Bluebasser86

My go to lure when I'm fishing creeks from the bank. Everything eats them and they work well in shallow water.

I like the EWG hooks with traps. They hook and hold fish and don't seem to hang up quite as much when I'm ripping them off the bottom in the winter.

It isn't all about changing hooks because they're bent or damaged, some hooks just aren't very sharp right out of the package. I guess I see it completely different. I'm not losing the fish of a lifetime because a stock hook is "maybe good enough", when I can put a hook on that I know is one of the best, sharpest hooks made that gives me every chance to land it when a monster comes along. Spend too much time chasing them to lose them over trying to save a few pennies or being lazy/complacent.

40* in fall is different than 40* in spring. Fish are still more active coming off warmer water versus warming up from cold water. About the only thin I'm not throwing in that water temp is topwater.

A lot has to do with the split ring connection giving the blade more range of motion. The chatterbait blade is directly connected and the blade can't move far giving it that sharper vibration and straight retrieve path. A bait like the Fogy that is connected with a split ring, the blade swings side to side much further and the bait will tend to wander and "hunt", in the process. I'm a firm believer that those split ring connected baits also produce a bigger, slower thump which more closely imitates a larger baitfish and lends itself to catching larger fish. I fish both types extensively and have caught far more big fish on the split ring connected baits.

Had a client catch this Saturday when it clamped down on his dropshot weight.

Nothing but guide trips for me this weekend, but thankfully both days they were alright with me fishing too. Friday I had Mark on a solo trip and in search of his first ever smallmouth. Took a while but we finally found it. He also caught his first ever sauger. PB white bass and PB channel cat on a crankbait All told, we had over 50 fish come to the boat, and saw plenty big smallmouth, but they just kept missing our topwaters and never did connect. The only big smallmouth of the day was my 14lb smallmouth buffalo on a spinbait ? Saturday I had Eric and his son Jason who just wanted to catch fish and didn't care how big they were. It's a good thing because the bigger ones didn't cooperate but the little guys were hungry. They were both pretty new to it, had to learn how to use a wacky rig and dropshot but by they end of the day had it down pretty well. Jason actually caught a fish his first 2 cast of the morning with a wacky rig. Once they figured out that they could get a bite off almost ever dock or brush pile I marked on my graph with a dropshot though, they were both fishing that. The fish were really eating a pink or morning dawn colored worm, make wasn't important. The craziest part was Eric got a "bite", and reeled in a freshwater mussel that had clamped down on his dropshot sinker. I spent a lot of time fishing an Antidote glide trying to pull fish out from under docks for them to flip wacky rigs back at but I managed to catch one little guy and a suicidal sunfish on it. Also found one dock loaded with nice black crappie that were catching a Ned rig on the drop. Had to skip way back under it though so I caught a couple and kept moving because that dock was getting beat to death by the baits bouncing off the side of it ?

Welcome!

The Duel version (sister company of Yo-Zuri), has flat sides. It has a lively action with a lot of roll and wobble at rest. It suspends well and has a lot of flash due to the flat sides and finish they have.

I fished it straight out of the package and didn't have any issues. Caught my biggest bag of smallmouth this year mostly on one with the stock hooks. Unfortunately they discontinued the color that worked so well for me.

Green pumpkin black and blue sapphire blue Junebug watermelon red Red bug and Plum apple would get my honorable mentions.

Never tried fried green tomatoes but our plants have put out so many fruit this year that I've eaten my body weight in tomatoes a couple times over, several batches of salsa, plus given dozens away, and there's still dozens on the plants along with the couple dozens ripe ones I have waiting to be used. I might have to give the fried green tomatoes a shot.

Only way to catch fish is to go fishing ?‍♂️ Unless conditions are just horrible (and sometimes even that doesn't stop me), will I stay home when I have the chance to go fishing.

Sun gloves with the leather palms keep mine from getting too torn up. Not a big fan of my thumbs bleeding from catching a bunch of fish. Their teeth don't change with the cooler temps. Could be a combination of things. Catching more fish than normal. Fish with more fish flopping more while you're handling them doing more damage. Catching bigger fish than normal. If your hands are staying wet, your skin will tear easier than dry skin.

They're still slicker than carpeted bunks. I can push my heavy johnboat off my trailer without it touching water as long it's got a slight incline.

Once they get wet, it's like a wet bar of soap in the bottom of a bathtub.

Zman TRD Strike King Ocho Zoom Magnum Finesse worm Big Bite Baits Yomoma YUM Christie Craw Strike King Menace Zoom Ol' Monster Strike King Pro Model Coffee tube Zoom Baby Brush Hog Havoc Pit Boss

Not a big fan of the MB 110 either. They catch fish but man are they fragile. I've found I fish too many rocks to own them apparently. My favorites are the Duo Realis 110 and Rozante 77sp, KVD 300 (excited to try the 100 also), 6th Sense Provoke 106, and the Duel Hardcore minnow flat sp (which I believe is now the Yo-Zuri 3DB Series jerkbait).

I've found 3 whopper ploppers in 3 weeks, 2 90s and 1 110. I also found a Falcon Bucoo SR 7' 4" H/F and a Daiwa Tatula SV TWS 8.1 when I saw the FishLab Rattle Toad that was tied onto it floating a few inches below the surface. Amazingly enough, a guy I'd guided once before emailed me and told me the story on how he'd lost it when he rolles his kayak the day before I was there. Got it, and the 110 plopper that he also lost, back to him.

It's newish. I'm using a 70mm in Bone color.

I've been using a Berkley Bullet Pop. Was not a fan of the Arashi at all. I didn't find it to be an easy popper to walk and it had a tendency to dig under the surface more than I like. The Bullet Pop cast and walks very well, so I've been sticking with it.

My boys call them "whopper fwoppers". They both like watching me fish them, because they like the sound they make and when a fish eats them.

I turn the line stripper on slow and leave it while I'm grabbing the line I'm going to put back on the reel, maximum efficiency! ?

The SX is a great reel. I've been using one for one of my main heavier jig rod reels now for a couple years and it's been great. Also have a Helios, a couple Helios TCS, a RTX spinning, and an Epixor spinning as well as several bait feeder spinning reels I use for catfish and wipers. Okuma is a very underappreciated brand but it works out in your favor because you can find them well under retail all the time with a little looking.

Jig fishing is addicting for sure. A cheaper rod will catch jig fish, but there's times when maximum sensitivity is needed and it sounds like you're dealing with one of those situations.