Bluebasser86

Cranking rods do not make good rods for much other than crank baits IMO. I use glass cranking rods though, a composite rod would be lighter and a little more versatile.

Well there was money I didn't need to spend but I'll let you know in a week or so how they look in person.

I contacted YUM directed and all they had was the 3.75" in 4 colors. He dropped the price down to like $.50 a pack though, and that's how I got 100 packs of them even though they're not my preferred size.

Sounds kind of like a trolling rig. This reminds me of the answer my buddy gives me if I ask him what he caught his fish on "A Carolina rigged bubble gum colored buzzbait down by the dam".

I had some that I bought offline that I didn't like because the hook was too big for a TRD, like a 1/0 or 2/0. The EWG Midwest Finesse mold uses a #1 hook so it fits perfectly.

Lots of small plastics lately it seems. I did miss 4 or 5 bites on a big swimbait after work last week though. None of them were big, but it was fun getting popped on it.

It happens with Ned rigs and tiny smallmouth pretty often. They grab the tail and their little sandpaper teeth get stuck to that squishy tail and they can't let go. Usually they get lifted into the boat and then fall off pretty quickly when their weight and flopping is added in.

Welcome!

I use snaps a lot for treble hooked baits. Snap-swivels on the other hand, those are only for baits that cause lots of line twist like spoons.

I watch for wildlife on the way to the lake. Days when I see lots of wildlife are often productive. Cows are not wildlife in any sense of the word and in no way indicative to how the bite will be.

Maybe it's how they're defining the act of actually swimming. I've seen bass use their pectoral fins to slowly back away from something (usually my bait when I'm trying to site fish them), but they can't slam it into reverse like say trying to escape a predator and move at a higher rate of speed than that.

Just looks like a regular redbreast sunfish to me?

We get lots of temperature swings, usually rain, but mainly those first cooler nights (like the high 50s we're supposed to get this week), really scatters them out. The couple inches of rain last week didn't help. Will make my tournament this weekend interesting.

September is the worse warm weather month of the year for me.

I just got the mold. Used one a lot for 2 days and never lost it fishing around timber.

The Rozante, even thought it's smaller, is a very aggressive bait when I fish it. I'm typically fishing it fast with pretty hard snaps. It darts and cuts aggressively, it's loud, and is just a general attention getter. I don't use it as much in cold water situations that are typically thought of as jerkbait conditions, but more when the water is warmer and fish are more active, it becomes an excellent reaction strike bait. It can be used with soft twitches in colder water to trigger inactive fish, but I rarely use it for that. Pearl is solid color. I with Florida II was still available but they discontinued it in that bait. Matte Chartreuse was really good too but also seems to have been axed. I've been buying up the Pearl Chartreuse II in their limited saltwater colors before it disappears also. I haven't done much good with the natural or flashy baitfish colors except for Gold Yamame.

I have a trailer for mine but I never use it. Not having to deal with trailer lights, tires, bearings and all that mess. Don't have to register a trailer that small in Kansas and don't have to register my kayak since it's not motorized. Makes hauling a pedal drive yak in the back of the truck the cheapest way to get on the water by far.

This bait is awesome for calm conditions. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Berkley_Drift_Walker/descpage-DWK.html One that is discontinued that was a fish catching machine is the Norman's Top Dollar. Kind of a walking, spitting bait with more of a shad profile than others in it's category, the thing flat caught fish. Can still find a few out there. I save mine for important fish catching situations. I've caught more fish on the 80 size of this popper than any of my Megabass Popmax could ever dream of catching. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/River2Sea_Bubble_Walker/descpage-R2SBUB.html Another bait that just flat gets bit. Think Heddon Torpedo but with a completely different sound. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yo-Zuri_3DB_Series_Prop/descpage-YZ3PR.html Haven't ever bought into the hype of baits that make electronic noise, but this bait gets bites and they seem to be bigger than average. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Livingston_Walking_Boss_II_Jr_Tournament/descpage-WJ.html

I had one shoot out from under my boat on Table Rock after my jerkbait, scared me and both my buddies. Water was really clear, about 10' visibility, so it was just this massive black and white think moving at Mach speed through the water towards my jerkbait. Thankfully I yanked it out of the water before he caught it.

Got some baits trickling in from a few different places. Bunch of Rage and Zman baits from Siebert (Bugs, Menace, TRDs, and Hella Craws). 2 small packages from different places, TW and another discount store. 2 50 packs of Mister Twister Poc It Phenoms, 2 War Eagle Screaming Eagles, a FishLab 6" Wake Shad, and a BOYO Spook. For anyone interested, this is the BOYO between a regular Super Spook Jr and a Zara Puppy.

I got it out without much trouble.

Had to try out my new Okuma ITX despite working way too much OT the last few days so I stopped after work yesterday to make a few cast. Caught 2 warmouth and 3 bass. One bass had someone else's worm hook protruding from it's gills. The water in this creek was really clear and I got to sight fish this one. That ITX,

Caught this one yesterday morning. Obviously was not doing great with the hook sticking out through it's gills. Hopefully doing a little better after it was removed.

This was my "something different", last Saturday. Really heavy pressure during a tough bite on tournament day, I leaned on a 5" Mister Twister Poc-It Phenom worm on a 1/16oz EWG Ned head for a lot of my bites including my biggest of the day. Pitching the Menace at stumps and laydowns while everyone else fished jigs and beavers got a lot of the rest of my bites including one of my second largest fish.

Cutting the sprue and using harder lead both are keys to getting good Ned heads.