Sifuedition

When going weightless and/or wacky, I go with a much lighter hook. Due to the hook and the low weight, I prefer to throw it with either a spinning combo or my one medium baitcaster combo. Doing this allows me to cast it much easier and keeps me from overpowering the hook out of the fish's mouth.

Sorry, it looks like I'm late, but I have the combo and really like it. I changed to a left-handed retrieve just a few months after buying this. I debated buying the combo in a left handed retrieve but did not. Now I wish I had. I also have a Curado 201k on a Dobyn's Fury rod and I wouldn't hesitate to use the Lew's interchangeably with it.

I find it odd that in Oklahoma, Grand Lake only has a moderate following as a good "bass lake", yet, it seems that is one of the very few in Oklahoma that tournaments will put on their tour.

CONGRATULATIONS! I've been fishing half my life and my PB is only 5.5-6 lbs. I'm jealous!

Well, I noticed my bank account had accumulated a little more than usual. I have not been fishing as much recently for a couple of reasons. One, my luck has been a little lacking lately. Two, the weekend weather has not cooperated much. Three, I've had a few other priorities. Despite all of that, I took the dive and bought a Shimano Chronarch MGL and a Favorite Big Sexy 7' Heavy rod. I'm geeking out and can't wait for them to deliver so I can give them a try. The rod is unfortunately on back order and likely won't deliver for 10-14 days, possibly more.

I have tested in shallow water. When hopping a ned rig, the mushroom head has a better tendency to finish balanced and sticking up. This mimics baitfish feeding off of the bottom. A typical ball head will land that way, but then lay down.

My favorite lure: https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress™-lcr-3-8-oz-lipless-crankbait#repChildCatSku=016565384 In the sexy shad color. This lure has worked for me when nothing else will. I have bought no less than 10 of these over the last 18 months since I found them and tend to have two in my tacklebox at any given time. This way, when I lose one, I still have one if it is the only thing working. I have not lost one in a while, but, it is absolutely normal to lose baits from time to time.

You've already heard a lot of the best advice. Trying to think outside the box, here's another consideration. Is it a catch and release only body of water? Do a lot of people keep their catch? Either of those can affect populations a lot, too. It's fairly obvious that if too many fish get harvested, populations can be affected. However, catch and release only can negatively affect populations sometimes, too. A body of water can only support so much bio-mass. Sometimes, top level predators, like bass, should be harvested in order to keep more ideal ratios of baitfish, etc. Is this water managed by the local fish and wildlife service? If not, it sounds public, could they be engaged to do a study and make recommendations on slot limits?

Why bother with the braid, other than line visibility for yourself? Personally, I'm 40 now and line visibility on anything that will be on the bottom really helps me detecting bites. I get that. However, I'm not convinced the fish care much about a leader. Regardless of line visuals, fish detect line presence as much or more with their lateral line than their eyes. If hooks, a-rig wires, etc, don't deter them...well. I have NO doubt that on occasion a fish will choose not to bite on something so minor, but, that same fish may be just as finicky about the thicker fluoro/hybrid line's effect on their lateral line, etc. My luck has been so bad lately that I'm questioning everything, but, like I mentioned, between my YoZuri rod and my braid rod, I have not seen a significant difference in bites. I do appreciate your feedback and I will consider it. This is exactly what I was asking for. I don't mean the above to dispute your opinion, merely to explain why I have not done that myself so far, despite knowing it is a very popular rig now. I also am concerned about how often I will need to retie lure AND leader with the light line leaders, as well as the knot being an additional point of failure.

That's kind of the question. If you were using one line for basically everything, and given not much to get hung on or abraid the line, which would you use and do you really believe it would make much difference? And I think this part answers that, except that you went on to say that you like to use technique specific line, lol. I suppose it wouldn't be THAT expensive to buy an extra spool for each and have a...relatively easy line swap, but honestly, I'm not sure I'd swap it that often.

Thanks. I have tried all of those. The moss makes it really hard to throw anything on bottom or that runs very deep. Even a squarebill retrieved slow comes back with a whole bowl of snot on it.I can go 2-5 feet deep, depending on the spot in ponds 2 and 3 without snot-moss. On pond 1, they don't have nearly the moss problem, but, it is also the highest pressured and is widely known to be a poor pond with mostly small fish. I have thrown a LOT of lipless crankbait, chatterbait, swimbaits soft and hard body, jerkbaits soft and hard body, topwater, and some spinnerbaits inline and traditional. Approximately 80% of my bites have been on the LCB. I have caught precisely one each on senko, jig and a slow, slow rolled chatterbait, but most of the time, just snot-moss. I have caught a couple on a ned rig, but, it was on an de-iced weekend between iced over weekends, when the moss was at an absolute minimum. I'll take ANY advice, but, did you have any thoughts on line?

I fish almost exclusively on ponds. Due to this, I limit myself to three rods in case I want to move farther away than I am comfortable leaving my gear. I take one spinning and two baitcasters. Honestly, I only take this many to reduce my re-tying time. The spinning reel is for those light weight presentations like weightless senkos, etc. Currently, I have 50 lb Suffix 832 on my favorite baitcaster. I have 15 lb YoZuri on my other baitcaster. I have 20 lb PowerPro on my spinning. I do not use leaders, simply straight braid on my braided spools. I have not seen any significant difference in getting bit between the the braid and the hybrid. I was away from fishing for about 20 years and am just coming back to it. I started back up in August and have fished almost every ice-free weekend since. However, I have had exactly ONE good day fishing since my return, and I've been out quite a lot. That day was 2 x 1.5 lb, 2 x 2.5 lb, 1 x 4.5 lb in about 4-5 hours. I have fished three different ponds in that time, but tend to stay at whatever pond I choose that day rather than splitting my time on any one day between different ponds. The pond where I had that good day is where I have fished ever since that day as the other two had not produced anything remotely like that in the months prior. Granted, that pond has not produced a day like that since then, either. The ponds: 1. Highly fished, in a public park with a lot of recreational activites, e.g. basketball courts, softball fields, walking trails, etc. Bad turtle and bird issues. Has the most variety, in that there is actually some rocky bank, although, it is very difficult to fish that due to it being very steep. 2. Biggest pond. Very little pressure. Very little structure or cover. When the water is up, there are some trees 1-5 feet from the bank that can be targeted. When the water is low, like now, they are too shallow. LOT of moss within a few feet of the bottom. VERY big shad, lots of perch. I have snagged more than one shad which was a pound or more. 3. Most productive pond. Very little pressure. Retention/run-off ponds for a ritzy neighborhood that I suspect most people don't know is open to the public. LOT of moss within a few feet of the bottom. Was a very chemical blue until the winter, so it must be getting treatments for the moss. Currently, the moss has exploded, but it is very clear water otherwise and has not been treated, yet, this year. Very little structure or cover. Lots of perch, according to others who have fished with kids here. Never snagged shad here. I am about at the point of quitting. I don't expect to catch them every time, or even most of the time, but NEVER is getting old. I've given it 8 months, with little to show for it. To be frank, I do catch 1-2 dinks about half the time. I hook decent ones, sometimes, but rarely. I rarely hook more than 1-2 in a 3-6 hour outing. I don't know if it's me, gear, or just ponds that aren't very good, but, it's simply not working. I tried 100% fluoro for a while, but the line memory was...outrageous. I mean spooling up the night before and it being near unusable the next day about noon. Whatever advantages fluoro may have, I don't see it fixing the issues I've been having. I'm so hesitant to quit, however, I've been wondering if I should try again. Anyways, to the real question... Three rods, on these ponds, what would you choose to do with the line on those three?

I was about to get skunked...again, until this dink saved the day. I'm bringing him in, when suddenly, he angles off towards the turtle floating on the surface between me and him. I had just put new Gamakatsu EWG trebles on after having to cut one of my hooks to get this lipless crank unsnagged last weekend. Sure enough, this craftly little sucker snagged the turtle, too.

When I was five, I hooked an 8 lb catfish on a Snoopy pole while fishing for perch. That reel never stood a chance. Dad actually had to pull it in by hand. I've been hooked ever since. I'm sure I fished before that, but, alas, my memory just doesn't go back that far. I'm not sure how long my attention span was before that catfish, but, it was certainly impressive for a 5, 6, 40 year old after that, lol.

Really surprised, but it looks like neither tacklewarehouse nor Academy really have much for checking water temps on my local ponds. Suggestions?

Didn't try the spinnerbait, but I've heard that twice this weekend, so I'll have to keep that in mind. Actually, the weekend has been warmer than usual. Not dramatically so, but, 60-65 instead of 45-55. Hasn't been that warm long enough for water temp to get that high, yet, though. Don't have a water temp gauge, yet, but I'd estimate 50s. The two I got were both within 10 feet of the bank. The one I describe in the post, I threw at a concrete inlet culvert. My thinking was the concrete may be warming the water a little by soaking up the sun and radiating the heat, plus, it's a good ambush point. Very little cover or structure to the ponds as far as I have found. The second one was as I was walking away from the pond. There is a second, smaller pond right next to this one. At that pond, as I was passing, I spotted one rolling near the surface right on the bank. Dropped a lipless crankbait on his head and he chased it down and I got him. He was really small, though. I really suspect both ponds are not very deep. I fish the deeper end a lot harder, but I don't think the change is all that significant. The deeper end of the larger pond, I catch bottom slime and leaves about half way back on the retrieve with a 3-5' jerkbait or squarebill, so I suspect no more than 6-10' deep. Oh, I landed the fish. He nailed it pretty good for a 1.5 lber, and I got a good hook-set. Thanks. I hope my post did not come across as...whiney. What I mean by that is it wasn't me deciding to use technique A, B or C and it working. I threw tons of baits with no success. Finally, I threw the jig and did the slow drag for a while, which didn't work. I threw the jig and bounced it for a while, which didn't work. It was an odd cast where I dead-sticked it a little longer than normal waiting for the gusts to die down, not as a technique. When they didn't, I abandoned the presentation and started to simply real it in full speed and it got hit. Since that was not an intended presentation, I called it luck and didn't "earn" it. I prefer to feel that I caught a fish on skill and knowledge. I'll take luck any time I can get it, but, hopefully, I can add to my skill and knowledge from each of those so I rely on less luck over time. It could be that my take-away should have been slowing down with the dead stick portion of that presentation. Maybe I should have stayed with the jig or gone to a ned rig and a really slow retrieve with long periods of dead-stick. Would have been tough to detect bites in those gusts, however. It got bit just moments into the fast retrieve, however, so maybe my take-away should have been speeding up. Putting together the similarities in the profile of a jig and a spinnerbait, plus the comments above, I'm thinking that probably should have been my take-away. I could have tried a traditional cast and crank, and if that didn't work, a lift and drop presentation on the spinner. Lift and drop in this pond would be iffy due to a large amount of slime-moss on the bottom, especially near the shallows, but...

Tough day on the pond. About five hours of nothing. At the end, I was throwing a Strike King Bitsey Flip (1/4 oz jig) with a 3" rage tail. Slow drag and bouncing it was getting nothing. Wind started gusting pretty heavy, so that it was pushing the rod tip around a lot. No chance I'm going to feel the traditional bump you feel on a jig, so I start to just retrieve and I'm going to tie on something else. Not two turns in, it gets hit. Not big, and I don't really feel like I "earned" that one. I figure that's a little odd and throw it around as a swim jig for a while and nothing. Tied on a 3" flip tail grub on a shakey head, trying to move a little faster than I had the jig. Nothing. Tie on a chatterbait of similar color but nothing. So, was it just an odd one-off where he was watching it and happened to react when it took off all of a sudden, and just luck or is this a teachable moment for me? What bait/technique should I have tried to test a pattern? Was my reaction the right the one to try find a pattern from this? I just got back into fishing last August after significant time off. I'm not sure if I suck at fishing now, or if I just don't know these ponds well enough, maybe the pond just sucks, or if it's just winter, or if it's my tackle, but I get skunked so often, I'm getting really dejected.

I'm sick. Three hours of nothing. Decide to try ONE LAST BAIT. Throw on a lipless crankbait even though the water temp seemed too low for it. Third cast and I've got a 3-4 lber on. Get him half way in and suddenly I'm dodging hooks. Not sure how he threw it, because I kept decent pressure on him. That turned my "last cast" into another 1 1/2 hours beating the bank, but nothing else decided it was hungry. THIS CLOSE to avoiding the skunk, with a decent fish, and he was just a little better than me. I'm still fuming 5 hours later.

The "slime" tends to be about 2-5 feet below the surface. Topwater would not have an issue with it. However, I've only been hitting these ponds since about September. I learned of them in possibly the reverse order I would like. First pond - high traffic, in a park with a lot of activities, e.g. softball/basketball/jogging/etc. Second - big and secluded, but, seemingly low population of bass Third - Actually two ponds side by side, one small and one in between size of the first two and practically untouched. Residential ponds treated and a very odd dark blue water from the chemicals (I catch and release only). The third pond has definitely produced more and I have been fishing it like two months less than the other two. Which means I discovered it around November. The time of the year just hasn't seemed right to throw topwater. On the first and second ponds, I did try whopper-plopper and buzzbaits due to it still being (late) fall. Now, I have heard on ponds that do not have significant depth, topwater can work year-round. Maybe I should commit more to it.

The problem is, the casts would be completely random. The retrieve would have to be very slow. For me to have any chance a finding them, it would have to be considerably lucky or an all day event with the one bait. At least that's the way it felt when I first started out at one of these ponds. Senko was precisely the first bait I threw at the first of the three ponds I frequent. I just wasn't able to stick with it, due to how slowly I was covering water with no luck.

Just had to exchange a reel due to manufacture defect and had another one that I hung up at the very end of my last trip and had to break off. I find myself tying on two lures without knowing when I will be out again. I've done this multiple times this winter as we have had intermittent nice weekends allowing me unexpected trips out. I tend to take 3-4 rods from the truck with me on the walk to the pond. I've noticed something. Many of my favorite lures are remarkably...the same, despite their differences. Bear in mind, the ponds I typically fish have issues with the snot-style moss just a few feet below the surface and very little structure or cover. As such, crankbaits, squarebills, even jerkbaits, depending on the time of the year, are simply non-starters due to being slime-salad wrapped almost instantly. Lipless crankbaits are ok as long as I keep them moving. I find I tend to often pre-tie: LCB Fluke H2O Express swimbaits Chatterbait Jerkbait All of these lures do have their obvious differences, yet, they present a very similar profile of a shad. As I look through my tacklebox, I realize most of it is the same. I haven't been throwing a spinnerbait as often this year, but, really, it's the same. Some of them, like the H2O Express swimbaits, the jerkbait and the fluke, the difference is quite minor. Two are hard-body and the other soft, but even the movements are reminiscent of each other. It really makes me question if I have been as thorough in my efforts as I should be. I have started taking a ned rig out lately. I have avoided that and senko/dropshot/worms/jigs due to no obvious structure/cover to target and I don't know the ponds well enough to go that slow and have much success. Am I missing some obvious variety I should be adding? How do you select a variety that you pre-tie, thinking you may start out with if you don't have the water mapped out and you're bank fishing?

Just like a car. In the same way, they don't get to pass that along to a buyer unless they find one ignorant enough to go for it. That's precisely what I'm trying to avoid. Bass Pro has financiers who will finance for 12 years. Sure, it keeps payments low, but they will owe practically sticker price for years after buying it. That is precisely what I think these are. They are not asking based on the VALUE of the boat they are selling. They are asking based on what they owe when they made a bad financing decision.

So far, I'm just looking to find out what I should be targeting. If I can get something low enough to not have to finance, that would be ideal, but obviously, since I don't want to have to repair it, those are mutually exclusive, lol. I'd like to get pre-approved through my credit union, but I'd need to know what I'm going to need to finance, which is part of where the price watching is coming in. The other part is I'd like to know when I really do find a good deal. The NADA site should be a big help there.

I just used the NADA on three of the ones I was looking at to compare. They are all at least 2k over what they should be asking if you go by that, which does take zip code into account.

Absolutely positive. Had it writing. Might still be around here somewhere.