ItsHardwick

That happened to me one time, it felt like Christmas morning! It was the very first whopper plopper I ever had, a 90 in perch. Snagged it on a stake in a crappie bed and got all like you do when you lose a good lure. Low and behold I was in the same spot like 3 months later and I find it washed up on the shore. Tail had to be taken off and cleaned to make it work again but that was a good feeling.

What size shower blows would you recommend? i have an ima little stick 135 but that’s about it as far as this style bait goes. I have plenty of spooks and walking baits, and a couple chugging spooks but I really want to try a SB I just don’t know what size to buy.

Do you have an Academy nearby? They have a few different H2O express rods around that price point that are pretty nice. I have one that I love, and use a lot. I have much more expensive rods but none that are better for tossing weightless and wacky rigged senkos.

I own some higher end gear. And it’s nice and serves its purpose. But I try not to get too caught up in the hype surrounding rods and reels. In fact one of my favorite reels is a lews something or other I bought at Walmart for $55, I have $200 and $300 reels but the cheapo lews is great at what I ask it to do. One of my favorite rods is a ml f/xf h2o express deal I got at academy for $20. It’s a whip and I use it for weightless/wacky rigged senkos and it’s amazing. Not to mention super fun when I hook into a 3-4 pounder, every fish feels huge on that rod. My oldest son just turned 11. He picked up a spinning reel very quickly last year, and this spring I bought him his first casting setup. 6’6” mh/f h20 express rod that was around $40 and an Abu Black Max. The reel is actually pretty nice for the price point. He’s still getting the hang of it but it’s perfect for him at his age and just starting out.

I’ve just recently heard all the negative stuff about the brand. My only personal experience with them is my 16 year old cousin has one he got 2 christmas ago. He beats the hell out of that thing like you could imagine a 16 year old with 1 rod would and it’s still going. It is very light. Sure hope he doesn’t break it, because he loves that thing lol.

What advice would y’all have for fishing a fluke lower in the water column? Say in 5-6 feet of water and then like 8-10 feet? Or is it just not advisable and there’s a better solution to that particular scenario??? im very excited about flukes now lol! As I said above I caught a fish on a dshad the other day and then followed that the next day by catching a couple on a double fluke rig. I like the d-shad so much better because I can actually keep it under water lol. Seems like the original zoom super salty flukes I can barely keep submerged, not to mention the fact that half of them (or more) are completely mangled coming out of the pack.

Yeah this. Texas rigged creature bait, or senkos would be my choice if I had to choose. I catch more fish on them than anything else and it’s not close. I do throw a lipless quite bit a though.

Wait. I was thinking about the pop max. My bad.

That reel is gorgeous. My wallet hates you now. Went on eBay to see how much these were, saw the jdm zillions. That was all she wrote.

I caught a fish on a fluke today! Well, on a d-shad but you know what I mean. The advice in this thread really helped.

I have a few and love them. Pretty much only popper I use anymore.

This is why I’m where I am right now lol. Got tired of burning money and not finding one I was really satisfied with. I’ll have to look into the sinking braid too.

So, I got tired of respooling over and over and over and went to braid on all my reels this year. I fish braid to a leader on 90% of my presentations, the only reel that doesn’t have braid on it is on my cranking rod. Turns out replacing leaders all the time is a hassle too haha! And also I can just tell sometimes that braid is just not the best tool for the job. When I’m trying to get a swimbait to stay down for example and I can clearly see that most of the line is still floating in front of the bait, or it takes ages for a bait to actually get to the bottom when in reality it shouldn’t. So im going to order up some spools of flouro to switch out on some of my reels. I know braid has its place and I’ll be leaving it on some rods for applications where it makes sense. Im just wondering what y’all are using? What casts the best? What brand and size do you like to use for what? Basically, help a brother out and tell me what you’d be ordering if you were me and why. Thanks in advance fellas

That’s very similar to the one my wife, uh I mean my kids, got me for Father’s Day. Mine came from Amazon I think. It works, turns on quickly, and has been rained on in my boat more times than I count. Just saying, you don’t have to break the bank for a decent scale unless you really want to.

A bit off topic, and purely out of curiosity, but what do y’all have against trokar hooks? I’ve never used them, not for any particular reason, I’ve just always used gamakatsu and owner products. They work well so I’ve stuck with them. I’ve tried others like vmc which I did not like, and mustad products which were ok. But most of those were on clearance or when the shop didn’t have the size I needed in my preferred brand, or out of a mystery box.

I would think the hook would be a little oversized honestly. Seems like it might kill some of the action. But if the Larew folks say so......

I have a couple, as well as other styles from other companies. They all work. I tie on a spook more often than not though when I opt for a walking bait.

Lunker City Ribster, Zman trick shotz, Strike King half shell, all nose hooked. I just picked up a few more brands in this style to try out as the water cools as well. Senkos wacky rigged, anything else you would wacky rig. Swimbaits, flukes, anything really I just try and keep it on the smaller side of things. Also, the more action a bait has with very little movement is a plus in my book. Don’t limit yourself to what people tell you that you should be dropshotting with, experiment. You’d be surprised at what can be really effective.

I got one like a month ago and love it. Build, fit and finish are all very impressive for a $100 reel.

I’ve never had much confidence or success in fluke style baits but I just made a big(ish) order of them anyways haha. I’ve decided I’m going to do the same thing I did with jigs and other stuff I had no success with and are now some of my confidence baits. I’m going to fish them exclusively until I figure it out. What’s y’alls favorite setup to fish fluke style baits on?

But what do those of us that like to go barefoot do?

Ahh yeah. That’s how I do pretty much all of mine anyways haha.

Please explain. I’ve never heard this.

Same. And sometimes with new baits and such, it’s much better in person. Looks can be deceiving online, especially when it comes to color. So seeing it in person is a huge plus. Not to mention you get to take your new toys and play with them immediately instead of waiting for them to get here.

Assuming from your name you’re on the TN river chain somewhere too. I have the same problem, fish at least 3 times a week. I’m going to assume now (thanks to all this evidence ha!) that these just aren’t effective on our waters, and it’s not me that’s at fault.