Drew03cmc

Ah okay.

New boat?

Well done on Wolf. Nice fish.

For quality, USA reels, you're out of luck for the most part. The older Garcia Mitchells did have quirks, but are rock solid. They were French made. That's a good place to start.

I meant the baits, not the colors. Sorry for the ambiguity of my statement.

They're still listed on the Berkley website under Havoc.

It is fun. It's how I learned to read water. Small smoke or black grubs are incredible.

I sometimes like to break out the UL gear and small grubs to fish small creeks for bass and whatever else bites. I fish these waters the way I would if I had a short fly rod with me, short, accurate casts, small baits and light tackle. It allows me to simply catch fish, enjoy some wading and be one with the creek. Having said this, I realize that I normally use L power rods, not UL, but the effect is the same. The baits i normally throw are 1/16oz ballheads with a 2" grub on them. I can swim them or jig them. The other baits are 1/16oz crappie or marabou jigs. Does anyone else do these sorts of things? If so, what region do you fish in and for what species of bass? One of my targets is to fish for native Guadalupe Bass in the Hill Country west of San Antonio using these techniques.

Those cranks work super well up shallow here in KS for bass. Even bigguns will eat them.

You're not talking about in the park, are you? If you are, PM me please. I have information I'd rather not share openly on that, but the river, stay above or below the trout park, fish the deepest hole with good cover in every mile of river. Beyond that, there's people who have spent decades finding the right holes, baits and times.

Anyone done any good lately?

I wish, have to work Thursday night and Friday night, but Saturday afternoon looks promising. 60 degrees and mostly sunny will be great!

1/2 Zinkerz in PBJ or New Money on a 1/16 #1 Ned head. I can swim it, jig it, dead stick it, flip it, skip it, burn it on top or do anything else I need to do.

Fish the shoreline structure from shore, with a Midwest Finesse rig, for the most part. I'm shorebound right now, so I make sure I fish structure thoroughly.

As a shore fisherman, I seldom carry more than my Ned stuff. I'm carrying it in a worm binder now and it's simple to carry. Now, when I carry other things, it's normally swim jigs, they can go in the back pouch of the binder. It's bass fishing, don't complicate it .

Ned Rig...

I would suggest trying something along the lines of 15/4 PP or even 10/2.

I've got quite a bit of Pro Cure right now. That's some stinky stuff, but hey, it works.

In SWMO, go to Taneytown for trout, Table Rock for bass, spend a day or two floating on the Elk, Buffalo or Kings for smallies and then just relax while saving money on a long extravagant vacation.

The bait can change, but Elaztech is preferred for the reasons Clayton mentioned. I have seen various other baits used, but I currently have 8 different Elaztech baits that I rig on a Ned. They are all 4" or less and get shortened to about 3", except the Finesse ShadZ. I run a jig no heavier than 1/15, but prefer 1/16 and yes, I can tell the difference. My Ned rod is currently holding a TRD in New Money on a Do-It 1/16 jig. This rig has caught 25+ fish now and shows no signs of stopping, a little Pro Cure will be rubbed on when I go out next.

The back 3" of the Saw Tail Wormz can work well, and the front 3" can work well also. It is slightly slimmer than a TRD, with different body ribs. Try it.

While I don't routinely toss a lot of hard stuff, I have caught a bunch of bass this year on a swim jig. I like a Zoom UV Speed Craw for the trailer. I haven't thrown anything not called a Ned Rig seriously since about May.

What'd it weigh? How long? Nice fish either way.

I use 15/4 PP with an 8lb Red Label leader.

These heads will be replacing all of my older glue on heads for the Ned rig. The baits stayed put and never slid on us at all. We didn't count, but if our total was under 65, I'd be shocked, mainly on the Ned with these heads. Grab some, you won't be sorry.