Bankbeater

I like to retrieve the bait just fast enough so I can feel it vibrate. If I'm picking up vegetation I'll speed up the retrieve a little.

In the summer I do better on cloudy or rainy days. In spring and fall I do better with some sun.

Nice catching!

Welcome to the forums.

I take care of my equipment and try not to bang things around in transport, or while I'm using them.

Wow 25 years, Congratulations! Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri Table Rock Lake, Missouri Stockton Lake, Missouri

Think of fishing cover like casting along the bank. When I'm fishing lilypads I'm looking for points, pockets, and other types of cover buried in the lilypads.

I would worry more about the size of the jig and it's rate of fall in that water.

I put a 4" worm or senko on a 2/0 size ewg hook, and t-rig it weightless. I put a split shot maybe a foot up the line. If it feels heavy while I'm fishing it I will downsize the split shot. I mainly fish it around vegetation and wood.

I mostly use wake baits in ponds. I'll snag anything that runs deeper.

I've used it in the past, but not anymore. I never noticed a difference in the bite, or how long the bass holds on to the bait.

Netbaits Paca Chunk or the Zoom Super Chunks.

The air temp is around 25 degrees, and I have ice forming on the guides. I start off casting with a spinnerbait and after some time I switch over to the crankbait rig. I pick the spinnerbait back up and it won't cast out. It has basically seized up. Handle won't turn, and the spool won't turn. I'm messing around with it with no success and I think about the ice on the guides, and start to wonder maybe the reel iced up on the inside. I go back to the car and turn on the heat for about 10 minutes, and the reel starts working again. Never had another issue all day.

I start with 1/8 and go up from there if I need to.

One of the first generation Cordell Big O crankbaits. That thing seemed to catch fish any time, and in any condition. I have the larger version, which is no longer made, in my profile pic.

Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw

White 1/16 oz. Roostertail.

Zoom chunk

I just got back from BPS. I traded in a rod that I hated using for a Shimano SLX-150. Of course, now I don't have a rod to put the new reel on, so.......

Nope. My beat up crankbaits work just fine.

I have some old Rapala floating baits that I still use. I have a box of retired baits, from the 70's that are no longer in production. Those will probably never see the water again.

No way. You could be going from the frying pan into the fire.

15 lb or 10 lb Big Game

My favorite bait to use in muddy water is a black jig with a black trailer.

So far it's been a spinnerbait, and a crankbait.