll be amazed at what this will help you sort out.

Jimmy Houston teaches me the most. But Bill Dance entertains me the most and is my all-time favorite. Scott Martin explains well too. Hank Parker's another who instructs well. For all the catching Roland Martin does, he instructs the least. But with all these guys, I have to take what I can use and leave what I can't. I don't fish exactly like any of them. I mostly fish smaller waters now. I'll definitely stop and watch a show about frogs in the lily pads or kayak bassing in an oxbow.

The bass I get from clean, spring-fed ponds taste as good or better than crappie from the big hydro lakes. And those places NEED me to keep some fish to avoid overpopulation. Actually, two of them are hopelessly overpopulated and I couldn't hurt the population alone. I just cant fish that much, sadly. If you're going to look down your nose at people who keep fish for food you should have your wife sew elbow patches on your Columbia PFG jersey and take up smoking a pipe.