fishhugger

thanks so much... relieved this is generally a pretty quick in'n'out technique. i have done slow things --- just not in the mood now. i don't think i've ever seen anyone punching or flipping much at my pond. they may do stuff on top of the mats... frogs... that's it... have a good week end......

k --- ty for the correct term... i guess i'm pitching, not punching. i'm just figuring that the holes would have more space within, for bass. well, i'll try the punching, then... thanks for the tips! have a good weekend.........

um, i really can't tell if you're joking, or not... your wife sounds utterly logical, and you sound kind of sentimental and all............ so --- uh, i assume a typical fisherman????????

have been punching mats a little. it's a 7 acre lake, ringed with 'grass' --- as in, milfoil type weeds, etc, pretty shallow depth, maybe 2' to 6'? sorry, an approximation on the depth, but it is shallow. currently, i'm wrestling with how to get my texas rig down there - i'm generally entering via holes in the veggies. but is this type of fishing generally fished slow, where you may leave the bait down there awhile, move it a bit, leave it, rest it, etc? or is it faster, or significantly faster (i'm hoping for the latter, lol). i saw one video, sorry, i forget the person, but i think it was a pro, who worked really quickly, just tossing the bait down, working it, seemingly quickly moving on. he seemed to want to quickly work the different areas of each mat, and move on. thanks!

that's a nice, clear explanation... as a newcomer, people mention line bow, and i no i experience it on my line, but yeah - makes great sense that it is a big,,... or huge?... factor in hook sets, etc...

yah, right now i'm throwing nothin' but moving stuff... chatter, swim jigs, a month into square bills and uh... what are those red eyed shad type things categorized as... escapes me. idk, i'm just doing that. oh, and topwaters... those are so cool. in the summer and fall, i was into plastics and slow things, and it was interesting. but right now, i seem really sort of impatient and needing movement... i may take a day soon and try some plastics around the grass and shallows. the weather has been really nice in california, tho.... i need it, since i been catching zero. but GL fishin'... frankly, where i'm fishing, berkeley, guys have been talking about it being slow at this time.... fwiw...

nice topic, for me, a newbie... i been losing fish, but since i do catch and release, i often don't even care. but i'd like to work on my hook sets, and also, my drag setting. i only recently sort of figured out how to set it - probably from here. also, i try to loosen my drag after a day's fishing. and, yeah, the theatrical, whale on 'em hook sets... thanks for the explanations. makes it much clearer.

thanks --- makes sense. this place is super quiet tho... it's in kind of a bowl, still as anything...super peaceful, at these times. it just feels like my lure landing is really noticeable, and if i'm in one spot for awhile, seems counterproductive... i'll take all this advice and try different approaches... but this has all been really helpful...

wow --- as al pacino said in 'scent of a woman' ---- Good Lord! thanks so much for the great feedback, guys! i've been having a tuff go since the season turned... and had never heard of the roll cast, but i will definitely try it, along with all the other ideas... waiting for the ripples to die off is interesting. they go on forever, the water is so still...... have a good november.......

howdy fishing a small pond in northern california. very often the entire pond is like a mirror (just about) and it is a very, very quiet scene. i've been very aware of the huge, to me, splash that my 1/2 oz jigs or lures make when they land. should i be? i'm tossing lipless cranks, chatters, square bills, 1/4 oz to over 1/2 oz. to me, the little 1/4 ouncers make about as much noise as my bigger jigs... if so - i assume i'd have to change what i'm using, in favor of a much slower style of bait, or something that is much lighter, so less splash... i'm unsure what to do in the shallow water (10' or less) since i'd be probably casting right into those smallish areas. wondering if i should switch to a spinning rod, and some sort of light bait... but don't know what type... i fish off the bank...been fishing for lmb for several months. thank you! have a good november....

hey, thanks so much! stuck on the bank, myself... hope the fishing has picked up where you are...

@Darth-Baiter if you remember, i live about 45 minute drive from you --- slightlier drier where i am, though. i fished a small lake a few days before you spent your six futile hours, and saw similar conditions, as in water rise, that you describe. that was a HUGE monsoon that hit us. i think a record... i fished only an hour, and gave up. i estimated, at the surface, that visibility was 1 foot or less. the water was the color of mud, literally. normally, visibility at the surface is - i can see up to 4 feet down. idk if that's considered good visibility, or mediocre. u didn't mention how muddy your lake was, but if it were really muddy, wouldn't the fish need to wait for the water to clear? they may spend more energy trying to get food, than the food would provide. and then would they then need to eat? i'm a newbie, and just speculating, of course. maybe your lake had cleared of some of the mud - i think you fished it almost a week after the big storm.

idk... want to go back and experiment with my brakes... i'm pretty sure i cast 3/8 oz jig/trailer over 80'... no brakes at all, except spool tension (and i still need to study that to see what that really controls). i'm a newbie baitcaster, and was under the impression the less u use the breaks, the better. so - still getting experience and trying to figure out baitcasters and their braking systems... appreciate all the great comments.

thanks everyone for the comments and advice... i was looking for one answer, but it's not that simple. i'll experiment with the brakes along with the thumbing.

thank you bulldog... i had already read your post awhile ago (and didn't understand it much). i got more from it rereading it. nicely written. it's kind of dense. i definitely try to 'load' my rod (especially since this new one is glass, which i've never used). but i've heard they load well. and my longest casts seem to be when i load them, and smoothly send it out.. .pretty fun stuff. i had read a lot about not jerking or whipping the rod, like a spinning rod. still working on my release point. the 'wind backlash' i guess i began to experience, and seems like i was able to use my thumb to correct this... never experienced that before. but, i was backlashing a lot that evening. i think as i got used to the glass, i was able to make corrections. but not conscious. it just happened. i was suprised to feel line coiling up about mid or late cast, yet then controlled by my thumb. no nest. i understand the third backlash --- lure hits water. . i'm unclear on spool overshoot (quoted) ***Centrifugal brakes are nonlinear. They exert a centrifugal force on the spool, respond to acceleration and jerk, and their best effect is limiting start-up overshoot.**** idk if i've experienced this kind of backlash... maybe i'm just not noticing exactly when the backlash occurs, and so don't notice this type. id' say maybe the centrifugal brakes control this, except i turned them all off. i started with most of them on, then gradually turned them off as i got more comfortable with casting. btw, i only cast side arm or backhand... haven't really tried overhand. should i cast overhand??? so idk if you're advocating the thumb as mainly the best system for successful (longer) casting. you mention the thumb results in longest casting --- i'm assuming an experienced thumb, etc --- but that some of the brake systems can detract from distance. most guys seem to use a little of both brakes and thumbs... i guess i'm wondering if thumb only is preferable........... at this point, i don't understand enough about the various brakes, lure weights, line weights, wind, etc to have a valid opinion. thanks so much......... hope this is clear enuf.

thanks, karl. the paragraph quoted is exactly what my thumb experienced... the line fluffing up --- yet the thumb took care of it (often). i guess at times i was using my thumb to kind of ride the spool, but at the same time, do as little as possible --- except catch 'the fluff' beginning to occur. i'd never experienced this exact aspect of casting ----- hence my OP.... your point about the thumb becoming a factor mid cast to the end --- yeah, exactly what i felt. but i'm a newbie at this,.... happy dancing with the devil.... but don't get bit.

ty... i'm not asking about removing the need for thumbing, i'm asking whether the thumb is mightier than the brakes - once you get more experience..... seems like most advocate a combination. currently, i'm just thumbing. it works fine --- until i just jumped in with a new rod....

thanks for the video suggestion -- i've watched it. definitely helped. i'll review it. my reel is an slx with 10# mono. i'm assuming i was naive in just literally immediately casting with my new rod, and not expecting some birdsnesting or issues. after an hour or hour and a half, the birdsnesting stopped. i figured i had kind of gotten used to the rod. does that sound logical? i hadn't thought, beforehand, that i would have to adjust myself to the new rod. and i'll see what feels better - using my thumb and or the brakes...

i'm a new baitcaster. i just got a medium power 7' glass rod. my first rod is graphite, MH 7'. i would guess i was naive, in that i immediately went fishing with my new rod, but current reel w 10# mono, etc. i was getting quite a few birdsnests --- much more than typical for me. finally, i thought - maybe it's the rod. i'm really not used to it? after a couple hours, the birdsnesting stopped. i noticed that sometimes it felt like my thumb could tell when the line was starting to loop off the spool, and my thumb seemed to be able to completely take care of the issue, because the loops that it felt like were forming were not there at the end of the cast. my slx has all the breaks off, and i use 10# mono. my question is, is the thumb the best way to deal with casting on the baitcaster, or the brakes? or some combination of the two. do some people just use their thumbs, and not rely on the brakes? i guess i assumed that using the brakes can decrease the cast, but if your thumb isn't super smart, that would also decrease the cast... i think my thumb is smarter than me, btw, but not sure.

i'm in oakland and my lake is lake anza in berkeley... it's the only place i currently fish. have a good commute.... we need that rain bad.

omg ---- when u described raining and raining and raining, i thought, just like here! we're both in northern cal..... i was at my lake last evening (rain off and on) and i saw one guy land a 2 to 3 pounder... he said another much larger, i guess bass, was following.....

looks pretty interesting to me...........

i haven't decided which reel would go with which rod - the rods being the MHF graphite baitcaster and the rod i ordered, a moderate medium glass rod, both 7'. i'm undoubtedly the confused one, as i'm trying a few different tactics at this point. i'm hoping the glass rod will find a good fit with me - i liked that it takes lures from 1/4 oz up to 3/4. idk exactly how i'll use the glass rod. i actually don't use lures with treble hooks much, but may start, given your suggestion....

what size panthers, and what size bass? what other lures do people use, and weights? kastmasters? mepps spinners??? at the lake i fish at, people don't think much of small lures for bass... they said it, i didn't.... don't shoot or hook the messenger............ saw a guy using a 13' tenkara rod where i fish... he said he was catching the odd small fry...

thanks for the reply, cody. i was leaning to a MH --- graphite, definitely, as i quite like my MHF slx. i had kind of ruled out a M because my MHF can cast the jigs i'm using quite well, afaict... but i started wondering about glass rods, and eventually took a chance on a 7' medium moderate action glass rod, the same slx combo... an slx xt 8.2:1, and the moderate 7' medium slx glass... i can decide which reel to use with which rod later... the slx glass can cast 1/4 to 3/4 oz lures.