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I still fish regularly with my Abu 5000D's. They belonged to my grandfather who taught me how to fish, so I use them for more sentimental reasons than practical. I use them for crankbaits, since with a 3.8:1 ratio, that's about all they're good for. The don't cast well, so you have to be on guard with your thumb. In fact, I kind of regret putting fluorocarbon on one. And you have to remember to let go of the handle to engage the drag (it's a semi-direct drive). And you have to really crank down the spool tension knob when casting into the wind, as the brakes are more ornamental than functional. But I still enjoy using them and they still catch fish.

And use live bait. Live bait is so much easier and generally cheaper if you're not doing it everyday. And don't be afraid to target panfish early on. They're usually a lot easier to catch, especially on a dock. That'll teach you what a bite feel like, and give you a sense of "you can do this". Not many people are equipped to fail over and over again and still keep at it knowing that they're going to keep on failing for a long time to come before they finally get it. So it helps in any endeavor in life, if we can have some early success to look back on for motivation. It's like a video game. No one likes a video game that's extremely difficult from the beginning. And no one likes a video game that's easy at the end. The key to a good video game is to ramp up the difficulty as you progress. So you're always challenged, and you have to earn everything you get, but never frustrated to the point where you think you'll never be able to do it.

As many as the wife will allow. I wanna make sure I'm allowed to come back.

I was just learning to pitch a few months ago, and one thing I figured out that no one ever talks about (because it quickly becomes second nature and you stop noticing that you're doing it) is that when you raise the rod, you don't want to raise it to quickly. In other words, you want to accelerate the rod tip, and not try to raise it at a constant speed or decelerate until after you're released the spool. So you almost hold back on the rod tip's speed at the first, so you can accelerate through it. Also, keep the line tight the entire time (don't allow the lure to freefall at the beginning of the drop). At no point should the line not be under the tension of the weight of the lure until the bait hit's the water. It sounds to me like you're either raising the rod too fast or too early, or decelerating your rod tip on the pitch instead of accelerating it (you have to wait until you've released your thumb off the spool before you allow it slow down). Or your dipping it down right before raising it, creating some slack in the line that allows it to bounce. In any case, it sounds like a timing issue where something is happening before it's supposed to. Just slow down and practice on smoothness for now. Try just pitching a few feet in front of you to start. Work on distance and accuracy after you get the mechanics down.

The reason that most lakes with good reputations for bass fishing are large is because they're large. Finding a lake, pond, or river with lots of large bass isn't that rare. Finding a lake that is large enough to host a huge fishing tournament, yet still produces plenty of big bass is what's hard to come by. And it's those tournaments that give the lakes their reputations. And their size keeps them from being overfished as easily, so they don't lose their reputation once word gets out. So the "best bass lakes in the country" aren't necessarily the best places to fish for bass. They're just the best lakes to host bass tournaments. For instance, the biggest LM bass in Oklahoma are in Cedar Lake. If you want to catch a 10+ lb. LMB in this state, that's the place to do it. But you don't hear of any tournaments going on there (though I'm sure they have some smaller ones) because it's an 86 acre lake. That's why Eufaula (105,500 acres), Grand (41,779 acres), Tenkiller (12,900 acres), etc. get all of the tournament action around here. They're large enough to support a tournament and the fishing is still pretty acceptable.

That's kind of where I'm at. I use 12lb Sunline FC Sniper on my crankbait reel, but when trying to get down below about 12 feet, I opt for braid and a higher speed ratio. That allows you to cast it further, get it down faster, and keep in down longer.

At one of my smaller local lakes they won't bite anything that makes noise. No rattles, poppers, spinnerbaits, etc. And the water is muddy, so you either have to drop a black lure right on their head, or use live bait.

Make lemons out of lemonade. Start up a fishing guide business! Take your kayak, and make it a kayak fishing guide. Lots of people have them now, and I can't say as though I've seen too many kayak fishing guides around. Just take them on a river or small pond and show them around. It doesn't matter if there's anything to catch. You can blame it on all of the people showing up and fishing out the river or the weather or whatever. They're tourists. They wouldn't know either way. Collect your money, invest it in new gear, and in a year or two when all of this is over and back to normal, you'll still be fishing that exotic, new fishing rod, handmade handmade by a blind monk in the far off mountains with an unpronounceable name. That's how they do it in Maine, whose population is like 90% tourists in the summer, every year.

That's the truth right there. The last thing you want to do is escalate the situation. It's best to defuse and escape if possible. I've been in too many bad situations before, and have even had a few guns pulled on me. What's gotten me home safe every time is being situationally aware, calm, and collected. Never show fear. Never show anger. Never lose control. Just smile, keep your tone light and friendly, talk slow and do your best to be helpful. Try to be the guy's friend and help him with his problem. Try to stand to the side of them instead of in front of them. Don't let anyone stand behind you, but don't make it seem obvious that you're trying to position yourself. Mirror what they say so that they understand that you understand. Don't freak out that they have a gun. Ignore it and concentrate on their problem and how you can help resolve it. Fear and anger have a way of spreading, just like calmness and laughter. These people are usually mentally unstable or high on drugs. In either situation, it's just as easy to make things worse as it is to make things better. They can turn on a dime. And it can go either direction. Guide them so that it goes in the right direction. I make it home safe because I don't panic and don't escalate. It's a bad move to try to draw a gun on someone who already has their gun trained on you. Once you've lost the draw, the last thing you want to do is make it a "fair fight" for them. And I'm not anti-gun. If someone breaks into your house, they're probably not going to give you the opportunity to talk your way out of it. They're not there to listen. And a pump from a shotgun says all you need to tell them. But on neutral ground, your best weapons are your feet and your tongue. Good insurance also helps. Get the best you can afford. That way instead of getting angry that they're stealing from you, you get a little excited about all of that cool new stuff you get to buy!

I set my speed to the beat of a song in my head. So the faster I need to reel, the faster song I will think of and vice-versa. So for the most part, I don't find it hard to speed up or slow down. Then again, I spent a large chunk of my life as a semi-pro musician, so learning to control speed is a pretty basic skill in that world.

Zoom 6" lizard in black saphire. Works as a T-rigged worm pretty well. But rip the head off and it makes a great jig trailer! For smaller jigs, rip it below the shoulders.

It depends on the model, but for most transducers designed for freshwater, i.e. lower wattage models that aren't designed to measure down thousands of feet, should be fine if run out of the water. It's just a speaker and a microphone. The only reason that some need water is to help cool them down because the speaker portion of it is so powerful that it's generates enough heat to damage itself. Though, keep in mind, a lot of transducers are mounted on the inside of the hull, so they likely on get wet if there's leak and the bilge pump isn't able to keep up. So they operate fine and spend most of their working lives dry. It would probably be a good idea to contact the manufacturer to make sure on this. They're the only ones who would know for sure. But I pull my transducer (Lowrance triple shot) out of the water all of the time and let it run. It's never hurt it, and I doubt it ever would as it's only about 500 watts.

It's a lot easier with a rod with a grip in front of the reel. You just hold it there with your palm on the bottom and fingers wrapped around the top with your index and thumb resting against the line. That's how I learned to fish back in the days of fiberglass rods and 6-8lb mono, where if you wanted to feel what was going on, you had to use your finger tips. The rods balance better up there too versus palming the reel, so you have a bit more control over what it's doing. Kind of like what the deep sea, saltwater guys do, only you don't have to stab yourself in the gut with the butt end unless you need more leverage. But I guess it looks goofy and causes you to hold your rod higher which wears out your shoulders and arms faster. And that's probably why it fell out of favor. And since most rods don't even have anything to grip up there anymore, I've largely switched over to palming the reel myself. I've actually got a bunch of different ways to hold a rod that I'm comfortable using, and will generally go with whatever works best for what I'm trying to do. I even cast with my opposite hand from time to time. And if there's another fisherman trying to sneak up on me to see what I'm using, I may just grab my spinning rod and fish it upside down. Why not?!

It's not too bad fishing a large lake out of a kayak. Especially if the lake has lots of easy access places that you can launch from. Part of the good thing about kayak fishing is you don't need a boat ramp. You just have to treat it like you would a small lake or large pond, basically concentrating on a small area, rather than trying to worry about the whole lake. That being said, if you're looking at Texas, maybe consider Eastern Oklahoma or Arkansas. Tulsa, Fort Smith, Little Rock... around that area. There's lots of pretty scenery and lots of good lakes and rivers to fish. Maybe even up to Springfield Missouri. The cost of living there will be a lot cheaper than most of Texas that's located near a large city. And you might shave a few degrees off those crazy Texas summer temperatures.

So in conclusion, it depends on what "fish out" means? Does it mean no fish left, or does it mean no longer able to catch a fish in it? I live near a small lake/large pond that's seen a ton of heavy pressure for decades. Tons of people frequent it due to it's cleanliness, safety, and convenient location. It's right off a highway about a mile from the interstate, on the edge of city limits. I've never been there, even in the dead of winter, where there wasn't at least 4 other cars there fishing on this small 33 acre lake. Most avid anglers avoid it because it's super hard to catch anything on. Most of the people who fish it are the twice-a-year type anglers who bring out their Zebco spincasts, red and white bobbers, and a bucket of minnows. You'd think it was fished out by now. You'd be crazy to even try. However, it's actually got a lot of large bass. I've caught a few myself. They're super hard to catch and you really have to earn them. But there hasn't been a time that I've gone out there that I haven't seen a bunch of them just swimming around.

SPF 30, swim trunks, and a PFD. There's no better way to cool down quick than to jump in the water for a few minutes every now and then. Plus it reminds you to reapply your sunscreen.

I'd say it's not as easy as you'd think. As the fishing pressure goes up, the bite goes down. Eventually, the remaining fish will be pretty weary of anything that you throw at them. So it'll fish like it's empty, but there will still be plenty of bass in there. Now, what will really destroy a pond is some kind of fish kill event. Something like a disease, infestation, pollution, or something that causes the oxygen levels to plummet. Those can be really, really hard to come back from. Even if the cause is removed and the pond restocked, there's usually a balance in the ecosystem that's been broken and can be extremely difficult to re-establish without draining it all and starting over from square one. With smaller bodies of water, small events can have big consequences.

I still use one of my Grandpa's old Abu 5000D as a crankbait reel virtually every time I go out. I have that one paired with an old Daiwa Apollo, moderate action, pistol grip rod. It says it's graphite, but it's action is closer to fiberglass. I have another 5000D that I don't use as much that's on an old Abu Garcia fiberglass rod. They both work fine, though they require a lot more thumb to cast with than any of my other reels, which makes casting fluoro into the wind a pain. Especially with a light lure. The super low ratio (3.8:1) is odd in today's world, but I don't mind. And the "direct drive" is interesting, in that you have to let go of the handle to enact the drag. I enjoy using them. They're a bit more challenging and fickle, but they also have a lot of good memories attached to them. I also still use my old Bantam B-100 Mag from around 1990, which was my first baitcaster that I got when I was like 10 or something. It's actually a pretty nice reel even by today's standards. It casts well and the magnetic brakes are as good as what you'll find today. My only real complaint is that it doesn't have the continuous anti-reverse. It may not be as feature packed as a modern reel, but it's got proven reliability. The way I see it, this stuff caught fish back then, and while fishing technology has advanced, the fish haven't.

I use the tiny swiss army knife on my keychain. I really like the tiny spring loaded scissors because they're easy to grab and use with one hand. It also has a knife blade, file, screwdriver, tweezers, and a toothpick, which is the only thing I never use. It's not just good for fishing, it's good to have on you anytime! Plus, it's about the size of a key, so it doesn't take up much space. The only downside is you have to remember to remove it before you pass through a security check point, like at the airport or for a concert/sporting event.

That was my first thought, if you have those in your lake. Or it could have been a different fish. Look up what types of fish you have in your lake. You can catch all kinds of things that don't normally eat the type of bait you're using, just because they were hungry, and it was there. Or maybe you snagged something. I've snagged a few fish by accident over the years.

That's the truth! Perhaps it's because I fish from a kayak and have to paddle myself around everywhere. But for me, it's the paddling that wears me out. The weight of the reel doesn't matter in the slightest. We're talking about ounces, or even fractions of ounces, not pounds here. Same with gear ratios. Now I like a fast gear ratio. Mainly because slowing down is easier than speeding up. That being said, one of the reels I use every time I go out is a 3.8:1 Abu 5000D. Even at 3.8:1, it's not too slow to do anything that I want to do with it. It's just a little less comfortable that my faster, more modern reels due to it being so slow. Unless you get to the extreme ends, most gear ratio differences aren't really all that much in practice. To put it into perspective, an 8:1 gear ratio will give you one free turn of the handle for every seven turns you put into it, versus a 7:1 gear ratio. And that 8:1 reel will give you two free turns for every six turns compared to a 6:1 reel. Think about how many times you have to turn the reel to get your lure back to the boat or bank, and ask yourself how hard it would be to squeeze in the extra rotations, or in the case of using a slower reel, back off those rotations. We're not talking about super-human tasks here. Now, if you're a professional and make your money off this stuff, then you're looking for every advantage you can squeeze out. That tiny bit of fatigue that may not matter for most of us from the extra ounce of the reel or turn of the handle may mean a lot more to them if they fish every day, eight hours a day. Also, your fitness level comes into play. If you're old and have heart problems, then you might get worn out a lot easier than someone who's young and in good shape. My point being, while the advantages are real, they shouldn't be enough to keep the average angler from catching fish, or make a big difference in their fishing experience. For most of us, it should be a "I want to buy a new reel, and since I'm buying a new reel with a specific purpose in mind anyway, I should buy one with the features that will maximize my fishing experience". It should never be "My old reel is preventing me from catching fish because it's too slow and too heavy, so I need to buy a new one". In other words, there might be something better out there, but what you have is probably good enough. For most of us, if your reel is too slow or too heavy to be useful, then your problem probably isn't a gear problem, but a medical problem that you should probably be talking to a doctor about. Either that, or you've got a mechanics issue in your technique which is causing unnecessary strain. So just because a reel is better for certain techniques doesn't mean you need that reel to do those techniques. And just because you don't have a reel set up for those techniques doesn't mean that you shouldn't give them a try and expect to have a chance to get good at them. What separates the pros from the amateurs isn't their gear, but their ability. Otherwise, who wouldn't spend $100,000 in fishing gear if it meant they were guaranteed to make millions of dollars in earnings and endorsements, all while fishing for living?!

When I had the issue I described, it wasn't quite to the level of a free spool, but more like what you'd get if the drag was backed out all of the way. But if yours is actually feeling like a free spool, then perhaps something isn't engaging properly like Tom said. In any case, if it's a common re-occurrence, then that oil thing I mentioned wouldn't be the cause. It wouldn't take long to wear down the lip and allow the oil to squeeze out. And even a heavily oiled drag washer will produce some drag under pressure, so long as it's able to make direct contact with the gear face. I've only experienced the issue two or three times in my life, and after you've engaged the drag a few times, it goes away for good. If what you're experiencing isn't going away, then I might start to look elsewhere. There's a pinion gear that connects the spool's shaft to the main gear on the handle shaft. When you press the cast release button, it pops up and disengages to allow the spool to free spin. It's possible it might have something jamming it and preventing it from dropping back down and engaging the main gear to the spool. It could be packed with grease or something might be broken or disconnected. It's hard to say. There could be something else slipping inside there or not engaging properly. You'd have to take it apart to find out. In any case, if it's a reoccurring problem, I'd take the reel back while it's still covered by the return period. It might be an indication of future problems to come. Sometimes a lemon will sneak past their QC. And that's why they have warranties.

I've had this happen to me before on a new reel. It never seems to happen on older reels, and doesn't happen to every new reel. My theory is, if it's not your line slipping (which it very well could be), then it might be lubricant sinking down onto the drag washers. When drag washers are new, they often have a lip around the edges from where they cut it out, and this can act as a trap for oil which keeps them from making proper contact. So it's kind of like the washer is hydroplaning on oil instead of making contact with the gear and creating friction. After they get a bit of wear, the lip goes away, and so does the problem. Often times reels are over lubricated at the factory. So if you want, you can try to disassemble it, clean it out, and re-lubricate it and that'll solve the problem, assuming you don't use too much (you only need a little). Or, you can loosen the drag all the way and retighten it. That usually allows for some of the oil to squeeze out, allowing you to get proper contact with the gear face. A little bit of oil on your drag washers is often desired. It makes them smoother. But if you get enough trapped in there so that they can't make proper contact, then you'll get the problem you described. That's my theory on it anyway. I have yet to prove it, but my experience leads me in that direction. I know for me it wasn't line slipping because that was my first though, And I checked for that. But I guess it could have been something else, like maybe the star drag nut binding and not allowing itself to go down far enough to create drag pressure. It's hard to tell because it's a new reel and you're not familiar with how far it screws down before the drag is supposed to engage, and I haven't disassembled one while the problem was going on to look for clues.

I have a 2 piece BPS Pro Qualifier 2 rod. I like the rod. It's sensitive, light, and strong, and it fishes really well. The price was right. But it snapped on a cast my third time out with it. And it didn't snap at the connection or at the tip, but rather in the middle of the top blank. Actually, "snapped" probably isn't the appropriate term. More like "exploded". Of course, it being a BPS rod, getting a free replacement was easy. And my second rod has held up well so far. Still, it makes me wonder if there's a problem with the rod's design, or if was just a bad sample. In any case, the fact that you can return it to the store for an immediate replacement is really nice, assuming you live near one.

It's a hobby. And like any hobby, it's purpose is to consume your free time and money. And just like any other hobby, you get to determine your level of involvement. I have a lot of hobbies, and none are cheap. Having said that, none require you to spend a bunch of money on the best equipment available. You can spend $100,000 on a single guitar, or you can play all of your favorite songs on a $50 guitar. If you want a professional level guitar, it'll run you about $800. That's enough money to get you a guitar that plays right and won't force you to struggle against it. If you want a high quality professional level guitar, it'll run you about $2,000. That'll buy you a guitar that plays and sounds as good or better than what 95% of professional guitar players use. If you want a prestige piece that makes the average person jealous, it'll run you about $10,000. That'll buy you a hand crafted piece of art that doesn't look like something everyone else owns. If you want to make your millionaire friends jealous, there are $100,000 guitars that come up for auction every once in a while. How much you want to spend, is up to you. Though, keep in mind, that just like bass fishing, most of the pros don't spend any money on their gear, and don't use the fanciest, most expensive gear known to man. They use whatever their sponsors tell them to use. And they make it work, and make it work better than most of us could with even the fanciest gear. Because at the end of the day, it's not the hammer that drives the nail, but the carpenter.