gobig

I would argue that shadows are break lines also.

Lipless- LV500 Square bill- speedtrap Mid range- Deep Little N Deep- DD-22 Extra deep- 10xd

Ive had 30 pound bags with a dropshot and my largest fish on a dropshot is a 10.2 lbs. Its actually the one in my avatar. You tell me if dropshot only catches small fish. I think that's a bunch of crap. I also do not believe that the dropshot is the end all be all but it definitely has a time and place.

That is a great example of how prey gets pinned and becomes vulnerable. I have had bass literally almost beach themselves to get wakebaits. There are some good lessons there if ya look.

Out west here the snow pack is what fills most of our lakes and then the water goes to southern California who doesn't reclaim one drop of it. They are on the Pacific and there is not one salt water treatment plant either. Currently we are in a drought, if we didn't have to send water down south there wouldn't ever be a shortage. Now they want to completely ruin the delta by putting in water diversion tunnels rather than have common sense solutions. Our water problems are big.

I used to do exactly what A-Jay suggested and it works pretty good. Except I don't have that problem any more. All of my spinning rods have braid on them and I use a leader.

All scarcasm aside, the a-rig can be very effective. I think fish have started wising up to it and that its not as much of a free for all as it was. A friend of mine fished for yammamoto when the senko came out and said the hype was similar. The effectiveness of the rig is becoming more and more conditional. What I mean by this is that you need wind, cloud cover, current, spawning shad ect... Just like any other bait, depth, speed and location are critical for success. The double speak around the rig cracks me up. You got pros saying the some guy off the street can now win tour level tournaments and people that are struggling with it are told that they can not find fish like a pro. I feel just as confident throwing an a-rig for a ten pounder as I do a hud. I have to respectfully disagree that its a not a big fish bait. I think its a numbers bait and a big fish bait. With the rig I have caught fish on flats and points in 3-5 foot of water. I have caught fish suspended in 30 ft of water in the middle of the channel. I have caught fish dragging the bottom up points and over humps. I have caught fish burning them on the surface. This all goes back to depth, speed and location. I fish the rig just like I do a swimbait. Personally 75% of the fish I have caught are in 10 ft of water or less.

I thought the A-rig made ten pounders jump in the boat .

He is talking about shaving meat off the narrow part of the tail so it gets more kick.

You cant afford my fairy wand.

I am with Catt and Flippen, the dd14 and the deep little n are two of my favorites.

Another vote for the darthead.

I am a big snag proof guy. The Bobbies perfect frog is one of the best on the market IMO. Not the easiest frog to fish but Mnbassman has it right its all about the action.

There are a several things about California I don't like but fishing is not one of them. I live in Northern California and our fisheries have exploded. For instance last year there were tournaments at Clearlake where 30lbs wouldn't even get ya a check. The Delta had some giant bags pushing the 40 lb mark. Malones and Bullards are kicking out 25-30 lb bags of spots. Berryessa is a trifecta with bags brown fish, green fish and spots all over the 20 lb mark with largemouth going closer to 30 lbs. Pardee also has some giant brown fish. My best team bag last year was a seven fish limit going 47.83 lbs and my best personal 5 fish bag was 33.10 lbs. My big fish last year was 10.2 lbs.

I use the snell knot and a straight shank hook for punching. I think its the best method out there for heavy grass. In my mind its kinda like this... you can build a house with a hammer and a bag of nails or you could use a nail gun. Both methods will get the job done, one is just more productive than the other. My reasons for using the snell knot have already been stated. The weight does not ride on the knot and the hook cams out. I feel I get way more fish to the boat this way. However the real secret to punching is learning how to get the fish out once hooked. That in itself is an art that only time on the water with an experienced angler can teach or through trial and error.

I got two words... TRASH FISH! On the 6in baits 8/0 owner beast. On the baby 6/0 owner beast.

Its amazing how different perspective is. I don't really think of 20ft as deep. On many of our western lakes 50-80ft is a common depth range in the winter. As far as techniques, they really don't change much. You can fish most of the baits you already fish. The greatest factor around off shore fishing is being around fish.

There good baits but there are others I would have before a bullshad.

I think your set up sounds ok. With out being there to actually see what Is going on I would guess its your hook set that is the problem. If you set the hook with a snap set and a heavy weight it will pop the fishes mouth open. Use a sweep set. If your not snelling the hook that will help as mentioned. If you put to much pressure on them you can also tear their mouths.

Bottom line is that bass eat fish or anything that resembles them. Are there a lot of weeds or snags and are you fishing from the bank? A little more info would help for suggestions.

Blue tops are hard to beat.

cant see it

I have to agree with Rolo. Not to discount what some of these guys do but R&D, labor, materials cost ect... don't mean jack if you produce something no one wants. Supply and demand make up the market place in its purest form free of govt control or price fixing. A commodity is simply something that can be bought or sold. If many of these baits were readily available they would not sell for twice the retail value and with out the demand they would sell below retail.

I use them the same way.

Don't get caught up into the hype that you have to spend $100 or more on a bait for it to be good. That's the biggest load of crap there is. There are plenty of inexpensive baits that are excellent and some of those are made in china. I have to say that the BBZ's are fish catchers. Another amazing bait made in china is the s-waiver. Now to try to answer the original question I'll just give a list of hard baits under $60 I can't see myself without. MS slammer, s-waiver, shell cracker (wood floater), punker (wood), 8in Triple trout, 8in BBZ floater, 6in BBZ slow sink, Matt lures hard gill slow sink.