the reel ess

Here it would be April. Pretty much the entire spawn takes place in April here unless the weather is very atypical. It's also most of the turkey season. So a lot of the "sportsmen" are otherwise engaged. But March can be great for big fish. It can also be cold as winter.

The boy won.

The MH 7' with some tip. It's the most versatile stick there is.

Great post. I would add that using braid means you get to go well above the rod's rated range of line weight. Just keep your braid line diameter similar to the diameter of the range of mono lines. That depends on whether you're military or a civilian. ?

Just practice in the yard a good bit before you take it fishing. I got my first BC reel back around '83. I told my mom I was sick so I could stay home and practice casting it. There are a lot of videos on how to set the reel up for beginners.

Yeah, sleep in and go after eating lunch. Fish the areas that get the most sunlight. It would surprise you the temp difference in a small pond. If you can go following a warming trend, do so. If you see minnows swimming around the edge, that's a good sign as are turtles. Jimmy Houston says turtles are a signal that it's warm enough for a spinnerbait. Fish want to eat when it warms a bit. I'd use a jig or t rigged craw or maybe a T rigged finesse worm, primarily and I'd give slow rolling a spinnerbait a try. Here's a little trick most people don't know. Try a crappie jig under a float. Don't expect a lot of bites and be glad when you get any. They'll often be better than average in warmer periods. I only got one nibble my last time out and pretty sure it was bluegill.

My buddy has caught one over 8 lbs. on a crappie jig in winter.

It weighs and even sounds different.

I have one that floats. But it's not extremely buoyant. And when I reel it any speed, it goes deeper than 2'. Also, I haven't caught anything on it.

I started too early to remember my first fish. I feel certain it was some kind of bream on a short cane pole with worm or cricket. My earliest fishing memories are of going with my dad and older sister in his old Glassmaster runabout. There was still some standing timber in Wateree Lake at the time and he would tie up to a stump and drop minnows down beside them for crappie. My sister and I didn't actually fish. He was babysitting us while fishing. I recall catching a lot of bream, small bass, white bass and catfish with my first Zebco 33 combo. My favorite lure was a Mepp's Comet Mino inline spinner. At about 10 years old, I got into crappie with him and caught a lot on small jigs while he minnow fished. We had a house at that lake from before I was born and I would get up and sneak out early Saturday mornings and fish the bank with cane pole and worms. I would talk to the bass anglers that trolled by and wish we had one of those boats. I used to get crickets from the water meter box if I ran out of worms. My cousin reminded me of that the other day.

If there was a Cabela's product you really preferred, it's likely been discontinued. I like d the Tournament XT rods. They disappeared right after they merged. I also got a Cabela's Guidewear zip-up hoodie that I love. I use it all winter. It's gone and the only thing close to it is the BPS 100 MPH jacket with no hood for $300. I haven't bought anything from BPS/Cabela's in quite a while. My buddy goes to their spring sale and brings me back Spots and War Eagle spinnerbaits he got on sale.

Yeah, I go get it. But I'm in a kayak. Much easier for me to do so. I don't buy 5 of the same lure every time I buy one. If the fish want a particular lure, cost doesn't matter and you'd better not lose it. There are a few lures I'd climb a tree to retrieve. If you make noise in an area that you know should hold bass, just leave it alone and come back in 30 minutes or more. They have short memories unless you stick them.

I do. The jig still skips much better for me. If you can skip T rigs you're a better skipper than I (you probably are). ?

My dad and I were fishing with plastic worms. I got a bite, reeled down to set the hook and my dad said "I got one too!". We reeled up the same dink bass. Sort of the opposite of a double on one lure.

Fishing with my dad and his buddy once when we heard a gunshot. A couple minutes later a doe came down to the water and swam across the cove. It got to the other side and couldn't get up the bank. We trolled over and waited on it to bleed out. Once it did we hoisted it into the boat, got off the water and took it to be processed. This is the extent of my deer hunting career except for a couple I've killed with cars. Walked up to the edge of my friend's pond once and there was a nice 3 pounder sitting there, looking at me. It made no attempt to leave, just swam back and forth in front of me. This was not during spawn-it was probably July. I had my frog rod in hand so I pitched it a few feet in front of the bass. It immediately attacked the frog and I landed, weighed and released it. My friend was watching from his golf cart when I caught it. I asked him if they feed fish there and he said no.

I do this in the dog days when I can't buy a bite. I use an 1/8-3/16 oz. bullet weight and a T rigged 4" Zoom finesse worm or lizard. I had a day this past summer where the lizard saved my day. The bobber stop gives you infinite adjustability of the leader length. Since I use braid on both my bass spinning combos, I'll use about a 4' leader of low vis 10 lb mono. The mono is plenty long enough for the entire C rig. I call it my Finesse C rig. Very similar to a split shot rig except the weight is not fixed. Use 2 Carolina Keepers when 1 won't suffice. I've used two successfully before with heavy weights.

Awesome story. I admit I had to look him up.

At least. I still have a bunch of my late father's rods and reels that I can't bring myself to sell or donate. They're a mismatched bunch of things. So I keep some mismatched combos just to say I need another reel for this rod and another rod for that reel. My dad was notoriously cheap so most of these combos are not "nice". I'll buy a reel and put on a cheapo rod, then I need a rood for that shiny new reel. But I do love to catch fish on my dad's tackle. I'm currently trying to come up with a use for an ABU Garcia Harold Ensley light baitcasting rod. I think it will have to be light topwaters or maybe inline spinner.

You don't have to do it all at once. I bought myself a new Lew's reel three years in a row when my ancient tackle started to fail. All three are still working like new.

Awesome. I'm jealous. That spinnerbait looks like a winner. I'm going to order a few.

Wow! More power to her. Some people really enjoy work. I've never been one of those. It keeps getting in the way of fishing.

If I may make a suggestion, get at least a 7' rod if you can find one. Mine is 7'3" XH/XF. It's a technique specific FROG model that Cabela's used to sell. That line was discontinued when they merged. You need all the leverage you can get when they bury in the mat. And they will. You don't need to break the bank for sensitivity. Durable backbone is what's most important unless you want to use this rod for other techniques. In cooler water, I'll put a T rig for flipping on my frog rod. I ahve a different combo for jigs. The frog rod is not ideal for casting or pitching accurately because the tip is so stiff. But for classic "flipping" cast, it's decent because it's the longest rod I have. But once the water warms again, the frog gets tied back on and stays.

Rick Clunn. I saw a documentary about Takahiro Omori in which he asked to fish with Clunn when he was getting into BASS in the US. Omori didn't speak any English at the time. Clunn said he fished from the front of the boat all day mostly in silence while Omori sat in the back and observed. They became good friends. I've always thought Clunn is really good dude. Or Gerald Swindle because he's fun. Or Brauer because he specializes in the jig, one of my favorite baits. Also, a couple guys who seem like a blast to hang out all day with are Timmy Horton and Ish Monroe.

I don't have a smoker. I'd like one, but I have limited space.

Mostly saltwater. Grouper, snapper, tilefish, mahi. Any of the "white meat" fish. I'll also eat all the usual freshwater catch that's big enough to fillet. Crappie, bass, stripers/white bass/whiteperch, catfish. I usually throw them back because I don't enjoy cleaning them. I like to maximize my free time for fishing. My family also won't eat most freshwater fish with the exception of crappie. That means when I cook them, I have a lot to eat by myself. Nobody wants leftover fish.