MediumMouthBass

Omnia now has buy 3 get 1 free hard baits. Not great but not bad

Big container of Vinegar, keeps ticks and mosquitoes away for hours. Wont leave home to fish without atleast a gallon or 2 in the car. Sun shirt/hoodie and hat. Pliers, line clippers, braid scissors, fish gripper (pickerel), SK Ocho wacky tool. Wrap around sunglasses (polarized). Whether from bank, boat, or kayak i take a Ozarak Trail or Okeechobee tackle bag, holds 2 3600 trays, 1 full of Strike King soft plastics and the other lures, a few extra bags of soft plastics and it holds everything. Doesnt take up much space either. A small terminal tackle box with way too many hooks and tungsten weights also fits. 2 bottles of water with me but more in the car if i need them. If on kayak ill bring whistle, life jacket, kayak, paddle. I also bring rods and reels, i see some of you not mentioning that, you guys just throwing the line and hook out into the water then? Interesting way to fish.

Round reels seem to only be purchased these days for either catfish/carp/big swimbait use or for nostalgia. I bought a very old Abu round reel for the 2nd reason and a new 5500 for the 1st. They arent the most comfortable, very bulky and dont cast as far as most of my other reels and seem to be far behind in their designs, but have great quality, are simple to work on, and last decades, if i wanted to spend some money on them theres a huge amount of custom work and parts i could replace on them to make them great, but why? I can get a great reel from any of the top brands from $100-200. I can get a Zillion rn for over $200 or buy a 150-300 reel and put another 200-300 in parts on it. You can spend countless tens of thousands of dollars to get a Toyota Corolla to be able to race, but you couldve spent that same money or less on a Mustang or Camaro at the start, and no matter what upgrades you do, its still just a Corolla. I get that some people really like these type of reels and like to customize them, and thats cool. They make some really great reels with them but thats not for everyone. I know some person will respond with that i am the devil and im against round reels but no, i like them and have a few. But the reason i said most of that is because Daiwa is in the business of making money, Abu and Shimano have had the parts, manufacturing process, etc....For decades now. And for Daiwa to start making new ones thats alot of money needed to start up again, and pair that with how much money they make with the Tatula and Zillion line of reels they probably realize not many people are spending tons of money on round reels and then customizing them. Like i said its great and really cool that people do it, its not every single person. Money is a companies biggest motivator, and for every 1 round reel sold they probably just sold 30 Tatulas.

I have 2, wait no 3 KVD rods. I really like them. I had an option awhile ago to get a KVD reel but passed on it, ugh.... Only thing is the handle on the bottom isnt as nice as the ones on the TP1X but the rest of the rods great, and it would match your reel perfectly.

I spent many years fishing with a Abu Black Max, sadly they got rid of them for the new Max X but whatever.... I actually have 3 or 4 of those reels now because of how much i liked them when i first started bass fishing. My only experience with them is with 8-10lb Big Game or Suffix mono and Suffix 832 braid either 30-40-50lbs. I dont know much about that braid but typically you dont want to go below 30lb braid for most casting reels, so 20lb seems a bit light for that. I also dont go by side to side play unless im using my SV spool Daiwa reels, you dont have to focus much on the side to side play for those reels just set it to where your lure drops slowly. And for braid turn the brakes down 1 or 2, it does cast easier but still thumb the spool so you dont backlash. You should also do a quick clean and put some oil on the reel since that can attribute to less distance when casting after awhile of using it, last thing i could think of is your rod is either under or over powered for whatever lures you are using, plus being a 6'6" rod a shorter casting distance is very normal, when you step up to the 7'-7'3" rods you can really get those lures out there.

I would advise against doing every reel braid to leader, just like i would advise doing every reel all mono or all fluoro. Having a mix is generally a good idea for various types of bass fishing. For braid to leader (whether mono or fluoro) or just braid it would do very well for bottom fishing where you need that extra sensitivity and a quick hookset. Also when fishing areas with lots of vegetation/lily pads. And some topwater fishing too. But id run mono or hybrid line on the whole spool for reels i want to use moving baits for, example jerkbaits, crankbaits, etc.... While braid to leader may work for that it wont be ideal and can result in some lost fish, ive fished lures with braided line and it didnt make a huge difference but it was enough for me to cut the lure off and tie it on a rod/reel that had mono or hybrid. When im fishing say a lipless crank which is my #1 lure, almost always have 1 or 3 tied on any time i go out, i want that line to have that stretch the whole way down to the end of my spool. Keeps the fish pinned since im not using a cranking rod but just a regular MH. There have been a few times where if i were using braid i wouldve lost countless big bass just from the hooks being ripped out, even if i had loose drag. For single hook lures tho i think braid does phenomal. If you fish moving baits probably just even 1 reel having mono for mainline would be enough. And theres also a downside to think about, after spending tons of time using braid to fluoro leaders for ned rigs on the rivers/lakes for smallmouth it usually just ends up being annoying after awhile if you break off enough or have to keep retying pulling out the spool of fluoro/mono, getting the right length and then tying it to the braid mainline just takes too much time. From a boat its no problem, but in my kayak by the time im only half way done im already getting blown 30 feet from where i was. And changing line on the spool shoudnt be much of a cost difference, ive had the same Berkley Big Game/Suffix mono, Yo Zuri Hybrid, and Power Pro/Suffix braid on the same reels for about 1-3 years now. Havent had to change the lines except to go to a different lb test, none of the lines have failed yet, abrasion resistance still great, strength is on par with the new line sitting in my fishing room still in the box. As long as you keep your reels in a darker room out of sunlight when not using them they will last a long time. Now if you are fishing very rocky rivers where break offs happen several times an hour than braid to leader would probably be more cost effective, or just buy cheap mono thats like $8 for 1,000 yards. You mentioned you take 4 rods on the kayak and want to be very versatile, if you like braid to leader id recommend 2-3 rods with that and maybe 1 or 2 with all mono for moving baits, if you fish moving baits. Braid and mono are easier to cast than fluorocarbon, braids easiest to cast with atleast for me. I can usually turn the brakes down a little lower too, but for me i cast farther with hybrid/mono but only about 10-20'. But i think thats more the rod and reel im using and not the line.

I have the SLX and SLX A. I like the A alot more, even tho the changes are minimal. It performs amazing for me on my 7' Lews TP1X MH rod throwing football jigs and spinnerbaits, simple braking system too. Casts jigs and spinnerbaits much farther than my Tatula CT, but for every other type of lure my Tatula CT casts much farther and also feels a bit smoother. The SLX A isnt in the same category as the Tatula CT tho, its on par with the Fuego CT or Lews LFS.... If your budget is between $80-100 the SLX A will be great for you, but if you want a SLX reel on par or better than the Tatula and can afford the extra money look at the Shimano MGL 70 (last gen) on sale now between $100-125 at a few places (if they still have remaining stock of them) or the Shimano SLX XT (better braking system and a bit more refined, also has a better color/paint than the regular SLX, $130.

Mistake alot of people make is thinking topwater only works in certain temperatures. You can throw a topwater year round and still get bit. But ill start throwing them alot when i see the bluegills starting to hit the surface or start swimming around in smaller schools close to the bank.

In PA its about the same, has been since March. Several different lakes and ponds too. From 40 degree days a month ago to our 70-80 degree days the past few weeks. The bass dont seem to want anything, fast, slow, big, finesse, quiet, loud.... The big bass didnt even come out for pre spawn this year, weve already got smaller bass up shallow in 6" of water and a few 2-3lbers along with them, and even the people fishing beds arent catching any. Ive spent several hours this week fishing, covering as much water as possible. Once on the kayak and the other trip fishing from the bank, fished almost everything i could think of, weightless senkos/flukes, various texas rigged stuff, cranks/jerkbaits, chatterbaits too. Seen a few bass up shallow, very shallow but aside from that theres 0 signs of life aside from panfish or trout. But the other night and today just before leaving the lake i decided to tie on the 1/2oz lipless crank (red of course) and thats when i started getting bit, 1 the other night just before leaving and 2 on back to back casts tonight. If it werent for that lure i wouldnt have caught a thing. Id highly suggest trying one if you havent already.

If you really like using the Owner ones try slightly bending the hook up more, should give you exactly what you are looking for.

If im going for trout, bluegill, or crappie to bring home i dont eat breakfast and starve. Great motivator for catching my food. But as probably the only person on earth that dislikes almost all breakfast foods, either a protein shake or rice and chicken if im going for bass.

Who cares about the latest catch pics thread, we need a lost a bass, support group thread more.... Sorry for your loss.

Ive always liked and used line from Berkley, from the XL-XT Trilene mono, then Big Game mono. Which i have dozens of big spools of so I was curious about the Big Game fluoro, after reading various reviews it seems to break rather easy, and theres talk about it getting very brittle and having bad abrasion resistance. Ive been using Vanish as leader material for the past few years and thought it was alright, i got alot of it cheap compared to the other brands making fluorocarbon so i figured i was getting a deal. But from doing some research lately on it and from several peoples comments about it on here i know realize how bad it actually is. I also bought some Trilene 100% fluoro on sale last year for $3 a spool and yep that too is getting bad talk. Something about the line changing diameter throughout the spool and also having fibers coming off the line when spooling it onto reels. Guess its time to find a different line of budget fluoro for me. But its not a huge deal since i can get something from Seaguar for a few bucks more....

Go to Salmon River Pulaski NY during the salmon run in the fall, talk about conflict. Theres a reason its called combat fishing up there. In boat/kayak or bank fishing you might witness or be apart of a conflict once or a few times but you spend an hour up there when its at full capacity, and its fist fights, people pulling weapons, throwing rocks, among many other things. They have alot of undercover DEC agents up there for more than just ticketing the guys snagging. It seems like in the past decade or two the worst in people has come out in big numbers, barely anyone has compassion or patience anymore along with empathy or understanding. You can blame my generation for most of that but its like a virus spreading.

how do i find good spots? Well i start by fishing for 2 hours and on my way back to the boat launch with 5 minutes of sunlight left thats when i find them! I fished with a group last season that had 4 people but 2 boats, both boats had either 1 or 2 fish finders each on them. My father and i caught tons of bass and crappie, we payed very little attention to the fish finders. We just kept casting to areas we thought there might be fish. The other guys caught maybe 1 or 2 bass in the 6 hour period and were staring at the screens most of the day. I believe fish finders work but they arent going to be the magic answer to catching fish. I bought one but returned it soon after just because i decided i wanted to fish old school instead, plus i remembered i bought a kayak to get on the water as fast as possible and to have a good time. I didnt want to start drilling holes, having wires all over, and a head unit in the way. Fish finders are nice to find structure and depth, but a heavier jig dragged on the bottom often tells me all i need to know. My good spots on the river change weekly, one week a great spot will have 0 fish, the next there might be 20 logs on the bottom and im breaking off ned rigs constantly. My good spots on the lakes i usually find are in the same areas year after year, i usually stick to the shallow water near docks or close to vegetation, or ill fish where the lake drops off from shallow-some what deeper.

@August braid will be the easiest line to cast on a baitcasting reel, and mono will be 2nd. Copoly/hybrid lines are a bit more difficult than the two above but keep in mind that fluoro is harder to cast, requires alot of care and maintenance and also requires the reel to have brakes put on a higher setting. Fluoro is great at many things but only fill the whole spool with it if you are sure you need it and understand its downfalls. so if its working for you then think about keeping braid on the reel you already have it on and just switch between fluoro or mono leaders depending on lures being used that day. For other reels tho 10-12lb mono would be excellent for topwaters but even straight braid with no leader would be good for topwaters also, 12-15lb mono for square bill crankbaits and also chatterbaits/spinnerbaits, and 8-10lb mono for deep diving crankbaits (the lighter the line the deeper they dive). And for jerkbaits ive used fluoro, mono, hyrbid, and braided lines, unless you are fishing in super clear deep water any of them will work. Between 8lb-10lb is what i usually use (or 30lb braid).

@August not sure what lures you fish but for 99.9% of bass anglers the following rods would work for almost every type of lure made. Heres my suggestions for future rod ideas for you 6'6"-7' M fast or moderate-fast, excels for those lighter lures or jerkbaits that dont have a weight transfer system. Weightless soft plastics, like senkos and flukes or lightly weighted texas rigs also work great for these kind of rods. I have a few of the Abu Black Max walmart rods, they are listed as fast action rods and are 6'6" but they have alot of bend in them that make them great for throwing lighter square bill crankbaits. So sometimes a certain rod material can give it a different action that what is stated, keep that in mind. 7'-7'3" MH fast, great do everything kind of rod, texas rigs, spinnerbaits/buzzbaits, chatterbaits, jerkbaits that are heavier, crankbaits (just loosen the drag), paddle tail swimbaits on a jig, football and finesse jigs. It can do it all depending on line, reel, and drag. While it can do it all its main strengths will be jigs, texas rigs, spinner/buzz baits and top water baits like poppers and walking style lures. You already have a rod for this area, but you should think about getting more in the future. I take around 2-3 7'3" MH rods with me when fishing. They can do anything its just not always ideal. 7-7'4" H fast or extra fast, frogs, punching, flipping/pitching, heavy texas rigs and jigs, but can also do lighter ounce big swimbaits and also big topwater's like the bigger sized whopper ploppers. 7'4"-7'6" Medium, or Medium Heavy rod in moderate action, whether you go medium or medium heavy depends on how much the crankbaits you are throwing weigh, and how deep they dive. Example for Strike King 1.0 and 1.5's id rather have a Medium rod, will make casting them easier and also get more distance. But as soon as i go into the 2.5 or larger ill need that MH. Pay close attention to the lure weight ratings, i have cranking rods that are the same power/action and the one rod might be good for 1/2-3/4oz but the other may be 1/2-2oz. The higher the max lure weight rating is the harder it will be to cast those lighter crankbaits, because the rods much stronger and also stiffer, even tho my 2nd cranking rod is still rated at the bottom for 1/2oz like the other it really struggles casting 1/2 and 3/4oz lures. And for deep diving crankbaits thats another few paragraphs so ill keep it short, you can use 1 cranking rod for all the types of crankbaits, but it wont be ideal and you will struggle in certain areas. Its best to figure out if you prefer shallow cranks or deep cranks, get 1 rod or 2 depending on what ones you want to fish. Any rod within certain parameters can fish any type of lure, some will just do the task better, faster and be more ideal. Keep that in mind, you dont need to go out an buy 20 different rods. Just a few will be needed, figure out which lures you want to fish the most and go from there.

Academy's email has BOGO Strike King hard baits, and BOGO 50% Plano tackle storage.

Some like a composite or glass rod for chatterbaits, i dont. My chatterbait rod is a stiff fast action MH, my crankbait rod is a composite moderate rod either a M-MH depending on how deep im cranking. When im fishing chatterbaits im ripping it out of grass over and over again. I only catch fish on lipless cranks and chatterbaits when i do it this way, the bass rarely bite them for me any other way. Thats why i want that stiffer fast action rod. Im always ripping it out of that grass, i would be worried about breaking a moderate rod if i were using one to do this. Plus i want that instant hookset so i bring back a bass and not just a bunch of grass. But others prefer a moderate rod with some bend to it, and a few may rather have a moderate fast rod. How do you fish chatterbaits? Thats a big factor in what rod would be good for you. If you fish it like most you probably need a moderate/mod-fast rod and something from Dobyns or St Croix would probably be very nice. Although my Lew KVD composite rods i have for deep cranking/1oz bladed jigs, and 1-2oz swimbaits i really like. Not too expensive either. If you dont need the moderate rod for them then wait for a sale and get 2 rods, 1 for each technique. You can get quite a few good rods for $75-100 each on different sales throughout the spring-summer seasons.

Spinning or casting? Budget? $100-250, $250-500, over 500? If casting youll probably want something with either a SV spool from Daiwa or an MGL spool/DC reel from Shimano. If you are a beginner at baitcasting rods and reels the above spools/technology are great for beginners and will drastically reduce backlashes and birds nests. Very easy to use and learn on. But if you know how to use a baitcaster already they will still be some really great reels. Do you want to fish finesse stuff like ned rigs, wacky worms, tube jigs, weightless soft plastics? Or crankbaits, jerkbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits/buzzbaits, texas rigs, etc.... How many different rod and reel combos are you looking to get? 1, 2, 5?

I would say the SLX MGL 70 last gen being sold off now for $100 or a Fuego CT/Tatula CT on sale now between $100-112 are probably the Kings of the best reels in that $100-slightly above price range right now. I dont think of the LFS as a $100 reel.... Reason i say this is because i see the LFS as a $50-75 reel, since its almost always going for that price at various places throughout the year. I bought mine last year for $55 and kept it in the box until this week, i only have a few 6 speed reels and this one was available to use for cranking/chatterbaits. I put it on a MH rod and went fishing. I havent used it (except one time just to make sure it worked) because i have tons of reels already that i use on a daily basis (that are 2-4x more expensive than this) and this just seemed, felt, and looked cheap to me. I honestly didnt think it would be that great of a reel, probably just decent or a step above my old Abu Black Max. I was extremely surprised by it, now i was only casting 3/8oz-1/2oz cranks and chatterbaits but wow did it cast those far. Its distance was on par or even better than my Tatula CT. With the trailer it was ranging between 3/8-3/4oz but still i was casting the same lures the other day with the Tatula CT on the same rod, and that was one of my farthest casting reels but this went even farther. And took less effort too. I barely even set it up, just kept the spool tension the same for all the lures and the brakes i just kept low and didnt experiment much with them, i barely had to even thumb the spool, no backlashes, and i almost over casted a few times into a tree. I really didnt expect that reel to perform/cast that good. It really changed my mind on the LFS. Great reel. I shouldve bought more when they were selling very cheap last year, but i have too many reels already i guess. I really like my $200 BB1 Pro's from Lews, one of my top favorite reels and i didnt think this $55 reel would be added to that same favorite reels list.

I tried several different things so far, from 3700 sized-3600 sized trays. Even decided to buy one of those expensive $40 something Plano's for terminal tackle. Even that didnt work for me. Putting them into containers is great for storage, but ive had so many hooks and jigs rust i stopped. Even in the ones claming "anti rust" or "no rust" technology.... So i bought these "Flambeau Tuff Tainer Divided Tackle Box" size 3003. Really cheap and not very large. I can take all my tungsten weights, wacky rig hooks, swimbait weighted hooks/jigs for paddle tails, EWG hooks, shakey head jigs, ned rig jigs, bobber stops too. It all fits and takes very little room. Bought some desiccant packs on Amazon for $10 and put 1 in each spot and so far no rust. I use 1 for river/smallmouth lake terminal tackle, 2nd for largemouth/pike/pickerel waters, and the 3rd ones filled with panfish hooks and jigs. The hooks dont fall out (even the small size 6-8 panfish ones).

If everyone in the place you are fishing is throwing the usual color baits for bass (green, blue, etc), then the bass might be more inclined to bite the white paddle tails you are throwing. Bass, pike, and every other species of fish need to eat to survive. They are very opportunistic fish, if given an easy meal they will take it if conditions are right for them. White can represent quite a lot tho, do you happen to have trout? White can resemble its stomach (whether rainbow, brown, or brook trout). White's also great for imitating crappie's.

I buy the pre made Strike King Rage Plastics and Rage Swimmer 42 piece kits. (Keitechs will work the same if proper steps are taken) Both come right off the shelf in 3600 sized tackle trays, i bought around 7-10 of them last year on sale and a few have been used but most remain in storage. So far none have melted, none have lost their shape (including the paddle tails i have mixed in with other stuff). I take the trays, and ill put a few Rage Swimmers, Ocho, Rage Bug, Rage Craw, Caffeine Shad, (all the same color of course) and even a few cut up/in half Rage soft plastics i pre cut for jig trailers, and put them in 1 slot. They are all same maker, color, and coffee scent. Saves alot of space and i dont have to bring 30 soft plastic bags with me on the kayak. But these trays dont have slots that are customizable for size, they are closed off from section to section. A normal tray with the slots in it on a hot day and the colors can mix. Just a tip. And dont over stuff the tray, or you may have some losing their shape.

@August water clarity like that might make them want maybe something more natural, but bass are very opportunistic. If they think a bright chartreuse/orange/firetiger/even pink piece of food comes in front of them most of the time they will bite it. Just get a few colors to start and see what they prefer and go from there. Also i have no shad in the places i fish, doesnt keep the bass from eating stuff that look like them. In fact the only bass ive caught this year came off a white 6" swimbait that is very close to looking like a shad, even tho theres none in the lake i caught it. Alot of big swimbait guys throwing 3-10oz lures across the country are mainly using rainbow trout painted ones, they catch huge bass even in places that dont have trout. Any chance to get a meal they will take it (if conditions are right)