Team9nine

Sparkle Tail - an old Indiana based crankbait originally made by Hubbard's that accounted for 2 of the first 3 state records here back in the 1960s. Color is rainbow trout, so it might be one of the newer versions of the bait which can still be had.

Hard to tell from the picture if you just have dollar pads or something else (maybe American pondweed). Sounds like maybe a transition from semi-emergent to submerged vegetation possibly. Any change of water clarity with the veggie change? Probably won’t affect things too much as the fish would just transition from one to another. Might change bait selection a little, but need to see better pics so we know exactly what you’re dealing with.

There’s only a handful of books that are worth mentioning. Brewer’s Slider Fishing book is a must. The RichZ article is also a milestone read, though not a book. Then you have Don Iovino’s ‘Finesse and the Sonar Connection,’ and Michael Jones’ ‘The Complete Guide to Finesse Bass Fishing.’ One you probably won’t find, but was the original book on finesse fishing is Nightcrawler Secrets by Bill Binkelman (1966). However, you can still find copies of “Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers” (1972, 1988), which incorporated Bill’s first two books with Buck Perry’s structure concepts, and is also a must-read in my opinion. Beyond that, the sections on stitching in Bill Murphy’s “In Pursuit of Giant Bass” book is worthy, as is time searching the old posts/articles by George Kramer on his website, Kramer Gone Fishing (great Road Runner and Dart head details among others).

The general rule of thumb has always been that through the warm water months you look more toward the longer structures (hence flatter) that reach further into the lake, or flats in general (esp. in natural lakes), while during cold water periods, more vertical type (quick dropping) areas can be the most productive (bluffs, creek channel swings, main basin drops, etc.). But as @A-Jay alluded to, you can easily get wrapped up in the specifics of a rather large subject with no absolutes. Probably best to study and figure out what the bass in your local waters do more-so than trying to learn everything about all water types.

Don't screw this one up or you'll never get a bite

The last detailed report I saw from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pegged it at 44% of U.S. anglers 16 yrs or older, so I think we’ve got a decent ballpark range. They broke it down by region, too, as well as against the population as a whole. They stated 14% of U.S. population fished in freshwater, and so about 6% of of total population (>16) were black bass anglers. This worked out to about 12.7 million people that fished for bass. Would be interesting to see them do a more current follow-up study. By region, the low end was Mountain and Pacific at just 21-25 percent. The high end was the South and Southeast regions at 53%, very close to Catt’s numbers (TX to FL area).

‘ABC’ bass - “already been caught” - it’s one of the top check cashing patterns in Indiana ?

I can't say for certain, but the SaltStrong guys seem to have done the most research on this knot, and are the most referenced, and that is their advice (it was a direct quote). My first guess was what MickD and Bassman stated, and I think the SS guys now also advise, and that is less wraps because too many with too thick a line won't let you cinch and seat them properly. All that said, I also don't believe braid with a leader setup even belongs on a baitcast outfit to begin with, so there's that lol

According to the SaltStrong guys in a recent video talking about the times when the knot isn't the most appropriate knot for the situation, one of the top 3 is that "the FG Knot doesn’t work well when the mono/fluoro is weaker than the braid." This would certainly be the case in your situation. Might be worth considering.

Original Spider Slider with bronze hook (2/0?) is probably the most popular - it’s the one I use the most. They also make it in a ‘pro’ version or some such wording with a heavier wire round bend hook - not bad. Next favorite if you’re using small thin worms is the weedless crappie slider head - looks similar, but you can get colored heads.

I’d also throw out there that it’s not the current that makes most old creek channels important, but the greater depths and breaklines they create IMO. This would apply regardless of lake type. Any current situations as mentioned above would just be a bonus.

Ditto this ^^ No issues whether in the same boat compartment, or wadded together in your back pocket. I’ve even put small bags of one type plastic into larger bags of a different type before a trip (for example, a small bag of Zman baits into a larger bag of regular worms, or reverse).

Zman project over in the most unexpected way Decided to drown my sorrow in some big crappies - it only helped a little - lol. Time to start composing a long write-up for posting.

Approaching the end of my ProjectZ challenge. Hopefully wrap things up by the weekend and be able to give a more detailed post/report. Here's a couple more from the past two days - just solid chunks.

Mono (nylon/copoly) isn’t going anywhere soon. Most of us on this site could be classified as having above average interest in bass fishing - but we're the minority. Take every Bass Resource person ever registered and add that to every bass tourney angler in the country, and we're still a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 49 million anglers who fish, the majority of which could probably care less about the benefits of fluoro or braid over mono. Cost alone will negate a large portion of these anglers from buying any specialty lines. There’s a reason why the Shakespeare Ugly Stik has been the best selling rod in the country for years and years.

Like I mentioned, looks very generic to me, either a personal pour or a generic off-brand would be my guess. A couple similar production baits would be Reins Bubbling Shaker and Lunker City Ribster - even the 5” Mayhem! worm if you’re just after that overall style. Maybe old school Rebel 4” ringworm if they made a non-curlytail version. Seems like I remember one @whitwolf ???

Just my imagination, or are there some letters on the tail? Looks awfully generic.

Great summer fish. Haven't seen anything close to that in the ponds I fish on this side of town. Sure some of them have a few, but access is technically limited due to privacy, though I see plenty of people breaking that rule all the time.

Ditto - Bandit and Mann’s were the first two to pop into my mind - not sure of model names though.

Had it happen twice last year with LMB, once on a jerkbait and once on a crankbait. I could easily see it happening more frequently with SMB though.

Ehrler’s Edge is the only color Roboworm I take with me now days when fishing ponds and retention basins.

Thanks for the report. Was playing around with it last night trying to decide on a specific outfit. I've also decided to go with a 200/2000 size reel and 6# mono. Debating though between the short Anniversary rod and a 7' ML rod. May have to try at least one trip with the short rod, but leaning more toward the longer rod for practical purposes. We'll see.

I almost always go with some degree of contrast first, sometimes subtler - sometimes stark, but I never use a literal match.

The originals he used himself were built out of fly rods, so they were pretty whippy, nearly getting doubled over (literally) on a good fish - but that was the way he liked to fish - a little lighter than he generally recommended. The company sold a few different versions over the years. I believe he used a mix of Cardinals and 308s for reels.

I bought two of them; one for the collection, and one to fish with. Just need to decide what reel I want to mount on the rod since it will be somewhat permanent. Would love to have one of the originals to compare it with. Honestly can't say how close or how far apart they might actually be in weight and action. This now makes two sub 5 ft rods I own, as my original Buck Perry Spoonplugger trolling rod is also a short rod, actually an inch or two shorter than these Brewer rods.