PersicoTrotaVA

I have felt taps and watch the line slowly move around, taps with no line moves; I have felt straight thuds and pulls, thuds and nothing; i have felt nothing at all and felt weight, like a snag or the lure picked up some grass or dead leaves and had a fish on the line. In the end hooksets are free, so rip on it of you think its a fish.

Confidence is number 1 reason why I throw the baits I throw. The 2nd is ease of fishing. I love crankbaits because all I have to do is cast and reel it back and it catches fish. The 3rd reason is action. I chose baits based on the action they have and if I think it looks realistic or crazy enough that a bass would bite it. I never get on the boat without my cranking rod and my wacky rig rod. Those are my go to always catch fish for me baits.

Wayne thanks for sharing! I love wacky rig fishing! I always catch fish on a wacky rig no matter what!

That's tough...3 years ago I would have gone Spinnerbait and creature but today I would have to say crankbait and jig. Crankbaits are my #1 confidence bait and I am trying to be a better jig fisherman.

I love spinnerbait fishing! I have a few Booyah Moontalkers. Great in dirty water and awesome for night fishing. I also have a SK double blade with the large blade painted sexy shad on one side. I haven't used that one yet.

I saw a vid on youtube for this thing and went and bought one my next day off, I haven't gotten a fish to the boat with it but I hooked into a few decent fish with it. I have found that to get the scatter action you really need to crank it back at a medium to fast pace. No slow rollin squarebills here gentlemen. Jerkin and twitchin work decent. To really get the action, try a long rod sweep at waist level to the right or the left. Point your rod at the bait while holding the rod at waist level parallel with the water surface. Keep the line tight so you may have to reel slowly as you do it to get the bait to stay under the surface. This will get it to scatter back and forth and then stop, sweep your rod tip back to in front of you and reel in the slack. Repeat. A fish will most likely smack it on the pause while you are reeling the slack. You wait a second or 2 and then set the hook. The speed at which you sweep and reel slack depends on the fish. Try it slow, fast, medium, until you find that speed that the fish like. Just try not to go so slow that your bait breaks the surface. Just a few ways I fish my shallow scatter rap. Hope it helps someone catch more fish.

I'm in the same boat as you Kritter. Most of the waters I fish are less than 10ft deep with an occasion hole that will drop to 12 maybe 14 ft. I bought a Humminbird 561 dual beam and it hasn't really worked all that great. I have learned a few things about my lake and where drop offs and flats are, and depths, plus the temp readings are great. The whole set up was less than 250 bucks so it didn't set me back that much(trolley motor mount). For guys like us that beat the banks a lot we need Side Imaging, but that's expensive. Humminbird has the 698ci SI Combo for 699.99. This is the one I am going to be getting next. I think its the most inexpensive SI model on the market but don't quote me on that. They also have a slick KVD version with red buttons for the same price that's really neat looking as well.

Did you by chance tie a loop knot? if the knot is tight to the lure it won't walk as easily. With that said, I love this series of rods, if they would stop breaking on me. I broke a 2nd 6'8 mojo bass spinning rod today. The first one the tip broke the day I bought it, catching a 2 lb fish and the replacement broke today, after a little over a month of once a week use, while i was pulling a fish out of submerged wood(a 1.5lb bass). I wasn't even pulling hard. I let the line go slack and let the fish work it free. It might just be the spinning rods because I have the 7'0 Spinnerbait casting rod as well and I love that one and its never given me a problem so far. It's paired with a Pflueger Supreme 5.4:1 baitcasting reel. I use it for cranking and spinnerbaits and have been slaying fish with it all of May. Bass, Crappie, even blue cats have hit squarebills on this rod/reel combo. I also have a 7'4 glass casting rod on the way as my actual cranking rod with a Pflueger Supreme 6.4:1 reel for the Spinnerbait rod. I wanted to get the Slop N Frog as a froggin/swimbait rod. Do you think like the weight of it? Is it pretty well balanced?

Va Beach checking in. Moved back here after spending 7 years out west. Glad to be back to fishing in VA. Mostly fish the lakes by my house(Smith, WhiteHurst, Little Creek Res). Good to see a healthy population of fisherman still kicking about in VA.