MIbassyaker

Combs Feider Chris Johnston Prince Zaldain

Yes, the Fogy will catch 'em. I can't prove it, but I feel like the football-head also makes the Fogy deflect a little better than a narrow-headed bladed jig.

Depends on what the other options are. I'm skeptical as long as I can order these for 4 bucks/each... https://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Fogy-Bubble-Blade-456.htm ...or make my own from head/skirt/blade/split-ring/snap components:

I have one new jackhammer I will by trying out this year. It needs to noticeably out-fish a Siebert Fogy for me to buy more. I also have some GYCB Zakos to try. Likewise, for me to buy more, they need to outfish the more affordable strike king Blade Minnow, which is the best chatterbait trailer I have tried. Green pumpkin. But I expect you wouldn't see much of a color preference. That's what a spinnerbait is for!

THe majority of my larger bass over the last several years have come on three lures: Chatterbait, Spinnerbait, and Buzzbait. All skirted moving baits. Is this because these lures just "catch big bass?" Or is it because I fish them more when larger bass are more likely to be active?

Yeah, that's consistent with my experience ice fishing too. (Sorry, I have no ice fishing secrets...other than stay home and organize tackle instead)

Hey, it's a new era. I understand. I like some of the "New Guard" on youtube, and I dislike others (a situation no different from TV, to be sure)....but they all stand on the shoulders of giants, and Bill Dance is one of the giants. He even published a few books:

Bill was a major tournament guy, but his biggest legacy is probably his TV show, which ran more or less continuously for about 5 decades. I watched him as a kid in the 80s growing up. He is one of the the best communicators of fishing information the sport has ever seen.

Just check the line diameter. XT is always thicker than XL for the same lb. test. For instance, the pic above shows 14lb -- at that rating, Trilene XL is .36mm, and XT is .40mm. Looking at the listing at BassPro.com, 14lb Excel is .36mm. So its comparable to XL.

I'll have whatever Jordan Lee's having. That was excellent. Really, all 6 days were excellent....and I don't mind at all seeing pros get just as excited as I do about a 2-3lber.

Sounds like he's doing well after the procedure -- best wishes to Bill for a speedy recovery!

Are your reels reliable enough to catch fish when not in a tournament? Yes? Then you can probably rely on them in a tournament too.

Josh is a member here, if I'm not mistaken.

I have been using an old model Deeper as well to map lakes. This is why you need mapping of some kind on a kayak. Here is the navionics Sonarchart view of the south drop off on lake (a little under 200 acres) that I have fished a few times: And here is the mapped version from Deeper, aggregated from 3 different trips -- notice the two inside-turn pockets that don't show up on the navionics map:

Excellent thread, Catt!

In many cases, there are channels under the thick canopy of weeds that fish hang out in and travel through. Weed growth depends on sunlight penetration, so where weeds are too thick on top for the sun to filter in, there won't be as much growth underneath, and fish can actually get around pretty well. The trick is to get it down to them, and then get the fish out when they hit. Read this post in the thread that Catt linked -- you have to finesse the bait through the weeds patiently and carefully to prevent hanging up at the weight:

I think the answer clearly is that this cannot be assumed -- it only applies to a few of us. Like me. When I learned to fish, we weren't "bass fishing" -- we just fished the river in town for catfish, pike, walleye, the occasional rock bass, drum or whatever other oddball species might get hauled up. And baitcasters simply had no presence among any of the casual anglers I knew, or came across, or spent any time around, except for very specialized musky and pike gear. The tackle shops didn't sell any other than those -- the only other baitcasters we ever saw were on TV, being wielded by people like Bill Dance who caught a kind of fish that didn't live in my stretch of the river (at least then). So when I learned to fish, I learned on a spinning rod -- cast right, reel left. Rod never changes hands. Left hand has to learn one thing. And when you're 8, the learning is pretty fast. It was only in the last 10 years, when I started getting specifically into bass fishing, that it ever even dawned on me that I might want to use a baitcaster. And that was when I learned for the first time that "right handed" for baitcasters was completely opposite from what my right and left hands already knew how to do. I don't live in the same place (or state) that I grew up, but still I find only a minority of anglers I ever see out on the water here use baitcasters, and that's true whether they're targeting bass or not.

This raises a question I'm curious about -- what other trebled baits would it be better NOT to put these short-shank triple-grips on, and why?

Eh, I think I'd rather just fish.

Yes. The reason is, I learned to fish with spinning as a right-hander, where I cast, hold the rod, work the bait, set the hook, and play the fish all with my dominant hand. The left, non-dominant hand moves the bail and turns the handle, and that's it. When I started using baitcasters, it was impossible to get my non-dominant hand to do new jobs it hadn't already learned to do years ago. So I just use left handed baitcasting reels, with the same hands playing the same roles for spinning and casting.

I use 3/8 for most purposes. Some 1/2 and 1/4. All else being equal, heavier weights will tend to stay deeper when retrieved faster, lighter weights stay shallower when retrieved slower (also depends on blade size, of course). I don't own any 3/4oz or above.

Overstock bait still has deals on Norman crankbaits, including BOGO on a few models. Also, they have a whole bunch of war eagle spinnerbaits....these may be pre-Pradco. They're selling some in 6-bait bundles for about 1/2 price total, with a free t-shirt.

This would be my list too, just add a texas rigged worm for bottom presentations.

Anything with the words "pumpkin", "watermelon", or "grass" in the name, and anything with green flake.

I did no research my first year, just went with gut/whim. And I bombed. I did pretty extensive research my second year and finished pretty high overall, and within the top 5 of the BR group. I did a lot of research again last year.....and bombed again. So. Gonna try the hat thing this time, too.