Dorado

I hear you man. These light action rods help me cast these light lures but my tradeoff is lack of solid hooking power. I do need a larger hook gap. See below. This little lure has been so consistent though!

Desperately need advice. Went out last night and hooked into 4 nice bass who all threw the hooks. It was frustrating. Was using a small roadrunner underspin with a 3" white grub. Medium light power, fast action Fenwick HMG rod with 8 lb PowerPro braid and 6 lb P-Line Fluroclear leader Any recommendations to greater success on landing these fish? Better jig type perhaps?

One word 'tube'. Weightless. Worked for me in NM, Co, and Az.

I'll take a stab. TX rig should be utilized when vegetation is present because of the weedless attributes with that rig. Shakey head excels under docks and rip-rap, rocky areas where baitfish like to hide and eat off the rocks. Excels in clear water, similar to conditions where the ned rig shines. Personally, the ponds I fish often have a lot of weeds and vegetation on the bottom so my shakey heads pick up too much debris - so I TX-rig almost 100% of my soft plastics. The experts will add more detail, but this is for my own simple mind

With my experience with snaps, Palomar knot has been flawless. When you use a Palomar knot on larger cranks, especially, you use a lot of line (not a huge deal), but you use considerably less when you tie directly to a snap and you can rotate various cranks all day and only tie ONCE. Very convenient and a time saver.

I agree with Dink. I also noticed the same experimentation on the water and leave the rings be. I use snaps exclusively on cranks and like that I only have to tie one solid Palomar knot. . I'll use the rapala knot on smaller, finesse hardbaits, like twitchbaits and on spoons. I HATE snap swivels.

Some great responses here. Big fan of SK 1.5 square bills and Mann's baby one-minus. However, there is one crankbait that I have yet to be skunked with and I'm 7-0 with this lure. It's a LiveTarget Threadfin squarebill (baitball series). It's not cheap, but the baitball scheme seems to get the bass to chase. I can work it very slow and resemble a wake bait with the tip up OR burn it, deflecting off obstructions, with short pauses.

Fly fishing is my other passion and I won't even discuss how many fly boxes I have. And I only fly fish the Southwest too

I've read some of your previous posts regarding this rig and I'm very eager to try it out this spring. Fishing from shore, I'm not trusting the drop shot method because of the angles working against me no matter how long my leader is. Drop shot works more effectively when I'm fishing vertically from my yak. The highly pressued bass I pursue will likely fall victim to this type of finesse fishing....plus I have tons of 4.5" Roboworms and Zoom finesse worms to accommodate. Love those Gama Roboworm hooks too!!!

I mostly bank fish these days and was wondering when you would choose split shot Rig over the wacky ? I've never tried the split shot technique before.

Sounds about right haha. Those Japanese companies get all innovative and crazy on us and that was starting to be my poison until this nice little intervention thread haha

That's a great story!

Great example and idea. I dig this.

But those Jackall Pompadours or Megabass PopMax though..........the withdrawals now haha

Welcome! I live in Phoenix and fish once a week. Early 30s and father of a two year old and one on the way! PM me of you ever want to hit the waters. I have a kayak too and have been doing well at Lake Pleasant lately. You'll enjoy the site. Solid folks

It sure is fun! It's like a hobby on its own. I just can't tell my wife that adding more shoes to her extensive shoe collection is also a hobby ! Until tomorrow haha. Jk I'm disciplined when I need to.... it's like getting back in shape or a diet ..... do I want to? H{+$ no! But if it's going to make a positive difference than I'm good with the sacrifices.

Said just about everybody on this forum Listen, I had a deep realization this morning that I am actually handicapping my progress embarking this exciting new endeavor of being a bass angler. I'm constantly keeping up with the 'Benjamin's' or convincing myself that this new lure/soft plastic that I read somebody's reviews on (especially soft plastics :/ - thanks Crappies) will be the answer to my riddle. For example, nice try Al Lindner.......you almost had me with the new Storm GT360 yesterday........don't worry, you're still my icon. What's the irony here? I said that last week when I picked up some new Reins bubbling shaker. I said that the week before when I almost pulled the trigger on a couple of the 60+ colored cranks Norman offers. The week before that, my insecurity drove me to the extreme of picking up more Z-Man TRDs that I didn't have the color of. Guess what? I have WAY more brand new, never been opened, packages that keep getting piled on with new impulsive buys haha! (spoiler alert: I have yet to use any of those aforementioned products sad huh) I'm being a little dramatic here, but me cutting myself off from buying any new lures for the rest of this year will force me to: 1) improve on techniques with the unopened toys I already have 2) save $$$ 3) be more grateful of the arsenal of countless combinations I can muster 4) save $$$ again. And who knows.......maybe Woody doesn't have to be replaced by Buzzlightyear every week......what if what's never been opened yet is the golden ticket to all these waters all along? Sorry marketers, I just ruined your day I know I know. Don't worry though.........plenty other fish in the sea haha. This was not intended to be a rant, actually sharing a huge personal flaw that I need to curb; but more of a way to get this off my chest and bring some humor to the end of a stressful workday. Tight lines!

A swimbait hook or weighted belly hook will help maintain that even keel. In other words, swimming those back "weightless" will create those issues invariably.

I can't get there yet. For example, I have so much confidence in the day with a black and blue jig, but have been so discouraged using that same lure at night. Guess I need to trust the process and not let the night mode affect my technique and concentration.

A-Jay - huge 'Thank you' for digging this up from the vault. Looking forward to the read. Love this site!

Mass, are you slow rolling these? Weird incorporating a trailer with that rattle chamber I think I have a Midnight Express either from Booyah or SK in my box somewhere.

I fish for largemouth bass at night a majority of my outings at local urban ponds. What works for you night owls? For me, it's been roadrunners with finesse swimbaits and chatterbaits with fluke trailers (fall - spring) and black jitterbugs (summer) I'm anxious to hear the responses because I can tell you all what hasn't worked haha. Nothing like fishing nights for saugers and cats back in CO.

Excellent responses so far. Thanks all. Stupid question.......I picked up some Kalin's grubs in 'clear hologram' and was wondering if that transparency will be a 'one-size fits all' color for various water colors? If it's really that clear, wouldn't that particular grub match the same color tint as the pond? I've been eyeing those Rage grubs too, but that price? The coffee-scent is effective as I discovered that with their Strike king bitsy tubes. I fish a lot at night, so I'm going to have to try that junebug. Surprisingly, pearl white grub as been effective for me at night. You would think black would be the ticket bc of the silhouette effect.

I want to try fish grubs more this year, especially on a Carolina-rig from the bank. What are some of your favorite colors and brands for grubs? Myself, I've done well with Kalin's. This question is for bass and other game species. Thanks in advance!

Columbia - If you don't mind sharing, what is that color pattern on those Deep Little N cranks on the left hand side 4*4? I think that would be effective where I frequently fish.