fishwizzard

I have never caught a single fish that I can remember with a "Worm and weight" t-rig. Caught a ton with other t-rigged plastics, weighted and weightless, but never caught a fish on a 6" worm. Some day I am going to start leaving everything else at home until I get one on a worm. I have had good results with starting people on a small weedless inline spinner, something like this: I think the tactile feedback from the thump of the blade is helpful in understanding how retrieval speed relates to lure speed and the lures are easy to cast, steer, and retrieve from trees. They also, if you make up some tiny ones, will catch the heck out of panfish and small bass. I then introduce a weightless fluke, which also provides some tactile feedback and is a good intro in "working" a retrieve. It also helps that flukes are effective over a wide range of retrieve styles and speeds, so hopefully a good amount of hooksetting practice will happen as well.

Did it again this evening, lost about half of my spool. Same dumb mistake, didn't look behind me. I was at a local pond, standing on the same rock I always do to cast under a dock. Usually I have a 6' spinning rod with me and can cast from any angle without hitting the large thorn bush right behind my rock. Today I had a 6'8" casting rod. I guess I know now that the clearance from the tip of my spinning rod to the bushes is less then 8". New plan is to use only my 9' surf rod for bass till winter. By spring the casting rod will seem so short and manageable!

I will admit to tearing my junk drawers apart looking for some rivets. I do wonder about the line wearing on the edges of the rivets, but we shall see. I have been having a lot of luck lately slow running plastics just above the dead SAV in many of the local ponds, this techqunice seems perfect for that as well.

I forgot to open the bail on my surf rod once when I had a 2oz Kastmaster tied on. I believe it landed somewhere between Lisbon and Gibraltar, but I have yet to get anyone helpful on the phone when I try to call over there.

The reel I am messing with is a PX68. Using 10lb braid lets me get a good amount of line on the spool while keeping it's ability to work small/light baits well. I have 20lb braid on my M spinning combo and there is a noticeable difference working light lures compared to my ML combo which is spooled with 10lb braid. Ideally I want to use 8lb YZH on this reel but I need to get better with it first, as that stuff is thick enough that a single bad backlash or breakoff will leave me very short on line.

I have a 9' surf rod and have been thinking of buying an inexpensive swimbait and trying it out. I am not sure if I could cast such a beast from my kayak though, so I would need to find a good shore spot for it.

I got a BFS combo the other week and have been fishing it like crazy. If I am wading in the middle of a river, I get a small easily fixable backlash every 10-20 casts, depending on wind. If I am on the bank, it is far far worse. I am still learning and trying to work around cover and branches results in a small backlash every 5-10 casts and I am up to two "tangled to the reel" backlashes so far. I may need to invest in a 600y spool of 10lb braid at some point soon if I don't quickly improve.

I use a Trilene knot for all hook and lure connections, except when I have to use a loop knot. I tried the Palomar for a while but I hate how much leader it eats up and I can't tie it well without leaving a long dead end that needs to be cut off.

I fish a ned barbless most of the time I wade for smallies and have fallen into a kinda weird hookset pattern. I have found that if I set the hook, either via sweep or overhead, as soon as the bass has the lure, I will pull it out of it's mouth a lot of the time. What I have worked out is to reel down quickly to remove all slack, then let the bass run for maybe 5-6', then, if I still have good tension on the line, give a hard sweep set. I use a 6' ML rod loaded with braid/floro leader. I have no idea why this works, but I rarely fail to make a hookset this way. Keeping the fish on is another story, but I like the added challenge barbless fishing give, especially on river smallies. An other advantage is that if the fish drops the lure during the first little run, it is still in the strike zone and many times it will get hit again on the same cast.

Finally got some bass out of the large pond at Governors Bridge. This brings my total to 5, out of like a hundred trips. Caught this weird bass on the South River the other day:

The only "good spots" I have found are places with a mile or three hike in and I never have an issue sharing them. I figure most guys are not willing to walk four miles round trip to catch a bass and those that do just give the ticks a target other then me.

They are my favorite small spinnerbaits. They are decently sharp, run very true, and are inexpensive enough that I can fearlessly throw them into brush and under docks.

Fished the Potomac and the canal a a few different spots today and yesterday. Tough fishing all over, was lucky to grind out a single fish at most spots. Had a monster LMB slurp up my jig at Dickerson, but I freaked out and set the hook too soon. Lat spot I hit today was Hapers Ferry. The water was low so rockhopping was super easy. Started catching right away, maybe one to two tiny smallies at each decent pool. Then, right as a tubing group was passing by, I hooked into this fella: I was using my new bfs combo and it was a great fight, I wasn't sure I could get him in at first, I think I need to look at the drag, I had to lock it all the way down to keep any progress on him. Easily the biggest smallie I have caught to date and a nice end to the trip.

I cannot compete on pure size, but mine was caught in the mouth.

So I found the picture of what I believe is the same fish, caught this spring: I know the fish from today looks smaller, but it was flopping around a good bit.

The park the pond is located in has a mandatory fisherman log and if it is to be trusted (and I do, there are always rangers coming and going from the parking area and they have wandered down to poke at me when dusk was approaching a few times) then the pond gets little pressure at all. Often I am the only sign-in within a few days of my visit. They also do not mow all the way to the bank, so it is highly unpleasant to fish there most of the year. In any case, today I did do one thing different. I hit this pond first instead of last. There are three other ponds on the property that look better then this one. I usually hit them fist and only hit the small pond at the end of the day. It is usually around 2-4pm and I am tired from fishing all day and never really fish it with much care. But I was going through some old pics the other day and noticed that all my catch pictures from this park were from the little pond. So I decided to hit it first, and began the day there at 9am. The park closes until January in 19 days, so I have a bit of time to try and again. Next time I will have a proper rod for my bfs reel and hope to arrive right at dawn and cover every inch of water.

This morning I went out to a small local pond to try out a used Dawia PX68 I picked up the other day. I don't have a proper rod for it yet so I threw in on an old Abu medium action I had laying around. I didn't have high hopes for throwing anything really light with it, so I brought an assortment of plastics, hooks and jigs, figuring I would need at least an 1/8-1/4oz weight to make any decent casts. Much to my surprise the combo was able to cast a weightless Rage Menace a very respectable distance with good accuracy. The Menace has become a real favorite of mine over this past season. I have messed with a half dozen ways to rig it, but I have settled on this: The hook is an Owner 2/0 cutting point. It really tears the plastics up quickly but I rarely miss a hookup now and the plastic is about the perfect size and weight for the kind of fishing I like to do. In anycase, this pond is small, way less then an acre and sits on a waterfowl refuge which is about to close for the season. All summer I have had limited luck here, most trips only managing a small fish or two. Today was overcast and wet, last night was our first rain in a week or two. Having never used this reel before, I made my first cast at an open lane in the shallow pads that cover one bank. Surprised at how well it cast, I aimed my next one at the weed line on the far shore. I managed about half a turn of the handle and the rod jumped and at first I thought I had a turtle. The bass imminently jumped and I knew I had something good on. In general at this pond gives up a handful of dinks and keepers per trip, but I have only ever caught a single decent fish out of it. Today I think I caught him again. I was running 8lb YZH and had to run up the bank a bit to get the fish into the open lane, as I was not confident I could pull him through even the sparse pads. I do almost all of my fishing with a spinning combo and without the clicking it took me a bit to realize the fish was pulling drag. Once I had that squared away I manged to land him. He was hooked right in the upper lip and the plastic had slid up the line. I swear I caught this same fish in the spring and the pond is so tiny and shallow I don't see how there can be many of this size in there. Once I got him back in the water I proceeded to catch about a dozen of his smaller friends and maybe another dozen dinks, all on the same lure. Or rather the same type, they were only lasting about 3-4 fish per and sometimes less. I have some Parasite clips from a LD sale but I have not yet messed around with them. Overall I am pleased as hell with both my new reel and this particular presentation and am excited to pick up my new rod this weekend and head back here to see if I can meet the king a third time.

Thanks, I had not come across that one before in my readings. I found them for sale on Plat.co.jp, waiting on a shipping quote. The other rod I am leaning towards is the Phenix 682L, as it is available with free shipping and it seems like it would be easy to sell if I go custom later. I was also looking at the 683ML as it would be a little more general use, but I kinda feel like if I am going to go BFS, I might as well go all the way. Speaking of that, is there a specific type/brand of bearings I should be looking at? I just picked the reel up and I am already crazy excited. It fits on an old Lew's pistol grip M rod I have, so for now it is going to live on it while I get used it both.

I was gearing up to post a thread like this, hopefully the OP will not mind if I edge in on his. I just bought a used Dawia PX68 off of ebay on a whim. It will arrive tomorrow and assuming it checks out, I would like to order a rod then. So far I have been looking at most of the brands mentioned in this thread, but I don't really feel confident in my knowledge yet to place an order. From my readings, it looks like a stock PX68 should cast down to 1/8oz. What I am likely to throw on it is mainly t-rigged 4" finesse worms with a 1/16th weight, small 1/8oz spinners and inlines (for perch and schooly stripers), 1/16oz finesse jigs w/ small trailers, Ned Rigs/MWF lures, and small crankbaits. I would rather lean towards a Fast action as I suspect I will fish the worms and jigs more often then the hard baits. I am mainly a spinning rig guy but love finesse techniques so I think having a BFS setup will get me to spend more time getting skilled with casting rigs in general. The only sticking point with most of the rods mentioned is length. I cannot transport a rod over 6'6" without the tip being in constant danger and I usually roll around with 2-3 rigs in my car at any given time. My current casting rods are both 6'9" and that extra three inches really does make a difference. My idea is a rod in the 6'-6'3" range. If there is really nothing suitable I can live with a longer rod, but would use it more often if it were shorter. My budget is around $175. I have a custom rod maker that I like but he usually takes a month or two to turn a rod around and I want to make the most of this fall. I am fine with buying a used rod and also fine with spending a bit more to get a nicer rod that I will have an easier time selling if I find that I really want a shorter custom rod made down the road.

I use a mix of the Z-man and Gopher Head when fishing with an exposed hook and with both of them I have found that I will rarely loose a fish if I give them a second hookset after then have made their first run. I found that on the initial hit, a reel down and lift seems to get them on far better then a hard set, but the fish will often come off on the jump if I don't add a second hard set once they clearly have a good bite on it. At this point I only really use the ned for river/stream smallies, so maybe with less energetic lake/pond fish it isnt needed.

I use 6lb braid on my UL perch/panfish rod. I usually tie on a 6-8lb YZH leader and have not had any issues with knot strength. The only issue I have with it is remembering to not under any circumstances grab the mainline when a fish is on. Even an 7-8" perch can cause the line to cut you.

I was also impressed with the Eco Pro version, though I only have limited time fishing them. But I had a day when I was out hiking and took along three FIs and a single EP plastic. Each FI got me 2-3 fish before becoming too damaged to use, but the EP lure must have caught me 5-6 fish and is still fish-able. I tend to throw them on the 1/0 Owner ultraheads and that jig is really tough on plastics.

You guys are honing in on my smallie spots I do my small river fishing with a ML rod spooled with 10lb braid with a 8lb YZH hybrid. I mainly fish ned rigs for them, but have been branching out into other finesse baits. So far I have had good luck with 3" senkos, the ~3" KT swimbaits rigged on small jigs, small, solid bodied tubes, and sometimes slider rigs. If anyone ever wants some company, I am always up for some smallie action if I am free.

I used a L StCroix Premier as my main rod for the first year or so of bass fishing. Now that I have a wider rod assortment I can see where I am missing hookups fishing say a weedless Ned on my L rod vs the ML rod I now use. But in general I did pretty decently with it and still use it for openhook baits when river and stream fishing.

Paypal is heavily heavily weighted to protect buyers, so much so that a lot of sellers will not use them anymore due to being scammed by fraudulent buyers. I just recently had an issue with some discount tackle storefront and PP resolved it in my favor in like two days after a week or two of trying to get a hold of the vendor.