devinrhall006

thanks a lot that worked, i had no idea you had to slide that part over to make the plate come off. i tried it as soon as i saw your reply and it came right off. thanks a lot for your help and looking that video up to help.

I can't open my black max to clean and lube it lol. Where the brakes are you can usually pull the plate off and get access to the spool and stuff and it just will not open. I don't know if with the newer ones sold if they made it to where you can't open it but i wouldn't imagine them doing that. If anyone has experience with the Abu Garcia Black Maxx please tell me how to open it lol. I know this sounds stupid but it seems like it's glued shut.

i ended up getting an abu garcia black maxx after all the good reviews i saw about it and the price is fair, and i got an abu garcia vengeance medium heavy to go with it. i don't think it was a terrible choice but i haven't tried it out yet. seems pretty solid to me.

i do have amazon prime and i've heard good things about abu garcia...they have some decent looking reels from them at my walmart for 40-50 but amazon usually has a better deal so thanks for that. thanks a lot i'll look and i've heard shimano is a pretty good manufacturer. thank all you guys really. when i get a new rod and reel ill personally thank all of you even if what u suggested isn't what i got...it means a lot that u took the time.

spinning, i am thinking about getting an okay baitcasting reel maybe in the 50 to 60 dollar range also. for now it's spinning. thanks ill check that out, i know my walmart has rods from 3 dollars all the way to 100 dollars. i'm not sure what brand the 100 dollar ones are but id assume it must be a big brand name.

thanks guys for all your comments, Ill check all those out so far and see what will fit me best, I do agree a 7 foot medium heavy is pretty versatile. My rod used to be 7 foot until about a foot of it broke off and I used a tip repair kit. It just isn't the same and I'm not catching fish like I was. I think I will go with probably a 7 footer or close to 7. I'm also wanting a new baitcaster reel because right now i'm limited to spinning. I'm on a real tight budget, my tackle consists of one small tackle box of hooks and hard plastics, and several bags of soft plastics. I'm very limited. I've just noticed since my rod broke i'm getting less fish so no matter what people say I believe the rod matters. I didn't believe that until now.

I know this isn't an easy question at all and might be considered dumb to some of you. I'm a budget bass angler, it's somerhing I love but I have a VERY tight budget. Do any of you know of a good versatile rod from a walmart or amazon that would be good for most lures and soft baits. A rod that I can use with all baits even though it wouldn't be the best rod to use but kind of versatile. I probably have a 50-60 dollar limit on a new rod. I don't mean a rod and reel combo, I have reels, just a new rod. I know it's a hard question to answer but if you know of a good versatile rod for a lot of situations in that price range i'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

i noticed that and thanks a lot for the video i'm going to watch it now. i believe the hardest part for me will be getting trajectory right with different lures. since they all have a different weight i'm guessing it takes a little bit of different action to cast them right, maybe i'm wrong. i just need to practice casting a lot especially at longer distances because the longer the distance the worse i am with making a splash. i'm fine with short casts and make little noise. i know i've spooked many fish. i'm not an amateur angler period, i'm an amateur bass angel period lol. bass are just a whole other level of angling and it's all i want to learn. their brains might not be big but they're very smart fish.

well there's a term i didn't know of. thanks guys ill look it up.

I know on a baitcaster you can just use your thumb to slow the fall of the lure so it doesn't spook the fish with a big sound when it hits the water, and you also have to have good technique in casting. Does anyone have a technique of slowing the line down on a spinning reel? I guess you could also try using your thumb, I haven't tried it but it doesn't seem like it would work great.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that even on the bad days you still are not bored? Can not catching anything get frustrating? Yes, it definitely can, but you still stay out there. I don't think it's all about catching anything all the time, I think it's about just being out there in the natural world and being away from all the stress and life problems. I can spend 8 hours fishing and not catch a thing and it was not a bad day in mind. Fishing that long and catching one fish makes that one fish that much better no matter what the size. Fishing wouldn't be as fun if you caught something every time you tossed a lure out. Trust me, it would get boring faster than you think if that were the case. Earning a fish is better than the fish just throwing themselves out to you every time. Those type of days feel good, but if it were every day, it would get old. Fishing stays fishing because it's a challenge and a patience game. Does anyone else feel this way?

lol...i actually have been using flouro...most of my success has been with tubes...jigs don't seem to me in favor of the smallmouth here...not at this time anyways...even with flouro i've actually corrected my problem vastly by popping my lures instead of reeling after i cast and having more patience to feel what my lure is hitting. i haven't caught more fish that way but i have saved a lot more lures.

ill look that up thanks for the suggestion.

can you recommend me a good braided line around that size? not the most expensive but price isn't a huge issue.

i think i've figured out one of my main problems, unless i'm wrong. the entire bottom is rocks...from big to smaller. i've been casting it, letting it drop, and reeling in with some pops. heres what i think i should be doing to avoid getting hung up. i think i should be casting, letting it drop to the bottom, and pop it first to avoid the obstacles before reeling at all and then let it drop again. correct me if i'm wrong but i think that will work better than what i've been doing.

i believe it's very much my lack of experience with rock fishing. i lost a lot of tackle today fishing there again.

the part of the river i fish has almost no current because of the dam and i fish between huge rocks so the water is virtually still. basically without a boat the entire new river is full of rocks if you're bank fishing. i do believe my reaction time needs improving. there's many times when i feel a nibble and i don't think the fish has it but it could've and spit it out. usually if i get a small nibble i wait for a bigger one but with the small nibbles the fish could've had my bait and just spit it out, i'm sure i've missed many fish by not setting the hook on a nibble. not every time but i'm sure i've missed quite a few.

thank you. and it made no sense to me when i believe what was a fish grabbed my bait and went a few different directions before getting me caught up, rocks don't zig zag. i believe my reaction time and instinct has some work to be done. i just started fishing again after about 8 years of a friend of mine dying who i always fished with and i hadn't fished since, not because he died. i just lost interest and didn't have anyone to go with. nowadays i just fish alone and enjoy the peace...until a bass shows you that peace isn't real by grabbing your bait like a whale and making you fight for it =)

@BuzzHudson19c I do know i get hung up a lot but there's some some select times i know a fish did it...im talking about boulder sized rock making caves under water for these fish and under those boulders are more small rocks...i get hung up most often but i know i've gotten some fish and got hung up at the same time because of the fish. rocks don't swim and zig zag like it did the other day and then hung me up...but yes i do know i get hung up and it's quite a regular occurrence.

when i pulled it loose the other day half the bait was gone and i still had the hook

where i fish on the river there's so many huge rocks sticking out of the water and that's typically where i cast there is no current in those parts because i cast between rocks usually and it's still water in between them. i am getting hung up on a lot of rocks though. yesterday though when i got what i swear had to be a bite i started reeling in and the line zig zagged violently a few times through the water then got hung up, i don't see why the line would move around like that without a fish on it and then get hung up. i know most the time i'm getting hung up a rock, but in that instance i'm almost 100 percent sure i had a fish.

I have to say i agree with this very much. most popular colors for bass are just mixtures of these three general colors. i don't think there are really special colors you need, some of that i think is just to sell bait making you think it's special. honestly though white black and green are really the only colors id say you need because those colors fit whatever situation an time of day you're fishing. bass aren't so picky that bait needs to be a certain color. it just has to be a color they can see and use the bait correctly. that's just my opinion though so don't bash me for it.

i do get hung up on the rocks a lot but there's also many times that i know it's a bite and it's under a rock. it happened today too. i felt it wiggling around with my bait but it was near or under a rock where i couldn't reel it in. many times i am just hung up on rocks but i do know i've gotten actual bites and the fish would be right near a rock. where i prefer to fish all the bass are around the big rocks and they hide up under them, that's where i've gotten most of my bass. more often than not i am hung up but there's been quite a few times i know it was a bite. last night i hooked one in middle of two boulders and it swam in zig zag up under one of them but luckily the hook wasn't set good enough so i got my lure back.

I know a spot where it is almost entirely smallmouth around all these rocks they hide in. My problem is once they grab my bait they instantly go under a rock with it and half the time i will lose my bait. is this just my reaction time? also around the shallow water i fish in its hard to tell between a bite because rubbing against the bottom rocks can feel like a bite sometimes too. i'm sure this is just an amateur statement but i guess i just need i build up my instincts and stop them from going under the rocks with my bait which is almost instantaneous, they're insanely fast.

there's definitely a lot of decent smallmouth in the river. i'm struggling with them taking my bait up under the rocks with them. i guess i'm just not reacting quick enough. there's actually a place in martinsburg i want to fish but it's quite a drive from where i am.