Team9nine

Maybe it's just me, but I'm always entertained by the "it can't hurt" opinion. If bass have this enhanced sense of smell that they utilize, then it makes sense that they absolutely know what a natural bluegill, shad, crawfish, etc., in their waters smells like, and that probably varies by literally every waterbody. Why would you think then, that a bass can't tell that whatever scent concoction you just smeared all over your lure isn't the real thing that they smell every single day? If they choose not to bite your lure because it doesn't smell natural, how would you know (that it "didn't hurt")? If everyone is using that scent product, and a bass gets caught while using it, why wouldn't some of those bass eventually learn to avoid other "food items" (i.e., lures) in the future that smelled that same way? Obviously, I'm not a scent believer and haven't used it in something like 30 years - lol - Just curious...

Standing timber? ...would be my first guess, even if below the waterline.

Big fan of the Slider. Way more ‘revolutionary’ than anyone in the sport gives it credit for. Charlie had 3 retrieve techniques, though he said everyone would develop their own tweaks and styles. The 3 were Steady “do nothing,” “Pull ‘n drop,” and “Polishing the rocks.” Slow, steady do nothing is my most used. Spider Slider is favorite head, though I’ve picked up a bunch of other styles to fish with more this year. Pretty much use the same gear as I do with Ned and Shakey, with outfits ranging from 6-7 ft, and mostly braid based with various leaders. Did buy a 50th Anniversary glass rod to play with this year, also.

My parents moved to the Lake Barkley area down near Cadiz, KY. Kept boat on water at one of the many marinas. Had LBL and State resort to visit close by, and still within easy driving distance of most Gulf states and the SE US. Still get all 4 seasons, but “winter weather” usually only lasts a couple days, and big lakes rarely freeze except in the worst winters.

DT-6 and DT-10 are pretty similar, but the 6 is the more subtler of the two - a less agressive lip.

Not similar at all, IMO. DT-4 is a great river/murky water bait. Nice roll and flash to it, and a good vibration. Had some big cats eat it, too. DT-6 is more subtle with a much thinner/narrower lip.

Yes- much more subtle than a DT-4, IMO, and casts better than a Shad Rap, though Raps are great cold weather baits, too.

Sounds like you just need a good trip or two where everything clicks, you catch some fish, and get over this mental hurdle. You don’t have to cast far to catch fish. You can sight fish and catch them darn near at your feet at times, or within a short underhand pitch a lot. If hangs are an issue, start with small top waters or wake baits that stay above that stuff. After you catch a few, you’ll develop the confidence to branch out further.

It’s a trade-off, but I crank around enough cover on my waters that I have to have some degree of feel before burying my crank in a brushpile. As such, I’ll gladly accept the trade-offs and deal with them as opposed to spending all my time trying to unsnag baits. Once you get the hooks buried past the barb, half the battle has already been won as concerns lost fish.

Ditto - I have two old/original All-Star jig rods (25+ yrs old) that make great cranking sticks. I use them all the time now for Traps and mid-deep cranks since I've upgraded my jig rods to more modern (lighter weight/better balance) stuff

Personally, I’m a big fan of a more moderate-fast action for all scenarios. I have to have a little stiffness in the blank for feedback. I can’t stand some of the limber “noodle type” glass rods that have no real feel to them for this application...ANY application actually ?

I use a 2 step process involving ‘layering’ and ‘notching.’ I typically start with all the strands hanging down, compress them together, then cut them to the length I want my skirt to be. Next step is to sort/split the upper strand half of the skirt from the lower, then compress the upper strands above the head of the bait and trim again (shorter) to create the layers. Final step is to take each half separately again, and holding scissors at a 45-60 degree angle, make little cuts (“notches”) into the end of the skirt segment so that their actual lengths are varied by up to 1/4 of an inch. Do this for both top and bottom halves. Probably easier to demonstrate than describe, but should give you some idea.

Everything is definitely being over complicated IMO. The original shakey heads were simple ballheads with larger hooks to accommodate worms (see pics below). They weren’t standup. They didn’t require floating worms. Nobody even really worried or cared about whether they did or did not stand...and people caught tons of bass on them. Have they been refined and upgraded over the years - yes, but keep in mind a lot of this is marketing. If it gives you confidence - great. Just like the Ned rig, standing up is something people have convinced themselves they need to have - you don’t.

Fun stuff pertaining to the discussion... AOY vs Classic Clunn's Classic Streak Roland Martin

Lots of studies in this area, and as you can imiagine, the best answer is "it depends" because there are so many variables involved. Generally speaking, in your scenario, the first thing a bass would do is go right down to the bottom when released. After a period of time, he'll start moving about again and then likely relocate back to the same general area where he was caught. In the case of nest guarding, males will abandon the nest about 1/3 of the time, and return to the nest in a short period of time and continue to guard the other 2/3 of the time. Females, since they don't tend to the nest and are only there to spawn would likely leave the area to recover before trying to spawn again somewhere nearby. All of this is generalized based on studies, but you can find studies that vary considerably in this regard because of the unique circumstances around each lake and study.

So where is the question??? Did I miss it

KVD never won Megabucks but did have a few Top 10s in the event. There are actually some pretty staggering stats for all the top guys when you really look at them closely.

Clunn won Megabucks once, plus had a 2nd and 3rd place showing in two others.

That alone would have got him disqualified immediately for fishing while the gas engine is running. He wouldn’t win a penny here. Our tourney guys know all the tricks to shut down old men in tin boats from making them look bad ?

Over here, they would have simply passed a “no tiller” rule after he won a couple and carried on fishing without him ? True.

I think the difference lies in our respective definition for “success/successful.” If you limit that to a single circuit and a “more/faster/better” opinion, then you have a point. I define it differently, partly because of your title wording. Lots of fun arguments you could make depending on the angler and the timeline considered. It’s kind of like who is the greatest hitter in baseball - Pete Rose or Ichiro Suzuki?

Never been a fan of scuppernong. Reminds me a lot of motor oil in that I was never a fan of that color either. Believe Tom Mann of Mann's Bait (Jelly Worm) gets the credit for first coming out with the color in his worm lineup. I can track it back to him to at least 1974. Merthiolate - you need to be "older" to remember that, along with Mercurochrome. If you had either put on a scrape or cut as a kid back in the 60s or 70s, then you know where the color name came from and why

Just playing around with the little bit of anecdotal data I could find, it seems like if you increase the line diameter by ~ 50%, you decrease fall rate by about 20%. Likewise, if you decrease bait weight by half, you slow fall speed by about 20%. As such, you could theoretically play around with the numbers to find and match two totally different setups to get them to fall the same.

Still respectully diasagree Clunn has Bassmaster wins in 5 consecutive decades Clunn is a member of the Century Club, KVD is not Clunn won Megabucks and had 2 other Top 3 finishes, KVD never won that event Clunn qualified for 32 consecutive Classics; no one else is close Clunn won 2 U.S. Open titles, don't think KVD even fished one Clunn won the BFL All-American Clunn won 3 times on the FLW circuit, Kevin didn't have a win on that circuit (though he did add an AOY) Clunn also won at the Open level; not sure KVD ever fished one Dominance is hard to tease out, though you could pull Rick's best time frame at his peak with Kevin's and get an idea. That is also why I threw Bill Dance's name into the hat - he had a very dominant streak in BASS. But Clunn simply has a more impressive win profile when looked at across all professional fishing tours/events, and not just a single one (Bassmaster). Perhaps if you changed the title of your thread, maybe to "greatest B.A.S.S. tournament angler," I might have a different opinion - lol. But Clunn is simply the "greatest tournament angler ever" IMHO.

Clunn, no doubt, but KVD is a very close 2nd. Clunn just has a much more expansive and well-rounded winners resume. Then you have Roland and Larry, plus Bill Dance falls in the list of older anglers. Newer, Wheeler and J Lee have earned the right to be in the discussion already.