ne_dan

Got out after work today for a couple of hours on a smallish lake, weird algae bloom going on hopefully it’s not blue green algae. I hadn’t been there since spring (even though it’s 5mins from my house) so I idea what’s been going on with the lake. It was another day where the only thing they wanted was a jig. Majority of the fish were offshore on isolated rock piles and on rocks at the end of points. Did pretty good number wise, biggest was a hair under 3lbs. So far this has been a very good fall.

1/2 oz Berkley Finesse Jig Watermelon Candy and a Berkley Maxscent creature in Goat. 1/2 oz Dobyns football head with a black and blue skirt with the same trailer. I really like the Berkley jigs I got a bunch over the winter when they had that 50% off sale, they do surprising well in rocks.

Tackle Direct has a bunch of Abu Rods 40%, Fantasista X's are $197.97

Got out on a river today, little bit of wind, water temps mid 50’s by the late afternoon. 100% jig bite, almost all the fish came in the 8’-13’ range bouncing the bottom, average weight was between 2-3lb. Light bite today very different from last week where they were hammering it as soon as it hit the bottom. Did manage a few fish shallow in some wood, but everything else was deeper on the outside bends in the main flow.

Dart heads like the name implies, dart from side to side on the retrieve. Ball heads pretty much just go straight. So the dart jig head gives whatever is on it more action.

River levels/flow finally came back down to normal levels around here after last weekend. Took the kayak out for 3 hours, over 20 bass. Biggest went 3lb 9oz. Jig and Spinnerbait all afternoon; didn’t have to change lures the whole time (except for the jig that got bit off by a pike). Hopefully the rain next weekend isn’t too bad.

Dragging a Spinnerbait, Carolina rig, stroking a jig.

15lb CXX, the diameter is right in-between 15lb and 20lb Big Game.

If you’re a Bass Pro Rewards member be on the look out for a $10 off $50 coupon coming in the mail, got one today

They're thieves too, Last year I watched a Bald Eagle steal a fish from an Osprey mid flight. Osprey eventually lost when they both death spiraled down to the water, first time I've seen that.

Honestly for that price I’d go used, if not used then something from the Ark Randall Tharp Honey Badger Series

and Wake boats, I despise wake boats. Zero consideration for anyone else on the water.

Swans and geese honking as they're coming into land or take off. Last year I had one (swan) fly into a rod in my holder on my kayak.

Around here (Southern New England) big pickerel/pike = big bass; like others have said. I drives me crazy how people will throw pike and pickerel on shore to die because they think the esox kill all the bass. At the same time treating every bass they catch like an absolute garbage, dragging them on shore, 5 minutes to take a picture, scale in the gills, etc.

Look at inshore rods if you want a heavier spinning rod

For moving baits save the money and run copolymer or mono.

If I'm covering water I like the Gambler Burner worm. You can fish it slow, let it sink, or fish it fast like a toad across the surface.

I like the Gamakatsu Offset Shank Round Bend, nice balance between lighter wire and stoutness. I don’t use them with braid though. I also bend the hook point up a little to help with hookup ratio.

Depends on the tackle and the structure on how hard of a hook set you give’em. Frogs, Superline hooks, punching give’em the beans. Most everything else except finesse stuff a “normal” hook set will do. And the YouTube hook set is all for show most of the time

It was and still is mostly a night time lure for me. I usually start with a big wakebait in high probability areas then move on to covering water with a 110 WP. Still do just fine like that. On faster moving water where its tough to work other top water like spooks and poppers, it still does pretty good at the right times.

I find the the smaller choppos start spinning quicker than the smaller whopper ploppers . Comes down to the hard tail vs soft tail mentioned above. I use both and catch on both.

I've been pretty happy with the Berkley Compact Spinner.

Tubes, smallish top water, 1/8 and 3/16 small Strike King spinnerbaits

I'll second the above mentioned Expride 610m. I have the Expride A; use it for poppers, 100 size spooks, 75-90 size choppo's. It also handles 1/8 -1/4 jigheads with 2.8"-3.75" swimbaits.

I bought the reel this winter when Pure Fishing was having the 50% off sale I paid under a $100 for it, only reason I bought it was because I like my Revo Beast reels and wanted to try out a smaller Abu. Like @Bankc said above the price should probably be around that $100 mark. For the price I paid I like it, it's on my spinnerbait rod with 15lb fluoro. I've caught a bunch of fish on it so far, biggest was a hair over 5lb. Only problem I've had with it is the side plate release somehow opened and luckily it feel inside my kayak but all the magnets stacked on top of each other which was a royal pain to get back in place with frozen hands last month.