FCPhil

Looks like a $60 bait to me, very nice! Did you paint an existing model of swimbait?

Thanks. Knockers/rattles are challenging but I have thought some about using them in a lipless crank. I have not had much success with rattling baits though. What conditions would you recommend a rattling bait for? This Fall I caught a 3.5 pounder on the frog.

Message me if you want any tips for specific baits and their action. I’m not a pro by any means but I’ll tell you what I know.

Posted a thread with what I made for 2019 on Friday if your interested.

Makes perfect sense. I agree rods feel faster and more powerful after breaking a tip because they don’t deflect as far under the same amount of load. Action and power though are not directly related to deflection per unit of load but are a more complex characteristic (I believe...) Try a topwater walker on this broken tip rod though, it will give you the ability to make extremely abrupt “walks”, my favorite way to fish them...

I fished for two years with Abu Black Max’s. I decided to upgrade as well this Spring. I got the Tatula CT and could not be happier. It is a little larger in you hand but I hear the tatula 100 is more compact. The spool is very light and with the t-wing casting soft plastics is a breeze. Also, the spool tension and magnetic brakes are very similar in operation to the Black Max so it is easy to learn. The SLX has a different style of brakes you will have to learn BTW.

Just wanted to post some hardbaits I made to fish this season... Glidebait (slow sinking): Topwater Glidebait: Topwater Swimbait: Topwater Walking bait shaped as a trout: Topwater walking bait shaped as a bluegill: Standard size topwater walker: Oversized topwater walker (5.5 inch): Frog prop bait: Standard size plopper: Oversized plopper (6 inch): Topwater Rat (with internal knocker): Super shallow crankbait with tail: Squarebill Crankbait: Slow-rise crankbait: Suspending jerkbait: Topwater popper: Topwater crawler: All:

That’s just cold...

Go for it, it’s very rewarding to catch a bass on a lure you made yourself! A topwater walking bait or a popper are pretty easy places to start.

I never use swivels, but baitcasters are all I use. But I ALWAYS use snaps. The Eagle Claw black wire snaps from Walmart work fine.

With the Mustad short shank EWG, they are made to use a size larger than normal hooks. So if the normal hooks is a #4, get a #2. If it is #2, get a #1 or 1/0

If you have a baitcaster with braid (which I highly recommend!): -stickworm (Yamamoto senko, Yum Dinger, Strike King Shim-e-stick, etc. I like Cabin Creeks oval sinking worm.) in green pumpkin with a 4/0 wide gap worm hook. -Whopper Plopper 110 (pricey but worth every penny) -Strike King KVD 1.5 crankbait (some sort of white/black Shad color). -Jerkbait (Luck-E-Strike STX 4.5 inch, or Rapala XRap) -Rebel POP-R (the larger version) -Casting jig with craw style trailer (lots of options but look for a streamlined head on the jig and a decent weedgaurd.) -Boyah Poppin Pad Crasher If you have a spinning rod/reel. -Berkley Flat Dawg worm with 4/0 worm hook -Rebel Pop-R -Octopus hook to wacky rig the Flat Dawg worm -save the rest to buy a baitcaster!!! You be glad once you try it.

Can’t speak much to this time of year, just when it warms up in the later Spring through the Fall. I’m intrigued by the point SW of the fountain. To the SE of that point it looks like there is a good amount of cover (weeds, cattails) but it would still be fairly close to the deeper water of the main lake. I would try casting some type of topwater along that bank around the cover. Also, I would try the first deeper water coming in from the inlet. I would assume it is the area west of that same point. I have had success with larger bass getting as close as possible to an inlet without getting too exposed in shallow water.

I guess the more I think about it you are right. My PB came on a fast moving bait but most of my top 10 were on slower lures or were right after a pause when the lure had stopped for a moment. I’m sure another part of it is a “big bass” is different for us. Where I live anything over three pounds is a big bass but your PB is over 15!

I have a 6’6” MH casting rod that the tip broke off on. I cut it back to the next guide and still use it. I really like it for topwater walkers and jerkbaits because I can give the bait much sharper jerks with the stiffer tip. It makes the topwaters splash more.

2:30pm in late September.

Depends on the mood of the fish and how big the splash/how close it is to them. I have caught a lot of fish in the first few seconds after my lure hits the water. Also, some lures are made to splash, like a popper. Splashing is how they catch bass.

Never tried them but the extra weight of the double hooks might mess up the balance of the frog. Just a thought...

When you catch bigger fish on jigs, do they tend to come when fishing heavy cover? Or do you catch big fish just as often fishing other areas with jigs? I’m not saying conserving energy is not a factor, it just seems to me if it was this overriding factor we would only catch large bass on slow lures, but plenty of large bass are caught on fast moving baits. So they are willing to chase at times, especially for a large meal.

Could you launch a jon boat as a second best option?

It seems like there is a variety of things going on here. A lure can be “bigger” both visually and in vibration/displacement. A glidebait is quiet, but visually larger than most lures, a buzzbait is average size visually, but creates lots of displacement and vibration. Even though an anaconda is long and skinny, and creates less vibration and displacement, it still is a big lure. It’s may be smaller “vibrationally” but it is big visually. The big swimbait scene seems to have made it pretty clear that big lures catch bigger bass and more bigger bass. The big baits do deter small fish so they catch a lot less fish, but they do catch giants more often then the average person throwing a senko. Some of these guys have built there reputation on how many double digit bass they have caught and bring back livewells full of huge bass in just one day. I might be misunderstanding you, but it seems like bass having a large variety of food sizes in their stomach does not necessarily means they don’t prefer bigger prey. It might just mean in the muddy water they catch anything they can. They might still prefer larger pray and be drawn to larger lures with more “thump” Do you fish jigs with craws and jigs with paddle tails the same way? In my experience people generally fish jigs with paddle tails more like a swimjig and cover more water. On the other hand jigs with craws are often used more to pitch to specific pieces of cover. Could the difference in size bass you catch be more to do with using them differently. Big bass certainly prefer the best pieces of cover in the pond. I agree jigs certainly are a good big bass lure. Although how much of that is due to the presentation itself and how much is due to the way they are fished? Jigs are textbook lures for pitching into thick cover and big bass usually get the best, nastiest cover in the lake. Is it the jig itself or is it the way jigs are fished? (I’m asking because I’m really not sure). I think the “unwilling to chase in order to conserve energy” is a bit overhyped. They still are predators. Buzzbaits are known to catch big bass. The lure that produced my PB and has produced the most big fish for me is a Whopper plopper with a steady retrieve. With noisy, fast moving lures, big bass don’t necessarily have to chase them down, they can hear them coming from a long way away and intercept them as the approach. Also, even the fastest moving lures are nowhere near as fast as both bass and baitfish can swim. Chasing a buzzbait is probably like a slow jog for a bass.

Thanks everyone, I think that is pretty conclusive I should pick up some better line sometime.

I have used the Stanley Top Toad and it works great but I strongly recommend the Teckel Sprinker frog. It’s pricy but it is the closest thing you will find to a weedless whopper plopper. The hookup ratio is excellent as well.

I spooled up and old baitcaster with the cheap 10 pound mono you can buy at Walmart. It was like $2 for 700yard. It has so much memory it is very difficult to fish. When I cast it out and let it go slack it looks like a slinky! I hardly ever use mono, always braid, so I’m wondering does the pricier mono have significantly less memory or is this just how mono is?

Given what you said, you might want to look at the Ima Suspending Lipless Crankbait. I purchased one recently and mine sinks slowly, about as fast as a weightless worm. It’s just a little smaller than average from what I have seen of lipless crankbaits.