the reel ess

That is certainly step 1. You can catch a big fish on a Ned rig if they're there. My friend caught an 8+ trolling for crappie with jigs. I've caught many bass over 5 lb. and up to 8.02 lb. over the years in the same place. None were on giant baits. The PB was on a gold spinnerbait. My 2nd best fish there was on a Plopper. But, of course, you can throw giant swimbaits at guppies for days without a bite.

Winter fishing is always a search for one, maybe two bites. I went to So FL in December a couple years ago and caught 50+ bass/peacocks two days. Came home and zeroed twice. We've had a mild one this year and I'm averaging 4 or 5 bites a trip. Ecstatic to get them. I made myself a promise I was going to fish through this winter in hopes of a huge prespawn female. I don't have a big fish yet this calendar year. By big, I mean 3+ lbs. Got a 4-1 the day after Christmas. I got the fish in my avatar in December about 4 years ago.

Big gals won't tolerate a big ol' lizard.

I love the mom & pops, especially at a lake. They always have what works there and they'll tell you what's been producing lately.

A lot of people have asked me over the years where I catch most of my fish in pictures. I tell them it's private. If they have a boat I'll take them in and fish with them Or they can ask the landowner. But this is one of only two gates that lead into the place. Thus far, not one person has taken me up on the offer. So the place stays pretty exclusive.

This is my dumbest story. My motor knocked off once on the water. I had my dad with me. We checked the battery connections and still nothing. I got a tow back to the dock from another boat in the area, loaded up and went home. I read up online and decided maybe the oil injection had malfunctioned. I let it sit for about 6 months because I didn't have the money to get it fixed. My dad called me up one day and said "Go check the kill switch". That was it. Sadly, I'm a pretty decent mechanic, myself. I got that way daily driving a '66 Mustang. So it should have occurred to me to check the free and cheap things first. Your story's better though.

Who says global warming is all bad?

Anybody got a preferred rigging method for Gambler Big Easy standard size, about 5" long?

We used to fish a part of the lake that was like this when I was a kid. We called it The Rocky Bank. Basically an immediate dropoff to 30 feet or so. If there's a laydown or a cut in, then there's a chance to hold fish. But most of the time there was nobody home. We would occasionally run across stripers, white bass and crappie there though.

I had to yank a Chug Bug away from an owl not once but twice.

I'm from the south man. It's Duke's or nothing. It's in the prenup that my wife has to keep Duke's mayo in the house.

This is not exactly shocking. I got 2 blocks of cream cheese, a bag of Fritos and a loaf of bread for $15.01 this evening. This is where we are in America.

Just look for light kayaks. I mean any old raft will get the job done. But 12' seems to be the perfect size for fishing in my opinion. My first fishing kayak, an original Pescador (the original Wilderness Tarpon mold) was 12'. It came time to replace it and I settled for a 10' Pescador Pro to save a couple hundred bucks. I still have the older one for buddies. The 10 footer doesn't track nearly as well as the 12 footer did. The back is always getting blown around by wind. There's not enough skeg built into it. But I certainly like the stadium seat better. Alas, I can't see any way to get the stadium seat into the original 12' Pescador. I certainly wouldn't want to fish from one shorter than 10'.

Right now, for the most part, I'm targeting areas that have no grass, areas deep enough that grass won't grow. If I'm having to pull grass off my hooks, I look for deeper water nearby. I've gotten a total of 2 bites since late fall in shallow water. By that I mean water not near any deeper water. All the rest have at least been near deep water, most near a creek channel.

I just layer up and put handwarmers in my pockets. But then I live in the south.

Many who answer no will keep a limit of spawning crappie. The only thing that elevates bass is our belief that they're special. We think of crappie like cattle: food. We think of bass as we do our pets. That said, I hardly ever keep any fish. I even take care to get them returned as quickly as possible. I'm just not against taking fish.

Well, I feel certain he could get you on the list.

I fish almost exclusively from a kayak. It can be better for pitching/flipping because you can get close to your target without spooking fish. And it makes a sidearm cast easier. I have learned to skip a jig or T rigged bug type soft plastic from a kayak. I haven't punched from it because there's really nothing to punch where I fish. I only occasionally fish cranks. Instead, I usually go for lipless cranks. I have no problem with either of those.

Its a catch 22 with setting the hook on frog bites. You want to feel the fish before you set it. But the fish is headed back into the thick weeds with its new meal. When you set the hook the fish will use the weeds to dislodge the hooks if you actually get a hook in it. You also move a lot of weeds before the line gets tight enough to set a hook. I usually don't wait to feel the fish and just swing away. I feel like the longer you let the fish swim the less likely you are to land it. Occasionally, you can get a second bite from a bass. Rarely will you get a third. I missed a very good bass last spring twice in two casts. But I caught a 7 pounder on the frog in the early fall.

That's why I like to pick up a rod and see things like "jig" or "Frog" printed on them. ?

I have a H-F Falcon Bucoo 6'10" pitching stick. It's a $100 rod. I love it. It has plenty of backbone to yank a big fish out of a laydown. I use it with the drag all but locked down. But it also has a little tip to help with the skip and placement. The only rod I like better is a LowRider, but it's an old Trap Caster. I actually used it for my first jig rod. Then I decided I needed a more jig-specific outfit. My question would be do you fish heavy cover with your jigs or do you fish a jungle? Like, do you punch mats? If I was going to punch mats, I'd use my XH-XF frog rod. It's a discontinued rod from Cabela's Tournament ZX line. I do use it as a spare T rigs rod in the colder months.

For someone to steal?

I used to believe it was nearly impossible to catch bass in cold water. Wrong. I used to think topwaters were just gimmicks to separate me from my money. Some still are. I am now biased toward small waters and being left alone, for the most part. Or, I should say, I'm biased against the bass boat rat race and competing for small bass.

Ditto on the Lunkerhunt. I caught two on it before it was full of water and the legs were gone. $10 down the drain. Never again.

Welcome to SC. Lake Keowee is beautiful. I've been there but never to fish. It's a deeper highland reservoir, right? So your current boat is probably a good one for that.