BrianMDTX

^^^ this. A huge 10” bluegill can thrive on small forage like insects. That food source is abundant pretty much everywhere. Can you imagine the fight a 5 lb. bluegill would put up? Lb. for lb. they are a top-tier fish on a hook. A 5 lb’er on UL tackle would be a joy.

Have a great time. Eat some cheese!

My only experience is with the Revros LT2500. I took what I thought was a gamble on a sub-$50.00 spinning reel, but IMO the gamble paid off well. I love this reel. It’s currently spooled with 8 lb. YZH. I had 20 lb. braid with an 8 lb. leader but preferred to eliminate having a leader knot. The line capacity is not a detriment to me. I don’t bomb cast finesse baits so I do not need 200 yds of line on a spinning reel. I just spool on 8 lb. YZH, tie on a 1/0 octopus hook and a 5” Senko WR and go fishing. I find the Revros to be smooth, silent and casts well, with little to no line twist issues. For the $$, it’s hard to beat. As soon as my backordered Aird X MF rod arrives, I have a Shimano Sienna to put on it that I “bought” with gift points earned in a company program. I want to see how these two reels compare.

“I love the smell of doe-in-estrus in the morning! It smells like...victory!”

I use a MHF rod and 12 lb YZH. I normally let the worm sink (weightless or weighted) and once on the bottom, reel it in slowly with occasional twitches. I don’t leave the worm stationary for long, so even if a bass slurps the worm in on slack line, it’s rare for one to swallow it before I feel the weight of the fish. How long do you leave the bait stationary on the bottom?

On my Daiwa, there’s a knob on the left that I believe is for adjusting spool tension, but no brake. I never had too many issues with backlashes with it. A major difference is no thumb bar. You have to depress a small button to free the spool, which is on the right side. So if you cast with your right hand, you need to depress that with your left hand with your right thumb on the spool. Not a big deal but if you’ve always pressed the thumb bar with your right thumb and casted, it’s a change.

I’ll leave that to the other fellas. I only boil water when I need to install new Quickfletches on arrow shafts lol.

Soft plastics are made of Plastisol, which is composed of PVC and other polymers mixed with a plasticizer (which makes the product flexible and pliable). Although they are initially heated and poured into molds. Plastisol’s melting point is 320°-350°F. Boiling water is 212°F. So while boiling soft plastics will not remelt them, it likely affects the pliability and flexibility much as annealing metals alters the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness. It would be interesting to see the difference between boiled soft plastics that are allowed to cool naturally and those that are immediately quenched in both warm and cold water.

Still have my old Daiwa Millionaire 3H.

I got a 75 in Perch. Looks “bluegilly” and that’s most of the forage fish in these ponds, so I figured it may be the best color. We’ll see!

Crank bait: ??? Jerkbait: ??? Topwater: ??? Soft Plastic: 5” Senko At this point I really don’t use crank or jerkbaits, and while I have a few topwaters, it’s not something I have any success with. Hoping to change that with my first Whopper Plopper. Soft plastics? I could name a few (Mann’s Jelly Worm, Zoom trick worm), but if I had nothing but a 7’ MF spinning rig, 1/0 octopus hooks, O rings and 5” Senkos from here on out, I could fish wacky rigs and be a happy guy.

Just bought a pack of 3.8” Keitechs in Sun Gill to try. I also have some 4” Saw Craws in green pumpkin as well.

I have one that’s about 50 years old. I cleaned and greased it in May and it works fine. Noisy (compared to modern spinning reels)? Yes. Smooth reeling? Not so much. Built like a tank and lasts pretty much forever? Yes. And it has an AR switch lol.

Well...I guess the Bait Monkey needs to be fed again lol.

Are trailers simply an additional attractant to a chatterbait, or an absolute necessity?

There’s a lot of similarities, and also a lot of differences. Knowing the habits of the game (deer or bass) is paramount. What do they eat? Where does the food sources tend to be? Where do they shelter? How do they react when pressured? How do they respond to weather? Learning how the quarry lives, feeds and reacts is key. But there is a huge difference in casting baits to catch bass, and sitting in a treestand or ground blind waiting for a buck to come close to your position and offer a clear shot. Frankly, I love both. But...hunting ain’t catch-and-release for sure!

Haven’t sailed one yet, but I’ve had a few knots unravel as I was tightening them, so I feel your pain. And that’s with 8 lb YZH. I can’t even imagine trying to tie 6, let alone 4 lb line!

Nothing too crazy. But it is my first Whopper Plopper and chatterbait. Still waiting on some 5” Senkos from TW.

I know they smell a heck of a lot better (to me-maybe not the bass) than Berkeley Power Worms. They flat out stank!

I just stopped at Academy and bought my first. A 75 in Perch. Topwater has not been my friend but I’m willing to give it a go. I have either a MF or a MHF action casting rod. Both spooled with 12 lb YZH. Which power rod is the best choice?

No. You have to check compression cranking the engine (but not starting) with a gauge. You can rent one from auto parts stores if needed.

Farting is fine. Just use a grunt tube!

Agreed. If it runs well and checks out good (compression, no leaks, etc.), I say go for it. If there's parts available for it now they will likely be available for some time to come.

...is how many? is it really one last cast? Two? Five? More? I always seem to say “one last cast”, and then the bait either didn’t land exactly where I wanted, or I see one more spot to try, etc. I bet my “ last cast” is probably 20-30 minutes of fishing.

Think fishing is bad? Try taking out new bowhunters who expect to see the next cover buck on Deer and Deer Hunting to show up within 30 minutes of sunrise. Then tell them it took you three years to arrow your first doe and seven for your first buck...and that was a spike lol. And...you have to stay silent, don’t move and watch your scent. At least while not catching fish, you’re active!