Team9nine

There’s a grain of truth in that statement, which is just to say, that particular color worked everywhere ? ? ….but bluegill are often not the dominant species in bass diets even when available.

I only spool 75-100 yd top shots of fluoro, but don’t lose too much stuff, and not a bait changer, so few reties. I fish ponds and older reservoirs where a lot of the cover is gone. A little riprap, and some treefalls, but otherwise….I throw a lot of spinning gear, too.

A - is weedless EWG Ned B - is like the old Arkie weedless standup jighead. We used things like Hula Grubs and tubes on them. C - is Brewer Slider head for weedless fishing of finesse worms D - is weedless whacky jig head, aka Flick Shake for finesse worms.

A bit brutal out there today. Post front skies and a 17 mph wind gusting to 25. Those couple nights of hard freezes took out all the algae and plankton that was starting to grow and give the water some color. It was pretty clear today - too clear for as shallow as it is. I’d guess it (vis) close to double my last trip there, plus it hasn’t had a chance to heat back up. Warmer with heavy cloud cover tomorrow, along with the strong winds might help the bite. Was thinking of trying to get the boat out, but based on how it was gusting and swirling today, predicted to be similar tomorrow, that’s not looking too promising. Only managed a few today, but they had good color in that clear water.

Definitely something to that. One of our state record bass weighing 12-06 came from a small 3-acre cow pond.

About every 3 years, as long as it doesn’t get low on the spool before that. I’ve had some spools go 4 years. It holds up much better than mono.

Have done it so many times over the years. It’s kind of the ultimate goal for Spoonpluggers. The lake and its bass population can make a big difference, and it doesn’t seem quite as common as it once was, but still happens enough times to keep things interesting.

Finally sat down and organized the 350+ Ned heads I had hanging around in a variety of places, many that I had picked up over last year and this winter. Even have room for a few more in that little Plano 3600 ?

Closest production rod might be this one from B&M. It’s a jigger pole, but could probably double as as a tule dippin’ rod.

That’s the goal - it makes you end up buying everything, preferably from their direct links so they get a cut ? If you really want to keep it simple, think in terms of shape. On any given day, fish might prefer short and bulky (jig), or long and thin (shakyhead). So you carry and throw both to determine a preference. In the beginning, don’t get all wrapped up in the tiny details of this jig over that jig. That will come soon enough with enough experience ? Personally, I throw compact ‘finesse’ jigs way more than I do “big” jigs and trailers.

For me, better sensitivity without sacrificing the elasticity of mono/copoly, or having to adjust rod action/power because of using braid…plus I can buy larger bulk spools and save money since I use the same line type for most all applications.

Straight fluorocarbon, InvizX or Tatsu; pound test depends on depth/style, but usually 12 (deep) or 15 (shallow-mid) pound.

Shouldn’t be a problem. Might have enough on there to fill 3 or 4 smaller sized reels. Preferences vary, but you’ll only need 75-100 yds to fill each smaller reel. I usually prefer a little more braid for filling reels (compared to mono/fluoro top shots) to bury the connecting knot well, though I’ve started using a wrap of tape to do this with shorter lengths and it seems to be working well.

30 years ago, I threw them pretty regularly. They were a Carolina-rig staple; pumpkinseed and pumpkin-chartreuse tail. I also pitched and flipped lizards quite a bit in darker colors around emergent vegetation. The only brand I ever bought was Zoom. But if I’ve picked up a lizard more than a handful of times over the last 20 years, I’d be surprised. I will toss the Zoom mini lizard on a Ned setup in spring in murky water, but that's about it.

Back in the 90s when I threw spinnerbaits a lot, Stanley made 3 great non-traditional colors that I used to catch a bunch of fish on. One was Red Perch, one was Baby Bass, and the third I just called Bluegill, though I don’t believe that was its official name. Kind of pale blue green chartreuse combo that was my favorite of the three. I’ve never really seen anyone make something close to that since, but I’d have to believe it would still be a solid option these days in bluegill forage lakes.

Screenshots from an online YT video showing different sp’baits; 2 running “correctly” and 2 not. Notice the upper blade arm wire angle is practically identical in all 4 shots, as is the lower wire. The difference is poor design angle when molding that connection under the lead head, IMO.

Pretty much this… Base your specifics on the waters you fish and just go catch some ?

I believe it’s a design flaw made worse by the snap. It has to do with the angle that the hook and the wire arm were positioned in at their connection before being imbedded in the lead head. As @WRB alluded to, the natural running position of a twin blade spinnerbait is as shown in your photo - a slight approx 10-15 deg. rise above dead flat (parallel) due to resistance and drag on the upper wire arm. If you hold a spinnerbait in your hand at that running angle, then look at the hook, you’ll see how your bait will appear in the water. Some run “correctly” with the hook near parallel like the blade arm, and some don’t. You can alter this a bit by extra weight, trailers, and wire bending to a degree, but it’s much simpler to just buy one that will run how you like from the get-go. They probably all catch fish, but the mind is a terrible thing - lol

Thx - If and when this weather breaks and we get some warmer temps and a little less wind, I hope to be catching them from the boat, too ? ?

Thought they would be chewing today with the wind and the rain, and they were. Picked off 22 while not getting too drenched, as I waited for the first heavy line of rain to pass before heading out. Nothing 20 minutes in the dryer couldn’t fix. Speaking of fixes, got mine now to get me through the weekend before more seasonal warmer temps arrive next week and I can get back out and swing on ‘em.

Should work, as there are portable ice units, and I’ve seen DIY YT videos for making portable units. Only immediate limitations it seems would be heavy vegetation or similar around or just off the bank that would block the transducer signal. Very steep dropping banks could also create dead zones. Sounds rather fun though. Keep us posted.

What am I missing? 5 units at 7 inches and 1 unit at 5 inches = 6 units, not 8, does it not? Not designed to “fix” anything. It just caps the technology at a set parameter to try and keep everyone on a level playing field, yet still allow some personal flexibility and freedom to allow each angler to customize their setup to their style and strengths - like they cap everything else in the rules in the name of fair competition (16 pages worth of Bassmaster ‘rules’ last I checked. My own thought from your example above is that few anglers would go for more units at the expense of size, because greater size = more detail and easier/enhanced viewing, so you’d inherently see less units on boats, not more.

Didn’t expect much of a bite coming off the cold front, the snow and the hard freeze - and there wasn’t much until I put on some heavy metal. Picked up a dozen, and expecting a better bite tomorrow before the rain moves in…then another crappy few days before we get to a week of warmer weather.

Haven’t tried it yet, but from data I’ve seen, it matches or beats both AbrazX and Red Label in most aspects. I’m loaded down with InvisX and Tatsu, so hoping to see some comparison data there. Looking pretty strong at that price point, though.

GP - because you can always add color, but it’s much harder to take it away. Only thing that would change my mind is if you only fished very clear water all the time.