Hillbilly Bennett

Looks like that cat hammered that Cavatron buzzbait. That’s the only cat I’ve ever caught on topwater and I swore that it was “Ol Rufus” himself when it hit it.

PM Sent

Haha! Counting down! That Lime Ice is my favorite color too. I hope you catch some giants on those things. Send me some pics when you do.

I’m with you there man. My dad is an old school fisherman and it drives him crazy at the number of lures and the amount of gear I keep in the boat. Lol Gotta feed the bait monkey!

Those are some beautiful smallies A-Jay. I have never fished the Repo man but I can say that the Vixen has a different, more glass-like sound than other Spook style baits. It is definitely louder than a sexy dawg and has a different sound than the other spook style baits I fish. I’m partial to Reaction Innovation lures but I think that if you’d check them out and I think you’d like them.

I have the pumpkinseed Popmax and it does pretty well for me. I like Popmax but prefer some of the other high dollar poppers over it. I also like the Sexy AYU vision 110s but I’ve caught fish on every color of 110 I’ve ever thrown so it’s more of a personal preference for me. It has to be my favorite jerkbait.

Shew, the winter drives me insane. We’ve already had some decent snow here in eastern KY. Not to high jack the thread but I see you are a big fan of the Repoman Walking baits. What are your thoughts on them VS The Vixen since they have the same mold?

I caught a mud turtle on a $20 popper out of Guntersville. It destroyed that lure. I also caught a 10+ pound catfish on that popper during that trip too. Anyone else ever catch a catfish on topwater? Blew my mind. I watched my dad catch a beer can and a shoe out of Chickamagua and he caught a 20+ pound Carp that he snagged right in the bung hole while we were trolling for walleye on Dale Hollow. He thought he had the state record on when he was reeling that thing in. Every time it would swing its tail when it was swimming it looked like a massive head shake. Crazy.

Thanks A-Jay. I enjoyed your original post so I figured I’d share. I’m jonseing to get on the water right now but Bass Resource and all of the holiday tackle sales are helping keep me sane for the moment.

2018 was the year of the Senko for me. I know, it’s boring fishing, but this year it was the main performer and the only consistent bite producer all year long. It started in late February and early March when I had difficulty catching on the jerkbaits and crankbaits that I love to throw. I’d pick a few fish up here and there but after getting very frustrated my first few trips out, I picked up a wacky rig and proceeded to nail them consistently in every lake I went to. The color varied by lake and the conditions but the dang Senko kept catching right up in to May. I got on a pretty good topwater bite in April and May and was able to incorporate a jig and Texas rigs with pretty good success as well. I took dad with me to our annual post spawn trip to Guntersville and we caught the lake up, off colored and with plenty of current. Poppers, jigs and t-rigged craws loaded the boat with bass, and 2 monster heart breaking drum, for 5 of the best days of fishing all year. That lake is just amazing. As the heat kicked in in June-early August I used the Senko again on light Texas rigs to work the grass in my home lakes in eastern KY. This was the 1st time I’d used a Senko this way and had a ton of success fishing them like that. The dog days of mid-August through mid-September were really tough this year. The grass bite stopped for me and my off shore spots didn’t produce much at all. Even night fishing was slow. But I again got my dad to go on a spur of the moment trip to Chickamagua after the hurricane that hit the south east passed through at the end of September. We caught Chick with the exact same conditions as Guntersville and had 4 days of huge bass and huge numbers. Black and Blue Reaction Innovation Sweet Beavers and Missile D-Bombs caught the most fish for us and landed me a 6 1/2 pounder for my biggest fish of 2018 but a War Eagle spinner, a buzz bait and a lunkerhunt frog caught the biggest down there. Dad caught a 10lb 7oz personal best on the frog and he hasn’t let me hear the end of it since. We were on them from the minute we got there and they were still eating everything in sight when I had to leave to come back to work. Things picked back up in October and my wacky rigged Senko, squarebills, flukes and War Eagle spinnerbaits produced. We hit Guntersville again the 1st week of November and it wasn’t as fast and furious as usual but we were able to put together a few good days on poppers, buzzbaits, squarebills and, of course, a wacky rig. The last day It was below freezing that morning with a steady 25 mph wind that made things miserable but I got locked in with a Strike King 2.5 and loaded the boat with it in the Goosepond area when nothing else would get a bite. That was my last day out this year as obligations, and the snow, have kept me off of the water since then but that day left me with the warm fuzzy feeling that only fishing can bring. Gotta get back out soon or I’m gonna lose it. That was my 2018 year of fishing. Tight lines everybody!

Thanks for the tip Allen. I appreciate it.

I have also had an issue with the Plano box and my weed guards on my jigs. The box popped a few of the guards off of my favorite jigs after a few days of use.

I saw this post and got one of these boxes as well. It works great but some of my smaller jugs and football heads won’t stay put in the keepers. If I hit any kind of rough water several of my jigs come loose. Plus, mine don’t stay as organized as the jigs in this picture.

I love the Megabass diamanté. I picked one up a couple years ago and it’s become my go to walking bait. It darts side to side and has some awesome action and sound. I usually am a popper guy but I’ll throw the diamanté when I’m looking for a bigger bite.

Each lake is different and maybe yours just aren’t conducive to cranking. Throwing a crank is one of my strengths and there are a few lakes around here where I just don’t do well cranking. Don’t try to force this issue and feed the bass what they will eat. I think that to build confidence in a Lure you need to go to a lake, pond or river where you know there are tons of fish and get out of your comfort zone. I hated to fish Jigs until a recent trip to Guntersville where I made myself throw one all day after the topwater bite died. I caught a ton on it and I gained confidence in a Lure I didn’t trust. A jig now stays on my deck at all times and I use it religiously. Now about how I crank. I love to fish them, especially in the prespawn through early summer, and I consider cranking one of my strengths. In the early spring I catch most of my crankbait fish by bouncing squarebills off of wood and by grinding crawfish colored medium diving cranks on areas with a hard bottom. As the fish transition to their summer haunts I break out my deeper divers and do well on them until the bite slows in July and August. I use 10-12 pound test line for my deeper cranks to get them down to make contact with the bottom. If you aren’t making contact with something when you crank you probably aren’t getting bit. In the grassy lakes you fish I’d start by trying to throw a rattletrap style crank and pop them out of the grass. I would think that would be your best bet.

I absolutely LOVE the Carbon Steel Rods and I’m looking to add a few more to my collection but sadly they are discontinued. Does anyone know where I can still get them? Any help is appreciated.

I’m with you on the not going cheap angle. Some of the cheap stuff flat out works but if I know something works and it costs a little more I’m going to pony up for it. Your order looks about like mine but you left out the Missile Baits stuff! I’m a big fan of everything they make. Also, my most recent purchase was another Quantum Vapor PT 7.0:1 Baitcaster to replace an older Abu Garcia that’s wearing out.

Electronics definitely help. I’m always looking for anything different in the areas and depths where I believe/know the fish are. Rock piles, brush piles, deep clumps of isolated grass or just areas of hard bottom on points, humps or just plain irregularities. Basically I look for a “spot on a spot” and try to target it from as many different angles as possible until I get a bite. When I do get a bite I try to repeat that cast as closely as I can. There was something that caused that fish to eat that Lure coming from that particular direction and in my experience more often than not if you can replicate the cast you will get bit again.

Agree on topwater. My PB bites have came on big topwater walking baits and frogs. Cranks and spinnerbaits have also yielded some really big bites for me but these Lures don’t produce year round like a jig can. It would definitely be on my short list of Lures to have tied on if I needed a big bite.

Bingo! That thing will flat out catch fish.

For me, senkos have come to dominate what I throw and they catch more fish than anything else. This year I have thrown a jig a lot more and caught quite a few fish on it. I always throw topwater in the morning and the evening and I do well on it. But nothing has caught more of my fish this year than a senko. I’d say 85% of my catches this year have come on one rigged some way. I have great success on a wacky rig and I smoked them this spring on it. As it got hotter I started using them Texas rigged with a 1/4 oz Tungsten sinker to fish deeper and to fish grass and I always have the wacky rig ready for schooling bass. Man they are deadly in the weeds. The senko really does take over what you throw if you begin to use it. When I throw a senko T-rigged I ALWAYS throw it on a screw lock hook. You will greatly extend the life of your senko by doing this. Also when you wacky rig, use O-rings to extend their life. Use these two tricks and your wallet will thank you! I do. I always know that a senko rigged up somehow will get a bite when nothing else will. I’ve seen it happen and experienced it too many times.

This is a great thread with a ton of good info. I’ve been fishing for 30 years but this year I have really just come to appreciate how effective a jig can be. It’s a Lure I never used to use because I had no confidence in it. The lakes where I live can be tough, like 1-2 keepers and 3-4 pounds wins a 25 boat tournament tough, so it was hard to throw anything different to learn and gain confidence in it. I took my yearly trip to Guntersville with my dad this May and after the morning bite would die I would make myself throw a jig. Man did it ever make me a believer. The jig got so many bites and caught so many quality fish that I have had one tied on every day that I have gone out since then. I learned how to use it and the jig had gone from a Lure that I wouldn’t throw to one of my confidence baits.

I love the Christmas Sale at Tackle Warehouse. You can get some really good deals for cheap.

I tend to spend more on my rods than reels but man can I tell a difference when I throw some of the higher dollar stuff. I am a G-Loomis guy and I’ve had and loved IMX and GLX spinning and baitcasting Rods. My most expensive reels are Shimano Curados and Quantum Vapor PTs. ($150-$175 range)