Choporoz

I've never understood when people say braid is more sensitive than fluoro. Fluoro offers semi slack sensitivity far better than braid for me. I used braid with leaders for years... still do on most of my spinning rods. I still have a few casting reels spooled with braid and I'm too cheap to strip them, but aside from a frog reel, every new spool the last couple years is fluoro or mono.

Nothing new...lol...@WRB-2.0has been talking about scroungers since way before my time here.... dozens of times. Got my attention years ago. I really like the versatility of scroungers; skirts, no skirts, wide variety of weights, any trailer imaginable, low, high, fast, slow, erratic, straight...Other than being challenging across grass, they can be fished successfully a ton of different ways. My hookup ratio isn't always great, but they do draw attention of good fish.

I fish the same 3000 acre lake every day. I generally try not to fish any area 2 days in a row. Admittedly, I may drop by a honey hole from yesterday if I start to smell a skunk.

Yes

Last few days, I just drift and and troll down the middle of the lake looking for activity. Then I throw a 5" spoon in that direction. I let it drop on semi-slack line maybe 15 feet, then swim it up about 8 feet, drop a little, swim a bit.... This morning, they were hitting it when I'd star swimming it. Some days, they choke it on the drop. This morning: I also like it on ledges, but most of my favorite ledges have a lot of wood. Spoons work, but can get hung quite a bit.

Looks very similar. Believe mine are 3". Looks like they make a 4", also.

A recent thread about a bait (Geecrack, maybe?) got me thinking about a pack of Kill Shot baits I had laying around for years and never opened. I never heard much about them. I don't know if they were in a monthly tackle box a decade ago, or maybe TW clearance, or a throw in from a Flea Market purchase from someone here. But I tied one on the other day because of that post about an innocuous flat fish looking bait. I'm glad I didn't read the package, because I t-rigged this 'drop shot' lure. And it has really shined lately. 1/8 or 3/16 trig in and around grass has been the ticket, outperforming my beloved Rage Bug some days. It comes through grass well, casts great and gets hit on the fall, swimming, and sitting on the bottom.

I've been throwing Keitechs and Mayors side by side the last couple weeks and the Rapala is absolutely 'Crushing' the Keitechs. I fish in and around grass, so I usually prefer a weighted hook, rigged weedless. 1/8 is ok, but 3/16 gives me more depth control while maintaining decent speed. Too slow, and the Mayor tends to lose its juice.

Swim Senko is the best looking, worst catching lure I have thrown. I bought a box of assorted colors from BPS years ago, but never once got a single bite on any of them.

North Central NC. I generally reach for the scale and/or camera when I think she is 5 or more.

This. I like worm or Rage Bug; 1/16 or weightless. There will be bass in that grass, especially morning and evening. Even if you can't see the holes, glide across, tickling the tops - when you can't feel grass, stop and let it drop. If your bait gets to the bottom and you feel grass when lifting, give it a slight pop, not ripping, but a little jerk. One more thing....I don't often catch bass in the dying black stinky grass, bit almost always very close to it. Not sure why...I'd guess the dying grass gives off oxygen, but gets so thick and gunky that fish don't really go in it...or maybe they dislike the funky smell as much as I do

Braid with spinnerbaits, for me, is a headache. I inevitably get the line caught in split rings every few casts, and baits with larger blades seem to helicopter more with braid. Fouled bait before it even hits the water is maddening.

15# Invisx.

Had hoped the unusually cold winter would cut them back some. We were so wrong. They are worse than ever. Appreciate the info, @JackstrawIII. Wife or I will find minimum of one on us daily. Far more if a busy yard/garden sort of day. Been bad for a couple or 3 months now. Haven't had more than four attached in a day yet. But finding a half dozen in a day isn't unusual. I used permetherin on some jeans...and we use Deet bug spray, but those only seem to attract the ticks. Frequent showers and checking selves and each other best I can suggest. Once you get so many, you get better about sensing their presence...so I guess that's a good thing...lol. The down side, tho, you can feel them all the time when they aren't there. ....wonder how my pup's Brevecta might work on people...jk....sorta... that stuff is amazing. One bite and the tick dies. Most of the ticks we find in him are already dead.

Rage Bug Rage Bug Rage Bug

Bass ORenos and Creek Chubs are what stand out most in my memory. I have a bunch of each from dad's and grandpa's tackle boxes.

Owner Twistlock has replaced nearly all of my EWGs and round bends

Mustang, also. I bought my wife an Onyx, but it went off in the the boat locker. Never had that problem with the Mustangs.

I listened to a podcast on swim jigs last year and was surprised at the love for really light swim jigs. Was counter to what I'd always done. I spent a fair amount of time after that with light swim jigs, but could never get bit. I probably should try again now while the LMB are on small bait.

I tried really hard to like B.A.D. If they let me edit the show from what? 7 hours? down to about 35 minutes, I'd like it a lot more

I don't watch much, but I've seen some of Steve Roger's lately and I'm impressed.

Strange first few hours today. Structure and cover meant absolutely nothing. Seemed every active bass on the lake was on bait. Nothing relating to grass, wood, points.... unless there was a ton of bait there. Surface temp 75, overcast and relatively calm, which made it better for finding nervous bait. But, really... how do you compete with this Except this girl was all alone in about 8 inches of water . No shad spawn...not on a bed.... no clue what she was doing there...lol. I usually don't take a pic unless they appear to be 5# or better, but this was the biggest 3.5# Bass I've ever seen. She had the mouth of a 5...probably was a couple weeks ago Once wind picked up in the afternoon, they got onto points and it was lights out for a few hours....probably only because the bait went there.

I look at it. But I haven't learned to benefit from the info. Aside from the windiest days when safety and boat control are compromised. It isn't unusual to have wind blowing nearly 180° different within 30 minutes.

Before I retired...before I lived on a lake... I wouldn't go if I couldn't plan at least 3-4 hours on the water. Now most days I am out twice - between 3 and 7 hours each.

That red shad anaconda is such a valuable work-horse as-is, I never had any sit around the stud-farm. Maybe over the winter, if I have any left. Years ago I saw a side by side video of gizzard shad feeding on bottom, and a red shad curl tail worm...it was shocking how well the red shad worm represented a silvery fish