BluegillsTightlines

Both fights were pretty epic. The 5 lber hit a little closer in so I didn't have to work as long, but it still made 3 aerial jumps before I got it in. 7 lber was about 30 feet out and I had to really work for that one. It took drag and I had to let it tire itself a bit. Reeled up and down like fighting a carp. It did two very big runs and 2 jumps right before I got it into the net. Bit a Mike Iaconelli 90mm gilly blue gill swimbait.

I decided to ignore doctor's orders and went fishing this morning. Caught a 5 lb bass and 15 minutes later a 7 lb bass. Needless to say I was STOKED. Beat my PB twice in a matter of minutes. I was able to bump the hook out of the 7 lber's mouth with my palm.

Another trip, another skunk this morning and probably d9ne for the year because I've been breaking out in hives and they can't figure out why. Fishing has been absolute garbage this month and looks like I'm ending the year on a lousy note.

Got the nasty old skunk today for the first time since late february. Had a bunch of other stuff go wrong as well-- spilled my hooks and couldn't find them, baitcast reel locked up and needs to be dressed down and inspected to find fhe issue,Alternator went out on the way home. I decided to go on into work in my other car I had such a miserable time this mornint

Not the biggest I've caught this year by far, but one of my favorites. Fought harder than the 4 lber last week, and absolutely hammered a Texas rigged silver shad fluke. Love the colors on this dude. And caught him on my old Shimano Bantam Coriolis I've had for about 22 years. Another reel my dad bought me in school for making good grades. With fresh line on and the guide oiled up, that thing throws and reels quite smooth now. Also, even though I didn't catch anything on it, I was pleased with how my new Lew's American Hero baitcast reel performed. I slapped a buzzbait on it and I've got the spool tension and mag brake set to where I don't have to even use the thumb to kep it from backlashing-- just press the button and cast. Both over head and sidearm it casts well, and covers a nice amount of water, and I'm improving on cast accuracy as well. Only caught that one bass but, one fish over 2 lbs is plenty enough to satiate me. I treat anything more than that, or anything bigger than that an additional blessing and cherry on top.

I will, I just picked this one up in a pinch until my Berkley scale with a clamp comes in. I had one, but it stopped working and my local stores didn't have any like it.

Is that a dang chicken in its gullet?

Here is another pic I took of yesterday's big bass(I personally consider anything 4 lbs+ to be big, anything 8+ huge). Is it just me or does it have more teeth than the average bass? Or perhaps my phone just got more detail of it. Either way I think it's a cool shot and it's currently my wallpaper. She darted right off immediately after being revived.

Hot as heck at times, but I've found a spot at the lake that helps shield off the sun and significantly reduces surface heating. The east end of this lake is coveted by a lot of very thick and tall trees, making for some nice shade where the temperatures fall about 8-9 degrees compared to the open. That 8-9 degree cooler differential makes a massive difference both for me as far as having the stamina to stay for a few hours, and for the fish to come up and be active and forage. I have not beat my PB this year, but I have definitely caught the most 4-5 lb bass I have in a single year already just this summer, and I am beyond thrilled about that.

Caught this 4 lber today. I had just turned my head for a second(used live bait). Was going to get me a drink and take my morning BP med when I turn around to find my rod literally in the water. I was like "sh...... where did it go?!?!?!" Then I saw it gently bobbing along the bottom. Fortunately it was just a foot or so off the bank and I was able to use my net to get it close enough to scoop back up. Knew a nice size bass had to do that. So I started cranking the reel a bit and sure enough saw the head poke up in the weeds about 15-18 feet away. It felt like it was going to definitely be a lost fish, but I lifted my rod up a good bit and just sort of let the fish do the work and swim itself out, and then the fight began-- lots of darts to the left and right, and a big jump that made me pucker big time. Gotta keep your head on a swivel here when live bait fishing, they can and will drag your stuff in. I just happened to turn around in time and not only catch the fish, but save my recently purchased rod and the daiwa reel my dad got me all those years ago.

Going to give the Lews another go round hopefully this Saturday or Sunday. Gear ratio seems like it would make for a good topbwater set up at 7.1:1. I know on my daiwa and my Shimano I really have to crank it to keep a buzzbait going like it needs to, but this should help with that, and not only hopefully help result in more buzzbait strikes, but also reduce fatigue.

Right? Lol Nothing wrong with his feelings of course, but a 19" bass thrills me too. That's a nice quality fish in every definition of the book. And anything 20+ for me is the cherry on top. I've caught more 19 and 20 inch bass this year than I ever have before, and it never ceases to amaze me just how big these things are and how much surface area they take up at that size.

Not a giant like the 2 I caught last week, but it still put up a nice fight and gave an aerial display. It actually popped off the hook right at the bank edge so I dove on it like a fumbled football lol. Fumble, recovered by the offense!! Scale went back and forth between 2.24 and 2.33 staying on 2.29 lbs the longest, so I'm calling it 2.29 lbs.

Took it for a spin on the water this morning, it casts pretty smoothly, but the reeling felt like it could have been better. I don't think it's a horrid reel but I went back to my old Shimano Bantam Coriolis and caught a solid bass on that this morning and it performed very well with a fresh tune up and new line.

What do yall think of this reel? I decided to pick it up after my Daiwa seemingly has kicked the bucket after the last outing, though I still gotta get under the hood and see exactly what's wrong. So I got this, I figured it was time for a more modern one anyway with a faster gear ratio. The daiwa I was using was 5.4:1 and felt just a little bit underpowered when fighting sizeable fish and I had to reel fast to keep a top water going like it's supposed to. I've got this one tuned into where it won't backlash with the current lure on it, which is a buzzbait. Took some practice throws in the back yard and casted to a bucket, got in and near it for the most part after I got the brake settings optimized. Feels solid and comfortable in hand as well. Has anyone else used it? I didn't wanna spend $200 for a reel with a computer chip in it, so I got this one for $68.