RB 77

I’m from out west and this is spot on. 20 – 30’ is an average/ common depth to fish most of reservoirs out here. 40 – 60’ depths are considered deep while 60’ + is not that uncommon in the middle of the winter or summer. If I’m fishing “shallow” in less than 15’ of water its usually either tules or grass mats neither of which are all that common in our deep water gin clear canyon reservoirs. Believe me, I do appreciate when I get the chance to flip n’ pitch or frog some mats and tules. For deep water tactics my go to is the drop shot with a close eye on the electronics. Jigs, c-rigs, t-rigs, and swimbaits make up the rest of my tactics. Some anglers swear by ice jigs (yes, those ice jigs) and spoons, but the bulk of my deep water fishing is done withthe d-shot.

Top notch!

I like this! I take you have met our friend (and I use that term loosely) the bait monkey!

A good buddy of mine used to strip line off his reel after EVRY cast. No matter if he backlashed or not. No matter what bait he was fishing. It was guaranteed very cast, every time. After constant badgering by from me to break that bad habit and several lost fish in the process he has finally broke that habit. Now if I can get him to start casting with two hands instead of the one handed "flick" (which I sometimes use for up close applications when appropriate) he'll be in good shape. Don't even get me started on trying to teach him the importance of learning how to flip n' ptich in certain situation when called for he will be styling!

You could say fishing and relationships are the most important thing in my life. My dad (and my mom to a certain extent), my old lady (don’t tell her I said that even though she is ten years older than me), and my best friends (well, two out of three) all fish. Before I dove headfirst back into fishing (I fished a little bit with pops when I was little) I spent my entire teenage and adult life pursuing surfing and everything related to it. I built my life around it. I built boards for a living, lived within a couple blocks of the beach, worked odd hours all so I could surf every free moment of my life. I used to put surfing and myself ahead of everything else. Then one day it all changed. I called a surfing buddy (who also fished) up to go surfing. He said he was going fishing. I asked where and he said an old lake when my father and me fished when I was much younger. I said I was in. I borrowed some dilapidated equipment from my father and off I went. I caught my first two bass in several years (if not a decade or more) that day and I was hooked! Fast forward to today. Because of fishing I have rekindled a relationship with my father that was lost through the decades and we are closer than ever which has also help strengthen the relationship with my mom who I have always been close to. We fish fresh-water and salt-water bass (and some offshore pelagic trips and inshore rock fish trips) together all the time. My lady and I both love the outdoors and fish together several times a year. She’s quite the natural and I am very proud of her ability. Myself, a good buddy and my cousin all live within walking distance of each other and fish together regularly. Life is good, God is great and I cherish my friends, family, and fishing more than ever!

Bummed for Evers. Solid angler and so close in A.O.Y. and the Classic. Super stoked for Howell though. Paid his dues and seems like a solid guy. He seems very humble and appreciative.

Yeah he did! That was classic G Man at the Classic! I'm an even bigger fan fan of his now too. I really like the emphasis he put on being a great winner AND a gracious loser. Really is hard to believe. Has to sting to coming in 26th one spot out of the cut.

Top five in no particular order 1. Black 2. Watermelon 3. Pumpkin 4. Green Pumpkin and 5. Junebug. Choose different colored flakes as you desire. Day in day out these five colors have been the strongest for me in all soft plastics including the styles that you mentioned.

I haven't personally tried this but I know when I'm fishing a drop shot rig less is more, and by less I mean less movement or action imparted on the bait. Like Sam said the current, even if it were miniscule, would generally impart all the action one would need to fish a drop shot rig effectively.

Worm guy at heart, definetly my strong point, but give me a hollow body frog bite any day!

Dottie was a legendary bass that weighed over 25lbs. at her largest. She was caught several times by different anglers at various different weights out of lake Dixon in San Diego, California. She had a trademark birth mark on her jaw line, a small black dot, hence her name. This is how she was identified being caught several different times. Her multiple catches account for a handful of the top 25 biggest largemouth catches of all time. At the time she was caught when she would have shattered the world record, she was foul hooked and disqualified for the world record. She was found floating by and angler and was identified as the same legendary fish. RIP Dottie.

They are both excellent tools that have their advantages and disadvantages. Generally where one setup shines the other does not and vice versa. It really comes down to personal preference for most people. In my experience casting reels generally avoid line twist, yet are prone to overruns. Spinning reels generally avoid overruns, yet are prone to line twist. Casting reels are generally lighter and more compact. Casting reels are a little more ergonomic by being “palmable” and engaging and disengaging the spool with the handle and thumb bar, where as spinning reels require opening and closing the bail by hand. Spinning reels are generally more user friendly as the learning curve is less steep having a fixed spool to avoid backlashes. Spinning reels also have the option the switch the placement side of the handle for different people’s preferences of retrieve. While there is a great general overlap in technique and presentation usage, each reel excels in certain situations. Generally I prefer casting gear with techniques such as pitchin’ and flippin’ where you are constantly drawing out a fixed amount of line and engaging and disengaging the spool with the handle and thumb bar. While on the other hand I feel spinning gear shines with lighter lure presentations and techniques by utilizing the fixed spool to avoid overruns. I say have both in your arsenal and through time on the water you will develop a sense of which you prefer in certain situations. That’s the best part; time on the water is the only way to tell which you prefer for any given technique.

In actuality anytime is a good time to use plastic worms in ponds! Due to situational differences some time may be better than others though. You have to put in the work and let the fish tell you that though. Some days a different bait (crank bait, spinner bait, jig, etc.) may be working better. With that being said a plastic worm is my go-to bait 12 months a year. As far as styles, colors, and sizes go the skies the limit! As far as styles and rigs go my top three go-to choices would probably be 6” straight and curl tails on a t-rig, 4” & 6” straight tails on a drop shot rig, and 5” stik baits on a “fly lined” rig (t-rig, no bullet weight). The presentation of these rigs is dependent on water depth, clarity, temperature, location of forage among other factors. This is where homework and “real world” field testing come into play. Colors are the least of my concerns as location and presentation are the top determining factors in where and how I fish. You can have the best color in the world, but if you are fishing in a location with no fish you will never get bit. However as a general rule I keep it simple with natural colors (watermelon, pumpkin, greenpumpkin, etc.). A good rule of thumb is in low light and stained water conditions go with darker colors (greenpumpkin, black, etc), with high light and clearer water conditions go with lighter colors (watermelon, shad , etc.). This is where the fun part comes in. Use some of these tips as a starting point and go out to your local pond and blaze the bank and see what happens. Due to seasonal, regional, and other differences you never know what they will have a preference for that day. Bites change from season to season, day to day, even hour to hour. Get out there and see what the fish have to say about it!

I’ll take a stab at this. A little background first. I consider myself primarily/ first and foremost a plastics fisherman. I mainly fish deep, clear water reservoirs in Southern California with maximum depths of 200 feet plus (see Diamond Valley Lake). I primarily use 6 and 8 pound test due to the gin clear water and 20 plus feet of visibility. 10 pound test is “heavy” out here for everyday worm fishing. Lol. It kills me when good ol’boys back east talk about deep water crankin’ or offshore structure fishing in 15’ of water and having to drop down to 10 pound test. Deep water structure fishing for me starts at 40 plus feet! Lol. As far as brand goes, I exclusively fish my own brand plastics now, but more on that later in another thread. Colors are usually matched to the lake/ water clarity and conditions. I prefer “natural” colors i.e. Green Pumpkin, Watermelon, Pumpkin, etc although we all know location and presentation are by far more important. Techniques overlap with the different plastics and colors. I exclusively use Gamakatsu hooks as I feel they provide the best quality at price point and offer a hook suited for every technique I employ which are primarily Drop Shot, T-Rig, and C-Rig. High speed reels are the norm and technique specific rods are standard issued with set ups dedicated to only a single technique. Below I will list a generalized list of baits that I swear by. Like I said I exclusively use Rude Baits® now but for years used and drew inspiration from Zoom®, GYBC® and RoboWorm. In no particular order of importance as presentations vary from day to day, hour to hour, and spot to spot here is a generalized list of my top producers; 4.5” and 6” Finesse Worm – I primarily use these type of worms for Drop Shot and Nail Weight presentations. Drop Shot generally in 10 to 50 foot plus. Nail Weight for 10 foot or less. I use my own version of finesse worm with a size 2 Gamakatsu Drop Shot/ Split Shot hook with ¼ or 3/8 oz. ball style Drop Shot weight. Out this way very light, subtle and translucent versions of Purple, Pink, and Blue work very well. 5” Stik Bait – Weightless and weed less. Always! Texeposed weightless weed less presentations for generally 20 foot or less. Although as painful as it may be sometimes, this technique can kill it in 20 plus foot of water if you can stand it! Usually a Gammy 3/O EWG gets the call. With best producing colors being darker naturals, Green Pumpkin, June Bug, Grape, etc. 5.5” Creature Bait – I use these for primarily picking apart pieces of visible or metered cover although they are great for covering structure as well. T-Rigged for cover and C-Rigged for structure. Gammy 3/O Round Bend with a 3/8 – ½ oz. Bullet weight for the T-Rig and ½ - ¾ oz for the C-Rig. Junebug has always been a top producer for me. 6” Straight Tail Worm – Used primarily with a T-Rig for picking apart isolated pieces of cover. Although the Drop Shot is a So Cal go-to, this may be the most versatile of the whole bunch. Works from one foot of water to 40 foot plus. Gammy 2/O O’Shaughnessy or 2/O Round Bend with 3/8 – ½ oz. Bullet weight. Any of the aforementioned colors will work as long as you find the fish. 6” Lizard – This is both my go-to C-Rig and sight fishing bait. 3/O or 4/O Gammy EWG with either a 3/8 oz. weight for a sight fishing T-Rig or ½ - ¾ oz. egg weight for C-R-rig. I have had the best luck with Pumpkin and Junebug for the C-Rig and Chartreuse for sight fishing. 3’ and 4” Swim Bait – When I say Swim Bait I mean “Swim Tail” style threaded on to a triangular style lead head. The same style you see on all of those A-Rigs. ¼, 3/8, and 1/2 oz. get the call. I primarily use them to scrape the bottom working uphill on long, tapering, main lake points from 50 foot of water back up to 10 foot. A great search bait. Also good for breaking fish in wolf pack when burned back to the boat. Shad (Smoke) pattern is my favorite. Probably the bait of the listed above I use the least in fresh water but is an absolute go-to killer in salt water. It is the standard bait in which all Calico, Sand, and Spotted Bay Bass fisherman use the most. Honorable Mention – Soft Jerk baits, Grubs, Curl Tails, Tubes, and Large Worms have all produced for me throughout the years but the six listed above are my go-to bait day in day out. I hope the post above was informative as you can see I take pride in fishing my plastics. Whether it’s soaking a Drop Shot in 40 foot of water off a main lake point or Flippin’ and Pitchin’ tules pockets in the back of a cove I love fishing plastics.

Rest In Peace Uncle Homer.