Ryan N

I’m new to bass fishing and I like using spinners, top waters and worms but when it comes to jigs, I don’t get it. I drag, jerk and pop them on bottom, middle or top column of the water, next to cover, in cover, open water, everything I do doesn’t generate bites. My water is clear green so I decided to use a natural looking jig and trailer. I used half a watermelon green worm since I catch a lot of fish on it when it’s in a texas rig. I also have a junebug lizard jig but no success on that one either, tried it when it was dark, nada. I think they’re both 1/2 oz jig heads. Green one is Strike kings pro model jig and the junebug one I bought a long time ago.

@WRB So the lure he gave me is a 2.5 oz and is the floating kind. He didn’t tell me how he fished this specific one but I saw him using his other glidebaits; Jerking or dragging rod tip pointed low, and picking up the slack in a very quick manner. I tried fishing it but my current rod is just too light. Luckily I ordered a medium heavy awhile ago so it should be a bit better once I have that one.

Fun time yesterday, I had some small talk with a fellow angler when he caught a pretty good-sized bass! I did the whole once over; Asking him what he was using, rod and reel, lures and technique and he seemed to mainly use glidebaits for catching fish, not only bass. I was hyping him up on his catch, helping him take photos and measurements, you know the deal. He decided to give me one of his glidebaits which shook me since he was just saying one of his lures is around 70 bucks, which I'd never buy, let alone throw where I'd lose it forever. Considering my confidence with natural color baits like bluegill, I'm incredibly thankful for him handing me this 60 dollar glidebait. This was my first-time hearing about glidebaits. I only know worms, crankbaits, swimbaits, spinners, etc. Have you guys fished with anything like this with success?

Thanks @ol'crickety for the comparisons! Those are some behemoth catches you have there, especially the last one, that's a trophy fish for sure. @Pat Brown I don't know if I can top this one for a long time haha, it was a very unexpected catch.

I can relate! My first bite on a huge one was snapped off clean, due to poor drag control. I got into the heat of the moment and quite frankly never caught anything bigger than 2 pounds. That lesson taught me what I needed to do to catch my recent PB!

That's incredible. I'm at the early point of fishing where I'm happy to catch anything, but this one had me shaking! Now that I know where the monster lives, I should come back once I get a proper scale and measure with me.

I’m a complete amateur at bass fishing. I exclusively fish this lake that's next to my home every day. I would catch these lunkers: Around this time, I had some small talk with a resident who also lived by this lake. He stated he seen a gigantic bass by where he was fish feeding, and well, I didn’t believe him. To paraphrase, he wanted me to make it a mission to catch this lake monster, I threw a few casts near that area, and well nothing. Weeks later, I thought I’d try the mini frog lure near the tall grass cover over there and BAM! My rod is C shaped, reel is screeching and I’m fighting for my life! I eventually slid the behemoth onto land, where I was questioning what I even caught and if I dare put my thumb in its mouth haha! I don’t have a measure or scale on me because I never catch anything big, but this day I truly regret not buying one of those things. The only measurement I had was my rod, so I did a bit of photoshop to get a dubious measurement at least. It's around 22 - 23 inches. Let's just say it's 21 inches. That's DOUBLE the length of what I usually catch! My thumb is shredded Can you experienced bass fishermen give me an estimate on the weight of this guy? I'm guessing it's a 5 pounder Lure: Lunkerhunt Pocket Frog Technique: Popping with 1 - 2 second pauses, occasional rapid popping to simulate panic Combo: Abu Garcia Black Max, 6'8 Medium fast rod The fish was barely hooked, one touch and the lure dislodged. It went in deep though so that's a bit of a miracle. Line: 30lbs J-Braid x4 with 3 feet of 15lbs Berkley Vanish

Update: I’ve successfully changed the ceramic insert. Broke down the old one, cleaned up the old glue with an exacto and tried seating the new one but it was too tight. A bit of dremeling later, it pops right in. Epoxy the ridge and cleaned up the edges. I’ll let it sit for tomorrow then take it out fishing, see how it holds up. I also realigned that crooked guide that will killing me, the start of my problems

@dodgeguy I was a bit confused about how you described this method, but I eventually figured it out the hard way. Thanks for sharing this

@MN Fisher This person does it in this video Although he takes it from the whole guide, I wonder if they sell just the ceramic inserts for my rod specifically. I would probably need to contact Abu Garcia

One of my guide rods was bent so I made the grand mistake of trying to align it, popped the ceramic and now it’s chipped. Is this something I can easily replace? It seems I’d be able to chip away at all the old ceramic By the way this is the old Black Max, not Max X

So there are no mechanical or profile improvements, which is a relief... The black max combo looks better in my opinion. The only things that make me want the new one are the silicone grips and what looks to be a metal cover plate.

I made the mistake of taking the spool out of the baitcaster, but it got even more tangled. I was picking at it for a good 30 minutes until it beat me. Tomorrow I'll do a re-spool with mono backing. It's a pain but that full spool cast is something to behold. Hey I wanted to know if the New model Max X is worth it? I'm still in 30 days return for the Black Max.

I switched to 30lb and it's definitely better! I also made sure to spool it on extra tight this time around. I was enjoying a full spool until I had the worst backlash of my life; Isn't it funny that every time I want a full spool it ends up backlashing so bad I have to cut it down.

I'll follow MN Fisher's advice and get 30lbs braid, see if the dig in isn't so bad.

I bought the 20lbs braid because I also wanted to throw light lures like mini variants of lures; mini frogs, spinners and beetle spins. Will I be compromising my cast distance with smaller lures if I go up 30?

This! Off the spool, it's like velcro. It's slowly getting faster, and my casts are getting to be farther to more precise (It also could be I'm adjusting to no line stretch). I also removed the swivel and put an Alberto knot, not being to change length of cast line is another culprit of bad casts. The only issue I have with main-to-leader knots is they get snagged on my guides, the last tiny one to be specific. Do I have to cut the tags very short?

The spool-line dig is definitely contributing to the issue. I should apply tension to the line if the retrieval has little to no tension, to mitigate this dig. I never had this issue with resin lines so these are some new common issues it seems

Not matching diameters was an oversight on my part, I agree with people saying the diameter is just too small and digs into the guides. I hope I'm able to RMA this line spool. I use the swivel because when I run out of flouro leader, I can just tie on a new leader without shortening my main line. I run about 2 feet of leader. My lures dropped like a rock when I had mono/flouro, but no longer with braid. Someone here said that it could be the braid coating because after my day of fishing, the lures fall now, granted not as quickly as resin lines (About 2ft/s) So when you say "dug in" you mean there are little holes or craters in my spool? I did see that after a days fishing

This is my first time spooling up braid after using mono for so many years, so I'm as ignorant as it gets. I keep reading that braided line is better for casting and line feel, so I was determined to make the switch. Combo: Abu Garcia Black Max 6.8ft Medium, fast action My last setup was fluorocarbon (Berkley Vanish) with big game mono as backing, both are 15 lbs test and .38mm. My new setup is a full reel of J-braid x4 20lbs test .21mm with a 2 foot Vanish leader between a swivel (The swivel does not pass through the guide rods) While the noises the reel makes when casting and retrieving are pretty cool, I can't help but wonder if my rod has too much friction. Especially on the guides. My spool tensioner is almost at side-to-side play, which is what I like to have it at, but my lures don't fall naturally anymore when spool is open. Could it be that my combo isn't designed for braid?

I have the same issue. Lost a lure, bought the same lure and caught a bass but as soon as I brought him in land, the trilene slipped. Close call! I’ll be going back to palomar