the reel ess

Mine was also caught on a junebug stick work, Ocho actually. I was pitching it with a pegged weight and dropped it off the edge of lilies. BOOM! 8.0 lb and possibly my PB. I caught another 8 a few years ago, but weighed on a different scale. This one looked bigger.

Kalifornia happened. it is apparently the easiest state in the union to get cancer.

I've caught more bedding bass on the lizard that any other bait. In the summer when I can't buy a bite I'll rig up a "finesses C rig" and small lizard. You can do it easily with a split shot. But I usually do it the conventional way with a 1/8 oz. bullet weight.

Another vote the Carolina Keeper for mono. I guess it's good for fluoro too since it's also stiff. But doing it this way eliminates the retying/pretying.

Among all types of lures I feel like color matters the least with a topwater. The fish see a silhouette unless they get right up next to the bait and eyeball it before biting and I usually use them in shade or low light conditions. And a lure on the surface could represent pretty much any animal. That said, I still buy colors that are most effective in other hardbait types. I like gold, baby bass or anything with an orange belly. Frog patterns and roan (firetiger) also seem to work well. I guess they all work. LOL. If I drove all the way to BPS to buy a specific model Spook and they didn't have my color I wouldn't leave empty handed.

Ours is $10 for an annual resident fishing license and there are no extra species costs. There are several different trout restrictions and regulations to know. If you order online you pay a fee of about $3 for electronic processing. You can buy a 3 year for $30, which on the surface sounds dumb because there is no savings, except the processing fee. I don't know about hunting since I never do it.

Braid is the BEST line hands down for spinning. I don't go below 20 lb. though I could. For panfish I still use 4 or 6# mono.

If not for all the people, I'd probably move to So FL for the combination of big bass, peacocks and invasive species like snakeheads. But Fellsmere and Okeechobee look like fairly jerkwater locations, population-wise.

I think the best fights I've gotten from bass are in the 4-6 lb range. The 8's I've caught, and that's only two bass, were initially strong, but didn't have much stamina. Stripers are some real beasts for their average 5 lbs. But pound for pound, I haven't caught a stronger freshwater fish than a peacock. You'd swear a 4 lb. peacock is much bigger until it's in the boat. And it doesn't give up when you lip it. Mean! Mind you, I have not caught a smallie. Yet.

I have a friend with a mountain house. Years ago I handed him a spinning combo and he immediately cast it in the trees on the other side of the river. Now he fly fishes and has a $400 combo. I have considered asking to cast it and throwing the entire thing across the river. LOL.

My ex-monster-inlaw "accidentally" threw my Zebco 33 combo about 30' from the dock once. I wasn't totally bummed out by it since it was the cheapest thing I had and really for friends and company to use. But several years later, after the divorce, I caught it with a crankbait and salvaged the rod. The drag was locked on the reel. Now, I have no idea what came of the rod. It was a $20 graphite composite rod I bought at Tad's hardware store near Myrtle Beach when I was about 13. It was the first rod I put a baitcast reel on. I have only ever dropped one rod in and that was because I had three on the deck of my kayak at once. I was able to fish it out because it was only about 3' deep there.

I haven't used them and won't comment on their quality. But I've learned over the years you generally get longer service out of metal frame reels, especially if you abuse them. Just my $0.02.

I'm far more accurate with BC gear than spinning. I use each for what they excel at.

I took a buddy out once when I had a bass boat and we were throwing jerkbaits. I tried to tell him how to use it, but he just reeled it in. I shut up when he caught a 4 pounder.

No plug, didn't know the kill switch was pulled, went kayaking with no paddle, twice. Got a trailer wheel off a steep boat ramp and got stuck. Towed too much boat with too little truck to too steep of a ramp. It took me 3 runs to get outta there.

I use a jig or T rig and pitch to targets. It's a way of fishing slowly quickly. Drop it in there, bump it a couple times or work it through cover, then yank it and repeat. You really can't burn this presentation.

I like active, informative fishing. I mean I like to know where you are, what you're using, season and conditions. I HATE when a guy wastes 5 minutes of my life driving to the spot before sunrise. No one needs to see that. I LOVE topwater explosions! Topwater is my favorite way to catch a bass by a wide margin. I get through cold winter weekend days rewatching BamaBass's frog videos. I like watching pike and smallmouth fishing like NDYak. And I like Everglades and Fellsmere fishing. I like Mex trophy lake videos. I love peacock bass videos. I even like ice fishing videos because I would totally do that if I had to endure harsh winters. I like those small stream fishing for anything videos because I did that as a kid (and adult, LOL). And, of course, I like the kayak fishing videos because that's my bag, man.

In very early 90s I was fishing from my dad's boat and a warden approached me. I went for my wallet and couldn't find my license. I swore to him that I bought one but couldn't find it and even told him the store I bought it from, which he was familiar with. He wrote me a big ticket (for that time) in the county across the lake. He told me if I brought the carbon copy, which the merchant was required to save for a year, the ticket would be forgiven. I went to the store and the owners said "Aww, I throw those away." I was stuck. I was going on a 7 day shift so it was going to be hard to get to the magistrate in the other count. So I mailed it in. I traced my steps back to a pool party in which I fell in with my wallet in my shorts. We threw them in the dryer and my wallet was still in them.

I thought I wanted to make YT videos. Then I tried it and it was a pain and got in the way of my fishing. I'm grateful that others do it and it has taught me a lot. But I just don't enjoy fiddling with electronics whilst trying to catch fish.

Don't forget the plug. LOL. You don't want cold water in your shoes. Disposable hand warmers in your pockets is pretty nice.

My dad always said he could catch fish on any color worm as long as it was purple. For the longest, he wouldn't fish anything else either. I'm that way about black and blue.

My buddy made me a believer once and I bought a couple and started throwing them weightless on a M spinning combo with good success. He has a 9+lb. hanging on his wall from 10 years ago caught on a 4" 2-hook one.

I cut the tied loop off the worm and tied a small swivel, no snap, to it. That way I could tie my main line to the swivel. I remember when I was really young my dad would rig worms like this with 2 crappie size Aberdeen hooks. But then along came the offset worm hook and that was that. Progress.

It's pointing to the bottom. LOL

The bass bite has been incredibly slow lately. So I was in the hardware store and saw these worms. I know they're bass catchers so I bought a couple. They're packaged curled up. Should they be straightened a little? Upon retrieve the lure corkscrews. When you pause it curls back up. I did get bites anyway and lost about a 3 pounder. I stretch it straighter but it won't stay. I don't really want to dip in hot water because it's rigged with 17# mono. Ideas? Besides the obvious swivel, which I'm already using.