the reel ess

I bought a kayak a while back that had a trolling motor kit on it. It was very cool except it was too heavy and too much trouble to load and unload and set up when I got to the lake. I found myself going back to my older kayak because it was easier to handle. I sold it and I'm still sitting on the money I got. I would rather have a jon boat with a trolling motor on a trailer than that particular kayak. I do still have a 1st generation Perception Pescador (old Wilderness tarpon mold) that I'm using. I'm 50. I'm getting to the point my back, hips and tail bone remind me for the whole next day that I've been fishing from this kayak.

I've told this one before on here. The story of the ghost catfish. When I was a kid I was catfishing off our neighbor's dock with a piece of hot dog wiener. It was raining so I set the rod up in a holder and walked back to their gazebo and watched. A while later the rod bent over so I ran out and set the hook. It was something big. It fought a while, then I just felt dead weight. I reeled it up and it was just the head of a small dead catfish. I assumed maybe I'd hooked a soft shelled turtle because they also like hot dogs and the turtle was in the act of eating a dead fish when it came across my hot dog, then the turtle got off. leaving me with just the dead fish. Anyway, I told my parents the story and they told me to quit telling tall tales.

My Trashmaster jigs were delivered last week and I used one yesterday. It is much more weedless than a conventional jig. I didn't get it hung up at all. You do have to get the hook through the craw, so it could cause a few more lost fish. I caught one on it. It also skips just as well as a conventional jig.

Spring: Trick Worm Jig Frog Topwater Spinnerbait Summer: Jig Frog Topwater Another topwater (sometimes I take 3 topwaters) Spinnerbait Fall: Jig Spinnerbait Frog early fall/T rig late fall Lipless crank jerkbait Winter: Jig Spinnerbait T rig Lipless crank (I know this is 4 rods, but I usually catch all my fish, and that's not many, on one or two rods in winter)

Nice toad! Congrats.

Several ways. People throw them in. They can flow downstream from one pond/lake to the next when they're overflowing. I was told that someone recently put 250 blue catfish in my favorite fishery. I have no idea why he did that. I hope the bass eat every one.

I have.

I fish a place that has a good population of bigger bass. There are a good many in there 6 lbs to just shy of 8. But I've only caught 1 barely over 8 lbs and I've been fishing it pretty hard for 7 years. Occasionally I'll hear someone tell me they caught an 8 pounder there and I'll ask for pics. They never have any. I assume it was probably 6+ and they didn't weigh it.

I'd be more likely to use shiners if I were to use live bait. They're in my local small lake. .

It's the same way here in SC. The smaller the pond, the worse the overpopulation gets. You either take a lot of small bass out or you pay someone to shock them up. I guess you could drain it and start over if you owned it. But public fisheries aren't in our control.

But a T rig is more difficult to skip. And I've caught a few big bass that were out of reach if you couldn't skip back there.

I just ordered some Trashmaster jigs. I'm very tired of approaching a perfect laydown and making the best pitch to it only to get hung on the first pitch and ruin that spot. Can't wait to give it a try.

I was considering that. Honestly, had I spent an additional $30 on the Lew's Tourney MB reel it would still be working. I'm not certain that's the problem and I'm not good enough at reel repair to do it myself. Also, its the first generation of the Academy store brand so I don't know who to have fix it. IDK if parts exist. That is not the only issue with the reel. The thumb bar intermittently sticks in free spool as well. Who would you suggest I have work on it?

And it's probably not useful info as the TAC 40 reel has been redesigned. I really abused this one. But I'll probably go a step up for the next one. I may just use one of my Lew's MB reels to fill in until I feel like pulling the trigger on a new one. I'm feeling like a Daiwa or Shimano for the next one. Maybe an AG-Revo. Not sure how far I want to step up.

I use it until I just can't stand to look at how faded it has gotten. Then I reel it onto another reel and use it that long again. Then I strip it off and repeat. I have backlashed it so badly once I had to cut it off the spool. I was at the beach and luckily I had a spool of 15# Berkley Big Game I used to finish the week. I also don't fill the entire spool with braid. I use the Big Game for backing line.

I'm resurrecting this thread to give an update on this reel. It has been my jig reel for almost 3 years now. I caught this 7 pounder on it Sunday and I think it's about to give up the ghost. It seems like the instant anti-reverse bearing is wearing out. It sometimes operates like a reel from the 80's now. I guess I got $100 worth out of it since I've been using it exclusively on my jig combo with the drag cinched down spooled with 30# braid on a pitching-specific Hvy-Fast rod. I've caught at least 10 bass over 6 lbs., several of those over 7 in the gnarliest of cover on the jig in that time.

5 Hour Energy. You're welcome. Don't drink it all at once. Sip about 1/4-1/3 of the bottle. Repeat after a few hours. I love to see the sunrise. You miss some of the best fishing of the day if you aren't on the water early. I caught the fish in my profile pic early.

Pretty much all other jerkbaits are cheaper and catch fish. A confession of my own: I don't own a single Megabass lure. Maybe they are that good. I probably will never know.

I will take some from my buddy's dink farm. They're overpopulated and the water comes right out of the ground. So the fish are clean. Largemouth taste a lot better from a clean fishery. I've tried to grill or air fry them. They don't have enough fat for that. So it's deep fried in peanut oil for me. They're good in a stew as well.

I went about 6 miles down a local "river" in my kayak that is no bigger than a creek most of the time. It did rain a little the night before we took the trip. We still had to get out and walk a good bit of the trip. I caught a couple fish. If I were to do it again, I'd cut the trip in half and fish more.

No. One other guy fishes it occasionally as does the owner. I have been there since I posted that and caught 13 in a couple hours. Every one was on a size 90 Whopper Plopper. I did try other baits, but I couldn't keep the fish off the WP. The biggest was 3.5 lb and the rest were about a pound. As I said in the previous post, I had seen a big gal on the bed in the spring. I hope this is not the same fish and there are multiple bigger bass on the pond. That was in the evening as it got darker. I agree on fishing the the low light periods. Especially the morning. A lot of people won't make the effort to be on the water at sunrise. I've caught a few PBs at or before sunrise.

Go to Florida. LOL. I went there after last Christmas and caught 50 bass a day. Came back home and zeroed twice.

I'm in the market for a kayak that costs le$$.? Hell, I was ecstatic to catch my first rainbow trout and it was 2" shorter.

I caught a 6 pounder recently on a Chug Bug that only had one of the rear hooks in the nostril.