Jar11591

The jury is still out (and probably will always be) on line shyness of bass. It’s a variable I can control, but it isn’t the main reason I run a leader. Braid is very limp, and if you tie directly to treble hook baits, you will inevitably run into the issue of the limp braid wrapping itself on the treble hooks during casts, which will prevent you from making a true retrieve with the lure. This is a major major headache, and why I highly recommend never tying braid directly to treble hook baits. Spinnerbaits also have a propensity to do this. If you tie a leader on of material other than braid, the little bit of stiffness will prevent line wrapping. I use leaders for several reasons, and line visibility is pretty far down the list.

Especially if I know there are big bass in there.

@TnRiver46 I can tell the 2nd one is a brookie, but is the 3rd one as well? Cool color on it.

If they start making it in 25lb test I’ll definitely give it a try. I use several other Seaguar lines and love them.

Yeah, I’ve heard of em!

Nice mixed bag and nice report! I love fishing in lakes where you don’t know if the bass will be green or brown when you hook it. I don’t fish in lakes that have smallmouth as often because they are normally larger, more crowded, and less suited for my little boat. Occasionally I’ll venture into the bigger lakes to go after them but not often. I usually get my smallmouth when I float small rivers, but they don’t have any real size to them. Just a blast on light tackle.

I never just throw one lure, but there are times when the spinnerbait rod becomes glued to my hand for hours as I huck it over and over.

All you need is that profile pic again!

Culprit all day

Truck has been in the shop for a few days, so that means no boat for me. Instead I’ve been fishing scum-filled park ponds and flooded, blown-out, muddy rivers. A far cry from fishing clear mountain lakes from my boat, but anything to scratch that itch. Today I got to spend the day at my parents’ camp, and they have a small pond there so I got to fish that. It’s rare that this pond gives up a bass. Mostly pickerel, but I had to try. I was throwing a popper that the pickerel wouldn’t leave alone so I switched to a T-rigged roboworm. The pickerel loved that too. I had just released the 4th pickerel on 4 casts and was kneeling at the ponds edge rinsing the slime off my hands when I looked up and saw a nice bass cruising slowly about 3’ from my face. I slowly reached for my rod and flung the roboworm a couple feet past the fish and after 1 second my line came alive. The result was the best fish I’ve pulled from this pond: The simplicity of shore fishing is nice, but I’m ready to get back out on the boat.

Get a Dobyns FR735 and call it a day. Easy choice for these applications.

Thinking that the secret to catching all the fish lay somewhere on the shelves of BPS or DSG.

If I ever have a reel without a rod, I get a rod for it. If I ever have a rod without a reel, I get a reel for it. So I’m always 1:1

Nice report. When all else fails the spinnerbait mops up.

Good luck! My truck is in the shop so no boat for me. Gonna hit the river bank shortly. Maybe some stripers are still up in this part of the river.

Hard baits and it’s not close.

Yes.

They get no love on here but don’t sleep on the Rage Swimmers. Only paddle tails I throw and they come in several sizes.

Angler’s Log app is exactly what you are looking for then. It’s just what you described. It doesn’t share anything, but you can log catches and all the info involved in the catch, you can mark and save locations and enter catches at those location. And none of it is public. It’s all for your personal record.

Nice report and nice smallies. Current fishing isn’t easy. Well done man.

Just don’t look at them too hard or they fall apart. They catch fish for sure though.

Jigs are good. One of my favorite baits to throw. I fish them mostly in timber. Siebert only. I always have a jig tied on and in the boat.

@Smirak thank you, I appreciate the detailed response!

Building a workshop in my garage to start making lures. Probably mainly as a winter hobby. Torn on whether to start with a bandsaw or scroll saw. I will have both eventually, but I’m gonna start with one. To the experienced lure-makers, if you could only have one saw for lure making, would you go with a band saw or scroll saw? My thinking it would be easier to use a band saw for the detailed work than it would be to use a scroll saw to cut the shapes themselves, so I’m leaning towards bandsaw. Any recommendations are appreciated.

Good luck yall