A-Jay

A-Jay

Heck No. A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

@Senko lover You know why ~ A-Jay

Might want to check that address listed on your submission for accuracy ~ A-Jay

I agree with @fishwizzard you may be more successful approaching this from the opposite direction. Instead of carving up baits with a decent chance of jacking them up, I'd recommend adding weight to baits that run a bit shallower in order to get them down a little bit deeper. Storm SuspenDots & SuspenStrips have been helping anglers effectively sink & suspend baits for a long time. Really does work. Can & does often make an 'average' bait into one of those rare, chipped, scratched & paint stripped off 'treasures' that you'll find yourself reaching for over & over. A-Jay http://www.rapala.com/storm/hard-baits/suspendots-and-suspenstrips/

Either way - you're good. A-Jay

https://megabassusa.com/product/megabass-popmax-topwater/ A-Jay

Someone's gonna get one heck of a sweet boat . . . . . A-Jay

Congrats ~ PB's are always a Blast. btw - you're almost up to one post Per Year. Keep it up ! A-Jay

That's Good Stuff ~ And a great feeling. Congrats A-Jay

Some Goods eats right there ~ Congrats and Good Luck on the next one. A-Jay

It's all good. Best of luck with your re-model. A-Jay

OP seems sort of incomplete - is there more to this ? A-Jay

Gearing up for some epic topwater action ~ A guy can dream can't he ? A-Jay

Here's some recent threads to get you started. If I could offer you one bit of advice - I'd say knowledge provides ability & confidence. Learn as much as you can regarding what you're looking for & doing, well in advance of actually looking & certainly before any purchase. "Learning on the fly' has cost many a good man a ton of $$ & heartache. Good Luck A-Jay

Nice Smallmouth ~ Congrats on the Personal Best. A-Jay

Most of the water in my area is 'clear' - definitely requires a specific type of approach to get bit. This video shows the typical clarity. Sometimes the best move I can make is to go at night. It's a whole different story in the moonless pitch blackness. A-Jay

Up here, it's not like I target other species exactly. It more like just 'being prepared' for other species . . . A-Jay

and I thought Michigan winters were long . . . . . A-Jay

Don't feel bad - That's how I learned it. Doing stuff that doesn't work is another way of 'gaining experience'. A-Jay

Me Too ~ Nice Bass Congrats ~ A-Jay

All kinds of interesting information is this one. I'm going to take a somewhat different approach ~ Very often the way I 'search' for bass is not to look for the fish themselves - at least not directly. What works for me is to try to determine what the bass are eating at that time and where they go to do it. Find the bait and the bass may not be too far away (except for smb which can & will travel a long way for a meal). Suspended bass (especially motionless suspended bass) may not be eating and at the very least may not be very active - so I usually do not fish for them. Unless they are schooling on bait - I'll just wave and go own my way. If I had no idea what the fish were eating - I'd really be looking for a needle in a hay stack, especially on big water. However, knowing which baits they prefer and when, I can seriously narrow down where to start looking. So how can you know, that's part of the learning process as well. Helps when your live well is full of half-digested 'whatever' at the end of the day. Sort of narrows it down. So unless those bass are dining on tree bark - and you have a Strike King Treebark Squarebill - I'd be looking for whatever you believe they the bass are looking for and start fishing there. Sometimes that means fishing a little deeper, but often times (like in the fall) the bait and the bass might not be very deep at all. A-Jay

First I have to say I rarely fish vertical, I'm almost always casting a ways or at the very least 1/2 casting. In open water (meaning clean(er) bottom of sand, small rock or gravel ~ leader length depends on water clarity for me. So Clean bottom, good vis, length up to say 24 inch and that's max usually it's closer to 14. On clean bottom but less vis I go closer to the bottom say 10-12 inches. On bottoms with grass or "whatever weed" as I don't know the name of it but it's like 4-6 inches of PIA weed, I like to be right above it and to account to variances in vegetation length, I use the ewg hook here. I fish it like 'live bait'. Cast it out leave it. Move it a foot or two, leave it. The LESS I do with it, the more I get bit. btw - if there are pike (or tooth equivalent) around, they eat this deal readily and often bit the whole thing off. Bums me out. This is just a basic guide line and if it's windy I use more but in 15 ft or less I use 1/8 to a 1/4 oz. In more than that & for super long casts in the wind I'll go 3/8 to even a 1/2 or more it's a very deep bite and I want to be sure I'm holding bottom and want to get down to the fish quickly. A-Jay