FishDewd

That's all I have here, is muddy or murky water, until I drive about 350+ miles north to hit new braunfels region. Dropshot works fine. Ned rig.... eh, yeah I don't recommend that either. I've gotten 1-2 on it but I think it was pure luck. One was a catfish. I agree with the topwater comment... I've had luck in pressured water using topwaters, especially a whopper plopper. I have a a 90, but I'd so go 110 if your gear can throw it. I finally got a rod that can throw that, so I'll be experimenting with a 110 soon as I can buy one. Also, crankbaits. They aren't really "do nothing" and require some technique, but can be effective. I'm 2-2 for this season so far for catfish and bass using cranks. I'm starting to really like them and I throw them every time I go out. Only took me a solid year to learn how to make them work though lol.

Most composites these days are made as alternatives to steel when you need the same or greater total strength at a small diameter, thickness, or less weight. Look at carbon fiber for example. I posted a video comparing steel to carbon fiber driveshafts and the carbon fiber won handily. It depends on how it's made and what it is was made for. Lumping them all into one category or assumption is faulty. Personally I prefer composite frames since I have both metal and composites. I find I can fish longer when using a lighter reel, never felt like I was outgunned using one against a strong fish. I've caught big red fish and catfish using a composite reel intended for bass.

For me, I learned on spinning gear and I can definitely cast it farther than a casting reel. Anytime I try to bomb a casting reel, it birdnests. So if I am needing to hurl out beyond what I consider to be a comfortable casting reel distance... I'll pick up a spinning reel. I am tend to be more accurate with a spinning reel because I can actually overhand cast it. I can't overhand cast a baitcaster for beans.

Welcome, Richard! You have a very cool job, designing toys sounds like a lot of fun coming from a big kid myself! Glad you found your way back to the hobby you love and that your health has improved since winter time. May you catch many more bass! Reading is definitely helpful, think most of us here have done our share of it. Don't forget about youtube videos though, there's also a lot of excellent information there as well. I would recommend you check out Bass Resource's channel to get started though there are many other great ones too.

Well, I hear bass will actually eat nose-hooked earthworms. They also eat minnows as well. I haven't used live bait for bass though. You could well still use a bobber for either technique, but if you're looking to get away from bobbers and use a more bottom approach that can do both artificial and live presentations... I don't think there is a better way for a learning fisherman than the trusty old dropshot rig. So versatile and easy to use too: From this page: http://www.carolinasportsman.com/details.php?id=13715

The dam with rip rip sounds promising... I hear dams make great holding areas for bait fish, which means bass. I also kind of like those points on the NE and NW, especially the NW where the creeks are meeting into the lake. Could be a good holding area. Just my opinion, I could be way off. I haven't done a tremendous amount of lake fishing. But I'd look for the bait fish: find the food, find the bass. Generally. If you don't know what depth they're at, running a hi-lo dropshot can be an effective way to test different depths if things like a crank or swimbait aren't working. Plus you can rig baits in different ways with that: I like a wacky rig on the bottom, and a nose hooked or texas rig tied on a dropper loop on the top hook.

I can reel left handed fine, and have gotten to where I may prefer it cause I am right hand dominant and find that I can make more precise movements with that hand controlling the rod. However, for now all I have are spinning reels in left hand, all my BC reels are right handed. I will likely invest in a left hand on my next BC reel. As far as flipping/pitching I stink at both techniques. I can't flip at all, and my pitches go anywhere but where I want them to. I watch videos of people just zinging them out there... I don't get it! Lol. Granted my rods are not meant for that either, they all tend to bend a bit on a pitch and my every day rods are no longer than 7'. Maybe that's a factor, idk.

Yeah, gators get a bad rep. Prior to hurricane Harvey, we had a nature park here with miles and miles of trails and acres of fishable water. To say it was "infested" with large gators was an understatement. They were everywhere, in the water, and sometimes even on the tails. As a kid I used to go there to ride my bike. More than once I had to pass a large gator on a trail and never got so much as a snap from one. Perhaps they just weren't interested in eating kids lol. I suspect the were kept well fed too. Afaik, no one ever got injured or killed from a gator in that park. Was just part of the scenery. On the subject of turtles, I've caught this year so far. One was a 10 lb. juvenile alligator snapper out of my pond. Regrettably, that one "had to go" as they are fish eaters. Lot's of other red eared sliders in there that don't bother the farm fish, so they can stay far as I care. I caught a red ear at a park a few weeks back while catfishing with hotdogs with a small circle hook at dusk. Saw my line moving across the pond but I waited cause I didn't think it had it yet. Once I felt the weight, I set it and started reeling in. At first I thought the fish got away cause I saw this big weedy mat come up from the abyss towards the shore. Then I saw the shell. Turtle. And this one had been through some hell and back. Missing both front feet, scars on the face, chips missing from around the shell. No wonder she was hungry for hotdogs! I tried for a while to get the hook out, but like the OP said, they are amazingly strong and stubborn. Even flipping it over didn't get her head out from her shell. She hissed a little but was not aggressive. A few times I managed to get a good hold on the hook with my needle nose pliers but the hook was through a hard part of the lower jaw and I saw that her mouth was full of blood. I just could not get the circle hook out. I ended up cutting the hook down pretty low. She'll be fine, turtles are very tough. No doubt the rest of the hook is out by now. Did feel bad though and I never did catch any catfish afterwards lol. Morale is: the turtle you caught will be just fine.

I use them sometimes for catfish, but never had much luck fishing them for bass. Granted, the ones I use are fairly large and I don't remove the pinchers. Maybe I should try that sometimes with a little smaller crawfish. What works best for me rigging is pushing the hook through the thickest part of the tail before the body starts. I've tried rigging them other ways, even using tiny rubber bands for hair braiding, but it never works. I've lost them on casting, and had fish hit them and put it free of the rubber band. Don't do that anymore as a result.

I have Pro-Cure Crawfish and Megastrike... haven't noticed any difference using them over not using them. What seems to work better are the Powerbaits and coffee scented lures. Those have caught me a few fish. Other traditional soft baits that just smell like plastic/rubber, haven't seen any difference adding scent to them or not. Fish either bite them or don't.

Yeah that's fair. Use what works when the situation calls for it! I use the uni occasionally, I've just gotten to where I have confidence in the palomar, especially when I may have to deal with snags. That extra piece of line gives me ease of mind! When windy it is a bit tougher but I just pull extra tag end through the eyelet so the wind can't blow it out as easily. I also hold both lines until my OH knot is complete.

If I read that correctly, sounds like you had it right. The OH knot should be above the eyelet so the hook is sitting below it on two lines which are the remnants of the original loop made through the eyelet. Pull the end of the loop down close to the eyelet and finish it as the diagram posted earlier shows.

You have issues with the palomar? It's about the easiest knot really... not giving you a hard time, don't take that the wrong way. What about it are you having trouble with it? I love tying knots, it's the one aspect of bass fishing I am good at. Lol. Can honestly say I've never had a knot fail me, even when using fluorocarbon. Try the fish 'n fool as had been said before, but be careful how it sets. It it's lopsided or whatnot it can and probably will fail. If you have issues with the palomar this probably isn't the knot for you. I would instead recommend the san diego jam knot which has one pass through the eyelet rather than two. That's one of 3-4 knots that's never failed me. Feel free to pm me any time, maybe I can help.

I went bank fishing today and timed it, apparently, badly. I could hear thunder the whole time I was fishing and just kept watching the dark clouds and lightning getting closer and closer. So I started speed fishing covering as much water as possible. Didn't get so much as a nibble though on my moving baits, so I ended up packing it up about an hour sooner than I wanted to. Just didn't feel like gambling with that lightning. Plus the wind was picking up and the water was getting really choppy, I don't like fishing in those conditions to begin with.

We've all been there... I'm yet to gut hook a bass (I did gill hook one very badly once though) but I have gut hooked more than a few catfish. Catfish are different though, sometimes you really cannot prevent it cause they nail it so aggressively and just inhale faster than human reaction time can allow a proper set. But I applaud your passion and concern for the fish, lot of people don't have that when fishing. "Eh it's just a fish...." Maybe. But it's still a living creature. Circle hook might solve the problems or might not. I've gut hooked fish with circle hooks before when I was quick on the set, mostly when using floats as floats require a little different timing and hook set than bottom or suspension fishing. However, I switched to double action circle hooks from team catfish while catfishing and have not gut hooked one since! So there's that at least... lol. Still. It's gonna happen, and yeah it puts a damper on the day. But don't let it dictate how your whole trip is going to go. The fish will probably live unless it bled out really badly or something. Just take a breath and keep fishing... it'll be all right. Spoken from my own experiences.

I often transport my rods in my car, but they are too long to fit in the back seat the rear seat does not fold down. So what I do is slide them beside my passenger seat so the tip rests in the floor boards and allow the handle to rest against the back seats. Sometimes when I remove them they have a temporary minor bend to them that goes away after a few minutes. Maybe you can try that, but put it in there so that it bends the other way and leave it for a few days? No idea why your tip did that though to begin with though.

Spinners of any sort, chatterbaits, buzzbaits, texas rigs, carolina rigs, jigs, spoons, swimbaits, flukes, lipless crankbaits, frogs. Out of these, I've caught a few on a texas rig but other techniques are much more productive for me than the listed. Note this is only for bass cause some of these work for me with other species, like trout.

With catfish, yes. I double set almost every time. With bass, I only do that with moving lures, like crankbaits. I will sweep them first, then do a moderate set upwards once I've reeled them a bit just for insurance. Haven't had one throw it yet. They don't come off once they're on.

Not specifying the bait size, hook type, and pressure level of the waters you fish. I've missed plenty due to having a larger bait on a smaller hook, in pressured waters. For example, I decided to use a 1/16 road runner with a small Powerbait worm the other day in a highly, highly pressured pond, mainly for practice. I got a hit. I reeled down and set that SOB, but I missed. I think it was because the fish knew to hit the tail of it to feel if it was real or not. Obviously it wasn't, and I pulled it out of its mouth on the set. It never wouldn't have eaten it, I'm confident of that. Fish just knew it wasn't real. It happens. The hook didn't have enough shank to it in this scenario. But that's fine. It taught me some stuff. Next time. Tbh I don't pitch/flip much because I am awful at it so I can't comment on that. Those techniques just don't work for me.

I was kinda thinking of going to challenger later. I usually only go in the beginning of the week since I work weekends. I have work next 4 days so won't be able to do much then.

Yeah they have to be in a certain mood for the plopper. I only throw it on overcast days, they never bite it when it's sunny for some reason. I tried to hit willow pond the other day on recommendation from someone I met at Challenger 7. I gave up on getting there lol. Calder drive from 517 is a disaster, first of all. If you go there I would recommend hitting league city parkway or wherever it was that calder spit on to, directly from 45. But the whole area is a lot of construction so watch out.

A bad day of fishing beats not fishing at all!

I've tried that... never caught me anything. :P This ^^ The weather here has been weird, just like it has been everywhere. Winter in spring, then summer in spring. I think the fish are confused and don't know what they want. My best results so far have been a plopper topwater and crankbaits. Granted, I've only caught like 3-4 bass so far this spring, none much over a pound I don't think. Course, I also only fish ponds so that's a separate issue all together.

I know of them... never been to either one. I've heard tom bass can be very hit/miss. It actually has 3 ponds I think. The third one I've heard of people catching carp. Idk what else it has in it. The stocking reports aren't accurate, don't even bother looking at those lol.

It's very pressured, but a lot of people don't run cranks, dropshots, or topwater. I'm the only one who seems to do so and I catch them. Least 1-2 on most trips. They like whopper ploppers, squarebills and most finesse presentations. Seen people have luck with inline spinners and chatterbaits, I just don't have luck with them so far hehe. Just don't run lipless in there! I've lost two lol. There are some decent bass in there, lot of catfish and bream too. Just focus on the shore lines. Down the left side along the grass banks, at the point, in the little cove over that. Opposite bank grass banks and tree shade too. A more local park you can try is Mowhawk County Park, the former girlscout/boyscout camp. But it has a bad downside, you can't walk around it that's for cabin renters only. Can only fish the dock area. Somewhat frustrating. Very snaggy so don't run too many open hooks down the river there. Throw those to the right side. But there some bass in there and nice size catfish for frying. They destroy livers and hotdogs.