BrackishBassin

I had no idea. Thanks! Thanks! I've had my most success with the soft plastics. Looking to expand my repertoire. Definitely going to try the jig head/swim bait combo.

Beetle spins (small ones I use for perch in saltwater, 1/8 ounce) 2 Booyah Boo jigs (green pumpkin and black/blue) 2 crankbaits (both shallow, one bluegill pattern and the other red craw pattern) 3 jerkbaits (one bass pattern, one bluegill, one random white/pink I found at the lake) 1 Buzzbait (fire tiger color pattern, small pond magic one from Booyah) Various plastics (senkos, lizards, flukes, baby brush hogs) Various hooks (1/0 offset worm hooks, 3/0 EWG, octopus hooks, weighted wacky rig hooks) Bullet style weights (1/8 and 3/8 tungsten, 1/4 lead) 2 frogs (walking style, white/black and yellow/green) 1 super spook junior (mullet pattern, use for saltwater as well) 2 yo zuri minnows (crystal minnow and mullet pattern, use for saltwater as well - these are pretty big baits for freshwater imo, both are 6") 2 lipless crankbaits w/ rattles (one bluegill pattern, one red/green craw pattern) I've got one spinning set up (7ft ML w/ 2000 size reel, spooled with 15lb green braid) and one baitcasting set up (6' 9" MH, reel spooled with 50lb green braid). May have another baitcaster after Christmas. If so, it'll be either a 6' 6" or 7" M and I was planning on spooling the reel with either 30lb green braid and/or 12lb mono.

Chatterbaits are top water? How? Smallest I've seen are 3/8 ounce. That's definitely going to sink unless you're really cranking on it.

So, so far I'm seeing... Jigs with trailers (various suggested), fished on the bottom or swam Soft plastics galore (primarily what I've been fishing) Moving baits that allow me to control depth (crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc.) You guys including chatterbaits in with the general jigs? Been wanting to try fishing one of those too. Heard they're good for cold weather and murky water. Both of which I'll have an abundance of for a while.

Alright, thanks! I figured (incorrectly, apparently) that they'd have to be able to get their eyes on it to want to bother with hunting it down.

I just feel like the jig, when I fish it like I thought they should be fished (sitting on the bottom), is just sitting in the bottom of 4 feet of grass where nothing is going to see it. Is that not the case?

Thanks! I've added that to my list of things to try out this spring. I've already got two of the Booyah Boo jigs (one in green pumpkin and the other black and blue). Just going to have to pick up some swimbaits for them.

Thanks!

Appreciate the links, but I read over those and I'm looking for more specific information. Thanks! Many thanks! I'll look at getting some swimbaits to use as trailers.

So, I bought two of the Booyah Boo jigs and had no luck with them. Could I throw a swimbait trailer on them and fish them as a swim jig?

I've done a lot of experimenting this year with different baits as I've tried to learn more about freshwater fishing. I'd see a new bait or hear about one and then go buy one to try it out. Quite a few of them have been duds. For example, I picked up some jigs thinking they'd work great, but I haven't caught a single fish on a jig yet. In an attempt to avoid spending a bunch of money on stuff I don't need, I'd like to get some opinions from you guys regarding the baits you fish in soft bottomed lakes/ponds that have a lot of grass in them. There's relatively little cover that I can access (fishing from the bank and the trail around the lake is 7 miles long) so it's mostly open water stuff with an odd log or laydown here and there. So, if you guys could pick 3 baits to use in the situation I described above, what would they be and why? Thanks!

First baitcaster I bought (mind you, this was recently) was a Black Max combo from Dick's. Haven't had any issues so far, and I was able to get it for a steal ($39 total). If you can find something like that, snap it up! Great rod/reel to learn on, and not a huge loss of investment if/when it breaks.

My grandfather hand carved a spoon out of abalone shell that a friend of his gave him. He used it many times before he passed away about 10 years. My grandmother recently passed it along to me. Not only do I refuse to lose that lure, I refuse to let it leave the house. Not only a beautiful hand made lure, but a memory of the times he took me fishing when I was little.

Personally, I refuse to support any of the subsidiary companies of Luxottica. So, you couldn't pay me to wear Oakleys. I've always worn Costas for my saltwater stuff and they work just as well for freshwater stuff. See what you can find from them or Maui Jim. Both manufacture quality products. You can also read what they have to say regarding lens color/tint and mirror colors so you know what you'll need for what you do on the water.

I'd say upsize that reel to the 5000 range. I use a 7' MH Ugly Stik GX2 with a Penn Battle 2 5000 for most of my saltwater stuff (rockfish included). Never had any issues. But I don't think I'd be comfortable with a 3000 reel. I don't generally throw anything larger than 1 oz either. If I think I will, I swap the reel over to a 9' H rod I won in a charity auction. It'll throw up to 3 oz and that's the absolutely max I would need where I fish. Where is he planning to fish for them? Because fishing the Bay and its tributaries is a whole different situation than say surf fishing in OC or AI.

Crazy to see stuff about Cayuga on here. I grew up swimming in it every summer, and my grandfather fished it every weekend he could until he passed away. Sounds like I need to make a trip back up to my old stomping grounds and wet a line.

Never glued a knot. Never had a line break at the knot. It's always somewhere else on the line/leader. I don't rely on glue because I don't trust myself to re-glue everytime I need a new leader when I'm fishing, which is often when I'm doing saltwater stuff. So, I just bought some cheap mono from Walmart and practice knots while I'm sitting on my couch.

Thanks for sharing! Makes me feel good knowing I've been fishing them the 'right' way since I started, but only because I hadn't bought a baitcaster yet. I ended up just using the rod I use for most of my lure stuff for saltwater. Just happens to be a 7' ML Ugly Stik Elite with a Penn Fierce 2, 2000. Works like a charm.

That might be a contributing factor, for sure.

Man, that's weird. Almost makes me wonder if you got a bad lot of hooks or something.

Alright, here's what I've got. I use Eagle Claw size 1 circle hooks for my saltwater stuff. No issues with snell knots breaking with them. I also snelled up one of the size 1 octopus hooks I have from Gamakatsu and yanked on it pretty good. I was able to break it with the 6lb test mono, but I was yanking on it with a pair of pliers. Re-snelled it with 15lb test mono and was able to get it to break, but it definitely took some doing. Nothing a fish would be capable of, unless we're talking something huge. Both times it broke at/near the knot, but didn't appear to be from the eye. I think the line just plain gave way, which will always be at the knot since that's the weakest part of the line. This may sound weird, but what type of snell knot are you using? I've seen videos where guys use a loop when snelling their hooks, but I don't. Just the single piece of line laying against the shank of the hook, and I haven't had any issues. Is that a possibility?

That's weird. Let me check what I'm using and get back with you. I've also got some Gamakatsu octopus hooks I use for my dropshots and wacky rigs. I'll snell one up and see what it does.

I snell circle hooks almost exclusively for all my saltwater fishing, but I've never had that issue. How is the line running into a sharp spot on the eye? Maybe has something to do with the weight? Have you tried using a bead spacer between the weight and the hook? Or are you getting the break offs even during your tests?

If you're closing your bail manually and making sure the line is tight on the spool before starting your retrieve (both of which help with line twist), it shouldn't be an issue. If you don't have that habit, I can see where that would be annoying as hell.

One way to tell if your reel matches well with your rod (for spinning gear) is to see where the line lays in that first guide on the rod. Ideally, it should sit gently against the guide and/or not touch it at all. If there's a sharp angle of line between the reel and that first guide, you need to realize that every time you cast, retrieve, or reel in a fish, that line is going to be rubbing against that guide. Over time, that's going to damage your line.