ClackerBuzz

don't worry you're not alone. for whatever reason i could never get that knot to work. it even failed me while casting and i watched my new buzzbait sail off into the distance. obviously it's a user error but i just couldn't get Alberto or Albright to work. I now use Uni to uni and have never had a failure.

i use braid on all my rods with 12-30ft leaders. my connection knot passes through all guides, wind level and directly onto my spool, every-single-cast.

this is pure gold

not a lure but i have two retrieves that clean up year round, even on the tough days. i nicknamed them: 1- picking out a backlashing even though you don't have one. 2- bed fishing when there are no beds. they are simple and self explanatory yet incredibly hard to put into practice. they are definitely worth the effort, for quantity and quality fish.

Mine live to fight another day with Mend-it. stuff is amazing

I bought a pair 3 seasons ago based on smalljaw67 recommendation. Pros: great polarization. decent middle of the road price. good warranty. Cons: the lenses have zero mirror finish. i just flat out look creepy with bug eyes while talking with people. i have no idea what would possess them to not mirror the lenses. they score 0 out of 10 for fashion. it's fine on the water but you are not going to be discretely checking out pretty ladies in public with these lenses you want to be able to wear sunglasses on or off the water. these are strictly for on the water. during my 3rd season i was cleaning the lenses with my sweatshirt and the frames cracked at the nose. i've done this a million times with glasses and never had a problem. the plastic just doesn't hold up so be careful. They were replaced for $20. (plus the additional cost of shipping the broken ones). All and all i will not be buying them again unless they come out with a mirror finish. i'll be picking up some Strike King S11 this season b/c i can't pass on that price. they seemed great in Wally world but they didn't have the right style. stock will increase as spring approaches.

you got some great advice here. I fish a bear of a clear lake and the lure is only part of the equation. equally important are: casting distance, line size, wind chop and dam draw/water flow. longer casts flat out catch more fish. needle sharp/lighter wire hooks allow for much better hookups. 4-6lb line is a must on bluebird calm days with little water flow. Ned rig, small tube or 4" drop shot are 'big lures' on these days. i usually only break out standard size bass lures w/10-15lb line with clouds, wind chop on surface, rain or 24-48hrs after a storm is pushing fresh water into the system. the last key is boat position. learn to always use cover as a screen to hide behind. position behind points (both above and below water points), weed beds, intersections, lily pads, dams, chunk rock 'corners' etc. good casting angles while hiding behind objects will be rewarded. clear water fishing becomes progressively harder as the body of water gets smaller and more shallow. whereas bass are far less shy in clear water on a 200,000+ acre lake with constant 10-20 mph winds and 1-2 ft waves. in those conditions you can vertical drop shot them in 20ft of clear water. small and very stable 50 acre lakes with little water flow and glassy calm conditions will test your patience and requires major adjustments.

young and on a budget? Depending on how much you fish 2 packs of Z Man Turbo Crawz could last you an entire season. After switching Z man ElaZtech it's hard to go back to regular soft plastics- they fill 90% of my needs.

fyi i just tried the $25 coupon and it doesn't work. only works on full priced items.

yea i live in a major city. be sure to take a taxi so you have a story for the grandkids. between uber and driverless vehicles they are an endangered species.

my last Uber driver was so freaked out about chemtrails I had to look them up myself

You're from SC so I'd error on larger hook sizes b/c you have bigger fish-3/0 or 4/0 should be fine. If you like cross their eyes hook sets I'd go with Catts hooks. If you like softer hook sweeps EWG work great. Bend the hook tip 2-3 degrees sideways, not upward, and you'll increase ur hook ups. Just don't use EWG hooks with pure muscle hook sets or you'll pull the lure right out of their mouth.

deadstick a jig long enough and bass get so agitated they only see red

I'm about to get into blade baits and I'd like to use the Siwash hooks as well. I see they sell open eye and closed eye. it's hard to tell from your pix. are you using open eye and skipping the split ring? open eyes look like you could simply slide them on the blade-no fuss no muss. or is there a risk of them coming off during the fight?

I'll keep you in my thoughts Andy. If you find time maybe you can tell us a story about her, or how you met.

parasite clips work amazing for hooks w/o a corkscrew. barrel swivels work just as good, are cheaper and readily available. and don't forget the biggest game changer: switch all ur soft plastics to Z-man elaztech.

I fished a small lake like this for several seasons. it would get choked with Hydrilla just like in the pix. like Catt mentioned, short casts are key when punching. don't worry about the bass seeing you 10ft away b/c the grass is so thick it becomes a wall. i used two approaches when punching: attacking the upper half of weed column; and attacking the bottom half of weed column. the bottom half is easy and required a 1-1.5oz punch weight. the upper half requires less weight and more finesse. i got more bites if i used 1/4-3/8 oz and spent time gently shaking the lure down the weed 'branches'. a beaver trailer is standard but don't restrict yourself. a 4-5" senko, zoom finesse worm, Zman Zinker etc slip thru Hydrilla like butter. one Zinker will last you all day. forget standard craws b/c the weeds alone will tear them off. the bass in my lake are very skittish so a little finesse goes along way. the typical heavy punch rig didn't produce well so i used a 1/4-1/2 cylinder drop shot, with short leader, an EWG hook, and 5" senko (i called it my punch-drop). I used braid as my mainline and a small tag of mono or lighter braid for the drop shot leader. it went thru weeds much better and I got more bites b/c it fell slower. the bass also prefered the gentle shake thru method. I don't fish the lake anymore but if i go back i'm going to use @J Francho rig. having the line above the weight tremendously helps the vertical physics of gently shaking lighter weight downward. also try a buzzbait or ur favorite topwater in 1-6ft skinny water at dusk/dawn, cloudy/prefrontal conditions. bass often hold in the bottom half of the weeds in the heat of the day but will sit in the tops at night. topwater is useless when they are deep in their caves but they have no problem surfacing when they are in the upper column, especially if the upper half is only 3 ft. Horny toads are a nice alternative to buzzbaits b/c they float on thick weeds or slow sink in pockets so you can add pauses if the bass aren't in a chasing mood. frogs work great. if you like frogs make sure to cast them onto the shore and hop them in. it's what's under the Hydrilla that's most important. the creek channel is key and is one of the easiest things to locate. find the creek channel under those thick weeds and you'll find gold. Start where it enters the shoreline and work your way from there. also do some recon this winter while the grass is dead and find deep timber that will be swallowed by weeds this summer. timber is another prime spot b/c they hold both bass and bait. rocks//pebble/sand are harder to find and you just have to focus on feeling the tick with heavy weights. be on the lookout for when two different kinds of weeds come together. they create a seam that fish love to relate to. or where lily pads meet the Hydrilla. if ur having a hard time stick to shallow water 1-3ft. the bass are much more likely to bite b/c they don't have to travel far. try slow dragging a weedless senko thru the tops but put a glass bead in front of it. it will slip thru w/o getting hung up. don't forget to periodically burn it like a topwater. thick hydrilla is a mess for anglers but bass sure do love it. it's worth learning how to fish it.

for me it's weedless vs exposed hook. swimjigs are for cover. exposed jig heads are for open water, and deep water.

I was a fan of O rings so it was easy for me to transition to aquarium tubing. amazing stuff. you'll still occasionally lose senkos if skipping too hard with O rings. And be careful not to play tug of war with baitfish or they'll slip right off. Bluebass86 zip tie idea sounds great so I'll have to experiment this season.

3 years ago I found one of these hanging in a tree. it changed my spinnerbait game. i got away from SB b/c of chatterbaits but you've put wind in my sails again. i'm gonna burn me some SB in shallow winter water to see who's home.

Moving baits with treble hooks or single hook? I'm pretty much down to using braid with a long copoly or mono leaders. they are cheaper lines, give a bit of stretch to trebles and the knots are more forgiving. i also like the stretch when someone wraps me around timber, docks etc I only use fluoro leaders with heavier line for jigs

this is when you know you've been fishing for quite some time

I've been trying to log out for 10-15 min and covered 20+ different menus/drop downs/buttons/pages. Any help on this?

if this seems like a good idea to anyone you need to immediately turn in ur outdoorsmans card. you're banned effective immediately. it's hard to even comprehend the volume of insect and number of species that a teaspoon of oil could kill. "well there goes the whole Mayfly hatch but I sure can see fish better. oops looks like spiders and dragonflies drown b/c they don't have water tension anymore. who knew?" Preytorien you are forgiven for your temporary insanity. happens to me more often than I'd like to admit

he's a legend on the streets of Melbourne