JustJames

Congrat man, that fish look to be 4-4.5 lbs to me and I'm pretty good at hand scale lol. It tough love here, doesn't it? But becuz everyone loves bass here. Even my wife sometime complains I care more about bass than her HA!. Now OP should know how to handle bass better and we should also give him a break too. I used to do that all the time laying fish on grass to take pic since that only way to get measurements, but I don't do that anymore after reading a lot of post of how to handle fish.

Sometime it just tough to find a right house at a right time. i remember looking for almost a year before getting my previous house. We found a few houses but always get beat up by those cash offer. This happened in 2011 where the bottoms of house market crashed. I just walked my dog in neighborhood found a house that getting ready to sale. I talked to owner and asked to see the house. Called agent and found out the house just listed that day. Sent in offer that night and since the owner like us, they accepted our offer right away. For this house here in Canyon Lake, we started buying process since July Last year. We did not look elsewhere just a 4 bedrooms house in Canyon Lake so it was pretty straight forward. I end up moved in Jan 1st of this year.

That why I told you I only want that jerkbait. So far bass hit the shad more than crappies one tho, too bad I lost that one.

Thanks a lot for those insider info @WRB. I was searching before if my lake stock with Florida strain or Northern strain. You are right about plastic since most of the big bass here have been caught on either Senko and Texas rig creature. I'm, on the other hand, ever since started fishing Fluke, Jerkbait and chatterbait, I lost my confident of all bottom contact plastic and can't slow myself down enough. I do plan to fish more of plastic either taxas rig or wacky rig next time around.

Totally agree. I have shimano crucial rate for dropshot M/XF 6'10 pair with symetre 2500 but I hardly use that setup anymore. With 1/4 oz dropshot weight I can cast with any of my baitcasting and get more accurate and acceptable distance. I don't throw a lot of Ned rig but if I want I still can do it with my baitcasting but with less distance. Last time I took my spinning setup out, it was a nightmare. I have to adjust a lot and can't find any accuracy at all.

If you already have curado 70 and wanna go with even lighter lure, how about scorpion BFS. I watched reel advisor compare between scorpion 70 VS BFS and seem like a ticket for BFS set up. I don't have SS SV105 but own Alphas SV105 which is good for controlling light lure but distance is far less than curado 70 (lure weight 1/4 oz). I can cast 1/15 oz jig plus Zman grub on SV105 about 10yds with no over run but no way I can do that with curado 70.

Down here in SoCal too, this year the warmer weather stay longer, water temp still above 70. I can't find any good size bass only a few on Texas rig meniac grub.

Thx @OCdockskipperthat info is very helpful since I don't throw crankbait at all?. I took my boat to mainlake a few times, tried the light house and main crossway only caught a few fish here and there. Most of the spot are in 15-20' deep which also my weakness. I might have to spend more time cruising around to look for any bottom structure. I found that big bass still scattering around while dinks take over shallow area, especially in north ski lake.

Me neither. ? My last keeper size was on 24th and this past week I was sick like a dog.

Here how I used mend-it with my Fluke. The two got the tail bite off so I fuse tails from different baits. Each of these fluke got mend-it more than one time. The key I don't let them get too damage to be fixed. I cut both tail in 45 degree angle so I got more surface to fuse each tail.

September last year was a good month for me at small communities pond about 5 acres. This year not very good yet in term of quality on bigger lake.

I like that one, would you trade with my BFS setup? For OP, it is not all about fishing, it about thing you love. For example home owner might own some cheap tool like Ryobi/Skill and get done, professional would buy better brand like dewalt, Milwaukee. I buy rods and reels not just to fish but buy it because I love it, do I care if I catch more fish? NO. I don't own any high end stuff but if I have money I would buy one or two or all in a heartbeat.

This ^^^. I only found that mend-it doesn't work as good on Elaztech stuff like Z-man. With other plastic I will keep pressure about 20 seconds and let it sit overnight.

I have lighting rod 6', light pair with shimano Sahara 750.

"Buy what you can afford" There a magic word. You get a lot of hateful comments becuz you said if someone spent triple digit and not getting 3 combo is wrong.

With 4" long that might be 90 size. For the 90 size it is easier to cast but not as easy to made it spin just right any debris would make the whole body spin instead of tail. I fish the 90 with braid and held rod high to make it stay on top.

It happens man it happens. I think I has equally bad days and good days, but I always remember all good days.

I plan to use lipless and underspin next time out, will see what I'm gonna get. I think close to shoreline is plentiful of those 6-8" bass.

Depends on if I see that fish before I intend to catch them then I have no problem setting hook. The one that give me problem is the one that hit me by surprise within 5' either I didn't give a good hookset or lockup on spool.

I'm always on shallow all year round no matter bank fishing kayak or boat, so the most productive for me is soft plastic jerkbait.

I don't think 90 is worth the headache. 90 trend to dive down more and also easy to spin the whole body not the tail, also hardware on 90 is suck I lost the tail treble hook from snagging to some grass. it is just on of those day bass don't want Big profile lure I guess. I was having trouble with 110 as well. I got pretty good bites when I first got it then nothing for the whole month and the trip before last I caught 3 on bone 110.

I just seriously started fishing jerkbait this year too. So my point of view might not be as accurate as other expert. I believe most of jerkbait strike is reaction strike so bass normally would hit and run. I agree with @IndianaFinessewatch your line closely, you would see the line jump even before you feel it. Another thing I don't let my line gone completely slack, I alway reel in the line after each twitch to semi-slack. I don't pause for too long either 5 seconds the most, unless I have my lure hit bottom and feel some tab from follower.

I'll pray for ya and hope thing get better soon.

De-barb hook is a good option for you to be able to remove the hook easier but not gonna help gutted hook fish if you don't learn how to detect strike sooner. I do the same with all my hooks for Fluke type since those fish mostly strike and try to swallow them whole doesn't matter fish fast or slow. Yeah you would loose fish here and there but mostly smaller one where they trend to jump a lot. There are ways to detect strike, as others mention watch the rod tip, but seem like you are as naive as me so watch the line and feel the line might be easier. I always has my finger touch the line to detect strike and watch line for any unusual movement. Also pay very close attention when you first cast lure out and let it fall on slack line where you might not feel the first initial bite. You should close the bail as soon as lure hit water start reeling the line and pop it once or twice. It is a lot easier to do this with bait casting tho.

Still not very good today, caught just one keeper on Jerkbait, and got a few dinks on bubble walker. Air temp was 55-60 early morning surface temp around 73. I might have to slow down my presentation.