PersicoTrotaVA

I was 5 and I caught it on a cane pole with a nightcrawler. I ate him too. It was about a pound. The first time on a lure was when I was about 12 and it was on a walmart special grub from one of those bass fishing kits. It was on a 404 Zebco Spincast combo with a pistol grip rod(who remembers those?). I killed them that summer on that bait.

I have found that when fish hit the top of the water and don't hit topwater baits its time to switch to something subsurface. Waking a spinnerbait, slow reeling a broken back rapala or running a really shallow running crankbait(I like the SK 1XS) will get those fish to bite more.

Owner wacky hooks and wacky jigheads. I used the VMC jigheads and they work great. I want to try the Jackalls and see how they work. I use 2 sizes, a 1 and a 2/0 and for the jigheads I use 1/16 and 1/8 oz.

It looks like something to hang bumpers off of for visiting boats... If I ever saw someone bouncing a jig off of someone's boat, I'd smack them or their boat with a jig. Respect other people and their property, even if it is parked on public waters. We have laws that protect our cars when they are parked on the streets or in parking lots, its the same thing for a boat parked on a dock on public water. As long as you are respectful I don't see a problem with fishing docks.

I am a lickle wacky. I always catch fish on a wacky rig, always. I don't like the traditional T-rig. I like to rig a yum dinger on a 3/0 EWG hook and shove a nail weight about 1 to 2 inches in from the tail of the worm. I also push the nail into the head of the worm and rig the hook weedless about 2 inches from the tail. I have caught fish both ways and its something a little different than a plain ol' t-rig.

Color doesn't really matter much when fishing a senko style bait. The other day I threw junebug early in the morning, then red shad for late morning and then GP after noon through about 2pm and caught fish on all of them. I have found that finding the fish is the hard part, catching them is easy, and most of the time they will hit anything you throw at them, if you can find them. That's why I love fishing with a wacky rigged senko, it catches fish for me, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Color hasn't seemed to be that important this year. I throw the Tennessee Shad color a lot and my brother throws the black back/chartreuse a lot and we both catch fish fishing them at the same time. To me size is the important factor. Right now I'm fishing the 1.0 KVD in Tennessee shad, 1XS in Tennessee shad and chartreuse sexy shad. I will throw a 1XS sexy sunfish or a KVD 1.5 bluegill if I find they are eating bluegill more than shad. I fish shallow lakes so I don't really throw deep divers...actually I don't own any crankbaits other than the KVD squarebills, 1XS, Series 1 and 4S.

Heavy rod and reel and heavy line. They can weight up to 3 oz when fully rigged. I asked the same question a few days ago as I am looking to get an A-rig soon.

Great, the bait monkey called for 4th of July...I don't need anything but I don't think I can pass up this opportunity to get a new rod and reel and more lures at 15% off.

First would probably have to be crankbaits, which are all Strike King KVD squarebills, Series 4S, Series 1 and Series 1XS with 1 Rapala Scatter Rap Crank Shallow. Then it would have to be plastics with my senko style worms I use for wacky rig fishing taking the silver followed by jig and spinnerbait trailers collection to round out the top 3.

take some heavy mono, copolymer or fluorocarbon(20lb or higher) and insert it through the plastic and the eye of the hook after you have already rigged the plastic on the hook. Take a pair of scissors or snips and cut the line down to the plastic so its not sticking out. That should help you keep it on there longer.

It doesn't. I don't own an A-rig, thats why I started the thread about which one to get. I didn't bring my flukes and caffeine shads with me because of space constraints. I have a cooler in front of me, my tackle bag, 2 worm binders, my small bookbag with my phones, wallet, keys and other stuff. Behind me I have 2 batteries. My standing are is rather small. I looked into the Yellow Hammer Spinnerbait rig and I think I am going to go for that one even though its a little more expensive. The reviews on TW are that its a beast and takes a beating. Still haven't decided what jigheads and plastics to go with. As long as it looks like a threadfin shad, I will be happy. Thanks again for the responses guys!

Thank you so much for the response. Exactly what I was looking for! I fish shallow lakes/ponds as well and my fear is losing 20 dollars on the end of my line. I will look into all the things you recommended right now!

Thanks for the reply Fishes in trees. You are right I didn't bring everything with me. Unfortunately we fish out of a small jon boat. With a cooler for a livewell, 2 batteries, 3 of my rods, 3 of my brothers rods, a smallers cooler with food and my tackle and his tackle we are kinda pressed for space. We left early because we saw everyone in the tournament(only 9 or 10 boats and we are all friends) and everyone said the same thing, its tough. Only 2 or 3 had a limit(3 fish) and they were all small ones and a few boats pretty much quit fishing tournament style and went to fun fishing and caught 1 or 2 small ones. The boat is technically my brother's boat and he wanted to leave, he was getting very angry and wanted to just leave so I can't really say anything since the boat is his. He also likes to beat the banks, a lot. There were a few times we saw water turn and bubble trails from fish getting spooked under our boat. I knew the fish weren't on the shore and wanted my brother to back off a bit and let us fish the slope going to deeper water. We must have spooked 3 or 4 fish along the first shoreline we fished. I am not faulting my brother but he bank beats and knows how to keep moving to find fish on the banks. I don't mind, any day of fishing is better than an awesome day at work but both of us were too dumb to see what was going on. To be honest the A-rig intrigues me and even if I caught white bass or crappie on Sunday at least I would have caught something. I also want to expand my arsenal and not fish the same stuff all the time. I want to find ways to fish that I like to fish and I am good at and I haven't really tried a lot of different techniques. I have my 2 or 3 techniques that I am good at but I want back up plans and be versatile to fish in changing conditions or unexpected conditions. I am really thinking about getting the Flashmob Jr and ordering it today. The bait monkey is on my back...

Ok let me set the scene really quick. Sunday morning I fished a local tournament on a lake I don't really fish often except for these weekly tournaments and I only fish the tournament once a month. I usually fish with my wacky rig and my pitchin stick with 3/8 oz jigs, its what I have the most confidence in. Anyway, we(my brother and I) got out on the water and started to fish and noticed a lot of bait fish schools...A LOT. At this point I realized I had the wrong stuff with me. I tried everything and I got nothing. I spent more time tying and re-tying baits than I did fishing. Changing plastic colors, sizes and types. I threw stuff I never thought I would throw and still nothing. We ended up getting skunked and leaving about an hour earlier than weigh in time. Yesterday morning it dawned on me that maybe an A-rig would have worked wonders. The lakes around here are shallow, they avarage about 6 ft to 7 ft at the deepest and at most 10 ft to 12 ft deep in holes so nobody really throws and A-rig because its too bulky and would get snagged easily. I have never used an A-rig and have no idea what brand or size to get. I was thinking the Yum Flashmob Jr with colorado blades since most of the water here is stained to muddy and of course shallow. I wanted any input from seasoned A-rig anglers and get some advice on which brands and styles are you guys' favorites and of course how to fish this thing. Thanks in advance guys and tight lines!

You should throw a lot of black and red in there. Greens, Browns, Reds, Blacks, Chartreuse and sometimes White with a mixture of one or 2 of those colors. Craws and creature baits, long worms and jigs, lots of jigs. Use scented baits or get some kind of spray on attractant, preferably crayfish scent. The fish you are seeing with orange tails are probably grass carp or mirror carp. If you see them, try and fish away from them, bass don't like them very much.

I rig a senko style bait texas rig weightless. Then I take a nail weight and stick it in about about 3/4 in. from the tip of the tail and push that nail into the worm towards the hook and bury it in totally. I prefer a lighter nail like 1/32 to 3/32. You want to use a heavier rod and braided line. Cast it right into the middle of the pads. If it lands on a pad, twitch it and when it gets to the water, it will fall tail first and shimmy on its way down, bass underneath can't resist it. It makes a smaller profile so it can slip into smaller holes between the pads.

Glad you guys don't see a game warden. A few years ago I got a fishing without a fishing license for casting the pole for someone else who had never fished before in their life. I almost went to jail that day for arguing with the GW because I wasn't fishing and get this, he didn't even give the other person a ticket, he went direct for me. I am all about checking people to see if they have up to date fishing licenses and fining people who litter and take fish that are too small but seriously, I will never fish that lake ever because of how gestapo they are about it. 275 bucks for trying to help someone out...

If I could, I'd fish 365 days a year. Weather doesn't bother me and it doesn't stop a fish's instinct to eat. It's all a matter of finding fish and figuring out what they want to eat.

I fish a few lakes where I hook into trash bags and plastic bags all the time. I see cans and plastic bottles lining some of the shores. There are bobbers, line, sinkers, hooks in trees, stumps, everywhere. It disgusts me. Litter of any type is going to kill a fishery. It's up to us as fisherman and nature lovers to have good practices like the ones mentioned in this thread and educate fellow anglers that possibly do not know the damage they are doing when they litter in our lakes. If you can get to a snag and get it free, do it. I always go and get my snags out so I don't pollute the lake and because I am cheap and don't want to pay for more lures. If you snag garbage, don't throw it back. I have a plastic garbage bag with me in the boat just in case. Now imagine if everyone did that and removed all the garbage that we get snagged on...

Good to know and thanks for the input! I have never tried it with a baitcaster combo. I like to feel as much as possible and the line hanging off the rod instead of sitting on top of it helps me do that, or at least it does in my head. I am fishing a tournament tomorrow and I just tied a 1/8 oz wacky jighead to my 6'6 MHF baitcaster I use for lighter jigs and T-rigged and mojo rigged plastics. Thanks again for the input boss, I'll report how I like it. Thanks again for the input!

Wacky rigged senko style bait always catches me numbers and its usually in the 2 to 3 lb range. Big fish will hit it too but I have found that the big ones around here like jigs(1/4 and 3/8 oz) and grubs(fat albert). It seems the bigger fish will go for the smaller baits more than the bigger baits. In the spring during the pre spawn they go nuts on bullfrog tadpoles and they hit a grub with force. I guess they get to that age and size and get lazy and don't want to chase fish around too much.

I have 4 baitcasting combos and 1 spinning combo. For me it's what works better for the situation. I'm usually pitching and flipping and doing that with a spinning combo can get taxing on my wrist. I fish wacky rig a lot so I have my spinning combo next to me always. I'd never try it with any of my baitcasting combos, it just wouldn't feel right. I caught my PB on a spinning combo before I had all my baitcasters. 5'6 Ugly Stik with a 1.0 KVD squarebill, 5.64lbs. They both work and have their uses in certain situations or fishing styles, but sometimes its just what you have and you have to make it work.

I've never had anyone steal my stuff outta my truck or boat at a store but I got all my gear stolen back in 2010 around Christmas along with everything else in my house. They drugged my dog to get in but not before he bit one of them. I quit fishing and pretty much doing anything til about May of last year. I never felt so invaded in my life, never felt so vulnerable, and so depressed. It's not easy to pick back up when someone takes your bed and clothes and everything else you own. I picked back up with fishing this spring, glad I did, I forgot how much I love to be on the water.

Skirt strands work great, I had a skirt fall off a Spinnerbait and kept it for pegging weights and just stuck a swimbait on the spinnerbait for now.