Glaucus

Just wanted to say we have bass on beds in my parts (an hour and a half south of downtown Chicago). Hadn't seen it yet until today.

Good advice here, and I'll add more: This shouldn't be happening that frequently. Not even close. Work on feeling and seeing bites. Braid helps feel, high visibility braid helps see. You'll get it down with other lines the more you fish as well. Sometimes it's unavoidable though.

You're not feeling or seeing the bites until it's too late.

No, and I also don't eat soup with a fork.

That bass is really skinny. I agree with the 4lb range.

Nothing about that fish says spotted bass. I once posted a smallmouth to Facebook and someone said, "wow, that's a big rock bass." People are ridiculous.

The Aird X and Fuego combo is great, but I don't think it's justifiable to get that if you can get an SLX combo for the same price. You can easily get the Daiwa setup for $120 at which point it's definitely worth it. I bought the Daiwa setup for my son and I have some Fuegos myself. Very good stuff.

I love to fish, and loving to fish means I love to catch fish, so I'll take numbers. Only time I would care about size is tournaments and for a PB.

If you wear polarized glasses and stand back you can see bass with their faces literally on the banks. They get that close. Standing back allows you to catch bank bass, hence bank fishing.

^ this Also air temp is irrelevant. Water temp matters.

Daiwa by far. Their only competition is Shimano, and I still prefer Daiwa to them. I'd sooner be an Abu fanboy than purposefully buy Lews.

I've never used that reel or had that problem. I would suggest unloading it or using it for baits you reel set with, like squarebills and lipless crankbaits, if it's causing you such a headache.

3/16 to 1/4 is almost negligible

Fuego. From casting to spinning, they're criminally underpriced for how great they are.

I use it more than any other line. It's a great all around line. Just make sure to keep in mind that the diameter and strength of the line is not what it says on the spool. The 12lb has the diameter of about your standard 14-15lb line and it breaks at around 19lbs. The 10lb is around 12lb diameter and breaks at around 16lbs. So use 12lb where you would use 15-17+lb line and 10lb where you would use 12-14lb line. General rule of thumb for me is M Power gets 10lb, MH Power gets 12lb. For casting. For spinning 6lb breaks at around 11lbs and has the diameter of about 8lb line. It goes on my M Power rods. 4lb has the diameter of about 6lb line and breaks at around 8lbs. It goes on my ML Power rods. I'm really tired and that's probably gibberish up there lol so just in case...... Casting: Medium = 10lb Medium Heavy = 12lb Heavy = 15lb Spinning: Medium = 6lb Medium Light = 4lb Make sure to get KVD Line and Lure Conditioner. It makes it much better.

I usually use lighter line than what the articles, posts, and videos tell me I need to use as well. Lighter powered rods too. Properly set drag and well tied knots are key. I also favor a moderate fast action where the articles, posts, and videos recommend a fast action. I once watched my buddy frog fish with 10lb mono. I was blown away by him not only hooking up, but not snapping his line. Going that "ridiculous" isn't for me, but the point is, for whatever reason, everybody is different and almost nothing is universal. I think too many people try to fish like pros. Pros can't afford to lose fish so they stack every possible thing in their favor to land the fish. They grind and grind for the special bites. I find that that isn't the average Joe, but the average Joe thinks it is.

Absolutely ridiculous. Very cool. Positive note for me here: caught 14 in an hour and a half this morning. Access to the pond has been restored as water makes its way back to where it belongs (although the river is still to be avoided). Ned Rig got it done for the best day yet this spring. Nothing over 2.5 pounds but it was great.

That was awesome. I've run in off the bank before but never did what he did lol

Up here we can't even get it to stay in the 60s. About to be halfway through May and we're still battling some 50s for highs with more to come. Here being an hour and a half south of Chicago.

Pretty miserable here. I can't even fish my favorite and best places due to flooding. Where I can fish is abysmal. I'm lucky to get one most days. Worst season in a decade.

You overloaded your rod and somehow the rods these days are defective? I'm not following.

If you're light fishing, using a dropshot, that tells me you're using a lighter power rod, likely with a max 1/2oz lure weight, possibly less. A 3/8oz jig only accounts to the jighead weight. Add the hook, skirt, and weedguard, plus the trailer, and you've doubled the weight. That could be why it snapped. A dropshot rod and a jig rod are 10000000% different.

My buddy and me on the exact same date last year. A world of difference.

We waited so long for ice out to be rewarded with flooding from the melt, which is typical. What happened next has been a constant down pour that has caused flooding the likes of which we haven't seen in quite a few years. This is the state of our waters. Fishing will be a very late start this year and will be very short lived. I had been fishing a pond waiting for warmer and lower waters, but now it is also flooded out and there isn't much hope left for this season. Even when the waters recede the fishing will have suffered. My brother in law is reporting broken levees and historic flooding up his way.