Banned User

So all I need to do to catch my next PB is go under cover, I mean underwater, and befriend a big fat lonely bass and wiggle my fingers to get it to bite and grab it by the face? But really, this says a lot about bass behavior and intellect, fascinating. I saw another video that didn't make it on DODO a while back, I think it was youtube channel the Nature of Fishing, where the same thing happened.

Time to go ring shopping

I always just say yeah I lost a 10 pounder about an hour ago on a wacky rig... they can't tell if I'm making it up or if I'm one of those every 6 incher lost is a ten pounder. Either way they keep it moving.

Your Name+avatar+Taylor Swift fan= Sea slug in space I mean I get it to a degree, but IDK man - just feels like there's a lot of fish and people ought to matter more than catchin'em. I feel you, I wouldn't be tellin no spots or baits to a couple of dumdums flickin butts into the lake or leavin plastic lure clam shells all over the place, but a grown ass dude just tryin to catch a fish while the kids are asleep - I'd probably throw'em a bone. You don't gotta post in on insta or anything, but if you helped me out with a spot I'd be tellin my buddies about this awesome dude who totally put me on some fish and made my night. Depending on the catch, you might be in my stories for years man, continuing to make other people happy with fish tales and fond memories.

I'm new to this part of MA. I'm pretty much relegated to shore fishing at present. I've bumped into people and hit'em with the "hey I'm new to the area, any places worth fishing around here"? Now I get not wanting to blow a spot up, not but what about supporting the community? What about helping a fellow angler out? Most of the time I get nothing, I've ever been told it's not worth fishing in the place they clearly think is worth fishing because they're fishing it haha. Anyway, if another angler "did the work" and are visibly fishing a spot and you get curious you should absolutely fish it. Better yet if you see a guide fishing a spot you should absolutely make a mental note of that. There isn't a person here who would agree that you can't fish somebody's dock, that's absurd. But you tellin me if that person was on the water they get to claim a spot? At least the dock owner has a case against people casting a flub into their boat or hooking into some rope, breaking off a hook where their kids swim. A person, guide or not, gets no claim to a piece of water if the people paying bonkers water front property tax don't get a claim. If you wanna respect people's spots stop hitting up docks, if you wanna catch fish follow a guide (but don't really actually physically in real time follow a guide - simply out of respect) [unless that's just the way the water is] and hit up docks. And when the poor shmuck stuck on shore asks if you had any luck at least five him half the equation, tellem what or where or how and letem figure out the rest. Anyway, next time pull up alongside and say "I'm just dropping a way point and trying to see what you're using"

I find my line is always dry when I get it, gotta lube it up first Yeah, I would hit up the store you bought it from or Shimano, probably just start with the store.

I actually think a bobber might be less fun unless you are certain you're gonna land on some sunnies. I set my girlfriend, now wife, up with a Walmart zebco spinning set up and some little inline spinners and little cranks. It always feels better not catching anything if you're at least doing something. Watching a bobber and not catching anything is boring, casting and retrieving at least makes ya feel like you're not just sitting there. Or hook her up with a ned rig if you know it's not gonna be super snaggy. Don't worry about catching a fish yourself, and show her how to cast. Let her get the first casts in all the good spots, and when she flubs the cast and blows the spot up don't react how ya would if you did it haha.

35 dollar ugly stick and 315 left for beer, this way if you don't catch anything instead of feeling like you wasted money you just feel good!

I found one that looks almost exactly like that in MA the last week, a bass spit it up. Pretty sure it's a gill that's been bleached by stomach acid.

How do you sharpen your hooks @WRB?

I'm glad asked, I've heard others say to use grease on the brakes, but I think you guys were right - oil did the trick it seems, I'll be able to really cast later instead of in the back yeard. Thanks y'all

Idk what a brake race is haha, I'll hit up Google images Thanks for the suggestion, what do use to clean it?

Hey y'all, I got a Lew's Custom Black Speed Spool last season and only used it a couple times. It had started to squeal then and I just put it away to deal with when prepping for this season. I oiled the bearings and I'm still getting the sound - do I oil or gease the brake drum? Just bad bearings? Other troubleshooting ideas?

Yeah, this is like the one sport where sex has absolutely no impact on ability: weight lifting, wrestling, football, etc. yup, "gotta keep'em sepa-rated" but doing this in angling is just like they're trying to say some how women don't have an equal chance against men - ridiculous. I'm certainly jealous of her, got me thinking I might need to start a fight with my wife and move to Texas haha

Okay so which brands do y'all use, do you tweak them at all, and how many/what style of blades? @Darth-Baiter Which lure/size was it and how was the stinger set up?

It's happening, black spinner bait, double willow with silver and black on either side of the blades.

Why not?

Thanks @Captain Phil we get thick weeds in the summer so I'll keep that in mind, til then I'll dial it back just a bit. I really like the way a mod fast handles pretty much everything, I think MF will be my main action for a while in Med-H+ rods. @Mike L I like the way you think bro, I actually pulled in a couple decent bass this season through some mixed vegetation - old lilies and some underwater weeds I can't quite see well enough to identify. I throw spinners on braid for that. @Bankc When you trailer hook a buzzbait do you also use a plastic trailer with it? I'd say try a trailer with your shakyhead, might mess with the action a little, might snag more, might pull in the fatty that just tasted the tip and didn't suck it all in. Peg a trailer hook and try it just above the plastic so it rides on top of it, try it pegged below and texpose it, try it totally threaded on and exposed. You might say the action will be all wrong... I say what makes it "right" - we all know bass like the same old thing and something different, they hit the same lures being thrown for a century and the new weird things people try. Sometimes the obscure techniques work and sometimes they don't, but you might as well try and see what happens. We all know if you rigged up some joke of a worm/paddle tail/craw pig pile and then caught a 6 pounder on it you would be trying that ugly wonky action thing every outing to see if it happens again.

This makes sense, I was using a MHMF rod when she swallowed it. @Captain Phil What area your thoughts on equipment and trailer hook interplay? And everybody else who uses them for that matter.

Which lures do you put a trailer hook on and have you ever used a treble hook for a trailer?

Live bait as a trailer, you gotta give it to him - brilliant!

For some reason.... I trust you. And I really like the light trailer to go with the trailer hook. So it doesn't happen often then that trailer hooks are more likely to get into the throat it seems, I'll keep at it. But @Zcoker you say its easy to deal with trailer hooked throats through the gill plate - how? with the barb on the actual spinnerbait hook and the spinnerbait itself taking up a lot of room in the mouth its practically impossible to get a trailer hook off to twist around through the plate. And here's another question for everybody - how do you size your trailer hooks?

I have only ever thrown a trailer hook a couple of times some years ago. I hear a lot of people say things like "I won't throw a trailer spinnerbait without a trailer hook" and so I decided to give it a go again last night. It works... Too good! Caught a good bass, hooked bad. She swallowed it! Obviously can't cut the line and flip the hook... How do yall feel about trailer hooks? How do you deal with a gut hooked trailer hook?

I find that sometimes rising waters bring the fish closer to the shoreline, as a mostly bank angler this is good news for me haha. about 6-8 years ago we had a terrible storm roll through and the power went out. It was like 10pm or so and me and my pops were watching something on TV - probably fishing. With nothing else to do and no power we grabbed the rods and hit the bank. We casted with the 20-30MPH gusts and bagged about 10 bass each. Weather gets better but unfettered freetime to fish doesn't come often - I vote you grab your rain coat and if you have to stay out of the dang boat hit the bank like a C-note and spend some time with the other women in your life haha