fin

Only after the fish have been totally ignoring me for a few days in a row. As a bank fisherman who lives very close to the lake, it takes minimal effort for me to fish, and I think that makes a big difference. If I had to deal with a boat, I probably wouldn't go near as much.

It’s hard to know what to do sometimes. Giving them slack has worked many times for me, from the bank even. I caught a nice one the other day fishing on some rip-rap, and it seemed like she knew to head straight to the rocks to cut the line. After I landed her I checked the line, and sure enough, it was almost frayed through. So I replaced my leader and hooked another nice one, and I thought the smart thing to do would be to horse her in quickly to avoid the rocks. “Snap!” She broke me off and is now wearing my jerk bait.

You’d probably get better response if you start a new post in the "Fishing Rods, Reels, Line, and Knots" forum with a title something like “Recommend starter baitcaster combo under $100?” Many people won’t read this far down in a post if it doesn’t interest them.

I might be mistaken, but that reel looks like one I found at the lake. The kindest thing I can say is that it was not a very good reel, and that “ez cast” system made it harder to cast, IMO. I threw the one I found away, and it was brand new. If you’re just starting off with baitcasters and have no experience, I would suggest holding onto that $60 and look for a good combo deal. Lots of people on here are willing to help you find something, it just takes a little time and research.

I was in Academy this morning and they had a pretty good bit of their H2O stuff marked as “clearance”. They were only marked down about 50 cents, but I was surprised to see some of the stuff that was marked "clearance". All the other H2O stuff was just marked as “sale”. The one item I was there looking for, a floating jerk bait, was marked as clearance in the store and online it was marked as out of stock. I grabbed a couple just in case. The clearance stuff had price stickers too, which is unusual, and probably means they'll be marked down more as time goes by. So just a heads-up they may be discontinuing some of their good stuff. Maybe better stuff is replacing it, but who knows these days.

Sometimes I can't remove split rings using tools. I don't know how a fish can do it with no hands. ?

That's the idea. The sound of running water in a stream soothes the soul. It's just the opposite of all that other stuff.

A lot of people fall for cons because they are “expecting” to see something. It’s the same with fish. If it looks/acts/tastes/feels like what they are expecting, they are more likely to hold onto it. And then there are hot dogs.

When you’re old enough to be history, you tend to respect history more. ?

I remember reading some study a few years ago about fish off-shore in Nova Scotia. Fishermen thought a particular game fish was extinct in that area. Then some kind of fishing ban was placed on that area for some unrelated reason. They found the fish returned during that time. Fish are not stupid. It’s not just that fish react differently to lures (yes, they are more skittish), they aren’t even there. I’m sure they don’t fall into a life-long pattern, but how long that reaction lasts is impossible to say. My experienced guess would be that after a few days of no human activity at all (Saturday to Wednesday), they are more prone to come close to shore, and the longer the lake is inactive, the better it gets. And it’s not just fishermen or boat traffic that spook them, it’s human activity, period, even people walking along the bank. Or it could be otters, even. Anything that scares them enough to remember to avoid an area. So if you have a quiet weekend, not only will the following weekdays be better, the next weekend should be better too.

It’s just going to get worse too. Real estate investment (by groups instead of individuals) is out of control. You can buy shares in houses for as little as $100 now. There’s a lot of money in the fishing industry as a whole, but it’s nothing compared to real estate. The bigger money always wins. https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/17/backed-by-forerunner-and-bezos-back-arrived-a-startup-that-lets-you-buy-into-single-family-rentals-for-as-little-as-100/

SDJam on mono, Alberto for mono to braid. . I used the Improved Clinch for years, but would occasionally have failures. They were rare, but I never could figure out why they were happening, so I switched to SDJam and haven’t had those type problems. . I use the Uni for tying skirts. I like it. I occasionally use the Non-slip loop knot for some things. . I used Palomar at one time, but I thought it used up too much leader too. . Never tried FG because it looks too complicated. Using up leader with terminal knots means you’re going to be retying that leader knot more often. For that reason I want to stick with the easier knot (Alberto). . Maybe you should look at using clips?

As a spinnerbait addict, I can tell you the solution is simple: Start making your own custom spinnerbaits!

I like that color combination in a spinnerbait - green, yellow, w/ gold blades. I've had good luck with that.

This time of year we have these huge red spiders that build webs right outside doors, so if you walk outside at night, it’s like facehuggers from Aliens. So I keep an old broken rod by the door that I probe the doorway with before going out. Hair dryer, I think.

I agree OP, but this is one of those things you can’t really shame people into doing. If it doesn’t come natural, they probably aren’t going to get it. Some people take pride in not getting it. Shaking your finger at them is not going to get them to change. It takes someone they respect calling them on their behavior or setting a good example. People who were raised like that are not going to be influenced by someone on the internet. You can lead a horse to water…

I've always manually closed the bail, but I don't always check to make sure the line is tight to the spool before starting to retrieve. It's hard to change old habits. I occasionally have wind knots with 10# Suffix 832, but not a lot. I've had good luck with Power Pro too, but some other brands I won't mention... I have thrown away the line after a few months.

When I’m going through my cabinets trying to reorganize stuff so that it all still fits, I run across those same items that just sit there year after year that I got such a great deal on. I still have stuff I got at Academy back when they were having those crazy clearance sales where stuff was like 90% off. I don’t regret that stuff, but the items where I saved a buck but got a color that doesn’t work, I really regret those because every now and then I will pull them out and try them, trying to make them work, as you say, and I’m disappointed every. single. time. It’s like being haunted by the ghost of a bad decision.

I would suggest you hold on to them. I used to use soft baits almost exclusively and I was thinking about getting rid of a lot of my hard baits. This year the soft bait strategy wasn’t working so well, so I tried some hard baits I hadn’t used in a long time and it has really paid off. I’ve even bought more hard baits.

No, that is not safe to say. I fish with a Medium Heavy spinning rod, that is my primary rod. I think the OP may be hunting and pecking on a cell phone. That would help explain their short responses. Maybe English is not their first language. It would be nice to know what they are trying to really get at. I suspect they are thinking about buying a rod/reel and have no clue what to buy.

Even if you are not moving, even in relatively shallow water, it is amazingly difficult to find a rod that has floated down to the bottom. Unless it's somebody else's and you weren't looking for it - I've hooked a couple of those. ?

I don’t generate much trash. I don’t eat or drink when fishing. I drink a liter of water before going out and have a liter in the car for when I get back. Soft plastics go in my front pocket and then go in a bucket of soft plastics when I get home. I can’t remember the last time I had broken hardware, but I guess it would go in my back pack. Anything with hooks would go in my Plano or in a bag of worms. Fishing line is complicated. Generally I will coil it up and stick it in back pocket. Line that I find on the ground I will sometimes stuff it into plastic bottles that are laying around. The main trick with line is to wad it up and then twist it into like a piece of rope and then tie a knot in that. That makes it much easier to store in your pocket. I keep forgetting to stuff a trash bag in my back pack. I'm going to do that right now. Generating as little trash in life as possible is a good goal too.

I didn’t expect that comment to go unchallenged. lol. There’s very little vegetation where I fish, so that’s not an issue for me. I agree it’s good to know how to use both, and there are situations where a baitcaster might be preferable, but the spinning is more versatile overall. And if you’re bank fishing like me, and you don’t want to carry multiple rods, to me it’s a no-brainer which one to choose.

If you see an old man fishing all alone, do not assume he is lonely and wants someone to come talk to him.

You can do anything with a spinning reel you can do with a baitcaster, but the reverse is not true. Spinning rods are better with light weight lures. There are casting techniques you can do, like flipping or casting in tight quarters that you might be able to do with a baitcaster, but it can be done much easier and better with a spinning reel. Spinning rod/reels are a little more awkward though. To me, it’s more of a struggle to land a big fish on a spinning rod because of the reel being on the bottom of the rod. The design of a baitcaster makes it feel easier. I like the struggle though. Catching even a small fish on a spinning rod is fun. I’ve got baitcasters, but I never use them. I used baitcasters before ever trying a spinning reel. Once I saw how much more I could do, I never went back.