Black Hawk Basser

I opt for the Ned/TRD in my river because it gets way more bites from all species than a tube does. I'm there to get anything that is willing, be it walleye, white bass, catfish or smallies. However, if I need to get the bait down in heavier current, I might go with a 3/8 oz insert jig head in a tube rather than the dainty little Ned head which would get swept away too quickly.

@DitchPanda This dreary weather we've had this weekend sure kept the drunks off of Black Hawk! They said, I chose to fish a public pond yesterday. Usually no one is there, it's in the middle of nowhere.

Only got 3 in 2 hours yesterday, but two of them were pretty chunky . Booyah Popping Pad Crasher

Buzz toad!

I wouldn't bank on fishing with two people. They are really unstable at that size. If you both lean the same way at the same time, it's bath time. I had a 12' jon boat that I liked to drag to small ponds and such, but it was tough going with two people.

I'm shocked that this is allowed in MN. Wow, the stupidity!

Well anyways, Cabela's has Jackhammers on sale and 8% cash back through Active Junky.

Pearl white Zoom flukes and ultra vibe speed worms are my jam in the summer for weedy shallows.

There are hundreds of them in the corn/bean fields all around where I live. They are almost always moving. There are some right next to my favorite county-owned pond. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Man they are annoying, but I still am in favor of their use. Edit: Forgot to mention that the closest charging station to me is about 17 miles away.

The most consistent one is the one I most consistently fish! It's probably green pumpkin with blue flake, or watermelon with red flake.

Absolutely a spinning reel. Probably a size 25. I'd never go any smaller, people always buy reels too small. The larger spool will help with distance.

Flavor saver ?

With a Palomar, I think that if you pull the main line too much to tighten it down to the hook eye, you can literally burn the line from friction. You see this when you tie the knot on supple line like 4 lb mono. It makes the line all wavy above the bait, noticeable damage. Pulling the tag end as much as you can to tighten it down helps a lot, rather than pulling too much on the main line to tighten.

I like a fluke for a follow-up bait. Always worked well for me.

I've never removed a split ring from any bait. Maybe I've missed out on some fish, but I've caught plenty, too.

The first few fish hit while I was buzzing on top, but once the sun got higher I was beating the bank, pitching it into really shallow water and basically deadsticking it.

Ten fish in 90 minutes this morning, then the bite seemed to really slow. A weightless Zoom Magnum U Vibe Speed Craw did the majority of the work. Got a couple on a Max Scent Hawg, too. Jig/craw just wasn't doing it for them today.

Bomber Square A and a Ned rig for me.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Ned first put on a cut-in-half Strike King Zero that was made with elaztech.

There's a lot of truth in this. I choose my lures more based on what will get to and stay in the strike zone best. The only other major consideration is the size of the bait. Smallies in my river seem to totally ignore lures that are over 3".

I don't consider any number magic. Using 'rules' allows me to talk myself out of going, and I don't like that!

Ditch, the lipless has been crap for me this year, too. Also, spinnerbaits have gotten me nothing, and they had previously been an April-May staple for me. Deep diving cranks used to be real cold for me, last couple of years they've been hot!

I've never really targeted bass with live bait, but I've caught several of my biggest bass on cut bait. Shad and bluegill chunks have yielded me some huge ice-out largemouth while catfishing. We can't use live shad for bait in Iowa. I might try it if we could do that. Also, if bait shops around here had shiners, I'd definitely be using them for walleye, and I'm sure they'd catch hella bass too.

Flathead catfish and muskie. Don't think I've ever caught a redear sunfish, either. There are just not many flatheads in the area lakes, and the local river just won't gift me with one, even though I've thrown 1,000 different artificial baits there. I never live bait fish, though, so I imagine I'd get one that way. They started stocking muskie in my local lake about 8 years ago. I've had two muskie 'blowups' there on topwaters, and one good hookup and fight on a spinnerbait until the wire arm broke. Never got her into my hands, just got a good look near my feet at the bank.

I got into a mess of crappie at my home lake a few weeks ago and kept 9 for a couple of small meals. I usually do my meat fishing through the ice, and usually its bluegills. They are, by far, my favorite freshwater fish to eat.