the reel ess

Likewise. I also like the surgeon for when I'm tying the leader with no bait tied on. But I lean to double uni.

My "pitching stick" is a Falcon Bucoo 6'9" Hvy/F. It's also useful for T rigs, pitching or casting. I almost always have a jig on it. It has a nice tip and it's a great skipping rod.

Starting off shallow with topwaters, buzzbait/spinnerbait and frog. As the sun gets up I'll usually switch over to a lipless crank and a worm. I keep a jig rod and a frog rod rigged up all the time and use them as needed. In colder season I'll change the frog to a T rig for pitching.

Seems you're dead set against braid. That's too bad because it all but eliminates line twist and 20# braid is about the same diameter of 8# mono. It's the most manageable line for spinning. I'm dead set against fluoro. So that just leaves mono/copolymer. Choose a quality one that your rod is rated for.

I also have both. But my Fuego has been a bit of a disappointment. It works fine so far, but it has always been noisy, even after thoroughly lubing it. I know this is not the typical experience. I must have just gotten a bit of a dud.

I bought this reel to replace the Tac-40 (may it rest in peace) that I've finally worn slap out pitching jigs. I bought this reel because: A. It's $100 B. It is a solid metal framed reel with 15 lb drag. It will stay tightened. C. Simple mag braking D. 8.3:1 retrieve I've only used it once, but there was really no adjustment getting used to it. I already have 3 of the discontinued Tournament MB reels of different ages, which all run like new. It was good right out of the box, though I didn't get a bite on the jig Saturday. I'll report back after I've used it a while and caught some fish.

NM

I tried our local public course and was told no. The reasoning is they are already trying to stop people from sneaking in and allowing one person would encourage further trespassing. Liability reasons. They don't have much water anyway. We also have a drinking water reservoir that I tried to get into. No dice. Again, liability.

Awesome! I'm so jealous.

I've just gotten into the shaky head worm fishing and it's been very good to me so far. It's a great bait for working through brush or just structure, docks, etc. I've been using the Davis Original Shaky Head worm in Spot Punisher color. But I'm curious what others are using. I used a Zoom UV Speed Worm with success as well. I have some pumpkin/red and pumpkin orange I'll give a try one of these days.

I looked back at my "big fish" log and I had not caught a 3+lb. bass since 5 weeks prior. I went this morning and ended the skid, at least temporarily. I got the the 4 lb 9 oz in the pics right off the bat on a spinnerbait. You can see it had a green worm in it's throat. I didn't get a nibble for the next 2 hours. I came up to a spot that I've lost a monster at before and tossed the shaky head worm. The fish apparently took it on the drop. It was a good fight. I had to hold my drag a couple times to keep it out of lilies and brush. I finally landed it. 6 lb 8 oz. I went to remove the hook and the hook point wasn't even out of the worm. The jighead was just lodged in the fish's gills. Right after I weighed it I was trying to get my camera ready for the pic and let the bass slip out of my hand. No pic.? I caught another 3 lb. on a frog and a couple dinks on the Whopper Plopper 110 and shaky head. I know 5 fish doesn't seem like many, and it isn't. But I'll take it any day. I was actually prepared to be quite happy with just the 4-9 bass.

My buddy trolls the 1/32 and 1/64 oz. for crappie and has caught bass up to 8 lbs. on them in winter. Stripers too.

We caught schooling LMB, white bass and stripers off those things. I remember the first ones being difficult to cast with my old baitcaster. I found an old, larger gold one in my dad's stuff and used it with success this past winter.

That's what Jimmy Houston says as well.

That does sting.

My dad only used a plastic worm form most of his bass fishing career. He used to tell me if bass were there, they'd bite a worm. And he was often right. Later we discovered the C-rig, but that's still a plastic worm. I finally turned him on to cranks and spinnerbaits. The last time we fished together I handed him a spinning rod with a weightless Trick Worm and he caught a couple before he got tired and sat on the tailgate and watched me. He didn't really want to go, but did for me, and I'm so glad he did. He was gone a few months later. I started crappie fishing with small white and chartreuse grubs and quickly noticed bass liked them too. As did all other panfish and catfish. I still use them in creeks or ponds where I suspect the bass are small.

I have a Rebel jointed minnow that I used once with success, then forgot about. I'm going to pull it out of retirement and fish it tomorrow morning.

Same. I had to go with Rebels. Now it seems a mid-range priced bait. How things have changed!

Use braided line if that's an option. I've been dragging kayaks since I've owned them, about 10 years. No problems yet.

I would like to qualify my opinion. From the kayak, my idea of pitching is usually a sidearm cast. I either try to cast low enough to get under some overhanging cover or structure or I skip the bait. Sometimes, it's just a one-handed cast. But I'm usually pretty close to the target. Rarely do I flip.

I still have some 5-6 and 6' rods. The problem with the old pistol grip rods is when they got longer than 5-6 they were pretty tip-heavy. I like the longer rods today. Two-handed casting saves a good bit of fatigue and gets you better distance, I still use a couple 6-6 rods. But when I replace them they'll probably be 7 footers, except for the pitching rod I bought specifically because it's 6-10. I say intermediate size rods are most accurate for pitching. But the leverage of a longer rod is nice when you need to get a bass out of heavy cover. My pitching rod is a compromise at 6'10".

I bought one of those. Caught a bass on my very first cast with it.

I have a couple of these in gold/black as well as a silver/black small jointed Rapala. I've had some good days with them. But they float, so they must be worked pretty quickly or they're back on top. I have better luck with the X-Rap, even when it's warmer water. I think it just keeps the lure in their strike zone longer. The original Rapala minnow is also a quiet bait. Usually, ones that rattle are going to have an advantage, at least in my dark waters. A lot of alternatives have come along since the original Rapala. For me, that small, jointed Rapala is the real deal for creek bass and panfish.

I saw a YT video of Scott Martin saying he used a 7/0 shaky head for his monster worms.

I've been hit in the side by a Whopper Plopper 110. IDK how I avoided even getting a single hook in my shirt. My stupidest moment was when I unwittingly pulled the kill switch on my boat and got a tow back to the ramp. I didn't have the money to get it worked on so I let it sit for months. One day my dad called me out of the blue and said "Go check the kill switch". I missed most of a summer over that bonehead move.