gobig

I think you will find that a direct match in color is not as important as you may think. In many cases I like a swimbait that stands out just a little and I do not just mean in color. Sometimes a bait that is just a little bit larger or smaller than the actual bait size will get more attention. If you throw your bait at busting balls of shad what separates it from the rest? Why does a fish key in on your bait? IMO the size, profile and capabilities (ways it can be fished) of a bait out weigh color in most cases.

IMO barbs make a huge difference. There would not be regulations that dis-allow (mainly other species) them if there was no difference. Try putting a hook with a barb through some fabric and do the same with barbless and tell me you do not notice a difference. That slight advantage can be the difference between cashing a check or not. I do agree that playing a fish well and not allowing slack in the line is key. But barbs allow a for a margin of error. The heavier the bait is the more leverage a fish can generate to throw the bait so this is where a barb is most critical.

Rattletraps, speedtraps and shad style swimbaits.

I had salmonella from under cooked chicken and it sucks bad. I did not go to the doctors right away which made it worse. I have had my share of stitches, broken bones and so on and this was one of the most painful things I have endured. My advise is do not wait if you have the symptoms. Like Glenn I will spare the details. Another time I got food poisoning from pot stickers that were not cooked well enough. Got hospitalized on that one. I was working in 125 deg temps and it kicked in when I got home. I dehydrated in a matter of an hour or so. Had bad muscle spasms and even blacked out part of the time. Took three liters of IV to get me hydrated again. Its kinda like being real drunk. You don't remember a dam thing. I guess I made quite the seen so I have been told. Poor women and children in the waiting room.

IMO big baits scare far more anglers than fish. The reason manufactures are making bigger baits is because of the demand for them. As far as bass eating larger prey like snakes, birds, rats and so on. It happens much more often than you think it does. No matter where you go across the United States there is large prey. You can say that you that you do not have large bait fish in the waters you fish but I would have to disagree. Take all of the larger prey out of the equation such as gizzard shad, trout, hitch, etc... but the fact still remains that bass still eat other bass. Big baits have made up a large portion of my game for the last few years. What I have found true is the exact opposite of what many people think is true. The bigger the bait is, the more drawing power it has. That's not saying your going to get bit more on a 12 in bait. But you will be amazed at the audience you will receive. A bait of this magnitude is great at locating larger fish. Say you pull large fish off of a dock you can go back later and target that fish with what ever method you like. You will really start to get an idea of how the bigger fish are relating to the structure and cover. With this knowledge in combination with a sonar you can make much better presentations to specific locations. Big bass use the same locations over and over. I have to agree that location and presentation are most critical aspects of catching large fish. However I believe size plays a significant roll. I have had days where I catch 2 pounders on a 8in swimbait. Yet I turn around throw a 3in minnow imitation and catch the big girls. IMO cheaper baits are bashed because of quality control issues and their lack of capability. If realism was the main issue baits like the slammer or a pink swimbait for that matter would not be looked at as got to have baits in the big bait world. Quality baits are far more versatile and can be fished fast with out rolling to the side or supper slow and still have tail wag. They can be walked, popped 180 deg and the way they fall through the water column is in many cases a presentation in itself. One of the biggest bags I had last year was dead sticking a ROF5 6in weedless hud. It falls horizontally and shimmy's on the way down. I don't think a reaction strike does that.

That's to funny Tom ;D ;D ;D ;D

Some baits I did not see mentioned that have worked well for me in targeting suspended bass are swimbaits, senko's, jigs and big rip baits. One thing to remember is just because the bass are suspended at 15ft does not mean that is where they will be active in the water column. In many cases they like to feed up. One method that has proven its self worthy time and time again is soaking a spro phat fly under a bobber. You can adjust the depth of the fly by using a bobber stop.

What kind of cover does the lake have?

Early on I bought a few reaction strike shad when they first came out. I had to return one of the baits 3x's before I got one that swam straight. I have caught fish on the reaction strike but the action on these baits look more mechanical than the BBZ for sure. Meaning the BBZ has a much more fluid swimming motion. The BBZ falls horizontally in a spiralling motion and when popped will 180 much better. IMO the BBZ is a much better bait with a lot more capabilities.

I caught an 8lb cat on a frog last year.

nice fish

Nice fish. WARNING UNATTENDED RODS MAY DISAPPEAR!!!!!!!!

Fish a few fair size tournaments and you will quickly learn that someone somewhere is catching them.

Cooch had a pretty similar perspective to Rick Clunn. REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS..8 Events 2010 Muskogee, OK - Muskogee, OK Pro Points After Arkansas River, Muskogee, Okla. Ending 06-20-2010, Day 4 ------------------------------------------- Place..Name........St........Pts ------------------------------------------- 1 Skeet Reese....Calif.....2116 2 Edwin Evers.....Okla....2010 3 Cliff Pace..........Miss....1868 4 Derek Remitz....Ala......1854 5 Terry Butcher....Okla...1841 6 Kevin VanDam..Mich....1825 Finishes: Skeet: 2nd,,5th,,,1st,,,,5th,,,1st,,59th,48th,2nd KVD:....29th,59th,22nd,57th,9th,38th,1st,,,6th Toal Weigh: Skeet:..508 lbs KVD:.....393 Lbs Winnings Skeet: $332.5K KVD:....$156K 2010 Elite Series Championship Week Standings - 2 Events Points Skeet: Starts 216.. ends 260 KVD:....Starts 185.. ends 275 (I don't git this part, probably some assinine formula somewhere) Finishes Skeet: 6th & 10th KVD: 3rd & 1st Weight Skeet: 42.11lbs KVD:....64.3lbs Winnings Skeet: $0 KVD:....$260K Pay real close attention here folks to the numbers, it's REALLY clear and simple to understand! Out of 10 events, Skeet outfished KVD 6 vs 4 times. Over the first 8 Tournaments, Skeet absolutely smokes the entire Elite field by 100+ points of his nearest competitor. He whoops KVD's . by d**n near triple that at 291 points. Yet by some magical formula and two year end events, BASS in their infamous, asinine way, allows a completely dominated angler the opurtunity, to sneak in and grab something he truely didn't EARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't give a shat about this whole thing that they all knew the rules coming in, that's an absolute moot point. BASS has made a mockery of Angler Of the Year. Clearly, to allow someone to make up 291 points over 2 events, is assinine! What would have been even worse, is if Russ Lane or Aaron Martens had managed to win this thing, making up 350 points in two tournaments! AOY is a title competitors EARN in sports for your overall performance thru the year. Although he was awarded the title, over the entire season, he did not earn it, the numbers don't lie. The only thing KVD beat Skeet at ALL year long, was total winnings, where KVD had $416K to Skeet's $332.5K, of which $260K was from that final event. It's a complete joke, shame on BASS! Congrats to Skeet for the finest season ever on the BASS Elite Tour! Regardless of the way it turned out, you WERE, BASS' AOY, the numbers don't lie!

They flat catch fish but its definitely not my favorite. In fact dead sticking a senko is probably my least favorite technique. In previous posts I have likened it to watching paint dry. However they have their time and place for sure. I always have senko's with me.

Catt, I want you to understand that I have a lot of respect for your insight. In my opinion from what I can tell you are one of the more informed and experienced anglers on this site. Please do not take any of this as some kind of ego driven attack. When I asked you about the advantages and disadvantages I was looking past getting the bait through the mat and more in terms of presentation capabilities. This is a good example of lost in translation. Earlier you posted the comment "I will add, Y'all had better learn to use both rigs or learn to like second place." I have my thoughts but I wanted to hear yours in more detail. I want to see the big picture. Bill Siemantle threw out a quote that I really liked. " It's not being able to think out side the box, It's being able to see out side the box" These are just my observations. Its hard to tell because the baits are not pictured side by side in the same photo. When using a punch rig the weight of choice is tungsten. I looked to see if the head on oldham jigs are tungsten but could not find it. Tungsten is almost half the size of lead at the same weight. Looking at the two, the punch rig looks more stream lined to me. The weed guard, line tie and hook all stick out to the side on the jig. As far as hook up ratio I do not know that one is better than the other. They appear that they would be pretty equal to me. As far as the hook camming out. I think that plays more of a roll when compared to other punch rigs. Changing to a snell knot and straight shank hook put my hook up ratio through the roof. If you look at the jig the hook is already out to the side once again being fairly equal. The keeper on the hook shank is shrink tube. I comes with the hook and its placement is up to you. I will say the jig wins hands down as far as cost factor. If you want to add rattles, slide one of these dudes up to the hook shank to the eye before you fix the shrink tube.

Some how I missed the date of your original post. You are right there were quite a few fish still in spawn mode at that time. Things kicked of really late. But there should have still been some post spawn and bed fish to catch. I like the north end of the lake during the spawn.

Many times. I am not trying to start anything either. Maybe you could explain what advantages and disadvantages a grass jig has compared to a punch rig. I do not want to be close minded.

Catt, I have to admit I have never used Terry Oldhams jigs and I know you are a big fan of them. However I have tried several grass type jigs that are supposed to get through the mats and due to there bulk they do not penetrate the heavy mats as well. I have never got any jig to punch through pennywort. The grass in the picture you posted stands virtually straight up and I can see how a grass jig would work no problem. Many of the mats out here are so thick you can't pull the fish out of them. You have to go in after them. I have a feeling we are not looking at the same scenarios.

So true. Some of the guys in tournament fishing are masters at throwing people off. This is one of the main reasons you hear people say ignore dock talk.

Understanding the difference between structure and cover is key. Structure is the bottom of the lake. Bill Murphy's book described it best in my mind. " If you turned over a smooth aluminum bowl and beat it with a heavy object, the resulting bumps and depressions on the inside of the bowl would be comparable to the high spots, ridges, and depressions found on the bottom of structured lakes."Trees, stumps, docks, vegetation and so on... are all cover elements. In structured lakes cover is secondary to primary structure (points, ridges, humps, flats and creek channels) but adds value in the right relation. Especially when targeting bigger fish. Finding key structure requires doing some homework. The best place to start is at home before you ever get to the lake. Follow these links and watch the videos. This is some of the most informative stuff I have found on researching bodies of water. http://www../fishing-videos/*-mapping/ http://www../fishing-videos/spacenavigator-review/ The next step is actually getting out on the water and locating the points, ridges, humps, flats and creek channels that you found in your research. These areas need to be gone over with a fine tooth comb. Many times its not the obvious prominent structure that harbors the larger fish is the subliminal structure. Pick these places apart and you will find the spot with in the spot.

The fish will tell you what they want. ;D It goes through it all. Out here on the delta we have all kinds of vegetation. If I fish the deeper weed edge I prefer a jig. But anything clumped up thick or matted I go with the punch rig. Here is another cool one with Bub actually catching fish on a punch rig.

I couldn't agree more. I usually use a leader that starts about the length of the rod I am using. As I re-tie through out the day that leader shortens up. Tying the leader to the braid is far more time consuming. When your fishing against the clock every minute matters. An Alberto knot tied properly retains 99.9% of the line strength and it slides through the guides like butter. You are far more inclined to loose a fish because of a nick or a bad spot in the line. I have fished this knot for quite some time with out one failure at the knot. I do not use florocarbon as a leader in this application. I use P-Line, only I use the CX in stead of the CXX as mentioned in a previous post. Its a co-polymer line with a florocarbon coating. It is the best line I have found that holds up to rocks.

I like the punch rigs because I believe they work better in real thick vegetation, they take less effort and accomplish the same task. Granted you can work the right jig through a lot of different vegetation. But why fight it?

I always use braid for jigs. If I feel its needed I will add a leader with an Alberto Knot.