Rucksack

I'm the same way. No braid on my bank gear.

Preach. I'm forever picking up old line, dragging old line out of the water, or cutting out old line to detangle things. It's like nobody knows how to properly break off if stuck on the bank. I'm finding tens of feet of line at a time. Sometimes it's like somebody just peeled off half a reel and walked off. Puzzling stuff. I recently snuck a kayak onto a residential pond just to clean the trees of yards and yards of old mono and over sized braid which was becoming an ever large nest as more people got snagged in it.

That's good to know. BPS and Walmart are the easiest big box retailer for me to get to. I'll start there! I'll throw an online order for these next time I get something shipped. Looked this up. Wild looking bait. I'll eventually work up to one. Also thanks for all the Strike King comments. I started with the KVD branded ones. I'm paying a premium at my locally owned tackle shop ot looks like, which is usually fine because I like supporting small biz, but I'll look elsewhere for cheaper deals. I'm losing these things most trips and not made of money.

I'm learning how to effectively fish shallow diving squarebills in heavy cover. I'm casting, reeling, and pitching them into gnarly places. The results have been great, man what a fun way to fish, but as you might imagine the attrition rate has been high as I learn the ropes. Any suggestions on some affordable ones I won't get too bummed about when the inevitable happens?

Great article! Even though I have a yak, I still mostly bank fish. Glad to see a feature with a guy getting a bit technical on it. The larger reel size giving you more casting distance is a thing I've not considered but could see being a real difference maker! He's also inspired me to get some waders.

I'm with the folks here who are on the caffeine shad bandwagon. Always reach for those. @TOXIC's love of the D shad is pretty inspiring though. I need to get a pack.

Probably the biggest adjustment for you in central NC is going to be the sheer amount of submerged pine trees and pine laydowns. They're everywhere and just waiting to snag you up, but the big bass love them!

Welcome! Lots of NC folks here too. Myself included. The bass fishing is great here.

Congrats on getting through your ordeal and focusing on something you enjoy @LEO9311! I've been giving this some thought. I also live in NC. I wonder if your fish have just moved off the bank for the summer. We're cooling down and hopefully they'll be back soon. It terms of tackle I'm going to suggest something that works for my buddy who catches 30-40 sunfish a day on an urban lake in NC. I've not used this setup, but he swears by it. He uses very light tackle and the "Trout Magnet" system by Leland Lures. They're little jig heads, small floats, and pretty small plastics. You can get a box set of them on Amazon. They even have a special rod they make for it. Best of luck!

☝️ Realized I never recommend a more modern book to answer your question. Apologies on that. I'm a little passionate on the historical technique topic. I'm currently reading through the North American Fishing Club "Complete Angler's Library" series. Written in the 80s and early 90s, so you do have some electronics advice, but mostly a behavior and technique guide book series. Good DIY ideas in there for homemade gear as well.

Preach! This is a big reason I've started going back to the older materials and accounts as well. These folks were catching bass without technology, in ways modern bass haven't seen in decades, outside of the particular quirks of tournament fishing, and without the dogma of big lure company laboratory research that dominates modern thinking. Our modern approach is so deeply impacted by the commerical demands of "buy more gear" (which is often rhetorically masked as "buying the right gear for the right situation" 🙄) that it's really worth taking a step back and intellectually starting over. Inspired by my reading, and being a surf fishing guy on the side, one of my projects next year is to start using more natural baits like minnows. We spend millions as anglers each year and thousands of hours in practice trying to immitate one. Why not just throw the real deal? Also fishing pork rinds seem fascinating, but hard to source. Might make my own. It's also just flat our enjoyable to read an older book. It's a direct mental connection to our forbearers. Closest you'll get to a time machine.

I'm a game designer for a living, so I'm always curious about format changes. This seems like a good way to playtest what a fully FFS free tournament series looks like without causing an outright revolt amongst sponsors and anglers. It's also just an exciting wild card wrinkle all on its own. I don't normally watch pro fishing, but I'll be keeping tabs on how this goes.

If by cursed you mean you're being impacted by something out of your control than you are absolutely cursed. You've been fishing the hottest and most crowded parts of the year from shore. The bass have probably moved off the bank to deeper water to escape the heat and fishing pressure. I'm going to guess you had some good luck earlier on. That's probably because nature hadn't really cranked the temperature up. The bass will return to shore as the temperatures ease and other folks let up the pressure as the summer winds down. In the meantime seek deeper parts of the lake, heavy shade, or just other water. Also slooooooow is your friend in conditions you're experiencing. Soak a plastic worm for a while. But if you still can't get them to bite, just enjoy casting practice and being outside until fall hits!

Outdoor Life has been re-publishing some classic articles from the 50-70s which I have been really enjoying. The articles are less "how to" guides and more celebrations of the adventure and romance of fishing. I just read one from Ben East (from the 50s) which was all about an exciting expedition to find seldom fished muskies on Isle Royale. There's also been great stories about old school cane pole fishing for bass and home made lures for big bass. The through line has been solid prose and exciting fishing. There's got to be more excellent outdoor angling writing, hopefully about bass, out there, right? What authors, books, or magazines should I read? I'm happy to see if my local library system has them or track them down through the vagaries of the web.

I've never once had this happen to me. I also spend my fishing time in the South and Midwest where it's a super common practice. However, I'm going to steel man the anti-fishing argument for a second because I think it's worth getting into their headspace. Putting a hook into a fish's mouth and pulling them out of the water absolutely causes some level of suffering. I'm therefore building my pleasure out of some level of fish suffering. Some amount of catch and release fishing results in death. I am sometimes killing fish for my entertainment. I conceded all of those points. However my license fees and taxes on purchasing supplies directly goes to conservation funding. This results in preservation of natural habitat and pays for state run fish hatcheries. This results in healthier, happier, and more plentiful fish. It also has a positive impact up and down the food web. Putting an economic value on conserved land via a paid hobby is also huge when it comes to political decision making for land conservation. The fishing industry (Johnny Morris was a major player) just stepped up recently to stop the sell of federally protected land. This has generational consequences for humans and our biosphere. I am absolutely bringing more net positive benefits to the environment than I am extracting by fishing. More creatures live healthier and happier lives, because I choose a hobby that causes suffering to some amount of them. It might make some people uncomfortable who aren't systems thinkers, but they should take a broader view.

"Fish on", but in my head it's it's more like "Was that a bite...no couldn't be....oh holy @#$# it's a bite!".

Some of the best bass fishing in North Carolina seems to be in and around sunken or laydowns of massive loblolly pines. If you've never seen a loblolly imagine an 80-100 foot tree with gnarly intersecting branches that make almost no angle safe for lures, cracked bark that devours fishing line, and sticky sap that is there just to make everything kind of hard and gross to deal with. Now imagine that there are so many of them, and the water has such low visibility, that the spot you're about to cast to has a good chance of hiding a submerged tree just under the surface. My favorite tricky spot is chock full of loblolly cover, huge amounts of old fishing line tangled in said tress to eat your gear, and general detritus like old tires and coolers. It's an urban lake that sees a huge amount of public pressure as well. Now, that might sound terrible. But this lake produces 5-6 lbs LMB available from shore routinely if you know how to go get them. You need to have zero exposed hooks, a good knowledge of sunken obstacles, an ability to trek well away from crowds, and a willingness to lose tackle every trip. It's where I re-learned to fish as an adult and I think starting in a tricky spot really made me into a much better angler. Almost everywhere else I've been has seemed easier to fish as a result.

That sounds awesome. Been looking for ways to get my wife on more panfish. What is your soft plastic there?

Really enjoyed this one! He's a great host.

Absolutely. Fishing is a spiritual and meditative practice for me. I feel "meh" and disconnected from nature if I can't get a line in the water for a prolonged period.

We're the same age @Joedodge. Take some time off on that injury. We're still young by the long view standard, but our body isn't healing like it used to. I've found I need longer downtime than I'm comfortable admitting to myself, and I consider myself a very active and healthy dude. Also. This hobby is supposed to be fun! Kick back and recharge if you're feeling like it's a grind -- beyond just the health reasons.

I wear Warby Parker prescription sunglasses, they have gone up a bit in price since purchase so can't still call them "cheap", but they're pretty smudge resistant and really only fog up on the initial change leaving an AC'd building/vehicle and entering the humidity. I wipe them down with an old microfiber cloth and get to fishing.

Welcome! Glad you're here!

I'm very much a "don't yuck somebody else's yum" sort of dude when it comes to hobbies, so please read this question as coming from a place of genuine curiosity. How did you find yourself running a dozen rods on deck at all times? That feels like a choice driven by some super interesting experiences I'd love to hear about!

Glad you're here! This is a great resource. One of my biggest joys here, and I think newer users don't think to do, is using the search feature and reading older threads. Seems like advice on just about anything related to bass fishing can be found on here.