A-Jay

I'm a hard pass right there . . . A-Jay

It was a Ned Rig kind of day ~ A-Jay

Too Late. You'll need to change your name now. A-Jay

A silent jerkbait up fairly shallow was the ticket again today . . . A-Jay

Old Tooth Face swallowed my jerkbait today. This was One Mean Pike ~ And Really Thick across the back. A-Jay

Hello Brandon and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

I use a composite stick for spinnerbaits. Casts great and I have no trouble putting the steel to them . . . A-Jay

@BasstrackerPete Length 22' 8" Width 8' 8" Motor height 82" A-Jay

Hello Zachary and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ Involuntary donations are a downer. Good Luck moving forward. A-Jay

I have that info but I am on the water currently. I will get back with you later. A-Jay

A new acronym It was only a matter of time. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Jerkbaits for Brown Bass ~ It’s the little things After the last couple of early season trips where the jerkbait played a significant role, there was some discussion: 12poundbass ~ Dude! What an awesome day you had! I can already tell I am fishing my jerkbait way too fast. Watching your video it got me thinking. When do you know to change colors and when do you know it’s not the color and it’s time to change lures? A-Jay ~ Thanks Color choice is a tricky deal. In my fishing, I am presenting a jerkbait to smb THAT ARE ON THE BOTTOM. So the idea of a suspending jerkbait is a bit of a misnomer. (Plus, I add weight to at least half my jerkbaits so they Cast further (and into the wind) & run DEEP. Early season almost always includes wind, did yesterday, and getting the bait away from the boat is a huge deal.) When the water's warmer - say above 52-55 degrees, brown bass are far more willing to come well up off the bottom to get a bait. But when it's colder, especially mid-40-ish, they are not going to do that very often, at least IME. So what does that have to do with color ? Just Everything. There’s a fairly wide selection of jerkbaits in my boat to choose from at any given time; admittedly perhaps too many. After several years of fishing these may different colors & patterns, with various levels of success, this is how I get the most jerkbait bites. There's two concepts that I follow when selecting bait color /pattern that's being presented on or near the bottom, and Jerkbaits in this case, fall directly into that category. I either want the bait to be close to or MATCH the color / shade of whatever the bottom is I'm fishing; sand, some type of green weed, leaves, whatever. OR I’ll go with a color pattern that is WILDLY different - Like Clown was yesterday. I don’t do this as often as I used to, but perhaps I should. So I want my bait to either appear like it’s trying to hide / blend in or standing out badly, and I do prefer no middle ground. In the clear waters I fish, Perch or a 'clear/glass’ perch works over darker bottoms, Ayu works in the sun over sand, and when the fish are truly suspending, I use a glass minnow, smelt type deal. So that kind of simplifies it a little at least. At times a some flash is a good thing, like chrome or gold in slightly colored water, other times it may not be the best choice, like in yesterday's super gin clear water. I also believe that light level plays a significant role here as well. Brilliant sunshine usually calls for something a little more subtle / toned down, whereas cloudy or overcast days, see me reaching for a darker patterned bait. Give that a try and see what happens. Also when it's colder, like now, think about working your jerkbait like a jig - that slow for real. And if you're not on or very close to the bottom with your jerkbait in spots where the fish are, you may continue to struggle to get jerkbait bites. Hope that helps btw - you may see this again. 12poundbass ~ Sounds like I need to purchase some weighted strips. Do you weight your deep diving jerkbaits, or just weight the suspending jerks? A-Jay ~ I weight down the deep divers and the 'silent' baits. The silent baits I do just to make them cast better. Without the 'rattle' which is often also a weight transfer system that makes a huge difference in the way the bait casts, the silent baits out of the box, cast like a potato chip; think Balsa Rapala and the Old Smithwick baits. So I'll add weight - On the shallow / standard runner silent baits, I'll usually put the weight under the nose and on the back under the tail - in front of the tail hook. On any deep bait, silent or not, weight goes on like the clown bait in the video - some in front & some in back. Make a big difference. Suspend strips need to go on a clean dry bait only. SO right out of the package, wipe with alcohol swipe, let it dry and I'll even add a drop of some type of super glue before placing the strip on. There's a real 'Art' to selecting how much weight to put on what bait - my advice is to start with one strip or dot and go from there. Partial strips work when needed to 'fine tune' a bait. Finally, I usually do not make much of an attempt to ensure that the bait sits level at rest. Ensuring that I can get it away from the boat and have it run Deep, seems to be more important to the brown bass. Either way, all things being equal, too heavy is better than too light. Good Luck

Chatterbait trailer: razor shadz vs zako Before I ever bought a Zako and while I was still in the earliest stages of my own Vibrating Jig R & D, I was hanging the Razor Shaz on many of the vibrating jigs I threw. I caught some bass with them. As for durability ~ Like most anything formed out of the ElaZtech material, these things are virtually indestructible. Without any extra effort, I bet I could get 1/2 a season out of just 1 trailer. Additionally these baits Float, so I think that has some 'effect' on how the bait as a whole performs, not exactly sure how though. And if I was a so inclined to need to skip a V-Jig, something I do not do a whole lot of, I'd reach for the Razor Shadz as my trailer every time. Fast forward to this past & current season; I am a stout Zako disciple. Whatever it is about this trailer, the profile, the secret Yamamoto magic somehow injected deep with in the bait, whatever - these things have been lights out. Clearly doesn't last any where near as long as the ElaZtech material - but one Zako can and often does last through several bass for me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than That ~ Now, you can do anything . . . A-Jay

Thanks J ~ Ankle weights have been a staple in my training for a while and will no doubt continue to be. After a while I forget I'm wearing them. IMO they provide benefits in balance, hip & core strength & surefooted-ness during the rest of my day. Makes me feel 'light on my feet'. I like that. A-Jay

Nice Bass ~ ! New PB's are Always a good time Congrats A-Jay

The Michigan Brown Bass I'm feeding these bait to are often gagging up Yellow Perch, crayfish and little pumpkinseed. So if that's what they want, that's what I give them. Yes it's the Baby Menace and that paddletail is unfortunately no longer in production. It's a little Berkley Powerbait deal they stopped making a while a go; I have a couple of bags left. However, my replacement swim jig boot tail trailer at this size is the Reaction Innovations Little Dipper. Hope that helps A-Jay

Just in case ~ A-Jay

Sweet Rig my friend ~ Congrats ! A-Jay

A-Jay

In the two and a half years plus that this thread has been running here, this is the 115th workout video added. Doesn't represent every one completed during that time, but a decent chunk anyway. Thank You for allowing me to keep myself motivated. And just like that, it was over. #borninfiftynine #fitforlife A-Jay

Looks like some of them were - re-painted. I'm going with Hellbender, River Runt, Bass-o-reno, MudBug, & Flatfish. That's all I got. I didn't look them up, just spit balling. A-Jay

Berkley Power Bait Beast ~ A-Jay