Bluebasser86

As long as the weeds are subsurface, sounds like good cranking conditions to me. A Strike King Hybrid Hunter is one I like to fish.

I've fish a wide variety of big swimbaits and usually try to toss them around a little bit every time I go out.

White Perch are annoying but excellent catfish and striper bait. Big bass seem to enjoy them also.

Looks like a great time. I want to take my family down there sometime. I think they'd really enjoy it.

I'm sure if you cast and retrieve them, they'll work like a micro buzzbait/buzztoad. You'll need probably at least 1/8oz weight to make the legs do anything on the fall though. They're one of my favorite jig trailers.

I've doubled lots of times, and I've thrown a Frontrunner quite a bit. None of my doubles have been on a Frontrunner. Jerkbaits, traps, poppers, spooks, squarebills, and glidebaits have all accounted for my doubles. I've had 2 doubles on an A-rig, both times were 2 white bass. My most recent one was only a month or so ago on a squarebill with a largemouth/smallmouth double.

I fish a Super Spook JR a lot and in some pretty decent chop. Straight 20lb braid on a M/F casting rod. I don't know how people catch the hooks on the line during the retrieve but I almost never do and the braid helps keep the bait from diving under. I can also cast further and just reel into fish when they bite, which helps me to not pull it away from them if they miss the bait the first attempt.

Saturday was our Tri-County roadrunner style tournament. Tuesday night I had some pretty significant pain flair up. It didn't get any better by Thursday so I'd gone to the walk in clinic at my doctor. He pretty immediately told me to get to the ER, so I got to spend some time there Thursday and got sent home with painkillers and medication for the infection I'm apparently dealing with. I probably shouldn't have fished the tournament, but like the saying goes; "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough". I got to the ramp at the lake I wanted to fish in plenty of time and was surprised that only 5 other trucks were there. Unfortunately, when I picked up my tacklebox out of the back of my truck, I had a shot of pain run through me like I'd been stabbed in the back and kicked in the groin at the same time. I spent several minutes laying on the front of my kayak before I was able to regain composure and finish loading everything. It was a few minutes after first cast before I finally made mine. Didn't take long to catch fish. I watched another angler catch a 20.75" within casting distance of me on a buzzbait, it was a pretty cool catch and he's a good guy so I enjoyed watching it go down. I had a limit pretty fast but mostly small fish as I worked down the lake. I had a huge brushpile that hangs out over a ledge I wanted to fish because it always hold fish. I got snagged in it with my crawtube, retrieved it, and cast a big worm towards the edges of it and got a light tap. My drag slipped terribly when I set the hook, but she stayed stuck and buried into the tree. Thankfully, the 20lb Tatsu held and I slid the net under a solid 20 incher. I pedaled across to a small group of stumps on the edge of a flat that drops into deeper water. Ran a crankbait through them, nothing. Cast my crawtube to one, got a little peck and the line started moving. Next keeper was a nice 17.25" fish. Then for some reason, another big surge of pain. I couldn't even lift my feet to the pedals for several minutes, just sat there trying to take deep breaths and hope it would go away. Finally it did somewhat. I paddled close to the shore to a single log and ran a bladed jig down it. Watched a wake shoot over the tree and felt the jolt. The fish looked a lot bigger, but still a decent 16.75" fish. I had a pretty decent dry spell of just a few small fish, when I switched my craw tube to an old color of Strike King Denny Brauer Flipping tubes. It was like a light switch. I missed several of the bites unfortunately, but the first one I actually hooked was an 18.25" fish. I caught several more small fish on the tube and a squarebill, and had a serious issue with missing and losing fish. Had a couple solid feeling fish hooked that just came off before I saw them. I hooked and lost or missed fish off the same stump 3 times before finally catching this 17.25" fish. I have no service at this lake, so I had no idea how I was doing but I kept hearing about big fish and heard a rumor from the neighboring lake of someone having "Multiple 21" fish". So I was pretty much just on cruise control, happy to have a decent limit despite the difficulties I was dealing with. At our weigh in, I found out that someone had just had allegedly had chances at multiple 21" fish but failed to convert (happens to all of us every trip doesn't it?), and the fishing was tougher than what I'd thought. I ended catching 3 dozen bass on the day, and my biggest 5 went 89.5", which proved to be good enough for 3rd and just a small cull away from winning the thing. Todd was who I watched catch the big one on the buzzbait first thing in the morning, so I was happy to see him win it.

For smallies I use a shakyhead, split shot rig, T rig, or C rig. Shakyhead is my favorite for smallmouth with the split shot being the close second.

I'm not sure I could put that bag together with my biggest 5 this year, let alone a single day.

It took 98" to win last year...

We've got a roadrunner tournament this next weekend. Any public body of water is open to fish in the 3 counties south of the one I live in. Not super excited about it, there really isn't a lot of good options except a couple so even though there is a lot of options, we'll probably all be on the same small lakes anyways. I'm hoping I may have a little wildcard lake but I just don't think it has enough top-end sized fish to get it done. I went out and fished it Saturday and would have put together a pretty decent bag. Thought I had a kicker, but of course it had whiskers.

It's always funny to me when someone that works for a place like that has no idea what they're talking about ?

I caught a dink on a Choppo Saturday, first fish I can remember catching on a plopper style bait this year and I couldn't tell you the last one before that. I've been having much better luck with walking baits than ploppers.

Watermelon/purple baby brush hog is a great smallie bait. I use the regular brush hog quite a bit.

Bring plenty of water. A gallon wasn't enough Saturday. Ran out of water 1/2 mile from the ramp. I was lightheaded and dizzy when I got to the ramp. Went straight to the nearest gas station after I loaded up and got a big bottle of water.

Tiny jigs are fun. I make my own and they're like magic some days.

They hurt but I was more worried about the boat hitting one of the big lizards that were swimming around all over and ending up on the shore.

I have before but not the biggest fan. I don't like my clothes sticking to me and I don't really overheat so I'm usually fine as long as I have enough water to drink.

I like Okuma, have several of their baitcasters. Sounds like that is their swimbait model and not the standard Citrix. The 364A is the swimbait sized reel, much larger than a standard baitcaster. It's a good reel, I've used one for a few years now, but unless you're slinging big baits with it, it's not going to be what you want.

Hookup ratio is excellent. I don't get as many bites with them but when they're necessary, they rarely miss or lose a fish. I use them for most any small plastic, not just Zman baits.

Hook file fixes dull hooks. A new skirt will take the place of a thin one, or zip tie the original in place when the bait is new. Fish don't care about the paint on the head, only we do ? Fish them until I lose them.

I also fish jerkbaits in the summer. I'll often fish them on a spinning rod. When bass are targeting the newly hatched shad fry, a small jerkbait fished quickly can trigger lots of strikes.

Not taking any chances, got some bulk packs of my favorite BBB on the way to the house now.

A bass boat on lakes I'm good, narrow canals and creeks, not a fan. I fished in the Everglades several years ago with a fellow member and I was clenched up pretty good for those rides.