the reel ess

I have a Shimano Bantam BMP350 from the 80s or early 90s that has "XHS extra high speed" on it. It's 5.1:1?. It was my late father's and I dust it off every now and then to toss some big topwaters or DD22 size cranks just to catch a fish on Dad's reel. But honestly, it's almost too big for bass and pedestrian slow by the 7-8:1 reel standards of today. My dad replaced the crank with a "power handle" that's larger than the usual one, making it seem even slower. I don't have a reel under 7:1 in my usual arsenal. BTW, the BMP350 would be a great reel for stripers or possibly live bait for LMB, if I ever get around to doing that.

I applaud you. I try to keep healthy enough to be active when I'm old. You might not think kayaking is exercise, but it is physical activity that you do for hours while not consuming calories, for most people. My mom died of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). It was a horrible ordeal that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I took her to the hospital in Augusta once to get a feeding tube implanted. As we were leaving the hospital we drove down a road that runs by the canal off the river. There's were people out there kayaking. I said "That looks like fun." She said "It looks like 'fun' is over for me." I determined right then that I was going to buy a fishing kayak if I had to sell something (guns) to get it. Life is short. Get busy living it while it's there.

I have one of those. I've caught exactly 1 bass on it. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure it works. I just moved on to the hollow body frogs. I also have one of these. I caught my first bass over 6 lbs. on it almost 20 years ago. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=snag+proof+original+frog&atb=v314-1&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.windingcreekbait.com%2Fstore_content%2Fproducts_media%2F5dae043743f31.jpg

It has been a strange year. Most things that worked in years past is not working. But I keep doing some of those things because I know at some point, it'll work. For instance, I keep trying the frog, though I have yet to catch one on the frog at the main place I fish. But I've tried to be flexible. I've caught several on the Zoom Speedworm lately. Lost a big one yesterday that bit this bait. After 3+ hours I had 3 fish to show. Then I just decided to sling a lipless crank all over a huge grassy flat. Caught 4 more that salvaged the day. But, as you said, it was casting blindly except I knew it was the right depth and grassy. Honestly, I could have limited myself to half the reservoir and caught all these fish. I get some of my best bites while picking out backlashes.

Following

Either Saturday or Monday morning, maybe both. Where I go there might be one other boat there and he's a buddy.

I went yesterday evening. I downsized to the 90 size and go 3 bites on it, all small fish. Unfortunately, I lost two of them. Also got one on a jig and one on a spinnerbait. Missed another on the spinnerbait. So there was the potential for 6 fish, but I landed 3, 2 of them on the WP.

This is the reason I don't "buddy fish" with other kayakers very often. Some people consider fishing to be a social event. If I wanted to be sociable, I'd join a club. We had a house on a lake from 1968 to 2020. Once my dad and I arrived at the house and there was a car parked at the road. There were 2 people crappie fishing from our dock. It's not illegal to get on someone else's dock there in SC because Duke Energy owns everything below the high water mark. But it was illegal for them to get to it from the road. I asked my dad what we were gonna do and he said "Go fishing." We walked down and started setting up. The couple quietly packed up and walked out.

I left the rest in the truck just in case. LOL. In fact, I probably took my whole topwater box.

I finally went early one early morning with one rod and a WP 110 tied on. I caught a few good fish. I only do this at times when the bite is so slow, I'm fishing for a few bites anyway.

There are certainly times when they work better. Early, late, overcast and in shadows. I can count on 1 finger the number of bites I've gotten in full, high sun on a WP. They also start producing earlier in the year than most people throw topwaters. Prespawn bass get vey angry at anything invading the shallows. The bites are vicious. That is, if you can find bass shallow. I caught one in February this year on a WP. But they're a big fish bait. If there are none around, it might intimidate smaller bass. In 2021 I caught a 6, 4, 7.93 and a 5.75 lb. on the WP. And I lost a big one. The last two were caught on the same day. (I keep a log). I prefer the 110 model in bone. This size doesn't tend to roll over at the end of a long cast. The smaller ones do for me. But they too get bites. Go smaller, get more bites. I accidentally ordered some knockoffs off Amazon that were advertised as Whopper Ploppers. I complained to them and they refunded the money and told me to keep them. I have yet to try them.

I'm the opposite. I actually traded a '66 Mustang for a fishing boat. I too sold the boat for 1/4 of what I paid and it was a good day. I've been fishing from the kayak for almost 10 years now and love the simplicity and convenience of it, especially since I have little space to store a boat. But I only paid $800 for my current ride. Still, I would like a jon boat rigged with a casting deck and bow mount trolling motor. The outboard is not strictly necessary. When I was younger and poorer during my first marriage, I shopped the Walmart discount bins usually in boxes on the bottom shelf. I bought up a ton of Riverside soft plastics in all the wrong colors. I have a big Tupperware box that holds all the things I don't use but don't want to discard. It's about half full of these. I didn't know at the time I'd be fine just owning black/blue jigs and craw imitators. I listened to all the experts whose job it is to sell as many products as possible. I also ended up with a bunch of Rebel hardbaits in off colors that didn't work well. I gave most of those to the local charity thrift shop. me too. Because I own two Trions that just keep going. The most trouble free spinning reels I've ever owned.

I get a good grip on her with my left hand and hold her at water level. If it's taking a while to get the scale ready with my right hand, I'll lower her in the water where she can get some water over the gills. Then I weigh her (digital scale and a lip grip so I don't have to put the hook in her gills), get a quick pic and quickly release her. I might linger a few seconds after I lower her in the water to fully soak in the moment. Watching a big fish swim away is one of the greatest joys of fishing. I have a net for when I catch a big one on trebles. That's easy.

I had a T rig hopelessly hung up fishing with a guide. His combo. He had 65# on it and told me to break it off. I handed it to him and told him I wasn't going to destroy his Curado.

I have a thin 1/8 oz. swimbait hook that does a good job of this.

I can't say because I don't go below 30# braid on baitcast reels. It only digs in when I have to yank the hook free from a snag. But I imagine 20# would do worse in the same situation. So maybe that's what people are saying. Maybe you aren't pitching into heavy cover like some of us.

NM. I'm onto it. Thanks.

I find it easier from the kayak than I did from a boat. But if you don't get that jig in there to them there won't be any bite. I use 30# braid on the jig rod with the drag cinched down. Just pin them as tight as you can and go get 'em. I was pretty fortunate with this one.

The Gambler Big EZ is a more weedless swimbait option. I have some in Forty-Niner (gold) because we have shiners. But they have several bluegill colors if you prefer.

A lot of people don't have a rod for every technique. It could be worse. I've heard people say they use mono for frogs. Before I had a frog-specific rod I used a 7' MH because it was the best tool I had for the job. I really agree that the line is rule #1 in frog fishing. Before I had a jig and frog rod, I would use 65# on my MH combo and I'd use a mono leader when I was using it for jigs. I'd cut the leader off when I was froggin'. I just made do with what I had.

You really should be able to winch a bass in with the drag cinched down on 30# braid. I do this with my jig rod routinely. But you really should go to 50-65# for the frog. 30# should get it done, but it's more susceptible to abrasion, especially around rocks. I feel for you on the loss of a PB. A lot of us have done it. In my case it was my error.

I hadn't caught a good bass since December, barely a 4 lb. caught deep on a deep blade bait. It's been a strange spawn and late spring and I had not been able to fish a morning in 2022 before today. I got out to my favorite reservoir just before sunrise, about 6:15; not another soul there. It started off very slow. I didn't get so much as a nibble for the first hour and a half. Then I got to a bank near deep water that has some laydowns and lots of overhanging limbs. I pitched my Trashmaster jig and Rage Bug over a single limb laying over into the water close to the edge. Started to retrieve and noticed the line moving toward deep water. I set the hook and it was on. I tried to fight the fish back and over the limb. Too big. So I thought to pin it against the limb and drag my kayak to it. As I was winching toward the bass, it broke the limb and I fought and landed it. It really wore itself out fighting the limb so the fight was pretty short. I'm thankful because you can see in the pic it's just skin-hooked with the jig. I took pics and weighed it. Knew it was pretty close to a PB. It weighed in at 7 lb. 13 oz. That's about 5 oz. below my PB. I just wish I could catch one of these 7+ fish just before spawn. This goes without saying, but it's still swimming. Finally, something to record in my "big fish log" for 2022. Of course, I'm content to catch one almost 8 lb. fish. But I also caught a couple more 2 pounders and a couple dinks as well as a bluegill and a warmouth.

Well, I quit about 25 years ago. But it was not an easy process. I told my ex-wife to nag the hell outta me, as was her specialty. I decided one day I wouldn't buy any more cigarettes, but I would bum one here and there, especially when having a drink around other smokers. Then it became so infrequent that one day I realized I hadn't smoked in weeks, maybe months. I was no longer dependent. I really don't know how people afford it anymore. Generics are now double what Marlboro and Winston used to be. It's crazy. Now, when someone offers me a cigar I politely decline. I worked too hard to quit just to entertain another form of the habit.

Good for you for quitting though. I know firsthand it's hard.

Once the hook pulls through the front of the worm I bite off about 1/4" and re-rig it. You get more bites on a smaller worm anyway. Most of them just taste like salt.