bgaviator

I retrieve right hand side on my current push button reel

Wow I can’t seem to find these Daiwa Fuego CTs in the 7:3:1 right hand anywhere online. Seems like everyone is sold out of them. They seem to get really good reviews.

Well so far I’ve been fishing just from the shore as I don’t have a boat and don’t have the logistics for really getting one. Sometimes I fish from the spillway at the big lake near me, and it has a lot of rip rap. Last week when I caught my first largemouth bass it was from the shore pitching a weightless Texas rig Yum Dinger worm near flooded trees and bushes. When I got into fishing last year I started building my tackle box with almost every kind of lure and soft plastic I would see mentioned on videos. So I have all kinds of soft plastic worms and flukes (which I haven’t tried fishing with the fluke yet). I have chatter baits, swim baits, jig heads, bobbers, spinner baits, crank baits. I have it all for the most part in my arsenal and I’d like to eventually learn all the techniques. A lot of my lures I haven’t even taken out of their packages yet. On the spillway I’ve been using small crappie jigs under a bobber. I’ve had success landing small, white bass with those. so unless I’m ever invited on someone’s boat or I rent a pontoon I will be usually doing shore fishing with any technique or bait I need to just catch something. I’m never targeting a particular species. I just want to have fun, and catch something.

I am interested in upgrading from my push button reel to a bait cast. Just trying to figure out what the most universal setup would be to cover most fishing situations? I’m willing to spend some decent cash to get a good setup. I was looking at these Shimano SLX DC or Curado DC reels. I saw a cool looking Abu Garcia white rod that looks like it would pair nice with it. I’m just curious as to what gear ratio, rod size, and action would be the most universal? I’m not going to be the type that has multiple rods and reels. I just want one that can really do it all. Would a 7’, medium or medium-heavy action, paired with a 7:2:1 Shimano be a good fit for what I’m looking for? Thanks.

Yeah I’ve just been doing catch and release so far. Haven’t worked myself up to filleting a fish yet. Stuff makes me a little squeamish. I’m not an outdoorsy type. Ha ha. But trying to get better at it. I heard a lot of people don’t like the taste of bass compared to say crappie or catfish, especially large mouths. Are they real fishy or muddy tasting or something?

I guess I don’t know what I’m really looking for. I was just doing the slow rod raising technique I’ve seen in videos when it comes to Texas rig. When I lifted up that’s when I felt weight on the line and I quickly lifted up some more to set the hook and reel in. I’m not sure I’m technically using the right gear either for this technique. I am just using my push button spinning reel with monofilament line. Does the kind of reel or line make a difference in being able to do the proper technique?

Landed two largemouth bass today! First time I’ve ever caught one! I was driving to Arktabutla Lake today as my intended destination, and I decided to pull over alongside the road where I saw a lot of flooded trees and bushes. Figured this might be the right place to try a Texas rig for the first time. I used Yum Dingers in Pumkpin Green on a Gamakatsu 3/0 offset hook. Regular, not EWG. I didn’t use a weight either. I must say I really like those Yum Dingers. I watched how they moved in the water as I would reel it in. They have a cool action. I also like the indentation on the back of the worms for the hook to rest in. i did feel bad on the first fish I got. He hooked himself way down in his throat in this thick piece of meat at the back of his throat. Do fish have tongues? It almost looked like the fishes tongue. Anyways, I didn’t have my forceps out cause I honestly wasn’t expecting to catch anything. I couldn’t locate them in my back in a decent amount of time and the fish has been out of water for awhile. I was worried if I didn’t get him back in the water he would certainly die. So I decided to cut the line and let him go with the hook and worm still in his mouth. I felt bad but I just couldn’t get it out.

So would you still pitch something like this into an area where you can clearly see trees and other branches sticking up, or is Texas rigging more for grass type cover? I have lots of 3” and 2” curly tails! That’s actually some of the first baits I bought after reading an article calling the curly tail grub the best lure of all time.

Hello all, this is my first post on this forum site. I am new to fishing. My son and I decided to get into it last year as a good activity to do during Covid. Well, I’ve gotten super interested in it, but the problem is, I suck. Despite watching tons of videos and reading tons of articles, I still feel like I never know what I’m doing. I’ve bought tons of lures and fake baits based off of the videos I’ve seen and what gets good reviews on the Bass Pro website. I have all this stuff but never know when and where I should be using it. We live in north Mississippi and last week we went out to Arktabutla Lake spillway for the first time. The water level was pretty low, and I was throwing a marabou jig under a bobber and I was catching white bass left and right as long as I could get my line in the middle of the water. It was my best record of fishing ever. 6 bass in a couple hours of being out there. Today we went back to Arktabutla, but this time I wanted to try a new spot so we went to an area called Kelly’s Landing along the main part of the lake. First we tried the marabou jigs and bobbers we still had rigged from last time. Nothing. Then my son wanted to switch to live worms and a bobber. He had no luck on that. I decided I wanted to try some of these new lures I bought. The water in Arktabutla is pretty stained FYI. I decided to first try one of the lipless strike long red eye Shad crank baits. I’ve never fished one of these before but I casted it out just to see what would happen. Well, I got it snagged on something on the first cast and I lost the lure. Then I decided to tie on a Storm 360GT swimbait I bought. I got several casts on it, but alas it got snagged on something as well and I lost it. Now I was getting mad. It was obvious to me at this point there’s a lot of trees or brush under the water I can’t see. So then I thought to myself, “oh, maybe these are the kinds of situations I should throw a weedless Texas rig worm?” So I tied on a senko Texas rigged using a Gamakatsu offset hook and 1/4 tungsten weight. I did not peg the weight though. I threw it out towards some cover. Some trees that were partly sticking up from the water. Well, I got snagged doing this too and lost that hook. at this point we decided to go back to the spillway. The water level was higher today and we couldn’t get our lines out to the middle of the water like last time. We were back to using the marabou jigs and bobbers, but still nothing. And we were getting snagged a lot on the rip rap. Not a good day fishing at all. Ive bought just about every kind of tackle so I’d have all the scenarios covered, but I’m obviously not good at knowing when and where to use this stuff. I’m looking for any general pointers, especially if anyone knows specifics about Arktabutla. We aren’t necessarily fishing for just bass either. We just want to catch fish. Any kind of fish for the fun of it. Thanks.