jhc1

Thanks. Is it widely accepted that braid is more sensitive than fluoro? I've heard both sides here on BR.

I must be reeling in a bit too slow- I lost a pepper spinnerbait yesterday to rocks (as well as a mushroom jighead), and this morning, I lost a chatterbait.

I was at times using a jig, but I felt the same thing while slow rolling spinnerbaits.

This is all extremely helpful. Thanks, guys and gals! I should add that my first instinct upon feeling something is to immediately jerk my rod to set the hook. I don't over exaggerate, but it is a forceful tug. It's tough trying to reprogram my natural response.

Do you retire your leader after a couple of fish? I've never used a leader, but it seems like a huge pain, but if it catches fish, I guess I'll use one.

Thanks guys. It looks like I should reconsider using a fluoro leader. I was using straight braid previously.

Haha, helpful, but don't I only have a fraction of a second to make the decision to set the hook? If I'm waiting to see if it moves, at that point, it may be too late!

Sound advice. Thank you!

Sorry for the multiple new posts, but I had another question. The lake I normally fish has a soft bottom, but today I went to a retention pond w/ a rocky bottom. I realized pretty quickly that when my lures contacted the rocks, I felt a strong "scratching" feeling as I drug my lure across the surface. My question, and I know it's hard to put it into words, is: how do you distinguish between the strong jolts of the rocks verses an actual bite? There were several times where I set the hook unnecessarily, and on the other side of things, I'm sure I missed fish because I assumed it was the rocky bottom. Thoughts?

Thanks guys. Makes sense. I guess I never see the youtube guys intently watching the line like that, so figured they were just doing it by feel. There was a bit of wind out there this afternoon, so it made line watching even more difficult, but practice makes perfect!

That's exactly what I mean @HeavyDluxe - I feel the bounce when I move it, and that's it. I guess the purpose of my question is if you can't feel it, how exactly do you know you have bites?

I went out today with my 6'6 Aetos (Medium Fast) and landed a catfish on a ned rig. I was out there for about three more hours with nary a bite. I used basically everything in my arsenal - chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, swim jibs, topwater, light jigs (bitsy bug), and so on. When I switched to a 4" senko, both wacky and t-rigged, I essentially couldn't feel anything! I could hardly tell the bait was still connected unless I just reeled it in. Could this be due to the rod? Should I use a ML rod in the future? I was using 15lb smackdown. Thanks in advance!

I'd love to, but I don't have a setup that can get me into the very deep areas.

Hey- I sent you a PM re. a potential new rod.

What's the fall rate for a senko? Any idea?

Extremely helpful. Thank you!

I currently have 8lb Tatsu paired with a 2500 sz. Shimano Sedona FE spinning reel and I am in absolutely no way impressed. It may be because 8lb is too large of a diameter, but I constantly get knots (while closing the bail manually), and there is considerable memory even though I spray L&L the night before every outing. Not sure what I'm missing here, but Tatsu was the first fluoro I've tried, so maybe I just expected more.

Does it make any difference that it's not deep at all by the overflow? I just assumed that there's no shot at catching anything within feet of the shore b/c it's less than five feet deep. I guess the cover would make the depth irrelevant though, yeah?

There's no lily pads, and only some scum/grass by the overflow. I'll try that next time.

So how do you know it's better to fish with one or two different things as opposed to throwing the kitchen sick into the water?

Today was a perfect day for fishing. I got to the lake at 5:30, as signs indicated that they open at sunrise. Unfortunately, the dnr didn't get to the lake until 6:15, but still early. I brought my 6'6" medfast aetos coupled with tatsu and 7'0" medfast HMG coupled with braid (either 832 or power pro super slick) . I started out with some top waters on the hmg, whopper ploppers, spooks, rico, 3db, some wakebaits, and nothing, no blow ups or anything. Switched to a swim jig head and a fat impact keitech, switching periodically to the new strike king paddle tails. No nibbles, nothing. Switched to a couple different color senkos rigged Texas and wacky, on the aetos, nothing. Ned rig, drop shot with super flukes and gamakatsu shad, nothing. Used full swim jig and a number of trailers from grubs ribbon tails, craws, paddle tails, nothing. Shakey head with a number of stick baits, nothing. TexaaI'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a ton of crap I used. At this point, I need help trying to figure it out. It's not a very large or deep lake, but someone this morning said he pulled an 8 pounder out of there (whether it's true or not, who knows). It's got a muddy, rocky, mucky bottom, so it's difficult to use cranks and other deeper lures. I was skunked this morning, and the biggest I've got is a 1 or 2 pounder. The lake is Lake Ida in countryside, Illinois. There's really no vegetation or much to target unfortunately. Thanks in advance for any help, and I understand if the best way to go is to find another lake!

Nice fish- if you don't mind, care to share where this is? I've been searching the Chicagoland area (w. burbs) for a spot that isn't heavily pressured, but I don't think such a place exists. Currently, I don't have a boat, but I think my next goal is to pick up a kayak or small fishing boat. I know either will allow me to explore many additional lakes and ponds.

I still have never been successful on a topwater. I've got Ricos, Pop-X, Hula, Gunfish, Heddon spooks, yellow magic, jitterbug, 3DB, frogs, rats, etc., but I still haven't even experienced a fish attempt to strike my lure. I thought you could throw them at all times of day? I got out this morning around 615 (after the sun had risen) and managed to catch a couple via drop shot, but nothing on topwater. Any thoughts?

Thank you! So the only comment I have is that I'll only be able to take the aetos and hmg on the trip, so I'll have to double up on the aetos between two of the reels.

This is extremely helpful. Just so I'm clear, you're saying 1) put the non-limited Presidential (with current braid) on the HMG; 2) the Limited Presidential (with Tatsu) on the Numbah eight; and 3) the Sedona with Yo-Zuri on the Aetos, since it has the least backbone, correct?