Bluebasser86

Fish that aren't locked onto the bed are hard to catch. Get good at reading them and you'll be able to tell right away which fish are catchable and which ones aren't. A short dropshot is a good way to keep a bait in one spot while being able to move it near the bottom like it's feeding on the eggs in the nest. I've done well like that using a white fluke.

I reel them just fast enough to make the blade vibrate. They've basically replaced squarebills for me because I fish them in a lot of the same areas I would fish those in the past. Don't just fish the typical spinnerbait colors either. My biggest bladed jig fish have been on black and blue. Bites on them aren't always jarring strikes like most expect them to be. If you're retrieving and feel the blade vibrating, then it just feels like it suddenly stops, set the hook. I've caught so many big fish on them that I felt next to nothing except the blade felt like it quit working or caught a piece of grass or something.

Yeah, usually a 16" fish will be somewhere close to 2lbs, but if you get a real fat one they can be considerably more. This smallie was only 16.25", and a touch over 3.25 pounds.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Look good from what I can tell.

I modified my swim pro head to accept the same keeper on my bladed jigs. I used a Dremel and a small cutting head. Just make a very slight channel right next to the hook (it's easier to do it on the back of the hook instead of the front IMO). I've modified a few molds, including some pretty major modifications, and haven't messed one up yet and I'm not real good at stuff like that.

You can catch bass out of any of them, biggest factor is going to be are you looking for big fish or for numbers of fish? Warmouth are pretty common in the pits, but they're not bass. They look very much like a green sunfish in body shape, just different coloration. They can vary from almost black, to bright gold and brown with red accents. This is a warmouth from one of the pits several years ago. and one that I caught a couple years ago that was nearly a state record. I'm not an expert on the pits by any means, but I know enough about them if you want to send me a PM I can get you pointed in the right direction.

I was 9 or 10, fishing an 1/8oz red roostertail catching panfish when I started catching bass. They hit harder, fought harder, and got bigger. After that I started trying to catch them on purpose instead of on accident.

I'll put my Ned rig up against that rig any time.

When I have to go home.

I've seen them beach themselves chasing baitfish before. Maybe it was chasing a bluegill and ended up too far from the water for it to be able to flop back.

Be ready for your reel to be stained red. I put some on 2 Okuma Epixor baitfeeders I use for wipers and catfish, both of them have red stains from the coating bleeding off the line during use.

I'd only need 1 thing in there, the keys to my boats storage lockers so I could get to the rest of my stuff.

YUM baits are pretty cheap, durable, and readily available, why switch to something else? I like the swimming Dinger on the back of a bladed jig.

My dad isn't very good at fishing jerkbaits. His usual retrieve is a jerk, then several cranks of the handle that moves the bait a few feet before the next jerk. He doesn't typically catch the numbers I do when they're on a jerkbait bite, but he still catches some while cranking the bait along.

I drag a football jig mainly. Put a twin tail trailer on the back and fish deep rocks, drop offs, and points.

I found it pretty easy to bend out the standard wire EWG gamakatsu. If I buy their worm hooks, it's the superline version for just that reason.

How often do you fish tap water clear lakes with artificial lights directly above them? I've fished some really clear waters like Bull Shoals, Table Rock, and Beaver Lake. I've seen first hand a noticeable difference in visibility between a clear mono, and fluorocarbon fishing lines. Here's a picture example of simple underwater visibility test of different types/colors of fishing lines. I'm not a scientist, I don't know why things work like they do. What I do know is my eyes can see the 20# green line, and the 50# clear mono without a doubt, while I can barely see the 80# fluorocarbon and I can't see at all the 40# fluorocarbon. This is the line as I believe a fish would see it underwater. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it's good enough for me and lots of others to have confidence in it. Great thing about this sport, there's lots of options and just because a lot of others do one thing, doesn't mean you have to. I don't use fluorocarbon nearly as much as I feel a lot of folks do, because I mainly fish stained to dirty water, but in clear water situations, I switch to fluorocarbon because I feel it's harder to see in those situations.

Welcome!

I like bulky baits for pitching and a larger version would be an awesome bulky bait that would glide through any kind of cover.

I throw all my big baits on Pline CXX or Big Game.

Would be the responsible thing to do.. I found a Helios Air for $150 and was scrambling to buy it before someone else did, until I realized there was a defect, someone put the handle on the wrong side

You came to the wrong place if you're looking for someone to talk you out of fishing related purchases