mheichelbech

I think a lot of it depends on where you are and even what body of water. Around here, just like crawfish, bluegill seem to change colors and obviously bass do between shallow and deep. I can’t recall seeing any black/chartreuse crawfish or fish but the color does work well in stained water...I don’t know maybe it looks different to fish. Around here bluegill often have more of a gray/silver tint all over except for the top area around the back which almost always is black/dark color. The one thing I can say for sure is that nearly everything in the water is dark on too and lighter in the lower and bottom part of the the body. The variance between the two shades seems to me to be determined by the environment: water clarity, depth they are holding, bottom composition if holding near the bottom, and cover (weeds, wood, rock). I seldom fish a bait that is 100% all one color except for Senko type baits and floating worms. I like the 2/3, 1/3 concept for jigs....but I also like the fish scale type patterns in certain situations.

For guys that are making or changing up their own skirt colors for jigs, bladed jigs, etc. How much of the "opposing" color do you like to have? For example on a black/chartruese, black/blue, pumpkin/orange, white/chartruese, how many strands out of a 50/55 strand skirt, do you want in the chartrues, blue, orange? I have always like to see it be a prominent part of the skirt, with as much as 30-40% of the skirt with the offset color but it seems like a lot of pre-made skirts it is a lot less than that. I don't know if this is a cost effectiveness thing or because it works better...like to see what y'all have to say about this.

I guess the dark green pumpkin or watermelon color has become the substitute for black these days. I agree with the prior poster that said they look very similar in the water as they are both very dark.

My favorite way to catch bass is pitching/flipping a jig. Black & Chartruese skirts have always been a staple for colored water. I am looking all the time at various jigs by different jig makers and I have noticed that B&C skirts are not often a selection. Even when they are, it seems like the chartruese strands make up a very small part, maybe 5% of the total strand count. What is the deal with this? Have the "experts" determined that color shirt combo isn't as effective as it used to be? I also see that Pumpkin and Pumpkin Green or Watermelon colored skirts are dominating the offerings these days. Just curious as to the changes...it seems as if green pumpkin is the new black. In my mind...almost any dark color works but I didn't know if I was missing something by sticking to my old tried n true black & chartruese....I was never much for following styles anyways...especially flat billed caps!

The hard part is there just aren’t any shops around here that carry much for premium rods. Even Bass Pro doesn’t have any GLX or NRX rods and no Megabass or Dobyns rods that I know of. It’s pretty much buy and hope.

Are the newer ones lighter? I think as much as anything that’s what I’d be looking to change for is if they are materially lighter. As you noted, I am well dialed in with my old IMX.

So the different rods everyone has mentioned, anyone have an idea how they would compare to a 20 year old G Loomis IMX MBR model? For lightness and sensitivity?

I agree about the splitting hairs. I mainly mentioned the brands I did because they are the ones I know. Another thing I am curious about is could you get a better setup including lightness and sensitivity with a custom rod by using a less expensive blank but better guides.

What is the best value in the high end rods line up? For example is a Loomis NRX really $200-$300 better than an IMX Pro? Or is a St. Croix Legend the best value or what else out there is dollar/dollar great value? Basically I’m thinking lightness of the overall rod, sensitivity, durability as the main measures... one interesting thing I have noticed is that I see IMX Pros used in the low $200 range but seldom see a GLX or NRX discounted a lot in the used market.

Think you raise a good question...is what is best for what depths. I’d agree about 3/8th for less than 10 ft generally speaking. Part of the problem I often have in fishing is when I don’t get bit, is it because I have the wrong lure, the right lure but not the right weight or color, the right lure but I’m not fishing correctly for what the fish want that day or correctly period or am I just not fishing where the bass are period. These are especially vexing when I’m fishing places I don’t have a lot of history with.

I have fished both A LOT. I primarily fish the Baby Minus 1 and fish it on docks a lot. I also like the Bandit Footloose but I would normally fish the Bandit where I needed to be shallower than the Minus 1. For example, I fish some places where the grass/moss runs just shallow enough that the Minus 1 will catch it and ruin the cast. The Bandit runs a tad shallower and doesn’t catch the grass. I think the Bandits are more precisely made and tend to be more consistent. For the Minus 1s, if you bought 10, 3 may not run right, the Bandits seem to all run the same. The Minus 1 does have a better action, I think it has a wider wiggle. The colors I’ve had the best success with are white/ghost or white/chartruese most of the time, Black/Chartruese in muddier water, American Shad on sunny days. I’ve wanted to try the black ones but hadn’t done so yet. I’ve had good luck throwing them in all sorts of situations, but particularly the same area you’d throw a spinnerbait. If you are in a specific area with a spinnerbait/buzz bait and the bite stops, you can throw this bait and start catching them again. I’ve also seen them get bit when spinnerbaits didn’t. Also had good luck with these in place of a rattle trap.

I guess heavy is relative as well. Most of the tournaments I have fished and a lot of the fishing I do. is in the Ohio River around Louisville, KY. Some here may recall when they had the Bassmaster Classic here it was the lowest winning weight in the history of the tournament. The fishing has gotten worse since then in this area. A 2lb Bass is a good one and a 4lb Bass is usually big fish in most tournaments around here. The lack of big fish in any numbers as well as primarily shallow water fishing has called for the use of smaller, lighter baits. On the other hand, fishing lakes in the Spring and Fall, I am using 3/8 and 1/2 oz jigs, spinnerbaits, etc.

I guess I should also have asked is the increased sensitivity enough to warrant an upgrade?

My question was not about what brand or even what lure pro fishermen use, it was about what looks to me like a trend (From the early 2000s) toward heavier weights and why...is it because they can cast or pitch further or is it because they have learned that a faster dropping jig gets more bites than a lighter slower dropping jig? I don’t usually pay attention to what brand lures the pros use but I do pay attention to the things they do that have a broader application across most all lures....heavier baits, bigger baits, smaller baits, etc. Obviously, how they are fishing applies to the specific lake they are competing on but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn from it.

I think your right about the distance part. I noticed in watching MLF they would generally stay pretty far back and make long casts. I especially noticed this watching guys fishing docks. I was watching Andy Montgomery and he was basically selling every cast from a distance. His accuracy was amazing....watching skip a bait into about a 5-6 inch space between the boats and the dock was pretty cool.

All the MLF and Elite tournaments I see on tv these days, it seems like the pros are always throwing half ounce or heavier jigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, etc. Along with that, it always is just all around heavier gear, 7 foot (or longer) rods, 20 lb line, 50lb braid, etc. Seems like the trend, as I have gotten back into bass fishing, has been towards all around heavier lures and gear. When I fished a lot of tournaments 15 years ago, it seemed the trend was to the lightest stuff you could throw, 10-12 lb line, maybe 15-17 max, 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz jigs, 1/4 oz spinnerbaits, etc. Just trying time figure out why the heavier stuff is better or if it’s just a way to sell more stuff.

I had also considered upgrading by buying a used NRX or GLX or similar other brand but I’m pretty happy with what I have. I’m not certain I would catch more fish by changing.

Curious as to how much better, if any, new higher end rods (over $200-$250) are than older models. I use a G Loomis IMX that is about 20 years old to pitch jigs with; wondering if the newer versions are any more sensitive mainly but also other factors such guides. Would it be worth to spend the $$$ for new IMX or similar or is my old one going to cast just as well and be just as sensitive?

I did this and got it in 2 days.

2 things with a jig, helps you catch bigger fish and it is versatile, it can look like a crawdad or a fish depending on how you fish them. You can even do 2 things in one cast; you can pitch it into cover and then swim it back to the boat. The biggest learning curve I had was detecting bites. Once I developed confidence in it, I started detecting more bites. I think a jig probably requires more focus than any other bait. However, I think that helps overall because it helps fishermen to focus more on all the lures they use. I have seen many times when using other baits when fish swiped at it but didn’t take it. If I hadn’t been focused on the lure I’d never have know a fish was there and to throw back or try the same place with a different lure and catch the fish.

Haha, yep I’ve caught them on buzz baits at 50 degrees. In fishing, just like deer hunting, it pays to break the rules (but not the law!)....or make your own! I can’t take credit for the Rattle Trap deal, honestly if my buddy hadn’t showed that too me, I wouldn’t have ever tried it.

Being a clear water lake do you find that the type of line you use makes a difference?

Yea it’s amazing to me what we have been able to do there and the weather we’ve done it in. You can literally see (and feel) cold fronts blowing through one after another, snowing, high winds, still catching them. I think that lake has shown me the difference between how the fish bite when there is no pressure vs when there is pressure. It’s especially cool to catch 5 and 6 pounders in 3-5 ft of water on Rattle Traps when the water temp is 43 degrees. Talk about going against conventional wisdom! I just caught my pb in the middle of the day in about 2-3 ft of water when it was in the high 90s. Of course that was a small lake/pond not a bigger lake.

Interesting. Lake Monroe here in Indiana is a large lake (by Indiana standards) is known as tough however a friend and I can go there in the late Fall when water temps get into the low 40s and catch 30 pound limits consistently. Unfortunately not able to reproduce that on Spring or Summers.

There are several lakes in my area that have bad raps for not having good bass fishing. These are trolling motor only lakes. I’m wondering if they are really that bad or people just aren’t fishing in ways that catch bigger fish such as deeper ,using electronics, etc. Anyone ever do well at lakes like this simply because you’ve figured them out in ways that others have not been able to do?