Jar11591

You know when you have really great chicken wings at a place, and then every other place’s chicken wings seem inferior and you don’t want them any more? That’s Siebert Jigs for me. Not interested in any other brand of jigs.

Can’t wait to get her on the water. Initial feel is very nice.

I can appreciate PSAs like these. But this concept definitely isn’t exclusive to the Ned rig. The Ned’s small size makes it that much quicker for a bass to swallow, but really any soft plastic runs this risk if the angler isn’t fully engaged. The smaller the bait, the faster on the draw the angler needs to be.

First thing that stands out to me is the point on the eastern shore near sucker brook. Lots of deep water on either side. That’s probably where I would start. New lakes, I always look for points first.

Z-Man Finesse Shadz or Wormz

International: 9lb 13oz, Mexico, February around 1:00pm and extremely hot and sunny. 20ish feet of water on a scrounger head with a zoom super fluke. Domestic: 6lb 3oz, NY, mid September at dawn. 42 degree air temp and very foggy. Got her on a 5” wacky senko.

Poppers, weedless frogs, Texas rigged ribbon tail worms, spinnerbaits.

Fishing is a blood sport, so some things are unavoidable. Hooking fish obviously, as well as eye or gut hooking and things like that will happen while fishing and they’re unavoidable, even when taking steps to reduce it. But there are plenty of things that are in our control. Once the fish has been caught, I believe we all have a responsibility to be good stewards of the sport, and to me that means mitigating the avoidable damage to the fish. That includes but is not limited to proper handling and releasing. Just because I jammed a hook through its face to catch it, doesn’t mean I need to lay it out on a dry carpet on the floor of my boat, keep it out of water for an excess amount of time, or any other avoidable abuse. I believe fishermen have a responsibility to reduce the damage done to the fish post-catch.

The Pad Crasher Jr weighs 1/4 oz, which should be plenty heavy enough to really sling with a heavy rod. Pad Crasher Jrs are my number one frog, and I fish them on a Dobyns Fury Mag-Heavy with either a Lews Mach Crush or a Pflueger Supreme & 50lb braid. When I cast, my backswing is slower to give the heavy rod time load up under the weight of the frog. When you cast, pay attention to your backswing and see if your rod is loading up. I wouldn’t sacrifice stoutness in the rod for further casts when frog fishing, and you shouldn’t have to. Your set up should be fine, you may just need to tweak your reel settings or casting form.

Addicted to first light fishing. I will always be on the water before sunrise. My fishing mornings start with a 3:30am drive to the lake. It’s often ideal conditions for topwater fishing which I love, there is rarely another boat at that hour, and it’s just beautiful. I would say that hour window of 30 minutes before and after sunrise are my most productive out of any hour window of the day. I love sharing the lake with nobody but the loons.

I will sometimes seek out conditions and locations that are more comfortable for me to fish in, instead of finding the fish and adjusting to the conditions afterwards. I’ve gotten better at that this year, and I’m getting results to show for it.

Went on a 3 day fishing trip with my business partner/best friend who has become addicted to bass fishing. We fished hard for 3 straight days and we were met with very active and willing fish every day. More decent large and smallmouth bass than we could count. Topwater at dawn was productive around mid-lake rock piles. Megabass Pop-X caught a bunch of smallmouth of all sizes: Came across some smallmouth that were herding a massive school of perch to the surface over 30’ of water. A Skitterwalk worked crazy fast over the school worked well until they dissipated: Some decent largemouth came on frogs in the lilies and Texas rigged Rage Tail Anacondas in downed timber: We decided to float up a small river, and had a blast with light tackle reeling in smallmouth up to 15”, pumpkinseeds and rock bass every single cast for hours. They were slamming Ned rigs, tiny poppers, cranks, in-line spinners and jerkbaits like they were going out of style:

7.5” Culprit ribbon-tails and YCB Fat Ikas are both mainstays in my tackle box.

I consider my tackle and gear collection forever a work in progress.

This is always my line of thinking. Sure you can bash a nail into a wall with the butt end of a wrench, but no one is going to argue that a wrench is just as good as a hammer for bashing nails.

Nothing like fishing in the mountains

Poppers, walkers and weedless frogs all see extensive use when I’m fishing, but poppers being number 1. I throw poppers along submerged weed lines, next to downed timber, over rock piles, weed flats, or really any other fishy looking spot that doesn’t have emergent weeds. I’ll switch to a walker if I’m trying to cover water quicker, or if the fish are swatting at the popper but won’t commit. Sometimes the faster action of a walker will make them commit. Just yesterday I found a school of smallmouth herding perch on the surface over 30’ of water. Casted a walker right through it and worked it as fast as I could and they loved it. If there is a lot of chop on the water, I’ll make some casts with a popper and chug it as hard as I can, but won’t spend too much time if it isn’t producing. Topwater with rough water can be tricky. If there is a moderate to light chop, I may throw a walker and work it somewhat quickly so the fish don’t lose it in the chop. Keeping the bait moving may help them locate through the waves. If the water is like glass, I’m throwing a popper and working it very slow back to the boat, with several second in between pops. Dawn is my best time for topwater. Generally when it’s that early the water is like glass (not always), so I’m throwing a popper. Dusk can also be great for topwater, and can offer similar conditions to Dawn topwater fishing such as a calm lake and low light conditions. Around dusk I’m usually throwing a popper as well. On an overcast day, especially a calmer one that has the water slightly choppy, the fish can hit all day on topwater. And when the sun is high, this is when I get my weedless frogs and head to the emergent vegetation. Especially lily pads. I’ve had much more consistent results with a weedless frog targeting emergent vegetation with a beating sun out than any other situation. For water clarity, I don’t change it up too much. If the water is stained I may work the baits harder, and for clearer water I may slightly downsize. But not always. That’s just a preference thing. As far as depth, if I think there are fish there and the conditions are right, I’ll throw topwater regardless. I’ve caught smallmouth with topwaters in 30’ of water, and largemouth in 15’. I don’t think depth alone should determine whether you throw a topwater, because if they want it they will have no problem coming up to get it.

Me and a fishing buddy have traded shots with weedless frogs on swing and miss hooksets before. Always good for a laugh.

Possibly eelgrass.

Opinions on which specific reel will certainly vary, but you want something with high max drag, and decent line capacity. I use a Lew’s Mach Crush and minimum of 50lb Power Pro braid, but more often my reel is spooled with 65lb braid. I can sling a Pad Crasher Jr a mile with this rig, even with a Mag-Heavy rod. You essentially want a heavy duty reel and line to match the heavy duty rod. The reel and line need to be strong enough to be able to assist the rod in hoisting bass out of the pads, hyrdilla, chestnut, or whichever matted weeds you’re fishing in.

Shot I took while landscaping this morning.

Easy to trim. Not so easy to add length to the legs.

Some people feel differently, but for me, a moderate tip rod for topwater is a no-go. Try it out, you may feel differently about it. I’m my experience, trying to work a popper or spook ends up just loading up the rod and feels like mush instead of being able to feel the bait. A fast tip gives me much more feel to work the bait. Another no-go for me is treble hooks and braid. 3/5 of my casts ends up with the braid wrapped around the treble hooks. So for trebled baits, I will only throw fluoro or mono. This is another preference thing, and you may find that it doesn’t bother you. I know a lot of people who throw treble hooks on braid. Ned Rig and Texas rigs, I also prefer a fast or extra fast action.

The Storm Chug Bug has always been one of my favorites, but often gets benched in favor of the Pop Max or X. But whenever I throw it, I’m quickly reminded what a fish catching machine it is. On smallmouth water, the 2.5” rattling Chug Bug is deadly.

No waiting. Bass don’t “mouth” baits. They either suction-feed or ram-feed, and neither methods involve them gumming only half the bait long enough for an angler to have to wait to set the hook. When I feel a strike or anything that feels “different”, I’m leaning back on em immediately. There is a hot debate when it comes to frog fishing specifically on whether or not wait to set the hook when you see a blow up on your frog. There is a very eye-opening close-up video on YouTube (TacticalBassin I believe) that shows by the time you see a blowup on your frog, the bass has already inhaled your frog and turned its head back to dive back down. I never wait.