Team9nine

In case you haven't found this yet: Lake Map

Sunline Tornado HH knot - for fluorocarbon, possibly…

Buck Perry always said you need to be in the right place, at the right time, and fishing in the right manner to consistently be successful. But, as the old saying goes, even a “broken clock is right twice a day.” Congrats to the old man for the perfect alignment of those factors, even if just “lucky.” But what I really want to know is whether he was using straight braid, braid with a leader, or straight fluorocarbon with his spinnerbait? ? Lol We so overcomplicate this sport…

A couple hours north of there, but have friends in the area. Bluegrass F&W area is worth looking into just NE of the city. Lots of old strip mine pits to investigate, also. Then there is the Ohio R, but that stretch isn’t great.

Last night's storms dumped another inch and a half of rain in my area, so I was really interested to see how the ponds fared. I walked to the closest one to find out, and was surprised when I saw that water level and clarity really hadn't changed that much. That gives you an idea of just how dry we have been. We were post frontal with clearing skies and 20 mph gusts, so I started on the windblown side with a bladed jig (per @The Bassman's report) just to see what would happen...and the short answer was "nothing" - lol. So halfway around I changed back to a customized finesse jig and was able to pick off a few fish, including this four and a half plus bass. I ended on that nice fish, but plan on checking a few other spots in the area over the next few days to see if any of them stained up at all.

Been waiting on some rain to inject a burst of fresh water into the local ponds. Well, we finally got a decent storm last night that dropped a quarter inch on us, so had to check things out this afternoon. Started slow, losing a fish on my first cast, then not getting anything halfway around the pond. But then they either turned on, or I figured something out, as I was able to land about 20 bass in short order, which made for a very fun outing. More storms threatening as I type this, plus potential severe weather overnight, so might improve things even more by tomorrow

Made a few trips from the bank over the weekend. Switched things up and hit a local pond right around sunset Fri and Sat. Good topwater bite Friday, but very slow Sat for some reason. High of 91 today, but went back to my usual midday fishing schedule and found the drop shot bite going again. Nothing terribly big on any of the trips, but the fish are strong and healthy, and I've even backed off the drag a bunch and just had fun letting them try and pull me around (L spinning). Pretty happy now that I seem to have the drop shot setup dialed in to my liking, also.

Does look like that is the case…but why is your scale reversed and the depth showing 7 ft? Keep a jigging spoon handy to drop down and snag stuff you see on your finder to start learning and associating ‘what you see’ with ‘what it is.’ Weeds usually pull up easily allowing for specific identification.

Just the opposite for me. I tourney fished for nearly 25 years, and probably used baitcasters 95 percent of that time. Now days, I’m probably 80 percent spinning, especially if you include all the multi-species stuff in addition to bass. Yeah, you can go the BFS route, but that’s like fly fishing to me. Glad to hear your attitude is going to improve though ? jk

Even if you're not prepared to go in after them, sometimes, you just have to...

Good point. Maybe one of our physics specialists can chime with what we’re missing. I still lean toward their data being correct because of how well it matches up with the Sunline data, and it just makes sense to me that doubling force would increase the elongation regardless of diameter/area, even if I can’t explain why ?

You read it correctly, but it doesn't correlate that way. It is still a matter of applying double the force. Even though the pound test rating is theoretically doubled (100% increase), the force applied was doubled (100% increase), but the line diameter, when comparing the 14 and 30 pound lines (.016" to .022"), is only increased by about 38 percent, so the relationship won't be 1 to 1. If you doubled the line diameter (.016 to .032 in dia.) and doubled the force applied (5 lb to 10 lb), then you would probably see something much closer to what you were expecting (more similar stretch amounts).

That’s actually one of the nice corroborating data points from this study. If you compare this study using 14 lb XT (‘light mono’) with the Sunline produced study of 14 lb FC Sniper, elongation at knot break strength is practically identical at roughly 16% (Sunline ‘all knots’ average).

I wasn’t going to either, but… ? It’s actually a pretty nice set of data with a few interesting findings worth pondering.

In their testing, the heavy mono was subjected to double the force of the light mono, so that would be expected. When they locked down the drag, the light mono stretched 16 percent before breaking.

Dropshot from the bank isn't a fluke. Another good afternoon on the water, but going to tweak my setup just a bit as I had another good fish that I really couldn't do anything with before he got a chance to wrap me on something and finally pull off. Kinda' comes with the territory when bank fishing though, especially with 6 lb. test - lol.

The really clear pond I last fished a couple days ago is still fresh in my mind. So when I stumbled upon a package of my old favorite dropshot/split shot worms sitting in the garage, the light bulb went off - I had never tried dropshotting any of these ponds. So I rerigged my only dedicated DS rod with some 6 lb. test, found all my old DS terminal tackle, and made a quick (1 hr) trip this evening just to test this idea out while the water is still really clear (rain in forecast all weekend). First cast produced a bass Second cast produced a bass Long story short...Twelve bass fishing a 125 ft. stretch of bank in 60 minutes from what has been a very stingy pond. Now I've got my fingers crossed that one of the two really clear ponds stays that way through the weekend rain. What a blast!

I run a 16.5 ft Deep V with tiller motor and transom trolling motor, and do most all of my fishing from that back position. This allows me to have FFS, GPS, DI/SI/2D/HD “live” mapping all on a single unit and not have to sacrifice any one feature for another - best of all worlds for me ? In your case, it might come down to how you prefer to fish (offshore vs bank), what species you chase (only bass?) and how familiar you are with the waters you frequent. Each function has its benefits. If you already know the lake like ‘the back of your hand,’ FFS becomes more valuable IMO.

Pretty stable weather and water conditions over the weekend. Saturday was a trip to a "stingy" pond, the one I tend to fish most and that gets some other regular pressure. Was able to swing on 8 or 9 fish there, and they all looked healthy. Monday was a return visit to the pond I hadn't fished in several months. The bite was still good, and a pass and a half yielded 23 bass, though nothing of too great a size. Lots of healthy adult fish though that bodes well for the ponds future. Tuesday was a visit to another pond I hadn't fished in several months. Was expecting similar conditions to the previously mentioned pond (stained water, treated weeds), but was surprised when I walked up to see very clear water, and decent weed growth beyond the drop-off, though the shallows look like they had been treated. I hadn't brought the finesse gear, but still managed 9 bass and a bonus channel cat for my efforts. Fish were strong and healthy, and I'll either wait to return when the wind and clouds are in, or bring the finesse outfit instead.

For me, the original Shimano Bantam Castaic, CA-200…that thumb bar/flipping switch (“INSTAGAGE”) was the greatest. Down to my last one.

The metal and emotional attraction is strong with this one...

Doesn’t usually affect the fish, but can make presenting a bait to fish difficult at times. You often have to make short and specific casts or pitches. Or, wind will sometimes pile it up on downwind banks where you can fish weedless baits like frogs over these larger mats. The other weeds you mention might be a type of coontail which doesn’t really have roots, so it can move around a bit depending on weather (wind, rain).

What you may be seeing are actually algae mats that rise off the bottom, mostly on sunny days due to oxygen production which “floats” them. On cloudy or rainy days, or at night, a lot of these mats end up sinking back down since they are no longer producing the trapped bubbles that caused them to rise initially. If so, this is very common in ponds, but will vary from pond to pond depending on amount and type of algae growth, treatments, etc.

What you have pictured will work fine, as will several other similar styled hooks mentioned by others. As long as the hook point can be positioned before the end of the bait, you’re good. I’ve caught plenty using the VMC Rugby Finesse jig head, which is along that same line. Also, don’t worry about original in this case, as “originalists” would never use that type hook regardless of size ?

Visited a pond I haven't fished in several months, and it turns out it was a good decision. Fish were aggressive, picking off around 20 in just a couple hours, all on finesse jigs. Best fish of the day was this greenie pushing the 5 lb. mark, but I also had another possibly big(ger) fish (never saw it) in the exact same spot as this one that tore off about 20'-30' feet of line against a looser drag before just coming unbuttoned. Needless to say, I'll retool and let the pond rest over the weekend, but I'll be revisiting it at the start of next week