Airman4754

Completely agree. Spots are even easier to catch than smallies.

This time of year you shouldn't run into too much trouble. In the late winter through spring when it takes 30lbs to even cash a check at a small tournament the guys get very protective of spots.

This is a similar scenario at some unrealistic water. We used to fish the man made ponds in southern AZ constantly and in the spring and fall they would be cruising the shore. This was before the glide bait craze, so we used big suspending jerk baits and sight fished for them. We fished them way slower than you would ever fish a jerk bait normally. You really have to tune them so they stay right where they are in the water column. We would dead stick them for three to five minutes and twitch it once. I would imagine something like a 6" S-Waver or a Ganterel Jr. would be an ever better alternative.

Sweet fish!

I'm sold. I'm grabbing some of those in 5" perch.

Kalin Sizmic Grub.

10lb YoZuri hybrid for spinnerbaits and 50lb braid for chatterbaits and swim jigs.

6" Mogambo grub Sizmic Grub EZ Shad

If I remember right the Japanese fish was one ounce heavier and it has to be two ounces bigger to break a record so they call it a tie. Dottie is the real world record.

That's one hell of a fish in those parts!

My leader distance is based on two things; water temperature and bottom growth. Usually two feet is as long as I will go, but if the grass on bottom is two feet then I need to go longer. Middle of summer is two feet, middle of winter is six inches. Everything else is kind of experimental until you find what they want.

5,000ft up in Oregon.

It was pretty brisk when I launched and right as the sun came up the wind picked up and stayed at about 20mph. It's fall turnover and I knew I would need to fish slow and small. I threw a Keitech Custom Leech all morning. I went through about thirty of them and caught about 70 perch. Then paydirt, 4.3lbs. They fight so awesome in colder water. I weighed her, snapped a pic and got the hell out of there!

My favorite are the ABT Suicide Glides. The 7" have a pretty small profile, but the 9" are a big bait. The Jackall Gantarel is the best sunfish I've seen in action. The perch S-Waver is cheap and catches fish. Duckett has a new one out too. I have one on the way, it should be in the same league as an S-Waver. A buddy if mine caught a 10lb spot on a GanCraft and he swears by them.

The Tail slapper is good, but I think Kicker Fish went under. The BPS Speed Shads are the best alternative I've found.

I watch power guys like a hawk, especially in tournaments. They will give you spots that are holding fish all day and don't even pressure them.

Roland Martin believes you can and suggests making the same cast 10+ times if you know a fish is there. He wrote an entire section on it in his book.

A key lime Senko.

I'm not sure if it has an official name, but I use a Senko rigged weedless with an Octopus hook. It's like half wacky, half Neko. You attach a tiny split shot below the eye of the hook. Then you run the hook in the same place where you would Neko but you run the point towards the nose instead of away from it and keep the hook buried in the Senko. When you twitch it you get more of a wacky presentation then the dead stick from a T-rig while having the same weedless capability. It was something I came up with a long time ago to fish the ponds around here that are nothing but weeds in the summer.

I have 12 rods on deck and I fish the situation. That can be constant change or using the same thing all day.

WRB. I wouldn't make a single cast. I'd just watch and listen.

I use a regular Z-Man chatter in wood, a Rage blade in tall grass because the blades have a lot more range of motion which helps a lot. In wood I want deflection, in grass I want to hit and keep going. Spinnerbaits are an edge of cover, points, and flats type of bait for me.

7" ABT Suicide Glide. 7" Robo, Bold Bluegill.

3/4oz Dirty Jigs California. 6" Mogambo. In deep weeds and cover there is no substitute.

Yep, the Devil Spear is my favorite. The Tiki Shad is awesome too.