MediumMouthBass

In one of my other hobbies its very well known to stay away from Amazon, almost every time someone buys something its 80% counterfeit. And to add ive seen to many reviews of people buying reels that showed up from a different brand, and others completely destroyed from being very obviously used and then returned, and others missing parts.

I never understood the buying fishing stuff from Amazon or some other knockoff from a sketchy chinese app trend, almost all year you can get great reels from Shimano, Daiwa, Lews on sale from websites that are reliable and very well known and trusted, have actual customer reviews (unlike amazon these days) and dont seem very, very, sketchy, along with the very odd business practices. Last year i got several reels from different places between 30-50% off from different promotions and gift card deals if you spent a certain price. And the trustworthy sites from Japan seem to have really good prices on most reels too, and the one place includes a free lure (usually a megabass jerkbait). Im sure Kasting and Piscifun make a decent reel and some people probably love them, but years ago when all i had were Abu Black Max reels and wanted to upgrade i researched alot into Kastking and Piscifun and some reviews were great and some were horrible, (this was before Amazons mass amounts of false reviews of almost everything they sell) so i came here to Bass Resource and did alot of research, youtube, tons of hours checking reviews and bought a few Daiwas, Shimanos, and Lews and am extremely happy with them. You can get very good reels for cheap if you shop around, even cheaper if you can buy one in good condition used. For the jerkbait reel the Shimano SLX MGL is on sale for around $100 right now and is a phenomenal reel for that type of bait, very easy to use and good for beginners. And a 3000-4000 reel for the trout.

@txchaser Many people ive talked to before buying it said the Zero Adjuster usually comes where it should be from the factory (why Daiwa doesnt want us to adjust it) but it seems to have slight side to side play in spool.. Ive tried to adjust it in the past but with how recessed they made it i wasnt able to change it while on the water. But next time im using it ill try before getting my hands wet/sweaty.

It seems like the guys down south are doing good but those of us up north seem to be experiencing an odd spring so far. Here in my part of PA our winter was something i would barely even call a winter and our weather now is going from wearing a t shirt one week to almost getting frostbite on the ears the next. The bass are unwilling to cooperate (must still be lethargic and in the deeper water), but the panfish and trout seem to be roaming the bank in huge numbers, going to fish trout for a few weeks until the bass get the message that spring is here and its time to eatttttttt. But whats even more weird is that usually we dont have panfish come out until may, so id say its extraordinary spring so far since the species behavior have switched.

Im having a huge hard time catching bass recently, seeing hundreds of bluegill roaming the shoreline, big trout coming up to the surface and fishing for hours and hours a day without any bass most of the time.... Its the month of April already and ive only caught 1 bass so far (2.75lb on a Daingerous swimbait (magdraft by bass mafia) knowing that this time last year starting in February and all the way through March i caught my PB bass week after week in the same spots with the same lures..... Im throwing almost every single lure, and soft plastic i bring with me. Carrying 5 rods and about 20lbs of additional gear walking a few miles a day moving spot to spot with no success.... But i still love every second im fishing, being outdoors right next to the water, for hours and hours, getting some cardio in, enjoying nature, having fun and getting to learn more than i did the day before. Even when it doesnt pay off and can be slightly stressful i always enjoy it and leave happy. Years prior i would fish through winter in the creeks for trout and every 15 minutes take the rod to the truck and let the heaters melt the ice off it and the line. Then in the late winter/early spring i would show up early morning at the lakes wait for the ice to melt and start fishing (knowing i wouldnt catch any bass because of the time of year) but i figured if i can get good at casting a lipless crankbait when im tired, freezing cold, and my spirit is worn down imagine how good i can be when its spring/summer and im warm. Even with the whole month of march only catching a bass on one trip, im going out fishing every chance i get, i went out a few days ago in 15-20mph wind and had the whole lake to myself and caught that 1 bass and had a great time, the other evening got to the lake and it started to do a light-medium rain when i arrived, i didnt have the appropriate clothing for the weather and probably shouldve went home but i figured the weathers something different so maybe the bass will be roaming, and after 2.5 hours and a mile back and fourth with no bass i was soaking wet and freezing cold, but i left with a smile on my face. Anytime im not catching fish or i dont think the fish are biting i try to switch to a lure or bait i dont know how to use and fish it over and over again until i learn every single thing i can about it, when i was a child i didnt think learning would ever be this fun. If you read all of this then you have probably figured out that im not dedicated, but addicted. We should probably get a 1-800-fishing-addiction-about-to-become-bankrupt-from-tackle hotline

@PhishLI wait what????? i thought Daiwa would announce bankruptcy if someone moved the zero adjuster! Jokes aside thanks for that idea ill have to play around with it next time im on the water.

Alcohol can dehydrate your body so giving that up temporarily is a good idea, definitely dont want to become dehydrated anytime of the year. Remember to drink (water or something with electrolytes if sweating) often when in the tournament. Even though it wont be hot temps like summer you can still get dehydrated, and that can make you lose focus, have difficulty concentrating among other things.... From an exercise perspective look into the 3 by 5 strength program (quick youtube video gives you all the info you need and its usually a 15-40 minute workout), lots of grip strength training too, farmers carrys are good but the idea with that pvc pipe is good too. Also look into doing some rotational/anti rotational (transverse plane of motion) exercises. I use those alot for hours and hours a day of ripping the rod to the side while fishing lipless cranks. Balance comes alot from the core muscles and core stability, lots of people have weak cores (even people with 6 pack abs because the muscles that show and the muscles you use are very different in that part of the body) look into some core strengthening videos on YT. And throw in some cardio work/conditioning because well why not! (Builds endurance for days long fishing).

@PhishLI I originally saw great reviews on the Tatula SV TW so i bought it because it was on sale for almost half off, used it several times with different setups, i didnt move the set zero adjuster but i almost always run my brakes very loose. Ive tried almost every brake setting though, and when throwing a 1/2oz Lipless i can get a good 40-50 feet whereas with my Tatula CT with the same setup i can get around 70'. Then i took the SV and the MGL on the lake fishing lighter stuff (1/8-1/4) and the MGL gets between 50-70' where the Tatula SV gets around 20-40 feet. I also have a new Zillion (US one) i got on sale but havent used it yet since my results of how the Tatula has performed.... But the Tatula SV does excellent for skipping so its now my main reel for fishing around docks and lily pads.

I like to feel the lure im fishing with (why i dont use spinnerbaits much) ill use 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2oz in almost any depth of water. Because if i was using anything lighter it would be a ned rig.

What are you guys doing with your SV reels that im not? Ive tried several different lines, rod powers/actions light and heavy lures, works great for flipping pitch skipping but i can hardly get distance with the heavier stuff and can barely get distance with the ligher lures?

I have the Daiwa Tatula SV and its very underwhelming to me, its great for skipping and casting heavier baits but for lighter stuff the much cheaper Shimano SLX MGL is 10x better (i own both) i can cast lighter lures around 3x farther than with the much more expensive Daiwa. Do some research on the SLX MGL, at $150 MSRP but on sale a few places between $100-120 its an excellent choice. With a rod and line change i can go from throwing 1/8oz baits on Monday to Flipping/pitching 1/2oz jigs on a Tuesday and it handles it great. For your squarebills, t-rigs, curly tail and swimbaits on a ball head jig itll be a good fit, but minnows and a bobber i think anything but a spinning rig would be a challenge. So say you can get the reel on sale now for $120, buy an extra spare spool and some line and for under 200 you have a great reel thats very highly praised here and within minutes you can change your setup depending on what lures you are fishing. Edit. Im using braided line on my MGL and i dont even have to thumb the reel when casting, its very hard to backlash this reel. Very beginner friendly casting reel too.

I saw you are in PA, i am as well. The bass were biting quite a bit for me end of February/March last year but so far this spring they seem to be dormant where im fishing, even tho there are trout and panfish roaming the bank. I just caught my one and only bass so far this season the other day on a 6" Daingerous swimbait dragging bottom whereas last year i had a few dozen by this time. Im not a beliver in water temps since last year i would show up early and wait for the thin ice sheet from the cold night prior to melt then catch some bass in the afternoon. Although it is interesting that the water temps are still cold since we had quite an odd winter season (very underwhelming compared to years prior). I made a post a few days ago almost identical to yours about the bass bite being very strange and almost non existent. Must be a Pennsylvania thing. I would recommend the same thing im doing, throw every lure, bait, weight, size, and color at the fish until i get a bite, until then i will just try to get some practice in and continue learning.

@Pat Brownim thinking it has something to do with the braid being thinner/thicker as well, how do you like that elite? always wanted to get one but didnt find alot of reviews on them at the time i was looking at them.

@Pat Brown right from Pure Fishing website description of the Ugly Stik GX2 "one-piece stainless steel guides provide excellent durability and eliminate insert pop-outs"

My top guide on a Medium GX2 has a deep groove going in it after using 10lb powerpro light fishing with ned rigs. Maybe it has something to do with differences in braid thickness idk.

A few times during last year around prespawn when the bite was good, i would cast with too much force to try to get a really long cast (i have to keep reminding myself to cast gently but sometimes i forget) and when the lure hit the spot of water that i thought the bass were at my reel would look like i was using it the day before practicing for a knot tying competition, it wasnt just tangled there were about dozens and dozens of knots, after about 5-10 minutes i would get it fixed but i always worried about there being a bass gut hooked while trying to fix it. But some times i have to just cut the line and remove the rest from the spool.

I used to shop at DSG a ton, we had 2 locations nearby 1 a regular Dicks Sporting Goods and the other one had a Field and Stream in it. The Field and Stream one had a huge selection of hunting and 2A stuff, along with a massive taxidermy display with animals from all over the world, similar to the ones Cabelas has. Huge selection of fishing, about 2 of my local tackle shops was the size of it. They had rods and reels that werent even on the DSG website or at other stores, very big fly fishing and fly tying selection aswell. And had very good deals throughout the year. Got an Old Town 120 kayak for 50% off, Shimano SLX reel for 60% off, as well as many baits and lures were usually on really good sales too. Well someone from corporate came down and decided that they should get rid of all the hunting/2A stuff, (they had around $250k worth of items), got rid of the animal display (probably under or over 100k, there were some really exotic animals there), got rid of the boating and fly fishing stuff as well. So they lost tons of money from the customers that will no longer go there to get certain things, closed the store down for several months (losing even more money) to ready for it? Spend a quarter million dollars redoing the whole store just to put a free instore walking trail and a rock climbing wall. They fired alot of the nice and knowledgeable older people working there as well who always went above and beyond to help out customers, and the departments they got rid of used to be packed with customers all the time. So i refuse to shop at any DSG (until after my remaining gift card from them is down to $0 of course). But also their business practices are a joke, say they have a $4 bait or lure, they put it for sale at $8 take a dollar off and call it a sale....

Ugly Stiks are great for what they are, and the price they cost. I have around 8-10 of them, some for trout and panfish, and others for bass, catfish, salmon and steelhead. But going from experience using them alot (even with braided line) i wouldnt choose to use them for texas rigs, they just lack sensitivity.... Not just missing fish but potentially can end up gut hooking a fish. Plus even if you can feel a bass biting, the rod is just has so much bend to it that most times there isnt enough power in the rod to get the hook through the mouth of the fish when trying to do a hookset. They excel for moving baits like cranks but not for texas rigs or anything like it, plus dont most Ugly Stik guides end up getting chewed up by braid? I would highly suggest upgrading but if you want to keep using what you have use the Medium Ugly Stik rod, and just check the guides very good after each use if you put braid on it. And probably do a really fast and strong hookset as soon as you feel a bite.

5'6" rod.... Is this a medium/medium heavy rod or something lighter? Is it an Ugly Stik rod or similar? (if so its material makes it a bendy noodle with almost no sensitivity). My suggestion would be to get a rod between 7-7'3" in medium or medium heavy depending on your weight choice, there are a few brands that make decent rods that are affordable and very budget friendly. Check out the Daiwa Aird X rods, they MSRP at $55 but you can get them on sale throughout the year around 40-45. They hold very well and have good sensitivity. Changing line will only help maybe slightly and will really only help if you are constantly watching the braided line on the top of the water, a rod change will help a TON. Plus the extra length will give you more distance in a cast, as well as help fighting bigger fish.

Here are a few of the bass from last season, these are the smaller ones because the pictures were on a different phone. @WRB you must be right.... I was checking the dates of the fish i caught and i was catching bass in February and March, now we are almost into April (our pre spawn in my area of PA is between April-late May) So far not even a small bit of bass activity. They used to be jumping constantly, hitting the surface and chasing bluegills and trout but so far its almost as if they took a vacation to another state. I tried the zoom lizards and magnum lizzards, even put one one a Siebert fogy (without the skirt) and slowly crawled it on the bottom, but no success.

@casts_by_fly i have a scale and ruler with me whenever i go fishing, most places i fish in PA only have between 2-4lb bass on average. This was a different case for me because it was at the high point of prespawn, plus this body of water is between a power plant and a highly polluted river so im thinking back to the old marvel comics and movies and highly suspect these bass are supercharged by whatever has gotten into the water the past few decades. They also eat a ton of trout. But the rest of the year until its almost completely unfishable because of the vegetation its mainly 3-6lb bass that are biting, i was shocked when i caught that one and a few of the others. I will try to target the big ones around may or june. Right now honestly i would be happy even catching the 2-3lbers. And sadly this body of water closes right at sundown so night fishing wont be possible.... But thank you for the tip about the deepest water near the shallows ill think about that the next time im there.

Ive got the Bass Mafia (magdrafts), some savage gear glide baits, 13 fishing glidesdale, and some 6oz line thru trout in the tackle room, i really want to use them this year but didnt think about trying them yet since they havent bit much else, but next time i go ill bring some to try. And i dont fish jerkbaits just due to how many times ive badly hooked fish when using them. Thats why i like using lipless cranks, sure they have treble hooks but im always almost constantly moving the lure so i set the hook as soon as i feel the bite.

Ive been fishing most of my life but only started taking it serious the past few years, this is only my second year fishing for bass in the spring season tho (i almost always avoided bass and went for trout this time of year). But last year i did very well, i caught the biggest bass of my life and had lots of fun and was able to learn so much, but i still have lots, and lots to learn. So heres some info about where im fishing, and what the issue is. The body of water im fishing is my favorite place to fish, i caught several 2, 4, 6, 8, and a 10lber last year. But its a very odd lake/pond not sure what to call it, its around 1 to 2 miles long but only 20-40 feet in width on its average but has a unique spot where its 100 feet wide, its deepest part is 8-10 feet, but average is 4-8 feet. Rocks are on the edge of most of the lake/pond, in the summer its almost unfishable because of the aquatic vegetation but its good until july. Its basically shaped like the letter I, just with a few points on it and some variations in width. Right now theres no grass or vegetation but it will probably start growing around may. There is no structure, big rocks, or grass on the bottom right now. Its flat and featureless, a few downed trees are in some shallow/deeper water but there doesnt seem to be any fish there at the moment. I did very good last season fishing a Jackhammer and Warpig ripping it out of the grass , but until the grass grows i dont know what to do. Ive been there a few times this month and the water is usually clear 4-6 feet down but now its about less than a foot. It has a odd color water from the zebra mussels, kind of a blue/green mix. There have been lots of trout and bluegill swimming around the bank, and today i caught my first fish of the year a decent sized crappie but the bass seem to be dormant. This lake or pond, is right next to the Susquehanna river and whenever it has flooded in the past it leaves some fish behind so there are some smallmouth, musky, catfish and carp but its mainly largemouth, crappie, bluegill, and trout. Not only does it have alot of bass in it but it has a huge big bass population, there were bass jumping late last spring that made the 10lber i caught look small. The times ive been there this month there were about 10 other people fishing for bass and not 1 bass was caught, ive tried spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lipless crankbaits, shakey head, wacky worm, all kinds of different soft plastics on the texas rig, jigs, and others. Covered half the bank, i used natural colors and ridiculous bright colors too, fished fast, slow, on all the water columns. Lures with flash and vibrations, and baits that are subtle and almost motionless. But so far no bass, and i havent even seen one yet, but as i said earlier the trout and panfish are feeding and roaming the bank. Not sure what else to do but maybe wait a few weeks. Any suggestions on what to try or if anyone has an idea on whats going on with the bass would be very great. (There are other lakes, ponds, and even a river nearby but most of those have poor bank fishing and the rest i have to wait until the water temps are safe for kayaking, so this lake/pond is my only option for now)

Lucky Craft makes some really nice looking jerkbaits and cranks, my local tackle shop always has them for $8. But Lucky Craft makes an excellent product, from the color scheme, to how the bait performs/catches fish for $15, where as say a company like Berkley who's jerkbaits MSRP is also $15 feels like its worth a third when you actually see it and fish with it. So theres a big difference between actual quality and greed/increased price because of the brands name.

For the smallmouths 3 1/4 and the 6" Zal Daingerous swimbait, largemouths anywhere from 3 3/4 to the 7" Zal Daingerous swimbait or a 6oz line thru trout. This works from pre spawn to fall.