Bankbeater

I haven't fished with one in years.

When the water clarity is good and there is limited cloud cover I will be fishing with either purple, green pumpkin, watermelon seed, or chartreuse. Black/blue, black/red, purple, and green pumpkin for darker days or when the water is more on the dirtier side.

Been there, done that. I'll start pitching at targets or cast out different crankbaits to see how they run.

Rooster Tails.

I don't. It's not comfortable for me and I get a better grip holding onto the rod.

On flats with vegetation I'll use a steady retrieve. Fishing in deep water I'll pump the bait or use a stop and go retrieve.

Man, good job! I hope you have all of these numbers on a spreadsheet somewhere because that is a lot of numbers to add up.

Welcome to the forums.

This year started off slow and stayed that way. Once again, my most productive technique was fishing plastic worms in the vegetation. The worms were followed by jigs and small jerkbaits, also fished in, and around the vegetation. Pitching a Texas rig in the really thick stuff in place of a jig worked too. This fall about the only moving bait that seems to trigger a consistent bite has been a 1/4 oz. Rooster Tail. There were a lot of baits this year that the bass were very picky about. The spinnerbait bite died in the middle of April and really never picked back up. Crankbaits, topwaters, lipless, and regular sized jerkbaits landed me a few, but the bite was way off this year compared to past years. I haven't caught any giant bass yet this year, but I did manage a new PB crappie that was caught out of a 4 to 4-1/2 acre pond. Probably the best news I've heard this year is that one of my daughters wants to get back into fishing again.

Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap and the Cordell Spot are the ones I fish with the most.

There have been a few hunting accidents around here over the years. Fishing is just safer.

I've been attaching the snap to the split ring for years with no issues. A snap won't last forever, and if it seems like it opens too easy I will cut it off and put on a new snap.

The bass around here are starting to move around much more. In many of the small lakes I fish, crankbaits and spinnerbaits are starting to outproduce weightless worms and Texas rigs. It may be time to tie on the swim jig again.

Carolina rigs, and deep diving crankbaits are two that I can think of right off.

I would like a new H/F rod for frog fishing. I have an extra baitcast reel and it seems a waste not to be using it.

Nice catch!

I use a mh for heavier, larger jerkbaits. For 3" and 4" jerkbaits I use a medium.

If I'm fishing in cover I'll fish them on a Texas rig. If I'm fishing open water I fish them weightless.

This year I have done pretty good with catching numbers, but I don't think I have caught a bass over 3 lbs. I have gotten skunked fishing in a lot of the water where I have caught bass over 4 lbs in the past. Hard to tell if it is something with the lake or if the larger bass are just getting wise.

Baitcaster unless the jerkbait is very, very light,

If I am taking the bag with the 3700 boxes then I leave the plastics in the packages. If I am fishing with the smaller bags then I put the plastics in the box and when I get back home I put the plastics back in their packages.

Have you tried punching through it?

If the water around here doesn't freeze, I'm hoping to practice with the drop shot since a lot of the vegetation will be off of the water.

I have my grandpa's 33 which is probably from the 60's. My daughter fished with that reel for sunnies. I would cast it out for her and she would reel the fish in after it was hooked. From my dad I have a Johnson Century 100A, Mitchell 300, and a Shimano Bantam 100. All are in working order, but the Bantam has a piece of chrome missing from where it was dropped. I bought a 5500C3, and a 5600C4 off him about 20 years ago after I got back into fishing. The 5500 was retired about 15 or 16 years ago, but I used the 5600 up until the end of 2018. I have a Shakespeare 2200-II that I got for my 10th b-day. The Eagle Claw rod it was on met an untimely end in the truck's tailgate. In the drawer with the 2200 is a 5600C3, which was the first new baitcaster that I ever purchased, and my first low profile reel, a first generation Revo-S.

I'll just retie one of the rods I'm not using. I've done it before.