D4u2s0t

Yeah, you may fish in theory about the same style in your words but you are not him and he is not you so in the practice what is theoretical does not apply so results will vary and you end up with what BB said: who ever has the technique mastered best will win and in this case is not who but which bait will win. Fun battle to perform but the results are useless. agreed. For this to be a worthwhile tests, all of the variables would have to be taken out of the equation, which is just not possible in this situation. Still neat to see the results, but a test like this will not prove what's the better bait... it will prove what baits YOU are best at fishing, and which of the 2 baits worked best given the conditions.

winner!

Here's my take, and how I believe things work. Nature, bass included, is unpredictable at times. It's that unpredictability that makes fishing fun for me. By learning more about what you're doing, you can move the odds slightly in your favor, and increase your chances of catching more, and/or bigger fish. I think we tend to put a lil too much thought into it sometimes, over-anyalyze, and try to be too technical about something that's not really technical. But I don't believe in any magical technique, color, bait, presentation, etc. I think it's not only a combination of all of these, then you have to add in being in the right place at the right time. So, I think it's a broad mix of everything that all equals up to getting that bite. By learning more about your lake, and bass behavior, you can try to eliminate certain areas/techniques/baits/whatever. But, that doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work, and what works today may not work tomorrow, and you may have the best fishing of your life in a spot, and then never catch a fish there ever again... But, again, to me, that's the fun of finding the fish! That not knowing for sure whether or not a fish will bite, and feeling the bite and getting it in to take a look. That's the good stuff.

The problem is simple, and you answered the question in your first post... you're leaving too much slack, so you're not detecting the bite quickly enough. You want to keep the line tighter so you can feel those bites. By the time you feel the fish, your bait is down the gullet.

Great post. I'm constantly looking for new locations on my home lake, and I agree with shimmy. There's some spots on paper that look amazing, but never produce, and then I have some spots that seem like they shouldn't hold fish, but do. I changed my tactics last year (this is my 3rd year on the lake) out of frustration, and throwing a bait into a wide open, seemingly structureless area of water where nobody would think there was a fish... and got a nice bass! After that, I would try not only the places I thought would hold bass, but I'll try anywhere. Like Catt said, there must be some type of reason for the fish to be there... I'm not good enough with the depth finder to figure out some of these subtle spots. They appear to just be flat areas that gives no reason for a bass to be there.

i've told this one a few times, but it was a good one lol. I posted a while back that I had a fish that would nip my bait... this was different than any other type of fish I was used to. It would hit my soft plastic bait in the same spot, every time, like clockwork, for about 3 days. The fish wouldn't move, wouldn't come out of it's spot, just "tap" every time the bait came past it's nose. A few days later, I cast out, get stuck on a stump, so i'm walking down the dock to get it out. I make it down the dock, start walking down the beach, and all of a sudden my bait starts wizzing towards the dock!! I wasn't prepared, there was slack in the line, and the fish came off as I was running full speed and reeling full speed at the same time. As I finished reeling in, a big muskie comes right to the edge of the dock and did a 180... I didn't get a real good look, but it was enough to know it was not small, and I wish I kept pulling instead of walking down the beach. Seems like an honest mistake, until you factor in that I was fishing over a beach, and literally besides the sand there's nothing to get snagged on...man, did i kick myself after that lol

funny you mention that lol... I was best man for my neighbors wedding on sunday, and saturday they had some out of state guests come up... One of the guys was from arizona. He was totally amazed by the amount of green we have here, never seen anything like it... Plus, he saw a bear!! good stuff. But anyways, so sunday morning, I grab my cup of coffee, and go outside to drink it in the yard like I always do. I hear my neighbor out, so went over. We're sitting there bs'ing for like 20 minutes, and out of nowhere the guy says "Dude, I hate you guys. You guys suck. This is crazy" We had no idea what was going on... He just couldn't believe we were sitting outside with pants on drinking coffee in June, and were so comfortable because it was nice and cool out lol. I'm sure he wouldn't like to stick around for the snow though. Funny stuff, and good times!

very cool looking fish... My dad had them in the tank when I was young, but it's been so long when I was looking, I wasn't sure at all what kind of fish it was. I can just imagine someone pulling a fish like that out, and not knowing what it is, must be weird!

i've ordered many times from tw, it's usually the place I go to look first when I need something. I've only ever had 1 problem, and they more than took care of it. People make mistakes sometimes, and stuff happens, but from what I've gone through and what i've heard from other people they will do whatever it takes to make everything right. I'd say give them another try.

I don't fish anywhere near anyone, and don't even like to drive the boat past people that are fishing... my lake is not that big, so sometimes it's unavoidable, but if possible i'd rather go a lil out of my way to not disturb someone's spot.

make sure it's hooked properly, dead center. I always use them with an 1/8 oz keel weighted hook. The 1/8 weight improves casting distance, makes it run right side up, and is not heavy enough to make it sink too much.

the difference is simple... main lake point, is on the main part of the lake. Like of an island, off of the shore, etc. A secondary point is inside a cove, or a bay or something like that. The "Main Lake" is the water NOT inside those bays, coves, creek channels, etc.

From my experience, throwing casting plugs is very different than throwing a t-rigged plastic... What I do, and what I would recommend, is practice with baits that you will be using on the water. I would compare practice plugs to a basketball player who practices jump shots with a baseball... After all that practice with a plug, when you get on the water with your bait, it will be totally different.

they're killing them in jersey

A medium power is fine for plastics with a 1/4 oz weight, typically... read the weight reighting on your rod, and it will tell you. A softer rod (as long as it's appropriate) will help casting distance significantly.

at 7-8 dollars, the x-rap IS the replacement for the more expensive baits, and is well worth the cost.

If i'm in open water, I try to always be doing something with the bait, as opposed to just cranking it in. Small pauses, twitches, jerks, etc. Ideally you'll be banging it off of cover, like logs, stumps, etc. When cranking, I use very long casts, and just vary things up until I find a pattern that is working... there's no one magical way. Also make sure you're fishing the appropriate depth. If you're throwing a 20 foot crankbait, and the fish are holding in 3-4 feet of water, not going to catch any that way.

in some of the songs, can def. hear the hendrix/zeppelin/classic rock influences, but presented in a unique way... pretty cool

never heard of buckethead, but I like it!

hold it where it's most comfortable. On my pistol grip, it feels best with my pointer finger on the grip... with my rods with longer buts, I usually have my middle finger on the grip... but just hold it wherever it feels right. I would think with your pinky there, you wouldn't get enough leverage if you needed it because you're not really holding the rod, you're more holding the reel. Buf if it works for you, and is comfortable, go with it!

wow... that mate would have become chum if he cost me almost a mil, and a world record lol

At the advice of Big-O, I tried out the strike king tour grade football heads, and love them. I match them up usually with a rage tail trailer, good combo right there.

I agree, we got way off topic here... My original idea, based off the experience on my lake, was that possibly it wasn't bass hitting, it was panfish. That's how we got all whacked out here. If it is infact bass biting his line, I agree with what you said 100%.

the look on her face says it all! I know when my fiance gets a nice fish, (she comes fishing with me very rarely. few times a year at most) I probably enjoy it more than her, just to see that look is amazing!

For the people that haven't actually read my posts, and just want to comment on them, i'll say it again... This pertains to my home lake only... Grimlin, you would rarely, if ever catch a bass in my lake like that, same with anyone else that just sets the hook at any indication of a bite. I tend to throw more durable baits, mostly hard baits for that reason. I try to use a spinnerbait, or crankbait pretty often. My go-to soft plastics are senko type baits, and other more durable baits that won't get ripped apart so easily. I throw smokin roosters often, they don't get ripped up easily. Most baits with appendages are out, unless they're very strong. If you throw any type of plastic, and let it sit, you're guaranteed to get a bunch of panfish bites pretty much every cast. So constantly "pulling it away" will do nothing but pull your bait out of the strike zone before the bass gets to it. My father came up yesterday, wanted some perch, and we went out and I caught them no exageration every single cast. My worm didn't even hit the bottom before it was snatched up most times. If you want to succesfully catch bass in my lake, especially with soft plastics, you have to learn the difference in bites, which I don't find to be as hard as everyone else describes. I find a bass bite to feel NOTHING like a panfish bite... and the same goes for the other way around. The guys that can't tell the difference just need to be more aware of the bite...