PersicoTrotaVA

I’ve caught big fish(5+lbs) on a lot of baits but my biggest don’t come from a jig. They come from finesse baits like wacky rigged finesse worm or the ned rig. Although my biggest hit was on a jig, I didn’t land the fish. If I had to estimate it was was over 8 lbs since my PB is 7.5 and that one was bigger.

My advice is to use smaller baits for panfish. Trying to use a bass lure for panfish will not work most of the time. They will always go for live bait over plastic. If you wanna go for panfish, small jigheaded grubs and beetlespins will work. Also small inline spinners as well. It’s fun to catch panfish on lures but you gotta match the size to the fish. Even 3 inch senkos can be to big. Also never cut a senko up, it loses its action. One technique that catches me fish of all sizes is a zoom finesse worm on a small 1/16 oz wacky rig with a size 1 hook(keitech mono spin). I’ve caught fish just letting it sit on the bottom. Another good technique is the ned rig.

I use 30 lb braid on my wacky rig. Wouldn’t use anything else.

All my spinning reels are Pluegers except for 1 which is lews. Rods I’m all over the place, mostly st croix, daiwa and Powell I also have 1 kistler and a damiki dark angel. Baiatcasting reels I don’t have a preference. I have 2 Pgluegers, never again, a ***, my favorite and a few lews. I’m not partial to any brand really. It’s more on who makes what I need and what is in stock, and not 400 dollars...

Zoom finesse worm and trick worm, yum dingers, yam senko, all wacky rigged on a 1/16 oz owner wacky rig hook or 1/16 oz keitech mono spin jig. Oh and the color is almost always green pumpkin or green pumpkin magic. I put 5 fish in the boat the other day total weight about 18 lbs, all caught with the same bait, 1/16 owner wacky with a green pumpkin magic finesse worm. That’s my go to bait for any situation except super heavy cover, then it’s jig time.

Look sun glasses are sun glasses, doesn’t matter what you wear, it’s how you use them. Yes I own costas, now, but I fished for years with strike king polarized glasses and whatever cheapos I found at the local tackle shop. I made a decision to invest into good fishing gear a few years ago because I decided to make it my main hobby and drop a lot of other hobbies for fishing. I will say this, any true angler doesn’t have costas...but he does have 2 pairs, maybe 3 of polarized glasses. Amber, dark grey and a bluish green lense, the latter being of very specific use, or for wearing out and about.

Are they thick? Carp are thick bodied and glide through the water. Bass you only really see their back and kick their tail more when they swim. If they were bass I usually slow roll a broken back rapala right under the surface or wake a spinnerbait. If they are carp...try some bread on a 1/0 hook, no weight and hang on tight...

Zoom trick worms and finesse worms Are my favorites. That color and watermelon magic are my go tos. Anything with magic in the name. I got 4” Senkos in green pumpkin magic, never seen them in the bigger senkos. This color kills it on a wacky rig.

To be honest it really depends on the year. The last few years it’s been wacky rig. I slayed them for 2 years straight with a zoom finesse worm on a owner wacky hook(got my PB 7.5 lb LMB on it). This year though I haven’t picked it up at all. I’ve been throwing jigs a lot more.

Slow rolling a black Colorado blade spinner bait, big Texas rigged worm. Use dark colors, black and red, brown. Fish slower as well.

After I went deer hunting for the first time, I found out that my smartest weapon in my arsenal wasn't my gun or my ammo...it was no scent. When you are 3 feet away from a deer, looking through because it can't smell you, it's an eye opener. With that said, I never used to use scents for bass fishing, never, ever, never ever. I got heavy into buying tackle a couple of years ago(I found this site, TW, etc) and bought all the JJs magic colors, Gulp Spray, etc, the whole kit and caboodle. I hardly ever used them, except for the Gulp spray and I am almost out of Clear JJs. I have used the red and the chartreuse but not as much as I "should". The Gulp Spray is my smartest weapon in my tackle box. I spray my hands with it to cover up any humanize scents on my hands(bug spray, smoke, just stank hands). To me this is by far the best use for it.

Never trim mine anymore. I just fan it out and get it spread out a little more. I tried trimming and I ruined a few jugs by cutting too much off...I guess if you fish a lot of open water it would benefit to trim some off for better hook sets.

I’m a line watcher. A bobber screws that up big time by absorbing the wave that the fish sends up the line when they hit a lure. Another reason that bobbers are used for trout and panfish(especially crappie) is because those fish feed looking up. Bass feed all sorts of ways but mostly the feed face down towards the bottom. Bobbers limit the presentations that are required for more lures as well. Hope this helps.

Senko is a worm style made by Gary Yamamoto baits. They are stuck baits(straight worm). They have a very unique action but they are expensive and soft, making their durability practically non existent. Stick to the trick worms and the finesse worms from Zoom unless you have the money to drop on senkos.

Set the brake to the middle setting, not max. tighten the spool knob and slowly back off it until the bait starts to fall slowly. If you aren't getting enough distance(have to cast hard), loosen it a little more. If you are getting overspin(backlash) tighten it just a little bit. Little small adjustments are better than trying to change too much, too fast. It takes some practice. You also need to readjust it for every bait. Make sure your bait weight is correct for the rod as well. Too light and you will have problems trying to cast it.

I don’t recommend it, especially from different manufacturers. If you want to keep let’s say zoom, strike king and zman, I would always keep them separate based on who made them. Mixing them, you may be asking for trouble...it’s also best to be organized and keep your bags separate. You can put them all in a larger plastic zip lock bag that should be fine as long as they stay in separate smaller bags.

I use size owner weedless wacky hooks size 1 and size 2 for my wacky rigs. The biggest I go is 1/0 for weighted wacky(flick shake). Try using Zoom Finesse worms instead of the Senkos. They are cheaper and work just as well, especially with the smaller hooks. Wacky is my go to technique, I always have my wacky rig with me. It's caught me the most fish and my biggest fish.

Crappie fishing is like bass fishing only with smaller lures. I like using small spinnerbaits(booyah pond magic, strike kings rocket shad) for crappie. You will want to fish in upper portion of the water column. Crappie feed looking up so I like lifting and letting it drop. They usually take it as soon as the bait starts to drop. Beetlespins work amazing for them as well. Bluegill and other panfish are a little more difficult because they don't have the mouth size of a crappie of similar size. You want fly size lures. The smaller the better. I personally don't like lure fishing for bluegill and bream. I'll bring a 12 ft panfish pole, dig up a worm or grub and fish for bluegill that way. It's more exciting for me, the fight on a 12 ft pole than on a 5 ft ultralight rod and reel.

This rod would be good for large spinnerbaits, swimbaits, punching, flipping and pitching jigs. It could also be used for larger Carolina and Texas rigged worms(10" plus). I'd use it for swimbaits or punching(dropping bombs).

Wacky rigged and flick shake. Any of the magic colors are great. My favorite all around color is the green pumpkin magic. These and the finesse worms are the best for wacky rigging. You will catch fish all day long with a wacky rigged trick worm.

580 amber lense. I have these with the Blackfin frames. Best investment I ever made for fishing. I have the ambers for sunny days and a pair of dark gray for cloudy and dark days.

I use the Owner weighted wacky hooks from 1/32 oz up to 1/8 oz. They work great except it's a thin wire hook and will straighten out with braid so drag play is a must. Even though they do straighten out, they bend back and hold their place pretty well and long as you don't hang it a lot. I have had the same one on my rod since september of last year and i just bend it back and reuse it. 1/32 oz weighted wacky with a zoom finesse worm in a slight current gets a lot of fish and not just bass, crappie kill it with this technique as well.

Powell Diesel 6'10 medium. This is my go to spinning rod. It handles everything I throw at it and I snap rod tips like snap peas. It's on sale at TW right now. They don't offer a warranty on this rod and ironically it's my longest lasting spinning rod. I also use pflueger reels. I don't recommend any other Powell rods but they hit the nail on the with with this one. I hope they never stop making it.

Zoom Fat Alberts are my favorite...well I'm lying they are my brother's favorite. I have a few packs of them in various colors but I don't use them that much. He uses white or pearl with the tails dipped in red JJs. This color combo really gets them good for him, especially around the time of the bullfrog mating. Bass love tadpoles!

Do you mean the jigheads or the plastic worms? If it the worms both sizes work great and colors depend on the forage in the water(match the hatch). I have found the zoom finesse worm to be a less expensive better alternative. Green pumpkin magic is the only color you will need. If it's the jigheads, I go with a cheaper alternative and I don't go heavier than 1/8 oz, 1/4 if I'm fishing deep(20+ ft). I fish a lot of short water so I barely go over 1/16 and use a 1/32 a lot. Oh and I use the owner weighted wacky hooks. As far as line, I use 20 to 30 lb braid with the drag set low. Sometimes in clearer water I will use a 6 ft to 12 ft fluorocarbon leader(12 to 20 lb). Hope this helps!