weekendfisherman

I would have agreed w/ simply catching dinks over being skunked last year. This year though, my catches have been fantastic and I can honestly say that I never want to go back. Lol! I have had two over 8 lbs. and several in the the 6lb. range...along w/ many other great bass! This all came on a lake where only 10% of the bass are LM and most are smaller due to the cold, clear water. I read an article by *** about fishing at "first light," and it changed everything! I have caught more and better fish from the bank than our tourney fishermen have on this lake this year! That came in part to help I received on this site (see "Many Thanks in Fishing Reports")...

Oops, I forgot to say that since I narrowed down what I carry and throw, I am catching fish like crazy...Again, thank you for your patience w/ those of us who are "armatures."

Some time back, I posted several things about needing to carry less tackle. I primarily fish from the bank and got tired of lugging so much around w/ me...After getting some great advice and silently watching the post on here, I decided to go out and practice what I had learned (I did do A LOT of other research, but it was these post that started the process...). Long story short...This year, I caught two 8 lb+ bass and several other very large ones (on Claytor Lake, in SW VA - where only 10% of the bass population are LM and most are rather small due to the cold, deep water)! I have caught a ton of nice bass - all from the bank (nearly every outing! In all honesty though, I was only an average fisherman when I carried tons of tackle/lures). Thank you for your patience for those of us who do not own boats and therefore do not have the luxury of fishing tournaments...I was about to quit fishing because I was overwhelmed by all of the "stuff." Now, I am back in the game and doing better than our local tourney guys! THANKS FOR HELP!

That is what I am talking about! I fish it like a jerk-bait, T-Rigged. It works great...I do wacky it and use other tech., but for this post, I am talking about using it as a jerk-bait compared to the Fluke, etc.

I like the Ocho as well. I have been using a lot of the Yum Dingers as well. (The split tail one works great on our waters!) It"s action is similar to the fluke, but it tends to stay in the water a tad better than the Fluke when worked quickly due to it's weight, etc. I love the Flukes though...A white kills on our lake this time of the year. No one around here seems to be using them though....They have all switched to Senkos and Dingers...Thus my question in this post.

I tend to use Flukes and Senkos. The action is so similar though, that I have been wondering if the Senko (when fished as a jerk-bait) has more or less replaced the Fluke...I am just not sure if I need to carry both of them since my space is limited for bank fishing. How many of you still use both? When do you fish the one as opposed to the other?

Green Pumpkin/black flake Watermelon/black and/or red flake White or Peal/silver flake for Flukes and trailers

Well said. Working the lures off the bank would be my first choice as well. If that will not work, then maybe you could stay way back from the bank and cast...I even get on my knees sometimes!

;D I love this post! I was looking at this scale in my Bass Pro Mag. and thinking about ordering it...Maybe I will wait on that. I hate to see my results go down and start catching "smaller" fish! LOL!!!!!

My wife fishes an ultra-lite all of the time and I will sometimes use it for trout, crappie, and bass at the river...I've never had a problem with hook-sets on it. (Ours are set up with 10# Power Pro braided line which only has a 2# diameter. We will sometimes use a flouro leader in super clear water.) In addition to spinners, top-waters, small jigs, etc we also use wacky rigged worms and finesse baits with no problem. We have had great luck with maribu jigs, Radrunners and best of all 2-3 in. gulp minnows! We will even rig the gulp minnows wacky style, or nose hooked through the side of the head (instead normal) so that it comes through the water on it's side. This rig just plain kills! The braid cast like a dream and it has never broken!

I use the Gammas 95% of the time. I use the new Owner Twist Locks for soft jerk baits though.

Gitzit Fat Tournament Tubes in #4 (Brown, looks more green to me) They wok great, esp in the New River, and catch fish when nothing else will....I like to fish them with Bass Pro EZ Tube Weights. I agree with the above post though...I think the action comes from you (and a little from the current, etc.) I fish these because they don't have a lot of action and scoot like a crawdad. They are probably not normally considered a finesse bait, but that's how I use them!

Roboworm (in ox blood, blue, green pumpkin colors) or Don Iovino hand-pour worms (in crawdad color). I like to fish these on a split-shot, or drop-shot rig. I use either 4" or 6" worms... I think the hand-pours seem to fall a little slower which I really like when split-shotting.

Thanks for the input everyone. I also carry a small backpack with everything inside. I went out a while back with just a bag of plastics though and had a blast! Not having to "lug" everything around allowed me to enjoy myself so much more... That's what got me thinking about ways to "simplify" my tackle, etc. I am esp. concerned with using lures that can be fished multiple ways (Senkos, etc). That eliminates some of the stuff I am having to carry. I would like to carry three to four lure types at a time in a small waist pack...

I wish I would have seen this post 4-5 years ago, before I walked into Bass Pro Shop!

In our lake (Claytor Lake in SW VA) they out-fish about everything else in the summer. We drop-shot, or split-shot them. In the dead of summer, these and skipping Senkos under piers account for most of the fish caught in local Tournaments.

That's awesome! I thought I had about every lure that there was...Maybe if the fish do not hit the lure, they would hit all of the flies that it gathers!

Thanks for the info! I will give this a try...

I read somewhere on here that Roadwarrior had posted a thread about how to fish the IKA...Does anyone know where that is? I couldn't find it. I am getting ready to use them for the first time and would love to find that link. From what I have read so far on here, they are fished like a Gitzit, but rigged backwards on a 4/0 Owner hook...Is that correct?

Don't get me wrong...I would never go back to the cheap rods/reels! Anyone who fishes for more than a few hours knows the difference just from weight alone - Much less sensitivity, etc. I love my nice rods! Can you catch fish on cheap equipment? Absolutely! You can also get to work on a bicycle, but it sure is easier to ride in a comfortable car! ;D

My best fishing day ever was in the spring two years ago during the spawn,...on a cheap spinner bait from Wally world...It was a translucent crystal color. I pulled bass after bass from the water. I lost the lure when my line broke on a large bass, (I was enjoying the catch and forgot to check the knot) and changed to multiple other lures, but never caught another fish that day....Go figure?

I "invested" in some very nice rods/reels in the last few years, but caught just as many fish on my old Ugly Sticks! In fact, my wife uses them now and sometimes out-fishes me...I used them the other day because I already had them rigged for her and had a blast! Even with lures I have noticed the same thing. I have a lot of Lucky Craft, etc, but I have caught more fish on spinner baits than all other lures combined - Including the $15 ones. lol. I think some of that is not being afraid to through the cheaper stuff into thicker cover. I don't mind loosing a spinner bait that cost a few bucks, but it ruins my day to lose a Pointer, or Sammy! Lol!

BTW, I am using mostly medium spinning tackle (Shimono) from the bank. Usually, two rods...One for spinner baits, etc. and one for senkos....

Unfortunately, I have read too many fishing mags...and purchased most of the lures mentioned! Lol! I am currently fishing from the bank and taking all of this stuff has drained the fun out of fishing. I fish mostly Claytor lake (cool, clear deep) and New River. I would like to return to just a few lures...until I can get a boat. I LOVE to fish spinnerbaits. I also fish soft jerkbaits, and Sencos. I sometimes split-shot small robo worms, etc. These are for the lake. In the river I fish tubes, sekos, top water baits, etc.... Any suggestions on what I REALLY need to accomplish these task. Does this list look OK? Can it be further simplified?