Bluebasser86

Welcome!

Kind of like how everyone calls cover "structure". A tree isn't structure, a dock isn't structure, grass isn't structure. A dropoff, rockpile, or hump, those are structure. It's splitting hairs, but it's nails on a chalkboard to me.

Harassing someone who is legally hunting or fishing is illegal in a lot of states (including Florida), which sounds like what you're suggesting and this forum is 100% against any form of illegal activity. For that reason, we're done here. LOCKDOWN!! Florida Statutes 379.105 Harassment of hunters, trappers, or fishers.— (1) A person may not intentionally, within a publicly or privately owned wildlife management or fish management area or on any state-owned water body: (a) Interfere with or attempt to prevent the lawful taking of fish, game, or nongame animals by another. (b) Attempt to disturb fish, game, or nongame animals or attempt to affect their behavior with the intent to prevent their lawful taking by another. (2) Any person who violates this section commits a Level Two violation under s. 379.401.

Riprap from shore is tough. Pulling uphill into the rocks is a pretty impossible task. When I use to bank fish a lot, it was with squarebills, lipless baits, suspending jerkbaits, topwaters, spinnerbaits, or lightly weighted Trigs. Cast were usually as parallel as I could get them and don't drag the bottom contact baits too hard, or pull into rocks too hard when a bait starts to get stuck. Usually, if you don't pull into them too hard, you can walk past them and they'll pull back out the way they went in. If you really pull hard and bury them into a wedge in the rocks, probably kiss them goodbye.

Just like the scale, the video doesn't lie

I was excited to finally score a Shellcracker, now I have a feeling someone at the USPS is excited about their new Shellcracker. Left California and was in the hub in KC, then that update disappeared and I've got the dreaded; February 23, 2021 In Transit, Arriving Late Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.

On the bigger lakes, I usually have an idea of where I want to go to start and it's almost always going to be somewhere that was previously productive. On the small lakes that are under 200 acres, it's usually just put the trolling motor down and decide if I want to go right or left.

I have my PB, my PB in my home state, and lake PBs.

I powder paint with a powder gun. It's messy and a hassle, but as long as you're doing small quantities (I only do them for myself), it's worth it.

Seems like the Lund is quite a bit less expensive? When I was shopping, I looked at the Ranger, but that price tag scared me off. That's a ton of money for a tin boat that really seemed like a lot of it was going towards the name. I've fished out of one of the 17' RTs, they're not bad, but it didn't wow me for the money.

I'd much rather have my pedal kayak than a canoe. I spent a lot of time in a canoe growing up and it was never comfortable. We get so much wind here, they're pretty worthless on anything other than rivers/streams.

Winter is a hard time for me to get bit on a jig. I know that sounds completely backwards, but it just seems like so many other baits are better options when the water is cold where I fish. So I rarely use them during the winter months.

I have the smallest size and caught some on a Ned rig late last year. On my 1/16oz heads the legs don't do anything, so if you want any kick, you might have to step up to a 3/32 or 1/8oz. Need to get some bigger ones for flipping after seeing how beefy they are in pictures.

Jerkbait Ned Spinnerbait

A regular 2 or 3 inch twin tail grub does a good job and helps keep the bait riding right. The 2.75" YUM craw papi is what I use on my 1/8oz micro jigs and the claws flap around quite a bit.

I set mine as basically a "break glass in case of emergency", type thing. It will slip just a tiny bit right before my lines breaking point in the off chance I hook a fish that takes off so fast that it hits the end of my line before I can get the AR switch flipped. It hasn't happened yet, but it's there. I just put my finger on the spool to make sure it doesn't slip when I'm really putting the heat one them.

I bought mine from a small online shop in Tennessee I think. I was doing some deep digging looking for an apparently discontinued color of Provoke 106 and needed 1 more thing to get free shipping. They had plenty in stock.

Welcome! There's probably some information, or someone who can help you, in the Western Bass Fishing Forums https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/forum/17-western-bass-fishing/

Yeah, the forecast is sounding really "peoply?peoplie?", outside Saturday. I might have to just change it up and chase catfish and hybrids with shad instead of bass. I get anxiety just thinking of playing bumper boats trying to get on the halfway decent spots when all the fairweather fishermen show up.

Agree with everything. You're going to be disappointed but it's not going to really be any fault of the line.

IMO, the 6' 8" M/XF "Wacky Style", rod is a better rod. I had a bunch of Mojos before switching to the LTB's, but I kept that one, almost specifically for throwing stick worms. Maybe if you're making really long cast and needing the extra distance and hook setting ability, I might go with the longer rod.

I bought a spool of 10# to try for cranking and jerkbaits. We'll see how it goes.

My boat likes the fenders just above the water line. That way I can power it on with no side to side movement and it doesn't try to slide back off before I can hookup the front winch strap. Takes some trail and error to learn the sweet spot. Just pay attention to how far back you are before you load it and when it loads up nice, keep doing that.

I love fishing a jig, but I also know that it's just another tool. You have to recognize that some days it's the deal, and some days it isn't. It is kind of like a T-rig, but fishing one just isn't as similar to one as we'd like it to be when we're trying to learn them.

No. Let it sink to the bottom and rip it off the bottom, then let it sink back to the bottom and repeat. Sometimes you'll feel a "tick", as it's sinking. Other times they'll just be there when you go to lift the bait off the bottom. Generally, the colder it is, the softer and sorter the rips and the longer the pauses in between. They will eat the bait off the bottom as it sits motionless just like a jig in very cold water. I've caught fish that had mouths full of mud or grass from eating the bait off the bottom.