Airman4754

A C-rig in a small pond is going to be about your best bet initially. Cast every inch of that thing, make mental notes or take actual notes. Where is it deep, where is shallow, are there steep banks, are there rock to weed transitions, are there big rock to little rock transitions, are there isolated big rocks, etc? Detecting bites on a C-rig is tough. Watch your line for movent, speed up your pauses between drags, and get used to the weight on your rod. If it feels the slightest bit heavier reel down and sweep it right away.

I forgot to write about this last week. It was last Sunday I went to Academy and bought some 1/16oz Mr Crappie heads to try the Ned on. I was on my way home and I wanted to see what they looked like on the fall so I stopped by a pond to check it out. I walk up to the edge, there is an older gentleman about 20ft down from me. I say hello, strip a couple feet off the reel and drop it straight into the water. It's only about two feet deep but kind of dirty. I watch it fall, think cool that will work, and pull it up to head back to my truck. The bait is stuck, so I pull up on it hard, it pulls back even harder. This 4lb-ish female start going crazy, I start this kind of running in place dance while I pull it up out of the water (6lb CX is strong), go to lip her but she is going nuts because I barely played her out, the Ned pops out, I drop her, she flops her way back into the water. The old guy is looking at me and says "What the hell did you just do?" I replied "I'm not really sure" and went to my truck. More Ned magic.

My dad and grandpa taught me the art of trolling Shad Raps. It's a fish magnet in the summer trolling the middle of creek channels. I do it occasionally, but it's so boring to me. Long lining on the other hand is a staple of my summer time fishing, also super tournament illegal.

Kent you can fish with me Saturday and Sunday. We have been trying to get on Pickwick together anyway.

Keep it up young squire! Catching bass is easy. Having the resources and the knowledge to be on them with the right stuff is tricky.

You don't have to. You have to do it when you want to fish for a living.

If it has been warm for awhile a brief cold spell usually won't matter too much, but the hours the fish will be productive might. An evening trip might get you some more mileage. Sometimes it doesn't matter at all. The best two fish I have caught this year were in 30 degree weather and I wasn't fishing slow at all.

No. I lost a double digit fish in a shallow, weedy, heavily trout planted lake off shore. When I saw it swim by the boat I panicked and loosened my drag. I thought it would break my 10lb fluoro leader. It wouldn't have. Took me down to the bottom and wrapped me into something in about 8' of water.

I use these. They work great.

I love these reels. I have one and still use it often. The Revo winch is about double the price and offers the same performance.

I spent the previous 30 years fishing gin clear water. Use braid as a main line and run a 6'-10' leader. If visibility is over 10ft use a 6lb fluoro leader, if it's less use 10lb fluoro leader. You won't need a spray bottle or have to fight with your reel every time you change weight.

What do you have?

I tried to give fluoro a real shot. I used Tatsu and Shooter on a bunch of different rigs and phased it out completely as a main line last week. To me, it's just awful as a main line. "Give it a couple of squirts of whatever and it's ok." If you need to carry a spray bottle around to cast a spinnerbait the line sucks. I do like it as a leader on my braid though. The low-vis property is a bonus and it lacks stretch like braid keeping my delivery consistent. It's the equivalent of needing a pound of sugar and caramel in coffee or fish drowned in lemon juice, vinegar, and tartar sauce. You don't like coffee or fish. Order something you like next time. Mono will work great as long as you are dialed into your equipment.

They make a solid product. I don't think they are as sexy as most comparable Shimano or Daiwa reels, but if you need something to make 10,000+ casts a season with no issues they will do that. A Tournament MB with some ABEC-7 bearings in it is a pretty hard setup to beat for under $200.

Get the one that is the most comfortable to you. Performance wise they will both do whatever you need once you get used to them.

If you are in water with 20' visibility don't go over a 6lb leader on your drop shot.

I fish high end stuff because I believe it makes casting accuracy, hook setting, keeping a fish pinned, and to an extent detecting bites easier than cheap gear. It can also greatly comfort and limit fatigue which are my two main reasons when you make over 100 casts 300 days a year. Having said all that if I were forced to fish cheap gear my production wouldn't go down at all. I would adapt to it very quickly. You go to war with the army you have, not the army you want.

This is a great post.

Both will do their job if you do yours.

Depending on where you are they could be bed guarding and just chasing it off. I had the same thing happen today. Then I went to the Whopper Plopper and they hammered it. Spinnerbaits are clangy, but not completely obnoxious enough to make them physically defend their bed.

In small water fish absolutely get smart to certain baits. In any piece of water over 50 acres I've never found that to be an issue.

The Whopper Plopper was on fire tonight!

You should be past the pre-spawn.

I run Pfluegers and most of them are Patriarchs. The amount of hours I put on my spinning reals in a year is extremely high and I've never had even a hint of a problem. I do agree that the 35 Patriarch is a little awkward. I've never been able to figure out why, but now that someone brought it up I see what you mean. It's a great reel though, fantastic shaky head reel.

I have three Optimas for my TM and a huge Exide AGM for my starter/electronics. You couldn't give me a non-AGM battery.