Bluebasser86

Underspins are a slow retrieve bait, especially one as light as a 1/4oz. I'd go with the 6.1 reel, cast it out and reel as slow as you can stand.

Fireworks are allowed in town here, and man do people take full advantage of it!!

Yes it is. Looks pretty similar to a green sunfish in the body, but the colors are different and they aren't nearly as numerous. Their color patterns are always really cool though.

One of my favorite sunfish species to catch. Choked down a whole 5" General and got a 3/0 EWG hook in it's mouth all the way to it's eyeball.

New species are always cool, regardless of size.

Part of the great thing about braid is it requires no hookset for certain baits. When I'm fishing a plopper and a fish blows up, I just reel faster. If the fish is there, the hooks start to dig and I lean into it, if it not then the bait speeds up like a fleeing baitfish and often gets blasted. The hookset with braid is a bit different than with fluoro or mono though.

Ideally, I'm dropping straight down, or close to straight down on DS fish, but at the very least it's a target bait, be it a fish I've seen on the graph, or a vertical piece of cover or a piece of structure I want to drop on. The Ned is more of a casting bait I use to cover water. It's also the best skipping bait of the bunch and great for snatching them out from under docks when they won't eat a regular jig. The Neko is one I use for shallow water targets when they're finicky but wanting something on the bottom. I'd never really fished a Neko much until about a month ago, then I tied it on one day for a client and he went through a whole bag of YUM finesse worms that day and I caught several with one myself. Since then I've fished it most every trip and it's been very productive for me when the going gets tough.

I've got a bunch of ploppers, choppos, and smashtails. They all catch fish and have their own unique attributes. The Berkley hardbait line overall are great baits. Their hardware is better than just okay, those Fusion hooks are great IMO, one of the few baits I don't change out of the package.

Great fish!

I enjoy both, but I fish better alone.

I wear a XL in the Magellan shirts like I do in everything else.

Depends on the person really. For someone with a tight budget, $100 is probably top of the line. If you a lot of expendable income, the very highest priced rods and reels might be what is considered top of the line. For me, once it gets over 2 bills that's some pretty pricey stuff to be chasing a little fish I'm just going to put back in the water.

Tons of people out there that like their reels that aren't sponsored by KK. Refusing to use a companies warranty and customer service just because you think it's "A pain in the butt", is silly. I've had to go through the CS twice, once for a Sharky III that had a weak bail spring and once for a Speed Demon Pro rod that got broken in the mail 2 times, by no fault of theirs. The reel was a super easy process, told them what was going on, they gave me the option to get a new bail spring and replace it or get a new reel. I opted to get a new reel. They sent a new one with return shipping, I sent the old one back. Whole process took less than a week. The postal service kept breaking the rod during shipping in a heavy cardboard rod tube. I've received dozens of different rods in tubes like that, this is the first time I can remember getting one where the tube was bent in half like it was each time. They stayed in contact with me, kept me up to date on what was going on, and both times I received a broken rod they were quick to get another one in the mail headed my way. The postal service got an F out of the deal, but KK's CS got an A+ and I would not hesitate to use them again. The reels are affordable and very serviceable. I'm not going to say they're better than the higher end reels like some of those videos do I'm sure, because they're not, but they don't carry near the price tag either. I was skeptical at first when I gave one a try. I went straight out and torture tested it, an Assassin. Thought I'd kill the thing the first trip for sure. Nearly 2 hours straight in winter conditions catching hard pulling wipers almost every cast until my shoulders, back, and forearms couldn't take it anymore, horsing them as hard as my rod and line would allow. It's coming up on 3 years ago now and that reel is still in my regular rotation and still going strong, along with several more KK reels because I was so impressed with that reel's performance, and I'm not sponsored by them.

The 100 feels super solid to me. Haven't used a CT but I'd buy another 100 in a heartbeat.

I started doing it for something to do at first when I was 16. Shortly after I discovered all the different mold options and lure making components with online stores and my imagination started to run wild. That was about the same time the Chatterbait was really taking off and I liked them, but the hooks were terrible, the skirts slid down every time I set the hook, the blades would rust, it was just not a quality built bait and I felt I could make something better myself. It took a lot of trial and error, but I finally got something I liked and have since caught untold numbers of fish with them. Now I just love tinkering and being able to save myself the money and make everything to my exact specifications of what I need. I also enjoy making them for other people and the satisfaction of having people send pictures and tell stories of big fish they caught on baits I made them is almost as good as catching them myself.

5/0 Jason Christie signature series EWG Eagle Claws.

Welcome!

The power plant lake I fish often is stocked with Fl strain largemouth. It has one of the highest densities of lmb in the state for a reservoir, yet they're some of the most difficult fish to catch hands down.

It has been, but they're still showing it as a "newer" bait.

I liked the rod and the handle, but every one I had, the reel seat came loose during normal use.

I use a lot of my own baits, I'm probably about 35% of the time fishing something I've made, which I consider to be pretty good with how many baits I have.

No, they're fished very differently and for different fish when I'm using them.

I had high hopes but wasn't a fan of them on a wacky rig. They're okay if you use them on a wacky jighead.

Big bluegills got me for a whole bag of Generals, but I got a couple of them too.

Welcome!