Bluebasser86

A lot of hype gets fishermen pretty worked up about new baits. I got a few, they work but haven't been any special.

Yes it is normal.

Green crawdad is my favorite color but it looks different now than it use to. I haven't fished the new version so I can't comment on them. I have some KO one knockers that I had painted that work really well for me, and I don't have to worry about losing any of my pre Rap warts.

Olathe has huge gizzard shad, some 14-16 inchers.

The head rides with the line tie up on a swinging football head and the eye is tucked in close so there's rarely any damage to the line unless the whole thing falls in the rocks but that seems to rarely happen. Again, I'm not trying to get to the bottom quickly with this rig. It's a giant finesse presentation but once it's down it's moved pretty quickly and rarely hangs. I have no idea where the line tie on a Tokyo rig even is, I've never see one in person or bothered to look that hard. It's always looked like a premade wire dropshot rig and never have seen a need to use one.

For those that haven't seen it yet, this is the bait the OP is referring to. 75 plopper on top, 60 plopper in the middle, 90 plopper on the bottom.

That's what I thought. A lot of comments making it sound like it's been around a while but I have a feeling there's either some mixing up of what one the 60 is, or just seeing Whopper Plopper and assuming the question is just about ploppers. I had to look, got mine in late October, not prime time topwater season here unfortunately. For those asking "why fish one so small?" My oldest son has always wanted to fish one because he likes watching me use them, now he can throw one on his spinning rod too.

Seems like it would be a waste of money to put expensive fluoro on my buzzbait rod when I don't get any of it's benefits and can use a cheaper mono or copolymer instead.

I use it with braid for flipping and pitching around grass.

The rods they have listed on the link are supposed to be available 3/19. Now whether that means they'll hit the shelves here locally or not, hard to tell. They do have a place you can put your email to get more information. Not sure if that might get you updates or information on when they'll be available in certain locales. https://stcroixrods.com/pages/victory?utm_source=BassResource&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=banner&utm_campaign=VictoryLaunch

I use them most of the time my rods aren't in use. Cheap insurance to keep rods from getting more dings and nicks than they would otherwise. They're a must when putting rods into a rod locker. I use certain colors for certain rods so I know which one to grab just by looking for the color of rod sock.

Pick what you like, can afford, feels comfortable, and works for you. I use to be all Shimano. I tried some different reels, have had some from several different companies that all had their pros and cons. Now I'm mostly Daiwa, but I still have some Okumas that I really liked. There isn't a "best", because it's subjective from person to person with what their wants and needs in a reel are.

Just have to have a short enough rod to work around everything without hitting the water. I bought those little 6' Falcon's from another member on here and they're perfect for jerkbaits and topwater in the yak.

Mine are locked. Haven't had anyone mess with it yet that I know of, but I did have grimy fingerprints on my windows I left cracked at the ramp one day when it was really hot outside. Assuming they tried to force my windows down to get inside. Thought about driving it to work with them on there to see if anyone at the crime lab wanted to lift the prints and see if they could get a hit on them, but there wasn't really any crime committed other than making my blood boil.

I couldn't give you a for sure honest answer there as I've never fished a Jika or Tokyo rig. It seems like the Jika or Tokyo rig would pull your bait much more directly to the bottom whereas the lightly weighted swinghead has a tendency to hop and glide around with those big worms, especially ones with the flatter sides like the YUM Mighty worm.

Did the 60 not just come out recently? I picked a couple up as soon as I saw them available but that was too late in the year here for them to be effective. Everyone that has them just collecting dust or your fish wised up to them, send them to me, I'll dispose of them for you ? One of the stupid easiest topwaters to catch fish on here.

I removed the split rings from almost all my cranks/traps/jerks this past summer and have gone to small duo snaps and have no plans to go back. The ability to cycle through baits and colors in high percentage areas has produced so many more fish for me that I wouldn't have caught otherwise. They're so small that they don't effect the action at all.

Not a better small jerkbait made than the 77 Rozante. I fish them all year long. They might be even better in warm water than they are in cold water. I fish them very fast for smallmouth when the water gets into the 70's and 80's. Largemouth eat them well too, but it just seems to do something to the smallmouth.

Welcome back!

This is how I learned. I'd pick a few baits each year to learn and really dedicate myself to learning them. If you try to learn 10 things at once, nothing sticks and you don't learn anything. When I learned to jig fish, I took 2 jig rods and a box of jigs and trailers for almost every trip for the entire year. I'm sure it wasn't the best bait option a lot of days, but it taught me how to fish a jig, even how to force them to eat it on days they don't really want to.

Olathe was mostly thawed a few days ago so I'm sure it is by now. It's about as tough a lake as you can find early in the year, but you can't catch them without trying. There's a couple ponds by the lake that I'd fish instead of the lake if I was on the bank.

Most smaller lakes are thawed already

Fishingskirts

I felt that mushy bite with cold fingers in heavy current. I don't notice a difference between the exposed vs covered blank in rods. The blank goes into the handle, if a fish hits it hard enough that it transmits down the blank to the handle, I'd probably feel it with any rod out there. I keep my finger under the line and watch my line, a lot of bites are detected by "weighing", my bait also, which is what happened to that fish. I get wanting one over the other, just not anywhere on my priority list when choosing a new rod.