A-Jay

This is a somewhat older thread. Times have changed. I'm putting the finishing touches on an update treble hook replacement post. More to follow. A-Jay

In waters inhabited by goby, At least half the time my vibrating jig trailer of choice is the hand poured number pictured below. (Zako gets the nod the rest of the time) It is Very Soft and has a relatively small paddle tail that's turned up. Swims back to the bottom on a time line. (I pinch off the side fins) #magic Fish Hard A-Jay

Do you grab a bass mouth with your left or right hand? Neither ~ I go Frabil Net bag goes on a silicone mat and then I use a boga grip to control the fish while I go to work with the Hemostats / Pliers as needed. https://youtu.be/zIqCmH_52IQ?t=984 Fish Hard A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Nicely Done @Glenn @Keri~ The first tip about overworking the bait is a biggie in my book too. I like to think of & fish my drop shot bait as if it was a live bait. btw I learned a lot watching Aaron do his thing. Fish Hard A-Jay

Along with several other in the St Croix line, I have and fish a couple of Victory rods. I like them. https://youtu.be/zIqCmH_52IQ?t=1806 A-Jay

Interesting topic ~ Being able to go back and see exactly what I'm doing on the water has been very helpful. GoPro. This may be another example of that. With spinning gear (vertical drop shot & most Topwater applications) hooksets are routinely vertical. Not something I am conscious of, just happens that way. But with casting gear, regardless of the technique or presentation, my hooksets are far more to the side than vertical. Seems like a 50/50 mix of side ways and perhaps upward @45 degrees. Rarely is the blank pointing skyward or high sticking. Not saying either one is right or wrong, just that this is what works for me. I will add that I am fortunate in that my wrists, arms & shoulders are all in good working order. Fish Hard A-Jay

Right off, there may be a right & a wrong way for all of us. I've seen a few different 'ways' to cast & hold revolving spool tackle. Some were like I do it, some were not. Doesn't mean either one is right or wrong Unless, it is adversely effecting ones technique or biomechanics or both. Having gear that is matched to our techniques and our stature is usually helpful. Type of rod, reel & line can make a difference over the long haul. If you're palming your rod & reel, having an overly large or small set up in comparison to ones hand size & strength can be taxing. There are several different types & sizes of both rod and reel handle grips. Selectin the one that 'works best' for us could be key. My favorite rigs 'feel good in my hand' and I don't feel like I'm 'fighting' to fish it properly. Speaking of taxing, I prefer to cast with two hands - shares the load over the course of a day. Finally you mentioned you were "throwing a buzz bait a lot" which seems to mean more than usual ? If that's the case, anytime I do 'more' for the first time in a while, there's some soreness, and that's not limited to just bass fishing. Best way for me to get acclimated to 'more' is do it 'more'. Of course easing into it seems the safest approach. #babystepsbob. Hope that helps A-Jay

I have not made the switch to this knot. My bass fishing applications require a line diameter that seems to make effectively completing it fairly tricky for me. Tried this 'version' of tying it yesterday. No Joy. #uniknotforme A-Jay

I appreciate the concern My wife and I have quite a bit of experience with several breeds, They are all dog first and that's where we start, Breed specific and then individual personality traits become apparent and are addressed along the way. Clearly we expect to learn as much or perhaps more from this little guy before it over. That's one aspect that made this particular rescue so attractive. He's a smart dude though, I can already tell you that. A-Jay

Thanks~ It takes a village or in this case A Pack. And we have a stable one which is a huge advantage. A-Jay

Been with us a week now and he's doing great A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ I say perhaps consider duplicating whatever your bubby is throwing. A-Jay

No Question there. A-Jay

IME ~ and as a general rule, the softer the bait, the more the boot tail will move and at a slower speed. Durability usually suffers but I may get more bites if & when slow is the deal. I almost always want & need the bait to 'have good action' (or swim) every time I kill it and allow it to fall back to the bottom. Either on a slack or especially on a tight line. That said, the jighead weight (line / leader size and the hook wire gauge to some extent) play a few roles here. I'm always looking for the right 'match'. Casting distance, rate of fall and how it swims (as noted above) can all be dictated by the type of plastic (softness), and the size of the boot tail as compared to the weight of the jig head. Too light and the bait/tail has nothing to 'push against' and to heavy a head can over power the bait completely. When I get it right, the jighead will act as the perfect counter balance for the bait & the tail, which will enable the swimbait to have that tail thump and THE SHIMMY, which often times is the magic sauce. Seems pretty vital on swim jigs as well, although here I prefer a 'harder' bait. Throughout my arsenal, I'm using SK Easy & Rage Tail swimmers, Keitech Swing Impact & FAT swimbaits as well as RI Skinny & Little Dippers. Hope that helps. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ There's quite a bit of practical and supremely useful information here. Perhaps start in the Articles section. A-Jay

First off, Big Spinnerbait fan here. While I do believe the vibration, lift and flash is pretty important, seems that how they do it could be similar to a fan. Are those blades cutting or displacing the air ? I'm not sure honestly. But I do know what happens when I stick my finger in there. A-Jay

Good Luck with that. I am puppy sitting 24/7 so there'll be no fishing for me for a while. But I'm good. A-Jay

So much insite being shared in this one. Already one of my favorite threads of the year. And it can only get better. Be interested to see how we feel about all this 5 or 10 years from now. Thank you @Nitrofreak A-Jay

True Deep Cranking, with Big plugs (10XD) for 10 hours - 6 days in a row under a blistering Mexican sun is pretty brutal. Locally, an A-Rig can be a distant 2nd. A-Jay

For the past few seasons at least, seems a very similar "conversation" has been taking place routinely all across the country. Might not be happening everywhere as positive reports are seen all the time. Either way, Social Media tells Both stories. And while I will openly admit that my experience locally with this type of deal is quite minimal when compared to the OP, it's still a thing; especially on what I consider my 'home' lake. Right off the bat, I have no answers. At least none that have produced repeatable success during the hardest & heaviest fishing times. In my mind, 'something' has changed. Is it one or two major things, or several minor ones, or a combination of some or all of that ? Nothing I have seen or done can say one way or the other. Just know I'm not a fan. In an effort to help me keep a positive frame of mind about it, I'm looking at it like this: Bass have been around for a long time. Their instincts & adaptability have enabled them to survive whatever has come at them over the years. I see no reason to believe that this will not continue. However, beyond ALL the Natural environmental conditions that affect them and change how they live, whenever there are un-natural additions or subtractions to their world, there's always going to be 'some kind' of reaction. And so while bass fishing is challenging enough in what we often consider the best of conditions, I can only imagine that something like this has the potential to make our job of finding & catching bass quite a bit harder. With the folks who do this for a living looking for answers, I for one hope they find a few. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Fish Hard A-Jay

The Powerbait Beast ! On a 6'10" MH F casting stick and 15 lb Tatsu A-Jay

For me Ned is routinely fished at least 8 feet deep and often deeper. It's done with a Daiwa Tatula Elite AGS 7'6" ML Spinner and a Tatula LT Silver 3000 size Spinning Reel loaded with 8lb Seaguar Smackdown braid mainline with a fairly long 8lb Tatsu leader. This set up casts & fishes the light bait nicely with plenty of everything else I need. https://youtu.be/3OXnPQs0bqQ?t=61 A-Jay

So does that beat the guy on a buffalo ? A-Jay

Thank you Sir ~ I don't know about the rest of the community but the withdrawal symptoms set in pretty fast on this end . . . ? A-Jay