hawkoath

Ufff. Another "one that got away" story that just happened yesterday. I was fishing for trout that had just heavily stocked in a lake that I've been fishing at and that I've never heard of bass being there. So I used two poles, one with floating powerbait with a 4 foot long leader carolina rigged fishing from a little nook in the woods. The other setup used a 1/2 oz kastmaster as a search lure. I cast out my powerbait and just let it sit for a while and start flinging out kastmaster seeing if I can get some hits. After a while I go back to my powerbait rod and reel it in. It's snagged in some weeds, I tug it out. It get stuck again, and I do the same but this time around bang... something hits it. I start reeling it in and feel like I have a small stocker on the line. Then it starts fighting and going in extreme angles which these trout don't usually do. I finally get it in and pull in a 2.5lb SMB. Nice. I rerig my powerbait and throw it a little right of where it was before and go back to the kastmaster. Second cast after I hook into what I think is a small stocker without much fight. It bring it and see it's a 12 inch LMB. Nice. After a while I then go back to the powerbait rig. Dang it, it's in the weeds again and I have to tug it out and it get stuck again. Second tug and bang... This time though whatever I've caught is big and it's taking the line everywhere. Remember, I'm using a light trout setup so the drag is going nuts and I've casted the thing about 63 yards and let it sit on the bottom. I get it to about 25 yards away and the thing starts leaping out of the air and showing me how acrobatic it is. I now see the fish and it's twice as large as the first bass and really good fighter. I finally manage to get the first to within a feet of shore and flipping distance and it peels off again into the brush to my left and I am fighting not to let the fish get stuck into the branches 3 feet away from shore and suddenly I don't feel the fight anymore... I take a look and my powerbait is caught up in the some other line. Uggg... I lean over and get my hook untangled and I see the fish again right underneath the branches not moving seemingly totally tangled up. So I put my rod down and lean down to see if I can maybe just take some of the cover off and grab it... I come within an inch of it and its gone. A nice fight but ultimately the fish went back to where it belongs

May the force be with you.

Now that is a pretty awesome catch. Congrats.

Didn't catch my first one until recently when I used powerbait and worms fishing for stocked trout. My bait was floating 6ft from the bottom and I had let it sit for 30 minutes and was reeling it in. It felt heavy and I figured I had snagged a fairly big branch. It turned out to be a 2lb catfish. Now I know where those guys live... buhahahaha

Here in Washington State, the bass feed on stocked trout fairly heavily. During the first few days after the trout have been planted the bass hit just about everything. I was fishing for trout the other day and got a 2.5lb bass on power bait and lost one twice as large just as I was about to flip it on shore. Powerbait, the new secret bait for bass.

x2.

As for the filler Elmer's filler in Golden Oak is my preferred filler. When wet it looks darker than the true cork color but when it dries it lightens up considerably to a cork color.

U-40 Cork Sealant is awesome for sealing a cork fishing handle. *** has it on sale right now, but if there is any master rod builder around your area you can usually buy it from her/him at cost. I would really suggest restoring the handle first before using it unless it's a true classic rod. In that case, it's a collector's item and the varnish/paneer that has accumulated over time is part of the rod and restoring it may very well decrease the value of the rod. Usually this only really applies to classic fly rods (you can look it up if interested). Here is the process of restoring a really old cork handle that has a lot of crevices and is really gunky: G.Loomis Cranking Rod Handle Restoration Part 1: Part 2: I've personally tried this with a custom made G.Loomis and while it does take some time it works extremely well. Once you have restored it layer on as little or as much U-40 as you want. It doesn't matter too much in terms of cork protection but it can alter to color a little to your preference. If you only use a light coating the color pretty much stays the same. If more is applying it will darken the color a bit. Hope this helps.

It's trout stocking season over here and one multi-purpose lure that has been working really well when there is bait around, the bass are flying but you can't seem to get a hit is modified Kastmaster.

Welcome and hopefully this site helps you out.

First time fishing on a bass boat I was skipping Senkos below the docks when BAMMM a 4lb. largemouth hits it (this is on a lake and in an area more known for Smallmouth). I reel it in and when it's almost to boat it comes off. That time I didn't set the hook well enough and the biggest bummer is that it would have been the biggest largemouth of the group that we were in as well. (BTW: the only reason I am claiming its a 4lb. is because the tournament angler whose boat I was on had a good look at it and he's pretty good at estimating these things, though I believe everyone who has lost fish probably says the same lol)

I really liked C0lt's explanation!!! Just to add on I prefer a fast or x-fast action rod for frogging.

If you haven't thrown a Senko worm that would be my first choice. Wacky rig it with a weedless hook and toss it to where you think the fish might be. Try Texas rigging it as well if you find any weed beds. Also, maybe try the Ned Rig that's becoming popular. Toss out a Football Jig and see what the bottom structure is like and find vegetation if there is any. Yamamoto and Kinami Senko can be found for sale here I believe. I'm not sure if they still have the sale but the grab bags are still available for cheap. http://www.overstockbait.com/yamamoto-kinami-sale/

Ouch. Sorry to hear about something like this happening. I'm glad homeowners insurance covers this but it definitely hurts no matter what. I can't imagine what I would feel like if something happened like this to me; knowing how much time and effort it took to accumulate all the gear, maintain everything, modify stuff, etc... I feel for you and hope everything turns out for the best.

Welcome to the board. I've been in the same situation you are in. Lunch break and grab a rod only to find a a couple of others already at my spots and hearing that other have already fishing them before in the early morning. It's hard when the fish are so pressured.

Thank you, thank you.

Good point. I probably should have asked in the "Other Fish" section or elsewhere.

Very nice one. Congratulations.

Two non-USDM Shimano reels that I can remember off the top of my head would be Vanquish and Rarenium. There is also another one that I can't remember that is basically a trout reel from Shimano. Daiwa has the Exist and Morethan series. Though I believe they are a tad bit heavier than the Shimano reels. When purchasing from non-USDM sources be careful though. You don't know for a fact that what they are giving you aren't store demos or returns. And the warranty is only applicable in their respective markets which means you would probably have to send it back to Japan or elsewhere to get it repaired. I've heard horror stories about people spending a lot of money and having to return the reels several times and finally just giving up. If you can try to buy them from someone in the US when at all possible unless the exchange rate makes it way too tempting and you feel like you are really willing to take a risk.

Too much. Way too much I'm going to try to thin out the herd now by trading some things for some stuff I've always wanted to try out (spybait, etc...) instead of buying and sell the rest. Or so I've always told myself...

5" Yamasenko, 301 or 298 color.

Welcome, welcome.

Welcome. We are all monster hunters here or want to be at least

I would like to start doing that but I think I will start with the internals first. ABEC7 spool bearings and carbon drag upgrades are on my to do list right now. Later on it will be to shave a fraction of a ounce of weight and adding comfort and style by changing the handles and handle knobs. Then I'll decide if I will go further... For rods, whenever I get a new/used rod I always clean the rod handle and apply U-40 Cork Sealant to it. If it's an old rod and has a lot of crevices (mostly the filler has fallen out) I would clean it, re-apply the wood filler, sand it down and then apply U-40 Cork Sealant to it. I also want to have a professional cut off the hook keepers that aren't on the bottom and replace them with the new colorful Daiwa hook keepers which essentially have two hook keepers and I can also use it to secure a drop shot weight too.

I don't think think the same diameter line whether it be braid, fluorocarbon or traditional nylon monofilament would make a difference. In terms of abrasion resistance, which I think you are referring to, monofilament I believe is superior to braid. I remember seeing youtube videos testing abrasion resistance of similar diameter line side by side and reading articles about why this is the case (though I can't remember why right now). Monofilament naturally degrades over time especially if exposed to sunlight and other adverse conditions. Maybe the line was just used too many times and became old. Was the break in the line a clean cut?