blckshirt98

I did end up getting some tungsten drop shot weights from omfishingsinkers - placed the order on Feb 21, and they arrived last Friday Mar 3, so ten days. The return address though was from some place in New York or New Jersey, not China. Either way quality looks good and I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again!

So far this year it's been non-existent, water hasn't turned over yet and everything is chocolate milk/full of debris with all the rain and runoff. Starting to warm-up though, so as long as the rain doesn't keep coming back, in about 2-3 weeks it's gonna be on!

I lightly trim my chatterbait trailer depending on the trailer I have on it. I'll make sure the skirt doesn't cover the "moving" part of a trailer, and, will trim the skirt so it's roughly even all the way around.

At $5-7 bucks Strike King has their baits reasonably priced for the mass market, for proven fish catchers. The hooks are good enough out of the package to catch fish, but you're talking about pros that are looking for every edge possible no matter how slight. 90% of the people who buy the KVD baits probably have no problem with the stock hooks, but it's the other 10% that are the enthusiasts that will pay more for better hooks. I think it's best this way because even among the enthusiasts there's so much variance in which premium hook they prefer (Owner ST, Mustad Triple Grip, Trokar, Gamakatsu G-Finesse, etc) that making their baits more expensive with a premium hook will just narrow their potential customers.

Anything 3.5-4.5" in green, on a dropshot, and it's on for numbers.

1/4 or 3/8 weight is actually kind of heavy IMO. I'm a 100% shore guy and I use a dropshot probably 75% of the time. I mostly use 1/8 or 3/16 oz sinkers. - If you're using a baitcaster I can see the need for a heavier weight, use what feels best for you that lets you maintain controlled bottom contact. - General rule of thumb I use is to use the lightest weight I can given the wind/current conditions. - The smaller/lighter the weight the less noise/commotion it makes when it drops into the water. The best is when it drops in there with no splash like an Olympic diver scoring a 10 on a dive. - Sometimes I like to use an ultralight setup with a size 1000 reel and lighter line, in which case I'll always prefer the 1/8oz because I can get just as much distance on it as a 3/16oz. - I'll use a heavier weight when it's windy or there's a strong current, or, if I'm in a narrow cove and trying to reach a far bank. - Farther out isn't always better, in some ways using a lighter weight helps with productivity as it keeps the bait closer to shore where most strikes will occur. - Lighter weights are cheaper (significantly cheaper if you ever need to use tungsten).

If all my rods were stolen and I had to pick one line from one company I'd go with Phenix, either the M1 or Recon Elite lines. The M1 is my favorite rod and they have one of the best warranties in the industry (lifetime no questions asked with a reasonable replacement fee). Get in touch with Vince Borges and he might be able to work something out for multiple rods.

If you plan on dropshotting a lot, I can't recommend strongly enough to spool up a reel with braid (10lb or 15lb) with a fluoro leader (24-36 inches). That will fix a lot of line twist problems, and the only twist issues you should see are when a fish thrashes around out of the water and causes your weight to spin around the line (and this can be addressed with a swiveled hook).

As a shore guy I find the fish when I cast along the shoreline near any points/coves/structure/cover. The areas that seem to be the toughest are long stretches of flat/straight shoreline with nothing. Bass like to hide/ambush so think like a fish and imagine where you would hide to wait for prey - usually the same places a person would if they were trying to hide from someone or seek cover from someone.

I throw my chatterbaits on a Phenix X3 glass rod and have found no reason to change. I fish them like a crankbait so treat them as such.

It looks like KaRu re-designed their baits so they no longer infringe on Z-Man's patent. They now have a split-ring between the blade and the jighead, similar to what D&M had to do with their Piranha.

Growing up watching fishing shows especially The Fishin' Hole, Lake Okeechobee always held a lot of wonder for me, especially with the sheer size of the place. Nowadays though with so many other amazing places my list would be - Clear Lake, CA Mille Lacs Lake, MN (the Elite tourney there last year blew me away) Toledo Bend, TX/LA Falcon Lake, TX Any place with peacock bass

3/8 is mostly what I use, and you can always add weight by using a bulkier trailer.

My WalMart (NorCal/Bay Area) only has some line and no-name rods on clearance, so it looks like your mileage will vary!

If my funeral is on a day when conditions are like that, I give all my fishing friends a pass to skip my funeral and instead catch a few pigs on my behalf and pretend I'm there with them.

Watching the first FLW and Elite tourneys has me jealous of the warmer waters some parts of the country are enjoying now. Here in NorCal/Bay Area it's still 40 degrees most mornings with daytime highs in the 50's and 60's. Still no turnover in the local reservoirs and with the runoff from all the recent storms everything is chocolate milk. Last weekend I did some local recon and was able to eliminate two productive reservoirs because of conditions, but confirmed a couple of others would be good once it warms up a bit. One hour of fishing turned out to be non-productive but the good stuff is hopefully only 2-3 weeks away!

I like the Panther Martin Holographic Rainbow Trout. They cast a mile and was the only thing I caught a fish on (a largemouth) at this one trout lake (Lake Amador) I was fishing at for the first time.

FYI, parts of the southern Delta were closed to boating in the past week - http://www.westernbass.com/forum/new-delta-closures-t107226.html

Since the Savage Duck is a topwater bait, the fish likely only sees a dark silhoutte from beneath so color won't be as much of a factor as action/noise. Maybe in clear water conditions a white vs black belly could make a difference but anything from the waterline and up, the fish will never see.

It's still pretty cold up in NorCal, 41 degrees in the morning. Checking my fishing logs for the past three years, each year the last week of February was when I started to head back out to the local reservoirs which meant by then it was warming up in the morning (didn't note temperatures but I would never have gone out if it were 41 degrees outside). Lake turnover will probalby be a few weeks last this year, though the high of 68 next Monday makes me optimistic about mid/late-March.

I bit on the Terry Scroggins worm that almost 50% of the field bit on, and got burned bad!

Owner Mosquitos are the main hooks I use, and the smallest I go with is a 6, with a 2 being the most common. I'll go smaller if I use smaller baits but anything thinner than a 6, can get kind of dicey if you hook onto a big fish.

I bought a used rod that was custom spiral wrapped and it's great. All else being equal if I had to choose between normal vs spiral I'd go with spiral, though that feature alone wouldn't deter me from buying/using a non-spiral wrapped rod.

Call me crazy but if you're mostly using KVD 1.0 sized squarebills I'd stick with a spinning setup. Finding a reel that can handle really light baits like that without backlashing might be a bit of work.

I'd look for a well-maintained used Citica E off of the 'Bay and call it a day!