purpurite

Anyone have any feedback on their customer service that they would like to share?

As a base layer, I have been using an American Giant hoodie for a few years now, and I pretty much spend at least 70% of my life in it between October 1 and May 1. Thick, durable hoodie that is invaluable to someone who is always cold, and even more so in midwest winters. I pair it with a lined North Face Apex Chromium jacket or a Patagonia Nano Puff jacket in all but Chicago snowstorms.

LOL. Largest largemouth ever caught in Illinois was 13lb 1oz almost 45 years ago. I get excited for 3-pounders. Y'all are spoiled.

If you are new then your price range is way out of touch, IMO. You can get a really decent "combo" setup from a lot of big box outdoor stores like Bass Pro Shops, Scheels, Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods and many others depending on where you live. You should easily be able to keep your expense for a decent rod and reel to well below $150, and quite honestly, below $100. Your priority right now is to get good enough gear to not hinder your enjoyment and learning. Put some of that cash into good baits, good line and good organization for all of it and you'll be happier with your stuff as you get more comfortable. There is plenty of time to spend cash on higher end gear.

Super early on the weekend. It's always like that.

Ok, so this is not scientific in the least, but I did manage to get out and fish a new little hidden pond here at lunch. It's less than a mile from my office and I had no idea it even existed. Water was murky and there was a stiff breeze coming from the west, so I started with a Whopper Plopper topwater to see if I could hit anything fast. After about 25 throws, I changed to a black & blue stickbait with a weedless weighted hook. Nothing. Made one final change to a Texas rig. I did everything differently, though, and left the EWG in the box, and pulled out a 3/0 round, wide cap worm hook, a .125" bullet weight (not pinned) and a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver 4.20 in "Bloody Bug," which is dark purple with red and blue flake in it. Buried the hook, ratcheted up the drag and flung. In 2 of the first 4 cast with this setup I hit two largemouth real quick, and had sharp, decisive hooksets. Got 2 little sub-pounder dinks on lunch, and both had the hook cleanly buried in the upper and lower lips. Felt like a small victory. I have no idea what helped overall, but I feel like the hook change combined with a much more locked up drag helped considerably. I also was far more decisive in the actual movement of the hookset. Hit, quick, snap, hard—one and done. I'm going to head out tomorrow in the AM again and see if I can repeat the process and call it a win. So far so good. Thanks for everyone's input, it was very helpful. Doug

I have one and I really like mine. The paint is beautiful, too. I opted for the lower gear ratio as a dedicated frogging combo. I'm not a huge fan of the centrifugal braking setup, but it's likely because it's too much adjustment for me. I'm a simpleton and I prefer the magnetic brakes on a lot of the other AGs. Oh, and I love my 8:1 ratio REVO (EXD). I have a tough time going back to slower ratios.

The products on the shelves at Walmart are fine (Zoom, Berkely and Strike King make good stuff), and Bass Pro Shops literally has every major brand on the shelves, so I donno what that guy is talking about, unless he thinks everything should be custom or hand-made. Again, don't overcomplicate this. You're off to a great start. Keep grinding!

This. I have a whole box full of dismembered worms, bugs, critters and creatures on my bench. I think the panfish are screwing with my head, and when I set the hook and get nothing, it's because there was nothing (no bass) there to set.

I'm definitely over-thinking it, for sure. Well, it has been both. I'd say it's been 50/50. Today I lost 3 within 20' of the shoreline. I think as the fish collected weed and everything got heavier, they were able to shake off of a weak hook. At last that's what I told myself after it happened. Weedy pond, and I was skinning the hook tip in the back of the craw/grub. I didn't have setting issues with the spinning Ned setup or the wacky setup with the round worm hook. I think my sets were likely too soft with the T-rig to pop the hook through the bait and embed in the jaw. Thanks. Three weeks ago in the same spot, same pond, I hit 14 between 1 pound and 2.5 pounds. I also lost about a half dozen the same way I did today. Went home dwelling on the ones I lost and not the ones I caught. I think this is definitely happening. I had success with the Ned/Wacky, and I would have gone exclusively finesse, but the weeds were so bad and I was tired of pulling the crap off of the bait after every cast. My catches came on the drops of the Ned and the wacky rig, so there's definitely something to the smaller worm. I had a hit on the very first drop of a Z-man 4" TRD at the end of the day. You know, I never knew that. After 13 years of doing this, I still feel like a novice sometimes. That's a great piece of information. Seriously great advice. I will try wide gap round hooks, for sure, and I'm going to lose the peg. It's been helping in the heavy weeds I have been fishing in, but it might also be causing some of my issues. I'm also definitely not attacking the hook-set quick enough. It's likely a lot of factors, and I'm mostly educated guessing. I'm way over thinking it, first of all. I think I'm probably using hooks that are too heavy duty for the size of the baits and tougher to pop through the skinned tip and then the lip. I'm waiting too long to set the hook. Most importantly, I now believe I am setting it mushy and not a quick jab. I reel in the slack, dip the tip and then my "snap" is more of a mushy pull. This is likely making everything else worse than it should be. I truly appreciate everyone's input. I'm going to go down a hook size or two and try a wide-gap round bend. I'm going to ratchet up my drag and increase the gauge of the leader, as I think it's been way too light on the baitcasters. I'm also going to focus on quick, sharp and decisive sets the split second I feel the first thump (I think I've been really late on my sets for the most part). I know it's just going to be a matter of touch, and I feel like I'm getting better with the baitcasters every time I go out.

Background, I have been fishing for about 13 years, give or take, as I was a late starter. I have been bass fishing 100% of that time with spinning reels. This is the first year I have used baitcasters, using a spinning reel only on a Ned rig setup where the weeds will allow it. My main go-to rigs are Texas with a craw or grub and a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG or I will throw a wacky rig using O-rings on stickbaits. If the water is clean enough, I will also sometimes throw lipless crankbaits or even Whopper Ploppers. For the sake of this post, let's focus on what I am throwing 75% of the time no matter where I fish—baitcaster with Texas rigs with a 1/8th oz pinned bullet weight on 40lb braid with a 12lb fluoro leader. Sometimes this changes up, but generally this is my go-to just about everywhere, at least to start with. Oh, the rod primarily used on this setup is an Abu Garcia Veritas 2.0, 7’ medium heavy. My hook-sets absolutely suck. I am stuck in my own head right now, because I feel like I'm either trying to set the hook too soon, or possibly too late and the fish has already spit the bait. Too hard, or maybe not hard enough. Straight back, or sometimes sideways. Left side? Right side? My drag is too loose, or maybe it's too tight. I donno. I spent 3 hours on the water this morning, and had 3 catches—all a pound or so. All with the hooks pinned in the side of the jaw (however 2 on the wacky and one on a Ned rig). Hit none on the Texas rig today. I lost 3 or 4 to bad hook-sets. I feel like I went from an experienced bass angler to a complete beginner in the last couple of months. HELP! I need a re-set or maybe a mental checklist that I can go through to square my hook-sets up. This summer has been so hard to catch anything, I hate to throw away any bites I am getting. And now I feel like I have the yips with my hook-sets. I'm completely lost with my baitcaster hook-sets. Is it the rod? Should I be using different hooks? Anyone have any tips?

Good kid. Good parenting.

I found mine were spinning sometimes on retrieve, no matter how fast or slow I went. I solved the problem by using a double swivel on the front eyelet instead of a split ring. Keeps the wonky spins to a minimum.

Same as you, though I got home last Saturday after an epic 16 fatties on a hidden suburban retention pound and I realized that I have bass thumb on both my right and left hands. I don't recall ever using my right hand to lip the fish, but I definitely did because my thumb was all torn up. I have no idea why.

Bank fishing only. Weekends: 2-3 hours Weekdays: 1 hour, usually during lunch or on the way home from work.

Duplicate post...

Not at all. They were absolutely right to reach out, but sometimes some advice can be misguided. There are a few responses that will do more to confuse than to help. You can catch fish on Nerf bullets and gummy worms—this isn't a hobby that needs to be overly complex for beginners.

Man, some of this advice is WAY over the top for a beginner. Do you WANT him to quit? Kids catch fish on water bottle "reels" with broken toothbrushes for lures. Fish will bite on many things. Your goal right now is to keep it as simple as possible, and to not get discouraged if and when you don't catch anything. It's the dead of summer and the water is really warm. Everyone is struggling right now. A simple 5" rubber worm or grub in green pumpkin on a simple Texas rigged hook (weedless) will work in so many situations, it's crazy. I prefer wide gap hooks to make rigging the hook easier, but people will even debate that. I like a small bullet weight on my setup to help with the drop, but you absolutely don't need it. Don't overcomplicate fishing for your first year. The worst thing you can do is to start chasing lures and rigs and gear. Keep fishing regardless of what or how much you catch (it's practice and it's invaluable). The more you have the rod & reel in your hands, the more you throw and reel and catch, the more comfortable you will get. As your mechanical skills grow (and your knowledge), then start looking down the tackle rabbit hole. It's a lot of fun. Good luck, and keep grinding.

As someone new to braid, it was the first brand I tried this past spring. I spooled up 50 lb hi vis yellow Stealth on my new frog setup. I thought it was soft and easy to cast, but it lost color almost from the first cast. By the first week of use, it was almost not yellow. I used Stealth 15 lb in my spinning reel and I like it, but again even the mossy green is losing color quickly. Meh. I bought a couple of packages of the EZ Braid to use on second and third baitcaster setups and after using the 20 lb for a week, I yanked it. It's stiff, flat and waxy and I didn't like it at all. I didn't even open up the second package of 30 lb. While on vacation after having a massive tree-induced blow up of my fluorocarbon setup, I bought a spool of Power Pro in mossy green. I like it a LOT more than the Spiderwire I have used. Once I cam home from vacation, I yanked all of the Spiderwire I had on reels and replaced it all with Power Pro in moss green, in various line weights. I'm sure there are other braids out there that are as good or better than Power Pro, but I'm not going back to Spiderwire anytime soon.

Very similar to what I enjoy. I bought my first baitcaster this past spring, and went with a 6.6:1 ratio. I like it very much, but a couple of months later I bought a 7.3:1 ratio baitcaster. I tend to prefer the faster rate. I just find it more comfortable and easier to make it do what I want. I can slow up my crank speed if I want it to have less speed. I built up my 6.6:1 as a frog reel for heavy lettuce, and it works great. I like the faster speeds to the point that I just picked up an 8.0:1 reel to play with this fall. YMMV. Doug

Most places, I start with weedless Texas rig, either with a tube, grub or a craw. If there is none or little wind, I'll try a Whopper Plopper. If I am not getting any hits after those, I'll move to a wacky-rigged worm. If there is a lot of weed or pads, I'll jump on a frog right off the bat. One of the spots I fish at regularly during my lunch break, had a school of piraña-like bluegill swarming right below me so I threw them a handful of crushed chips. I caught two largemouth in the heat of the noon hour, so now I bring a small ziplock bag of saltine crackers to toss in the water to chum for baitfish. If there are no fish bombing the crackers, I can pretty much tell that I'm not going to get many hits on that day. Not terribly scientific, but it makes sense in my head.

49. Two years ago on the 4th of July. I didn't really start fishing until my early 40s after being introduced to it by my father-in-law on a retention pond outside of our old townhome. I didn't have a scale with me, but this fat girl was 21" long, and caught in the retention pound across the street from that same FiL's home.

Hi all, I'm hoping you can impart some experience and wisdom. I spend 99% of my fishing time on suburban forest preserve lakes/ponds, and mostly neighborhood retention ponds. I have had a tough fishing summer, mostly because my fishing time has been in the middle of the day's heat and sun (lunch) and not at optimal feeding times. I feel as if many of the locations I am fishing are highly pressured. Neighborhood retention ponds in my area (suburban Chicago) are plentiful, and many of them are stocked/have fish in them. With the struggles that I have had this summer catching fish, I'm having a difficult time determining if there is anything in a new pond or it's just me there at the wrong time with the wrong lures. What clues can I look for in determining if there are largemouth or even baitfish at a location? I have been using egrets/cormorants/herons as an indication of fish in a pond to this point, but are there any other things you can spot from a distance to give you an indication that here might be something worth investigating? TIA, Doug

And just inhumane if nothing else.