Brad Reid

Jrob78 (hello, Jrob!!!) and I think alike! The Roboworm Rebarb hooks would be my first choice. If I recall, they come in a light wire and one that is a bit heavier, the latter though not super heavy. Moving from a EWG to a straight shank should greatly improve your hook up ratio. The hook tip can be left just under the plastic ready to pop up in a direction towards mouth tissue, not more laterally as with an EWG. When you T-Rig that worm, be certain to go through the nose at a strong angle not pushed in straight down. See little image below for a "compare." Brad

Nice hooks but the one I really, really like is VMC's Drop Dead hook. I like its extra-long shank, how its weighted. It has a corresponding plastic and when it is tossed out, it is supposed to emulate a dying shad. But, I have never bought the plastic shad/flukes, I just put on my regulars. I replace the screw on bait keeper and put on an Owner CPS, like them better. Buy a few for comparison. You might stick with them! Brad

Some good choices, already for sure. I often post about my Meyer's Sportspal S-15. Two men can stand in it at the same time. An S-13, the 13 footer would work well, too. Meyers makes them out of aircraft quality aluminum and they are lined with ethafoam and ribs for noise reduction and give it some rigidity. One big advantage for a big man is a low seat, certainly one in a canoe, can be pure misery on the back all day long as it isn't supported like sit-on-top kayaks. So, what I do is carry out a folding lawn chair with the blade feet, wedge it in place using a thwart bar, stand most of the time, but sit to re-tie or eat or just to take a break. Paddle, trolling motor or outboard. Single, tandem with a buddy or kids. Very flexible and much lighter than similar length kayaks. Photos: Me seated in the comfy chair, fishing tandem with partner, seated the other day holding a bass. Me? 6'3" 258 lbs. give or take. Brad

My Lake Athens here in Texas has lots of eel grass, everything else, too. It is 45' or so deep at its max, 1799 acres at conservation (full pool) level. When I moved here, I had to figure out very quickly how to fish differently. In most spots, flipping out a drop shot was like watching a comet disappear into the night sky . . . it'd just drop down and get buried in vegetation. This would be different than fishing a hard bottom. What works for me up in my cove, fishing shallow, with a "hairy" bottom, some vegetation on top, too? Here goes. I use a 3/0 60 degree bend jig hook and I attach a medium-sized Owner CPS (screw on centering pin) to it, then attach a 4" Keitech Shad Impact and Texas Rig it keeping the hook tip positioned in the plastic's dorsal slit or slightly skin hook it. I cast this on 10 lbs. braid to an 8 lbs. fluoro leader. For the knot, and this is important, I tie a Uni knot where as I cinch it down tight and back up toward the hook eye, I run the tag end back through that little opening just before the knot is pulled tight up against the hook. What this does is after you cut the tag end off, it directs that little tag end remnant away from the direction you are reeling the lure back in. It is just one more step to making this weedless. So, try to find openings in the "salad" as best you can, cast beyond these, let it sit, retrieve it very slowly, twitching helps, give bass down in the weeds a chance to see it, react to it. Some, depending on the season, will come up and grab it right off the surface, others will grab it anytime the bait can drop down. Very weedless if you keep it slow, only accelerate a bit if you hit pockets of open water but, even then, I keep it slow so it can drop down in those holes. Some I caught yesterday afternoon fishing in 5 feet of water, weeds everywhere below. Works year-round here in North Texas. Brad

I didn't see it, too busy watching Rick Clunn making a big comeback in that recent tournament. Wow! Many sports have some unwritten rules. One of the worst? Many of you may recall from the past that Olympic Ice Skaters who narrowly miss a gold medal at one Games . . . are, more or less, favored in the next by the judges. It's as if they have to really screw up to not be awarded the gold. Ouch! In competitive fishing, there are some of these sorts of unwritten rules. In one tournament, YT video caught Scott Martin in a heated verbal exchange with another competitor when on a subsequent tournament day, the other guy got to a place first, was fishing it. Scott just moved in and accused the guy of poaching his spot as I recall. The other guy defended himself by saying, he too, at some other earlier point in the tournament, when Scott wasn't there, had fished it. It all seemed crazy to me. First come, first serve seems operable to me. I really don't get someone thinking they own a spot on the water. Teenagers? Unless they have been enlisted to block a particular angler, to purposely interfere, I'd just consider them to be yet another obstacle that all pro anglers have to deal with . . . equally. Pro anglers/officials COULD promulgate actual rules for competitions to eliminate some of these situations (between themselves, not so much private anglers on public waters); but, my guess is the pro anglers actually prefer some of these unwritten rules, don't want them codified so to speak. Brad

Sure, MH would likely be the preferred stick for most. And pairing the MH power with a Moderate action would net you a bit more casting distance. maybe cast a bit lighter lure, too. Moderate will give you a bit more flex as you set the hook, and actually give you more power, not less, over a fish compared to a fast tip since its lifting point is closer to one's hands. A shorter lever. Brad

Tom is correct that temperature is the primary "key" signal for bass to move up and spawn. I have been publishing my findings here on Lake Athens to local friends in D/FW, so 70 miles south and a bit east of Dallas, for a few days. I noticed that two days ago, all of a sudden, I started catching crappie, some signs of bowfin up in my cove, too, and I began to see surface activity of fish in general, bass for sure. And, bugs. So, late yesterday afternoon while I was sitting in my canoe in a favorite spot off of a secondary point, 8 feet of water, a fish made a big splash over my right shoulder 20 feet away. I made a quick cast to the "splash ring" and, as luck would have it, the bass bit. The 2 pound surface feeding bass is in the photo below. Just happy she wasn't chewing on a bait fish and ignoring my Hail Mary cast! Ha! My point is these are all signs that things are changing. Before two days ago, I hadn't seen any signs of bass feeding on top of the water. I have not seen any evidence of spawning yet, but we are right on the cusp of great bass fishing in the pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn. Brad

Here local to me (D/FW metroplex), we have Kevin Dismuke as the guru of kayak TMs. What Kevin does is build a mount often attached to some of the built-in power pole attachments at the stern end, then he takes the head off of a TM and runs the wires to a box that can be controlled by the kayaker in the seat. Instead of using one's feet to control direction, Kevin's units have a lever attached to the TM tube and he just uses a long skinny fiberglass rod that reaches and lies along side of the kayaker to control direction. And, he has some electronics to lower and raise the TM from the seat, too. Some canoes have side-mounted TMs so these would be placed in an area where one could operate the TM while in the seat using an extension that can be purchased from several sources. And, a final sort I have seen a few times is a bow mounted TM, again likely using an extension arm to control power and direction. No need to go big, a 30 lbs. thrust TM will move a kayak along at about the same speed as a larger one. Hull speed limitations. Brad

Harold, I saw Greg's video this morning, made a comment down below the video telling him it was one of his most valuable videos. I've done it a time or two in the last few years. Here in Texas, one can leave expecting one kind of weather, get to your spot and it just isn't as expected. Note the image below: Texas Bad Weather. Gosh, I've seen the same thing so many times! Brad

Darren, I have the M power and it is my favorite rod, the one rod I want most on my kayak or canoe with me. For other applications where I want to make long casts, sure, I have longer rods . . . but from the vessels I fish out of, it allows me to make more accurate casts, its shortness gives me more power over fish, tossing under docks, and on and on. I also have the 5'6" in a casting rod, love it, too. I am surprised how far it'll cast. I should admit that I'd like to own that L power spinning rod. I bet it is super! Brad

There is nothing more "finesse" than grabbing a paddle kayak, a couple of rods and a tackle bag and heading out. I find the great advantage here is, for most of us, the less fuss it is to get on and off the water, the more we get out, the more we fish. On my Propel 10, I always carry along my paddle. I pedal most of the time, use the paddle whenever I want to get into slop, fish in the pads. For this particular kayak, I fasten the two thwart bar locking tabs but leave the third unfastened so I can just grab my pedal drive and lift it out of the water. The first two NTXKC kayak angler events, the first on my home lake? They were won by paddlers! Brad

As regards a Shimano Ci4+ Stradic, if you are going to get a 2500, you might as well get the 3000. They weigh the same coming in at 6.7 ounces. The 1000 weighs 5.6 ounces so, if every ounce matters, I think it'd make sense. But this model is so light to begin with. I do use Shimano Nasci reels in the 1000 series, like them just fine at about 40% the cost of the Ci4+ Stradics. You just get so much more range of use out of the larger reels, can move it off of a light rod fishing for panfish . . . all the way up to a MH or so. I'm a kayak/canoe angler and one of my favorite rod/reel combos is a St. Croix 5'6" rod with a 3000 series Ci4+. I never leave home without it! Brad

I own one of the Bluesky 360s and it is a wonderful expansion of kayaking to boating where the gap will be filled. No doubt about it. When I stand it feels about like walking around on the deck of a bass boat. Very cool, and an electric motor is due out soon where it plugs directly into the spot where the pedal drive goes. The big advantage for me? It slides right up onto the bed of my Toyota Tacoma and I use a bed extender to keep it balanced. No trailer required. It has built in wheels to roll the thing into and out of the water. The "tongue weight" is so light, an 8 year old boy could manage it. Brad

You can find them at Bass Pro Shop. I know they are in the catalog and available mail order. Not certain if they are routinely carried in BPS stores, or not. Be certain and read the "customer comments" for suggestions on which size to purchase or get a pack of each to experiment with. I trim mine. Brad

This'd be a great rod. And, a second rod to consider from the St. Croix ML power category would be the third rod listed from the top, referred to as a drop shot/finesse rod. At some point, it really becomes a matter of personal preference selecting M versus ML. For soft, sweeping hook-sets, thinner wire hooks, lighter lines, finesse applications, I want a spinning rod that loads up well. The thing I want to avoid is a too stiff rod. Let us know what you settle on! Brad

Preach on, Toxic, preach on! No doubt about it that while the Senko can be fished many ways, on many sorts of equipment, where it really shines is taking advantage of its unique fall through the water column and using the gear that optimizes that aspect. As you and others know, this is how Gary Yamamoto, himself, fishes nowadays and has for years. Gary has gone almost exclusively to spinning tackle, eschews long casts and violent hook sets . . . for short and accurate casts; and, soft sweeping motions to pin fish. By the way, Yamamoto and I are neighbors in a manner of speaking! His resort and private lakes are about 20 minutes away from where I live on Lake Athens here in Texas. I need to get down there one day and give his lakes a go. By reservation only, as I recall. Brad

I might recommend these little gummy plastic slivers. Note that it has a pre-defined small hole on one end and the general idea is to thread that up through the hook point toward the jig head, then put on your plastic lure. Run the other end of this plastic thingy over and embed the hook point in it to cover its barb. Alternatively, this depending on the orientation of your hook eye, you can just push this little device over the eye using that same hole, then run it straight down to the hook point. These come in different sizes, can be easily trimmed to a desired length. Brad

I'm solidly in the jimmyjoe camp here regarding using spinning gear to toss Senkos and the various plastics you describe. If you are EVER going to use spinning reels, why someone would choose something else for one of the fishing presentations it offers the greatest advantage would be tough for me to square. I do get, though, that some people just prefer casting reels so much that they become very, very good at working Senkos and other finesse tactics with them. I actually saw one of the pros on a televised MLF tourny the other day using casting reels for a Senko . . . and he was peeling off line after every cast to get a straight, slow drop, not a pendulum drop where the plastic swings back toward the boat. The reel, for me would be a 3000 Stradic Ci4+, if cost isn't an issue; and, the rod would be one of the right length for how you fish (it'd be different from the bank or a boat or a kayak for me), but I'd value sensitivity over power or casting distance. Just because a Senko can be tossed a mile doesn't mean one often needs to do. So, a 7', M power, fast tip for spinning rod with your split grip preference is a real workhorse with application range. I'd go ML before I'd go MH. It's going to take time for you to get over selling your "go to" set up, likely some nightmares, waking up in a sweat. Getting your next Senko rod and reel selected right is your best chance to sleep peacefully. Ha! Brad

J Francho, it might be sort of a regional thing and a lot depends on wind. Texas is just so windy! But, we had close to 100 kayaks on Lake Athens a few weeks ago and when you looked out over the water, almost everyone is seated. There are certainly exceptions and also it depends, as you know, on the presentation. Tough to flip seated. I even stand at times in my little Propel 10 but more to move a little blood around than to fish. From my Bluesky 360? I stand the whole time but even seated, it is more or less like standing because the seat is so high. I'd sort of characterize that particular canoe, the Meyers Sportspal, as the vessel with the most range of applications for the most types of water, depth, TMs and outboards. I love them all! I need to narrow it down to one "ride" sooner or later. Brad

I have both: two kayaks and one canoe. But, while I fish out of different kayaks, there is only one canoe for me as regards fishing. While a lot of people talk about standing and fishing from kayaks, few do. Even then, for extreme ease, it is relegated to just a few bigger and wider kayaks like the Jackson Big Rig, the Hobie PA 14. But, neither of these are even close to as stable as my Meyers Sportspal S-15, not even close. As a matter of fact, two men can stand simultaneously in my canoe at the same time. I often paddle standing going out for over a mile, then back standing, too. I sit to rest or re-tie or eat lunch. Here's the deal, I think. Kayaks for fishing have rapidly moved toward pedaling over paddling. And, now they are rapidly moving toward various battery power sources. And, most kayaks generally handle better in wind than most canoes. And, kayaks are just generally deemed sexier than canoes. But, for camping with lots of gear, tandem fishing with partners/kids, lighter weight/portaging, standing ability, small outboard motors and/or trolling motors, the skinniest possible water coverage, no kayak in my book comes even remotely close to an S-13 or an S-14 Sportspal. Made of aircraft quality aluminum, they'll last a life time. Here is the S-13. Brad

A good topic! Most pro bass anglers give us liberal amounts of detailed information so at least a fun approach might have been to list which among them are "stealthy, sneaky, bas****s?" Ha! But, all kidding aside, it made me wonder if any anglers on the various trails are known for being super secretive. My guess is it could be that some of the biggest names with big sponsorships might have a secret bait for a single season. But, the sponsor is going to want to get whatever that is to the market very quickly if it proves to be a winner. Well, back to some ideas. Fish the Moment, a new entrant for me, a young man giving absolutely granular explanations of the how, when and where to find, then approach fish, then catch them. Hank Parker would be one who, with all of this information, the ever-growing knowledge base, helps anglers stay on target, reminds us of the essentials and the inviolable rules of bass fishing. Without someone helping us stay focused, we'd have to use large luggage to carry our lures and plastics we'd have so many, bringing out dozens of rods for the endless fine-tuned presentations. Hank, and a few other experienced veterans, keep us pointed to true north. Brad

Just curious if anyone familiar with Toledo Bend might know a bit about the Sabine River several miles above the main lake. There is a well-known little establishment called River Ridge, big on white bass guided trips during the spawn, other river fishing, too, I suspect. What I am particularly interested in knowing is if one launched from River Ridge, there is a place on the map known as Yellow Dog Boat Ramp, about 9.5 miles downstream. For a float trip in canoes or kayaks, what would the river conditions be like along that stretch? Flow rate, all open water or is it blocked in areas, impressions from anyone familiar with fishing up above the main lake? It looks like a really nice stretch of river to fish. It is about a 45 minute drive from Yellow Dog back up and around to get back to River Ridge, so the logistics of that would have to be worked out. Who knows . . . maybe Uber is available as one way to get back! This is on my Bucket List! Brad

Sort of odd to me how very regional tube fishing is. We rarely hear them talked about, much less see them used here in Texas. It could be two contributors are we have so few lakes and rivers with smallmouth bass . . . and we are more apt to have weedy bottoms, less gravel and rocky bottoms. If I were fishing where the OP describes, knowing Senkos work well, I'd definitely not want the relatively shorter tubes to disappear in the weeds. I'd also want a slow fall rate for more visual exposure in what is described "shallow" lake. My suggestion would be to throw your tube weightless, T-rigged and skin hook the point, using spinning tackle with 6 lbs. straight braid. It'll cast very well doing so. It should sink slowly; and, if not bitten on the slow drifting drop through the water column drop, try to anticipate when it comes in contact with the bottom weeds, then move it like a jerk bait or use an otherwise slow jerky worm-like retrieval, as you try to skim it along the top of the weeds. Anyway, the last thing you want is to have a 3.5" or so plastic disappear out of sight. Bass in shallow, weedy lakes will very likely be "looking up" for their next meals. Brad

Nothing very large for me lately. I went out yesterday, weather was warmer, and I caught a couple very quickly, then stopped to chat with a neighbor sitting on his boathouse deck across the cove from me. I might have had 5 or so but lost too much time. Today? The weather here on Lake Athens, Texas took a turn toward colder weather so instead of dropping my canoe in the lake, I just made casts off my boathouse deck. 20 casts with a jig head and Keitech plastic, moving the lure along slowly? No bass love shown to me, not a nibble. So, before I left, I thought about making a cast and letting it sink to the bottom and I then nudged it back sort of like working a T-Rigged worm . . . and on about the 3rd twitch of my rod, one jumped on it. No, not very large, but I'll go to sleep with a smile on my face! Brad

Well, just above freezing this AM; but, yesterday as soon as I got home from the gym, I hit the water around 4 PM in a short sleeved shirt, my Meyers Sportspal S-15 Canoe down at the boathouse ready to be dropped into Lake Athens (Texas). Dead water, misty-like and overcast and I threw a Keitech shad on a new jig head I just love. Too, I had never used Spike-It before but had picked up a bottle of it a day earlier, dipped the plastic tail into it . . . pretty cool. I'm not at all familiar with how it manages to stain the plastic (chartreuse/yellow) and dry so fast, and how its garlic smell is so long-lasting, but it is just so. Heck, this morning, the spare bedroom where I keep my fishing gear, where that bait is dangling from the line still? The room smells like an Italian restaurant. So, i caught two nice bass in just a few minutes. I'd have likely caught 5 or so but stopped to chat with a friend at his boathouse. While we were talking, I was making casual casts, this one jumped on the hook. He took this pic but it makes the bass look smaller than it was. Yes, I was using my 5'6" St. Croix spinning rod, M power. It is the one I never leave at home when I fish from my canoe or kayak. Brad