KC Bass Fanatic

Plastics 75% of the time. If you count hollow body frogs that goes up quiet a bit.

Owner Oversize worm hook - 7/0 for the 8" and 11/0 for the 12". Best big worm hook on the market. I T-Rig these on a light bullet (3/8oz) weight - great worm.

Honestly I can't narrow it down to one. They all have their time and place. I throw Bronzeye Poppers, Mad Maxx, and Trophy Scum frogs - they all catch. I'm recently addicted to the Rage Toad as well. I keep one tied on when I'm throwing a hollow body frog. If a fish blows up and misses, I come right back with the rage toad and just let it sink at the scene of the crime. It works. The King Daddy in black is hard to beat for night fishing.

Hollow body frogs - Spros, Mad Maxx, Scum Frog, etc Because my home lake has tons of coontail moss and you can't throw trebles into it. Oh and also bass absolutely crush them.

Unicorn blood is hard to find - I don't think BPS carries it. Seriously I've been using a lighter to repair plastics on the fly in my boat for years. It will typically get you a couple more fish. Never tried the soldering iron though - that's redneck engineering at it's finest!

Anyone else have issues with these getting torn and taking on water after a few fish? I super glue them but IMO they shouldn't tear that easily. My Spro and Mad Maxx frogs hold up much better but I have a hard time never throwing a Scum Frog again because they flat out catch fish.

I only use a 7/0 Owner Oversized Worm Hook for 10". I go to the 11/0 for 12" or larger. I switched to these last year and I'll never look back, they are absolutely awesome. Pick some up and you won't regret it.

10" Power worm - flippin milfoil on my home lake it slays them for some reason they like the bigger profile

I had this knot pull through twice on my using PowerPro 50lb...on fish....in a tournament....not good

OK I guess I should have been more specific. I'm fishing a different tournament every weekend and the lakes are sometimes drastically different. At times I may re-spool 75% of my setups. i.e. I might fish crystal clear Table Rock Lake this weekend (need flouro) and Truman Lake (need braid) next weekend.

I've had great success pitching/flipping P-Line 100% but I agree braid is preferred unless the H2O is really clear.

What's your favorite knot for braided line? I typically use a palomar after having the clinch knot fail on me. I've heard a double palomar is great but haven't tried it yet.

OK I change line quite a bit depending on what lake I'm fishing this weekend. Some weeks I'll strip perfectly good fluoro and braid off of 5-10 reels. The line is obviously still good so what I've been doing is a "reel to reel" transfer. I have a couple of older reels in my garage that I'll transfer the line onto until I need it next time. It works pretty good but is a major pain in my butt. Any ideas on an easier way to do this guys?

Actually I do. I fish a local impound here that has tons of hydrilla & milfoil. Any given day you can catch a 5+ lber and have another 5lbs of slop. Currently I have a couple of Johnny Morris Elite 7' Med Hvy. They work fine most of the time but occasionally I get a fish that's controlling me instead of vice versa. That's never a good feeling in a tournament. The American Rodsmith's Denny Brauer Wreckin Stix look sweet but I've can't find one locally to hold. I have a hard time dropping $180 on a rod I've never held.

I have 5 Quantum Accurist PT's and they have never failed me. 3 of them I've been using for 4+ years. Every winter I break them down and clean them and they perform flawlessly and I fish at least twice a week 10 months out of the year. They are solid and a good bargain.

P-Line 100% Pure Fluorocarbon. I use the Improved clinch knot and have never had a problem in 5+ years. Are you wetting the line before you cinch it tight? That is a must.

Who owns one and what do you think?

If your GPS marks the channel you will be fine. I've fished Truman pretty extensively and my GPS (Lowrance) has the channel marked really well. Good luck.

Going to be down this weekend for a tournament. Fishing mostly the James River Arm. Looking for any recent reports. Thanks!

In my area it's hard to beat a zoom finesse worm with a 2/0 wire hook and an 1/8oz weight.

I tie my own jigs and I use living rubber combined with silicone. You get the best of both worlds. I am really liking Skirts Unlimited Tarantula rubber these days as well. It is flat rubber and really has a ton of "life". I get all my skirts from Skirts Unlimited. fishingskirts.com

To me jig fishing is all about recognizing the pick-ups. Too many anglers try to fish jigs like plastics, expecting big thumps on the pick-up or violent strikes. 90% of the jig fish I've caught the only indicators were changes in the "feel". Line goes slack or tight for no reason, or line moves left or right. When you get one of those indicators with a jig, it's time to put hammer down. You'll find yourself setting the hook on nothing but water a lot at first (don't forget to duck and yell INCOMING if you have a partner on the boat!) but as they always say: hook sets are free. Once you get a feel for how bass pick up jigs it's game over cause jigs IMO are the #1 LMB lure out there. I fish them anytime, anywhere.

I always net "keeper" bass in tournaments if it's allowed. There's just too much that can go wrong when every fish can potentially win (or lose) a tournament. I've had too many fish thrash around, throwing a hook or burying a hook in my hand while I'm attempting to lip or "belly ******" them. As others have said, rubber nets are the only way to go. When I'm not tournament fishing, I usually don't net fish; although I probably should.

A Zoom finesse worm

I agree. Those are the rods I used to use. I was actually looking at Lightning Rods when I ran across the Tactix and wondered if they are as good or better than the Lightning Rods. The Tactix has technique specific rods (flippin, cranking, etc) which I like.