tstraub

He was perfectly willing to let me lip him but I chose to go with the tail hold.

I threw a ned rig for about an hour last night and came up empty. Then I put a what was left if a bluegill we cleaned out on a bottom line overnight. Woke up to this guy this morning.

I do not have any experience with the American Hero or any lew's casting reels so I can't comment on that one but I do have 3 mettle reels and a silver max. The mettles have never given me any trouble. They cast great and retrieve smooth. I love them and highly recommend them to anyone that can get by with a reel that is only available as right hand and 6.4:1 ratio. The silver max works well but is just a little finicky on the breaks. It's not bad but it seems like it always takes me a few casts to get it dialed in where I like it. I don't have to do a lot of adjusting on the mettle. the silver max also recently broke on me. The level wind stops when it gets to one side and does not go back the other way. I do like the silver Max well enough that I plan to buy a new paw and put it back into service but the fact remains it had a failure and all 3 mettles are still going strong and I've had them longer than the Max. Maybe it's just a fluke thing with my reel. Anyway I suggest the mettle unless you need a lefty.

I get most of my rods used or on clearance sales so I don't really shop for my favorite handle I just get whatever the deal is. I have rods of all different types. I don't really care at all between cork and EVA foam they are both fine. I have a slight preference for split grip over full but that's mostly just because I like the looks of a split grip. Handle length is the only thing I really do have a strong preference on. I like a shorter handle for casting rods. I cast one handed 95% of the time so I just don't feel I benefit from a long handle. A shorter handle makes the total rod length shorter and it's easier to transport and store a shorter rod.

Those are great reels. I own 3 of them and they all get used on a regular basis. I have one with 6# mono and toss around beetle spins, road runners, and inline spinners for crappie. Another one has 50# braid for frogging. And the last one is on my "in the car rod" it's spooled with 12# big game and I use it for a little bit of everything. I would probably get another one or 2 if they offered then in a different gear ratio but I only need so many 6.3:1 reels.

I came up empty on bass this weekend again. Even the panfish bite was real slow. Water visibility is still way down around 8-12 inches. the lake turnover is really messing with the fishing. I even threw a line out with a live crawdad overnight and it didn't get touched. It was pretty disappointing as far as the catching, but still had a good time fishing and camping. I did get to try out a new to me reel this weekend it's a PBS prolight special pretty decent little reel after a bit of a tuneup. I got it used off the fleamarket forum here. The magnet brakes were indexed incorrectly but once I got that sorted and lubed it up it throws crappie jigs really well. My ned rig stuff should be here tomorrow so hopefully next weeks fishing report will be a good one.

I saw a similar incident. This guy forgot to unstrap the boat from the trailer and backed the boat into the water. Then he put the truck in park, set the brakes and jumped in the boat to back off the trailer. He started the boat up put it in reverse and it would not back off the trailer. So he guns it and started pulling the truck in the lake. Once the boat got in deep enough water The trailer(still attached to the boat) was floating high enough in the water that it lifted the rear wheels of the truck off the ground by the hitch. Then It really picked up speed because the parking break and transmission park only lock the rear wheels and they were clear off the ground. So now the truck is sitting on the bottom of the lake and pulling the trailer and the boat that's still attached down with it. Then the guy remembered where he went wrong and grabbed a knife from somewhere (maybe it was a pocket knife maybe it was in the boat I don't remember) He did manage to cut the straps and save the boat. What a mess. It was both tragic and hilarious. It was just and old non computerized truck I imagine that it survived with just fluid changes and a whole lot of cleaning and drying.

I don't own one but my father in law has a mojo bass and I've fished it a few times. Not sure if it's the new model or first gen. It was new to him this spring but I suppose it could be last year's model. It's purple if that makes a difference. He loves it and the boat never leaves the dock without it. It's probably the nicest rod I've ever used. But my rods are mostly Shakespeare, and Berky grade rods so I would not know how it feels compared to the high end stuff.

Sometime it feels like there is just no buffalo for the poor Indian to shoot at. Truth be told that one fish is the only keeper sized bass I have caught since buying that rod. So, maybe it's my lucky rod it has caught 100% of my bass. We had a flood at the lake late last year and the lake has not been the same since I assumed at the time that the fish quit biting after the flood because they were up in the grass gorging on insects and worms that got drowned in the flood. Then the campground closed for the season. I was hoping things would be back to normal this spring but fishing has been tough and it's not just me. We had 4 people on the boat bass fishing over the three day weekend and only caught 1 bass between us. The action was so slow that we did a lot more panfishing than bass fishing just to get bit. I haven't even seen many spawning bass like I have in the past years. Not sure what's going on.

That's just silly. Everybody knows it's a confidence thing. You fish best with what you're confident in. However, I'm beginning to think I've got an unlucky rod. It's a #*** 7' mh/xf casting rod. I've owned it since last fall and until last week it was fishless. Got 1 last week and hoped the course was over. This weekend I was skunked again. I'm really trying to like the rod it's light, feels good, casts great but it does not catch fish.

I've never been convinced that the fish care about line color, at least not in the water I fish. I buy different pound test line in different colors so I can identify it. If it's low vis green I know it's big game 12# if it's clear I know it's 15# big game. It just helps me keep things straight I can tell what line is on what reel even from across the boat. No need to look at the line and try to guess based on diameter.

OK all this talk about ned rigs has finally got to me. I have a $25 gift card for Bass Pro Shop. I figure that should be enough to get a few jig heads and a couple different colors of TRDs to get started. How castable are these things? Can I do it on a baitcaster? I do have spinning gear but I have a family of 6 and if these things catch fish as well as everyone says, everybody is going to want one and I would rather not keep changing rods back and forth between bobbers and ned rigs every time they decide they want to fish the other bait. So I might run short on spinning rods for myself. I have an old daiwa ML pistol grip rod with an H2O Xpress mettle that I currently use to toss 1/8 oz beetle spins and road runner jigs for crappie. It works fine for me on those lures granted it will throw a 1/4 Mepps a lot further but if I have an 1/8 oz I can get a good fishable distance and there is no need to move the boat closer for me to reach the fish. So do you guys think the ned is any harder to cast than these lures?

I have one of those run of the mill Frabil landing nets and have always just dealt with hooks and weeds sticking to it and never given it much thought. It always just seemed like a normal part of the game. This spring my father-in-law upgraded his landing net to one of those Frabil rubber nets. Its almost the same net as mine but his handle does extend an extra few feet and the net mesh is rubber. The extra length makes no difference to me I have never needed to extend that last section to reach a fish anyway. But that rubber is real nice haven't had to pull a hook out of it yet and the weeds fall right off with just a shake or two. It's a nice net. Is it worth the extra money? I'm in no rush to go buy one for my boat but, I'm certainly glad he bought one. I suppose it comes down to your budget and priorities. The net I have still functions well enough for me. If I'm going to throw money at more equipment other things come higher on my personal list.

I watched the lake change colors, surface temperature is dropping, and organic matter is floating to the top. I believe we're experiencing spring turnover. The fish have all but quit biting. My son did get one real nice 14 inch crappie early this morning but only a few small fish since.

One of my sons caught a nice black crappie

My go to just want to get bit lure is an arkie sexee tail shad (Tennessee shad color). Species I have caught or seen caught include bluegill, black and white crappie, red ear bluegill, perch, largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, carp, and catfish. I like to their then on a 1/32 oz jig head so ultra light gear is required to get any casting distance.

My favorite budget reel is the H2O Xpress mettle . I have 3 of them and they all work great. I also have a silver max and its a good reel but I do like the mettle better. It has an aluminum frame and a centrifugal breaking system that seems to be a lot less fussy than the magnetic brakes on the silver max. Academy is running a sale on the Mettle combos now you can get a silver colored one on a 6'6" MH/MF rod for $67.49 or a camo one on a 7' MH/F rod for $74.99. I have never used either of those rods so I can't comment on the rods but the reviews look good and the price should fit your budget.

I have the exact same model I got mine used a few months back off of the flea market forum here. I think I gave $30 or $40 for mine. I haven't spent too much time on the water with it but the more I use it the more I like it. The breaks are very touchy, when you get it set up right it will cast a long ways with no thumbing the spool during the cast. It behaves so well that you want to back off the brakes and see just how far the thing can cast. Give it one less click on the breaks and its an absolute disaster. I think that if you spend some time getting to know where its limits are you will really like it. You got a great deal on that reel.

I hit the lake for a few hours today. Missed a few fish and did manage to get one to the boat. Most people would probably not conciser that a real good day on the water but it was my first bass of the season and the first fish on my *** so I'll take it. attached is a picture of my fish today and my oldest son's fish from yesterday.

We went to the campground and had OK fishing. High winds made boat control difficult and we had a hard time finding active bass but my oldest son did get a 17 inch largemouth on a spinner bait and a dink on a lipless crank. Panfish were biting on small minnow swim jigs and live bait. We cleaned about 30 fish mostly bluegill and a few crappie. I'll add a picture of the best fish of the day later. I'm posting from my phone with a poor signal so the picture will not upload.

I have never heard about banana spiders affecting fishing, interesting theory. I always heard it had to do with the speed of the boat. Because bananas have a very short shelf life they need to be transported on faster moving ships so the cargo does not go bad before it reaches its destination. The crewmen of the banana boats would blame the bananas for the poor fishing rather than the the speed of the boat and bananas became bad luck. Tyler

Do you currently own a casting rod or does the $75 budget need to buy the rod as well? You can get the black max combo on your budget. If you don't need a rod then some of the reels suggested by others should serve you well. I have no experience with a black max but do own a silver max reel. I understand that the black and silver max are the same reel other than the silver has a flipping switch and maybe and extra bearing in there somewhere? I don't use my silver max very much, mostly because my 15 year old son has grown very attached to it. He throws everything on that reel and has very little trouble with it. When he changes lures it usually takes him a few casts to get it dialed in but once he gets the adjustments where he likes them he can handle his own with that reel. I do pick it up once in a while and it still impresses me for the cost.

I would not worry about it. Those bluegill needed a good meal so they can have a successful spawn. A very low percentage of fry make it to adulthood. Every fish in a healthy lake is part of the food chain.

When I hear cut and dip I think catfish bait. cut bait = cut up pieces of fresh fish dip bait = a pail of manufactured goo that you dip a hook into to load your hook.

The rod you wanted to use was not available at the time so you made do with what you had on hand and went fishing anyway. It cost you a fish but not a meal or a paycheck you were just fun fishing anyway right? If you would have decided not to go at all you would not have even got the chance to miss that fish. Still sounds like a good day to me.