RPreeb

I'm in a similar place as the OP. Once it's out of the box and stashed in one of my boxes, I have trouble keeping track of how deep a crank is supposed to run, or what the actual weight is of a particular lure. So far, I don't have enough for the confusion to take total control, but I have been known to pull out a crankbait or jerkbait at the little pond a couple of blocks down the road and crash a 10 foot diver into the 5 foot bottom, then have to change it out for the right one after detaching the bundle of weeds it picked up while being dragged back to shore. I'm starting to keep the lures in the boxes they came in now, but that isn't much help for the boxes I've already thrown out. As a relatively recent joiner of the bass addiction, I'm still learning the jargon - some terms still have to be Googled just to know what's being discussed.

Depending on the style of popper (note the 2 p's ), you have several retrieve options. Usually I let it sit for several seconds after the cast to let the ripples die away. Then I will do anything from a pop, pop rest to what is almost a jerkbait retrieve, cranking and jerking at the same time - with some you can walk the dog as easily as with a spook. I've caught fish on poppers with a retrieve that is almost painfully lethargic to one that is as fast as a spinnerbait - depends on the style of popper and the mood of the fish. Use your imagination to make it imitate what you want it to represent to the bass.

Back in my whitewater days, I carried as many as 5 Perceptions on my '78 Toyota Corolla station wagon (just depended on how many guys were driving to the river on a given day). I paddled in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, and drove at full highway speeds all the time in all kinds of winds. I never saw any issues with that. Now I tow a 24' camping trailer with my F-150, and towing that in a stiff wind can be a bit interesting, but carrying the kayak or my canoe on top never made any noticeable difference in how any of my vehicles handled.

This would seem to be in keeping with what the clerk told me about Cabela's in store inventory issues and his hopeful expectation of improvement under the new management. The Sidney NE store that I go to is not only my best option for all sorts of recreational sports gear (my only other choice within an hour of home is Walmart, and that isn't a real option), but is also located right off the Sidney exit from I-80 and gets a lot of business from travelers. There are a number of restaurants and fueling stations there, so they get walk in traffic from people from all over the country. Seems like it would be in their best interests to keep the place stocked to match their displays. The fact that they haven't done so seems to indicate a significant issue with their management or procurement process.

I was in the Sidney, Nebraska Cabela's yesterday and talked to one of the guys in the fishing department for quite a while. Apparently, they are fairly upbeat about the deal. The deal closed this week (I got the emails from both companies), so now it's something of a wait and see as to how they proceed. The guy I talked to said that Cabela's has a real problem keeping inventory stocked, and that's been a problem for some time. It's not due to sales, but supposedly to a poorly executed supply chain. The good news is that there has been nothing mentioned about changing the store name or closing it. I'm not exactly up on the legalities of big business, but I don't even know what the options are for a privately owned company (BPS) buying a publicly traded one (Cabela's). I was looking for a reel, and the only one they had was the display model. The way that the security lock was attached blocked the full movement of the level wind guide, so it was pinned on the left side and any time you cranked the reel, it just stayed against the side. (apparently because of poor staffing, they had the devices installed by someone who hasn't got a clue about the design or function of a baitcasting reel) As a result, there is no way that I'd consider buying a reel which had been so abused, but they had nothing in stock, and nothing on order or planned to order before spring, so I'm just out of luck for now. It isn't a major issue to not get it until then, but it was a bit disappointing to learn that it has been an ongoing problem for some time. It's apparently a bit of a store wide issue. I realize I could buy online, but I like to get hands on for stuff like this. This link goes to an FAQ page on the marriage. FAQ

At my closest pond, there is no place where the bottom isn't visible, max depth is about 8-9 feet. Even at an angle which increases the relative viewing depth, I can see the bottom. For fishing purposes, that's pretty clear. It's been like that all year. Even a heavy thunderstorm doesn't change the clarity, because there is no feeder stream. The pond is fed from a well, so the water coming in is always pure. It grows a good crop of various weeds, but I've not yet seen anything like an algae bloom to reduce clarity. Other local lakes have varying clarity through the summer, and that can change sharply at the thermocline. As a former scuba diver, I've been in fresh water where it was a bit murky as I started down, then hit about 15-20 feet and go through into the colder water under the thermocline and it turns clear, like driving out of a fog bank.

I currently have 10# Trilene on my Shimano Spheros 5000, and used to use 30# Power Pro braid on it when I fished in shore salt water. Both work fine on that one.

Old Town has the Discovery 133 canoe - 13'3" long x 40.5 wide, 78 lbs - it's not a cruising canoe, but with that wide beam should be a good one for fishing. $999 from Cabela's (of course you have to add paddle(s), PFD, any other accessories you need). This is what I'll be buying over the winter - a canoe is perfect for me because that's what I grew up with back in the 50's and early 60's.

e-clips aren't that hard to manage. Keep a finger on them when removing them like most videos show and they should stay under control. I used to be in office machine sales and service back in the days before computers and electronics took it over (yeah, I'm pretty old), and if you want to see springs and small parts that love to fly all over, take apart a typewriter sometime. You need the right tools and technique and it becomes fairly straightforward. The key for me is making sure that I keep the pieces and parts in order as I disassemble them so that they all go back together the same way they came out. It sucks to finish putting something back together only to find that you have a left over internal spacer or washer that was hiding under your bottle of oil.

I'm also new to baitcasters, and a shore fisherman, but I don't have any problem throwing a weightless worm with my Tatula CT100 on a 6' UglyStik, but I've never tried anything as light as a Ned rig on that. I have also used my spinning outfit for both weighted and weightless plastics, so I'd say that if it's lighter than a weightless 5" worm then I'll probably use the spinning rig.

Long time ago I fished with Hula Poppers and loved them. I hadn't bass fished for 50+years until this summer, so I hadn't even realized that they had fallen out of popularity. I'm planning to try them again soon. What we had the most success with in Wisconsin back in the early 60's were the black, the coach dog, and leopard frog. We usually fished them early morning and evenings until after sunset, casting close to shore and working back toward the boat.... pop, pop, pause - pop, pause - try different rhythms on the retrieve.

So.... I wonder what the OP did about his problem? After a lot of research, I bought a Tatula CT 100 for my first baitcaster. I have nothing but spinning gear to compare with for distance, but I found it easy to learn with, and it casts an adequate distance for me. I change baits with little or no brake adjustment. Since I am just learning, I use a roll cast most of the time and it seems to make little difference what size lure I'm using as long it loads the rod as I make that loop before releasing the spool. Since at the moment I'm still a shore fisherman, I haven't had any real need for pitching or flipping. I can throw a crank, or a frog, or a worm with good success. I have had just one backlash in the month or so that I've had the reel. A couple of times I've gotten a bit of overrun that loosened the line so I had to strip a few yards before I could crank it back tight, but not enough to knot it up. That probably says more about me and my 2 left thumbs than it does about the reel.

Shore for now. My wife has agreed to add about $2000 to our budget over the winter to buy the canoe and accessories I've picked out, so that next year I'll be more amphibious. Since I only own 2 rods (one baitcaster and one spinning rod), I usually have both with me in the truck, even though I don't try to haul both around the shore as I fish. The small pond I fish most of the time allows me to go back to the truck to change baits or rods. I usually do a full circuit with one rig, then change if that isn't working. I hope to add a second baitcaster over the winter. All 3 rods will probably join me in the canoe except on those few occasions when my wife wants to come along.

I'm going to be getting either a Thule or Yakima top rack for my F-150 to carry the canoe I'll be buying soon. I tow a camping trailer so I can't have it hanging out the back, and on a Supercab with a 5½ foot bed it's not going to work in the bed even when I don't have the trailer hooked up. They want a ridiculous amount for either brand, but I haven't found anything less that I would trust.

So far in this, my first modern summer of bass fishing, I've used several different baits, but only actually caught fish on 3 of them. As a result, those are the ones I start with when I go down the pond. If I don't get anything, or if they bite for a while and then stop, then I'll pull something new out of the box and have a go with it. I'm mostly still teaching myself proper technique for casting and for retrieving (with a lot of help from this site and YouTube), so when I don't get bit, I usually figure that it's just as likely me as it is the bait. I learned Northwoods bass fishing in Wisconsin back in the late 50's and early 60's, and had the most success fishing topwaters, so that is still my usual starting point unless it's just the wrong thing for the time or location. I generally have some sort of soft plastic rigged weightless on my spinning rod, and I throw cranks and topwaters with the baitcaster. I don't own a spinnerbait or buzzbait yet... so I know I'm probably missing some opportunities, but I need to improve my approach with what I do have before I branch out any further. I already have a pile of baits sitting on a table here in my study for which I don't even have a box yet to store them in, so I need to slow down feeding the monkey for a while.

Just one thing that hasn't been mentioned... maybe use flourocarbon if you aren't already. Mono is buoyant, so you would be fighting the line and the bait to keep it down.

My wife is very much the same about both my fishing and my golf. Maybe marginally more interest in my golf, since we do play 9 holes together about one morning a week.

I'm right here too. I'm dominantly right handed, cast either right handed or two handed. I use a right handed baitcaster as that's how I learned 50+ years ago. After leaving the MN and WI Northwoods for the Rockies, I used spinning and fly rods for trout for many years. For spinning, it's natural for me to operate the bail with my left and crank with the left while casting 2 handed - right hand always holds the rod with the fingers straddling the reel mount. I can't do that with a baitcaster - it just feels wrong. Have to cast righty, switch hands and crank righty (which doesn't require any thought at all - it's automatic). Even though I hadn't used a baitcaster since the early 60's when I bought my first Tatula this summer, the switch just feels natural.

Wish I'd had my phone ready when I caught a 4 incher last week on a 3" popper. Many years ago I caught a 3" LM on a Jitterbug casting plug. Largemouth bass clearly have a problem with ego, or delusions of grandeur. They will hit a bait that they couldn't possibly swallow even if it was something alive.

So.... what I'm getting is that yes, some fishermen are a bit on jerk side, while others are open and friendly and forthcoming about what, how and where they are catching. Good to know that some folks still believe in being neighborly. I'm something of a believer in karma, both good and bad, and I'd rather do what I can to attract the good kind.

I'm not really sure what more I'd add, but I would probably eliminate about 75% of the plastics that I've been compulsively buying. While I admit that they catch fish, I'm finding that I don't enjoy fishing them as much as I do more active baits. They will probably be relegated to a last resort in my rotation. As this is my first summer of bass fishing, I haven't gotten around to buying any spinnerbaits or buzzbaits, so that is most likely to come up in my future.

One universal law... boys throw rocks. If that bothers you then you will probably spend a lot of time being bothered. I was fishing the local pond one evening a month ago, and 3 10-12 year old boys came down and started throwing rocks and generally acting like boys, about 50 yards away. They then decided that sunset was a great time to do cannonballs off the dock. I packed up and left, even though I had timed my outing for the sunset bite. The rocks didn't seem to bother the fish where I was, as I caught one after they showed up. Once they jumped in the water, that was all she wrote for fishing. Since there is no place on that small pond that is more than about 80 yards from the dock, any fish that might have been biting were cowering in the weeds by then.

This is sort of where I am right now - I've had my first baitcaster for about a month now, but I just don't get out anywhere often enough to really put in a good practice session. I haven't spent enough time to find that release point yet... just can't get my thumb to let go soon enough. I'll keep working on it. Backlashes haven't been any problem with my Tatula CT100 spooled with 12# Spiderwire mono.

I happens to all of us. I was fly fishing in the Swan River in Montana a long time back. August is the Bull Trout (Dolly Varden) spawning run up there. I was fishing a streamer on a 2x tapered leader when I hooked what had to be a monster. I had already landed a 4# rainbow just a short time before, but this one I couldn't even move out of the current in the middle of the river. I pulled, he pulled back - barely even seemed to realize that he had a hook in his mouth. After about 45 seconds of this, he broke the surface and spit the fly back at me. No idea just how big it was, but I assumed it was a big Dolly. It was definitely a lot bigger than the rainbow I caught earlier.

Thanks. I thought that might be it, but wanted to be sure. My baitcaster (just a cheap 6' Ugly Stik to help me learn the art) and spinning rod (BPS Ocean Master 3 piece travel rod) both have down-locking mounts. They snug up tight and have never come loose by accident. I have owned cheap rods in the past where I did have a problem with them loosening during use. I had a Garcia flyrod back in the mid 60's that I could never seem to keep tight, and it was a mid range rod.