BrianMDTX

God, I used to do that bowhunting. Up at 0130, drive to the lower Eastern Shore, hump in a climbing stand, bow, daypack, etc. and hunt from an 1/2 hour before sunrise until legal shooting time expired a 1/2 hour after sunset. Then carry everything out and drive home. I did that in my 20s and 30s. No way today, Jose.

I wasn’t sure if this should be posted here or under Tackle, but I think it’s more a rod and/or line question. I have jigs between 3/8 and 1/2 oz. Most of the ponds I fish are no deeper than 7’-8’. I currently am using a Daiwa Aird X AIRX701MHFB rod and 12 lb YZH. Unless the jig is very close to the boat or shore (like 10’-12’), the line from the rod tip to the jig is slack unless I raise the rod tip very high, which does not seem to impart much action on the bottom (at least as far as I can tell). Maybe that’s normal. I’ll be the first to say that my experience with jigs is very limited. All I know is that if I simply twitch the rod tip it seems to move the line and not the jig. If I twitch the rod from the side it will impart more action, but I am guessing that would make it more difficult to detect strikes and/or set the hook. My gut tells me that in deeper water things would be different, but I’m not positive about that. What say you?

History teaches those who are willing to learn. The ones who figured out how to pattern and catch bass before the modern era learned by experience and observing the natural world. Many anglers, like hunters, tend to forget how fish, fowl and game actually live in nature vs locating them on fish finders or game cameras. Modern gear is great, but learning how things were done in the past can always help improve the present.

There’s an old adage about carbon arrows: “they’re broke or straight”. That’s not always 100% true. They can take a set. I would imagine a rod can as well.

I’m sure we stopped there back in the day. Either enroute to Conowingo or fishing a small community pond off Bernadette Drive.

What joy does one get being victorious through cheating? I'll never understand that.

That video was so horrid it was hard to tell lol.

I tie a IC knot many times. It's easy to tie, almost foolproof (although not per that video lol).

Welcome to Bass Resource from an ex-Marylander!It's a great site! What was the name of the tackle shop? I may have been there a long time ago. I'm sure (I hope!) pretty much everyone on BR knows who Lefty Kreh was. Was Hayward Putnam the outdoors columnist for The Aegis? If so, I remember getting into a serious disagreement with him on the editorial pages once lol.

I struggled with this for years. Everything I read (no internet back then lol) said “wait for a tap-tap-tap and set the hook”. Which is great..unless everything you feel seems to be a tap lol. It’s not 100%, as a bass can pick up your bait on a slack line and you’ll feel nothing (but you’ll see the line start running the majority of the time), but if working a TR or a jig on a tight line, there’s a difference between a bite and when the bait hits structure. To me (and I’m no expert), if it feels like I’m pulling the line tight against something it’s structure. If I feel something is pulling the line tight, it’s a bass. And a stop on structure does not feel like a tap-tap-tap in succession. It is a learned thing for sure.

I have 12 lb YZH on my baitcasters. Hard to beat 600 yds for $9.99 local pick-up.

Lines any smaller in diameter I have issues seeing it well enough to tie knots lol. It is some strong line. I had to cut my WR line due to a snag and after cutting, I attempted to pull it free. It eventually broke but it took some horsepower to get it to break. It’s good stuff.

I use 8 lb YZH on my spinning rigs. Plenty strong for finesse presentations.

Hopefully you didn’t wait two months and find out it was Halloween candy lol.

I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I really don’t have access to smallmouth down here in SE Texas, and I only caught a few in Western MD many years ago. But when I set the hook on my PB (not knowing for sure at first what it was) and it jumped and I saw that, as you described “big ol' bucket-head and thrash about, mouth open”, I was definitely in Holy S*** territory lol.

Nice one! I can’t tell, but that’s a jig and trailer? I think I see a jig.

This looks pretty good.

I see this suggestion from basically everyone with frog-fishing experience. It begs the question: why do makers of topwater frogs not have hooks installed from go with a wider gap? Seems as if everyone has to bend the hooks out for a proper hookset that the manufacturers should take note of that and make a design change.

5” wacky rig Senko is a great start.

It sure doesn’t feel like fall here in SE Texas lol. But I can’t complain either. This year has been spectacular for me. One for the books.

I have to add Watermelon with Copper and Orange with Red Flake. That’s my top producer.

Wow. Today started out rough. I used the Carolina rig, dropshot rig, weightless tube, jig and Keitech trailer, Fat Keitech, Whopper Plopper and got zilch. Not even a slight bit of a bite. I even used a Senko WR and was getting skunked. Until this megabass hit the WR. I think it was barely longer than the 5” Senko lol. But at least I wasn’t skunked. I needed to hit the road so I casted a few more times. On the third cast I thought the line was running but it stopped. Then it took off. I reeled in the slack and the hook set. OMG, it felt like my a new PB. The bass took off, turning my small boat in circles twice. I let off the drag it was pulling so hard. After 5 minutes I finally got it in the net. It was just over 2.5 lbs but that bass wanted to fight! He swallowed the hook deep, but I got it out with no blood loss and it swam off fine.

That’s one bait I use a lot with the Procyon. Sometimes it’s comparing apples to oranges when it’s one rod manufacturer against another as concerns actions. One’s M feels like another’s ML or MH sometimes. I like the MLXF action on that Procyon as it seems to really add some action to the WR after the initial sink with minimal rod movement, and it sets the hook fast on the retrieve. I caught a 4.5 lb green bass a few weeks ago on that rod with a Shimano Sienna 2500 and 8 lb YZH. I had to adjust the drag a bit (my drags tend to initially run on the light side), but it had no problem playing and reeling in that bass. I’m pretty impressed with the Procyon. The Aird X gets a lot more press but I’d get another Procyon in a heartbeat.

I cast a 5” Senko WR all the time on my Daiwa Procyon MLXF rod. No issues at all. Actually prefer it over my Fenwick HMX MF.

That is one that I have not tried yet. Probably next on the hit parade.