tcbass

What happened? Why didn't insurance cover some of it? What was it?

I'm for both. But definitely some eater sized on every trip. I caught small and large bass on Ragetail Toads and Senkos the last couple of years. This year I tried jigs and have had a lot of success with KVD Swim Jig and either a KVD Rodent or Zoom Super Chunk. All of the bass I caught on these have been a 1.5lbs or larger. The swim jig gets the big ones apparently.

lol

I've noticed that not all topwater lures are equal when creating a big splash when hit by bass. I use Ragetail Toads a lot but think because they sit so low in the water when they are hit they make more of a "sploop" then a huge splash. Even KVD Sexy Dawgs/Zara Spooks make considerable splashes but not huges ones. Buzzbaits makes some big splashes when hit. Topwater hollow body frogs probably make one of the biggest splashes. It doesn't get any better then when the fish's entire body comes out of the water on the hit. What topwater lure do you think creates the biggest splash when hit by a bass?

I think baitcasters are more better for a heavier set up. If you want to use a heavy spinning gear set up it gets quite large, while a baitcaster can be smaller but still handle bigger lines, lures, and rod weights. As you go up in spinning rod size the reels get considerably larger. Not so the case with baitcasting gear. With spinning gear it is harder to fight a big fish I feel because the reel is farther away from the rod, while with a baitcasting rod it's right on the rod. I use baitcasting for 80% of my fishing and I only use spinning gear for the other 20%. I use spinning gear for only Senko's or like Zoom Flukes. Everything else, topwater, frogs, jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and such I use baitcasting.

I'm always worried about someone stealing my rods or tackle boxes when parked at a store or restaurant such as on our trip to the lake, stopping at like a Cabelas or restaurant and coming out and finding someone has stolen my stuff out of my boat. Luckily, my old Crestliner has a latch lock on the rod case and I was fortunate enough to get the key from that from the previous owner. So if I stop at a store, I lock the rod box and put my big tacklebox in the truck. I could put all of the rods in the truck but it's a pain and car doors and rods always scare me. I wish all of the compartments had lockable latches, because I'd lock my free floating tackleboxes up too. Locks won't keep out a determined thief, nothing will. But they are a deterrent. And when eating I always try to sit where I can see my boat and truck. Obviously this doesn't work when you go into a Cabelas or a Fleet Farm. Has anyone ever had their fishing gear stolen out of their boat or vehicle while stopped at a store, restaurant, or other place?

Wha What brand hook guys? I'm not finding ones that are 4/0 and 1/4 oz.

What size hooks are you guys using with this?

Just used Zoom Super Chunks and Strike King Rodents on my swim jig today and caught 5 good bass.

I saw Bill Dance using a small length of thick fishing line to peg a weight on a T-Rig once. But I couldn't see how he really did it because the camera didn't zoom in enough. How do you peg/pin your T-Rig weights? And if you use a commercial brand what brand do you use?

I've used many different kinds and never had problems. I also saw Bill Dance do an Q&A section on his latest show and I'm pretty sure he said they did a study and found stuff on your hands doesn't scare fish. He also said 99.9% of noise is deflected off of the surface of water so the old saying that if you're noisy you'll spook fish is false.

Thanks for the info! I love Ragetail products and the Ragetail Toad was shown to me by a friend and it is what got me into bass fishing after my entire life of fishing for everything under the sun. In your honor Big O, I will go buy some new weighted hooks and some Ragetail plastics at Cabelas tomorrow and try a Rage Rig for the first time when I go fishing with my friend. Hopefully I can get him into some fish!

I was watching some fishing show and the guy was flipping and pitching to docks with Hack Attack jigs I think with no trailer. He said for the type of fishing he was doing he didn't want to use trailers. And he caught a ton of fish on the show. That episode was all about fishing a jig without a trailer. I fished the other day with a KVD swimming jig and two types of trailers. One was black Zoom Super chunks and the other was green Strike King Rodents. Both caught fish and the jig was green and orange.

Mine were $69. They may not look great but they perform great.

Is it magnetic, centrifugal, or both? If it's both turn 4 of the centrifugal brake pins on, and turn the magnetic brake on the outside to 1/2. Then set the tension knob for the weight of your lure. If it's centrifugal only or magnetic only just do that. Use your thumb feather the cast and slow it down and stop it before the lure reaches the end. Rinse and repeat.

Get something topwater. Like a KVD Sexy Dawg or Ragetail Toad.

Cool. I see that they are for T-Rigging and C-Rigging. I'll look into them for that. I got the Skip Gap hooks for wacky rigging. It's the only way I rig Senkos.

Who makes the parasite hooks? I googled them and couldn't find them.

Might be to heavy. For some reason I think I've always used Fireline braid on my spinning reels. And it's like 20lbs. You could use 20lbs. Power Pro.

Very cool! But I agree with your post. I guess how clear the water is will be the most important part.

But you don't mean sharpening new out of the bag hooks do you?

I got 4 (2 spinning and 2 baitcasting) and they are my favorite rods. Like the OP said, they all feel a weight less then then they are. My heavy frog rod feels like a medium heavy. Love it. The grips are awesome.

You must choose only one.....and choose.....wisely. lol.

I was surprised to see T-Rigs beat out Jigs in my recent poll. So I was wondering, what are your favorite T-Rig Plastics and Hooks? You can put more than one.

I see that some people use double tail grubs as trailers for their jigs. I was wondering if anyone uses Gary Yamamoto Double Tailed Hula Grubs as their trailer for their jigs?