Who bass fishes?

[axis]

I want to get away from bobbers and minnows and start using crankbaits and texas rigged worms. I currently have a medium 7ft rod with medium size Pflueger president spinning reel. I fish everything from murky lakes to clear waters and fish from the bank. I currently have mono but cant cast past 10ft for some reason. What line do you suggest? I’d also like to try my hand at small mouth fishing the river as well.

[cordex]

I'm no great fisherman, but it's probably just a twist or tangle in the line.  I'd strip off some line well past your maximum cast and respool with the right tension.

[Kingcreek]

How old is your line or how long has it been spooled?
I reload most of mine every year or sooner if I’m seeing damage.

[Tuco]

Casting distance is a function of lure weight and rod action (and line stiffness but not for this post).  Most rods have a recommended lure (and line) weight printed between the reel seat and the first guide.

When you change the stroke from backcast to forward cast the rod bends. The bent rod is storing energy that's released at the end of the forward cast.  That energy is transferred to the bait or lure, which pulls line of the reel. This is the basis iof design for any modern fishing rod.

A lightweight worm rig, which weighs considerably less than a bobber and minnow, needs a limber rod to absorb energy from a backcast. If your medium action 7' is too stiff to throw light baits, add lead splitshot above the swivel until you get some distance.

[Ben]

^^^

What this fella said.

[AZRedhawk44]

I'm in a similar boat, axis.  Upping my game this last year or so, learning Texas/Ned/Wacky rigs and such.  I just got a new reel expressly for bass fishing, put it on an extremely old rod I got as a kid from Fleet Farm or somewhere like that in Minnesota.  Shopping for a newer rod to match it, but my reel is spooled up with braid on it and a ~15 foot flourocarbon lead.  I've been fishing the canals that run through the metro Phoenix area just to test my rigging out, and they're admittedly hit and miss since it's such a weird ecosystem (the canals are completely concrete).  Haven't found any monsters yet, but I've pulled out a couple of ~8 inch bass.

10ft cast suggests to me that there's something critically wrong with your setup.  Inspect your line guides, see if there are burrs or missing insert bushings or something.  After that, hook your fishing line to something anchored well and walk away using the drag on your reel.  Give the line a good stretching, and then reel it back in smoothly and make sure the reel is layering it evenly on the spool.  Maybe even take the spool off the reel and submerge it in hot water on the stove.  Mono can have a memory from its original storage spool and depending on how it was spooled onto your reel it can be springy in the wrong way.  Typically that manifests in snarls and birdsnests rather than bad casts, though. 

Tuco's on point with weight on the end of the line.  Sounds like you have too little weight in your slider on your texas rig.  Either that or too stiff of a fishing pole.

[Kingcreek]

It’s fun to catch lunker bass but I prefer crappie and bluegill.
I bought a new 7’ crappie rod and reel for 4# mono.
I sometimes use a fly rod also.
Always from a boat.

[Northwoods]

Saltwater fishing for me is where it's at.  Rockfish and ling cod on jigs are great fun.  I suck at catching salmon but they're fun when they bite.  Albacore is amazing.

Freshwater fishing in Washington damn near requires bring a lawyer along.  The regulations book is thicker than any other state I've fished in.

[Jim147]

I used to bass fish all the time. I only have to walk feet to go fishing. Change the line. If you're not going for something huge, 10# mono should work. If you have big bass in cover, you need some braid. For this time of year, I use worms and little rubber bugs. Yellow works well here. When it gets warmer, I go with poppers and buzz baits.

[Ron]

Have you pulled the line out well past the ten foot mark and wound it back in?

You should get a top water to play with as well, a cheap frog will probably do. Nothing like the explosion when they shoot up and grab it!