Mobasser

One other thing is this. The old mindset that a spinning rod can't another site doesn't hold water. We can always look back on some famous pros who will prove this wrong. Examples are , Billy Westmoreland, with monster smallmouth, Bill Dance, through much of his career, Tom Mann, who used spin tackle excluseively , and Charlie Brewer, with Slider fishing. These are just four guys out of many, who used spinning gear, and caught lots of big bass. Spinning reels have always worked well for bass fishing.Anyone who would tell you otherwise, has probably never used a nice spinning outfit.

I tend to look at it like this. I don't catch " hawgs" on every trip. They're rare for me. I catch a lot of bass in the14" to 18" range. Fighting these fish on a med spinning rod is sporting and fun too. But, should I hook a big bass, I feel confident that my spinning tackle can land him too.

A-Jay, I'm with you here. A well set up spinning outfit is tons of fun, and can catch some hogs too.

I think the way spinning reels and rods are made these days, they can whip a good size bass. The drags are super smooth to help protect lighter line, and the reels are very durable. I still like, and have fun fishing with both casting and spinning. Use the one that fits your style of fishing. If you feel more confident with one or the other, you'll catch more fish.

I use both. I fish mostly baitcast rods/reels, but I always keep a spinning rod on board too. You never know when a lighter line and bait may work. Ya. That's the old school deal. I made a thread about that topic also: Bubba and Sissy.

I have some older ones also. Mitchell 300, and 308s, and one ABU Zebco Cardinal 4. I still fish the Cardinal, the Mitchell's Ivevretired. All good solid reels.The Ryobis you mentioned are also good reels too. I remember those being advertised in magazines years ago.

Shimano Sahara 2500fi spinning reel.Smooth, light, great drag.

I still use them. I think with all the new, hot baits out there, lots of guys have forgotten about them. They still work,and at .87 cents per 2 pack at Wally World, you really can't go wrong.

I'm in the same boat as many of us now. It's been very hot and humid around my area lately. I've been fishing in the evenings, or at sunup on Saturday morning. Yesterday, we finished up work around 1:00 in the afternoon, and, despite the bright sun, zero wind, and sticky conditions, I went fishing anyway, making a bank trip to a small lake near home. I fished for forty minutes, throwing a t rigged Culprit worm with no strikes. In the distance, I saw some large clowds coming in. Once the clouds were over me, blocking out all sun, I caught 4 bass in twenty minutes. The cloud cover brought in a light breeze, which gave a slight chop on the water too. Before I went home, I tied on a 1/4 oz black beetlespin, and caught one more fish also. " Cloud cover and a slight wind, are a form of cover for bass". I read this so long ago, I can't even remember when? I've seen it happen before too. It doesn't need to be dark, threatening storm clouds, just enoupgh cloud cover to block the sun. Hopefully, the clouds bring a light wind too. Sometimes, it's pretty amazing how quickly the cloud cover can put fish on the move, and put the odds in your favor. I've seen this happen a few times before. Has anyone else had your luck change quickly with some clouds that blow in?

Another good place to try is an old flooded fence. Depending how deep the water is, you may see only the treetops on the surface. Cast some weedless plastics all along the fencerow, and look for anything different. Fences run the contour of the land, creating ditches, humps, and other structure.

One brand I havnt seen mentioned is Okuma. They make some good affordable reels too.

Spankey, around Christmas I was going to.buy a new Nasci. They didn't have the 2500 size I wanted, so.I bought a new Sahara instead. My reel came in a clam pack, and is the same as the box model. I think you'll be fine either way.

For some folks I think salt makes a difference. It's just personal preference I think. I buy plastics because I like the look color or style, and based on what's worked in the past. We all have our favourites.

Sometimes, it's surprising how well a 1/4 oz Beetlespin can catch bass in the hot weather also. I use them when the fish won't hit a bigger skirted spinnerbait.

For years I used round ABU reels, 4600c and 5500c. Now I'm using low profile Qauntum, and Lews. Both are good. For spinning, I like Shimano overall

I don't really give it much thought anymore. I fish salted, and non salt plastics. I havnt seen a big difference in catch rates or size

I mostly use spinnerbaits for night fishing during the hottest part of the summer. My favourite is a 3/8 oz, with a single large Colorado blade.

Reading through the threads here, I see many questions about the most expensive, high end reels. It's a fact. Bass fisherman love good qaulity, expensive, reels. For some, only the very best will do. But what about the folks who can't always afford to buy these reels? Here's a few reels I bought years ago, that have caught plenty of fish, and, are still working perfectly. Casting: ABU4600C, Qauntum Tour grade, Lews LFS. Spinning: Shimano Sienna, Diawa Laguna, Shimano Sedona, Pflueger Trion. Most of these reels are several years old, and, many cost well under 100.00. These days, that's not considered expensive for fishing reels. Only two of this list are newer. My Lews LFS, and Qauntum Tour Grade. Both are impressive considering the cost. As for longevity? It's all about maintenance. A good clean and lube at the start of the season keeps them working well. Since I joined BR, I've gotten some good tips about reel maintenance. Lots of folks are struggling now, due to Covid 19, job loss or layoffs etc. If you fall into this group, don't worry. After you've been around this stuff for so long, you realize that the mid grade reels are so much better than what was available years ago. I would never recommend buying the cheapest, off brand reels. Most of these will fail in some way, and usually don't last long.If you stick with a good proven name brand, and maintain them, you can get years of fishing out of them. What are some less expensive reels that have you've owned, that have worked out well for you?

Mr. Twister 6" Phenom is one of my old favourites. I like any purple/grape colors, and motor oil.

I like grape, purple and blues.

Yep. That ones so old a lot of younger folks have never heard of it. You can rig a lot of different smaller plastics on a Slider head.

A-Jay, it can be especially hard when you get a good look at the fish, as you did.

The first fish that night came on a CC spinnerbait too. We used to take a # 11 pork frog, and slice the fat part of the body off to make it thinner, then use it as a trailer. It was and would still be a killer night bass bait.

Well, we're both Missourians. That probably accounts for some of it anyway.

I checked my watch and noted the time. 11:45 pm. My partner and I had caught six bass on spinnerbaits, with pork chunk trailers, none over two pounds. We slowly trolled to reach our target area, a mossy shoreline that extended ten feet from the bank, and layed over a dropoff which created a shelf, and fell off into deeper water. My outfit that night was a 6ft Berkeley Lightning rod, med/hvy action,my reel an ABU 4600C, spooled with fresh 14lb Stren mono. The lure, a black skirted Harkins Lunker Lure buzzbait. I had sharpened the hook to a needle sharpness that afternoon. My first cast was off target, landing in the moss. D###m! I slowly reeled in the lure, layed it on the bottom of the Jon boat, flicked on my headlamp, and picked the moss off the bait. The next cast was on target, landing one ft from the moss edge. The buzzer went roughly three feet, when the bass hit. I felt like I got a good hookset. The huge bass thrashed on the surface for a few seconds, then, I got a glimpse of her white belly in the moonlight, before she dove into the weeds, and was gone. I've been haunted by this fish ever since. Over the course of our lifetimes as fisherman, we probably catch hundreds, and for some thousands of bass , that we forget about. Certain fish, for whatever reason, seem to stay with you, and, are hard to forget about. I daydream about this fish, and a couple of others that I've lost over the years, quite a bit. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Tell me about a big bass that haunts you.