hatrix

So I am just curious to see what everyone thinks about this. What technique do you feel is just the best way to consistently catch fish? I have a feeling most will agree with what I think but who knows. It could be anything like even a way of working a bait or a whole setup. Drop Shot is hands down the clear winner for me.

x2 You can use a light wire hook and make a trick worm or whatever you want to fish weedless. If you can get it right in front of there face and keep it there long enough to tick them off just the right way they will bite it. My lake is very clear right now and with no wind and high sun you can see everything. They are not into chasing any thing at all but a dropshot right in there face will get a lot of fish.

Braid for both usually. But with jerkbaits a floro or mono can give better sensitivity because with braid they cant hit it with slack in your line and you will never know. But with braid a lot fo times you will go to jerk it again and a fish would of grabbed it on the pause and get hooked.

If you want to be firing off a bunch of casts over and over and hit tons of little targets really quickly then I would sugjest one. Spinning reels just dont cast as fast or acurately. I would get something with centrifical brakes and use braided line. You can always pick out braid and your line will stil be fine to fish with even if its all knoted and terrible after you backlash. You could actually set it to a point where it is basically impossible to backlash and then work from there.

I would also recommend checking out irod gen 2 they are really good rods for $150.

I use a Lews bb1 with braided line for throwing swimbaits and it works great.

Plastic jerk baits work good in the summer months. I use a light wire worm hook and maybe a little split shot ahead of it if I wanted some weight. When fished fast on the surface they can be killer over grasses and pads when bass are busting up on the surface. I throw 2 of them at the same time when fish a schooling.

I also do tons of roll casts when i could be pitching too. Its just natural for me and I can fire them off one after another realy quickly.

For me it would have to be a Huddleston Weedless Shad or a Grass Minnow. A swim jig would come in at a really close seond to those.

On how to actually work a frog you want to start with slack before you twitch it and end with slack in your line. Its just like how you fish a jerk bait. You get a rythem with a frog and it will walk side to side. You can find videos of this I am sure to better show you how.

For me I suppose it's not even about catching fish with a certain type or lure or technique but actually spending time getting use to the feel. Some times I reach a point where I will fish a lure not because it is the most productive but what I feel like fishing. I can reach a point where I have just caught so many fish I don't even care and will just fish what ever I want because I enjoy using itregardless of catching less fish or maybe none at all. I have almost reached that point this year already where I just wander fish and fish what I am feeling not what the fish are. My advice is if anything start your day with the slider and get a few fish under your belt and then switch to what you need to learn. That way your not getting skunked. You have only fished for 3 months so I understand your need to catch fish and as many as you can as fast as you can. I think we are all that way initially after ice out just like I was and thanks why I threw jerk baits all day long. I think after time you reach a point where you know your fishing it right even if the fish don't tell you so. You know your technique is good and have a feel for the bait even if that is not the hot ticket at the time. Just stick with it and do what you think you should be doing. You are probably right even if the fish don't tell you that.

I have been killing them the past few days on tubes. I have been using a zoom super salty tube and they are a serious piece of plastic and very thick. I use a trokar flippin hook and a tungsten weight unpegged. I poke the hook out the side maybe a inch down from the top then come back from under the tube and have the hook point texposed out the other side if you get what im saying. I just caught a monster this morning on a greenpumpkin that had to be close to 7# and had the bloodiest tail I have ever seen on a bass. On a side note as for a rattle if you use a snell knot like say with a flippin hook and leave the eye of the hook exposed out of the top of the tube the weight makes a rattle noise every time it hits the hook eye. Good Luck

I use Mend-It for just cosmetic things like if the skin on a swimbait is torn. Other then that its kind of crappy to me for trying to fix any thing major like a huge rip in a bait. I dont really doctor up any thing except for swim baits and I use a torch lighter and a pocket knife and actually melt the plastic back together. I really like cadmans idea of the soldering iron though. I actually was going to post a picture of a swimbait that I sent a new record with. I caught 67 fish off one Basstrix hollow belly. I did have to melt the belly and back of it twice but Mend-It could never compete with that. Just be carefull you dont touch your self with a glowing red hot knife blade and youll be fine.

I think as long as your casting ahead of you your all right. I will fish ponds and pretty much never leave the edge unless the terrain makes it so I have to. Sure as I walk some fish will dart off to the deeper water but I know my bait has already gone by them and they didnt bite it so..Even after being in a spot for a few minutes sometimes I will turn back and cast the way I just came from and catch fish I could of spooked away 5 minutes ago or maybe they just wanted the bait coming from a different direction. I guess it depends on the pond but I am always casting ahead of me and catch more then enough fish.

Well IMO the best hands down are Huddleston Weedless Shads and Grass Minnows for catching numbers and size too. Those are not a hollow belly but a pre rigged soft body. They are probably something you would have to oder off of like TW. Those you can really fish deep in the weeds without much resistance. As for hollow bellies I personally do better at the places I fish with the tighter action ones like a Basstrix. Some of them just the tail kicks and some have a whole body wobble or do a little roll back and forth from side to side. I have caught fish on all kinds but the places I fish they seem to like the tighter action all year long. I have heard good things about the Kitech I think it is spelled but forgot to oder them last time I bought swimbaits from TW. As for fishing them you cant really mess it up. You can do a slow steady retrieve or burn them you can yo-yo it drag it. The possibilities are endless really. When fishing weeds I generally try to stay ticking the tops of weeds. If I hit a patch of grass and I am deep in it I will usually jig it up and pick up the slack really quick to get back above the tops. If I am just slightly hung in the tops I will do a few quick turns of the handle to get it to rise back to the top of the weeds. After 9 trillion casts you get a feel for if you burried 3 feet down in it or just hitting the top 6". If there is any places where it is possible they are really work well if you can just slightly bump every little thing along the bottom like sticks and rocks. I will also flip/pitch them under docks trees it doesnt matter. They will grab it right on the fall like a jig or worm. If you have to oder some I would really recommend the Huddlestons. It is almost like cheating sometimes. They look like they are not doing anything when it swims but they fish just kill it. The hook set can be a little troubling with them sometimes but like a 1,2 count usually works good and it gives them a second to choke it down.I do a long sweeping hookset and pretend like your trying to pull it out of there mouth and a longer rod really seems to help with that so you get a longer pull. Hope you catch them and get some bigs ones

So I picked up one of these from wally world that was a 3 arm version of it but any ways. The thing always wants to roll to the left and not run straight. I have tried using heavier jig heads on the bottom arm and it still doesnt really run true. I tried all different kinds of lure weights you name it. Nothing I do makes it run true. Because it runs on it side it make the bait on the bottom arm look all weird to me like it is running sort of twisted and I am positive it is affecting its fish catching potential. Has any one else had this problem with a flash mob? I tried to search for there website and maybe call them and see what the deal was. Maybe I got a bad one of something but I cant actually seem to find any contact info to get ahold of them and I no longer have the package it came in if that even has there # on it.

I use a keel weighted swimbait hook with a screw lock. You can use normal ones with no screw lock but your baits will get trashed super fast. I usually use a screw lock hook on any thing I can use it on any more. The great thing about swimbaits is you can throw them any where and fish most of them any speed and at any depth. To me they are like the most versatile lure for that reason. They also catch tons of fish and big ones love them too.

Swimabits. If that doesnt work then try more swimbaits. Hollow belly to be exact. They go through anything and are absolute fish catchers. You can do the punch rig thing but thats slow and you dont cover as much water. If you know for a fact there is fish there its a good idea I suppose. On the other hand with swimbaits you can make a ton of casts while covering huge amounts of water till you find fish or at the very least one that is willing to bite.

Well I am not a super pro at skipping like some people on here are but i can do it well enough to get it where I want it. I use a super short lead on the bait and do a roll cast with it. I find the longer the lead you do the bigger the chance of it swinging to high above the water. The best adivce I can give is like if you ever beat a bank making a million short roll casts to every little spot you see. It is like doing the same thing for me ecept I am not trying to completely stop it when I hit my target if you get what im saying. The way I learned is by making tons and tons of low and fast roll casts to little spots along the bank from a boat. Then I just apply the same technique to skipping. It is the same cast just with lees thumb. Hope that helps some.

Obviously the clear winner is a Huddleston. If your talking a straight up fish catcher then a weedless shad or grass minnow win all day. Maybe you can catch more fish with senkos or something but that is slow and you can't cover water as well. It might actually be impossible to not catch fish with a Huddleston. I could spend all day fishing other baits and never get a bite. Tie on a weedless shad and I guarantee I start catching fish. It's like cheating.

I am going to assume you are using a casting reel. When fishing bottom baits I always do a full palm of the reel and I put my index finger under my line. Sometimes even fishing moving baits like a swimbait/jig I will keep my finger under the line. It really seems to help with detecting the littlest of changes with your baits.

I use to run straight braid for the longest but now I almost always use a leader. I can't say for sure that leader or no leader changes my catch rates but it has some benefits. If yo get snagged you can actually break your line and I can retie a bunch of times and not loose as much line off my spool as I normally would.

Pros will turn there stuff in for new gear around January. Maybe not all of them do it and don't always turn in everything but they do get new rods/reels. I talked to a guy from "xxx" and I always wondered so I asked if they ever have like refurb rods for sale at a discount. He said around January, February they do when pros turn there stuff in for the new season. You can end up with a bunch of rods and reels that use to belong to a pro and at a discount.

They have those siglets on TW now. I just ordered some stuff yesterday and was considering buying one. I saw a video maybe a few years ago of a guy in Japan fishing it. They also have those Roman Mother swim baits on TW with the most expensive one being like $400+ for the biggest one!!!!