Bluebasser86

Congrats on the great fish @JRez. I was late to the whopper plopper party. Didn't want to believe such a goofy looking lure could really work as well as guys claimed. I felt like they couldn't work any better than another topwater put in the same place, I was wrong. They're a big time producer that calls fish from long distances. I've thrown all kinds of other topwater on guide trips while I have 2 novice anglers in the boat with me, fishing behind me, and their ploppers get hammered while my baits get ignored. They're not magic, but there's certainly something to them when the fish are on them. Some of the most violent topwater strikes out there too.

I'd put a dropshot and a wacky rig on the spinning rods. A big walk the dog topwater if the weeds aren't to the surface, a frog if they are. Spinnerbait/bladed jig/swim jig depending if they're even an option over or around the weed edges. On the big casting rod, 50lb braid with a tungsten weight heavy enough to get through the grass, 4/0 straight shank flipping hook and a beaver or craw flipping bait (Strike King Rodent has been good for me this year).

I caught a 5.25 there on a Baby -1 several years ago. Found what I assume was the same fish dead in the trash can with a stick jammed through it's gills later that year. Not filleted, just killed and thrown away. The tiny little pond just down the street to the south has some nice fish too along with a lot of crappie.

Miami is starting to come back a little bit I believe, although our last tourney there didn't show it. Big bass and first with this pretty meager showing.

I almost did that last tournament I fished, but I didn't want to give my game plan away, so I ended up with 4. I caught all 5 of our keepers and the big bass of the night on the 2 rods I'd planned on having out though.

I use braid for all topwaters except buzzbaits. Fill the spool with more braid than you can cast off on a long cast. I fill mine with almost all braid, just a few wraps of mono backing.

I've had great luck with KastKing Super Power braid in 10-20 pound on my spinning reels.

I reel left handed with spinning, right handed with baitcasting, and I CANNOT interchange the two. Trying to reel a spinning reel right handed or a baitcaster left handed feels completely foreign to me. I tried a lefty baitcaster once, even setting the hook felt all wrong. I went back and have no plans to change again. I switch hands mid cast and I'm ready to reel or set the hook as soon as my bait hits the water anyways.

I've owned both and prefer the S Waver by a wide margin. A Savage Gear Shine Glide is in the same price range and has outproduced both of those though.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Mine is a casting rod, the Smallmouth Elite Tech 6' 3" M/MF. There was a bunch on FFO for less than half price last year and I couldn't help myself. Now I wish I'd bought a couple of them for the price they were going for. Makes an excellent rod for smaller jerkbaits.

Lots of guys hate fishing them. Fishing is supposed to be fun so if someone doesn't enjoy fishing them why would they want them? I recently sold most of my crankbaits because I hate fishing them and don't catch many fish on them. I know they work and lots of guys do great with them, but I don't enjoy fishing them, even when I'm catching fish on them, so why bother owning them? I've been working on paring down my baits in the boat. If I could reset one thing, I'd like to have all the money back that I spent on all the crankbaits that I just sold.

Fish are smart in the way that they can learn to avoid certain situations and areas, but not overly intelligent. Most likely the fish you caught had moved away from the areas of easy access due to being caught or spooked by noisy shore anglers. If found a quieter area away from the commotion and set up shop until you got to it.

No worries thete, they can't get to my bilge area unless I open it and put them there. I save mine to melt down and repour.

That's awesome man! Hope everything goes well! I remember how nervous we were the day before we were supposed to finally go home (Christmas Eve). Almost 4 years ago now and the kid is as full of fire as he was then.

When I worked at Cabelas in KC we had a kid bring in a nearly 100lb Bighead he caught below the Truman dam on Lake of the Ozarks. It was a disgusting fish that thankfully ended up dying from the stress of being transported before it made it into the aquarium. The big blue cats in the tanks enjoyed their Bighead carp fillets though

Always cool when someone sticks a pig on a bait that you made for them.

They're disgusting, slimy, stinking things. They seem to start bleeding if you look at them funny. They do have very tiny scales like a shad, which is part of the big concern with them. It's hard for even experienced anglers to tell them from shad at smaller sizes, which could lead to them being used as bait and potentially transferred to bodies of water they don't currently reside in. I've killed hundreds of them with a bow, even more with a cast net. I've had times when the newly hatched ones gather below dams I can catch over a hundred in a throw, over and over again. Places that used to be full of shad and goldeye are now full of them.

Pline Xtra strong or Big Game, 15-25 pound depending on the bait.

I use a 1/2oz a majority of the time, but I'll go to 3/4 if it's windy.

Siebert sells plain jigheads, then get the skirt material from fishingskirts.com. I pour my own but buy all my skirt material from fishingskirts.

The H20 Slush Minnow and Slush Daddy are both very good prop baits. Last year at the suggestion of @smalljaw67 I tried the Yo-Zuri 3BD Prop bait and really liked it. It has a different blade that makes a very unique noise and really seems to fire the fish up.

I don't have any that size, but I fish some tiny soft plastics on a 1/8oz swinghead that I pour with a 2/0 short shank EWG Owner and have good luck doing that. I use the 3" Pit Boss and 2.75" YUM Craw Papi so I'm sure those would work on them also.

I've been decent at skipping for awhile, but this year I bought a Daiwa Zillion TWS SV and it's made a huge difference in my distance and made backlashes almost none existent. I have it spooled with 15lb Tatsu, which I think really helps too.