Bluebasser86

Snapping a jigging spoon right in their face catches me a lot of cold water bass, as does twitching a suspending jerkbait.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/40660-show-off-your-stuff/ 110 pages of members lineups

They fight very hard on light tackle. They jump a lot, swim extremely fast, change directions quickly, pull a lot of drag (or make me backreel a lot since that's what I do) and just generally really make you work to get one in the net.

I use copolymer for most of my moving baits because it stretches and provides shock absorbency but is extremely abrasion resistant.

Just be glad I don't scan all my 35mm pictures in from when I was guiding for flatheads

6' 10" ML/F LTB/25 size Pfluegar Supreme XT 10lb PP Super Slick with a 8lb fluoro leader.

7' M/F Mojo/200B Curado

I thought maybe it was being eaten by one of the worms from Tremors.

I fish a lot of dirtier, shallow lakes as well. If you don't have a MS Slammer you're missing out on some vicious topwater strikes, even in the dirty water.

That sounds like my life anytime we start to make a little headway. I'm happy to get through getting a good paycheck with a couple extra bucks.

Joke. . . . . . . You

I use a 7' 10" XH/F custom built swimbait rod with a 300E Curado spooled with 25lb copolymer for my A rigs. I've used a flipping stick and it does work but I wouldn't want to have to use it a lot.

Fish as a co-angler and see if you're competitive there before making the plunge into buying a bass boat to compete with the other boaters, just my $.02.

You mean I can be right??

Spinnerbaits for me are a more clear water or faster retrieve bait or when fish are feeding on smaller baitfish. I fish my bladed jigs extremely slowly, just fast enough to keep the blade vibrating, even bumping the bottom if possible. In lakes that see lots a spinnerbaits, a bladed jig is a good replacement. They also shine in stained or dirty water or around vegetation because the strong vibration helps the fish hone in on the bait. There are times I will fish them faster (over vegetation for example), but 9 out of 10 larger bass I catch on them will be during a very slow retrieve. I've had good success with them using a stroking or pumping retrieve, letting them settle to the bottom then lifting the rod quickly before letting it settle again. I think 2 of the biggest mistakes I see guys make with bladed jigs are, 1. fishing them too fast and 2. not recognizing a bite. Like I said, I like to fish them slowly. The issue then becomes that a big bass can lazily swim up to the bait, inhale it while maintaining a similar pace, then spit the bait out without it ever feeling much different. I can't count the number of big fish I've caught on them where it felt just slightly different. Sometimes it feels like the blade has quite working, other times like I've caught a leaf or piece of weeds. I think the common notion is that since it's a moving bait the strikes will be vicious, which they certainly are at times, but more often than not they're much more subtle than I think most fishermen expect. I first realized this by fishing clear water and actually seeing bass strike my bait and noticing that I felt very little despite the bait being almost completely inhaled on a couple occasions. I thought back and realized I'd felt similar strikes lots of times before but never realized they were strikes. Once I started setting the hook on those little bumps and when the blade just wasn't vibrating as hard, I was amazed how many fish I was catching that I didn't even know were there before. Lastly, it's always possible that they just aren't a good tool in the areas you're fishing them. If you fish anywhere with stained water and vegetation though, I'm 100% certain there is a time when they will shine for you.

We do weeknight tournaments here a lot on the local lakes. Lots of times there will be 10+ boats and not a single fish weighed in. My partner and I won one last summer with 3 fish (limit) that went 2.74 pounds

Welcome!

It's been below freezing more than it's been above freezing here for the past several weeks, but I'm getting by Supposed to be a balmy 25 degrees and feel like 20 by the time I hit the water in the morning

I've tried both and had much better success with straight fluoro/mono than a braid/fluoro combo. I think like others said the buoyancy of braid kills the subtle roll of the bait.

I put mine up once the water gets in the 50's.

Easily They have a pretty big bill on them and will easily get down deeper than 5' on 20lb test. I'm using copolymer, but wouldn't be surprised if they do hit 10' with fluoro. You can kind of get an idea how big the bill is in this side by side picture of an 8.0 and 1.5 size squarebill

Mainly fishing for trout but I do catch quite a few when the water starts to warm up on jerkbaits and wiggle warts. Most of them I catch are caught on small spoons or home made micro jigs under a bobber. Trout love the warts. They slam a jerkbait on occasion too.

Harbor Freight sells a few different colors of powder paint way cheaper than Pro Tech. The black is a matte finish that I use on a lot of my baits and is very durable.