wdp

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

My biggest producer was a discontinued lure, the Zoom foam/floating swimming frog. I started the year with an 8.15 in March in Southern Georgia. Kept one tied on rest of season until November. And quickly bought just about every pack I could find online before they’re gone for good. Think I got 20+ packs of them now. 🤣 They are killer around shallow grass & pads and wood. I love that they float so I can pause & let em soak for 5-10 seconds around the really good looking pieces of cover. 2nd place was the Z man SMH worm on an 1/8 shakey football head. Something about that floating & undulating worm just catches em.

I had some of these ringworms back in the 80s. They produced.

Most recently, my 18 year old Costas that the style is no longer available. ☹️ I loved those shades.

Just realized after seeing your comment, this thread was recently dug up from 16 yrs ago. 😂🤣

Zoom Ole Monsters & Mag II’s

I’ve been meaning to reach out to you soon. I think the E series is still my fav from Shimano. I need to get in my garage & send you a bunch of reels. I got the 2 curado 200 E7s (one is messed up) and I got 2 curado 50Es I need to send along with a curado 200 G7 (not my fav & has never casted well) and also 2 citica 200s. Think I have 2 curado Is that need a good cleaning as well. I got a bunch of older Shimanos that could use some TLC. 🤣 Just gotta locate em all & box em up. Been using newer Daiwa Tat CTs as of late.

Spinnerbait gets no trailer. Chatterbait always gets a minnow/shad shaped trailer. I use for different applications. Spinnerbait I use to bang around wood, treetops & branches. Chatterbait I use in open water or sparse grass. Chatterbait doesn’t do well around treetops for me - gets hung up too much.

I have a couple of Curado 200E7s. Great reels. I need to get them serviced & cleaned so I can use em again. These should work fine for frogging. My main 2 uses with these reels were casting weightless swimming frogs & burning lipless crankbaits.

This topic is bringing back fond memories for me. Living in a small town, we didn’t have big box hunting & fishing stores. Basically Wal Mart was it. In the 80s my Dad and I would look forward to the Christmas catalogues from Bass Pro & Cabelas, usually Bass Pro more than Cabelas. It seemed to have more stuff & all those glossy, colored pages. My Dad & I would sit for hours leading up to Christmas going over all the cool new lures, tackle, fishing reels etc. We’d make our wish lists then sometimes place orders to get our stuff for Christmas. Loved it. It was so much fun going thru those catalogues. Kinda like being a kid and looking at the toys in the old Sears & Robuck Christmas catalogues. 🤣 Nowadays, I rarely shop at Bass Pro. And that’s saying a lot considering I live only 30 mins from one of their premier stores, The Pyramid! I still buy a few items there from time to time, but not like I used to. Their prices have just gotten too high. I can find everyday prices at Academy or Sportsman’s Warehouse that are better than sale prices at Bass Pro. But thanks for bringing up those old memories. I miss times like those with my old man.

Could be my problem. I’ve been throwing it on 12# fluoro. I don’t really like using mono anymore. Made switch about 10 yrs ago to all fluoro and braid & haven’t looked back.

I have a Berkley wakebull too. That thing has super loud rattles. You can hear it rattling more than half way back on a cast. 😂 I tend to do well with it on super windy/choppy days. Wanted to get a few more & realized they were discontinued. I have a couple SK hybrid hunters too but don’t really consider those wakebaits. Even the shallow one goes about 1-2 ft deep. Not great for my areas where I’m fishing around grass that comes up to 6” - 1 ft from surface.

@JHoss Hey, keep us posted on how the tournament season goes fishing with your Dad. I don’t think you’ll regret your decision & will have fun. And to be honest, I’m pretty jealous of this opportunity you’re getting to fish with your old man! 😁

Yes indeed! Went to grad school at MSU and then ended up working on campus for 12 yrs afterwards. Spent around 17-18 yrs total in Starkville and still go back frequently for ball games and to visit one of my kids. My other kid just graduated from MSU about yr & half ago and is now in grad school at University of Memphis. I just bought a couple of these about month and half ago. I have this exact color & a shad pattern. Didn’t get to fish them much before it turned cold in my area and the topwater bite “cooled” off. Looking forward to fishing them this next spring & summer. These look fantastic and have pretty decent action. They don’t cast the best but do ok. I didn’t mention anything this size in my earlier reply because sounded like the original poster on this topic was looking for smaller wakebaits in the 2”-3” size.

Wakebaits are my jam! As mentioned, Mann’s Baby 1- was a fav of mine for many years, but seems their quality control has been suspect last few yrs. I’ve had a couple that won’t swim true no matter how much I try to tune them or they blow out when you burn them. Runner up and prob a dark horse for me is the Bass Pro Shops “ The Egg”. More affordable and a quality wakebait. Lastly, I’ve also had good luck with the SK KVD 2.5 wakebait. More expensive but has pretty loud rattles & catches em well in shallow grass. With all 3 of these baits I switch out stock trebles which aren’t the best. I’m a fan of Gamakatsu short shank trebles. They seem to not get tangled as much as the stock hooks.

Spinnerbaits are funny for me. I get on kicks where I’ll fish them a lot & then put em down and forget about em for a yr. I’ve gotten to where my best use for them is banging them around sunken wood & tree tops. I never use a trailer anymore. Did years ago but not anymore.

This is a no brainier for me. I’d pick my Dad no matter what, even if I didn’t think we could win. My dad has dementia bad now & I haven’t been able to fish with him for a decade. I miss it terribly!!! I’d do almost anything to be able to fish with him again. You & your Dad will have an opportunity to make many memories together that you’ll cherish the rest of your life. Plus, you say he’s coachable & sounds like a decent fisherman. You’ll prob be competitive enough with him in the boat to give you a shot at winning too. Even if you have to give him a few pointers or tell him what bait to try.

Thick grass & pads is one of my favorite ways to fish topwater. My #1 bait is a weightless Stanley Ribbit frog buzzed slowly over the grass/pads. But other great baits (some already mentioned) are Zoom super fluke, Zoom ultra vibe speed worms (both regular & magnum sizes) and a weightless Zoom magnum speed craw. The speed craw is a little hard to throw but works with a spinning outfit & 30 lb braid. Gambler Flappin’ Shad - cut a “v” in the tail with scissors & it’s a mini buzz bait similar to the ultra vibe speed worms. I fish all these baits weightless with a Gamakatsu superline 5/0 hook which gives it a little more heft to cast. Straight braided line. Can’t believe nobody mentioned hollow bodied frogs. If actively feeding, I’d throw a popping hollow frog too.

Terminator titanium spinnerbaits!!! I only have 2 left. Not sure why they quit making them. ☹️ I’m sure it was some changing of ownership that lead to it shutting down.

Watermelon Magic is one of my fav & most productive colors produced by Zoom, whether it’s a fluke, worm or craw.

I fish a lot of wake baits & sub 1 ft crankbaits, and yes the hook tangling is a common issue. I started replacing trebles with short shanks & it helps a lot. There is still the occasional issue with it tangling on the front lip, but it happens far less often.

Use an unweighted spring lock hook and it won’t sink so much. The downside is, with it unweighted the frog will swim upside down sometimes. Or you could switch to a hook with a 1/16 oz weight & see if that’s better. There’s a number of brands out there but I’m partial to Gamakatsu & Owner. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gamakatsu_Superline_Spring_Lock_Hook/descpage-GSSLH.html

I’ll reiterate what others have said, my best luck with spinnerbaits has been fishing around laydowns banging them over literally every branch I can see under the water. I like the Booyahs and still have a couple of old Terminators with the titanium wire. Actually lost a terminator fishing earlier this spring. Now I’m down to only 2. ☹️

@ol'crickety what you’re describing is my kind of fishing. I’ve fished outta a 12 ft jon boat for 30+ yrs. I prefer small waters around 20 - 50 acres & hope I have the lake all to myself when I go. 😁

There’s no way I’d pay $130 for this reel. But if they get decent reviews over next year & go on sale for $50-$60, I might give one a try. Reels like this I think of being disposable, kinda like the 2 Academy baitcasters I got for $40-$50 on sale. Once I get a few good years outta them, when they start malfunctioning they’re going into trash. Inexpensive reels like this are great for pond hopping & bank fishing, no worries if they get banged up a little. The bulk of my reel arsenal are Shimano & Daiwa, some are pushing 20 yrs old now.