Darth-Baiter

Some DEPs. Bluegill glide bait. $50 and it’s fishless. I just carry it now. And anything with Bellows in the name. oh the tiny(est) whopper plopper sucks!

I’m trying to target a great 1/8oz t-rig (total weight would be around 1/2) and 3/8th jig rod. I do own some 1/2oz finesse jigs. I was thinking FMJ, but I was told that’s for heavier stuff. So I started thinking x-bites. Full disclosure: rod I’m trying to replace is a simple Fury 733. It casts them great, but sensitivity is lacking, unless im actively dragging the bait. thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Spring fishing is weird. I wore a puffy jacket yesterday. Then six hours later…shorts. In the evening, puffy jacket with shorts. Haha. im confused. our local bass are freaked.

How’s that x-bites? About to pull the trigger. I’ll probably top it with a Bantam.

@A-Jay yea. I’ll give him a crack at it. Thx.

@ironbjorn right. Opps. Spincast is a whole other subset.

SINCE this is a question about REELS..and not rods. I am using a Tatula SV. 65lb braid. it flings a frog with fury. I chose this reel because it also pitches a bait easy. my frog rod doubles as my light punch rig.

on a boat, I just wear shoes. running shoes most often. it's a boat. the water floating version of any other flat surface. like a sidewalk. I can imagine a big ocean boat where you are hauling in Wahoo, or ..sorry, my salt water fish inventory just evaporated. but a salt boat gets wet. I would wear boat shoes. a bass boat is easy standing.

I was concerned initially because I was throwing a walking bait. very frustrating. I probably shouldn't have used a spinner bait as the new test. hmmm

I dont get it. I have a ABU Revo a friend gave me because it gave him fits. I put it on a rod and put it to work. I was shocked how smooth that thing casted. far and effortless. I keep the line fresh, and every time I get a chance I will lube it in the usual spots. it was the best free reel I have ever gotten. then something flipped a switch. same baits, same weights, same rod, same line. it will 100% backlash (mildly, cuz I save it with emergency thumb) every single time. I lubed it a few days ago. stretched all the line out down my neighborhood and reeled it in smooth and taut. I put on a practice plug and sent it across the street. it was fine. perfect almost with those few cast. I know a practice plug is deceivingly aerodynamic. I tied on a spinner bait. out yesterday. first cast. engage emergency thumb. I am flummoxed. I mess with adjustments. put it way on the conservative side. it still messes up. it lashes on the launch..not the lure landing. thoughts?

yesterday. wow. just wow. TWICE!!! I am respooling today. first time, I saw a juicy spot just at the far spectrum of my talent with respect to distance and accuracy. I swung for the fence. what I didnt see was a obstruction 10 feet in front of my face. my bait smacked it a full velocity and stopped cold. GRRR..I let the tidal current wash me downstream and my friend eased into my casting spot. second time, a power backhand cast. my bait caught the side of my kayak, and my net. the resulting BRRRRRRTHHH sound: I knew it was a good one. current didnt offer me my usual 15 minutes of cussing and picking. I risk washing into trees (and flipping), so I tried a tiny bit and just started cutting. with my 3/4 spool, my distance was anemic, but I still got into the fish. I still laugh every time I empty my PFD pocket of that wad of line. backlashes are humbling to say the least. brings me right back to solid earth. all part of the fishing experience. you full time spin-casters, are not entirely wrong

I chose TO Marina because there is a dead end slough over there. I had hoped to find spawn beds back there. but NOPE. all we found was WEEDS and lots of them. every cast was a salad on our baits. weeds were buried into our kayak pedal drives. it was nice, being a dead-end we did find some slack waters. and at the opening is where we found the cooperating fish. fish that live in current are muscle bound beast. even the dinks fool you into screaming out loud, "oh, it could be a biggie!" nope. belay that last message!

our LMB are relatively smoothed mouthed. our Spotted bass will ruin a good fingerprint. you all can divert a thread topic like pros!!! wow. hahaha.. my dog won't bite. but on the other hand we have to pay someone to trim his nails. if I could lip him and shut him off like bass...game changer.

@gimruis. it is oddly shaped. it is further back than it looks but you put two boats in that space jockeying for position and it does get crowded. a super cool, and talented boat trailer backer upper slipped in right next to my kayak and we both got our work done quickly. he crushed with a chatterB. no sniffs on mine

Fishing was okay. Tidal flow was off the charts. We went 6 miles into a slough against the flow. Pedaling hard, we were going 1.5 mph. Brutal. no bigger fish. Topping out at two pound fish. But they all fought hard. No pics because there wasn’t time to do so. Quick releases before we were flushed 100 yards down stream. Going thru “rapids” where two sloughs converted my kayak looked like a glide bait. It would shimmy side to side. Almost scary. I was glad to get terra ferma. 9 hours I was exhausted. next time will be a lake visit.