MIbassyaker

The "Year of the 2-pounder" continues. A representative pair out of six this afternoon: The only thing I could get bit on was a weightless Zoom Super fluke up shallow. They wanted nothing that moved too much or fell too fast, and nothing on the bottom. Visibility in this lake goes to about about 12-15 feet, and I could see some massive roamers --likely females waiting to move up to spawn-- suspending at around 6-7 along the slope of a steep drop from 4 ft to 20. I got one to follow a KVD jerkbait momentarily, but couldn't get it to commit, and otherwise nothing got their attention.

I'm digging DTL too. I'm at 281st. If anything, for the Classic it seems like it should be easier to pick the winner for your team than usual, as long as you plan ahead and choose other events with the classic in mind. It certainly hasn't seemed more difficult to choose the classic winner recently compared to a typical elite event...the first year I played fantasy was 2016, and since then have picked the classic winner for my team 3 out of 5 times: I had Evers at Grand Lake (2016), Lee at Hartwell (2018), and DeFoe at Tennessee River (2019).

Cabbage (clasping-leaf pondweed) on a 5-10 foot break that makes an inside turn.

Wow, great event for you, even considering Zaldain.

I picked Jaye too. If Wes Logan wins, I'll have both Worst and First on the same team.

I don't see how patent law gives z-man any authority to cease-and-desist a true DIY reproduction of their design if it is solely for personal use. They could threaten, and they could try to sue. But they would lose that case. It's even less-serious than taping songs from the radio - it would be more like recording yourself playing a cover of a song on the radio.

Spinnerbait Paddle-tail swimbait Tube No topwater yet, and still pre-spawn here.

Yeah, powerbait is no slouch...but maxscent is something else.

As long as it is legal, harvesting the bass is a perfectly good --even ideal-- solution. If you don't want to eat it, you can give it to somebody who wants it, or you could take it home, cut it up, and use it as fertilizer for a garden. If you still feel bad about killing the fish, then give something back: donate some money or volunteer some of your time to the conservation effort of your choice, in proportion to how bad you feel.

Right on.

Could have been a largemouth. But a catfish sounds more likely than a carp. Unless you snagged it, which is possible with a drop shot. Could be a big drum if you have them in your waters.

A month ago while watching Jason Christie win the Bassmaster Sabine River event, I remembered I had previously bought a few of the Booyah Covert Spinnerbait he was using, but hadn't tried them yet. I got to remedy that this morning with a gold double-colorado model -- yup, it's good:

OK, Neely-Henry (who?)... here we go: DTL: Welcher, Card, Kennedy, Herren, Lowen, Logan, Crews, Stracner

So, in other words, all of them.

Ned rig, especially with the Z-Man Finesse TRD, and bladed jigs for sure. Add the whopper plopper to that list as well -- the new smaller sized ones are dynamite on summer smallies. I get the feeling 3-5" paddle-tail swimbaits are more popular than they used to be too, even just 10 years ago. Go to Tackle Warehouse and browse the list of best-sellers. Also, I believe Maine has banned lead weights under a certain size. So tungsten will be the way to go.

The hula grub is much less bulky than full-skirted jig; more like a finesse jig. I think I've used them more than skirted jigs the last couple years in clear and pressured water. I rig hulas on a Fin-tech title-shot jig, and they're more snagless than virtually anything else:

From about late october to early march every year. Sometimes longer.

If you're catching, what's the problem?

An OK event for me, with four fishing today; only Cherry missed the cut, and just by a few places. So could be worse. My overall % is creeping upward. I'm at 88% in DTL, with all but two guys fishing today. I'm pretty happy with this considering who I have saved up for the upcoming events.

I'm not watching live, but Basstrakk has Walters with an 8-14 and two 7s. Good lord.

Yes, they're great. I use them more or less interchangeably with Keitech fat swing impact and the Biospawn exoswim.

The waters I fish have visibility anywhere between 1 foot and 20 feet, with most around 6-10. Green Pumpkin Junebug and Black work just fine in all of them. If anything, I prefer dark colors in clear water.

I discovered just recently that one little lake that I thought had a lot of rock bass, actually has a lot of warmouth. I had never looked very closely at them until I caught one that was really dark, took a pic, and looked it up when I got home. Since then, every little sunfish I have caught at that same lake has been a warmouth, making me think all the previous ones were too.

Ah, forgot about Carolina Rig -- add that to my list too.

Other than big swimbaits, deep-diving crankbaits, and A-rigs, I can't think of any category of baits I don't ever use that lots of other people do. But I didn't use a dropshot at all last year, and it's been two years since I threw a lipless crankbait.