EastTexasBassin

I had some fun with the ragetail shad yesterday morning. Into the afternoon, I did pretty good with a t-rigged RT craw (dirty craw) Also caught a few on a booyah green pumpkin jig with a dirty craw trailer and a Strike King series 3 in sexy shad.

I knocked a cheap spinning combo over the side of the boat once. I wasn't too concerned about it but my buddy said "I've got something for that!" He tied on this thing that looked like a tiny anchor and within a couple casts he had it hooked. I don't think that rod and reel were worth more than $30, but I was glad to get it back.

Buzzbaits are awesome in the fall. Last year I was catching nice size and numbers of fish on buzzbaits all the way into November.

Had a nice day on the water yesterday. I caught fish on topwater all day, even though there was bright sunshine and no clouds in sight. This was my first time to fish a Yellow Magic popper, and I like it a lot. I went back and forth between the Yellow Magic and a Sexy Shad colored crankbait. I caught two 5's, and a bunch of 2's and 3's.

Wash your hands with toothpaste

I like the Moaner hooks a lot. Great quality and the prices are great too. I've been using the weighted stroker for Lobsters, Annies, and Thumpers with great results.

I put a couple of shrimp on some tiny jigs when I got them but haven't tried it out yet. I left the center part of the tail intact, but now that I've removed it I think I like it better. Thanks for posting this Big-O. I can't wait to try out this little jig.

When it comes to windy days, I've had some really great ones and some really bad ones. Fast moving lures and topwaters are still easy to fish in the wind and when the fish are active its a blast. I've had some of my most exciting days fishing buzzbaits and ragetail shads along wind-blown banks. When the fish are inactive, the wind makes it hard for me to slow down. I'll usually fish a heavy c-rig or a jig and even then it can be hard to detect a bite when the wind is blowing my line into a big arch. When it's windy, I use an anchor. I'm not interested in fighting it with the trolling motor. I find some structure that I want to fish, drop the anchor, and fish it over as well as I can.

On a bright cloudless day I'm pitching a jig 'n Lobster around heavy cover such as laydowns, brushpiles, docks, and anything else that provides shade.

I like to fish the eeliminator weightless or on a very lightweight c-rig. It makes a great topwater bait. Retrieve it along the surface and that tail goes crazy. If a fish swirls and misses, stop it and crawl it to get that wide wobble. They come back and hit it almost every time.

Had some fun today pitching a jig 'n Lobster around laydowns and brushpiles. Also caught one with a Lobster on a Moaner swimbait hook. The first fish this morning was on a ragetail toad.

Ragetail toad would be my choice, but when less noise is in order I use the eeliminator on the surface.

Thanks for the warning about the JJ's. I didn't have any with me, but I probably would have tried it next time.

I went out to play with the new ragetail baits yesterday morning. First I tried the baby thumper, texas rigged on a 4/0 hook with a 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight. I took a picture of the first fish, and caught a couple more close to the same size. I'm sure I'll get some bigger fish on this bait as well. It looks like it will be a great shakey head worm and a nice drop shot worm too. Next I rigged the ragetail shrimp on a 3/0 superline hook with a 3/8 oz tungsten flippin weight and pitched it to the edge of some shoreline vegetation. I caught a couple fish on it but then I noticed some splashing way back in the grass and knew it was toad time. Unfortunately, I set the hook too quickly on most of the toad fish. I caught a couple fish around a pound and a half, but missed some nicer ones. I also caught a couple with a texas rigged craw. The shrimp is really cool, I can't wait to try to fish it some other ways. I played around with it in the aquarium before I went out to get a feel for how it would act with different weights and hooks. With a 5/0 superline hook in it, it almost suspends- it sinks very, very slowly. With a 4/0 superline hook in it, it floats with the tail touching the surface and the front slightly submerged. With a 3/0 superline hook in it, it floats completely horizontal on top of the water. I can't wait to try it on a carolina rig, with a smaller hook so it floats up above the weight. It looks like it will be a great drop shot bait as well. This elaztek stuff is crazy. I don't understand how something so tough can be so flexible. I rigged and re-rigged the same bait over and over while I was playing with it, and I couldn't even tell that it had been pierced by a hook. You can stretch these things to more than double their length and it just snaps back with no apparent stretching or distortion. I hope more ragetail baits come out in this kind of plastic. Rigging it was a challenge at first, because it's kinda hard to 'texpose' or skin hook this kind of plastic until you get used to how it acts. I can't wait to fish it some more. The bass didn't seem to care that it was designed for saltwater.

The ragetail toad is the only soft plastic toad I fish. I absolutely love it. Big-O's advice about the rigging will keep it running right. If it lands upside down, just pause a second and then continue the retrieve. It will turn back over and run right. A keel weighted hook works great and also makes it easier to throw on windy days. Before I started using the keel weighted hooks, I would put a small insertable weight in the toad's 'belly'. This had the same effect as the keel weighted hook, it make it heavier and more likely to run right side up from the start. I might get cursed for saying this...but there's two words I can't leave out when talking about the toad. jig trailer

Straight braid all the way, never a leader. I don't care how clear the water gets.

For timber I like the booyah boo jigs or the hack attack jig, with a ragetail Lobster of course.

My #1 bait on the dropshot is the ragetail baby craw. Whether or not we understand it, the fish like it.

I've always put a bullet weight above my drop shot weights. It helps it to wiggle loose from anything that it might snag on. No need for the bead though, imo. I don't peg the bullet weight either. Seems to work better if its free.

The ragetail spacemonkey and Lobster are also a bunch of fun to fish weightless along the surface.

No need to get upset about these things. When someone gets too close I simply put down my rod, pick up my shotgun, load a few shells and just stare at them until they move along. Works every time. Of course, things are different in Texas...

I put a dab of megastrike on every plastic, whether it already has a scent or not.

Seems silly to put that kind of detail on a bait that will only be seen from below. You could spraypaint the whole thing solid white and catch just as many fish.

I like 'em a lot. I always remove the rattle from other jigs, so it saves me a step. Good head, nice hook, and the skirts are great too. The fish in my avatar was caught on a black and blue hack attack jig with a junebug RT Lobster on it.

My favorites are the ragetail lobster and lizard.