Bluebasser86

Fished La Cygne Monday, caught about 20, mostly like this; But I did sneak in one better one. Squarebill, jerkbait, spinnerbait, shakyhead, and trap caught all my fish.

I've used one of them for it before it does pretty well. It's bigger and heavier than a lot of current reels (similar to a 200B Curado with a much bigger handle). It got the job done though.

I bought my son a new combo this year and the rod a went with is a Daiwa Aird X rod. He's only 5 but it's light enough and the handle is thin enough he can handle it easily but it looks and feels nice and is right around $50.

I have an 8.1 I use for frogging and a 6.2 I use for cranks. They've both been great so far and that's where I bought mine from. Pretty tough to beat for $100.

I think you could lay a couple spinnerbaits on their sides in there but not too many. I actually catch more largemouth on the pink baits than I do smallmouth.

I got a fish to smack a blade Sunday night in 15' of water off a rocky point and I whiffed on the hookset. The agony of defeat was painful missing a clear bite on a bait that I can't seem to figure out.

Topwater fishing can be great when it's snowing if the water temps aren't too cold yet due to the low pressure system associated with snow fall. LOZ fishermen get giddy when conditions are right to toss a buzzbait in snow.

I had a big bass eat a small bass I was reeling in on a popper once and ended up landing the fish. I wouldn't get too caught up about the bait though. I use to drag baits across the front of the glass when I worked at Cabela's and the bass would chase them all over, won some sales competitions doing it. Fact of the matter, I did the same with big bank sinkers too, and they chased them just as hard as they did the crankbaits. They're conditioned to eat whatever is tossed into the tank as fast as possible because of the competition.

I pour mine on a #2, which is perfect IMO. I've landed flatheads over 20lbs on that head with no issues. The material of the bait is so soft that it collapses when a fish bites, so hookups aren't an issue. I think the bigger hook causes more issues than it fixes by snagging more and making the bait more rigid and reducing the subtle action they have.

I cannot stress enough that those swimbaits in the link are absolute garbage. They will catch a fish or two, but they will fall apart in no time also. You can fish a River2Sea S-Waver 168, FishLab Bio Gill/Wake Gill 4", Savage Gear 5" Shine Glide or 5.25" Gear Glide Swimmer all on a MH casting rod and 12 or 15lb test, none will break the bank, and they're all exponentially better than the baits in the link.

Whopper Ploppper-slow, steady retrieve, just fast enough to get it plopping. Walking baits-typically walk them as fast as I can for smallmouth. Poppers (chug bug is my favorite for smallmouth)-pop, pop, pause, the bait should walk while it pops also. Crawlers-slow, steady retrieve. (pompadour, Deps Buzzjet, and Livingston Walking Boss Part II are my favorites).

@Frog Turds posted a good calico colored largemouth that he's caught twice now a few pages back. It has something to do with water temp. I've never caught one from warmer water, it's always during the cold weather months, kind of like how a person's cheeks turn red in the cold. Made my first "winter" trip to the power plant today. Seemed slow for everyone else but it was pretty steady for me despite fighting with a leaves floating everywhere. Caught 15-20 on a shakyhead, squarebills, jerkbait, trap, and spinnerbait that all looked like this; Had a couple white bass that oddly enough never bothered my baits fishing a shad colored bait but hammered my squarebill when I switched to a red craw colored one. I lost 2 good ones on the squarebill, needs different hooks on it. I did manage to keep a good one stuck on the shakyhead though. 1/8oz shakyhead with a GP YUM Magnum Finesse worm. About as healthy of a individual as you can catch. Clearly it needed to eat something soon.

Caught a rare "Holstein" bass today ?

One of the original KK Speed Demons.

Finally decided to sell mine this summer. Loved those reels, but wanted to sell them while they still had value. Parts are getting harder to find and I didn't want them to start breaking and needing parts that I couldn't find or were too expensive to be worth fixing and have to sell them as parts reels. Best workhorse reels I've ever owned.

While some of the features are nicer than a standard box, I'd say they fall into the "buy once, cry once" category similar to a higher priced reel or rod. Latches on the standard boxes break, the lids and boxes themselves get weathered and eventually crack or break, or get moisture and rust in them (at least mine do), so if these far out last those so I'm not having to change over all my boxes every couple 2 or 3 years, they'll be worth it to me.

I would have gotten away from that grass if at all possible. The big red flag in your story was that all that grass had recently died, meaning a big reduction in oxygen and big increase in carbon dioxide in the water. Fish are going to try to avoid that if possible. If they can't get away completely, the edges are going to be your best bet and let something soak like a lightly weighted plastic, and move it along slowly. The other option is to go the opposite direction and try to drop a heavy jig or punching plastic on them and try to get a reaction strike and cover water quickly in search of those few active fish.

Spinnerbaits are good if you're around cover. If you're not, I'd suggest an inline spinner because of their higher hookup ratio. If cover is limited, I also like the small swimbait suggestion or even a plain 3 or 4 inch grub. My wife and son both fish a grub a lot and catch quite a few fish just casting and reeling them on a darter head.

It will work, but it's far from ideal. It's much better suited for the ploppers than the buzzers, just don't set the hook when they bite, keep cranking and keep the line tight and kind of sweep into them and you'll be fine. A rod more like what you'd use for spinnerbaits is ideal. I use a 6' 10" MH/F with a 9.3 reel and 15lb Big Game.

Not been many times I've gone fishing and wished I hadn't. Lots of times I haven't gone and wished I had.

7' MH/F LTB, Zillion TWS SV 9.1, 15lb Tatsu

Agreed, one of the bargain baits from Walmart off the bottom shelf boxes.

Welcome!

I use a 6' 8" M Ethos with a 30 President and 8lb AbrasX to throw small cranks like shad raps and 1.0s.

I use a 30 size President for throwing small cranks.