Glaucus

With moving baits, yeah, or throwing a soft plastic down the bank and dragging it back.

Quantum, Lew's, Favorite, and Thirteen all have one thing in common for me. I wouldn't touch them or recommend them to anyone. That's how good they are.

I've never been a big jig guy. Most of my jig fishing is done with Bitsy Bugs for river SMB. This season so far I've been stuck in the ponds due to flooding and I'm killing it with jig n craws. It feels more natural than it ever has when it comes to fishing them, feeling the subtle bites, and hammering the hook home. It's so much fun setting a jig hook and muscling in LMB from the nasties. I never thought I would prefer a jig to a Texas Rigged worm. Meant to put this is tackle, not rods. Sorry.

Some people like their own things. I don't like to fish with other people's stuff. I like my own stuff. He might be the same. However my gear is good, adequate gear, so that might not entirely fit this situation. I wish I knew old bass fishermen. All the old guys I know who fish use a bobber and a live worm with a spincast reel. Not my style at all. It's funny too because in the remote pond I fish, I only ever see 2 other people there and they are old guys on opposite ends with their worms and bobbers and competing with each other. They get to cussing and it cracks me up. Every fish counts. Bluegill, crappie, bass, catfish, it doesn't matter, size doesn't matter. Who caught more matters. They're a lot of fun but we're in 2 different worlds when it comes to fishing.

Everyone says I need a 7' rod for most things but I rarely go above 6'6" for anything. I don't throw big swimbaits though. Mostly because we don't have giant bass in Illinois and I'm not willing to grind out fishless days in the hopes of breaking a state record if something does finally bite. Different strokes. Nothing is universal.

There's a guy on YouTube called lojo. He does bass fishing videos. When he's fishing plastics he does the whole, "I got a fish, he has it, he has it, see him running with the line" then he goes to set the hook, and nothing, after he watched his rod bend and line run. Then he shouts, "What is going on here?!" Rinse and repeat. It's annoying.

I gut hooked one pretty bad yesterday. I must have thrown the finesse worm on its head because I felt nothing and saw nothing. I just felt the weight of the fish when I started to engage the worm. I knew right away I would be dealing with a gut hooked bass. Sometimes it's unavoidable. In no world, however, is gut hooking almost all of them not user error and poor strike detection. You will get better.

I'm done waiting on my river to be fishable. I fish the Vermillion River all around Pontiac and well outside of it, all around Humiston Woods, etc. It's still extremely flooded chocolate milk with no signs of stopping anytime soon. How are the other rivers up north? Kankakee is supposedly still pretty bad too. I need my Smallie fix. Got to find me a fishable river.

It's public but remote. The fish definitely doesn't belong there.

1/4oz black and blue jig with black and blue craw trailer 1/4oz Red Eye Shad in Sexy Shad Finesse Trick Worm in watermelon red (not to be confused with the original trick worm) I haven't been able to hit the flooded rivers for SMB yet. They're too dangerous and a waste of time at the moment.

I swear if that thing depletes this pond of its bass I'm going to curse whoever put it in here.

The Senko is probably my all time favorite bait. I've definitely noticed a difference in colors and how they produce. For example in one pond I fish, those bass will seldom touch a Green Pumpkin Senko but switch to Watermelon and it's game on, every single time, year after year. I've used many different colors of Senkos but never tried a white variety. I got it specifically for one pond where I see a ton of large minnows. Hoping it works out.

I picked up a pack of 4 inch Blue Pearl Silver Flake Senkos. They're basically white. I've never tried white Senkos before. I'm thinking they might mimic a dying minnow or something. At least that's what I'm going for. If you've used them, were they successful?

I reel into them. I slightly set the hook if I'm using a wacky hook with a weedguard.

I have a handful of favorites. 4 and 5 inch Senkos, finesse trick worms and original trick worms, KVD 1.5 squarebills, 1/4oz Rat-L-Trap, Ned Rig, 75/90/110 Whopper Plopper. I fish these more than anything because they work.

I saw a muskie today in a 2 acre bass pond. It was small, but unmistakable. Someone had to have put in there and I don't know why. It's like 10ft max depth. I'm 1.5 hours south of Chicago.

It aggressively slaps the blank between the reel and the first guide. Did it on both spinning rods with various lines. Even when there's little to no slack, slap slap slap slap slap as you reel. I don't think there's a performance issue per se but that is not right and is annoying to listen to. Of the 5 Furys I've kept 1 spinning and 1 casting. Put a 1000 size on the spinning for Ned's and Wacky and it's fine. Doesn't slap much at all, just when there's slack and it's only a couple times. Kept a 3 power casting rod and just designated it as a vehicle rod for all purpose stuff.

Don't need to build my own when it's a specific line that drives me nuts. Yeah, this.

Fish during low light conditions and keep your shadow off the water. Stay as far back as possible. If you're on the bank creep up and keep a healthy distance from the water. A lot of guys stand at the water's edge and this is a mistake. Pressured bass are a tough crowd. Try something new. Also a lot of times you want to bring your lure to them, not cast it on them. Many will bite if it's thrown on their head, but many also won't.

I don't think my complaints over these rods is going to stop, and I apologize to people who like them. Wether straight mono (6-10lb), straight Yo Zuri (6lb on 2500 reels), or 10-15lb braid, I'm getting a ton of line slap when reeling. If it's not braid, I treat it with KVD LL. I spool correctly. What I did was go down to 1000 size and that fixed the problem, so I'm thinking anything above 2500 is going to do the same thing. This has been on 2 different Furys, and I've never had the issue before. Why? What is the deal here? I'm now down to 2 Fury setups. I've sold 3 and went back to Fenwick. These last 2 setups are great for what I use them for. The whole Dobyns experience has been a nightmare since day 1.

Were the tails on those jacked up being packaged like that? Trying to find quality paddle tails like these that don't come with a half pack of garbage due to out of place tails from packaging.

No, but I do have a buddy who has slowed way down in recent years. He hasn't even gone out this year. I don't really know what's up. I could see a tournament angler quitting because they only did it for money and didn't find pleasure in it anymore. In fact, I watched some educational videos last year that were from like 5~ years ago, and it turns out he was a tournament angler who quit. I believe it was something about what the sport has become or something. I can't remember his name, but I guess he doesn't fish at all anymore. I personally can't see myself ever quitting as long as I remain able bodied. I literally love it and I'm literally addicted. The only thing that would stop me prematurely is the fact that every body of water is becoming freakin' private if it isn't already, and river access is becoming increasingly difficult because of construction and private land. Kickin' Their Bass TV is located in Georgia and that kid is always catching hogs in ponds and lakes there.

$250 just for the rod or $250 for the rod and the reel?

I've never used or owned either one because I don't see a need in a spinning reel that expensive. This is entirely unlike casting reels and rods, in my opinion. This isn't an opinion based solely on the price of a product in full context, and to each their own, buy what you like, and all that other stuff.