Black Hawk Basser

Mostly medium. Sometimes ML if I'm throwing a weightless plastic and I'm not near heavy cover. I do have a medium that acts more like a medium heavy since it lost a bit off the tip and I had to repair it. I may lose a few more fish per year than the MH/H baitcast guys, but it's not enough to make me make the shift the balance over to baitcasters.

My friend just cast his bait into the end of a tree limb last night and got it caught on a wad of line already on the limb. He started whipping his pole around to yank his bait off, and right before I said "Don't break your pole"....snap, 3 inches down from the tip. Good thing he knows a guy that can repair rods. ?

I like to intentionally swim it into grass to the point that it's getting somewhat hung up, and rip it free. Whammo. I'm talking a moderate amount of grass, not extremely thick surface-matting vegetation.

I'm a majority spinning setup guy. I have a bunch of spinning rigs, but only a couple baitcasters. That is mostly because I grew up fishing this way, and I like the fun of the fight and better casting distance from shore. I've never saw the fun in flipping a bait into a laydown and yanking the fish right out without any sort of battle whatsoever.

I just use a tiny bit of fly tying head cement to hold really small guides. Once the guide is all wrapped, I can "bust" the guide off of the blank to make adjustments.

I don't have any hookup issues. I use the Berkley Fusion hooks with a mono/fluoro weedguard. I often send a wacky rig 30 or so feet from the back of the boat as I stroll along flipping the bank. Most of the time, the fish that bite the wacky rig hook themselves as the boat is moving away from them. To get the same effect while holding the rod, you'd just need to raise the rod tip and reel in. That's usually enough for me to get them pinned.

I've dunked a Pflueger President before and I noticed a major difference in cranking ease, immediately. I didn't do anything to remedy it other than set it aside and fish with another rig. It was seemingly back to normal the next time I fished.

^ Exactly this. This has happened to me so many times. Also, the ungodly amount of trash at the local river, especially at the dams.

I place depth control, speed, and other presentation traits way over color. Now, if I find that a certain bait is working well, but I can refine the color choice to something that's more appropriate for the body of water and time of year, then I may switch colors on the same bait. But, it's hard to switch anything if what you're using is working well.

Nope, I rarely employ them in summer, except for river smallmouths. I may have to toss a few this summer as well, but I have to be choosy considering the heavy vegetation in most lakes/ponds around here.

Let's establish that a Ned Rig is a mushroom style head with a Z Man plastic. Otherwise, it's just a jig and plastic.

I've used the Berkley Havoc Grass Pig Jr, but I'm running out of those. I've also done well with a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Chunk, NetBait Kickin B Chunk and Berkley Chigger Craw.

Good replies, I will add that sometimes if I am ripping/busting through grass with a swim jig, I don't notice that I've gotten a take until I see my line moving in an odd direction while I continue my retrieve. It's hard to explain, but sometimes I see my line doing something different before I feel anything different in my hands.

Maybe about a decade ago, I was walking and casting along the bank of an old gravel pit. As I was generally focused on the water and my casting, I haphazardly hopped over a hill as I went along. Right as I got over the little hill, I was almost right on top of a coyote trapped in a snare. Simultaneously startled, we both jumped back away from each other. After that I kept on fishing with the coyote just laying there, carefully watching me as I continued to fish.

Imagine how the other guy feels having to enlist his kids to get tips on how to catch fish. How emasculating. ?

eBay often has Havoc baits - I've bought a whole bunch in the last couple years, but not the Devil's Spear. I have seen it on eBay before, though. Here's a link on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=havoc+devil+spear&_sacat=0&_sop=15

Good tips so far, I'll throw one at ya: If you have access to docks, fish them on the sunny days. My traditional tactic on hot summer days has been to flip jigs around docks/boat lifts. If jigs don't cut it, a creature or craw plastic usually will. A mono or fluorocarbon leader is helpful to prevent break-offs from line rubbing on posts and whatnot. If it is early/late, cloudy, or really windy, the dock bite is not as reliable, as I think those fish might feel comfortable enough to roam around outside of the protection of the dock(s). During those times, I use something like a spinnerbait, chatterbait, squarebill, or just fan-cast a plastic or jig.

I use an all-around jig that I make myself for all applications. It may not be the best in every situation, but they are great for bassin' on a budget.

It looks like a Rebel brand topwater that is often seen on the bottom shelf at Walmart.

I started out "bottom" fishing bass with tubes. I read from KVD that there's no wrong way to fish 'em, so I figured that was a perfect bait for a beginner with no prior experience to start with. I had a lot of success with them before I branched out to other baits. My all-time best tube was a 4" BPS tube in a green & orange pattern called "Margarita". It really looks like a bluegill or redear. I still have a few of those that are patched with Mend-It, and I give them a go once in awhile. I have also used these. I like the ringworm look to them. Perhaps they impart a little bit of a different vibration signal underwater.

The paint jobs certainly look great. I like a good thump from a bait. It gives me confidence that the bait is doing it's thing.

Here is the chart. BTW, anyone who doesn't read In-Fisherman is missing out on some seriously good, science-based observations and methods for catching fish. They feature multiple species, but they always have something about bass in each edition.

If you had read more carefully, you'd see that I said woolly bugger marabou is not what you'd want to use.

It looks like they are marabou. The really webby, woolly bugger type is not what you'd want to use. You'd want to use the type with long strands at the ends. They would be cheap to tie, but pretty labor intensive. How much is your time worth to you? That's what I ask myself before I tie something up that might take me awhile.

I recall several days of spitting rain during which I caught a bunch with the ole' Chug Bug. Mid-summer mornings, most likely. I can imagine that the Whopper Plopper or a regular buzzbait also being good options.