Hook2Jaw

Saw some H2OX stuff. No idea why they would rebrand to such a similar name, but they'll probably be back running again soon and we can continue to enjoy some premium offerings for less than 5 bucks. I wish they would clone Keitechs, Roboworm, Z-Craws, and some other soft baits.

I learned to slow down by fishing very pressured public fishing area lakes that aren't larger than 110 acres. Unless the conditions absolutely line up for bass to get metal and start annihilating shad as a school, you can hardly buy a bite without dragging a finesse technique. I learned how slow could be effective by having my buddy whip my hiney during a tournament, which he won by dropping a very light shakyhead into thick brush along a shoreline drop-off. He'd just let it soak, and eventually a 4-6 pounder would pick it up. He rinsed and repeated. Ever since then, when I can't buy a bite doing other things I find a spot on a spot and start soaking a finesse technique until something picks it up. Sure, I'll bring it out and cast it again to break up the monotony, but more often than not I could probably soak that tiny worm in that spot and eventually get bit. A lot of it is fishing a likely area. Slow down to the point you could actually make a sandwich during the time it takes you to retrieve the bait in an area you know fish use and you'll start seeing it pay off. Slowing way down will then become second nature. I have to fish for these bass so slowly in middle Georgia that it hurts my power fishing ability.

The 3.75" Big Bite Baits Kamikaze Swimon in Chick Magnet Swirl for green minis, Black/blue for, well, black and blue minis, and Smokey Gold for shad pattern minis.

I like the Jackall Rerange, the Yo-Zuri 3DB 110, and the KVD Deep. The Rerange is one of the best casting hard baits I've thrown, the YZ is my budget Rerange, and the KVD gets down and gets bit.

Early this year, the Jackall Rerange and KVD Deep crushed it for me in the prespawn. The spawn was largely a bust for me, but a shakyhead with a Z-Man Fattyz in The Deal caught fish everywhere I went, all the way to now. I finally bit the bullet and started throwing the Chatterbait Minimax and Jackhammer with Kamikaze Swimons or a Razor Shadz trailering them and caught size and numbers through late summer to the fall. I've been studying web development like a mad man for the last three months, but I'm about to get my certification and a jerkbait gets to come out soon.

I throw my chatterbaits on a Daiwa DX Type-H 7'3" Heavy Moderate with a Daiwa Tatula CT spooled up with 16# Sunline Sniper. It's a pleasure to fish and the setup cost me under 200 bones two Christmases ago. I'd go with the lowest diameter, highest breaking strength fluorocarbon you can afford.

I'm pretty good at tying an FG knot and catching fish on really pressured water. Your fish have seen a hundred squarebills, mine can replicate every single rattle.

FG knot for braid to leader, Improved clinch for anything over 10#, Rapala loop for hardbaits without ring, Palomar for anything under 10#.

I always tell anyone in person looking for a rod that requires a lot of user input to invest their money in those sticks. That's why my jerkbait, topwater, frog, and pitching and flipping stick cost two to three times as much as some of my other rods. I need them to be light and balanced, I'm moving them often.

Those holes will reject the knot every time, and then the knot will never leave it's mother's home or get a job. Would not recommend.

Is this me? Am I you? I just saw a video by Brian Latimer where he was imparting action to his shakyhead with slack line pops of his rod. It was eye opening for me, so I'm going to start working a lot of my bottom contact with this in mind.

I don't reach for the power baits that should be working often enough. Typically, I'll power fish the first hour or two of the day. Around that time I pull the finesse tactics out and typically catch them, and sometimes I get a good one. I feel like I could be creating reaction strikes but I'm always dragging a slow bait.

You don't have to make a YUM Dinger work, they just do. I prefer them in shallower water to heavier stick worms. Me, I'm a man of trying to save money constantly after growing up poor. I haven't truly adjusted to having a little change in my pocket going jangalangalang, but I'll go to the Academy store and give those H2O baits a ring up at the counter. A lot of store brands and cheaper baits are off the table for me, but I've got more YUM, Z-Man, and ZOOM than you can shake a stick at and exist on 100 acre public fishing areas going ring around the Rosie with 10 boats on the regular. I've caught a lot of fish on cheap, on sale baits and will keep trying them to find the best bass for my buck until I'm gone. My latest on sale experiment was the Strike King KVD Deep, and I had several days on the water this January where I put 15 bass on it on those pressured public fishing areas.

Spinning rods and reels are amazing, and have their place. That place used to be two spots sticking up behind the seat of my kayak, but it's more often than not just one as of late. I use spinning gear for the Ned rig, dropshot, wacky, Neko, and finesse crankbaits exclusively. I'll also use it for some weightless Texas rigs and shakyhead rigs with a head lighter than ³/¹⁶.

I'm currently at 0/0 maximum cat capacity. You can have him.

My water is in the 90s, put 20 pounds in the kayak yesterday. I'm almost exclusively fluorocarbon and don't break off many fish. So, I reckon my fishing rule to live by is there's more than one way to skin a cat.

The Deal by Z-Man has been the only color I've needed for a while unless the water has less than 2 feet of visibility, in which case Junebug comes out. This is a shad imitating son of a gun.

On a good day, fish will probably eat both with reckless abandon and you'll spend the next two months throwing whichever, with mixed results. On one day, they'll eat the shad pattern, and on another body of water the splatterback might be the choice. There is no clear cut definition of which is better. If I had to choose one, I'd choose you to go figure it out so I'm ready when I hit your water. If that's not a possibility, Sexy Shad. If your water doesn't have shad and white bass and/or crappie are the predominant forage, Splatterback.

It doesn't? Give it a go, it works for me.

I own and use the Tatula XT 7' MLR, and use it almost exclusively for bombing Strike King 3XDs. It'll handle a bait up to ½ an ounce very well, and probably cover a ton of water with a 2.5 size squarebill. I've never tried it with a jerkbait because I prefer a rod with just enough tip strength to work a jerkbait with minimal movement, but still load up with a green one on the other end of the line.

Both are really good baits and catch them, the CRM is ½ an ounce or maybe a tad more, and the size of a 2.5 squarebill. It casts well and gets bit. The SPCRM a 1.5 body with a longer lip to CRank Medium, as well. CRM = Crankbait Medium SPCRM = Small Profile Crankbait Medium

My deep cranking rod.

Kayaker here that reads about too many dead kayakers who didn't wear their PFD. Wear your PFD, I don't want to read about you.

Pretty good reels, they definitely add some yardage to my jerkbaits and smaller crankbaits. I can guarantee I'm ticking bottom with a 3xd for a long way thanks to the Elite, and can get my jerkbaits of choice down deep where the bigs look to snack. My favorite thing about this reel is how well it tosses light and heavy offerings way out there.

The Head Hunter Fire Tail Craw appears to be a very innovative crankbait that doesn't copy other crankbaits on the market! It's $7.95.