34 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

That 6 power rod and the added winching power a baitcaster provides will really help with moving those big fish out of the jungle.

It may be important to remember that when fishing from a small, very light manually propeller craft, if an effective anchoring system is not employed, most every attempt to "Pull" a big bass buried deep in soft cover to the boat, will instead "Pull" the boat to the bass and said cover.  It's almost always a losing battle regardless of the gear used.

So I say, drop the hook and give yourself a fighting chance.

A-Jay

 

Being a student of Jason Lucas who promoted light line bass fishing that equaled to or was not more than 2X the weight of the fish as a sport. Using line and tackle 4X to 10X stronger than the weight of the fish was meat fishing, not sport. 
Each to his or her own tackle and how to use it. Bass are very forgiving fish, not necessary powerful or fast, but they will strike a wide variety of lures and presentations that make them very popular fish to catch regardless of how you prefer to go about it.

Tom

 

On 12/1/2025 at 8:40 AM, Jar11591 said:

Catches more fish than anybody on this forum

 

On 12/1/2025 at 8:40 AM, Jar11591 said:

ask everyone

A good teacher always asks the right questions, we appreciate you Katie

On 12/1/2025 at 6:11 AM, GRiver said:

Thats like Bill Ross asking me on how to paint a picture

You mean Bob? 

6 minutes ago, Banned User said:

On 12/1/2025 at 6:11 AM, GRiver said:

Thats like Bill Ross asking me on how to paint a picture

You mean Bob? 

His cousin Bill… you’ve heard of him?… right?…. Lives down the street.

On 12/1/2025 at 11:11 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

On 12/1/2025 at 9:46 AM, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

"Where all the power is?"

 

I'm not following. Still scratching my head on this one!

Poor choice of words...was trying to convey backbone...sorry man

The rest of us know what you meant bro, no need to apologize, you good

1 hour ago, GRiver said:

His cousin Bill… you’ve heard of him?… right?…. Lives down the street.

The rest of us understood what you meant! You good!

Honestly, your situation is deeply relatable for me.  I had never thrown a bait caster in my entire life when I got into largemouth bass in 2020 and honestly, I wasn’t even that great at throwing a spinning rod in terms of the accuracy and stealth required to consistently catch Bass so I had a lot of work cut out for me.  
 

I think the fact that you’re an expert at casting with spinning rods will translate really nicely and you’ll be casting bait casters proficiently in no time!

 

Just having the ability to make multiple presentations quickly, and also the ability to winch on them in heavy cover is really nice and the ability to thumb the spool to slow the bait down has become something I lean heavily on also.

 

I think you’re at the point in your fishing where you enjoy casting, and even though you have an advantage right now with the spinning rod, your innate abilities will reveal to you very quickly the joys and advantages afforded by a bait caster in your capable hands.

 

 Like King said you’re an angler with no real flaws or faults in your game so the only thing we have left to critique is your gear!  😜😂

 

You’re way past the point where we could offer you any sort of constructive criticism about casting or looking for fish or anything like that!

 

I’m really excited to hear about your adventures working with new tools in your arsenal next year and I think that you will take to it like a fish to water…..🐟😎👍

 

 

23 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

that I'm accurate with my spinning rods

I'm happy to make you a custom spinning rod with a casting rod backbone and whatever taper you prefer for just the cost of materials. 

 

If you're losing fish when they bolt and you're compensating for tight drag by moving your arms/rod it seems you've identified the issue. You're drag is too tight for too long. I fish similarly weedy waters, always weary a dive could bring up 8# of weeds as a hat for a 2# bass. 

 

I've come to prefer a tight drag for the hook set, the beginning of the fight, and if they feel big I'll loosen the drag a touch to let the hook/ line move with them instead of yanking it out. Drag adjustment is a bit easier on baitcaster, but I have no doubt you could find a good rhythm and become very comfortable doing that on your spinning set up. 

 

I've even started adding drag clickers to my baitcasters so I can have a better sense of what my drag/ the fish is doing. 

 

PM me if you want to talk about a spinning rod to get a custom designed tool for you specifically

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

The rest of us understood what you meant

As uncultured as I am I double checked,  just in case he was referring to an artist named Will Ross, and when I found this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Charles_Ross) I thought "wow there really is a will Ross" and then thought I would make a joke about Bob... guess we're all a bunch of uncultured fishermen and my joke was accidentallyserious haha... unless he did mean actual Will Ross in which case dang bro, impressive art history knowledge 

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

You’re way past the point where we could offer you any sort of constructive criticism about casting or looking for fish or anything like that!

 

First off, Pat, thanks for all the guidance.

 

Secondly, I know nowhere near what you know and I know this to be true from reading your posts and watching your videos. I have good hunches. My fishing partner, the Kid, brought a buddy to the pond this past summer. I've shown every sweet spot to the kid and given him all my most productive lures, but since he had a buddy, he paired with him and I fished solo...and I was surprised to see the kid wasn't keeping pace with me as he does when we're in the same boat. I was hunching in my boat and he was fishing from memories of where we'd caught bass.  Both evenings, he and his buddy lagged. So, hunching is fishing the moment, taking a good look around you and making a good guess about where they might be just then. 

Ah yes being burned by fishing history is something that still happens to me!  I try my best to fish the moment also - definitely helps to catch the big ones when you slow down and fish each cast with confidence and let your hunches guide you rather than past history etc!  Thanks for the reminder - gotta find them where they are right NOW!  🙂👍

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Ah yes being burned by fishing history is something that still happens to me!  I try my best to fish the moment also - definitely helps to catch the big ones when you slow down and fish each cast with confidence and let your hunches guide you rather than past history etc!  Thanks for the reminder - gotta find them where they are right NOW!  🙂👍

 

I studied the brain in graduate school and I think hunches tap memories beyond our immediate memories. I've spent days beyond counting on water and I believe that all those memories are in my head, but not accessible to my conscious mind. My subconscious mind, however, can tap them and what helps this process is being as alert and alive as possible, so that my subconscious can find similar moments in my angling life...and use that data to decide where and how to fish. It's not just what we see and hear, but how the air feels and smells and the wind and air pressure, all the factors that nudge bass to feed here or there. 

56 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I studied the brain in graduate school and I think hunches tap memories beyond our immediate memories. I've spent days beyond counting on water and I believe that all those memories are in my head, but not accessible to my conscious mind. My subconscious mind, however, can tap them and what helps this process is being as alert and alive as possible, so that my subconscious can find similar moments in my angling life...and use that data to decide where and how to fish. It's not just what we see and hear, but how the air feels and smells and the wind and air pressure, all the factors that nudge bass to feed here or there. 

I find this very interesting.

I too have voices in my head, especially when I'm on the water. 

But there are so many it's hard to know which ones are giving up the straight skinny.

Sometimes I feel like Sybil Dorsett.  

(That was for the older bassheads.)

All kidding aside, I have been both burned & rewarded by my 'gut' instincts.

Which is what I attribute most of that to.

In the long run, I think it helps more than it hurts.

A-Jay