Sword of the Lord

I cast right according to the vidoes, but the line always becomes a mess. When spooling, I go through all the guides, tie a knot with the bail open, close the bail, keep tension on the line with my fingers, then begin to spool, but it comes off the reel and becomes messy no matter what I do.

From 2012-2014 I was an avid bass fisherman. I've gotten back into it this year. I picked up my baitcaster and it was like riding a bike; I knew just what to do, as if it were yesterday. However, back then and even now, I've never been able to use a spinning reel. I can't cast with it and I can't spool it, even after countless attempts. Everything I have learned has come from reading, watching videos, and trying on my own. Nobody has ever taught me. My option for light baits and finesse tactics has been the best spincast reels I can find, and it works fine...plenty of bass caught with them and no major issues. But I need to learn to use and spool a spinning reel. I'm not being the best fisherman I can be, but I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I picked up a baitcaster and learned it very quickly, but this has been a different animal for me. I got a new spinning rod and reel yesterday and I've failed 3 times on spooling it. $10 fluoro down the drain.

I'm not an expert, but from what I gather, the warmer it is, the deeper they are to stay cool, right? So if it's cooler, you'll find them shallower?

Getting skunked is normal. You won't catch them where they aren't located. It's not as easy and casting and getting a bite. You have to locate the fish. Cover, fallen and hanging trees, boulders, other debris, under docks and bridges, weeds, etc. Yesterday I basically got skunked. I slay fish at this body of water every weekend, but yesterday it was frustrating. I could not find them. It's not that I was doing something wrong, it was just one of those days. Finally right before I was about to leave I saw a lone dink swimming by the shore. I threw a wacky Senko on its nose and it instantly struck it; leading me to believe that I simply never found them because this guy was hungry and not skittish at all.

My boy got a nice one on a black power worm. We saw it swim up to the shore causally, just staring us down it looked like. I threw a Senko in front of it. It came and watched it. Backed off. Twitched it, it came up again, then swam off. I told him to throw that worm out there in the direction it took off in and it was an instant strike.

But a jig n pig? Never seen or heard that before. She doesn't fish that often. Easily her biggest ever. All I heard was, "S***, I got a shark, help!"

Wacky rigged 4 and 5 inch Senkos on octopus hooks. By a mile really.

My wife hadn't had a bite all day, so she did something completely unorthodox: She fished a jig n pig on a float and landed this:

Shore. Makes sense. It becomes a nightmare. We'll get a boat once in awhile but even then I'm catching bass anyway else. I've never had a situation where the bite is tough and thought s crank will do; it's always something else.

Because I actually don't catch much on them, they get hung up, and I don't find fishing them as enjoyable as other methods. Hate is a strong word, but it's also an exaggeration. I don't literally hate crankbaits, I just pick them last almost every time.

I'll go for 4 hours without a bite (rare) before going home or to the next body of water. At that point I'm just wasting time. However, something I learned from an old timer, I'll move location after 30 minutes without a bite: "I know when to admit defeat."

That you like and do the most? For me it is soft plastics. Worms, Senkos, creatures, flukes, etc. I would say this is 90% or more of my fishing. Sometimes I fish spinnerbaits and top waters. I borderline hate crankbaits.

I was fishing a 5 inch Senko wacky rigged at my favorite pond today. I was tossing it on the outside of some weeds when I saw a bass attack something on the top of the water in the middle of the pond. So I retrieved my bait real quick and threw it out there to see if I could get him. Nothing. So I reeled in very quickly to get back to fishing the weeds. The Senko looked like a frog hopping across the top of the water as I brought it in, and I'll be danged if a bass didn't strike it! I tried this method again, and again a bass struck it but missed, so I let the bait sink and he (I assume the one who missed) took it as it sunk. Anyone else try this?

It's not the barb. It's the inward hook point. Thanks guys.

First, a little bit of background information and a small, albeit possibly embarrassing question prior to my actual question. I've picked up bass fishing again this summer after a hiatus. From 2012-14 I was really into it. I did well, but I was still a novice. I stopped for a few years due to personal reasons. I was using Eagle Claw Razor Sharp offset worm hooks back then, but have switched to Gammie EWG hooks. I don't like EWG hooks for thinner plastics, such as the Berkeley Power Worm; so I picked up some normal offset Gammie worm hooks. On the package it ends with 'RB'. What does that mean? The Eagle Claws never said that. I find that the worms do not sit as nicely on these hooks as they do the Eagle Claws. I'm wondering if the 'RB' means something and it's not the same as a normal offset worm hook? On to the main question. I'm wacky rigging Senkos a lot and having a ton of success and a great time. I've tried several variations of hooks, but nothing has made the bait look as good or have such a high percentage of hookups as the Gammie octopus hooks. However, I think they work too well, or perhaps I'm not unhooking them properly. I am strictly catch and release. I really care about the bass I catch. But these hooks are brutal to try to remove due to the tip of the hook being bent inwards. If it's just too tough, I slide the hook out backwards and cut the line. It gets the hook out well enough but the eye leaves a hole in the fish. I'm no snowflake PETA guy by any means, but I love these fish and want it to be as smooth and undamaged of an unhooking as possible. Any tips?