the reel ess

I'm noticing far fewer bass in the weeds. Where I am catching a few in the weeds, they're very near deep water. I suspect they're dying out, even if they don't look like it yet. Thus, I suspect they aren't putting off oxygen at the same rate. 'The weeds" to me is lilies. That's what we have.

@STPC this is exactly the trailer I have on it, but in pumpkin. It's difficult to see in the pic but it's there. This is my last one so I'll be going with a 3" grub or maybe a Hula Grub when this one is worn out.

LOL. I'm more than a half century old. I'm old school. I actually bought it at the beach because the guy at Pawleys Island Outdoors recommended it. I caught one flounder. I decided to give it a try last summer when the bass started ignoring the frog. Most of the bites have come on top of the lilies. This is by far the biggest bass I've caught on it.

I use an old Falcon LowRider 7-0 MH "Big Cranker" for the bigger trebles. I use a 6-6 M Lightning Rod for medium size trebles. I'd like to upgrade it but it works so dang well. And the action is perfect for this use. I keep the drag set loose on both of these because I use braid for mainline with a short mono leader. Either of these would suffice, but the LowRider is more versatile.

1. Frogs: XH-F 7-3 with 50# PowerPro, no leader, 7.5:1 reel 2. Jigs: H-F 6-9 with 30# PowerPro, no leader, 8.3:1 reel 3. Big trebles: MH-MF 7-0 with 30# PP, 15# Big Game leader, 7.5:1 reel 4. Medium weight trebles: Med-MF 6-6 with 30# PP, Big Game leader, 7.5:1 reel. I like the leader to keep the line out of the hooks on topwaters. 5. Spinner/Buzzbaits: 6-6 MH with 15# Big Game mono, 7.5:1 reel. This is also one of my 2-pc travel rod. It claims to me MH, but it's somewhere between M-MH. 6. Finesse and light trebles: Spinning: 7-0 M-MF, 20 lb PP mainline with whatever leader I feel like per the technique. I also have a 7-0 2-pc M spinning rod for travel.

I recently bought a 8.3:1 LFS reel. to replace my jig reel. I love it, but now I wish I had one for my frog rod. For these techniques, once the lure is out of the zone, I like to quickly reel up and get another cast to the strike zone. I have 7.5:1 on all other BC combos. My philosophy is you can always reel a faster reel slower if needed, but you can't reel a slow reel a lot faster without expending more energy.

Often bass will try to knock a frog silly at the surface without actually biting. I think this is usually smaller fish. But I've had a big bass blow up on a frog twice on two casts and never get the bait. It happens. Give this a try. Get yourself a Johnson Silver Minnow spoon, add a trailer of some kind and drag it across the mat. It seems to have a better hookup ratio. And you can bet it's something they don't see a lot.

I love getting out before sunrise. I got on the water about 7:00 this morning. I got a dink right off the bat on a Super Spook, Jr. After about 30 more minutes I got a 7-4 on a Johnson Silver Minnow, dragging it on top of the lilies. It wasn't an epic battle because it buried itself in lilies and I cranked over to land it. I'd like to catch it again come spring. About another 45 minutes later I got a 5-6 on the Spook. One of the best things about the Spook is how far you can cast it. I caught this bass at the end of a very long cast and had to take it easy all the way. The smaller bass fought better. I missed a couple more fish, but that was it. 3 bass, but a great day. I was off the water by 11:00, mission accomplished.

When I grew up there was a local hero that won a lot of the tournaments on our lake. He lived on the lake and knew it intimately. Rumor was that he put out structure at night in the form of gutted appliances. The washing machine was rumored to be his favorite. I dare say a good bit of what I learned early about bass fishing, I learned second hand from people that learned from him. One of my fishing mentors went along with him one day to get an education. He said the man didn't speak a word all day. Even when he ate his sandwich he kept a rod in his hand. He rarely used a trolling motor. He anchored near the shore and cast to deeper water. We had a house on that lake, I was a teen and I saw him a good bit making his rounds, hitting his spots. You can bet I paid attention to what he was doing when I saw him. All that said, he wouldn't dominate today. I see good anglers doing all the right things and still not catch a fish in tourneys.

Try the Trashmaster. It's much more weedless. I've had the same two for over a year. And it skips so well. I don't really feel I NEED a jig in heavy wood cover. A T-Rig would suffice. Lately I'm experimenting with pitching Senko-type worms because the place I fish is not that big and they've seen my jig several times. But when I have to skip a bait, the TM jig is the go-to. Just get it in front of their face and make them flee or fight. Big ones often fight.

I'm in the kayak and I can just paddle or drag myself over and free the lure. But it's maddening to get into position on a laydown you know has held bass before and you get that jig stuck in it on the first cast.

No thanks. This skips easier too.

Agree to disagree. But then I went to the Trashmaster jig because I was tired of hanging up a conventional jig on the first cast. It ruins the spot. I'm a fan of the more inline hook design about 95% of the time.

Even the EWGs do, just less often.

I was going to say something similar. I don't think any of us are married to one lure. I just switch over to another confidence bait. That's why I have 6-7 rigged rods with me.

Shaky head worm. It came to be that I just decided it was time to try this bait since I had the heads and worms for about a decade. LOL. First time out I caught a 6.1 lb on it. I've caught more bass on this bait than all others combined over the last couple months. There's a PVC attractor in the reservoir I fish and I've caught a bass off of it with the shaky head the last three times I fished. It doesn't really seem to matter what the worm is. I've mostly used 6-7" finesse worms. But I've used the UV Speed Worm with some success. I also have good confidence in a jig/craw and lipless crank, specifically a gold CC Spot. More often than not I can get a bite on a hollow body frog.

Straight shank flipping hooks tend to catch on wood. I like the EWG superline hooks for wood.

My Fuego is louder when reeling than expected. I know this is not others' experience because it was recommended by board members. I was a tad disappointed, but it seems to work perfectly otherwise. Last time out I dialed down the mag control and I had to go retrieve my Spook from the trees. ? The thing can cast a country mile. That makes me a little happier. I guess as long as it functions as it should I can live with it. I have 3 Tournament MBs and a $99 LFS. This is gospel.

I have 5 basic BC combos and two basic spinning. They all serve a specific purpose. I do have them rigged up with whatever I think should work, given the season and conditions, before I leave home. I fish from a kayak so I can't take the entire tackle bag with me. So I take along bags of soft plastics and a box with other hardbaits I might want to give a try. For instance, I may start off the day throwing a Spook. But once the sun gets high, or if the fish completely ignore the topwater, I will change over to a lipless crank. Then I have my frog and jig rods. They always have those baits tied on, except in winter when the frog is useless. Then it gets a T-rig for pitching. Lately, I don't even carry the MH spinning combo.

That's the elusive LMB-goldfish hybrid. The goldmouth bass.

Yes, persecute those small, eating size bass. My buddy has a good slot. 1-3 lbs is going home with him. I don't usually keep any. I have another buddy with a probably 3 acre pond. It's so full of dinks you can't take enough out. What he really needs to do is have someone come in and do a survey and shock up and remove the necessary amount. Adding to his problem, the bluegill and shellcrackes are too big for stunted bass to eat. Thus, they're competing for the same minnows. The need another food source. The bright side is I can go and catch 10-20 bass almost anytime.

I'm a little surprised they match an internet price. The shipping is already paid by the brick & mortar store. But you still have another shipping fee to pay with the TW item. Good for you! The wife and I were looking to trade her car on a new Toyota Highlander. The first dealer we talked to offered us $3900 in trade. But they didn't have one on the lot with everything she wanted. We went on to another dealer who had it and his price was better. But he offered us $1900 in trade. We told him it had already been valued by another dealer at $3900. He gave it to us without batting an eye. LOL. I hate car shopping, but this was by far the best experience. Hassle free. The Dick's near me has a seasonal fishing department. Early spring they increase the area and add a lot more. In late summer, they trim it down and use the space for hunting. So you can really catch some clearance stuff if you're looking. Sadly, it seems whoever purchases for them doesn't know much about fishing. And they LOVE the gimmick lures.

If the turtles ate that much fish the pond wouldn't be overrun with green sunfish. In fact, some predation or removal of bass is a good thing for size once the population is established. I fish a pond that's less than an acre and I've caught fish in the 5-6 lb range. Until recently, I didn't realize there were god shiners in it. I caught a bass that spit one up. Forage is key for size. But if you just want fish for the kiddies to catch, sunfish and minnows should suffice. There are probably crawfish in there as well. Sounds like a great place to fish.

Yes, that very same 3/8 oz. spinnerbait in the link. 8.02 lbs. in July of 2020.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/War_Eagle_Gold_Spinnerbait_Double_Willow/descpage-WEGSS.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Megastrike_Roland_Martin_Big_Bass_Dbl_Wil_Spinnerbait/descpage-MSRMBBS.html I think double willow leaf is the deal whenever the water is warm. And by warm, I mean 60 degrees or more. I like them both in gold shiner because that's what we have for forage. But they work well in shad waters as well. My current PB came on the War Eagle. But lately, I'm using the Big Bass spinnerbait. It has a swinging head that's supposed to help keep fish hooked up. I've had a couple of WE baits break and the heads get loose on the wire when you catch a big one. Jimmy Houston throws a SB away after catching a big bass on it because it's likely to fail later. The Big Bass spinnerbait is beefy and durable.