fishballer06

What's the color name of that middle jerkbait? The Erie smallmouth would like me to order a few of them.

I've heard great things about the Hanks Belt's as well. I've had this Kore belt for about 3 years in black leather, and I have a Winthrop custom made belt for 2 years in brown leather. So I'm pretty much covered until I wear one of these belts out. In other news, my free replacement belt arrive Friday. The new buckle design looks my beefier and even better engineered than the last one did. I'm really impressed.

Looking over their website, they have a different looking "Green Pumpkin" skirt on every single different model of their baits. Seems a bit much if you ask me.

I'm not familiar with that factory color, but I could easily make you more of those skirts if that's what you are looking for.

Similar story here. I've crushed a lot of bass in Canada in early June whenever the dragonfly hatch is on. They will SMASH a black buzzbait when it's in full bloom.

I use a SD Jam Knot, and I've never had issues with my knot moving around on the wire. Even after several fish catches.

Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. If those don't work, I'll start working through the rest of my tackle.

A bass's color can/will change depending on water color, clarity, and the habitat around them.

Not a single bite in 3 weeks?! Have you seen other people actually catching fish from this body of water? Being that this body of water is fed with saltwater, I would question how well certain freshwater species can survive (like a bass). You need to establish for yourself what is actually swimming around in that lake. So I'd get some nightcrawlers and live minnows and put them under a bobber and see what all you can catch. Even throwing around a little 1/8oz Rooster Tail on spinning gear is pretty much guaranteed to catch whatever is swimming in there.

For me, I'd rather not use fluorocarbon rather than using budget fluorocarbon. Every budget FC I have tried has been completely garbage (Seaguar Red Label, Stren Fluorocast, Berkley Vanish). Honestly, if my first experience with FC had been with any of these lines, I would probably never use FC at all. With that being said, 90% of my reels are spooled up with fluorocarbon and I have a few favorites that are well worth every dollar. Sunline Sniper P-Line Tactical Seaguar Tatsu

Me either. Tried it once in my swimming pool with a 3/16oz weight and it just quickly helicoptered to the bottom and laid there flat. Not an action I wanted from a Senko. There's lots of better worms out there for texas rigging.

Holy necro-thread... Not throwing a spinnerbait because you're afraid that the bass will strike the blade and not the jig is like not throwing a Texas/Carolina rig because you're afraid the bass will strike the sinker.

Giving the reel a good breakdown and cleaning could also help. My Chronarch MGL developed a noise this weekend whenever I was bank fishing immediately after I had caught a fish and laid the rod down on the sandy/dirt bank. I took my side plate off, and my spool out, and I blew all over everything. Once I put it together, problem solved. This may not work in every case, but a deeper, more thorough cleaning might help the issue as well.

1.Munkin 2.Bluebasser86 3.DomQ - Inline spinners 4.Fishballer06 - Jigs and/or spinnerbaits 5.Davidka5h 6.T.Killian 7. btlyon274

Post up in this thread. Some of these guys might be local to you. I'm on the opposite side of the state.

My new favorite chunk lately is kind of a hybrid between a chunk and a creature bait, but it's the Zoom Z Hog (and Jr size).

For those of you who carry and are looking for a good belt, I wanted to share a little bit about my customer service experience that I had today with Kore Essentials. Back story on these belts - They have no holes in them. There is a ratchet type system on the buckle, and these little tiny teeth on the inside of the belt that grab the tooth of the rachet on the buckle. These little teeth are every 1/4" or so, so it allows you totally adjustable comfort to fit rather than a traditional belt that has a hole every inch or so. It's really a genius design. Another perk of these belts is that they come as two pieces, the buckle, and the belt. You get a 48" belt, and you can cut it down to the length that you want it to be. And then the buckle has this nifty little clamping system to attach it to the belt itself. So if you want to buy a black belt, and a brown belt, you only need one buckle to go with both belts. A little backstory on my experience with them - I bought one of these belts about 3 years ago. It quickly became my favorite belt because of how easy it was to adjust and how comfortable it was due to the adjustability. Anyway, after about a year/year and a half, the belt got a crimp and a small little tear in the leather at the small of the back part of the belt, where your pants loop always wears out any belt. So I bought myself a replacement belt and I've been wearing it ever since. Again, after about a year or more, the belt started having the same issue, but I kept wearing it because I was being frugal. Until last week, one of the pins came out of my buckle, leaving me in dispose with my favorite belt. So today, I emailed Kore pictures of my broken buckle and the worn/tearing on the belt part and I explained my situation. Here's a timeline of how things went down. 12:21 - I sent the email to Kore 12:28 - Response from Kore. They said that their warranty is only for a year, but they said that my belt should not have fallen apart like it did and they apologized for that. They then asked for my current mailing address so that they could make it right. 12:36 - I responded with my address and I thanked them. 12:40 - I received an email with tracking information and a coupon code for 10% off a future purchase. So within 19 minutes, I went from having a broken belt, to them having shipped a brand new belt and giving me a coupon for completely FREE, for a belt that was three years old. So for anyone looking for a new belt, whether for your EDC, or for casual use, I highly recommend Kore Essentials and their Trak Line belt.

On Sunday, I caught my biggest of the year and it came from the bank, no less. I finally broke the 20" mark. But whats more interesting about my day was more about HOW and WHERE I caught my fish. I fished from the bank of a local reservoir. It was windy and it rained off and on the entire day, but I had a new Dobyns DX745c and a Shimano Bantam MGL XG that I needed to try out, so I toughed it out. Unfortunately, my new jig rod didn't get any action. I caught 3 fish (and had one missed topwater strike) in 4 hours of fishing. A spinnerbait and buzzbait were the ticket on this day. But where did I catch my fish from? - the 142 acre reservoir I was on is currently being drawn down for the winter and is about 3 feet lower than normal pool. All of my fish came in areas where the composition of the newly exposed bank transitioned from sandy to rock areas. My guess is that the bass were using these spots as ambush points as the baitfish got pushed around. So next time you're fishing, whether from boat or shore, don't be afraid to look for areas where there is a transition in the bottom composition. Reading the bank can be your best friend sometimes.

For me, where the Senko really shines, is whenever it's suspended in the middle of the water column. Because of its softness, it has that subtle, natural shimmy as it slowly falls through the water column that the bass can't resist. Where as a craw, they're naturally found on the lakes bottom rather than swimming around high up in the water column. The bullet weight banging off the rocky bottom also makes the same type clicking sound that a crawfish naturally makes in the water.

I think what you are experiencing is the result of your reel frame twisting/binding under load. To my knowledge, the Quantum Escalade frame is made from a plastic composite, rather than an aluminum frame like you would have with a higher end reel. Unfortunately, there's nothing really you can do other than upgrade to a reel with an aluminum frame. This wording from the product description is the dead giveaway that the spool is the only aluminum part of the reel.

I'm personally a big fan of the Cavitron Similar to what Bobby said, I've never had a bad issue with any of my Cavitrons running sideways uncontrollably like I have with other brands. I've probably gone through over a dozen Cavitrons in the past 5 years or so and they've all ran great out of the package. My personal favorite is the red blade, black skirt 1/4oz version. I like to put a 1-2" piece of a Senko on the hook to give the bait a little more weight and casting distance while still keeping that smaller 1/4oz profile. And like noted, if I don't thread that Senko on there perfectly, I will get a slight off center tracking, but nothing that isn't worthy of noting. Hey @Bobby Uhrig, would it be too much to ask for a bait keeper incorporated into the head/hook design? Please.... ?

My biggest of the year. It came from the bank, no less. Finally broke the 20" mark.

You're splitting hairs here with 16/17/18lb lines here. Try them all and determine what works best for you.

Is the Chronarch MGL any good? The 4 that I keep in my rotation say yes.

I can't even imagine trying to crank a deep diver on an 8:1. That issue aside, your problem could be a slightly out of tune crankbait. This can be fixed by bending the eye of the bait. There's plenty of articles and videos online showing/explaining how to do this.