J.Vincent

A few years back; I fished a whole season with LH retrieve Baitcasters; the only advantage I discovered for a Right Hander is when making quick pitches down a shoreline while saturating an area. Its occasionally advantageous to be able to Pitch and engage the spool without switching hands. The reason I actually prefer RH reels now is because with a LH retrieve if I were to side arm, overhead or two hand cast with my RH, I have to hold the bottom of the Rod butt with my left hand for an extra split second to allow my Right Hand to shift upward and palm the reel. This is more awkward than casting Right and following over into my left hand with one motion to exchange and palm the reel....So in my experience it’s less about eye dominance or hand dominance; but instead it’s about being able to comfortably palm the reel with my grip right under its weight which is the fulcrum point for most techniques. I’m telling you if you are RH and thinking about getting a LH reel for all of your primary techniques; then at least borrow a LH and try it in various techniques first before making the investment; especially if you frequently palm your reels when fishing. That is the last I will comment on this because I don’t want to turn my head into a pretzel anymore ?

Very good advice !

In this situation I would keep an eye on predicted wind direction and plot out a few areas that will fish well based on wind direction. Specifically look on a map for areas where bottom composition changes and also identify productive break lines that are parallel with wind direction .....this way you can comfortably drift the break line and use the wind to your favor. If the boat is off drift, turn on the main motor and realign the drift. In a situation where wind is heavy, or if you want to slow your drift, consider an inexpensive drift sock. This is actually a very common technique on the Great Lakes and St Clair. For times when you want to dissect an area or point that proved productive on a drift, just drop down the anchor and get more precise. Hope this helps !

The softer upper third of the rod is what made me question it for a Frogging application. But considering it’s large pads and occasionally open grass lines, I think it just may work ....oh and I forgot to mention , I also bought (2) Lews Speed Sticks Signature Series for $14.97 each and (2) 6’6 Berkley Lightning Shock for $9.00 each. I’m a fool for any deal better than 50% off : )

I knew my logic was sound and would convince someone; I will pay you .10 cents on the dollar for all your Baitcasters ! : )

Currently Jacob Wheeler or Mark Daniels Jr have both been fishing well.....but my answer is Ott Defoe

Okay I wasn't going to buy anymore Fishing Rods this year....but I picked up a 7ft MH Fast Berkley Lightning Shock at Wally World for only $14.97 as a backup or shore Rod. I'm thinking about making it my Frog Rod because it's a budget stick and not very sensitive....anyone else use this stick for Hollow body Frogs? Or maybe Buzzbaits ? I'm fishing primarily in the North and rarely see Largemouth more than 6lbs, will this Rod suffice?

Most of the Walmart’s should have already marked those falcon rods down....but it’s different for every store and some of the stores are falling behind and underperforming because of how mismanaged their inventory is in various departments....heck I saw Halo and W&M rods lined up 10 deep in some Walmart’s and they have been on their shelves for 2 years at full retail. The manager told me to return in a few days and they were getting ready to do a new inventory reset. So to answer your question , find the manager and ask them when they are doing a Department Reset and bringing in new inventory , most of the managers will tell you when they do this and when they are marking down old inventory.

This topic will twist your head like a pretzel....just get a Cane Pole : )

Which fishing Rod ?

Thank you anglers for all the good ideas ; when the weather is right I will definitely try a few of these options !

To hold better on a Chatterbait and stay up on the hook Shank.

I really like this idea ; with the added floatation it could be good on a mojo rig

Bass Mafia offer some solid storage solutions ; but I don’t currently own any. I use Plano 3500, 3600, 3650, 3700, 3750. As far as waterproof, I’ve avoided them and instead use Silica Packets to keep the moisture in check. It’s worked great for two years now, Zero rust so far.

That makes sense, I would probably use forceps to hold the Crawbug but theoretically if I refrigerated the Crawbug first for a few hours....do you think this might prevent the Crawbug from completely melting when adding plastisol into the body cavity ?

This sounds like it may be a better approach, and less or a mess. Thank you for the idea !

Sounds like a good plan, and definitely it's a process of finding what works for you ! Good luck and enjoy the process !

I’ve used the Yum Crawbug for many years and usually rig them with internal teardrop tube jigs....I like the realism of the design and have a few bags I’m wanting to experiment with. Basically I want a Yum Crawbug that doesn’t have a hollow body. Now I’ve never worked with plastisol but was wondering if I melted down some of my used Yum plastics from last year and poured into the hollow body cavity, Would this make the Crawbug solid or just make a molten mess ?

I understand your situation; I do a lot of shore angling myself, often in varying conditions and bodies of water. After 20+ years and carrying around way too much tackle on each trip....this is the system which I find superior to any other: 1) Keep your hard tackle and terminal organized by type in 3600 or 3700 series Plano’s ; stored inside or in an area of the garage. Keep your plastics organized in small cardboard boxes or one gallon bags, organized by type. This is basically your library of inventory and it should stay accessible and easy to sift through. 2) Purchase (2) 3600 Plano Trays and (1) 3500 Plano tray and keep them empty 3) Purchase a sling type backpack or Over the shoulder pack which holds the three empty Planos at all times. 4) When you know you want to go fishing, pull your main storage Planos from your library of tackle and remove the individual lures you want to try or have confidence in. Base your decision firmly on the season and conditions. Put those lures in the 2 empty 3600 Planos and then inside your backpack 5) Pull your terminal tackle from main storage and just bring a small selection to store inside the 1 empty 3500 series Plano 6) Look through your library of plastics and bring a few loose bags of what you think will be good 7) Bring bottled water and a snack and sunglasses 8.) After your outing or if you don’t plan to fish the same body of water again ; reorganize your backpack tackle back into your main library of Planos 9) Next outing, do the same process all over again. This system might seem extraneous or complicated at first but it’s been very effective. It allows me to focus on fishing and makes me decide ahead of time what to bring and what not to bring. This keeps the carrying load low and makes my outing more enjoyable ! Im amazed that even limited to just 3 Planos, ive never experienced a time where I wish I had brought more. It really boils down to bringing a little of everything and basing it on season, conditions and potential fishing situations. This is the style of bag I use although you could use any backpack that can loosely hold Planos! EAAE6523-C802-4EE3-9845-787EDB203D83.jp2

Sounds like you have covered your bases , maybe it's a Bad batch of line or maybe it was stored for a long time....also the nicks in the line you are talking about was something I remember getting often with XT, it was like the line would get micro abrasions after being stretched or weathered and then absorb water but when it would dry out the line would feel chalky or scratchy....this happened consistently with XT but usually only after a few outings or if the reels were left on the deck of the boat exposed to sunlight for too long. After I quit using XT, I went to Pline, then went to Spiderwire Mono, then quit using Spiderwire Mono and went to Cajun Line Red Lightning. Yes it's red (although they do make green and blue) and yes it's considered budget line, but every problem I had with XT is gone. The best part about it , it's affordable and it casts better than XT while still maintaining a similar amount of abrasion resistance. I use it now for 80% of my fishing and it's great; oddly enough the reviews are either Love it or hate it

Years ago I was very fond of deep cranking 15 to 20ft....I don't even own a dedicated deep cranking Rod now so I've gotten away from the technique in the past few years. The one thing which I found helpful was knowing why the fish would be in that depth, are they feeding at that depth or are they just wanting cooler water or less exposure to the sun. So many variables play in. But in a scenario where bass are stacking up deep on a ledge or deep drop off, the #1 thing to focus on is casting angle and changing that casting angle repeatedly. Once you catch the 2 or 3 hungry bass on the reaction crankbait bite, try covering that same area with a football head jig or even a drop shot. Maybe this will help you milk the area for more bass. But I must say deep cranking on the Great Lakes is very difficult in comparison to deep cranking an impoundment, and I think because with impoundments, there is more predictable current and obvious areas where bass may choose to hold deep.....if you are deep cranking smallies on the Great Lakes ? it's like chasing a ghost , they can be anywhere and everywhere and the schools move around a lot.

Haven't used XT since the late 90s....when I did use XT , the one characteristic I liked was its very good abrasion resistance , but it still wasn't good enough to offset the line memory issues. Once I was spooled up with XT, I would often have to tie off to a fence or dock post and walk out 100 feet of line and stretch the line with my hand it helped greatly. Spray a shot of Line conditioner and then reel in 20 feet, spray another shot of line conditioner and reel in another 20 feet...etc etc until I was fully spooled up. This works but it's not a perfect solution.

Half of the Elite field left for the Major League Fishing trail; Some of those veteran anglers who are now with MLF, will likely never have another chance to fish the Elites, especially if things go well with the new MLF trail. So unless they can compete in the Opens and qualify for the classic through that route then it’s probably their final classic. But it’s technically not the last Classic for B.A.S.S.

We have said before and we can say it again....The Chuck Wollery Moto Lure and the Banjo Minnow

Okay, now that Tylerpaper article seems more credible and at least retains the date and times of incident and the journalists name...I suppose I can now fish knowing one less fraudulent amateur bass angler is off the water : )