the reel ess

L'il George for schoolies that are suspended. It's old school, but should still do the trick. Having said that, I have one I haven't used in years. Toss it past the school (they'll cast a mile) and let it come under the action a bit. Worth a try. Also, try a double fluke rig. They could be stripers. If so, hold on!

My best friend was fishing a public place alone on a weekday morning when a guy, much bigger than him, walked up without a rod or anything related to fishing and struck up a conversation. My friend said the conversation was weird and unsettling. He thought he was going to get robbed and just told the guy he had no money on him. The guy kind of laughed it off and walked away. I'm always wary of people who are going nowhere in particular on a day when everyone else is working. Of course, I may be there at that time too and someone could think that about me. But I'm fishing. And it pays to be cynical and suspicious.

I've had people in an urban setting walk up and ask for a ride, a beer, money...The answer is I'm not going that way, I don't have any/enough money or beer to be giving it away. I quit fishing a public, secluded place alone for that reason. One guy walked up, chatted then asked for a beer. I lied and said we didn't have any and he pulled one out of his own pocket. Then had the nerve to ask for a ride. When I said we weren't going his way, he said I haven't told you where I'm going yet. My buddy said "You're going away from us right now." We separated so if he did anything, we could take him on. I'm not a violent guy, so it was unnerving. I didn't want to turn my back and fish anymore. Now I'm an armed, non-violent guy.

Big Bite's Trick Stick is very durable. About $5. As for it not producing well...Sometimes we pull it out as a last resort when fish absolutely will not bite anything. You can also pick up some 3" for really tough conditions.

Fish are people too!!!

Therein lies the reason I prefer fishing to hunting. There's no catch/release in hunting.

No offense intended. But if I cared about them that much, I'd probably stop sticking hooks in them at all and take up another hobby. I have caught a rather large bass that was missing an eye, had sores all over it and the sores were eating at its fins. Yet it still managed to get on my hook. I threw it back. Probably should have just clubbed it.

My PB came on a Snag Proof frog. It was 6.5#. I didn't see a fish. It was like a little toilet flushed and the frog disappeared with a slurp. I set the hook and about 3' of drag came off the reel. I knew it was a good fish. It swam away, then right back toward me. It tried to come up to shake, but I reached about an arm's depth into the water and grabbed its open mouth. I took pics quickly and released it back into my buddy's pond. It felt good to know it was still swimming in there. That's been 11 years and it seems like last week. Thanks for letting me relive it.

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/frog_baits.html http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/how-to-fish-for-bass-with-frogs/ http://www.bassmaster.com/tips/87-frog-tips-bassin There are some good tips. My wife had surgery yesterday and there was a BASS mag in the waiting room. One article was by Rojas. His most valuable advice was to set the hook straight up, directly away from the fish. He said any other direction moved the hooks away from the roof of a fish's mouth. He said he works the frog with his tip down. he uses 50# braid More advice was to take pliers and bend the hook points away from the body by only about 1/16" Use a MH BC rod with a fast tip at least 7' long.

I caught a mess from a friend's pond a while back. I cut into two of them and they both these. Once you've seen them you can't un-see them. I tossed them and told the owner. If you do a little Googling, you'll find that adding shellcrackers (redear sunfish) in the pond can cut the life cycle because those eat snails, which are 1/3 of the worms' life cycle. I still fish this pond. I just don't keep any.

It's probably a wacky Senko. But last two times out it caught only 1. The best day for numbers of bass I ever had came in a pond on a Torpedo all day long. Occasionally when a fish missed, which was rare but ithappens with topwaters, I'd throw a Senko to that spot and catch it. And they wouldn't bite just anything that day...I tried other things.

I quit using inline spinners because of the line twist. But I did catch everything on them too when I was young. Crappie, bass, white bass and bream. Seems like every bream I ever caught on one got all three trebles inside his mouth.

I have seen Denny Brauer pitching to tires that are used as a jetty around marinas. I guess fish suspend under them.

I also know a guy who used to take broken cinder blocks on every fishing trip and drop them in a particular place. He called it the "rock pile". He told me about it and I fished it and it usually holds a fish or two. This should keep working for a long time.

Yeah, that was me who mentioned that. Specifically, he got scrapped washing machines and gutted them. Supposedly it make a tunnel for bass to hide in and ambush prey as well as get shade. Great cover I guess. I can tell you the places we thought he did this were productive for years. And you wouldn't get hung up on them because it wasn't brush piles. It got so that you'd have to "stage" for your turn to fish these spots on weekends. But mid-week was the ticket. Carolina rigged magnum worms did the trick. Fat offshore fish in June-July.

I remember when I was a kid I went fishing with a friend of my dad's once when my dad was busy. We got into some smaller schoolies and I was throwing the tackle box at them, with some success. That guy had two rods and only used the one with a T-rigged worm. He caught more and larger. And proved to me that even when fish are chasing bait, they'll bite the worm more often than not. Now every time I'm out and the bite slows, I'll throw a T-rig. But I admit I haven't used the worm that much lately. What are your favorite worms?

I'm convinced that eating fish from clean waters like a spring-fed pond is very healthy. Bass from clean waters taste better than those from the public sesspool.

I have a Trion that does not twist a bit. But I've always used braid on it. Here's a little tip for the braid. 20# Fireline has the diameter of 8# mono. That helps a lot with casting light lures on spinning gear. I have 17# Fireline on my Trion right now, but I think they did a redesign of that line and now 20# has taken its place.

I like the Torpedo too. I had a Devil's Horse but can't find it now. I've never caught anything on it and I must have given it away.

Spook, spinnerbait, ribbon worm, and deep cranks. I mostly fish ponds where these cranks would just be digging down in weeds and snotty moss. Replaced with Rat L Trap, T-Rigged craws, weightless Trick Worm & wacky stick worms. But I'm always experimenting. I wonder how much our lack of success with a lure is because of fish's exposure to it. Could be we used it twice unsuccessfully and put it away permanently.

Well, I just mean every now and then this will happen. But you're right.

Do you guys alter the frogs with skirt-type legs? I know some people trim them to help the fish get the hooks in its mouth.

I have noticed fish slapping a frog when it's sunny but getting it as soon as a cloud passes over. Last time I used one, I only got bites while it was cloudy, Toss a Senko to that spot when they miss it. As you reel the frog in fast, keep an eye on the frog, they'll attack it!

Seems shady to me too. I don't like that about tourneys. Everybody's looking hard for an edge. I know people complaining about cheating in take-a-kid crappie tourneys. I knew another guy when I was a kid who sunk gutted appliances at every spot he had all over the lake a couple weeks before a tourney to enhance the spots. Then he'd only enter tourneys on that lake. He won or placed in almost every one he could get in.

Interesting. A lot of people use their flippin stick for these. I don't have a BC setup for frogging right now. So last time I used a MH spinning combo that has 17# braid. I missed about half. But the fish that wanted it got it. It was a tiny body of water and I caught decent size fish.