Bluebasser86

High 40s to low 50s is what I have been seeing.

I have a 150 and would be okay fishing those baits in a pinch, but I'd go with the 200 for a regular use reel.

Palomar with a long tag is all I do.

I like braid mainline for C rigs and 15lb fluoro for football jigs.

There's a huge difference between actually trolling effectively, and dragging a bait blindly behind a boat hoping it runs into a fish. I trolled up tons of crappie in my 2 man as a kid on roadrunners and shad raps. Trolling for them is one of the most popular ways to catch them in the summer when they scatter out.

I'm testing some Sufix Advance right now. So far it's been as advertised but the memory is a bit more than most monos.

Same, as well as a few sizes of the Goat and Billy Goat. Caught my first couple punching the Billy Goat through dead grass mats last week.

I wear muck boots when the water is cold. When the water is warm, I don't worry about getting in the water.

I think one issue is fish eating them deeply and getting hooked in the thin skin along the top of the mouth at a weird angle and the hook tears out during the fight.

I thought this was going to be a picture of my garage.

I swap reels between rods all the time, but very rarely mid trip.

I do that to my kids and they hate it ?

I got real close to getting sprayed this morning. I've got a lake suggestion if you need one to keep the skunk off.

You can find 300 Tatulas for close to $200 with a little searching. I've almost pulled the trigger a couple times. I need to just sell my 300E Curado and buy the Tatula.

What insight do you want on it?

I think we're just going to name it Fred.

I can cover a ton of water with a Ned rig, even with my 1/16oz heads I use.

My favorite is yo-yoing, stroking, whatever you want to call the lift-drop retrieve. When they're on that and I get that distinct "tick", on the fall and lean into a bunch of weight, I love that. I catch a ton just chunking and winding, but I loose or miss a lot more of those bites too.

Welcome!

2.5 hours in the wind on a cold, muddy water lake for one bite, but at least it wasn't a dink.

18", didn't weigh it. Bumped me up the leaderboard a bit for my kayak tournament. Still need some 20" fish to have a shot though.

I had 50.9, about 3' high, and so muddy my red/orange kicker blade on my spinnerbait disappeared completely 6" under the water this morning. Worked hard for 2.5 hours for 1 bite but it was a solid fish at least.

And there's no correct answer and the answer is always evolving.

Casting straight into a strong wind is difficult, even for experienced casters. If you're going to do it, make sure it's with a bait that isn't going to catch the wind and sail, at least with a baitcaster, or you'll have a mess on your hands. If you can find a mudline, where the water is stirred up and the clearer lake water is meeting the stirred up water, the bass will be around that using it to ambush prey. They'll also get right on the shoreline looking for prey that gets uprooted by the waves crashing into the shoreline. Baitfish do not get pushed into shorelines by the wind, as is commonly said. What actually happens, is baitfish are doing the same thing the bass are doing and following the food. The wind pushes plankton and the baitfish follow it to feed on, and the bass follow the baitfish. Baits as always can vary, but moving baits typically dominate. My favorites include a 1/2oz spinnerbait, bladed jig, lipless crank, squarebill, walking topwater, or buzzbait. In high winds, I'd skip the boat if you don't have a motor, too much risk and hassle. You can catch plenty of fish shore bound.

It has to have quality components. If any one piece isn't good, the whole thing isn't good. I'm talking the blades, hook, swivel, and skirt. Ever looked at a good looking bait and then seen it didn't have a ball bearing swivel or the blades looked dull and put it back? A trailer keeper is nice, but not a requirement for me since I don't always use them. I do really like a wire tied skirt but also not a requirement since I'll just tie my own if it's not there to start with. Wire thickness depends because I use different baits for different things. I have spinnerbaits that are cover bangers that I'm going to be crashing into stumps, logs, and docks that don't need a ton of vibration, but they do need to be durable. Those baits I prefer to be a thicker wire. I also pour my own big thumpers that I do on a heavier wire to withstand the torque of those #6 and #7 Colorado blades. For the more open water baits, a thinner to medium wire is good to get that vibration to help call the fish in. Right now I've got 3 favorites that are on the shelf, War Eagle, Booyah Covert, and Nichols (particularly the Pulsator Hoosier series). All 3 fit into the mold of what I like in a spinnerbait and all 3 are fish catching machines.