Ozark_Basser

This would be a sight to see. Instead of running 70 mph to your next spot, you have people running around the banks twisting ankles and falling in the water.

Annnddddd those jeans are ruined lol

Jack to me is meh....Gentleman's Jack though..... I've yet to hook someone that resulted in injury. I've hooked some shirts but never any skin. However, I'm sure I have gotten close more times than I care to know.

I have thrown them a few times with little success. Not saying they aren't any good, I have just never used them that much. I have seen my grandfather catch a five pound smallmouth out of a creek with a silver spoon in the rain though. I always considered to just be an old school kind of bait. If I had better electronics I would probably venture into spoons more.

Lol I meant fishing pressure. Like lots of people fishing. It's okay honest mistake. Although the air pressure could have had something to do with you not getting bit as far as the post frontal "lock jaw" theory is concerned.

I wouldn't mind a 5/0 for the 1/2 oz head though.

My mistake. I should have said 4/0. For some reason, I thought I had previously been using 4/0 instead of 3/0.

That is pretty much like saying which cake is the best? Chocolate or vanilla? It's pretty much a matter of preference, but there's always a chance you could get a bad one, so there is no real answer. Just pick the one that has the features you like.

I can fit a 3/0 - 5/0 in the 3/8 oz cavity of a brand new arky mold which recommends a 4/0, so I'd say it will, but I'll just have to see.

Jackal I-shad rigged on a shakey head reeled slow on the bottom kills smallmouth on the Buffalo National River. You can put whatever you want to on a shakey head.

You don't think I could get a 5/0 in the 1/2 oz? Or did you test it out yourself?

I assumed you were talking about the ned rig even though you typed Neko Rig. Weird.

All I know is it's the Poison Tail Jig II on TW. I looked up those round bend Mustad's you recommended. Those have got to work. Next time I make a big order I'll try them out. Thanks.

Although costly and sometimes a pain, having a boat is kind of half the fun.

I've really liked the Fred Roumbanis Boom Boom swim jig this year. So instead of paying 8 bucks or so a pop for something I throw into cover all day, I decided to make my own. I don't like the ewg hook that is recommended though. The blade trailer already gets fish to hit farther back on the bait, so the wide gap in the hook just seems like it will be even worse for hookups. Anybody know of any other hooks off of the top of their head that will work for this mold? I could just buy some and try it out, but I'd rather ask first. By the way, for those that like fishing this type of jig, if you mold a wire with a loop end in with the hook it keeps the blade even with the head of the bait much better than if you just use tubing to hold the swivel and blade onto the hook.

I can see where a trap can be skipped, but i've never tried it. The spook is a surprise to me. I'll have to try it out sometime.

I've never tried to skip with a spook or with a trap. Do they skip really well?

No matter what I'm into the most at the time, it will always boil down to a reaction bait and a slow moving bait. Right now it would have to be a 3/8 oz chatterbait and a 1/2 oz arky jig.

A 5" yamamoto swim bait with a 3/16 oz belly weighted swimbait hook is probably the best skipping bait for me as far as casting gear goes. It's pretty much effortless to skip with that bait because it's so flat and casts real well on a 7' MH F.

I've been fishing on a small body of water lately as well. The main deal with where I fish is the pressure. It's died down a whole lot since the start of December, and it's really paid off until yesterday with that cold front that came through the night before, and the wind started really howling along with muddying up the water.The only way I've been getting them to bite is fishing TIGHT to cover with chatterbaits, swimjigs with a blade trailer, and jigs. I don't mean just ticking a chatterbait through a little bit of grass. I mean pulling it completely across grassy points through the thickest stuff I can get a chatterbait or whatever through. Also the only places I have been getting bites are on the west side of my lake which has been blocked from the wind pretty much every time I've gone out. This has kept that water a bit warmer than anywhere else. This area is also closest to the dam where the only deepish water is in the lake which has proved to be significant this time of year. I assume there isn't a whole lot of pressure where you are fishing, but I could be wrong. It's not too cold to catch fish. You might as well get that out of your head because that's probably what's keeping you from catching fish the most. Find the warmest water you can, fish as tight as you can to the cover available, and you will catch fish in the winter. My last two PB's were in December using this logic, so it'll work if you if you have some confidence in it.

I'd guess it's just for the "look" of the bait. It rounds off the flat end of the cut in half senko. The mushroom head isn't necessarily new. People use the same head on worms for the same purpose.

I bank fished in Central Arkansas today as well. Post frontal conditions. Started off with a chatterbait fished really slow through grass. Had one boil on it but couldn't get anything to commit. Started pitching a jig after that. No bites. One of those days.

That old rapala looks almost identical to the Rebel F30S in Gold/Black which is my all time favorite creek fishing bait, especially in the summer. My all time favorite for anywhere else is the hollow body frog.

Chatterbaits are awesome baits. I make my own with bio silk and silicone skirts mixed in on an arky head. The bait will actually hunt like a crankbait if you throw one with an arky head with no trailer.

I get what you're saying. I find myself getting into the zone sometimes especially spinnerbait and crankbait fishing. It's almost as if I know I'm going to get bit a few casts before I get bit.