the reel ess

Laydowns, sparse patches of lilies (they grow much thicker in very shallow water, thus hold smaller bass) and overhanging trees.

I have asked permission from may 20 people to fish their ponds and most have said yes. It's awkward when someone says no. But you never know if you don't ask. Geese are just considered a nuisance by most people in SC. We usually have a nesting pair in spring in the biggest lake I fish.

Different ones for different seasons. Right now frog and jig are my go-to. Year-round would be jig and lipless crank.

Yessir, just one way I like to shift the odds in my favor. I'm more into catching fish than looking for fish. ? And I'm definitely not look to compete for them.

We don't have any of those except in the upstate and the Broad River basin. And the broad river, while broad, is not very deep.

A C rig or heavy T rig is the poor man's electronics. I know the depths and structure of the places I fish without a fish finder. Of course, I'm not talking more than 15'D.

Where I fish the bass are usually in that 8' and under depth so I don't worry too much about offshore structure. If I had to I would, but I wouldn't enjoy it as much. Once it warms I go early or late and bigger fish will come shallow at those times. You might need to fish shallow water near deeper water though. My last two PBs were in less than 2', both in the heat of summer on grassy flats.

Whopper Plopper (I might swap this out with CC Spot at any time) Frog Jig The last couple of outings, if I only took these three combos I would have caught nearly the same amount of fish.

LOL I can only afford half of one.

The standard size Pop R is this kind of bait to me. I just can't accurately place it near targets with BC gear. I can cast it in open water though. So I tend to use the Chug Bug whenever I can instead. What poppers are heavier than the Pop R that I might try?

I'm sure people do it since some avoid BC gear altogether. But I would make it a longer MH rod. I personally wouldn't want to because my manual dexterity reeling with the left hand is pretty bad. Indeed. Casting distance of a big topwater on BC gear is not an issue. Another thing I've noticed about topwaters on spinning, at least with poppers, is the line tends to get loops in it from taking up slack line. You can't stare at your reel all day. Get a loop in braid and try to untangle it wrong and you have a mess.

They'll bite an Alabama rig and it's a wire umbrella. I use a 15# mono leader most of the time. But my jig rod is straight 30# braid. My frog rod is straight 50# braid. I still get bites on them, even out in open water sometimes. It's important to note that the water is rarely "clear" here, usually at least stained, often green.

Gammy is my preferred brand and I've never had any issue with one.

I'd make the main line 20# braid. That will work very well with the 2500 reel. Then a leader if you're in pike country.

The kitchen sink until they start biting. That's my standard approach. If the bite is really tough due to pressure I'd try a nightcrawler.

It was waiting to be fed.

I struggle with jerkbaits. I don't enjoy fishing with them and it shows. I pretty much have refused to use a dropshot.

I didn't catch a fish on the WP for a couple years. Then I decided to only throw it one summer morning and I got a few bites. It paid off big for me a few times since, including this spring. I still have a 110 tied on now, though the bites are getting smaller as the females are moving deeper, postspawn.

Another thing that helps is a lighter jig and a "bug" style trailer, like Rage Bug. One way to increase the bites on topwaters is to fish them early, late or in the day when it's overcast. Low light conditions. If you can get it into shady areas even when the sun is high you can still get a few. I'm not saying bass won't ever hit a topwater in broad daylight on a sunny day, but it will usually be less seldom. You will probably get more bites on the popper than the WP. But the WP will likely deliver more quality size fish on average.

'Tis better to make a racket getting the lure back there than it is to not get it there. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I've literally paddled up to a laydown and done everything wrong including making noise and having to yank a jig out and still caught a big bass out of it. I find that big bass in heavy cover are a little too confident in their safety. And sometimes the racket gets them focused on the bait that drops in.

A one-armed guy came trolling by our dock once. He had a rod holder on a belt around his waist. He would cast, put the rod in the holder and retrieveD. I still remember he was fishing a crankbait. My mom said to me after he was gone "That would be you if you lost an arm." Yep.

About 1986 I got a graphite composite rod while I was at the beach to use with the Diawa Procaster reel I got for Christmas. I don't remember the brand, just that it was stiff as a board and had a rubber pistol grip. Then in 1988 I took a job at WalMart while I was a student. I would ask my buddy in sporting goods when rods were going on clearance. When they did I had him hide a couple for me until payday. They were both Shakespeare. One was a 5'6" M 96% graphite with a pistol grip and the other was a 5'6" MH. I got another heavy Quantum graphite rod a little later. When Quantum was new they were basically a slightly upscale version of Zebco. Thus began my days of being able to use multiple techniques without retying. I eventually replaced these rods with the newer grip, longer rods from a little store that bought overstock and going-out-of-business stuff. it was slam packed with $20 graphite rods. You had to pick thru them but some were pretty good quality. i still have an Eagle Claw brand composite rods I bought for probably $9 in WalMart. Guess what? They still sell them for about the same price. Does anyone remember boron rods? Does anyone still make them? Do any of you still use them?

Yeah, I tried to use an ABU Garcia LP series BC reel for my jig combo. It didn't last a season. Now it was not new. But that reel retailed for about $80 back in the day. Anyway, lesson learned.

One of the best topwaters out there is the bass pattern Spook. But if there's a style of bait that color matters the least it's topwaters. A deadly way to rig them is tie a Frontrunner a little ahead of the bait so when you walk it, it looks like a small bass chasing a baitfish. It increases the chance at a double as well.

I'd like to add that, with cheaper graphite framed reels, you often get cheaper components throughout the reel.