A-Jay

Don't know how long it will last, but as of right now when it's right, it's as good as it gets. A-Jay

Yup ~ No clue why. But the 'fuzzier', the better. A-Jay

Ned has his moments A-Jay

First, release the mechanism that holds the coupler onto the ball. It may be a lever or a knob that has to be turned. Some require a dual action move where you would push back or forward on the lever while lifting up on it. If you have done this and it seems to be stuck then it is most likely a binding issue. You can try moving the tow vehicle and trailer forward or backward to release the tension between the ball and coupler. Binding can occur if the trailer and tow vehicle are not on level ground or when the tow vehicle is level and the trailer is not (or the other way around). Using the trailer jack may also help. If there is too much weight still on the ball, it may not release. Raising the jack may free it. Make sure the coupler is compatible with the ball size you have. The compatible ball sizes are usually stamped into the metal of the coupler on the top. The same goes for the ball (once you can see it). When the coupler releases from the ball, make sure there is no dirt and corrosion on the ball and in the coupler ball cavity. You can lubricate the ball using grease. If none of that helps - might be time for a big hammer. A-Jay

We don't know them all but we owe them all. A-Jay

Giants on swimbaits you say ? Past few years the swimbait bite on Lake Baccarac in Mexico has been stellar ~ Numbers of giants including 7's, 8's, 9's, 10's, 11's & a 12 lb Beast, have been caught. We stay at Lake Baccarac Lodge which is IMO the Best in Bass. Here's some more info as well as posts, Pics & a bit of video from the past two trips. When it comes to Big Bass - This place is completely Un-Real ! A-Jay

Thanks ~ I did not. But if you'd like to supply me with a few, I'll fish them. While it does seem to be an effective swimbait, when that was. The deal, the ones I fish were as well. A-Jay

I'm going with Uncle Buck's Bucktail Skirt Buzzer ~ A-Jay

A-Jay

Great Bass ~ Congrats on the new Personal Best They are Always a Beautiful Thing. And so is Karma . . . A-Jay

For information regarding local topics - Michiana Outdoors News covers it for me. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRO8qi6_i2gBl1Nhbf2rypg And there's certainly a boat load of excellent info here ~ https://www.youtube.com/user/BassResource A-Jay

And I get very close to the camera which has a super wide angle lens. Really helps the viewer to get a clear look at those weights on the scale. A-Jay

I can't blame you, I'm just as disappointed. Especially since I have a few killer ones, just nevergot around to throwing them. A-Jay

Used a Ned Rig in May with water temps in the mid 40's to bag this tank . . . A-Jay

@Mrloomis The Shoreland'r galvanized trailer I purchased with my rig in 2016 was at the time definitely an upgrade both in quality and in price. It's model LUB29CBLWTMH The stock painted trailer offered would have already needed repainting, however mine is still looking very good. I would recommend the galvanized model for quality, durability & longevity. I will say that I did recently change out the stock carpeted bunks that came with this trailer with the Ultimate Bunk Boards. It's a Huge Improvement over the stock model ! More info here . . Good Luck with your decision & pending future purchase. A-Jay

A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

I can certainly relate ~ And Yes, I do actually own a flippin stick, but my addiction to hunt brown bass seems to rarely have me in water where I need the thing. Maybe I'll start using it as a push pole just to get my money's worth . . . And 6th Sense makes several quality fish catching baits. Casey Sobczak's 6th Sense brand has evolved into the highly reputable fishing tackle supplier. Thanks for sharing Have a safe winter Sir. A-Jay

So that's where it went ~ We need to find this guy ASAP ! A-Jay

Thanks @MickD. I've had decent results slow crawling them on or near the bottom. Get a fair number of walleye doing it do (cue the hot fat!) And if it's sand (especially coming up a slope or point) actually slow grinding the bait up the slope through the sand has been a real winner. Fat brown bass seem to take great pride in slurping that bugger right off the bottom. A little hard to feel the bite at first but the bait will get heavy, just stop or my favorite - go weight-less. Boom. I was doing it here ~ A-Jay

With what can only be described as a surprisingly early end to this year’s late open water season, it’s time once again to look back at the baits that were most productive. As my quest for bigger brown bass rarely changes, how & where I did it this year, certainly did. While I did fish many of my ‘old favorites’, there were a few very notable additions that bare mentioning. Please feel free to share your own list of baits to this thread as the mood strikes you. (and I like pictures) This time around I’m going to go through them in the order that I fished them throughout the season. Open water was available for me the third week of April this year and as usual, I was on the water the afternoon the ice went out. Baits that produced for me were: 3.8”, 4.3” and 4.8" Keitech Swing Impact Fat Swimbait in Ayu and Perch as well as the 3.75” and the 4.75” SK Rage Swimmer also in AYU and KVD Magic. As sort of a mid-line finesse deal, I presented these on or near the bottom with medium spinning gear 10lb braid and an 8lb or 10lb FC leader. My jighead of choice here was the Keitech Tungsten Super Round Jighead ¼ oz that sports a quality 3/0 hook. My Jerkbait addiction hasn’t waned and while I threw a few different makes & models, the Megabass Vision 110 and the 110 plus 1 both in GP Pro Perch as well as the SK KVD 300 and 300 Deep also Ayu & Perch did quite a bit of damage for me again this season; both early & later in the year. Honorable mention goes to the LUCKY CRAFT Slender Pointer 127MR; an older model ‘real skin’ brown trout pattern. The Hair jig is usually a deadly early season approach. For me this do-nothing presentation seems to produce best in calmer conditions with super clear shallower to mid-depth waters. I only fish one, the Outkast Tackle Feider Fly Marabou Jig in 1/8 oz ~ black or brown. Then there’s the Ned Rig. This one has almost replaced my hair jig fishing – almost. I’ve only been fishing it a couple of seasons, but there’s no denying it effectiveness. Last year I fished the 2.75” Z-Man Finesse TRD almost exclusively. And while I got bit, there were a ton of smaller fish included with a few of what I was looking to target. So this season I fished the 4” Z-Man Big TRD exclusively. The first Brown bass with this one in May was a goby turd shy of 7lbs. So it was hard to put down after that. Green Pumpkin only and on a 1/8 oz Owner Block Head Jig Head that has a solid 1/0 hook. Did some early & mid-season cranking this time around most of which happens in the 7-12 ft zone. The Spro Mike McClelland Rock Crawler 55 Crankbait in Red Crawfish & Phantom Brown were once again getting choked. Honorable mention must also go to the 6th Sense Crush Flat X75 in Baby Bluegill; solid producer in areas of less than 7-8 feet for me. The vibrating jig ~ I employed this one early & often. And although the late season bite I got on in 2018 never really materialized, the April & May bite was on fire ! A 3/8 oz & a ½ oz Z-Man Evergreen Jackhammer in green pumpkin and B-Hite Delight patterns were making it happen. I use the Yamamoto Zako trailer in green pumpkin and green pumpkin pearl mostly. A SK Rage Bug gets rotated in here routinely as well. This is one of my favorite bites any time & every time I can get on it. And how about the swinghead ? I have this one rigged & ready every trip it seems. ½ & ¾ oz covers it all for me. There’s a ton of them out there but I’ve narrowed my preference down to two basic deals. A tungsten football style that I use for deeper area and a Lead head model for just about everything else. I like to be able to choose & change my hook as needed and both of these accommodate that ability. The deeper bait starts with the RPE Tackle Tungsten Swinging Football Jig which is sold in bulk and comes without a hook. This one features a rather unique rigging deal that takes a little getting used to but offers everything I need. Note: I do add a #2 Owner Oval Split Ring to the front (line tie) of this rig to prevent the tungsten head from moving forward and wearing away at the knot (a simple & effective fix). The other head I really like starts with the Freedom Tackle Stealth Swim Jig – I am just using the head here. With the line tie on the front this one slides nicely along the bottom and fairly easily through whatever medium to light cover may be there. I will fish three trailers: a SK Rage Bug (Green Pumpkin), a 4.75” SK Rage Swimmer (Ayu) and the newest deal, the Rage Tail Eeliminator (also Green Pumpkin). These are Texas rigged onto one of two 4/0 hooks. The regular wire Gamakatsu EWG or the Owner Wide Gap Plus Black Chrome. As the waters warmed and post spawn moved into more of a summer deal the drop shot rig made its annual appearance. I fish this more out of necessity than desire or favor. Truth be told – I’m not a big fan. They are about the only way to get bit sometimes so . . . . I don’t do anything special or even interesting here – I’m usually drop shot fishing in at least 20 ft (often much deeper) with 3/8 to ½ oz tungsten D/S weight, a 1/0 or 2/0 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens TGW Drop Shot hook or a Gamakatsu G-Finesse Worm Light Hook w/ Tin with one several D/S baits; - 4” or 5” Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Caffeine Shad, A custom hand poured goby bait by Paul Krew, or a 5” Reins Bubbling Shaker Worm. Plan on doing more with a Neko rig next year. And then we moved into topwater time, all of which for me is done in totally open water over shallow to mid depth flats. I fish two styles mostly; a walker & a popper. My walking bait needs were covered by a few baits. As I prefer the larger sizes here, the 4.5” 7/8 oz SK Sexy Dawg, the 5” ¾ oz River2Sea Rover and the 4.75” ¾ oz Reaction Innovations Vixen. In each I lean toward more of the shad or natural patterns. With each of these I am hoping to reproduce the wild success I had with The Repoman, before a Pike stole it. Results have been close but not complete. Honorable mention here goes to the Megabass Dog-X Diamante which has several awesome patterns but the sound seems a bit ‘off’. My Popper needs are amply filled by one bait and one bait only. The Megabass Pop Max in Perch has been flat out killer for me accounting for several very memorable smallmouth catches. Love this one. Did some say Umbrella Rig ? While I’ve had some fantastic catches with it, over this past season I’ve developed a bit of a love / hate relationship with the thing. Does it catch fatties ? It certainly does but I’ve also fallen victim to losing big bass as a result of the bait ‘failing’. Until recently my rig of choice has been the short arm Strike King Tour Grade Titanium Umbrella Rig. However this summer I lost ‘several’ would be picture fish, when the titanium arms broke off during the fight – grrrrr. Not a fan. So I tried the Strike King Tour Grade Bladed Titanium Umbrella Rig with the blades – seems a bit heavier – NOPE. Same deal – big bass busting that stuff all over the lake. So I’m currently looking for a viable replacement. Like the rig to be able to ‘flex’ during the retrieve – but not when it cost me fish. Been trying an offering by Hog Farmer – no doubt stout but might be too much so – more to follow on this one. BTW – I use VMC Boxer heads – 1/8 & ¼ oz with 3.8 or 4.3 Impact Fat swimbaits. Similar sized SK Rage swimmers work as well – AYU. Right about the same time the umbrella rig bite comes on, Spinnerbait action picks up. I am usually presenting these in light to moderate cover near the top of the water column over shallow to mid depth flats. The ½ oz SK Burner and the ½ oz & ¾ oz Biovex Stangun single & Double Willow bladed baits are a staple for me here. I like a SK Blade minnow trailer with no trailer hook as well. Interestingly enough, I didn’t do much shallow cranking through the summer and into the fall like I often do. SK Red Eye Shad (2 Tap) is usually my bait as well as a 1.5 & a 2.5 SK Squarebill – Brown Craw & Orange Bream are usually hot for me. As the air & water temps start to cool and head towards turnover and eventually go through it, my blade bait action begins to pick up. There’s a lot to choose from here but I try to keep it simple (relative term). A ½, 5/8 & ¾ oz Silver Buddy has been good for me – gold on cloudy days; but I like fishing in the sun better. Something I’ve mentioned (perhaps ad nauseam, sorry) is fishing a rattle bait in cool to colder water deals like a blade bait, can be very effective. While many bait makes & models will and do work, I really like the ¾ oz Duo Realis G-Fix Vibration Tungsten Lipless Crankbait. The Ghost Gill and the newer Tule Perch ND are two fan favorite patterns. Think about it. Lastly – Treble hooks – I change them. All my topwater, jerk, rattle, square & crankbaits, even blade baits & spybaits (not mentioned above) all get aftermarket trebles. And topwater baits that have feathers, also get changed out, I just tie up my own. (So easy, even an A-Jay can do it) Mustad KVD 1x Strong 2x Short Triple Grip Treble Hook, Gamakatsu EWG Treble Short Shank Magic Eye and Owner Short Shank Treble Hook ST-35 all adorn my baits. Especially like that Owner ST-35 (Not for a tail hook though) as it features 150-degree Premium Point Position design, which splits two hook points out 150-degrees versus the typical 120-degrees between all three points. This allows the hook points to be positioned slightly farther out from your bait and help increase your hook up percentage. Opening the gap to 150-degrees also minimizes damage to your bait from the hook points, while keeping the hook points sharper over time as well. Note: Owner Stinger ST-35 Short Shank Treble Hooks are designed to be used with baits that have the hook hanger in line with the length of the bait. These will not hang correctly on lures that feature any hook hanger that is perpendicular to the length of the lure – some of the offerings from Megabass for instance. Had to include that because as great as these trebles are – they do not work in the situation described. Any & all questionable split rings are traded out for Owner Hyper wires. (including Line ties) In conclusion – I can openly admit that there are a few glaring omissions from this list ~ Namely, Jigs, Swim jigs, Stick baits, Tubes, Deep Cranks, Hard Swimbaits, Glide baits and any type of frog. There’s probably a few more I’m missing too but I am pretty certain that I can count the number of times I threw any of these in 2019 on one hand – which is probably a mistake. May need to address that in 2020. Either way, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. A-Jay (below are previous editions of this same theme)

Me too - Especially since this was the deal on 28 Nov a couple of years ago ! Every season's different ~ "Wait til next year . . . " A-Jay

Awesome ~ ? A-Jay

Un-Real ~ I am going to step way out on a limb here and call that one a Personal Best. #whataretheodds A-Jay

I use and am happy with Graph Glass - https://graphglass.com/ I did an install video here A-Jay