wdp

Appreciate the info. At one time I used KVD line conditioner liberally for a lot of my fluoro set ups. In recent years, it seems fluoro has gotten better & more manageable. Still got half a bottle of it I can use. May give YZ another shot at some point.

So, does the YZ hybrid still have a lot of memory issues or has it improved some over the last 10 yrs? That was my biggest complaint when I tried it. Plus, I kept have issues with line breakage at knots, but seems like I used a normal cinch knot, like I would with mono. But this really was about a decade ago. I picked up the 12 lb YZ hybrid at Wally World in a green, large spool for pretty cheap. Think I still got some & I just use it for backing now. They may have improved/changed the formulation since then. Looks like all TW carries is the clear color.

I'm seeing the same. I have a small pond I bank fish. Last year in late Feb - early March I caught quite a few good 4-6 pounders in only 2 FOW along some rip rap banks. This year I've only gotten a few dinks with only 1 around 4 lbs. The big ones just don't seem to be there. It does seem the water level is a bit lower this yr. And seems like every time I can go, a cold front just moved thru which is probably knocking the big girls back deeper. I figure these 2 things combined are hurting my success. The problem is I keep chunking baits back out into deeper water & can't get em to bite out there either.

I've been thinking about giving YZ hybrid another shot. I used it over a decade ago & didn't care for it at the time. What type of knot do you guys use? Does the line work well with a palomar?

Actually, some of my biggest bass the last couple of years have come on smaller baits like a Mann's baby 1 minus and a Rapala Skitter pop. I'm doing same as you @Ads7633 I'm fishing shallow flats with 2-4 ft of water & lots of grass. My biggest last yr was an 8'13" caught on a Baby 1 minus doing exactly that. The bass is the one I'm holding in my profile pic. But swimbaits work too. I've caught big ones up to 9 lbs or more with 4-5" hollow bodied swimbaits using 3/16 to 1/4 oz belly or keel weighted swimbait hooks. Fishing same areas. These work great in the South where I'm located. We don't have trout as forage that require the giant swimbaits like out West. ? Good luck.

Yeah. And Wed & Thursday were awesome. ?

Yep. We've had some beautiful weather during the week when I'm stuck at work. Then every weekend when I can actually fish, the weather stinks. We got snow last night! ? I hate winter.

I got 2 of the 80x that I can't wait to break out when it gets a little warmer. 6th sense came out with a wakebait version of the 80x also. Only gets 1 ft deep.

Yeah, that's a killer bait in that color. I have a few in other colors too. My only complaint is that the front hook catches on the lip occasionally during casts. And as others have stated, hard to go wrong with a Baby 1 minus. Killer shallow crank, but terrible hooks. You'll need to change the hooks to some better trebles.

Exactly!!! Friend of mine introduced me to speed worms over a decade ago. At the time we were using them on the surface as finesse buzz baits around grass and lily pads. They're a killer. Since then, I started using them on light t rigs. Lately, I've been using them on 1/16 - 1/8 oz shakey heads. Work great this way too.

No doubt that owner has the best screw lock with their centering pin system. I've got tons of their screw lock hooks. Just didn't know they made a double hook for frogs. It looks like their double hook is a little closer together than the Stanley version. That's why I'm thinking it might work better on a horny toad. I like the rage toads too. But I got so many bags of unopened Ribbits & Horny Toads that I'm trying to use em up.

HELLO! When did owner start making these? Man, those look like they'd fit on the horny toads better than the Stanley double take hooks. Gonna have to check em out.

Perfect. Pro fishing's most annoying angler by far.

I used to use the 5/0 owner single twist lock hooks for ribbits & horny toads. Problem was about a 1/3 of the time the frogs would swim upside down. Those Stanley double take hooks really solve that issue & they fit perfectly on the Ribbit Frogs. Hardly ever miss fish with them. I've got 3 or 4 lakes I fish regularly with tons of grass and pads. Buzz frogs are money at these lakes. Really fun fishing. Most times you can just throw it out around the vegetation & burn it back to the boat.

Man, I dunno what to tell you. Sounds like the fishing has gotten tough at your lake. Zoom trick worms are a great bait and you can fish them a lotta different ways. If the fish are keying on slow moving finesse presentations, try fishing the trick worm weightless around the grass edges. That's worked for me before.

Last 4 yrs or so I've been really happy using these Stanley double take hooks for my Ribbit frogs. They work great and fit on the regular sized Ribbit frog perfectly. You can use em with Horny Toads too, but it takes a little more work to get the hook to sit right on the frog - takes a little practice. But my hook up ratio has gone up & the hooks are really sharp. Ribbits & horny Toads are bout only 2 frogs I throw. I hardly ever throw hollow bodied frogs. Mike, as far as other soft plastics, have you tried swimbaits? I have pretty good luck with slender profile swimbaits using a light keel weighted hook. I've done a lotta damage with skinny dippers & cane thumper in shallow lakes with lots of grass.

? Yep. Luckily I got a pretty understanding wife.

I think it def matters. I look at it this way. Let's say the fish are in a somewhat neutral mood and you're fishing a popper. Most the bites are coming on the pause. Which do you think would get more bites? A popper with a rear treble dressed with a feather or a popper with 2 naked trebles? ? If secondary action didn't matter nobody would put trailers on a spinnerbait or jig.

@Dorado Man I hear what you're saying. I got so much unopened tackle that I could open my own tackle store, lol. How many of us have done this? Browsing the aisles of a local sporting goods store, we go Wow! Look! Zoom super flukes on sale. I need 3 packs of this color. Only to get home and rift thru our baits to see we already got 4 packs of super flukes in said color. Lol! Yeah I'm guilty. ? The problem is buying new baits & tackle & gear is so much fun.

I don't use leaders. Just straight 10 - 20 lb braid depending on the technique.

I do all my cranking with 12 - 15# Seaguar Invizx. Never had a problem. It's probably the most user friendly fluoro that I've tried. It has some stretch apparently which might explain it. I never use line conditioner either & tie regular ole palomar knots. As stated, just wet the line very well before cinching. Yeah, you can get line knicks & line rash in spots, just like any other line. So you check it often & retire as needed. You can find Invizx for a reasonable price. Academy Sports runs a special on it about 2 - 3 times a year. Now I'm talking baitcasters here. Tried FC once on a spinning reel, ha ha. Never again. All my spinning set ups have braid or low lb test mono.

Nice! Is that Mufassa?

I would say most definitely. Fish that same pond with that same senko enough times, and they'll get to where they won't bite it anymore. I learned this the hard way with my own neighborhood pond. I can hardly get bites on shallow squarebills now. Always good idea to let a pond rest for days or even sometimes weeks.

Ott is currently one on my fave elite series anglers. I'll def make a trip to bps to meet him if ever given the opportunity.

Same way I use em. The 1/4 oz works great for ripping thru sparse grass on shallow flats. And they catch big ones. I really don't consider the 1/4 oz small actually. To me it's average. The 1/8 oz rattle traps are def small.