the reel ess

I have some 15# Big Game that's probably 10 years old and some 20# that's even older. I got into braid for most single hook baits and so I use less and less mono. But it's still good. If you store it in your boat outside, even covered, or in sunlight it will get brittle. I also found that storing a reel spooled with it near a heat source in winter like a fireplace or baseboard heater or a furnace in a basement can weaken it. But it's dirt cheap. So if you keep the big spool in a good place you can always just respool. I also use Big Game as backing for braid to cut down on braid cost. There is now a Big Game braid as well. It's a good bit cheaper than most name brands.

Yeah, I have an older Johnny Morris reel, probably early 2000s. One of those that were all shiny chrome metal, at least it was at he time. It's fantastic quality and precision. I stopped using it because the retrieve is 5.2:1 and I wanted 7:1 or higher reels for pitching, frogs, etc. Now I keep it around as a spare and use it and another spare reel to turn the braided line around on other reels to use the unused end.

My experience with used eBay reels is no good. I've bought two. Both had something wrong with them. I had one refurbished and it ended up costing me nearly as much as a decent new reel. My belief is these are usually trade-ins and the seller is just trying to recoup what the gave off the new reel they sold. That said, if you can find a screaming deal, you might get lucky or you can have it refurbished. That may well cost you more than the $50 you set for a limit. I draw the line at only solid metal frame reels, especially for a workhorse like a frog reel. Others will disagree, but I have my own experiences. If you have a good reel you could switch to the frog combo, I'd do that and then buy a cheap one for techniques that require less abuse. I've been using a Lew's Tournament MB reel for more than 12 years. It's a $130 reel they stopped making about 4 or 5 years ago. I'm sure they just renamed it or replaced it with a very similar reel. The gears are starting to make a little noise, but it's still ripping them out of the weeds. When you consider how long it's lasted, it's a deal. I sent a Lew's reel to be repaired by PBS a while back and they emailed me they didn't have Lew's parts, which I kinda doubt. Then they told me they had a fully refurbished Johnny Morris Carbonlite reel that was very similar they would send me for exactly $50. I took it and it's like new. In fact, it appears to be identical to the Lew's reel I sent them. JMO, I'd bite the bullet and spend a little to get a better reel you can use for years to come. And beware the very cheap Lew's reel that they're selling for the ridiculously low price of about $30. My buddy bought one and there's something wrong with the spool release. He has to hold it down when he casts or it pops back up. Someone who works on reels may be able to fix it.

Weightless stuff like a fluke, Trick Worm and Senko. My buddy uses nothing but a weightless Trick Worm when we fish together. He catches fish.

I usually try to position myself to cast to targets on the cast is much easier for me from that direction. I'm right-handed.

I had a good day of fishing right before the full moon. Fish were shallow and aggressive. I went right after the full moon expecting to do the same. Fish were spooked by my lure and line before it even hit water. I ended up catching a few dinks on a weightless Senko.

Instinct. The bass in my profile pic hit a spinnerbait before I started retrieving. When you practically or literally hit a bass with a lure it has two possible reactions and one is very good for us. It seems to me the bigger the bass, the more likely it is to take the bait because it's not afraid. A couple weeks ago I went to my friend's pond and literally hit a bass in very shallow water with a Plopper. The bass turned and slurped the lure. It was a lovely 4.1 lb., a big bass for that place. I can't credit the Plopper with that bite because all it did was hit the water. The lures with dressed rear hooks are particularly good at teasing strikes before you retrieve. Some of my biggest fish have come pitching to heavy cover like a laydown or lilies. The bait never touches the bottom and the fish is on when I tighten up the line. All that fish did was see the splash and suck in. Pure instinct to take a free meal because they never know when the next one will come along. And bass that are buried in cover have a sense of security. That's a good way to get some big bites even when the bass won't take a reaction bait.

I am 55 and I've been fishing since I was in single digits. I have yet to get hook past the barb in me. My dad got one through the fleshy part of the hand with a striper attached to the lure, bouncing around the boat. I beat the poor fish unconscious with an Adidas flip flop. My buddy got a treble just under the eyebrow when a bass spit the lure at the boat. That was scary, but the barb barely penetrated. Neither of them let it ruin the day.

3" grub or none

I kept one for a few years. After while I could see the seasonal patterns and didn't really need it anymore. But I've logged every fish I caught over 3 lbs starting in 2021, the date and the lure. My best producing lures for size in that time in this order: Whopper Plopper, stick worm (mostly Yum Dinger), jig/craw, Spook, Jr, frog, T-rigged craw, lizard. For whatever it's worth, the two biggest bass in that time were caught on a Plopper and a Yum Dinger.

From experience, I can say, in SC, they spawn in the month of April. I can only remember one year I saw bass on beds in May. It was a cold spring and on a bigger lake. I think the water temp has more impact than the moon.

An owl swooping down to grab my Pop-R. Twice.

My best day in terms of numbers was in a light drizzle late spring day using a Torpedo over flooded timber. Sometimes I would miss one bass and get another on the same cast. I was getting so many bites I was hoping for a double.

Blue Dawn dish detergent and a brush, let sit about a half hour and wash on cold usually does the same thing. I've even used it to get stains out that were several washes old. It has to be blue Dawn. I'm so sorry to hear that.

Low light times, cloudy, or even light rain, is preferable for topwater, which is by far my favorite. But the other pressure and wind conditions can really be a downer to fish. Overcast requires favorable accompanying conditions.

I have a few vintage ones thanks to my late brother in law. He wore me out with one once and I didn't have one. After he died my SIL told me to go get whatever I wanted of his fishing tackle. He used to go to flea markets and estate sales and buy lots of tackIe boxes and lures. I keep trying one to no avail. I do really want to catch something on his favorite lure.

If not they're twins

I rescued a found lure up in a tree from my kayak. I used my frog rod with 50# braid. It was a lovely 6th Sense lipless crank. I like the swimming fluke in sparse weeds and lilies when the sun warms the skinny water in cooler months.

I like this bait in this color a lot too. Reminds me I need to replenish my supply. How do you rig it?

Whopper Plopper 110 or 90 and a Super Spook Jr. Fish just want to annihilate them.

Seek out some less pressured waters. They're out there even if you have to walk a creek. If you see a place that looks bassy and it's not posted, fish it. Keep looking. Get out of town, look around and ask permission to fish ponds. Unless you look like Charles Manson, some people will probably say "yes". In fact, some people want someone to fish their ponds. Most ponds are overpopulated and thus, great places to practice new techniques.

I had a spot like that on Lake Wateree, SC. It was a main lake dropoff between two points. It would produce like fire in June after the bass had spawned and were moving toward main lake structure. It was best when the sun was high. We'd anchor against the bank and cast deep and drag a C-rig up the dropoff. You could try a Norman's DD22 when the worm bite slowed. Bass would be right at the top of the drop. We could expect 5 bass or so to bite very time we fished it, often several times a day. Unfortunately, the tourney anglers figure it out too. During a tourney morning there would invariably be a boat on it and one waiting for him to leave. We called that "staging". But on a good weekday it was a killer spot. The state bought the property and built a boat ramp and a recreation area. I'm sure it's ruined now. In the small lake I fish most often now, there are two places that we just expect a big bass to be. One is a bluegill spawning area and another is a pine laydown. They don't hold lots of bass, just a big one pretty often.

It doesn't run on gas. It probably drafts a couple inches. You can get it plenty of places you can't even get a jon boat. It is pricey. I can see the drawbacks. But I do kayak fish, so I already deal with those. It is extremely stable compared kayaks or even a 10' jon boat.

10 MPH winds are about the upper limit for me using the kayak on larger waters. I have a rule that if I can look out my kitchen window and see the trees moving more than just a light sway, I'm limited to one pond that's sort of in a hollow. It's the go-to in spring when the wind is howling.

I got that one for Christmas about 1983 along with a Daiwa Procaster Magforce reel. In some fit of stupidity I yard sold it. I often shake my head at my younger self.