Bluebasser86

I fished these heads with the 5" curl tail worm posted above for 3 days and did not miss a bite and it continued to have an excellent hookup ratio in the times I've used it since. I have some heads I bought poured off FB that had an EWG hook the curved slightly inward that has not had great hookups though. The Victory hooks I'm looking for don't curve in towards the hook shank so it allows more gap for the hook set.

Drill a small hole in the belly of whatever bait you want to make silent, put a dab of superglue in the hole and shake, seal the hole with epoxy.

My kayak tackle box is a modified rolling tool box I bought from Walmart. Holds 3-4 3700 boxes, 3 gallon bags of plastics, all my fishing tools and "go" baits in the top compartments. https://www.walmart.com/ip/HART-24in-Rolling-Tool-Box-Resin-Tool-Storage-Black-with-Blue/735517326

Berkley Frittside Nichols Pulsator Hoosier Series spinnerbait If you Ned rig fish, 10,000 Fish Sukoshi Bug.

I use flouro for bottom contact baits on casting gear that aren't being fishing in heavy vegetation, those rods get straight braid.

All of them fade, some just do it faster than others. I've got smoke, lime green, chartreuse, blue, pink, black, camo green, and white just off the top of my head in the garage. The Stealth Gray and Flash Green colors that Seaguar Smackdown come in are 2 of my favorites. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Seaguar_Smackdown_Braided_Line_Stealth_Gray/descpage-SMD.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Seaguar_Smackdown_Braided_Line_Flash_Green/descpage-SSMB.html

The Yo-Zuris do indeed have a good action on the fall and don't get the love that a lot of other baits do.

Had to start a second 3700 box for baits I've found this year, filled the first one up, and it's not even the good time of year for finding them yet ?

I use a 7' 5" rod in my kayak for T rigs pretty often, as well as a 7' 11" for swimbaits. The shortest T rig rod I use from my kayak is a 7', most are 7' 3" or longer.

It's a ned rig jighead with the hook cut off. It's what these were designed for, but maybe a little cheaper? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Z-Man_Neko_Shroomz_Wacky_Rig_Nose_Weight_4pk/descpage-ZMNS.html

I don't think so. A lot of the issue with the WP is similar to issues with big swimbaits, it's a heavy bait so when a fish starts thrashing it's a lot of weight whipping back and forth, which can wallow out the hook hole and allow the fish to work free.

I use a 7' MH/F Aird X for one of my spinnerbait rods, it'll get them out there just fine, I doubt the rod is the problem.

A big part of why I went with a pedal instead of power is to avoid the hassle of the batteries and registering my kayak. I can still cover a lot of water with it (Old Town Sportsman 120 PDL), without messing with expensive batteries and having it registered.

I change mine to short shank EWG Gamakatsu that are a little lighter than the stock hooks. Makes the bait ride higher and the short shanks don't allow the bait to flop around as much when a fish shakes to help keep them pinned.

The RES 2 Tap is my favorite with the fluttering fall by a long shot.

I'm sure this rig probably works, but it wouldn't be effective for how I fish a Ned rig 90% of the time. Snags aren't an issue and my bait rarely stops moving or hits bottom other than the initial fall.

Mine are all the 7". I've had a couple 9" and a mini but the 7s have been by far my most productive.

This would cover everything for me at BS right now also. Make sure the Topwater rod can handle jerkbait duty as well and that the spinning rod is a versatile one that could do a light shakyhead/drop shot as well as the Ned and Keitechs/grubs. I caught some A-rig fish this past weekend so I would keep that in consideration for sure, it can clean up when that bite is on. That lake can be a lot of fun this time of year.

You want a crappie imitation you say? How about this. It's my belief that big bass much prefer crappie over bluegills as forage. Crappie probably tend to hang around areas that bass do more frequently, so maybe availability plays a big factor, but they're also not as tall and therefore easily to swallow, which is another big thing that could weigh into why a bass would single them out over a bluegill.

I've had pretty good luck with a 7' MH Lightning Rod Shock. It's extremely versatile and very affordable.

My main jerkbait rod is a 6' 9" MH/MF Okuma TCS. I use a 7' ML/F Falcon Bucoo SR spinning rod for small jerkbaits.

I'm trying to convince myself that a Slammer is close enough that I don't need a rat too. I've got 4 Slammers in different colors, that should cover it right?

Sounds more like fishing open water, which I prefer to do with a shakyhead.

I get honked at all the time. I'm starting to think some people driving by probably recognize me. Took my boys out for 2 hours today, which was an hour longer than I was suppose to but the fish were biting and they weren't complaining about wanting to leave, so we stayed out there. Same lake I fished Thursday and I planned on chasing the same bite with a Ned rig around the docks on deeper banks. 2 hours later, they had 25 bass and 1 green sunfish in the boat. No monsters, maybe a keeper or two, but they were having fun and that's all that matters. Sorry about the one blurry picture, fish slime and Cheetos dust isn't a good combination on a camera lense as it turns out.

I'll never understand the "Ned rig is a last resort", frame of mind. So you have a bait that works very well in a lot of situations, catches all sizes of fish, it's cheap and easy to fish, but save it for a last resort?? Fishermen are a weird bunch. Spend all this time searching for a "Silver Bullet", find something that's about as close as you can get, then refuse to use it unless nothing else is working. A Ned rig was responsible for at least 1 fish in every one of the tournaments I won this year, 1 of them it caught all 5, and numerous big fish over 5 pounds, despite the whole "It only catches little fish", rumor.