Team9nine

You can, and obviously some will work better than others. I've caught lots of bass doing it with just my mushroom heads I Ned rig with. Specialized heads are set up for a variety of reasons such as weedless, hook gap, line tie angle, etc. All offer certain benefits but no one head does absolutely everything well, so play around and get a feel for it. You'll realize at some point it might benefit you to go more specialized if you really get into the technique.

If you only knew...LOL

These days, what most consider the "when all else fails" option is my number one choice all the time. For me, that's Ned, Sliders or jighead wacky finesse on a ML spinning outfit. Spent a couple hours each of the past three days rotating around some ponds under blue sky, post frontal conditions with E/NE 10 mph winds and highs in the 70s. Totaled 75-80 bass from the bank. Why wait until all else fails when you can be catching bass all the time regardless?

About 60 bass in the past two days from a couple different ponds in the area. Post frontal cool weather seems to have helped the bite, along with the cooler water temps from the accompanying rain. Everything on Ned rig using the newest outfit. The YGK SS112 continues to impress and has been flawless when combined with a Stren leader.

Agree 100%. In my state, I can buy a special “Antique” license plate for “historical” vehicles that are at least 25 years old. Just buy the d**n reel ?

To a large degree, I’d argue this is true. It’s not the entire story though as they do have the ability to mix multiple different polymers and resins to alter specific properties.

No, there isn’t. Stop buying more. You’ve wasted enough money already ?

I always go direct on Pop-Rs, but like a light snap or split ring with Spooks

Agree with most all above. I like having them on a lot of the baits, but they don’t work great with everything. Trial and error.

If you try a spool, report back. I’m not much for change, but have been impressed with this line so far.

I agree on the thinness. Currently using it for Finesse obviously, having used Ned’s, Shaky and Sliders with it. Very supple and well handling. Good casting. Quiet. Tight weave. Like the yellow color. Holds an FG knot well, no end frizzing, so I imagine it would work fine for dropshot with an appropriate leader material. Only have the 14# test which is normally heavier than I like, but TW also sells 10#. No real downsides that I’ve seen yet other than it seems to prefer modern spool technology (got a few wind knots first time out on a traditional wide spinning reel (Cabela’s Fish Eagle). No knots yet on my Daiwa or Lews.

One I have just started playing with that shows promise is YGK G-Soul SS112. It is an 8 carrier braid, but 4 of those are PE superline and 4 are mono esthers. This combination gets the specific gravity to 1.12, thereby making it a sinking braided line. I like what I’ve seen so far with several trips on the water to date.

Don’t think anything has changed. Still a long shanked Aberdeen, gold or bronze, and small in size. The long shank, sometimes even referred to specifically as a “cricket hook,” I believe was to help prevent a bluegill from swallowing the hook to the point where you can’t easily remove it from the fish. Long shanks usually leave some part near the eye to grab onto outside the mouth.

Always...same on buzzbaits. It increases your hookup percentage when done right.

Unfortunately, I didn’t capture pics of the reject baits, and it’s been long enough that I can’t remember exactly. Might have to do a 2019 version and see if results stay the same.

Spotted these giant fungi while hiking to a pond today...

Attack of the leeches, a common occurrence in several of the ponds I've fished over the years. Spotted this one today on a smaller bass I caught. It's Myzobdella lugubris, and there are even a few good published papers researching the link between largemouth bass and this parasitic leech.

Found more pics from a series of tests I did a couple summers back. Here's the deets on this one: Jump into my buddies boat after work and fish for about 2.5 hours on the home lake. I only bring one rod and reel, but two Plano flat boxes. One of those boxes is completely empty, the other is filled with crankbaits, mostly shallow runners and squarebills. Here's the test. I fish from the back of the boat (used water). I only use the one outfit the entire time, spooled with 10lb. line and using a snap tied to the line to facilitate quick lure changes. Pick one crankbait to start with from the full box and fish it until I catch a bass, any size. After catching a bass on the bait, immediately remove that bait from the snap and place it into the empty box. Reach back into the main crankbait box and grab another (different) bait to try and catch another bass. Repeat. I use multiple same baits from the same manufacturer (for instance, several different Bandit 100s), so long as I use a different color pattern every time and don't repeat any one color pattern. I can also use multiple similar color patterns (for instance, several different firetiger colored baits), so long as they are from different manufacturers and not duplicated. When all was said and done, I managed 25 bass on 25 different baits from at least 7 different manufacturers, both rattling and silent, from 1/2 oz down to under 1/4 oz, wide wobble, tight wobble and everything inbetween (pictured below). I did actually have 2 baits I tried that I couldn't get bit on quickly, so I "passed" on them and changed out after a bit. Again, meaningless in one sense, but really fun and always interesting trying something different out on the water. Bass are easy to catch, so the off-the-wall testing keeps the interest. So do we really need a hundred different crankbaits if bass will bite most all of them pretty readily on any given day? Is it more a case of if they're biting cranks, any crank will likely do, or do you fall into the category of needing specific sizes, colors, wobbles, etc. for certain waters and certain times of the year, or in certain clarities?

Good afternoon with some nice multispecies action for my buddy and I...

Exactly, hence my first response in this thread back on page 1...

River2Sea makes a dragonfly popper, seems more like a Jitterbug type lip, if you can find it. Good review of it on TT.

A lot of baits definitely present differently on nylon/FC compared to braid; even between FC and nylon to some degree....sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and sometimes no difference at all (vs. bites). Very overlooked concept.

Oh yes it is...? I would have changed a long time ago. I hate low spool levels. Like a lot of guys, I use cheap backing line on the spool and then just top off completely with whatever new line I’m using, usually 75-80 yds. When the spool starts getting low, just pull off line to the connecting knot, cut and splice on the new line, then fill the spool up. Pretty simple and straightforward once you have it set up, and saves money since you're not refilling the entire spool every time.