Bluebasser86

Hook through the middle of the bait. Tried O rings, didn't improve my catch per bait ratio at all, just added a step and some cost in the process. Pretty much only use Ochos and get multiple fish off almost every bait.

Most of the lakes I fish are pretty stained so I keep color selection simple on deep cranks, a shad color and a chartreuse.

Welcome!

Went on a family vacation to Table Rock this past week and did a fair amount of fishing in between the family activities. The bite was pretty tough for me the first few days with a dropshot being the most consistent bite producer. The threadfin shad were spawning under the resort dock, looked like it was raining each morning with splashes from fish chasing them, but I never could figure out how to make those fish bite. My first fish the first morning was a nice smallmouth on a little 3" swimbait. Followed soon by a healthy largemouth on a Berkley jointed Surge Shad. I bounced around and never got anything real productive except going to the highway 86 bridge and fishing a dropshot on the bridge. It wasn't fast fishing, but it was always productive. Catching them out of real shallow water The resort dock had a bunch of big bluegills under it every time I walked down to the dock. So I went to the front desk and bought a tub of nightcrawlers and took Lake and my dad out one afternoon. We went through that whole tub of crawlers pretty fast and had a good time doing it. After awhile we took the boat out and went swimming, then down to the bridge and surrounding area to fish. Dad and I had a double for the record books. I promise my fish wasn't as big as it looks in the picture, just the perspective of my son being down lower in the boat making it look bigger ? Then Lake got scoreboard on both of us with a nice largemouth on a dropshot Spro Pintail Minnow to close out the night. The final day, my bridge didn't produce and I was bored fishing it. I had 1 little spot on a topwater and was spinning my wheels. Decided if I wasn't going to catch anything, I was going to have a good reason for it. So I got out my swimbait rod and put on a KGB Chad Shad. Second cast, I had 2 nice spotted bass fighting over the bait the whole way back. 3rd cast a nice largemouth barely missed it, 4th cast I boated a largemouth over 18". It was like all the sudden there was fish in the lake. I had so much fun that last day, missing a ton of fish and catching a fair amount, just wished I'd have tried it sooner.

They should keep biting out there until the water gets cold again unless we get another big rain that makes it really dirty.

Best 3 Bladed Jig Jig Ned Worst 3 C rig Fluke Deep cranks

It's a warmouth, one of my favorite panfish to catch.

I use a ML St. Croix LTB for Ned rigs, one of my favorite rods I own. It's handled fish over 20lbs, ML will get the job done for bass no problem.

50lb braid to 15lb flouro leader

I can get from the truck to fishing in less than 10 minutes if I'm trying to move quick. I put things in the same places all the time and do things in a certain order so it speeds the process up a lot.

I wouldn't expect a lot of success if that's how you're planning on fishing a bladed jig.

I'd second the suggestion to check out the Structure Gill. Very similar but more durable, and you can actually get them. Might have to bend the hook out slightly as it seems most have the hook pointing in towards the bait a bit, but it's an easy fix. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Savage_Gear_Structure_Gill_Swimbait/descpage-SGSGS.html#customer_reviews

I find those poppers all the time as well as the deep cranks made by the same people, never tried to fish on though.

Kind of what I thought and if that's the case it was better off hanging in the tree ?

Get a Booyah or Spro frog and be done with it. I've had very good luck with the FishLab Bio Toad also if you want a bigger frog but the hooks do need manipulated a bit out of the package with them to get an optimal angle.

Best of both worlds and also how I roll on most of my spinning setups.

Melvern was good a week ago for my kayak tournament. First was over 90" and I had 3rd with 85.75", almost all fish submitted were smallmouth including big bass over 20".

Went on a family camping trip this last weekend. Didn't get to do as much chasing blue cats as we were hoping due to the weather but still got the boys out for a little bit. I also took the boat out both mornings by myself while everyone was still sleeping. I could have caught a smallmouth every cast if I wanted to catch sub 12" fish. For some reason, the bigger fish liked the Laguna Shrimp TRD TicklerZ. Caught a couple walleye including one from the bank while I was waiting for a catfish bite Caught several catfish from the bank at our campsite, but they were channels every time. I had one spot that I'd done well in the past, so we drove the boats to it the last morning and it was pretty non stop bites, but I was having a hard time converting bites into fish. I think this is the reason why I was missing so many bites.

Welcome!

Some of the lakes I night fish are in the middle of nowhere and get pitch black at night. I hate night fishing during the full moon so it's dark, dark when I'm out. Just got to leave that light off and let your eyes adjust. Single hooked baits help, they don't snag nearly as much on errant cast. Keep items to a minimum. I only need 3-4 rods and a handful of baits at night. When it gets hot and the "Lake Life", people get out, I'd much rather night fish.

I've got at least a dozen of these in my boat. When the bass are schooling on shallow flats and tired of seeing traps, swimbaits, and spinnerbaits, these will get them. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/johnson-original-sprite-spoon?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=BPS|Shopping|Standard|Fishing|General|NAud|TopPerf|NMT&gclid=CjwKCAjw14uVBhBEEiwAaufYx29vfFZ0GD35VgBHtwE__Vf0sNMagyRdBHarYuOpO_1OW4M-op2S7BoCtdQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Swing through Kansas and I'll put you on some dinks and ugly lakes ?

I really like the crankbait rods that St. Croix makes. You can get a couple around your price range, either in the Bass X line up; https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/St_Croix_Bass_X_Casting_Rods/descpage-TCVB.html?from=basres Or the Mojo; https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/St_Croix_Mojo_Bass_Trigon_Casting_Rods/descpage-CMBBC.html?from=basres

I find most of my ploppers in trees and usually attached to very light line. I'm assuming they'd never fished on much and aren't use to a lure that cast as far as they do and ended up in the tree instead of the water. The ones I find in the water also tend to have light line tied to them so possibly they got bit by a good fish and just broke off and the fish worked the bait free.

Not all sticks are the same size, and you never know when you need it for something else, so a little pack like this is great to carry in the boat. https://www.harborfreight.com/electrical/electrician-s-tools/plugs-terminals-connectors/heat-shrink-tubing/42-piece-marine-heat-shrink-tubing-67598.html