Bass-Addict

I had done plenty of research before I bought my first Mike Bucca Bull Shad, and everyone in the searches I did seemed to push the 6” slow sink as the standard. I have a lot of trouble working it effectively in the smaller river I fish that averages 3-5’ with moderate current and intermittent riffles. I finally got tired of having to vary my retrieve to keep it down and pulled the trigger on a 5” fast sink. Night and day, and I am considering still adding weight. The “fast sink” is more of what I would consider a slow sink, and honestly the slow sink is just unusable for anything other than burning it over flats. I’m now replacing my 6” with a fast sink as well.

Yeah, that’s putting it mildly. Spring and fall are all over the place for me, never understood the hype. Summer is a grind but at least they are consistently in the same places.

Can someone explain this to me? I generally have summer pattern down pat, although I am always learning. Fall is very confusing to me, as I have long heard that within a week of the autumnal equinox river smallmouth beging making their way to where they will spend the winter. Yet as we all know they can be found aggressively feeding in shallow current when the fall bite really takes effect into October. Isn’t this really the same as summer pattern with the exception of them moving up a bit or am I missing something?

Yeah I use at least 6’ and when it’s this clear I generally keept it around 8-10.

Had to be an A Rig or deep crank

That’s crazy it sounds like your fall bite was sort of skipped?

Even in Delaware?

Always nice to be on the water, but when you’re trophy hunting it’s frustrating. Eaten by birds mostly or shovels/pike/muskie?

I floated Thursday and it was painful, I could see clear to the bottom in 5 feet of water. Oppressively bright sun and not a cloud in the sky. I have to imagine every fish saw me coming well before I got close enough to cast at them. Caught plenty of dinks, but I would think the mature fish are wise enough not to bite with minimal cover/shade. The few fish over 12” I did find came from shade, but I still couldn’t seem to produce a big bite. Do larger (17+) fish just sort of shut down or become wary in these conditions, or do they just see me coming? Do you even bother going out with no cloud cover or when the water is so low you can see everything?

Absolutely, coming to realize for quality it is even more effective than Ned.

Is fast sink too fast?

For sure! Do you believe photoperiod plays a roll in the transition/their feeding behavior as well?

Yeah I’m fishing around 3-6’ on average in varying degrees of current. I can’t seem to get the 6” slow sink much deeper than a foot or two though on a steady retrieve.

I originally had been told the 6” slow sink, but I have trouble getting it down. Thinking now I need the fast sink in either a 5 or 6 to get the burning retrieve MB intended.

Is there a better option for river fishing, possibly a slightly longer tube? What is the minimum tube size I can use that would allow me to stupid rig?

I have several packs of the Strike King Coffee Fat Tubes and bought These tube jig heads but as you can see they are either not wide enough or long enough to come out through the other side to properly get the “Tex pose” skin hook. Is this the wrong hook altogether or do I just need a different size, what specifically do I need? I tried BPS “goof Tube” heads and they were way too big, unless I was doing something horribly wrong lol. Thanks!

All of these “ultra durable plastics” I believe use the same or a similar derivative of Elaztech - Nikko, Savage, Z Man. All have the same inability to mix. What about a swing head?

Bumping up size and speed, and switching to more of a baitfish presentation. Swimbaits are the most popular fall lure.

Got it, thanks bud!

All 4 breaks off, spool tension moderate

Yeah it doesn’t show the dimensions tho, 2.5” can have a wide range of shapes and girths. I am specifically looking for the small profile of the KVD 1.5, a lot of the heavier (1/2 oz) are big and fat. Would that reel allow me to have this setup double as a jackhammer/spinnerbait/topwater rod?

Can you possibly link me a visual? That sounds awesome I’m just having trouble envisioning.

So you don’t find the larger profile deters bites?

Do you find the profile of big, bulbous cranks like 6th Sense and KVD 2.5 are a bit large and that 1.5 will be more productive? I ask because the only 1/2 oz crankbaits with a rattle I seem to be able to find are larger like this, such as the Spro Hunter.

Yeah I can see how that would keep it in the strike zone longer