EGbassing

I was fishing a small X-rap today and I had my spool tension pretty loose so I could cast it pretty far. Thing is, on every cast, the first 40 - 60 feet of my line would sort of backlash without tangling and then if it got through those 40 - 60 feet the backlash would be gone. It's hard to explain what it was doing, but I'm 99% sure it was doing that because those 40 - 60 feet of line were loose on the spool. I noticed that when I was working that X-rap, I was always reeling in slack line. Is there any way to fix this?

My top five would probably be 1. Texas rig 2. Texas rig 3. Texas rig 4. Texas rig 5. Texas rig (in that order)

Go to your nearest Dick's Sports and get some Seaguar Red Label. It's on sale for around $10 right now at most stores. It's awesome for the price.

Have you tried that smaller size RES? I love mine for shallow water.

Booyah Toad Runner

I've caught 10+ pounders out of there. I know they're there, but there just aren't many of them.

I'm sure I could get something big enough to imitate them but I just feel like I'm wasting my time doing that. I just feel like there might be three or four bass in the entire lake big enough to eat one of those. The three shad I've found floating in the winter before were bigger than some of the bass I catch. Thanks. I might get a really cheap giant swimbait or something and just throw it for a while and see if it works. If it does, I'll probably get something like it, but more expensive.

I know that you're supposed to find the baitfish to find the bass in the fall, but the large pond I fish just has gizzard shad and bluegill. The thing is, all the gizzard shad I've seen have been at least as long as my hand. What does that mean for the fishing? Am I wasting my time following the gizzard shad around looking for bass because of how big the shad are? Should I be targeting bluegill areas instead? I'm just confused about all that now. Any help would really be appreciated.

It was the same way for me. I think it must be because he's fished with spinning reels so long.

Forgot something, be careful with those bluegill. If you're not fully focusing on detecting a bite they just swallow the lure in a second.

In my experience, definitely. The creeks near my house are all packed with sunfish and bass.

That's mostly spot on, but the one thing I have to disagree with is using Nedlockz if you're bending hooks. I would try to figure out why your hooks are bending before switching to those. I believe it's usually caused by using tackle that's too heavy, but I'm not 100% sure. Yeah, I'm going to try a red eye shad today if I have time. It's really overcast and windy so that should be a good choice as long as I can locate them.

I actually had a decent summer in terms of fishing but the weather change just really changed it. I'm just going to try a lipless and cover water tomorrow.

Interesting. Thanks. Do you have any methods of locating baitfish without a fishfinder? I could probably locate some bluegill with a spinner or something but shad would be harder because they just don't bite stuff like that. Edit: There actually are a lot of huge gizzard shad in that pond; not just bluegill.

I agree with that, but 75 - 80 yards sounds like way too much for just starting out. I never hit close to 80 yards and I've used a BC for years. I would tape it down at about 90 feet. Also, I definitely wouldn't use a frog to start out. A jig or a bullet weight would be a lot easier to cast. Trust me, I still have problems casting frogs.

Yeah, I think you're right. The high is going to be consistently around 55 - 60 for the rest of the week here so I'm just going to burn a red eye shad and try to locate them.

North Alabama They're going down pretty fast (about 60 - 70 for the high most days) I can try some ultra finesse stuff but it just seems odd to me that it would be necessary.

I was going to suggest a ned rig but then I saw it tied on in the picture. If they won't eat a ned rig then they won't eat.

I've been fishing a lot of ponds recently and literally haven't had one bite in a couple months. I never got one bite last fall either. I thought fall was supposed to be the best time of year for fishing...?

Man you should go to the pyramid Cabela's in Tennessee.

I decided to go with the mono...

Just wondering, how long ago was the last time you used a spool of vanish? Almost everybody that's used it says it's awful but I strength tested mine and it seemed at least as strong as my Stren flourocarbon. It's been pretty good so far. That makes me wonder if they just recently started using a new blend to make the line.

I think I'm going to get a medium power Berkley lightning shock rod for crankbaits, jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, etc. soon. Should I do it? Is it a good rod?

Ever broken one off on that? I decided to go with 15 lb. mono today but I'm wondering how strong 10lb. is.

Legend has it that Raul is still waiting for an answer... (sorry for posting on a two year old thread ?)