MassYak85

I was at Cabelas and saw some of this line. I was just curious if any of you use it and for what purpose? I would think it would be good if you were trying to get a deep diver down even deeper, given how heavy the line is.

With thick vegetation I would go braid, probably 40 or 50lb. I have my jig/T-rig rod set up with 20lb fluoro, but I bought a second spool and put 40lb braid on it so I can quickly switch lines depending what kind of cover I am fishing. Flurocarbon getting wrapped around 20 lilypad stems with a fish going crazy at the other end is a nightmare.

The 130 I throw on my jig rod which has 40lb braid, the 90 I throw on 20lb braid.

I have the 40 and it is pretty sweet. haven't caught anything on it yet but that has more to do with me not having had the chance to fish it much and not the baits effectiveness.

I like the speed shads, definitely stiffer than the kietech's but they honestly still have pretty good action, even at slow speeds. I use the 3.8's as trailers sometimes and like the 4.8's on a swimbait hook.

I read up on the technique first, make sure I can rig it correctly, learn any little tips or tricks I can. Then when I encounter conditions where said technique "should" be optimal for, I use it. I gain confidence once I catch a few fish that I didn't feel were flukes. In other words, I used the technique effectively and didn't just chance upon a random fish with it.

Me and my dad went out for a few hours this afternoon after I got back from work. I managed three bass, all about a pound. Wind was howling today on the lake we were at. I finally got to see my Real Prey swimbait in the water for the first time. The ting looks SWEEEEET. And swims even better than it looks. Tail kicks at ridiculously low speeds, which I did not expect since it is tougher than most plastic baits (silicon). I got a distinct tug during the short time I was fishing it, which was encouraging, but I suspect it may have been a pickerel just taking a nibble at the big tail.

Sometimes I will catch nothing but pickerel and not a single bass, other times I'll get a mix of both, and sometimes just bass. Happens in a ton of different conditions too. I have seemed to notice that if I am catching large pickerel (getting up around 2 feet or more) then there is a better chance that I catch bass there as well than if I was catching small guys.

I'd say you really only "need" a leader on the jigs and worms if you were fishing around cover where you needed the added abrasion resistance to prevent break offs.

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll probably be picking up 2 bags to try, and I'll probably go with WRB's suggestion on the hooks.

I might pick up a pack or two of these to try this summer on T-rig and C-rig. I have never used these worms before, but they seem pretty bulky just looking at the pictures. I was wondering what hooks would be best to use with these (Hook style as well as hook size). I really don't use larger worms a ton, I've had a little experience with 10" curly tail powerbait worms on C-rigs, but that's it. I might also try the Manns Jelly's as well. Any advice would be great!

I'm not spending 25 dollars on something that most likely will get bitten off by a pickeral eventually. Only time I spend that much on a lure is swimbaits. And generally the pickerel aren't able to chew through the 20lb CXX I throw them on. I'm sure they are great jerkbaits, but those and lucky craft pointers just aren't worth it to me considering the risk. I do have one pointer but that was because I got it in sale.

Type pretty much any bass fishing question into google and one of the threads or articles from this site is the first result like 90% of the time.

I sometimes walk it and it does work. But for some damned reason, my most effective method, has literally just been reeling it in rod pointed 11 O'Clock. No action other than the wake it leaves. Of course I pause it in prime locations and will twitch or walk it some, especially if a fish misses it, but the straight retrieve just seems to work a lot of the time. My best guess it it kind of mimics a mouse more-so than a frog at that point (mice swim very straight through the water, not "walking" back and forth)

x2 I was pretty reluctant making the switch for the cost, but Massachusetts lead ban kind of forced my hand to start transitioning some of my stuff. Doubt I will ever go back now. A 3/4 ounce tungsten weight is the same size as some of the 1/4 ounce steel weights I had been using in place of lead.

I feel a #1 might be kind of small, unless it's like a 4.5" roboworm or something. I doubt you would see a huge improvement if you stopped using the 1/0 and started using 2/0 either, it's just what I use and am confident setting the hook with, either one should be fine. I probably wouldn't go smaller than 1/0 though for 6" worms. But if you have these size hooks lying around just try them out, see what works. If you notice an improvement with a certain size then stick with it.

I wouldn't say one is better really, they have very different actions. The Mattlures is very subtle and can be fished very slow, but is also much more fragile. The Savage Gear has an S-action and can be fished almost like a glide bait, where it will swing out to one side, or even do a 180 with the right technique. It is much tougher plastic and IMO looks more realistic in the water when sitting still. Both look amazing though. Mattlures has the single "jig" style hook and the savage gear has the treble, with the 6" using their line-through system. Besides them both being bluegill swimbaits they don't share much in common other than being awesome fish catchers, can't go wrong with either. If you are going to order a few, why not both?

Got some suffix 832 15# yellow braid for my spinning setup, and some simms sungloves and just because I "had to" get the TW order over $50 (and then some) Big Bite Baits 10" Kriet Tail in Black and Tilapia colors Mann's hradnose snake in black Z-man saw tail (first elaztech bait, wanted to give them a go) in watermelon

Same here, fishing section is literally two 10 foot shelves. They probably carry 100 rods, none of which I would ever use. The only decent stuff they carried was some gammy and VMC hooks and some decent braid, all of which was wiped out long before the sale got to the point it was worth buying them. I did score on some shoes and boots that I needed though.

If I am T-rigging 6" Finesse worms, like a zoom trick worm, I am pretty much always using a 2/0 offset round bend. I only use the EWG for thicker plastics that require that extra space to collapse on a hookset.

All I can say is thanks to my local Sports Authority for the 50% off going-out-of-business sale.

I can't deny the effectiveness of fishing slow in the summer, but it always pains me to do so, even if I am catching some doing it. Probably my biggest weakness, it's hard for me to slow down.

Went out for a couple hours in my kayak on a local lake. Started throwing a T-rig shallow and around some docks, no bites. Decided to try a small cove, which in this particular lake, happens to be the only place where there is good lily-pad cover. Threw a frog way out there and 5 feet to the left of where it landed I saw the telltale swirl of a bass and the wake as it headed towards the frog. Fish on! Wasn't big but it was the first frog fish of the year for me. Probably my favorite way to fish when the bite is good. Managed to get 3 more between 1-2 pounds, and probably twice as many blowups where they just plain missed, seemed to be small ones slapping at it. In the waaay back of the cove where the thick lily pads turn into tall un-navigable tall grass, I lost one that was probably between 2 and 3 pounds. They were real jumpers today. Every one I hooked was flying out of the pads, over stumps. Must be getting ready for the summer Olympics My hookup ratio seemed to be better now, after training myself last year not to get startled when they blow up on it, and fish with the rod tip high.

As far as line manageability I'd go with 30lb braid. Beyond that it really depends on the technique.

For 10 inch worms I use a 4/0 round bend offset like the one above, never EWG. I only use the EWG for stick baits (senkos) as they usually have more bulk to them, and creature baits. I don't find the need for that extra space in the hook to collapse a worm when a fish bites.