MrBigFishSC

That was supposed to be on-line.

Dick's has these in M nonlinear.

I use Dobyns Savvy ML for drop shots. Check at Gander Mountain. No Dobyns but a decent selection and pricing.

I use all 3 in different setups. I never use fluoro on BC because it's the worst for me with that equipment. I have only had one bad experience with fluoro and attribute that to a bad spool. Normall use Sunline FC and P-Line CX (fluoro coated). Regarding mono I use BPS Excel in bulk and re-spool a lot. It's cheap and works great for me. It is true that you have to pay more attention to your knot tying and the quality of knots with fluoro than the others (again, to me). Knots are always important but a poor knot will kill you with fluoro as I learned when first trying it out. I fish fluoro for drop shot and senkos like a lot of people. Double palomar well lubed holds great for me.

Blckshirt98, I agree with you. What is your setup? Mine is a 6'9" Dobyn's M/L with a Symetre 2500 spooled with 8 lb fluoro. I usually have 3/16 or 1/4 oz weight tied on and a #4 spinshot hook. I also use small baits. Have caught many nice fish this way.

Soft baits in green with purple flake and gold are working well now. T-rig or drop shot. Mardi Gras or Candy Craw type.

I use drop shotting as a counter punch when other techniques aren't working. Example: we recently had several days of low pressure with clouds and spotty rain. Before the front the bite was good (as usual) but it slowed way down after a couple of days. Nothing was working so I switched to drop shotting in deeper water and found some good fish. Aaron Martens fishes this on TV most of the time but he gets beat a lot too byguys throwing something else.

Drop shots work in ponds. The water has to be somewhat clear however. I use a 3/16 weight and a #4 hook on 8# flouro. This works well in summertime when you know the fish are deeper but also can work when they are in 6 ft of water. Cast and work the bait back with a slow retrieve or drag after bouncing the slack line a few times at rest. Sometimes its just the ticket and they haven't seen the presentation often.

Deep for me is over 15 feet. I rarely fish here but do fish a lot of 8-12.

I've got scroungers in different sizes plus I have trimmed the bills on some to get different actions. I have attached most every type of softbait but get bit most on ribbed swimbaits. I believe you can fish more types of water with a scrounger whereas the chatterbait works best in shallow to medium depths over grass or around cover. I have caught way more and bigger fish on a chatterbait.

You got it right...mardi gras or candy craw. These catch more fish for me in any style and size than anything else. Stick, trick, or creature. Candy craw dreamshots are my go to drop shot bait. Bubble gum trick worms seem to work best for me in clearer water when they aren't biting mardi gras.

Fish don't stop eating from July 1st to September 15th. You just have to adjust your strategy to catch them. The bite is not as aggressive or easy as the spring but it can be good for certain windows of time. Early and late topwater, deeper and slower presentations, more attention to shade and oxygen content areas. If we caught fish easily all year no one would take this thing seriously.

Where I buy tackle senkos are 7.99 for 10 and dingers are 3.99 for 8. That's a 38% savings. I fish both and have the same success with both. Both come off T-rigs at about the same rate and wacky is much better for durability. I catch way more fish T-rig than wacky however. Most of my losses are while landing fish as the bait gets thrown off or torn up. There are more colors in senko but let's face it we all fish about 3 standard colors anyway. Haven't tried others but after this will check them out.

Caught fish on both but the chatterbait is more effective where I normally fish. Both work in spring but the Chatterbait excels here. Later in the year when water clears and levels drop the scrounger is a much better choice (of the 2). Scrounger is more versatile but I feel the Chatterbait would catch more fish if you fished them an equal amount of time.

Chatterbaits can be fished slow or fast, steady retrieve or stop and go , yo-yo or rip and pause. I find them to be most effective when fished just fast enough to feel the vibration with a big craw or split tail trailer. In muddy or stained water around cover or beds they work better than a spinnerbait. They are not as effective in deep water slow rolled like a spinnerbait. In summer they work great late or early fished through or around cover with a big trailer. If you commit to fishing these you will catch lots of fish. Good luck!

Senkos and senko knockoffs do come off easily but they catch tons of fish. Its a trade off. You say your line kept breaking...where? At the hook while landing? Somewhere above the hook say 6 inches? You have to re tie after every 2-3 fish or anytime the fish gets into cover and you pull it out. If breaks occur at the hook you have poor knot. If above you have nicks or old line. Line type doesn't matter that much if it's fresh. I always use a double palomar knot on my worm hooks. This will no doubt start a knot discussion thread!

You say there are lots of small fish but no big fish. I would be more concerned if there were no small fish. This would indicate the panfish and others are depleting the bass fry. I agree with everyone that you should cull especially the crappie who proliferate and devour. Have you heavily fished the spawn? In the small bodies I fish the only time you catch fish over 5lbs is the spawn. You would be shocked at the size of fish in there that you can rarely catch at other times. Live bait is the ticket for targeting these fish other than the spawn. Its tough to fool them at other times.

IMO you should look to fill out tackle and baits for your preferred method. In my case its soft baits so expand the inventory of hooks and weights alonng with various baits in multiple size, styles, and colors. Or you can decide to outfit an entirely new method that you have wanted to try, such as drop shotting. I would not just buy bargain lures that you may rarely or never use. Every fisherman has a go to style and presentation that he believes will catch fish. More tackle and lures doesn't mean more fish in the boat.