Bluebasser86

I must be the only person to ever use Hybrid and hate it. The spool I got was like rope and looked like it was glowing under water. I could barely cast with an 1/8oz shakyhead on 8lb test because it jumped off my reel like a slinky, no matter what I did. Makes me wonder if I got an old spool or something.

Have used, and still do use it. It's really nice line. Very tough and the black disappears into our dark water right away.

You can buy the YoMomma in 100 packs. I didn't know until I went on their website. The watermelon red/black neon laminate color is a killer bait for me in stained water, along with my standby sapphire blue. I also like their creature bait (brush hog KO), and the fact that it can be bought in 25 packs for about the same price as a regular pack of brush hogs. The craw tube is a big fish bait I don't talk about much, especially the guys in our Thursday night group

Bone, all day, err day.

Savage Gear Shine Glide is a better gliding bait than the Onimasu or S-Waver 168 IMO. I love Duo baits, but other than the sweet paint jobs, the Onimasu is a miss. It has a very clunky, dull glide. S-Waver is obviously a proven bait, but after fishing both extensively, I sold my S-Wavers and bought a bunch of Shine Glides instead. The scratches are kind of hard to see because of the color of the bait, but this is one my very chewed Shine Glides.

7' M/F 20lb braid, same setup I fish the 90 and 110 on.

I like the action and price the the Tip Toad better. A dollar less a pack for the same number of baits and they have a great action. Durability is about the same. I use a screwlock hook and usually get 3-5 fish a bait.

I fished it on a dropshot Thursday and they seemed to like it well, and I'm not very good at dropshotting! I had it wacky rigged and it had a nice, lively action.

Intentionally lying to you? No. Giving you misinformation in an attempt to sound credible? Quite possibly. I've dealt with the latter many times at the local sporting goods stores.

I have several Pfluegar spinning reels from the Trion to the Supreme XT. All of them have heavy use in all kinds of conditions, more than one of them has been dunked, never had any issues with any bearings rusting. Sounds to me like you found a guy in a shop who didn't know much other than a cool acronym to try to get you to buy a more expensive Shimano reel.

There is a lot to be said for time on the water. With time you realize that there's certain baits and areas that produce larger than average bass. Lots of good books out there to read up on targeting big bass. Glen Lau's Bigmouth Forever is on Youtube and really opened my eyes about what a bass is capable of doing and their behavior.

My only DD happened so fast I didn't really get to enjoy it. I was reeling in to make my next cast when a huge shadow charged behind my bait, an 8" lizard. I free-spooled my reel, it sank maybe 5' into the murky water before the line jumped, slammed the rod back and the fish was instantly on the surface and my guide Manuel already had the net waiting when he saw the fish, had the fish in the net. Time from the fish was first sighted to in the net was less than 10 seconds. I'm sure glad to have caught it, but I do feel like I missed out not getting to have that long, drawn out fight others talk about. I've caught quite a few over 7 in Kansas and I caught several 7-9 pound fish in Mexico, they just look like a different species of bass when they get that size.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Plastics on the riprap fished slow is usually my best bait this time of year. Going to be real hot, I'd get there as early as you can or stay late if possible. Light weights come through those rocks better for me, bigger ones just slam down in the rocks and stay there. Cranks are great if you don't care what you catch.

I threw a 75 plopper for the first time yesterday in 15-20mph winds and caught a lot of fish.

Welcome!

All but the last few fish in this video were on my Assassin. I do this almost every week, all winter long, ice jamming into the reel, fish ripping line out the other side, firing cast after cast with a trap. It's been doing that without issue for 2 years as well as being a multipurpose reel for me the rest of the year, including flinging a 5" Bull Shad. I don't expect it to last like a Curado or Tatula, but it's already lasted longer than I expected and it's still going strong.

I've fished several Livingston baits and have not been a fan of many of them. That seems like a pretty high price tag for just another frog.

I pour some specifically for fishing big straight tail worms. I'm normally using them in shallower water and lots of rocks so I pour an 1/8oz head with a 7/0 Gama Monster Worm hook. The weight and worms glides over rocks without getting snagged and that big hook fishes those 8-11 inch worms without any problems.

I probably fish a beaver style bait more than any other with the Strike King Rodent, Big Bite Baits YoMomma, and YUM Woolly Bug and Bad Momma being my favorites.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Good call on going shallow, you might not have seen a single smallmouth the entire event if you'd stayed out deep. I can count on 2 hands the number of smallmouth I've caught in Kansas deeper than 20', they just don't seem to go out deep except during the winter months when they're basically uncatchable anyways. I don't know why, I suppose it's because a majority of the food is shallow, or maybe because it's easier for them to outcompete the abundant wipers and white bass up shallow than it is in the open water. Kind of surprised you didn't get on any largemouth when you started up north, that's where a lot of tournaments are won on that lake, but it's also time consuming to find them and figure them out since there's so many fewer of them and there's plenty of big smallmouth that getting on the largemouth doesn't always guarantee anything. That lake and those fish are so weird and can be so specific that it really takes a long time to learn how to catch the better fish out of it, you guys did good to get the ones you got with such a short time to figure it out. The wind on that lake is something else isn't it