Heron

Brown, cinnamon

I’ve eyeballed that one for a while, looks like a great design for a dropshot worm

I typically use goby-style baits, more so than worms. - Gajo Spirit shads - Erie Darters If you want to try something fun, take a Lake Fork Worm, and cut the ribbontail off, leaving only the ribbed body. Drop shot that for a while, Smallmouth here seem to enjoy it

I just hang ‘em all on the inner lining of my trench coat ?

This tags along on the question, is realism in a bait more effective at catching fish. I’m sure most of us have an answer to that already, but after recent encounters and much pondering, I’m developing a theory to help me understand what the fish see and determine. albeit, this is a very loose theory…so, take it as you will. This is a case of 3d Craw vs Zoom Super Speed Craw… Conditions were - Mid Summer - super clear water (8ft vis) - pressured area / spooky fish Method - Slow drag along the bottom Observations - Super Speed Craw, fish would either act oblivious to it’s presence or slurp it without hesitation. - 3d Craw, fish would approach it enthusiastically…but then stop, and appear to examine the bait intently. The fish always changed their mind and then turned away. Catches in a 1hr period - Super Speed Craw - 4 - 3d Craw - 0 Impressions - The fish’s behavior during this time suggests an ironic ability to spot a fake easier, with a realistic bait, rather than with a bait that is somewhat ambiguous. The way that I make sense of this is, it seems similar to when we see a mannequin at the store, we can easily spot that as a fake. But yet, still the shadow or the coat hanging in the corner, can trick us in to thinking there’s someone standing there. That being said, I don’t believe I have ever had an occasion when a realistic craw bait ever out-fished a more ambiguous craw bait. Your conditions and results may very

Go..

Small paddle tails, and topwaters - for starters

I had a bag of Lake Fork Worm’s I wasn’t using. I cut the curly tails off, so I was left with the only the ribbed body. That made for a fine drop-shot bait. Also good for Ned Rig

I honestly wouldn’t mind a 7” in just a plain, old school purple. Or maybe something like a blue sapphire. But I’ll give it some thought.

To avoid skunk, I just simply downsize my presentation. Works fine

I previously picked up PS II, and Sandy Craw. Really like them both. Waiting for Semper Fi to come in the mail for testing. I’ve had zero luck with bait ball so far. How did you have it rigged?

I’ll consider it

Thanks Tom, do you think he’ll do custom?

For any Roboworm fans out there.. I’ve recently found that Sportsman’s Warehouse offers a handful of unique roboworm colors that I haven’t seen being sold elsewhere, nor even on Roborms own website. granted I primarily use the 7inch straight tail theres a few that I like...might be worth a look.

Sounds great Tom. Could you ask Josh if there is any chance we can have a copy of his color selection page? Hopefully it’s not totally gone, that was a great part of his website.

I recently noticed their website had changed and many if the big worms were no longer listed. Hoping their site is just not fully completed yet. However even before the change, their Uptons stock was still fairly hit and miss

Or, if you want to skip past that a little. 3” Paddletails are always great pond raiders. particularly a Keitech Fat 2.8 on an 1/8oz ball head or darter head. Pond fish are a little more opportunistic, and less apt to turn their nose up at smaller baits, so they will appeal to fish of all sizes in that environment.

If I’m working a pond that’s relatively new to me...I tend to start small. Using panfish baits, helps me to build a general picture of the ponds ecosystem, often with occasional surprises. But thats just me

When you know your waters well, and you know your fish even more.....you may find yourself packing less and less to take to the shoreline. I keep my stock of plastics at home, and take from there what I need. there have been times where I would pack a handful of different items into a single ziploc bag. Thus creating a mixed bag. Otherwise I would use a spare box

You could try Western Plastics from Anglers Arsenal in San Diego. Not as nice as the Uptons but still great in the water.

Well thank you everyone for the input. i went out and bought some blue items to try on my jigs. we’ll see how it goes

Ok gents, help me out with this I’ve always turned away from the blue sapphire colored baits, and any other blue color. For no other reason that it just never made sense to me, and I have absolutely no concept of when I would use it, except for maybe low visibility. is the blue sapphire a color that the fish truly go for? Is this color a real thing, or just meant for catching us rod swingers? thx

A 5” curly tail grub

I picked this up because it is a body profile that I’ve been wanting for a while sort of a rage craw beaver first impressions - claws are same size as the rage lobster - body seems very durable - claws are reliably buoyant the only issue - their colors could be improved overall - liked it

Will add more once I get in the water