Bankc

Now is a bad time to get into the sport. Late summer, the bass are usually deep and less active. It's hard to catch bass right now. You're best bet is early in the morning, just as the sun is rising, with a top water lure of some kind. Two hours after sunrise, I'd tie on a texas rig worm and try catching them in deeper water. The only time that's harder to catch fish than right now, in my opinion, is in the dead of winter. Stick with it though. If you do it enough, you're bound to catch a few. Fall is around the corner and once the water temperature cools off, the fishing ought to pick up again for a little while. And if you practice a lot in the mean time, you'll be ready when they are.

Not usually. But I have gone to set the hook, realized my drag was set really low, and thumbed it for a quick second set.

Spoons are still popular for white bass. I'll often throw them when I find balls of baitfish in deeper water. They get down quick and stay down. You can use them to follow schools of bait fish around pretty easily. Just cast towards the school, count down to the bottom of the school, and lift your rod up to the top of the school. They're also effective for suspended bass. They'll snag on anything though, so you have to fish them in open water. I catch more white bass with them, so I don't throw them regularly. But I also catch some black bass.

On a spinning reel, the spool doesn't spin (except for drag) so new bearings won't add distance to your cast. They may make reeling more smooth if there's something wrong with your old bearings. But mostly the smoothness of the reel is a result of the rigidity and precision of the frame and internal parts. So if you have super high quality bearings, but the bearings aren't precisely aligned by the frame or the gears don't perfectly meshed, it's still going to retrieve rough. So bearings do matter. But they're just one part of the equation. And chances are if the reel manufacturer spent the time and money to ensure the precision and quality of the rest of the reel, then they probably used high quality bearings too. And if they used cheap bearings, they probably didn't build the rest of the reel to the tolerances necessary to take advantage of higher quality bearings.

The side imaging on my Lowrance Hook2 5 works just fine in my kayak, and I don't think I could get that thing above 3.5 mph if my life depended on it (well, maybe with a stout wind and heavy current to my back). I can't say exactly where the cutoff point that the side imaging quits working, but I frequently use SI at speeds around 2.7 mph (according to the GPS on my Hook2). Still, I'd keep the triple shot at the console. That's where it'll get used most. Whether you want to put another at the bow is up to you. I don't think you'd use it as much up there, as in my opinion, the speeds where SI works best are kind of fast for casting towards stuff. That, and the triple shot transducer is really large. But it's up to you.

Swivels, snaps, jig heads, and small lures without treble hooks get the Palomar if I'm using Fluoro. Fish N Fool otherwise, so I don't have to mess with pulling the lure through a loop. Most everything with mono gets the Trilene knot. Though I've been known to switch things around for one reason or another. I like to snell single hooks whenever possible, for instance. And I'll sometimes use a Palomar on mono for snaps or if I need a small knot.

I've used the Spiderwire Stealth a few times. It's okay. My only real complaint was that it lost it's color really fast. I generally prefer Sufix braid, but if the store was out of everything but the Spiderwire, I'd have no problem using it, so long as it was the 8 carrier variety.

The Fish N Fool is my braid knot. In my experience, it holds better than any other knot for slick braid. I do modify it slightly for braid. If you look up instructions online, they'll say to wrap it 5-6 times. And that's fine for mono, fluoro, and heavy braid. But for thinner braid, it needs more wraps. For 10# test, I'd wrap it around 8-10 times. 30# line would get 7-8 wraps. I'm up around 65# before I'm back down to 5-6. If that knot doesn't solve you're problems, then you've got a bad roll. It happens sometimes. I've not run into it with braid, but I've had other lines that seem to snap way too easily, even when brand new. Then switch it out with a different roll of the same thing, and everything's fine again.

I am usually not thinking about how I'm going to fish. I know that whatever plans I make will likely change once I'm on the water. I try to remain flexible and react to the situation I'm given, rather than stick to a plan. The night before I'll think through various plans. I'll come up with ideas I want to try. But the day of, I'm focused on listening to what the lake is trying to tell me. I want my mind clear. Fishing is a form of meditation for me. It's a way to find balance within my mind. I might catch more fish if I remained more focused and stuck to plan. But I think in the long run I'll become a better angler by becoming more in-tuned to what is happening, than what I'm doing.

Pain was a bad choice of words. I should have said muscle fatigue. Like you can push through muscle fatigue and be fine. That's how exercise works. But joint or tendon pain is different. And that was my point. I could start to get the feeling that I was doing damage to my wrist. Not a lot. It didn't even hurt. It was just a feeling of fatigue. But having played enough musical instruments and experiencing the early warning signs with carpel tunnels and have some tendinitis in my fingers, I now know the difference between muscles being fatigued and joints being damaged. And this was different than just a tightening of my forearm muscles. And since there are no muscles in your wrists or hands, any discomfort there is a sign of bad things to come. I was just noticing that whatever method I had been using to crank a reel was a poor choice. I hadn't really noticed it before, because I don't often crank so fast for so long. So I've decided to investigate a better technique so that I don't have to worry about doing permanent damage in the long run. For the moment, I'm fine. I just don't want to be not fine in ten years. Hence why I'm looking for a better technique. This is what I'm talking about. Did they go over how to reel or was it just casting? I think my casting is fine. I do a good job of spreading the load out from my legs to my hips to my torso to my shoulder to my elbow to my wrist, so that no single joint experiences much stress. But for reeling, my wrists tend to do 90% of the work.

I haven't had this problem. On my drop shot/ned rig rod, I use 10# braid with 4# or 6# fluoro. One thing I do differently is I tighten it as I go and keep it tight by keeping the knot pinched in between my fingers along the way. So when I go to cinch the knot, there's very little, if any, movement. That's also why I won't use this technique. It doesn't seem like it would be good for keeping the knot tight as you tie it. The way I do it, the braid isn't wrapped around the leader, but is woven into it. So the leader isn't running straight through the middle, but is wrinkled a bit. It's harder to tie and takes longer, but it holds better than any terminal knot I can tie. I've never had an FG knot fail on me.

In reels with dual brakes, I tend to set the centrifugal brake for the bait and line, and the magnetic for the wind. I hate having to open up a centrifugal reel when casting one direction, with the wind, and then reopening to readjust the brakes when turning around and casting back into the wind. That, and centrifugal brakes die down once the bait slows in the air, so you can still get a bit of backlash casting into the wind. Adjusting the magnetic brakes makes this a lot easier, which is why I won't own a reel without externally adjustable brakes. Also, it's really windy in central OK, so it's probably more of an issue for me than most people. Sure, you can thumb it, and I still use some thumb while casting in heavy wind. But I find the magnetic brakes work well on a given day once you've figure out how to play with them. So I can say 2 O'clock is with the wind, 7 O'clock is into the wind, and 11 O'clock is perpendicular to the wind, and that saves me a lot of headache.

There are a few knots that I'll loop around 7 times for good luck, like the Fish N Fool, Trilene, clinch knot, uni, etc. But if I decide I need more or less for some reason, I'm fine with changing it up. It's more of an inside joke with myself than a superstition.

Either or. Though if the hook is going to be tough to remove, I'll lip the fish with my left hand so my right can remove the hook. Sometimes that requires switching hands. I fish from a kayak, so I usually lip them out of the water. If they're too big to swing in, or have a mouth full of treble hooks, I'll grab them by the belly or back. If they're big enough, I've been known to tuck them under my arm like a football. Just make sure to start them off further back and pull them forward into position so their scales and fin spines get pushed down, and tilt them slightly forward so they won't back up on you.

Tatula CT 7.1:1 reel and a Kastking Perigree II MH/F rod. Yeah, I was just wondering if anyone had really thought about this. It's not like I hurt myself yesterday. It was just one of those situations where you repeat a motion so many times that you become aware of how over time this could lead to future problems. It reminded me of playing guitar. If my guitar technique is right, I can play for 6-8 hours straight and my callouses will be a bit tender and my muscles will be sore, but my joints will be fine. If my technique is off, I'll feel it in my tendons. You kind of have to adopt a feel for what kinds of pain you can play through and ignore, and what kinds of pain are warning signs. This one felt more like a warning sign.

Is there a proper way to reel? I was throwing a buzz bait a lot yesterday morning, and I could see how a lifetime of doing this would probably ruin your wrist if you didn't do it efficiently, as it was wearing me out. I'm a musician, and in musical instruments, the main reason there's a proper way to play an instrument isn't usually because it makes playing the instrument easier. In fact, many times it makes it harder, especially at the beginning. But more often that not, the reason for a proper technique is because it reduces stress and allows you to play longer, both throughout the day, and throughout your years. That way you don't damage your joints. I can't say as though I've seen a proper way to reel. But I noticed if I used only my wrist (which is what I always have done), it would probably grind down my wrist over the years. So I incorporated a little bit of elbow and some fingers, holding the reel paddles in my extended finger tips instead of clutched in my fist under my thumb. The idea was to spread the work load out between joints so none of them get overworked. It seems like introducing more elbow would probably wear out my elbow, so I'm not sure about that. But introducing my finger tips did seem to help. I lost some power, but I could easily bite down with my old grip if I needed to, as it didn't require me to regrip the reel to switch between the two. Again, I'm not keeping my wrist locked, but just reducing the amount of motion in it. I didn't come up with anything definitive, but reeling a buzz bait for several hours early in the morning definitely got me thinking. Does anyone know of a proper way? Has anyone experimented around with this? Any ideas?

Gas and oil both come from crude. So they mix fairly easily. It's not like trying to mix oil and water. Also, at the typical ratio of oil to gas, there's not much oil in the mix to begin with. So I can't imagine it's too critical that every drop be equally mixed. I'd just fill it with a little bit of gas, just enough so cover the bottom of the tank, then put in the oil, then fill the rest with gas. The force of the gas coming from the pump will do a good job of mixing the two. Combine that with a bit of driving around, and you'll be fine.

Keep it sealed in the package and it'll last at least a decade (from experience). The scent might fade a bit, but not enough that I've noticed. Though I don't have a good sniffer, so I may not be the most reliable source when it comes to things that smell.

I buy most stuff locally. I live near a few Academy's, a BPS and a Cabela's, so there's not much I can't get locally, and it usually costs about the same. I'll make one or two big purchases online for tackle online for the stuff I can't get locally. Even in the good times the shipping services near me are spotty at best. Things get lost, slowed down, or delivered to the wrong address all of the time. Plus I almost never receive a package that's not damaged, and frequently have to return stuff due to being damaged in shipping.

New BPS branded Fish Eagle Rod, 7', ML with 10lb, bright yellow 832 and a 6lb fluoro leader. I'm using a Daiwa Regal LT 2000 with it. So it seems we're not far off.

Okay, so maybe it matters sometimes. Yesterday I was throwing a Berkley Craw Fatty and was getting bit. Then I ran out and switched to an Arkie Houdini (which albeit, was designed for a jig trailer, not a T-rig), and the bites stopped. I also noticed the Houdini had virtually no action of it's own, which I thought was weird considering how thin the craw's arms were. Switched to a speed worm (I cut a small slit in the inside bend of their tails if I'm not going to retrieve them fast to give their tails more action) and the bites came back. Also, the Craw Fatty and Houdini were green with red flakes, and the speed worm was black and blue. So obviously something was different. Perhaps the size? The Houdini was the smallest of the bunch. It also had the least action. I fished all three the same way, around the same time, in the same place. But whatever was going on, I spent more time with the Houdini, and never got a nibble on it. The watermelon Craw Fatty did as well as the slit black and blue speed worm, and both crushed the watermelon Houdini. So sometimes it matters? Kind of?

The magnetic coating will change the relationship the spool's speed has on the breaking effect, giving it more braking at slower speeds (the end of the cast). So the coating might be there to control the contour of the brake's profile. So while it would still interact without the coating, but the coating may still serve a purpose.

Both magnetic and centrifugal are forms of brakes. It used to be true that magnetic brakes applied an equal amount of force during the whole cast. This resulted in more braking near the end of the cast, versus a centrifugal brake, because a centrifugal brake relies on the speed of the reel's rotation to apply the force. The faster the reel spins, the more force. These days, however, most magnetic braking systems don't use a ferrous metal (a metal that a magnet will stick to) on the side of the spool. So the effect changes. They now typically use non-ferrous metals for the sides of the spool (like aluminum) and stronger magnets in the brakes. This creates a braking force by apply eddy currents into the metal. The level of the eddy currents is proportional to the speed of the spool. So now, most magnetic brakes also generate their braking force in proportion to the speed of the spool's spin. A lot of Daiwa reels now use an Air Brake or Magforce Z Brake, which has a rotor that moves outwards, closer towards the magnets as the spool spins faster, and retracts it as the spool slows down. This, in combination with the eddy currents makes the braking power more extreme in proportion to the reel's speed, because the closer to the magnet is to the surface it's acting against, the stronger it's forces.

With the newer, digital smart chargers, you're fine to leave them in maintenance mode. Most will default to this once the battery is fully charged. There's some argument that it's better to store them at around 80% capacity, but I don't think it makes much of a difference. These smart chargers have sensors that can sense a short and will cut off the power to the battery if it fails or when the battery is full, and then wait for the battery to drop before adding more to juice. The old fashioned "dumb" trickle chargers that just pump a constant current into the battery are prone to creating fires. They also shorten the life of the battery by constantly exposing it to excessive heat. If the charger is pumping in more electricity than the battery is wasting, it has to burn off the excess as heat. Over time, that heat can build up pretty high. So I wouldn't use one of these in this day and age. Sure, the likelihood of fire isn't that high, as anyone who survived the 90's will tell you. But you can buy a smart charger that'll have a maintenance mode pretty cheaply these days. And some of these smart chargers will be labeled "trickle chargers" as well because it's a term that people are familiar with. So just because it says "trickle charger" doesn't mean it's bad. But I'd say if its more than about 20 years old or doesn't say anything about battery monitoring, it's probably worth replacing. That ProMariner Pro Sport 8 the OP referenced is good.

So it looks like the answer is clearly a "It only matters when it does".