the reel ess

After Hurricane Hugo, the water level rose about 8' over the dam of Lake Wateree, SC. My dad was fishing from the bank (the dock was several feet under water.) He hooked one that went under the dock and got stuck. I was with him and told him to hang on. I went up the the house and got into my bathing suit and I got that bass for him. I have also gone swimming in winter to retrieve the sideplate of a reel I dropped in. I couldn't find it. I emailed BPS rod/reel repair and they sent me the part for $19.95.

@roadwarrior Awesome fish! Was she caught on a live shiner?

lipless cranks (I usually fish the CC Spot), spinnerbait & jig.

Try them on spawning bass.

They generally perform better on grassy flats than around wood cover. I never had much luck with them on the bigger lakes until I started fishing a grassy reservoir. It's one of my top 3 lures in this place.

Everything upstream ends up in the lake. If you had a pond, and upstream there were other ponds, you probably wouldn't need to stock yours. If you've ever fished a spillway, you know what I mean. The only way I'd see this as unethical is if your lake didn't already have largemouth. I find that highly doubtful in So. FL. legal could be a different story.

That looks like a killer idea for a "dropper" behind a topwater. You should sell them.

Whatever scent that have on them in the bag. Some of them, Berkley Chigger Craw for example, have a scent that lasts. They smell like a seafood restaurant dumpster. Others, have a scent on them, but not in them. I've been using the Rage Craw and Rage Bug lately. I don't notice any difference in bites or quality. They still usually bite it and swim around with it until it dawns on me the line's moving. But I like the smell of anise. I also like black licorice. Maybe I should use a T rigged licorice whip.

I got tired of trailering 20 miles to the lake, competing with people with better equipment than I could afford for 2 lb. bass and trailering home. So I bought a kayak and never looked back. You're right except for one place I fish. But it is a little bigger than the average pond, maybe 30 acres. But it's worth getting skunked occasionally to have a crack at 8 pounders. And It's really good exercise to paddle the whole thing. And it's 2 miles from home.

A lot of these lures we don't catch squat on are much more productive in a smaller pond.

Me either. I've caught 0 fish on the glide and a total of 1 on a big swimbait. A few times a year I'll make up my mind to fish one of these baits all day with no success. I find I have much more success with larger bass using the spinnerbait and jig.

I was told by a bass guide to use a T rig in vegetation and a jig in wood cover. I was flipping a light punch rig with skirt at the time. I use a jig a lot now, but it's almost always on wood.

Me either. I think the fish laugh at that bait.

They are a sporadic lure for me. I got my PB on one though. The place I catch the most bass on the spinnerbait is a little pond full of standing timber. They can't resist it when you're bumping the logs with it.

The smaller one gets more bites. The bigger one seems to only work on big gals and on fewer occasions. Though I've caught a 6 lb. on the size 90. The drawback of the 90 is that it's more prone to spin on retrieve. You need the rod tip high, which is difficult from a kayak.

Have you seen the fish from Springfield Lake?

As do I my friend. And I doubt very clear water will be an issue here. Most likely it will be dark stained from roots. Thanks.

Thanks. I do have a kayak. This is a new place for me so I don't want to presume I can use it until the landowner says so. But he may do that after I've fished there once. He's an old acquaintance of my dad's and I went to school with his daughters. I just haven't spoken t him in years.

IDK all those things because I haven't fished it. But it's somewhat of a local legend because double digit bass have been caught there. Looking at it on Google Maps, it looks like about 3 acres with standing and fallen timber at the shallow end. A very typical pond in these parts. I'll try to post a pic from Google Maps. It is my experience that I can usually fish with 2 or 3 rods in winter. But I'll take the arsenal, complete with kitchen sink.

And there are likely some PBs in it. I chose the 27th because it's full moon so I hope it's a decent day, something you just can't count on in Feb., in SC. Water temp will likely be around 50 unless there's a warming trend beforehand. Tell me what you would be throwing there.

It was boat issues when I had one. Now I don't have anything that ruins a trip that I can think of. I'm sure something could happen. I fell off the kayak once. I have gotten to the lake, put the kayak in before realizing I had no paddle.

I had some leftover Gulp stuff that I used up on bass. It was the dog days and I couldn't buy a bite with the usual rigs. The Trout Trick makes a great finesse C-rig bait too.

That's is what I'd do next. Or I might get a Med BC combo for topwaters since I love them so much. This combo is also useful for cranks, lipless cranks, jerkbaits, anything with trebles that isn't very heavy. I actually have a 6-6 Med for lighter lures like a Pop R and a 7' MH I use for walking baits, Whopper Plopper and lipless cranks.

I'd love to catch smallmouth, but we don't have any. My understanding is they can't tolerate the bathtub water temps we get in the summer. There are some in the western and northwestern parts of the state and in the Broad River basin, but that's a pretty good drive for me. I have largemouth 2 miles away.

Heavy, Fast (not XF) and long. I say not XF because a little tip is good for pitching. Also if you like to pitch more than flip, a little shorter rod can be helpful. I Kayak fish so I'm usually pitching from a seated position. I bought a Falcon Bucoo H/F 6'10" that I really like. It's stiff enough for jigs, but the tip is flexible enough to use as a T-rig rod. If you want it to double as your frog rod I'd go with a longer rod with less tip. That's a compromise because a tip action is quite useful in flipping/pitching.