moby bass

Dave, I have the AbuGarcia Conolon in a 7' M spinning and it is, without doubt, one of my favourite rods. I love the weight, balance and action and for the price, I do not think you can go wrong. I am looking to pick up another,(like I really need it), one of these days.

First, I hope I'm posting this in the right place. Went up to my local pond tonite for a little night fishing. The only thing I took was a black Terminator buzzbait. Caught 6 bass in a little over an hour with about 6 more hard hits. But, out of the 6 I caught, 2 came unbuttoned just as I got them to the shore. I was sure they were hooked, because they fought me as I reeled them in, so it wasn't like they came off right away. Also, the 6 or so strikes I missed, I was sure the fish had the bait before I set the hook. On one I know I didn't set the hook well enough and several times the fish smashed the lure, so a set was almost unnecessary. I tried to make sure they had it so I didn't pull the lure out of their mouth but still missed more than I think I should have. Any thoughts?

I use a swivel and then a leader, tied directly to the hook, for plastic, thus avoiding line twist. Inline spinners, swivel, always. If twist gets bad, I cut off anything on the end of the line, lay it out on the grass, tension the line with my fingers and reel it back onto the reel.

Why do they have to begin the names of all of their reels with an "S" ?? Too confusing!

I don't know about the wiggle wart but the Hot'nTot is supposed to be super, especially for Walleye. I was talking to another fisherman in Dick's several weeks ago and be said he buys half a dozen of the Hot'nTot in a crawdad pattern, for bass, at the beginning of every season. FWIW

I haven't fished a spoon too much, but I do like the Dardevels. I recently purchased a Johnson Silver Minnow and it had the absolute dullest hook I have ever seen. I should have returned it to the store, but more bother than it's worth. I've been working on sharpening it. Probably will use it somewhere where I won't worry about losing it. Doubt I'll buy another.

I like a direct tie on some lures, particularly spinner baits. That way the line stays put and doesn't slide down the arm like a swivel or snap sometimes does, wrecking your retrieve. Lately, I've been using a swivel on the end of my line and tying a leader directly to the hook for plastics because, if I don't have the plastic perfectly straight or retrieve a little too fast, I get twist on a spinning reel and after 30 or 40 casts I've got a reel (pun intended) mess in my line.

I have a question here on jig fishing. I've recently started to try it. It seems as though every jig I find has the fiber weed guards on them. It seems to me that this would be unnecessary in open water and would make the hookset more difficult. Do you guys always keep the weedguards on or do you cut them off. Is it more difficult to set the hook or does the bass inhale the whole rig sufficiently that a strong set pushes the fiber out of the way. Also what weight rod and line. I know this will depend on how heavy the cover might be but in general. Last night I was trying a jig in some open water, hopping it on the bottom, using a 7 ft. medium rod. The tip flexed quite a bit, giving good action without much rod movement, and I could feel the bottom but I don't know how well a hookset would have gone. I believe the jig was 3/8 oz plus trailer.

That might work! I mounted the Quantum reel on the rod. It is about 1 1/2 ounces heavier than the Abu 502. It helped but still was not enough to keep the rod tip up and balanced. Another 1/2 to 3/4 ounce should do it. This balancing kit will extend the end of the rod so I might be able to get by with less. Thanks for the tip!

This is only an educated guess on my part, and based on a recent experience/experiment on my part. I would say that a bass could be attracted to a buzzbait in twenty feet of water. Sound carries extremely well in water and I have often wondered just how well the rattles, in say a Rattletrap, carried sound and vibration. I was swimming in my pool recently, and as I was underwater, someone ripped apart a piece of velcro. I was astonished at how loud that was and even when above water and someone ripped the velcro underwater, I could feel the vibration on the back of my neck. I had my son get a Rattletrap and he was at one end of a 32 foot pool and shook the trap while I was underwater, 32' away. I was amazed at how loud the rattles were. Granted, this was in a body of water, limited in size and enclosed by metal, but I'm sure that a bass' lateral line is much more sensitive to vibration than I am. So, in my opinion, and that's all it really is, I would say they can be attracted at 20' to a buzzbait or spinner, or rattle. Based on my little "experiment" I think I am going to try to use traps more frequently than I have in the past.

Do you have a suggestion?

It just happens to occur when trying to get my lure or hook unsnagged. My point is, I thought the whole purpose of using braid was to be able to fish heavy cover, get the fish out without breaking off. Just seems to me the a leader of 6 or 8# defeats that purpose. Why not just use all mono?

Niles, OH

Isn't a leader with braid sort of defeating the whole purpose of braid. I have braid on one setup and when I get snagged, I bring up the whole dang stump, thus saving the lure. A leader, unless it's real heavy, is going to break off. Or are you using leaders of the same test as the braid, in which case the diameters are going to be substantially different.

I just picked up a combo at Gander Mtn, consisting of a Fenwick HMX 7' medium and an Abu Garcia 502 ALB, for $100. The rod alone at Cabelas is $85.00, so I thought this was a pretty good deal. The Abu is a 10 bearing, and very smooth. Fished with it last evening with a Mepps 5 inline spinner and I have to say I wasn't as thrilled as I had hoped. I did catch a medium sized bass, however. The rod seems a little out of balance, especially pulling a fairly heavy spinner. I had to rest the butt on my leg because the rod tip wanted to dip. It felt more balanced in the store. It's listed as a medium but the action is more like a MH with a moderate fast tip. I have a Fenwick Venture, M, that is more like my Rapala ML. Go figure. I have a Quantum reel that I purchased at Dick's a while back, that is a little bigger and heavier than the Abu that came with the combo. I am going to mount that on the new Fenwick and see if it helps the balance issue. If not, deal or no deal, back she'll go. Just too much work fishing with it.

Swimbaits, like Storm, no success. Crankbaits, don't work for me either. However, I'll qualify that statement by saying I don't fish them much because I shore fish and they are running too deep by the time they get back to the bank. I had an old red head jitterbug (still have it) from years past, that I never caught a fish on, but have had good success with a black Jitterbug at night. Right bait, right time and place. Spinnerbaits are BIG producers for me. MY PB was caught on one.

I usually feel the bluegill as several small taps in a row as opposed to a bass that is a single solid bump. Sometimes, however the bigger bluegill will start swimming away with the bait, in which case, a hookset is in order.

Maybe try flipping your bail closed just as the bait hits the water. That way any additional fall of the bait won't pull out more line but only take up the slack of what's already out there. I do this on buzz baits, that way I'm ready to start reeling as soon as the buzzbait hits the water. It doesn't sink, so I don't have to reel like crazy to get it back to the surface. Line is nice and tight when it hits the water.

I was vacationing in Phoenix, years ago, and received a severe sunburn on my forehead. It was red, crusty and weeping for well over a year, and remained reddish for years after that. Now, I always wear a wide brimmed hat, for that and because the forest is thinning on the top of my head, and I don't need a bad burn up there. Hats, can't stress them enough. And not just ball caps, although that's better than nothing. Cover the back of the neck and the ears as well.

Big carp and lots of them, but you can't fish. Amazing sight, also a little scary. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php?tip_AttractionNo==1115

I'll take a dozen. ;D

That code wouldn't indicate the date it was sold. That rod could sit in the store for a year or more before someone bought it.

I've caught fish on most every color spinnerbait I own. The colors, red, yellow and green combos seem to be the most productive. I caught a Crappie the other day on a large black Terminator. I wondered what that Crappie was thinking, 'cause no way was that whole thing gonna fit in his mouth! ;D

Honestly, my most successful lure in our local pond has been a Joe's Flies, inline spinner in the firetiger. The other day I caught 10 bass on several 4" green Senkos. At night, a large black Jitterbug. Those have been the most productive overall. Other lures have produced bass as well. In fact, my largest bass out of that pond, 21", was on a spinner bait with red and yellow blades. I've also caught them on slug-gos, other colors of Senkos, and a few other lures.

Yeh, what ILfish asked, What was your setup? I'd like to get into some Muskie fishing. Nice catch, BTW.