CeeJay

That's something I'll be experimenting with very soon, and I'll let you know the results. I fish UL and L pretty much all the time...2-6lb mono, so braid will be new to me. I have 2 reels that each have an extra spool...so I'll find some proper diameter braid and give it a go on one of them. But unless it's an amazing experience...I'll likely stick with mono line for ultralight fishing.

That's what it's all about for me. Well said.

Very good tricks/tips especially closing the bail by hand. As when the handle is turned to close it instead, often a slack loop will form. Another tip: use a spinning reel with "full/continuous/absolute/infinite anti-reverse" or whatever it's called My very first spinning reel way back in the day was one that would automatically go backwards for a half turn when at rest...it was always causing line problems.

For me it's enormous fun catching varieties of fish. If the bass and others aren't producing or you get bored with them, I would definitely cast flies for the bluegill. Or if not, than small inline spinners. A split shot or two in front of any cheap wet fly or streamer will catch tons of gills and other sunnies with a pause and sweep type retrieve. Any cut bait for the catfish will bring out the bigger ones. Or even those commercial catfish nuggets...though those caught me as many snapping turtles as channel cats I have no idea about striper/hybrid fishing, but the other folks here are wise. Have fun!

True, not completely avoided...but it can be made much less of a hassle with a few tricks. Also with spinning reels, reeling in slack line quickly can cause loops to form under the wraps, so I have trained my fingers to apply some tension to the line in those situations.

Spinnerbaits - Good old reliable Senkos - I just have so much confidence in it regardless of how I fish it. Bass Flies - Gives the bass something different to look at, and the fly poppers are killer. I fish them on spinning tackle using various casting float/bubbles. The heavier streamer flies almost never fail me when nothing else is working. A subtle, "feathered" version of plastic swimbaits. I'm surprised more bass anglers don't cast flies on spinning tackle. Hard Baits - I use Rebel's ultralight shallow divers when I'm in the mood for it, the craw and frog cranks are my favorites. Also the jointed floating minnow. If absolutely nothing is working, even flies, I'll tie on one of these. Saved a bleak winter day for me Hula Popper! - One of my favorite topwater plugs. Rigs - I don't usually get too fancy with rigs and setups...a T-rigged plastic worm or split shot rig with worms/craws/creatures is about as fancy as I get for bottom fishing for bass. Also using floats to suspend a soft plastic is lots of fun and productive for me. As for the worst...hmm I'll have to think about that, but the fishing gods refuse to allow me to fish lipless cranks successfully. It's strange I know. But they simply have never worked for me.

Nice video. As a bank angler I will cut off my lure and attach a ball bearing swivel to a little clip, attach it to a tree branch (or whatever is available) and walk backwards until it's all strained out. Ugh, line twist is really amplified when using ultralight mono line so I've had to do this frequently in the past. Now I just use homemade 6"-12" leaders with as small a swivel I can find before attaching any lure to the other end.

I sometimes miss the days of having 4 or 5 different rods with me. But I river fish from the bank now, and it's rather cumbersome to bring along too much gear. I bring one rod now, along with a small selection of very different lures. Also a pillbox full of several weights and shot, and some extra line and spools for my reels in my backpack....just in case something goes wrong. Spinnerbaits and jigs are just about as time-tested/proven bass lures as you can get when going simple. Although I would probably have a topwater handy just in case. As I get older I've definitely simplified in pretty much every aspect of my angling, and in life in general.

Just a sunfish? Many other great fish in that category...Bluegill, Crappie, Rock Bass... Yeah they're all pretty tough, Bluegill probably being the "toughest", Crappie being the least.

I have a couple nice ones that were turned into tool boxes over the years when I wasn't fishing Now though I just use a backpack with a couple of those cheap clear box-trays. And also fly boxes with foam strips...and some of those pill dispensers for holding weights and shot. My floats get special treatment though and I have a nice little box for them.

There is nothing new under the sun. Before I started researching this "new" Ned Rig recently I thought maybe it was something truly innovative...but it's not. Here's a personal example of something remotely similar but nothing to do with the N-Rig: I once thought that fishing with "bobbers" that were shaped like small sticks and weighted with shot so that only the tiny red tip is above water was innovative, nearly tried to sell my homemade bobbers as the "CeeJay Fun Float" (kidding about that last part )...but it turned out that anglers in Europe had been using these sensitive floats for decades before I was born. (I do still make them though, out of balsa or quill, as it's impossible to miss a strike on waggler floats compared to round bobbers) Nothing new under the sun.

haha that's really bizarre Catfish and sunnies, I can see them eating hotdogs...but bass??? And big bass to boot... Wow that's crazy. Hmmm, *looks in my fridge for some hotdogs* I once caught a 6" (inch, not pound haha) bass on a dough ball.

That's cool. I used to fish lakes and ponds exclusively before I moved to WV. Now I'm in river country and just starting to learn how to fish it, where the good spots are and all that. I do wish there was a pond or two around here though...

Oh ok haha... I thought maybe your state required separate licenses for rivers and ponds haha

Do you need a separate license to fish the river? Senkos are great Also try rigging every soft plastic you try out as weedless as possible.

Yeah, strange isn't it? I don't even bother bringing them with me anymore. Maybe I should spend a day fishing nothing but lipless cranks to try and end the streak

To OP: No. In my opinion of course, but what do I know?....I've never purchased a $25 lure. I don't think I've lost many fish do to uneven paint jobs or pits in the finish of a lure.

I highlighted part of your quote if that's ok. You are very correct. Lee Wulff comes to mind as one of the first anglers to advocate careful handling of fish to be released. When I was really into fly fishing, I read everything I could by those salmon and trout anglers from long ago....even when I was targeting bass and bluegill on the flyrod. I learned a lot from their literature, both instructional as well as fiction (great angling stories that make one want to get off the couch and go fishing )

I am a catch and release angler but I have absolutely nothing against keeping your catch. I've never eaten bass but my father used to and said they were great for breakfast (classic southern style). And of course the legendary George Perry fed his family with a 22 pound largemouth

Yeah, it's been done. The mortality rate is much lower than it used to be, but I can't find the exact percentage from the studies at the moment. I'll try to find some more info on that...

That's fine of course, I wasn't referring to catch and eat anglers. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yet you can still "respect" your prey before you eat it. In my main post, a few pages back , I was focusing on professional catch and release anglers.

I would scale down in tackle size. (but as anyone who reads my posts knows, I'm biased towards light tackle ) Maybe 4 lb test line and weightless slow sinking soft plastic worms, senkos etc. Or add maybe a BB size split shot or two to get the baits down without burying them in the muddy bottom. I bet the bass in your lake are eating mostly insects since, as papajoe mentioned above, there likely aren't many bait fish present. Topwater fishing with anything that looks like a big bug should get you some good action. Perhaps one of Rebel's 1/8oz Crickhoppers or 3/16oz Crickpoppers. With shallow, cover-less lakes it would definitely help to look around the bank and see what type of creatures might fall into the water for the bass to feed on. Match the hatch, as they say. Also look to see what other species of fish are present...maybe bullheads, bluegills, etc.

My father has often told me the story of how he caught his PB largemouth. He was a teenager at the time, fishing one of his aunt's farm ponds in Georgia. He cast his Jitterbug and experienced a massive backlash. So the Jitterbug sat out there on the water as he picked and cleaned the bird's nest from his reel....and then just as he began to finally reel in the lure Bang, a solid 8 pound bass engulfed the Jitterbug. He gave me that lure a while back, and you can see the teeth marks from many a bass. Pretty cool.

One of my favorite poppers as well. Definitely a classic.

When I first got into fishing, I went all in. Purchased a fly rod/reel, baitcaster, spincast and spinning. Even added one of those long poles without reel at one point. I actually did much better with the fly tackle than the baitcaster (much to my dad's chagrin, haha). But in the end I decided spinning tackle was the most productive and most fun way for me personally, considering I enjoy catching many different species on mostly light tackle. Whatever style of fishing brings the most enjoyment to you is all that matters.