Wprich

That natural shad color looks great, I'm gonna invest in some square bills and red eye shads in that color it really looks killer.

Neon bluegill

Don't forget about the pflueger line of reels, particularly the supreme and supreme xt baitcasters they run from 100-150 respectively. You get alot of bang for your buck on each model, but that's with all pfluegers IMO. The Patriarch is about 200 or 250 new I believe, I got a brand new one off eBay for 140 a year ago and love it.

Same thing with spots, sometimes dipping the tail etc in chartruese or red will draw them in better.

You could go with a pflueger president and perhaps one of the newer ugly stik elites, I like them better than regular ugly stiks or the gx2 models.

Thanks for the replies guys, I haven't had many issues with biteoffs so far(lost one small pickerel) I just fear that one day that big pick will bite and I'd like to land it if possible. I'm not really set on the leaders so I think I'll just up the size braid I use, I been using 30# but I have a spool of 50# I can spool up if need be.

I have a lake that I fish that has heavy cover pads mostly but also trees logs etc are in the water as well. The lake has some monster bass in it and I've been catching some good ones using braid with top waters(rage toad, shad, and craw). Thing is this lake also contains some big pickerel, so I'm considering using a leader of a thick # test to minimize biteoffs. How would a thick leader of mono or fluoro perform in the pads trees etc, or should I continue using straight braid and hope a pickerel doesn't bite thru it?

Same here first few times it scares the crap out of me, but usually after a miss or 2 I get my mind together and try to not look directly at the bait. That way I won't set the hook to early and will actually feel the weight then ******. Once I hear one going for it, it usually gets my attention to look towards it but most times they've inhaled it by then. Top water fishing is so much fun and exciting, hate I just really got into it in recent years I've really been missing out.

1. Rage rigged reeled just fast enough to keep on surface 2. On a vmc rugby head

Match the forage base, throw some cranks that resemble bluegill, crappie, or what ever the main forage is in the pond. I've always had good luck in small ponds myself throwing inline spinners as well like panther Martin and vibrax specifically.

I'm a fan of war eagle spinnerbaits

Those speed traps caught my eye after watching the bassmasters tournament this year, I believe every one of Aaron Martens fish came on the speed trap.

Yea that neon bluegill is becoming a sure bet for me, it was the only bait I even had some bites on yesterday. That's the one square bill I try to always keep a few of with me and always have one tied on because of the success I had on it early this year, the bass and stripers were nailing it.

Strike King kvd models, arashis, Mann's

I'd have fishhead spin/keitech swimbaits, lipless cranks, senkos, and Texas rig with a worm or a magnum lizard to start with worked slowly.

I fish a lake with lots of under water vegetatation, I throw alot of floating rapalas there since they don't dive that deep. Sometimes they will hit the weeds but not as often as other cranks do, give it a sharp rip and may get a strike when it's freed. Also you can try some square bills like kvd or arashis, just see what its depth range is on the box, see if it will stay above the weeds.

I think this is the best answer to question right here. Be sure to use a line that sinks like a fluoro or copoly and if need be add some split shots a foot or so above. Also I feel panther Martin's spin better at lower speeds which allows me to keep them deeper, they're my personal favorite inline.

I caught my first 7 bass last year on a yellow #6 dressed panther Martin and a blue/white vibrax, they were the only thing I could get them to bite that day. Inline spinners will catch most any fish that swims bass, trout, crappie, white bass etc.

I use a mister twister electric filet knife when I filet any fish.

I knew this was going to be a good year, my first cast was a war eagle finesse in the mouse pattern and I caught a 12 inch largemouth on that first cast. First time that has ever happened, usually I get skunked my first trip of the year lol.

War eagle specifically the finesse line.

My biggest bass in a few years came on that lure (the one in my avatar), I used the gold one with a white body/chartruese tail grub as a trailer just slowly pulling it above some lily pad stems that hadn't reached surface yet.

I'm a faithful p-line user, used to spool mine with CX premium, but now I spool my bass spinning reels with 6lb cxx strong line and easy on the pocket as well.

I've caught plenty of bass on panther Martin's, they're the main inline spinner I throw other than blue foxes. I was reading a article last night on spinners since I'm trying to get into trout fishing more. One point in the article was that most small and hairless spinners are geared towards trout, while larger spinners or the ones with hair are more favored toward bass, pike, etc.

Honestly i would begin dragging, but try both retrieves they will let you know which retrieve they want on a given day.