PABASS

I have not seen many Florida strains of bass in person but they are similar in color, I know this ins't the FL strain but I see similarities.. I always liked the way they look(Dark/yellowish), around here the bass have allot more silver, although its easy to see when they swipe at a bait lol..

Great review, I always wondered why punch skirts came to be, why not just create a punch jig, we have swim jigs, why not punch jigs? Crap there goes the million dollar new bait idea..

SPEED can we play the same guessing game with adults and whomever wins gets a day of swimbait fishing with ya?? - Really awesome idea with the baits..

Berkley purple worm is the first worm and even plastic I recall using when I was young.

Awesome great shots, love how dark the bass are.

She is already dreaming about fishing with Daddy, congrats. If this is your first sleep when you can!

That red one is unique we don't have too many pumkinseeds here in my neck of the woods, I can tell you I would be throwing a larger swim baits matching those colors and see what happens..

I am a robo worm fan but I have been in a situation where they didn't work and zooms did, the fish where keyed in on a certain color which I had a robo worm, same size in just about same color but it was not near as transparent as the zoom worm and that was the ticket, transparency. It was a very clear lake and fish were pre-post spawn, some on beds some off beds, hard day only two other guys caught a limit that day..

One down side is using the wrong line and hooks for the action of the rod, I wouldn't use light line with a light wire hook with that rod. Heavy wire hook with I would say at last 17# test line is what this combo will excel at. I am no expert but I do know there is no standard meaning each manufacture uses its own scale, some rods that are label MM are similar to other manufacture's MH. I don't believe I own MH rods and the jig has been my most productive lure this year as in most years and I don't have any issues. The key is right line and hook, don't go to light wire or you will bend the hook, don't go to light light with a heavy wire hook or you may break the line and or not get the proper hook set.

Those are some awesome deals thanks for sharing.

Short strikes to me indicate color change, try some JJs with chartreuse on the head and or another color worm, black or purple..

That's awesome nice looking fish as well like the colors.. Never had a double with a LMB, did you think you had a monster?

I would say that there is a few exceptions to not setting the hook on a drop shot, one is bed fishing, the other is weedless hooks. This year the drop shot technique really came into play for me, I have read about and watched videos on it and most of the time with open hooks no need to set the hook, just a reel set should do. However when bed fishing the fish are not taking the bait as they normally would, I kept missing them with the reel set that is until I saw them take it and set the hook on em, problem went away. Weedless hooks you need to set the hook as well. I haven't personally had any issues with gutting a bass and for me I don't typically use a drop shop to just drop on the fish I use it as a search tool and the fish normally hook them selves, just make sure you have as little slack in the line as you can and make sure to watch you line as well..

I don't think I have ever fished a pond with shad or minnows, I have never been out to Iowa so I cant say but here in PA we have many small ponds and the DNR does not have anything to do with these small ponds, they are typically residential owned and or golf course ponds. One thing that may differ here in the east is that most property was owned well before the government/local state had its hands in land ownership, around here most lakes where created on farm land and farmer owned land taken was over by the state. As a child I used to swim in these ponds and know them quite well.. And to add to that allot of lakes I fish do not have shad, only a few come to mind, minnows yes, but no shad..

You can try changing out for larger hooks, add heavier split rings, add lead strips. While I have never tried this I have seen people add a split shot few inches up the line to get the bait down low..

I have seen this in small ponds with NO Shad, No Minnows, just bluegill and bass, nature works in circles, look for smaller bluegills they are feeding on the eggs when the larger bluegill chases off the bass, bass are there for the smaller bluegills trying to feed on the bluegill beds. In all this commotion one animal will come out with a meal, small bluegill with some eggs in its belly or a bass with a small bluegill in its belly or perhaps even both..

When I fish with someone I find my self say outloud "there's one", or "got em" and its a "big one get the net". When I am by myself I say them in my head, lol...

When a fish misses your hula popper toss in a wacky rigged senko and hold on. Like others have said if there are no fish around you wont get bit no matter what you use. While I have not used every stick bait on the market I have used several and they do not fall and or impart the same action as a GY senko. Wacky style will slow your sink rate way down, add nail waieghts and it imparts a different action texas rigged and it sinks quicker. Take a senko in clear water and let it sink and sit watch its action as it falls and use it to your advantage, work the bait slow, speed it up and let the fish tell you how they want it. I have had senkos last 10 fish and more if I didn't get a snag, wacky rig, with a O ring and not touching the plastic with a hook when you rig it.

I have red hooks and I don't know if its the color and or added flash but in certain situation red works and other times it doesn't. I like red hooks on my jerkbaits and pop-rs.

I went for it, chatter baits for a buck cant beat that and filled up my jig quota as well..

Interested and active fish is one way to catch fish, but they are not always interested or active, how do you catch emm then? Three ways you catch fish reaction, hunger, territorial when you break down lures you can fit those ones that you might be scratching your head over into one or more of these categories. I understand your thinking, what we are doing is the extreme more than whats found in nature and why not? A Rat-lTrap a key is playing to the bass lateral line and sight when it vibrates, can a bass decide that this lure is louder then normal prey, doubtful since we get bit on them and because of this it has an easier time finding the lure. Lures are just taking nature to the extreme, to give us the best chance for our quarry bass to eat our lures. I used to scratch my head over a worm, when would a bass ever see a worm in nature, but man do they love them, sight, smell and taste, easy meal.

I agree, you are making compromises now that down the road you will feel, maybe regret. The rod mentioned can be a great rod for some applications but using this rod with braid is going to limit your ability to do certain techniques and limit your ability to constantly be on fish. I fished with an ugly stick most of my life and nothing wrong with it, as it worked for reaction style baits which is all I used to have confidence in, but it does not work well for texas rigging baits, jigs, Carolina rig, drop shot, shaky head and the list goes on. I am a firm beliver get the right tools for the job at hand and I can tell you I catch more fish and loose less fish with this logic.

I have heard several theories on this, it angers them into killing the buzzbait to make the noise/action stop and or it imitates fish feeding on schooling bait fish, basically a predator fish chasing smaller fish. When you try and break down a buzzbait strike, bass typically hammer them and they typically get hooked, why? They are not attacking the blade(s) but the lure the part that has the hook and looks to be fish like. I believe its a combination and depends on the fishes mood, with that said its a reaction and or territorial strike, not a "hunger strike" which is why this funny looking bait catches fish.

While fishing I agree with Gene when I loose confidence in a lure I change, I have no preset time for that. I am a rider and when my boater puts 6 fish in the boat to my 0 its time to change, when I cast to an area and not getting bit and the boater casts to the same area and brings in a fish, its time to change.

When I was young a local pound had a 4-5# bass and she would only eat bluegills, I probably caught her 4 or 5 times using this method and before this tried everything I knew at the time which I now realize wasn't much. This is when I fell in love with a buzzbait because she was my first fish on one and holy crap was it awesome.. From that point on took my buzzbait to many lakes and ponds and would hammer fish, sadly haven't enticed any fish to hit one this year.