broncoboxer

He was in his early 20's. Thanks for the information. Now to find the right reel. The reel that came with my BPS crankin' stick combo feels a bit heavy on that trigger rod. Another member turned me on to the Shimano Chronarch 50MG. It weighs a whole 5.9 ounces--extremely light. But they go for about $250. I'll have to butter up the Mrs. before I can pick one of them up without having to hear about it for a week.

Hey folks, I'm interested in buying the lightest baitcasting reel I can find. Any suggestions?

garcia Revo s is perfect I went to Gander Mountain yesterday and questioned one of the workers there about what baitcasting reel would work best for a 5' 6" Trigger Rod (by the way, I purchased a "Guide" brand rod--Gander Mountain's house brand. It felt good in my hand). He said baitcasters shouldn't be used for rods under 6' in length. Of course, that ruined my mood. I wanted a lightweight baitcaster, for crying out loud! So I bought the rod but left without buying a reel. Once home, I put my BPS reel that came as part of a "Crankin' Stick" combo on the rod. I have to admit, the reel felt a bitg heavy for that rod. So, you think an Abu Garcia Revo S will feel better?

Hey guys, I'm thinking about purchasing one of these 5'6" pistol grip rods and attaching a decent baitcasting reel. My problem is I'm so new to this I don't know what "size" reel I would need to equip it with. Any suggestions?

Well, I know this is not technically a crankbait, but do you think you could T-Rig a big-bodied curly tail grub and fish it like a crankbait? I read about such a technique in the book "Best Bass Tips."

I use snaps. Love'em.

I just purchased the Sea Eagle 9. So far, it looks like it'll do exactly what I need it to do. So, which Minn Kota trolling motor do you have?

I'm glad you asked this. I'm in the Fayetteville area and haven't caught much of anything in my last couple outings. Of course, I figure it was just because I'm such an awful fisherman. Still, it gives me some relief to think the temperature had something to do it...

I too would love to hear some responses. I've always wondered how you're supposed to fish jerk baits like flukes or Rapala Husky Jerks, etc.

Hey, thanks for the link. However, I have a question. What's the difference between a jerk bait and a slash bait?

Thanks a lot, roadwarrior. As always, you're the man!

Hey there, I'm a silly newb to fishing and was wondering how you're supposed to fish a Rapala X-Rap. Do you just cast and retrieve? Stop and go? Walk-the-dog? I sure will appreciate your responses. Thanks in advance.

Love the thread. Since I'm a newbie, I was wondering how you're supposed to fish the X-Rap. Do you simply cast and retrieve? Walk the dog? Any help will be appreciated.

I've been bank fishing at a small lake near the house and I can identify with the original poster. If I catch at all, it'll be early and then it dries up. I move around quite a bit, fishing all the likely spots (lilly pads, logs, stumps, etc.), but I think if I want to catch anything worth while I'll need to get out on the water. I'm considering buying a kayak just to get my rump out there to the deep areas...

Hey, thanks for the offer! We may just have to take you up on it some time.

Thanks!

Caught my second fish yesterday. And on my first cast, too! It was midday, hot as can be, and I had just attached a Jitterbug to my line. That's right, a topwater in the heat of the day. I'm crazy. So anyway, I tossed that critter just past some lillypads, started my retrieve and watched as a 1 pound bass snaked through the water and popped that Jitterbug. He hooked himself so all I had to do was reel him in. Lot of fun! Tell you what though: since I'm shore fishing, I find myself throwing bait into weeds and lillypads along the bank and I keep getting snags something awful. Guess I'm gonna have to go weedless. Maybe some Super Flukes Texas rigged or some weedless jigs. What do you think?

So let's hear the report.

Nah. I didn't take a pic of it. Just before I caught it a trio of teenagers showed up and decided to go swimming. Though I was excited about catching the fish and I truly wanted to jump up and down like a child, taking pictures of it from every angle, I restrained myself, tried to act like catching fish was old hat, a foregone conclusion, and simply pulled out the hooks and released the little guy. Didn't want to make a public spectacle of myself.

I caught my first fish since catching the fishing bug today! It was a little bass (couldn't tell you if it was a small mouth or a large mouth), probably no more than a pound. Caught him with my ultralight Rapala Original Floating Minnow. That minnow works. I watched several smaller fish follow the minnow into shore. Anyway, I'm stoked about the fish and even more stoked that I found a small lake to fish right across from my house! I'd thought it was a private lake. But it's not. Now I have a place to fish after work. Good stuff.

Yeah, my wife has been fishing since the time she could walk. Literally. The first fish she ever caught was an 18 inch trout. She landed that when she was 18 months old. Crazy, huh?

No joke. This truly is the best site around.

Yeah, the bait monkey has already kicked my tail. I've spent over $300 in fishing "stuff" since I got the bug. And I'll be spending more... Thanks, I'm looking forward to it. This weekend I'll be buying Fort Bragg fishing licenses for my wife and I. Bragg has a bunch of lakes. I'm sure one of them will offer some good shore fishing. You bet. I've already learned a ton. Now all I need to do is actually catch a fish...

Fishing update: Visited my parents this weekend and fished a creek behind their home. It was a small creek, probably no more than three feet at its deepest. The water was pretty brackish. Anyway, like I said before, my dad is a live bait guy so we caught a coouple crickets and grasshoppers and then marched down to the creek. Within seconds of putting her grasshopper-baited line in the water my wife pulled up a little bass. Then another. Then she pulled up a brim. Then a sunfish. I caught nothing. :-? After running out of live-bait, I rigged a plastic grub and toyed with it for a bit. Something nibbled at it a couple times but then stopped. My wife didn't have any luck with the plastic grubs, either. All told, we only fished that creek for maybe 30 minutes. She walked away with four fish for her efforts. I walked away with a few mosquito bites.

Thanks for the detailed response, bucketmouth. And congrats on the recent $400 worth of tackle loot you bartered for yesterday!