Choporoz

Bad here. Haven't been very successful at repeling them with any of above. Best thing we have found is being vigilant when coming in. Shower frequently, and head to toe checks daily. Brevecto for the dog has worked very well.

I keep buying, but always end up throwing a Rage Bug. Don't really need anything else from March to November.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I will see how zip tie works... that's easy to do/test. And order some clamps. This is my wife's favorite light T-rig rod and is getting heavy use right now. In the meantime... since I posted this,I new priorities; discovered electrical gremlin on the boat this morning. Of course right as the bite is firing up.

DIY suggestions? Not an expensive rod, by any means, but perfect for what it is. I'm at a loss as to how to fix.

This. All of it. I do get various earworms, though. When it is time to move, The Who's 'Goin' Mobile' gets in my head. War's 'Flipping into Darkness' pops in sometimes around brushpiles. All too often I hear Alvin Lee singing 'but I don't know what to do...'. Today, I heard Elvis Costello singing 'Accidents Will Happen', "There's so many fish in the tree"...lol. (Caught at least six out of one laydown)

Too many variables for a simple answer. Depends on the bait, but in my lake over the past 3 weeks (40-55°), the bait balls vary dramatically every few hours. When I find large, tight balls of threadfin or gizzards, there have been LMB around. But more often than not, those bait balls have been looser lately... and moving a lot. But sometimes even when I'm in the middle of huge gizzard school with bass gorging, I can't get a bite. I could see the bass chasing down shad all around me two days ago. (I'malways amazed at how fast bass are.) I was snagging shad every 3rd cast with a crankbait. Not one bite, though. But, I'm generally not finding a lot of active bass directly relating to obvious bait concentrations. They are relating to cover and structure more than they have since November. I need to start over every day and figure out if the active fish are on points, drops, wood, or most often, grass. I'm ignoring the bait on my graphs right now.

Maybe like a speed clip? Tie line to the eye?

Add me to the list of KK scale users. $21 with clip (not hook) bought 2 1/2 years ago. Still on Amazon (Wide View Floating) for nearly same price now.

Thx. It would be way cooler if I could predict the bite windows. I'd get a lot more done around the house and yard if I knew when not to bother fishing. :D

I mentioned 30 minute bite windows in my last post. Held true today. Fished for five hours today. Except for one 30 minute span, I had exactly one bite. But, from 3:30 to 4:00, I had a 20 pound limit anchored by this 6.94.

February was rough. Lost over a week due to ice and the two storms. Not one fish over 5 and a few days three fish was about all. Once they moved up from the winter depths they were really scattered and not eating much. Bait was also scattered. Bite windows were short, maybe 30 minutes and then nothing. Today, they were eating all day. All in grass from 6 to 9 feet. The so-called pre-spawn may be on. Surface temps still only 44, so could still be some off days for a bit.

Owner Twistlock Light wire for almost all Texas rigs.

I am a serial gear-abuser. Ride it hard and put it away wet.

Right there with you, @king fisher . March through October, the vast majority of my casts are with a t-rigged Rage Bug. Every year I commit to throwing more cranks and other lures. But reality is that I rarely make more than a dozen casts without a bite before I pick the Bug back up. Lazy, I suppose. But the amount of confidence I have in the Rage Bug is definitely something of an obstacle.

Thanks, Scott. I may seek those out. I really thought I'd be able to fashion my own with braid, split rings, swivels, etc. But I just kill the action or get fouled, even with smaller hooks on shorter line. One thing I've come to have supreme confidence in for flutter spoons is a dressed main hook. I imagine getting a bit of dressing flash on jigging spoons (main or stinger) should be good, too.

Maybe a little too focused for most, but I'd welcome a detailed discussion on stinger hooks for spoons. I have gone away completely after no end of frustrations. I did have one or two flutter spoons with stingers that were great new, but my fashioned replacements were always less than desirable. I have tried to follow some online 'expert' advice on spoon stinger hooks, but with no success. Do you use a stinger on jigging spoons vertically? I never have, but my jigging spoons are most always in or around brush.... not sure I could manage.

Baby bass has been a proven color in lures for a long time. I have had caught bass spit up baby bass. I see no reason not to, if legal.

Thanks. Hadn't heard of Merlin. I will check it out. I have used BirdNet for many years. It seemed somewhat revolutionary when I first used it. No doubt it has been surpassed by now. I converted a 120 gallon cooler to bird food storage to keep the mice at bay in the garage. We buy black oil sunflower seed and hot suet cakes in bulk

R.I.F. Sorry @scaleface . Yesterday, I totally missed the 'lips' (even with picture). I was addressing lipless floating traps above. Never heard of or seen the kind you show here.

Mine were replaced by bladed jigs, and sometimes just smaller sinking traps (LVR50/Mini). I used to run floating traps when I encountered flats with 18-24" between grass tops and surface.

16 degrees this morning. 64 tomorrow. Hope to get the boat back in the water tomorrow. Some ice on our creek, but should be gone or skim tomorrow. Been a long two and a half weeks since I took it out. I don't think it was out more than three weeks combined all last year.

He was quite open about it being a grub and showing the color. He was a bit coy about the brand and whether they are available to the masses. It did appear that he had a couple different colors. The grub he threw when it was overcast looked more like a watermelon red. Couple guys were quivering that spinning rod like they were near hypothermia. Was that a jighead minnow shake? Thought one looked like a fluke, but I've never fished a fluke anything like that.

Yeah. Shame they put these guys a such a tiny pond in good weather with a thousand locals

Immense 'local pressure' is going to keep Hartman from winning this thing. 🤣

Watched off and on for a bit this morning. Has Blaylock moved more than 20 feet all day? Looks like he parked in same spot every time I see him.