OmegaDPW

I have a handful of red plastics that never catch fish. I do have good luck on a large red lizard, though. We have red and black/blue salamanders all around my area. That may be why, but it's just a guess.

Me too. I have had a bag of Mann's Grape Jelly Worms that I've never used because they're like a foot long and I never expected to fish for a bass that big. I may need to re-think that topic one day.

You have unlocked a memory. The Creme pre-rigged worm with propeller may have actually been my first lure and not the Beetle Spin. 🙂

100%. I started with them over 40 years ago and still love to fish them.

No pics but I bought my first rod and reel in about 15 years or more. A couple of co-workers and I were discussing fishing and one of their wife's is always selling stuff at flea markets and places like that. I asked him if she had any fishing stuff and the other co-worker piped up and said he had a bunch of rods he wasn't using. So, I went over to his house and looked around. He did, but most of them were pretty old and beat up. The last rod that he had bought new was a Zebco 33 mounted on a 6'0 M Ugly Stik and he said he only used it a couple of times. I carried it home with a spool of 10lb Spiderwire for $10. I'll play around with it and see what happens. I already took off the original line. I'm an Ugly Stik fan, anyway, so I'll figure something out just for the rod. Now, his tackleboxes were really something. Lots of old hardbaits and chatterbaits in the original packages and Culprit worms in packaging that I've never seen. He wasn't ready to let most of that stuff go, though. At least for what I was willing to pay.

I picked up a bunch of the 13 finesse worms with rabbit ears on a different website that were also heavily discounted. I got like 40 of them for $5 or so. Hadn't tried any yet, but they're really well made with interesting color patterns, also. I'll probably regret not buying more.

I bought mine some new lures. Even wrapped it up nice and put it in a nice red bag with a bow. She loved it but complained one of the lures was too expensive. I'm happy that she knows that. I didn't get anything.

I definitely did. For about 4 years. Job change, financial strain, kids, etc. had me working part time jobs with my regular one and going out every weekend to play stopped. I didn't give it up totally because the boss of one of those jobs had a couple of ponds to fish and I went a couple of times but didn't catch anything- or at least not enough to re-ignite the fire. Did another job change last year in May and was finally able to get rid of the part time jobs and still stay afloat. Started back in October because I had two work conferences to go to that were on lakes and I figured I may as well buy my license and fish some while on breaks from classes. That re-ignited it again and I hadn't missed a week now since October 12th of last year.

It's funny how many folks like purple. I have caught exactly one fish with a Culprit purple/white curly tail worm and it wasn't in my local spots. It was in super clear water up in a mountain lake when I was on vacation. I've tried it numerous times since in my muddy water ponds down south and never a bite. My best color down here is straight black- I've tried a black blue and a black with blue flake worm with nary a bite. Funny how fish are so picky depending on location. I've always assumed that since black works well in my stained water, purple and other variations of black would be similar. Not with my finicky bass.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone! It's been interesting to read what others consider a short rod. Some of the "short" ones are longer than what I consider long! The best thing that I got out of this thread is something that I never really noticed before- casting accuracy. While my short rods don't cast as far as some of my longer rods, I did realize that the short ones put it where I want more often than the longer ones. I rigged up my favorite UL short rod yesterday evening with some new 6lb test, a split shot and one of @looking45 3 inch weenie worms with a #6 EWG hook to see what will bite this weekend. Can't wait to get out there now.

I'm a 95% worm guy. Usually finesse worms on a split shot rig. I was gifted some Zman worms and some hand poured worms from two very generous members here, so I'm trying them out right now. I also like the Creme stick baits (they're $1.24 for 5 at my local Wal Mart) and Zoom Trick worms when I want a larger presentation from the 3-4 inch worms I normally like. Almost every worm I fish is a straight tail. I like lizards when I need to throw a curly tail worm with some more action. That's only because I bought a ton of hand poured lizards on a close out sale many years ago. I had some pretty good luck the other day with the Zoom finesse worm in "natural worm color" (maybe pumpkinseed- don't remember the name) and fished weightless on 6lb line. I was pretty surprised how well they cast without the split shot. I lean toward black or natural colors, with the exception being bubblegum. I don't throw it often, but it usually works pretty well. Good luck!

Thanks for this! I was in Perry a couple weeks ago for an equipment show and remember seeing the sign for the PFA. That'll be ideal for what I want.

My daughter and wife will be spending most of next week showing livestock at the Perry show. I'll probably head up that way and find some time to fish on the weekend. All I know around there is Tobesofkee and I've never fished it- just went swimming there once. Are there places to fish from the bank there? Any other/better options around the Perry/Macon area? Thanks in advance!

I bought two packs a few months ago. I noticed that the packaging looked exactly the same but the sticker had two different options. Mine say Super Salt Plus. Maybe the other said "original" but I don't remember. I wasn't intentionally looking for a floating worm at the time but I'll check the little sticker next time and buy the other one. Thanks!

@RRocket the grasshopper version of that cricket is my least favorite lure. Years ago, when my son was first starting to fish he wanted one and immediately it got caught on his gym shorts that he was wearing. While I was attempting to get it out of that crappy material, a guy walked up to see if we had caught anything. My son turned around fast and the lure ripped through his pants and deep into my finger. So, we're talking to this nice old man while I'm bleeding like a stuck pig and trying to hide it from him. I almost had to go to the hospital to remove it but eventually pulled it out with pliers and a lot of cuss words. That lure has never been fished again and it resides in MY TACKLEBOX so none of my kids ever find it. 🤣

Of the mainstream stuff that I can find at Wal Mart or Bass Pro, what companies make floating finesse worms for drop shot style rigs? Or at least something very slow sinking? I was told that the Z-Man worms do. I actually fished one today, but didn't really pay attention. I thought some of the Zoom trick worms were, but whatever I bought sink like a rock. Do any of the mainstream stick baits float? Thanks in advance!

I spent like 12 years on night shift and then had to swap to days. That was at least 10 years ago and I still struggle to sleep through the night. In those days, my plan would be to get off at 0800 and sleep until noon or so. Get up and do my running around town stuff and then go back to bed around 1800 until it was time for work. My body adapted to that and now I go to bed early, wake up in the middle of the night for a few hours and then go back to bed before work. Like others, I try and make it a priority to catch a good nap on one of the weekend days. That's usually the best sleep I get all week, even if it's for just two hours or so.

Had a couple hours again this morning to throw a line before the rain started coming in. @RRocket was super generous to send me some micro baits and ways to rig them so I tried a couple out today. Guess what? I caught micro-bass! 😄 I wound up with 4 bass in those two hours. All less than 2 lbs. Had a good one hooked on my ultra-light with a #6 EWG hook while trying to get a crappie bite but something went wrong and he got off after a good jump and head shake. I rarely get to fish during the week unless I take a day off of work, so now the waiting period begins again until next Saturday and hoping the weather will be nice.

Had a couple hours this morning with decent weather. Mainly fished a Marabou jig for crappie or whatever would bite and had no luck whatsoever with it. Swapped over to Bass and wound up with two. These are average/low sized for this pond but I took the pics because I rarely get the lures in the pic. 😉 (still showing up crooked on here for some reason)

Mine too. I also email them from my phone to the laptop (like said above) to re-size there and it also rotated for me.

I've got the finesse worms. They're awful smelling to me and definitely stick to your hands rigging one up. I've only caught one fish with them and have used them numerous times. I've double bagged mine and put them up for now.

I tried two of them many many years ago. Both were probably Berkley and one was marketed as crappie attractant and the other was bass attractant. The only thing I remember about them was that the bass attractant leaked out of the bottle all in my tacklebox and I'm not sure if I ever even used it before that happened. In my opinion, the crappie attractant didn't do a thing and I noticed no difference. I've looked again over the years at others, but honestly, it's more expensive than I want to spend. My local Wal Mart had a couple the other day but they were like 7-8 bucks a bottle. I'd rather have some Zoom finesse/trick worms for that price. When catfishing, though, I may take a couple of hot dogs and put them in a zip-lock bag with some salt and onion powder and let them sit on the counter overnight. I think that helps. The big trick in catfishing right now is chicken breast marinated in red Kool-Aid powder. The 'Net says that works amazing.

What's your water quality like? Clear or muddy?

Good deal. Their little bait shop where they make them are in the same town my mother-in-law lives. Now, I'm actually excited to go over there.

With all of the good responses I got on my Marabou jig thread, this followed me home today.