Racerx

For me, buzzbaits and Senkos. Not for lack of trying, though.

Thread resurrection, as I'm curious as to what others think about these new Berkley hard baits. They may or may not be a good design, but IMO, the paintjobs look like total s@#t. Looks like some poor little blind kid in China painted these with the only hand they had left! Opinions? I love the Berkley Flicker Shads and fish them all the time, but I think I'm gonna pass on these.

I like Fluoroclear and have never had a single issue with it. I decided to try the P-Line CX when spooling up my new Curado. First thing I noticed was the "springiness" that others have mentioned. I guess I'll see how it is when I finally get to throw it. Fingers crossed.

Was just in the market for a new baitcaster, and was torn between the Curado I and the Citica I. In the end, the $30 difference seemed negligible, so I spent the extra and went with the Curado. Haven't had a chance to throw it, yet, so we'll see.

With the Youtube app on my TV, I've been watching most of my stuff that way. Much broader selection.

WHAT?!! No more pork trailers?? It was bad enough I couldn't find them, locally. Now, I won't be able to find them, PERIOD!

Okay, that second one is like the Cartman of Largmouths!

Yup! I love my Trion. I have 3 kids, all going to Catholic school, and the oldest is about to go to college. I can't afford high end gear. I have the Trion, and Shimano Sierra, a Pinnacle Matrix Signature, hell, even an in-house Walmart spinning reel for $15 that works amazingly, all on Either Berkley Cherrywood Hds, or Field And Stream Inferno rods. I'm doing this for fun, not tourney money, so how can I justify dropping serious bucks on high end gear? Simple: I can't.

Ooh! Good point! I watch kayak bass vids where people are fishing around gators, and I'm thinking "Screw THAT!". I saw Bill Dance in a TUBE, with a gator within rod's reach and thought "Uh-UH!"! The gator started to trail him! Just watched a Yankangler vid, a bunch of them went fishing in the Everglades. Now, I like fishing, but not THAT much! Yeah, I'd stick with the boat, if I were you.

Cool. Ironically, we have friends in Huntingtown, down there. We visit on occasion. What's the hotspots, there, for bass fishing? I picked out St. Mary's for a trip. I was the only one who caught a LMB. The others caught some Red Ear, and that was it.

Looking at all the perspectives on here, I don't think there IS one perfect mode of fishing between them. Each will have their strengths and weaknesses, and each of us will have our own preferences and biases. For ME, I started in a canoe a year ago, and quickly grew tired of hoisting that thing on and off my vehicle! Since most of the time, I fish, alone, and I liked having access to many spots not reachable by a boat, I bought a kayak, and couldn't be happier. If wind is an issue, you should be running an anchor system. Boat traffic, and wakes was cleared up by adding outiggers that could be added or removed on a whim, plus it can allow you to stand up and fish, with plenty of stability, if you kayak isn't already stable enough.. These days, many people are adding trolling motors, and not just the high end Torqeedos, to get far out, quickly, and with little effort, and you don't need something really powerful. 15-20 lbs. of thrust is usually adequate, and they can be bought rather cheaply off someone on Craigslist. All this is possible, and with MUCH less cash than a boat. Like I said, this is just me, but I DO read all the time of guys selling their boats and going with a kayak, and never being happier. Whatever your choice, I hope it's the right one.

All good advice, here. Wear that PFD, and don't go too crazy on mods, in the beginning. I went kayak, this year, too, and have changed my setup, several times, already. You find yourself refining placements and whatnot, and what seems like a good idea on paper, ends up not so much, on the water. Track rails make changes easier and less permanent, with the right add-ons. If you don't like it at THIS spot on the rail, just slide it to another spot, or move it to another rail. I generally made sure I had one on either side of me, and one in front of me. After that, it's been like musical chairs with the gear pieces! Best of luck, and enjoy!

Wow! Nice day's haul! Good for you guys! I hope to have one of those days, sometime!

Hey, Jeff. Welcome! I live in the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. Glad to another yinzer, on board, even if not a native one. If you're looking for lakes, the obvious I guess would be Erie, Lake Arthur, Keystone Lake, Pymatuning and Cross Creek Lake. As someone who just got into bass fishing, myself, this past year or so, I am slowly getting out and hitting certain lakes when I can, in the area, albeit smaller ones not mentioned. Next season, I plan to up my game and visit the above mentioned, though. Tight lines to ya!

Looks like there's plenty of different takes on this topic, something that I just really started to pay attention to, recently. As a kid, my parents never enforced a dominant hand approach with me. Whatever was more comfortable, I went with. As a result, I'm all over the place. I write lefty, but cut with right-handed scissors (Only guy I knew growing up who could do that, at the same time). I threw lefty but batted righty. As a kid, my fishing rig was a Zebco 202 rig, with the handle on the right side. I had never heard of right-handed or left-handed reels, and I never thought about it, either. When I hit double-digits, my parents bought me a spinning combo, handle on the left. I cast that d**n thing so much, I had forgotten that I had grown up casting with my left hand, and now I'm casting right-handed. My casting power was always pretty strong, but I knew my aim was rather wonky. Just figured I had to get better at it, and since I really only fished carp and cat, it didn't matter to me, much. Fast forward 5 years, I meet my wife, move, and since I didn't know the local spots like my old ones, and how to access them (I'm in the Pittsburgh suburbs and have 3 rivers out in front of me!), I kinda gave up. 25 years later, after getting the bug on an opening weekend trout outing , I decided to get serious about bass fishing. A year into it, I picked up a baitcaster combo. When picking out the reel, I chose a left-handed one (handle on the left side), but I was casting with my right hand, just like I did with my spinning gear. Didn't make sense for me to switch hands to cast, and then switch back to reel. I saw the pros doing that, but it just didn't seem logical to me. Now, about 2 years into this bass thing, I noticed that I really needed to up my game with my casting accuracy, if I was going to catch more bass than trees. I was fishing a local lake, and was frustrated with all the overhanging trees around me, tripping me up and was having some difficulty with overruns in my baitcaster, even though I kept going through and making sure my tension and braking was just so. I saw a decent spot I wanted to cast to, but it was in a way that I'd have to cast with my other hand, to hit it. I figured "What the heck.", and threw a pretty decent and accurate cast to the spot, and with zero backlash. That's when it hit me: My left hand is my throwing hand. All those years playing baseball as a kid conditioned that hand to be for throwing, and the casting motions are quite similar. I had been casting with my weaker hand, from around the age of 10, with that spinning rod, making the best of what I had. Now, am I left-handed or right-handed? I have NO @#$%ing idea! All I know is that I'm sticking with left-handed bait casters and right-handed spinners, cause the reel handle's on the same side.

I normally use 2 rods, but when I decide to use 3 or more, I put whatever I'm not carrying in my hands into a soft rifle bag that I bought on the cheap. This, of course, only works with 2-piece rods, but it IS effective.

My budget spinner's probably gonne be a Shimano Sienna, or Pfleuger President or Trion on either a Berkley Cherrywood HD or Field And Stream Inferno rod. I DID have my first Berkley snap about 1-2 feet up from the tip, but they replaced it, and, so far, she's still intact. Sending 3 kids to Catholic school kills my budget. Ironically, it's fishing that helps with my nerves from the school's sticker shock!

I always keep a few Rat-L-Traps stocked in different colors, and always have one within arms reach.

I really don't hold brand loyalty, persay. This carries over to more than just fishing gear (I've been a guitarist for over 35 years, so this topic has come up MANY TIMES). That said, when I was looking for new reels this year, two brands seemed to shine in my price range: Shimano and Pfleuger. I walked away with one of each, and love them both.

Ironically, I had never given my Scatter Rap much use, but then I stumbled on a vid for it, recently, so I decided to throw it a little, about a week ago. First cast, on the retreive, as the lure was approaching me, a decent Walleye nailed it. Since then, I've been paying it a little more attention. If you give it a chance, change up your retrieve rate, the lure starts acting erratically, and seems to trigger a reaction bite. My 2 cents, at least.

I don't believe for a second that fish actually communicate. If they behave similarly in a scenario, it's more likely simply because they are all wired the same. It stands to reason that if they are all faced with the same stimuli, that they are going to have the same reactions. Now, take into account the individual fish's need for food at that particular time, it would also make sense why one might ite, while another might not. Bass can be curious and competitive creatures, like many other animals, so when when one makes a commotion while on a hook, it's not unusual for another, or even a couple, to follow, closely. After all, if they're hungry, they don't wanna miss out on a meal.

Good idea. She gets overly sensitive, so I'm sure she'd walk out, boo-hooing.

Lowrance Elite 4 HDI. Glad I went with the color screen.

I see mostly all soft baits, listed, so far. My comfort zone seems solid in the hard bait section, preferably something like a Berkley Flicker Shad, or a Rapala X-rap or Scatter Rap Shad.

Oh my GAWD!, that is so true! I am so tired of my Mother-In-Law ticking money away on shirts I'll never wear, or stupid gag gifts that only she thinks is funny. Especially when she knows I love gift cards. At THAT point, with the gag gifts, it's just insulting, like "I know I coulda actually given you something you actually hoped for, but here's a cheap chachki, to rub it in your face". Why don't you just set your money on fire in front of me. At least I'd get some warmth out of it.