Could be the drag on your reel is set too low and you aren't holding the spool with your thumb. With the reel engaged to retrieve pull on the line as if you wanted to strip it off the spool like a hooked fish would. If the line pulls off the spool too easily, tighten the drag a bit. Set the drag to just under the breakage point of your line or about 8 pounds.

Try to keep your rod tip high as you reel the fish in. You must keep tension on the line. If the fish gets slack he can spit the hook. But, most importanty, keep fishing. If you're getting bites you have the hard part licked. Good Fishing!

I live in the same area. Went to High Falls yesterday and it's really muddy with lots of floating debris. Had been catching largemouth and stripers using a SSR 7 shallow Shadrap in crawfish color and a KVD 1.5 shallow runner in the silver with green top. Haven't had any luck fishing plastic worms. Fishing around docks and blowdowns. Didn't get a thing yesterday though. Water temp is 71° but after the heavy storms over the weekend the water is really muddy. When it gets a little warmer at night I'll start night fishing at Sinclair. Seven inch junebug Culprit worm did well there last year. Haven't fished Jackson in years. Juliette is the lake that just skunks me. I can't catch a thing out of that lake but it sure is pretty. Is there any way to send a personal message via this forum?

It's called worm farming and there's lot's of information on the Internet about how to get started. My uncle had about a dozen worm boxes in the ground.

My uncle used to raise worms and sell them to bait & tackle stores years ago. He had these large metal boxes about the size of a single wide refrigerator lying on it's back buried in the ground with about four or five inches of the top above ground. He used a mixture of soil and sawdust in the boxes. He ordered baby worms from somewhere through the mail. He kept the top of the soil covered with burlap bags to hold the moisture and the entire box covered with a piece of plywood to keep rain out. He fed the worms with cornmeal. He raised several different varieties of worms.

If you can find a light action (1/16 - 5/8 oz lure) 6 foot spinning rod and a spinning reel you should be able to cast the lure. I have fished them with an ultra-light spinning outfit as well. Hook a five pound bass on an ultra-light outfit and you'll have a lot of fun.

I thought every well stocked tackle box had a Jitterbug and a Hula Popper in it. I use the small size (4") electrical zip ties to put replacement skirts on my spinnerbaits. I'm sure that would work on your Hula Popper.

What part of the country are you in? For me here in the South, the best all around bass lure is the shallow running (3' to 5' deep) Shad Rap. I use the SSR7 model in either the shad color or the crawdad color depending on the water color of the lake. The Shad color for clear water, Crawdad color for stained water. Sometimes the "bluegill" color works well. Cast shallow and work out from the bank. Work close to cover like blowndown trees or docks. The retrieve speed will be relative to water temp. If the water is below 60°, a slow retrieve just fast enough to make the lure "swim" like a baitfish.