MIbassyaker

I submit that keeping a finger on your line will help much more than buying a higher-end rod. I agree about crimping the barb, but there is still an added burden in time spent getting the hook turned and popping it out, and this can still be a pain with small fish. Even fished properly, by avoiding slack and not letting your attention lapse, there is a somewhat greater chance of deep-hooked fish that can't be entirely avoided. I think that makes it worth considering on a situation-by-situation basis whether the potential benefits outweigh the risk; I tend to use it when fish are a wary, tentative or unaggressive, as that's where it can have big advantages over alternatives.

Really effective rig, but I don't fish it much because of more frequent gut hooking. I've taken to using a 1/8 cylindrical weight ahead of a bobber stop rather than pegging the weight -- I like the line to be able to pull freely through weight on the strike, which seems to helps strike detection a bit. I like thin-bodied creatures or worms (indeed, roboworms are perfect for this) that hook-up easily when rigged on light-wire hooks. A baby brush hog is pretty good. I also like the Big Bite Baits Kriet Creature, and one that I think may have been been discontinued, the Nebait Baby Action Cat, which has a hollow body (like a tube) that collapses easily. it seems to permit the bait to behave "as if" it were rigged weightless (i.e., slow, fluttering fall), but near the bottom.

I bring 5 setups with me at a time on a kayak lake trip (3 for river floats). I think about what presentations I fish the most often, and dedicate one rod to each so I don't have to re-tie. On a typical outing to most places I go, that results in these five "Main" setups, each of which can do some other jobs if needed. A river float usually gets #3, #4, & #5: 1. MH-MF caster for moving baits (spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, some crankbaits), 2. MH-F caster jigs & t-rigs; pitching and bottom stuff 3. M-XF caster for trebled topwaters and jerkbaits; also lighter weighted plastics, swimbaits, t-rigs, grubs, tubes 4. M-XF spinning for weightless plastics, senkos, flukes; can also do light jerkbaits, shakyheads, grubs, tubes 5. ML-XF spinning for ned rigs, shakyheads, drop-shot, split-shot, sliders, hair jigs, small grubs/tubes/paddletails The most essential for any of my lake trips are probably #2 and #4. For river floats, #4. Then, situationally, I swap out one or more of those, for one or more of these: -a H-F for frogs -a M-M baitcaster for small to medium sized crankbaits -another MH-F baitcaster for a second Jig/t-rig setup, or, really, almost anything else in the 3/8-1oz range -another M-XF baitcaster so I can have one on trebled baits and one on plastics -another M spinning, usually dedicated specifically for shakyheads/jigworms or tubes -another ML spinning, to double-up on light-line stuff, usually dedicate one to a ned rig, one to a drop-shot, slider, or split-shot.

If there's a bad finesse worm, I don't know what it is. I like both straight and curly tails, between 4" and 7". Several I have enjoyed fishing over the last several years: 6.5" Zoom Trick worm, 5.5" Zoom swamp crawler 4'5" Zoom Finesse worm 6" roboworm 4" Berkley power worm 6.25" & 4.25" Berkley Havoc bottom hopper 6.5" & 4.5" biospawn plasmatail 4" & 7" Strike King 3x finesse worm (Elaztech) 6" Bizz baits dizzy diamond 6" Mister Twister Phenom worm Fish them mostly on 1/16-3/16 head of some kind (shakyhead, slider, or even open hook depending on cover), or a 1/8oz mojo/split-shot one of my favorite rigs: 4" berkley power worm rigged on an owner bullet head: Colors? Anything from straight black to bubblegum pink, but usually natural colors with the words "pumpkin", "watermelon", "grass", "seed", "magic", or "candy" in the name. My absolute favorite color is a little hard to find, and the best versions of it have either been discontinued or not available in a finesse worm: a light pumpkin with green flake.

Same here...I felt vindicated a few weeks ago when I had a pike bite off a Smithwick Rogue....because I had swapped out a MB Vision 110 on that rod just before heading out. If I'd gotten out onto the water before noticing, I probably would have just said "whatever" and started casting....and I would be out a $25 bait instead of a $7 one.

Tons of good spinnerbaits. Just thinking of the ones I use -- Booyah, Strike King, War Eagle, Stanley, Pepper, Picasso, Nichols; BR sponsor Siebert Outdoors also makes good spinnerbaits with your choice of skirts for a good price. Absolutely agree you should look for baits with a ball-bearing swivel...blades will turn more easily at slower speeds. And if the skirt is attached by only a rubber collar, reinforce it by tying some wire or braided line in front of the collar, to help keep the skirt from getting pulled off...which will happen after a few fish.

I "only" take 5 on the kayak, and still get razzed by old-timers: "Say, do all those rods help you catch more?" I always say, "Well, they sure don't catch anything sitting at home."

1) Swimbait: 4" Green Pumpkin Strike king Rage Swimmer + 1/8oz belly-weighted 4/0 mustad power lock hook. 2) Bladed Jig: 3/8oz Siebert Fogy, green pumpkin/Purple + Yamamoto Zako 3) Stick worm: 5" Senko, green pumpkin/magic, weightless t-rig. Haven't gotten any topwater takers, yet. Hoping that changes tomorrow morning.

Water Lilies Duckweed Reeds/bulrushes Deep Cabbage

It took me a long time to get the hang of buzzbaits, but now that I have, post-spawn through fall I have one tied on everywhere I go, and it's often the first thing I throw in the morning.

In Michigan inland lakes at least, the presence of shad is pretty variable and usually depends on connecting access to the great lakes by a large river. Almost none of the inland lakes I fish have shad. One has gizzard. A few of the deeper ones have cisco. Shiners are reasonably common. In most of my waters the bass are predominantly bluegill/sunfish, perch and crayfish eaters. I'm not convinced crankbait color is that important most of the time (profile, speed, depth, and action first), but I don't think you can do wrong with any of the various craw, 'gill, perch, and baby bass-like colors.

This morning I was my first time back out since the Friday before Memorial day weekend. Caught 14 in a weird flurry between about 8am and 10am. About half were in the 2-3lb range; here's a couple of them -- all fish were caught on a rage swimmer or senko worked through the emerging lily pads and other veg you see in the background:

If I'm fishing near someone and I catch one around 2lb or more, that's about the size where I'll hear them call out "nice!" So I guess 2lb is a nice bass.

Yes. They're always going crazy in the shallows in the weeks after the bass spawn.

Sweeeeeeet

Not great. Ridiculous weather and too many other people (I go fishing, in part, to get away from people! Now get off my lawn!) Anyway, still happy for those who have been able to get on the water at times you would normally be stuck at work. Cheers.

I haven't fished in the south, but in my experience, chatterbaits/bladed jigs catch at least largemouth bass just fine in the north. As always, it is a matter putting them in the right place, at the right time, under the right conditions. In fact I prefer bladed jigs over spinnerbaits in clear water when it's calm, and when vegetation is fouling spinnerbait blades too much. Among other things, bladed jigs in dark colors make excellent bluegill imitators, which are often the main baitfish forage in many northern natural lakes (as opposed to, say, shad). There is so much variety to northern waters, with both man-made and natural lakes of all ages, as well as big and small river systems, it doesn't make much sense to generalize about "north vs. south" -- A deep, clear, rocky smallmouth lake can be 2 miles from a shallow, swampy largemouth haunt...and both can be just down the road from a reservoir/impoundment with good populations of both species. All three may fish differently depending on habitat (substrate? vegetation? water clarity & stain? depth?), forage species (bluegill? perch? shiners? alewives? gobies? shad?), or presence of other predator species (pike? muskies? bowfins? catfish? trout?). Much more useful to be specific about which kinds of waters and which kind of habitat you're talking about.

Yes, good-quality spinnerbaits and bladed jigs.

I believe it was either a culprit ribbon-tail, or a knockoff. It was some kind of "natural" brown color. I was probably 14.

I think you may have a Green Sunfish there, rather than a bluegill.

Looks good -- now, the question is: can you get one pack out at a time without taking them all out?

Grand Rapids. Small lakes, so temps are a little more volatile. And not measured later than around noon. But still, I've been kind of shocked at how cold it is. Catching up now, but still behind compared to usual temps at this time. Not exactly on fire Thursday but lots of bed activity and shallow roamers. Better this morning though on a different lake; caught about 12, with the best around 3lbs. Ah, the "other" Crystal Lake (bigger, better known, picturesque, vacation-land). A good 2 1/2 hours north of me. Nice place for a wedding - congrats! I never go anywhere Memorial weekend. Yardwork for me.

Yeah, if you're going for efficient storage for the boat, I'm not sure there's a clear solution to this other than just taking them out of the blisters and shoving them in a bag.

It's not super-efficient use of space, but in each divided well, about 4 or 5 packs. They store other awkwardly-sized odds and ends pretty well also, though. I've got a few of the boxes, but pretty sure I paid a lot less than the price listed on the site.

I've been using these: https://www.flambeauoutdoors.com/terminal-tackle-file-satchel.aspx Sometimes I have to take a scissors and cut back the top or side margins of a blister pack to get it to fit, but I can generally get most of the Keitch, Rage, Biospawn, and other blistered paddletails I use in the 3"-5" size classes in there.