Bluebasser86

Gizzard shad. They get up on the rocks like that and feed on algae this time of year. They're everywhere doing that on some of our local lakes, and you can bet there's bass and hybrids close by.

Around 18" and 3 pounds, a very respectable fish.

First one is a huge milestone, congrats!

Welcome!

Describe the body of water more in depth, the techniques you're using, along with the equipment. If it's a public lake you might even say which one and it's possible someone on here may have fished it and have some advice from first hand experience.

I can't justify it personally. They are nice to look at, and very enjoyable to fish with, but I'm more about function personally. I own a few dozen reels and I can count on one hand the reels I paid over $150 for, and 2 of them are my swimbait reels. The only other ones I paid over that for are my Curado 70XG, Scorpion 70HG, and Stradic CI4. I'm not making a living doing it, and the fish don't care how much my gear cost, so I get what I feel the best value options are and just take care of them and they last for years. I still have the very first Curado B that I ever bought when I was 15 and it's still in my starting lineup.

I tie my own trout jigs and fish for them when they stock trout in the lakes every spring. They're 1/64 up to 1/16 ounce. Never fails that every year I'll catch several bass, usually a couple pretty good ones too.

The downside to a wide gap hook with a Ned rig is it has a tendency to snag much more often. The Zman baits are almost like a tube that collapses when a fish strikes, allowing the hook to clear the plastic. I've not fished a Fireball jighead in years but it's listed as a 1/0 hook, but the short shank may be much shorter than a typical 1/0. The standard mushroom head has no larger than a #2 hook and down to a #6, which would be much smaller. I'm not sure which mushroom heads you've used, The Zman Shroomz head has a pretty large hook on them it seems to me. So if those are the ones that you've tried, you might want to find someone that pours their own or find another brand with a smaller hook and give them a try. Siebert just got the new MIdwest Finesse mold if you ever order from him. No gluing and no baits sliding down the hook with the keepers on those heads. The reason for the mushroom head is basically like others have said. It sits more flush with the bait, which will affect the fall rate and movement of the bait. Also, lots of the lakes in NE KS that Ned fishes often have sparse vegetation. The mushroom head sitting flush to the bait makes it a little less likely to pick up weeds because they can't wrap in the space left under the head between the bait. The flat head is nice for gluing, but Ned does not glue any of his baits, so that was not originally a reason for the flat head. The Gopher heads the Ned uses were also one of the best options for a light weight head that came with a better quality hook than most light weight ball heads.

Welcome!

I don't know about California, but we've had lakes dry up or drained so they could work on the dam here in Kansas. When they do that, they have what they call a "Fish Salvage". Basically, they allow people to keep as many fish as they want and allowed to use most any means to do so, cast netting and seining being the most popular but people also snag for them and noodle also. Once the water is mostly gone, they just walk around and pick up the fish that are left. Moving the fish from one body of water to another is too risky due to potentially moving diseases or Aquatic Nuisance Species like zebra or Quagga mussels.

This is a great thing about them. They're great reels, every bit as good as my Shimanos were, but the name doesn't carry the same weight despite being around longer, so they're very easy to find for a steal. I have several Supreme XT baitcasters and have yet to pay over $100 for one, and have gone as low as $75 for a brand new one. I bought a regular Supreme 5.4.1 this summer for under $50 brand new. Now the new Presidents are out there for $60 full price and they've just been doing everything I've asked them to do so far. I guess I just looked at my Curado E's and I's and realized they don't do anything that the Pfluegars couldn't do, and guys are paying out the nose for them, why not switch? Now I've got more reels than I have rods is the only bad part Oh, and my new President XT baitcaster should be here this week or early next week

I mainly fish Eagle Claw EWG 4/0 for a majority of my soft plastics. Eagle Claw EWG short shank trebles and Owner ST 36's on my hard baits Strike King Hack Attack hooks for punching Gamakatsu split shot/drop shot hooks for drop shot

An actual "true" Ned rig is about half of a Zman ZinkerZ or Strike King Zero. The TRD is a very new bait on the scene and was only introduced to capitalize on the Ned rig rush. I've spoken with Ned on several occasions as we fish many of the same waters. A basic definition to him is a light mushroom head jighead (no larger than 3/32oz), with a small, lightwire hook, with a small soft plastic, no larger than 4" in length. So with that basic definition, any small soft plastic on a light mushroom head would be considered a Ned rig. I've used a ball head on many occasions in my early Ned rig ventures as well as half of a soft plastic stick worm or 3" Senko. It works, but it's not nearly as efficient or "frugal", which is another main aspect of Midwest Finesse, because you go through so many baits versus the Zman baits. Ned often talks about and tries other soft plastics in his blog, but none have ever replaced the Zman baits for that main reason. To me, it's no longer a "true" Ned rig once you start getting heavy heads, (it's a no feel technique). Large, heavy wire hooks are a no-no (it kills the action of the baits and makes hooking fish on light tackle more difficult). Changing the rigging (such as on a small shakyhead or T-rig), also kills the subtle action of the bait and can't be fished correctly for many of the Midwest Finesse retrieves. None of this means you can't still be effective with these changes, it's just no longer a Ned rig in my eyes. I look at it as bass fishermen being unable to wrap their heads around the concept of the rig and technique. We always have to feel everything, detect every bite ASAP, and hammer the hook home, none of which fits into the Midwest Finesse frame of mind. The unwillingness to adapt really kills the effectiveness of the bait and technique for a lot of people who think it's just a jigworm or shakyhead. I'm alright with that frame of mind though, just leaves more fish for me when I'm fishing it

I do often fish topwaters on docks, I just listed the baits that I ALWAYS have tied on to simplify it a bit. A topwater that I think is very underutilized for fishing docks is a frog. They skip well to get under the docks, come through virtually anything, and they can be popped or walked like other topwaters. Plus frogs seem to attract larger than average bass, which is always a bonus. I use poppers and WTD baits often as well. Poppers are good when bass are a little less aggressive and need the extended pause to commit, when they're holding on a specific part of the dock (corners, ladders), or if they're guarding fry near the dock (pause the bait directly in or over the fry and wait). WTD baits are good also, especially in lakes with spotted bass it seems. The biggest downside with those types of topwaters around docks is snags. Treble hooks love to find anything to snag into, and recovering a snagged bait from back in a dock stall or behind a cable can be very difficult. Those types of baits also typically require lighter line to work properly, which becomes an issue when a big fish eats a bait behind a dock cable or in a dock stall with a lift or crossbars.

Sure do, It's about 1,200 sqft Still a bit unorganized but lots of pictures and plaques, lure building supplies, extra baits, rods and reels, reel boxes, old lures, a kayak, 2 boats, and the tow vehicle are all in there.

This seems to be the case in a lot of situations, or maybe I just notice it more. It hits really close to home because we just lost a 21 year veteran of our department to a drunk driver. He was on a traffic stop and a drunk driver slammed into the back of his cruiser, which instantly caught fire. Hopefully he was killed instantly or at least knocked out by the impact before the fire engulfed his car. My wife and I attended one of his services. As a Type A person, there is always a desire to fix things and make things better, but when I saw the pain and anguish in the eyes of his wife and two young daughters, there's nothing that can fix that pain. The hurt and anger is still very much alive. The driver of the truck that hit him ran from the scene and was basically uninjured. He's now in our custody and charged with Second Degree Murder. http://www.odmp.org/officer/22959-master-deputy-sheriff-brandon-collins

So did the fish

I have sold almost all my Shimanos in favor of them

Either a 25 or 30

If it will bite and grows large enough to provide any sort of decent fight, I'll fish for it.

That's about where I'd start if I was going to buy another Shimano. I only own 1 Shimano spinning reel anymore because of the binding issues that they just can't seem to solve in their mid range spinning reels. I've gone to mostly Pfluegar and really feel like I'm getting more for my money from them.

It's not pretty. I'm the guy that gets to come sit with you at the hospital to make sure you have leg irons on one of your ankles that's attached to the bed, so when you finally do heal up, I can transfer you to jail. Call a taxi, call an uber driver, call a friend, just don't drink and drive.

I owned 1 Revo spinning reel, never again. It's all Pfluegar, Shimano, or Okuma spinning reels for me now.

Probably. Give it until winter time, that's when the leftovers will most likely be at a deep discount.

Most of our lakes have extremely high populations of catfish, so I'm never surprised when my bait gets slammed by a catfish instead of a bass, no matter what time of year it is.