the reel ess

I never use a trailer on a spinnerbait. I got my PB on one. But I don't find that bass are crazy about the spinnerbait. I'll just catch one every so often on it, strictly reaction. If you look at it, it resembles a shad or shiner. But it doesn't swim like one. If they get a good look at it, they probably wont commit. That's why everyone says to use it around cover and contact the cover if you can.

I've tried the Zoom, Berkley, Strike King and several other craws. I just keep reordering the Rage Craw and the Rage Bug now. The Bug is better for skipping. I also use these two on a T rig.

Y'all probably scared him into thinking he needed to defend himself. My buddy was bank fishing alone once. A car stopped and the passenger got out, walked up and start chatting him up. The car drove away. He said he got the feeling the guy was trying to decide if he was a candidate for robbery. Then the guy walked away and down the road without another word. What kind of rifle do you carry where the game is that big? It's the life we chose. I fish a lot of private property that people are kind enough to allow me. I've told my wife, no matter what, if I die while fishing, never sue anybody. It was all my choice.

Nothing costs what it did 3 years ago.

I fished Lake Wateree, SC for 30+ years thinking there were no crawfish in it. I never fished craw plastics or jigs because I didn't think they would be effective. One day I caught a small bass trying to "pass" a crawfish claw. I took pity on him and helped the poor fellow out. But since, I've come to believe crawfish are in almost all freshwater. If they aren't the fish don't seem to care. You also don't see 6-8" worms swimming around in freshwater. It's probably caught more bass than any other lure in history.

I had one come apart as I was about to land my second 4+ pounder of the day. I bought some Orvis polarized glasses with 1.5X readers a few years ago. They help immensely with knots and snaps.

Well, is it a skunk if you only catch one golden shiner on a crankbait? LOL

It could certainly happen. I don't prefer to use them with braid. The braid knot is slicker than a mono knot. But the ones I use are so tight I think it would be difficult to lose the lure. Also I use 15# Berkley Big Game mono, which ties a pretty fat, tight know.

I'm in the kayak. It's a real time saver to be able to switch without retying. I have had one of the Norman's speed clips fail on me though.

I use Tactical Anglers (knockoff from Amazon) clips for treble lures. I only ever use a swivel for inline spinners.

It seems to be the easiest route to a 10+ bass. I'd like to do it in my lake too. We have shiners and a population of big bass. I've caught a couple shiners in excess of 6" here and there. But I've never been able to catch any with the net. And I don't have the tank to keep any. I've considered trying small bluegill. But then I have to fish for them instead of bass. That's a fine point. Bass don't eat spinnerbaits and jigs. So they're eating wild shiners round the clock. That's why Roland uses the circle hook.

That's a nice boat. But for that money it ought to be electric. And it looks like it really needs a trailer. I feel like I could get a jonboat with trailer, add a deck and trolling motor for less, which is something that becomes more appealing to me as I get older.

The thin wire is just a little tweak. Compared to the blade size and style, the wire has very little effect on vibration. The problem I've found with very thin wire SBs is they wear out quickly. The War Eagle spinnerbait flexes so much the lead head gets loose on it. I've had one break at the line tie during a cast. All I got back were the blades, which of course I kept for future use.

Megastrike's Roland Martin Big Bass Spinnerbait has a closed loop tie. That's because he fishes the land of 10+lb. fish. I like the golden shiner pattern. I switched from War Eagle to the Megastrike Big Bass spinnerbait and have noticed no difference in bites. You can wear a War Eagle out without catching any fish. But they do catch. So do others.

Could you car top yours without major effort? I have enough trouble standing and walking on solid ground.

I'm curious what your kayak weighs. OP is talking about car topping.

Gold, gold and more gold. I caught my PB on a gold War Eagle double willow in golden shiner pattern. I have since gone to the Megastrike Roland Martin Big Bass Spinnerbait in golden shiner pattern. It has an eye tie, the head is on a 90 degree swivel and it's heavier wire. The War Eagle's wire is just too flexy. The head gets loose on the wire and I've even broken a couple of them. I don't want to break one on a big ol' bass.

3 Lew's Tournament MB's. These were discontinued about a year ago. I have three because I liked the first one so much. 1 Lew's LFS 1 Daiwa Fuego CT Also a couple of Pflueger Trion spinning reels. As you can see, I'm a middle of the budget kind of guy. I feel like $100-150 is still a pretty decent amount of money and should get you something you can use for years. I have some others I don't use anymore. All of the Lew's reels blow the Daiwa away. I can't really complain about the Daiwa. It has worked fine for over a year. It's just a noisy reel. A couple of those Lew's are 5 years old and are smoother. I love my Lew's LFS. I have 4 Lew's reels. But that LFS is the best bang for the buck of any I've owned. I got it in 8.3:1 ratio for my pitching combo. As I said in the post above, I also have a Daiwa Fuego CT I bought on the recommendation of others on this board. My experience may not be typical, but my LFS is vastly superior to my Fuego.

I'd question if you need to stand in a kayak. I had one that was supposedly stable enough to stand in. I still didn't feel comfy doing so. It weighed nearly 90lbs. I sold it and bought one that was easier to load and unload and weighed about 35 lbs. less. No regret.

I throw the topwater early and often and until it gets no bites. Then I throw it again late. I caught a bass in Feb on the Plopper.

I have a Cabela's 7'3" H-Extra Fast frog specific rod paired with a Lew's Tournament MB reel in 7.5:1 It's spooled with 50# braid. If I were to buy a new reel for the technique I would go with 8.1:1. You need to take up line quickly when you hook one "in the mat". They will bury down in the weeds and work that hook loose if you don't keep them coming. Ideally you drag them over the mat. Big ones you just drag through the mat. If you already have a heavy 7' or more flipping rod, you have a frog rod. My go-to frog is the Booyah Pad Crasher. You can buy two of them cheaper than one of some hollow body frogs and they're very durable. I'll sometimes use the popping one and sometimes the regular. I don't notice a lot of difference. The popping one does make a sound like a little bluegill taking some food off the surface. You can often see a fish move in the weeds and target it and get a bite. Try to cast beyond the movement and try to keep your line off the surface. I have spooked some with my line or the shadow of the frog on the cast. You can sometimes get a fish that blew up on the frog to bite again on the next cast. I will say I hate the Lunkerhunt frog. It gets bites, but the legs last no time and it will be taking on water quickly. The material is not durable. It can be maddening when you miss a lot of fish on the frog. I suspect this happens a lot more with tiny bass. They're likely biting the legs. Fish will also bite frogs during the spawn. Just twitch it over the beds.

Here's a tip for soft plastics. You need to have the right hook in the right size to rig them. If you're in a store and looking at a lure and wonder what hook to get for it, walk over to the Berkley Powerbait lures of the same type and it will tell you on the back of the bag. Otherwise, just size your hook big enough so that the fish can get the hook point and not wad the bait up on it. I like to T rig worms, craws, lizards and bugs. I use a craw or bug as the trailer for jigs, though I admit I prefer T rigs to jigs. I like to use a worm on a shaky head when the bite gets slow. The split shot rig or a lightweight Carolina rig also work well when you can't buy a bite. I use a heavy-fast pitching stick with 30# braid for heavier T rigs. I use a medium spinning combo with 20# braid for those finesse lures unless I'm in heavy cover. I'll use a mono leader if I think the fish care.

I've had it happen a couple times when I was yanking a jig back for another pitch. It's the speed-up that triggers the fish to commit. But it's not common enough to count on.

Welcome. Yeah, each rod combo type certainly has its place. But I use baitcasting more than spinning by a margin of more than 5:1. I usually take 5 BC and 1 spinning combo. And often, I don't touch the spinning. I took 2 of them Saturday because crappie were spawning here last week.

I also like bright baits for this. Bubble gum, lime, white are good. Really helps to see the bait move. Otherwise you might be watching the line for movement. We don't have crystal clear water here. As for the ethics side of the debate, many of the same people who tell you not to target bedding bass will keep a limit of spawning crappie. Why is one ethical and the other unethical? They'll also haul 5 big bass around all day to weigh and return the all in the same place while telling others not to eat a bass.