reerok

J Francho sums it up well. One more reason is that flouro is nearly invisible under water and with drop shot being such a slow presentation, invisibility is very important.

Will a leader help? Maybe. I'd dare even say probably. But it's far less important than the points made above about slowing down the presentation. I have the same MGX reel and it makes a huge difference in retrieval rate over my 6.4:1 and 5.4:1 reels. Slow down. That said, I've been tying leaders on almost everything this year and have been happy with the results. If you don't mind the patience and extra time it takes, try it. The alberto knot is simple once you do it a handful of times and it has been 100% reliable for me so far.

I have and it works. With the Owner Twistlocks I get a lot longer life out of Senkos/stickbaits. The damage I see is where the hook goes through the worm. Once you can't get a good bite anymore due to stretching damage, you simply twist the worm a bit either direction and it's like new again.

How are they working? They look good and if you recommend them I'll pull the trigger on an order. Thanks Darren.

I know I do. And I use it for my drop shot knots every time I'm on the water. I just scarred myself a few years back when I first started drop shotting and I broke a few off because of lazy knot tying. I'm learning, but I have one thick head with a peanut sized brain. Off subject: I did switch to the double pitzen knot for flouro tied directly to lures. So far for me it has superior strength and durability (on flouro only!). It's also easier to tie with large treble hook baits. That said, the palomar remains my go to knot in most other situations.

Thanks for sharing this method. I definitely want to try it as I have a deep fear of tying palomar knots with super light flouro. The slightest little burn or twist and there just isn't much knot strength left. This double bobber stopper trick could completely eliminate that. No one has asked so I will: Is there really enough tension from the bottom stopper to plant the hook in the bass's mouth? Obviously the answer is yes or else you wouldn't be sharing this but it just seems in my feeble brain that the hook would slide down the line instead of stick. That said I'm looking forward to giving this a go. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!

The website says "Gift Cards accepted until 5/18". Is that May 18 of this year? Or is that May of 2018?

This is a Bass Resourcer who knows how to use the Search function! Well done!

Thanks guys. Does anyone fish these shallow? If so, I'd like to hear how you found success with them.

Good stuff, here. When fishing points this way do you tend to fish the RES shallow to deep or vice-versa? I tend to place the boat on the shallower portion of the point and cast deep and fish it back to me hopping or ripping it off the bottom but I wonder if there's a better approach.

Thanks Catt. That's one answer to the when part of the question. How/where do you fish it during the pre-spawn? Grass or no grass?

There have been a few great threads discussing brands of lipless cranks as well as rod/reel setups. But now I'd like to discuss how and when you fish them. I assume the #1 answer will be around grass and weeds. Are there any situations you can name where you fish them without grass or weeds present? Tell me about what type of situations make you think of fishing the lipless cranks and how you fish them. Thanks, reerok

I've used the VMC weighted swimbait hooks and the Owner CPS (both light and regular) swimbait hooks. Owner easily won that battle - hook sharpness, coming through cover, durability. I am so pleased with them that I switched to the Owner CPS worm hooks for almost all of my regular plastics presentations as well. I highly recommend.

Curly tail grubs are great for mojo. As are lizards.

I live about 2 miles from a Dicks so I just ordered online to pick up in the store. Getting all those boxes in the mail drives me crazy. It's so wasteful in a multitude of ways.

That seems to be the prevailing opinion. Thanks for chiming in. While I'd love 2500 yds of braid for $50, I think I'll pass.

Heck of a deal. I've never used it, though. The reviews on TW don't seem the best. Anyone here have any experience with Kanzen?

Agreed. Or something that requires equally light hook sets like Ned rig as the weight and drop shot 12" inches above it.

I used to split-shot (or mojo) a pearl blue salt & pepper 4" grub all the time. It worked particularly well on smallmouth waters. I've found that using straight tail worms (like Roboworm 6" fat) works a bit better on my regular largemouth water. It's not a magic technique but when the bite is tough there aren't many other things I'd rather fall back on than the split shot / mojo rig.

Limiting tackle (and rod) options are part of my 2017 strategy. And I'm a boat fisherman. I've been out 2 times this year (it's early here in Ohio) but both times I've limited myself to 5 types of lures and 5 rods. Granted that's not a meager selection but when I'm used to having enough storage on my boat for everything and anything I'd want, it does feel a bit skinny. The funny thing is that both trips I've found that 1) I don't feel limited if I've done my research and planning right for the conditions, and 2) I actually end up using only 2 or maybe 3 combos all day anyway. It's been a good learning experience and has mostly forced me to do my homework up front - prepare for the lake, the conditions, the likely fish seasonal patterns - to be a much more efficient and effective angler. -reerok

A-Jay has it right. I use straight InvisX 10 lb for one finesse setup and the other I use 16-20 lb braid mainline to a 8 lb InvisX leader. If you pay attention to the braid it won't give you too much trouble.

Absolutely, Paul. That makes sense and adds perspective to my question. In a sense I need to zoom out on the specifics of my question and understand all of the inputs before the details of water temps become all that important.

It seems Spring is the season when water temp matters most. But what does water temp really mean? In other words, my electronics tell me one number (say 55 as was the case this past weekend) but that's the temp on a sunny day at the surface where my transducer is. I believe that the temperature just a few feet below the surface would be several degrees cooler. And since bass behavior can vary greatly depending on only a few degrees difference in water temperature, how do you determine which water temperature to use to base your decisions on how to fish a reservoir? 55 can be early spawn but if it's 51 subsurface are they still in prespawn? This is just one example but highlights a question I've had for quite a while. Thanks as always. This place remains such a great trove of fishing education. -reerok

The website we can't mention (xLandxBigxFishxDotxCom) has the original Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps on sale for around $4 right now. Same for the Red Eye Shads. It's a good time to load up. Both are excellent and serve their own purpose. RES sink really well so I like to rip or yo-yo them off the bottom and let them flutter back down - prepare for the hit on the fall. I'm also an Ohio fisherman and my lakes (a bit south of you - all in the Muskingham Watershed District) have mostly shad and bluegill forage so those are the colors I tend to use.

Got it. That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification. As a note, I did once straighten out a Ned hook when I stupidly fished it on straight braid with a MH power spinning rod and set the hook like it was a 1 oz flipping jig. That smallie was quite happy with my stupidity. Med power rods and reel setting from that point forward has led to some serious Ned related happiness.