PhishLI

I tried it just once, and that was the last time. Forever. Beauty of a 24 1/2" bass. First shot from straight on looked like one of those eerie dead-eyed civil war portraits, and only half of the fish. The second, with camera at a lower angle, cut off part of the fish's tail, my smile could've been mistaken for pain, I had a piece of broccoli between my teeth, a booger in my left nostril, and my god I'm getting a double chin. And that's all she wrote.

Oh. I see @LrgmouthShad lent you the "How to smile for selfies" DVD that @TnRiver46 sent him.?

I got you, mang.

I use 3 rods on my yak. A 6'6" MF spinning rig. A 7'MH casting rated to 3/4 oz or sometimes a 7'3" MH casting rated to 1 oz depending on conditions, and a 7'3" HF rated to 1 1/2 ozs. The spinning setup is 15lb braid to leader. The MH casting setup is braid or braid to leader, but usually straight braid. The heavy is usually 20lb Big Game Mono. I keep a reel with 50lb braid in my bag just in case. No big deal to swap if I need to. Apart from swimbaits over 1 3/4 oz, or deep cranking, there's not much I can't get done with these three rods each playing multiple roles. I get that some people enjoy being OCD about specific setups being used for only specific baits, but I feel that on a yak I get to stretch the rules. It works out just fine the majority of the time.

It's this one for sure. Rated at 3/4oz but weighs 1 oz in total without a trailer. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-PICASSO.html?from=basres

Pack extra Kleenex for your tears of joy.

If you have Bluegill/Bream/ Punpkinseed on beds...these 3 baits get hammered often in ponds I fish during that period. No specialized gear needed. A HF rod rated to 1 1/2ozs and a reel spooled with 20lb Berkeley Big Game mono will do the trick quite nicely. Black Dog Baits Shellcracker G2 Jackall Gantarel Jr. Beast Coast Miyagi Swimmer/ Owner Beast Hook 1/4oz Weighted.

This 1 oz jig came with a unusual rattle collar with rattles on flying rubber leads. Has a wire keeper. Rips through heavy weed beds great. Unfortunately it dropped behind a shelf last summer without the trailer removed, so the salt ate the hook. I looked hard, but I can't ID it. Any ideas, or a close relative? TIA!

55-60

Have you played with adjusting your entry point of the skip closer to the target? Also, as @T-Billy said, no crime in adding a dash of spool tension with this reel if you need to. It isn't a Daiwa where this is viewed as blasphemy, even though it 'aint.

So??? Did you grab something in stock at BPS?

They can't seem to get Basstrakk updated. Odd. Swindle is listed as No activity, but keeps catching fish. No, just heard Zona talking about. Glad I didn't. I'd rather not see it.

Everyone gets to do their very own thing however they like. Personally I never stop fishing to fix baits. I do it during down time, and at maybe 10 seconds per repair, if that, I can find the time. IMO, superglue repairs wreck soft baits, especially GY senkos. I've blown up a few spools after they've split apart just outside the rigid repair. Talk about a time waster on the water. That's an understandable way to look at, especially if it works for you. However, I have clear enough memories of when I couldn't just buy what I wanted when I wanted to. Me and my monkey have already lit enough money on fire for green fish, and I'm never going to stop spending on this hobby, so I can justify doing so by stretching a buck where and when I can. Besides that, I've always liked fixing things.

Provide details about the rod you're using.

If you want to walk in and out of BPS with something before this weekend: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-johnny-morris-platinum-signature-casting-rod A step up in a mag brake reel: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/daiwa-tatula-100-baitcast-reel

Lemme know where you buy your senkos. They're $8.99 + tax per bag around here.

My buddy picked up a few Big Blade Chatter Baits. He said he rigged a Magdraft Freestyle on one of them. Interesting.

Take a look at this rigging. I don't miss many fish that bite it since I figured this one out. I do bend this particular hook slightly towards the eye, swap out the stock spring lock for the Large Owner CPS, then add a glass rattle. The L CPS won't core out the bait easily like the stock one does, even after several fish, and the glass rattle adds a little attractant.

Where I fish we have huge Lily pad fields, and I fish right in them a lot. When I've snagged a jig or a big single hook swimbait in them I've never broken off at the knot using 40 lb Daiwa J8 when trying to break them loose. I have with 30lb, but not often. I stick to 50lb J8 for frogs though. With 2 big hooks and hero hook sets I prefer not to break off and leave a fish to live with a frog stuck in its mouth.

I ordered two 2pc rods that came in the triangle pack. They weren't crushed thankfully. My brother ordered a 1pc that came in bashed 3 times before they failed to destroy it on the 4th go around. So yes, they're good about it, but if you're in a rush I wouldn't go that route, even though they'll make it right eventually.

Many rods you can get on amazon come in a triangular cardboard box. Don't bother unless you're able to confirm that the shipper uses an actual rod tube.

If I left the phone in the car and my wife couldn't reach me all I'd catch is a beating.

Plenty of good lakes close to home, plus my waders get like a 1000 miles to the gallon.

I do OK throwing chatter baits. Sometimes quite well, but I focus on throwing different baits more often. One of my main fishing buds kills throwing them. Not all the time, but quite often, and he's put together a very nice string of 6+ pounders throwing them over the past few seasons, along with plenty of 4s and 5s. Up here in the Northeast we have bigger fish, but a 6+ pounder doesn't come easy. It's a very good day when you bag one. Initially I accepted the idea of a do-nothing trailer like a Zako or Razor shad. Sometimes a Rage Menace or a fluke, but I rarely had much luck, just occasionally. Fishing math isn't quite linear though. There could've been several factors at play that lead to my poor results. However, once I switched trailers types and tried the Culprit Incredi-Slim and the Missile baits Baby D-stroyer my fortunes changed significantly. The subtle appendages working behind the CB "seemed" to be a difference maker. Both trailers became mainstays for me. Back to my buddy. He uses absurdly large swim bait trailers on bladed jigs. Like 5.8 and 6.8 Keitech fats rigged normally. Not flipped upside down. Sometimes it's a big salt water boot or paddle tail swimmer he's found. He mixes it up. A 4 3/4" Beast Coast Miyagi is a beefy bait for its length, and fished on a swimbait hook it's not overwhelming looking at all, but it looks kooky rigged onto a bladed jig, especially if you're accustomed to typical diminutive trailers. In this case the Miyagi is one of the smaller trailers he uses. A few weeks ago I showed up to the lake with a 5" Zman Diesel Minnow rigged on a chatter bait, which if I'm being honest looked kind of goofy to me. I showed it to my bud affirming that I was finally on-board with the idea. He dug into his bag and pulled out one of his CBs with a 7" Diesel Minnow, which I was unaware of him using previously. Like I said, he believes in them, and for good reason. I got plenty of bites that day and bagged a 2 1/2 and a 4-13. I'm not claiming oversized trailers are the way to go, but what I can say is that they shouldn't be excluded as an option because they do get bit. Or, if you prefer, they are definitely not rejected. In fact, a week later I caught the largest fish I've ever pulled out of this particular lake at 7-6 using one rigged with the 5" Diesel Minnow. For what it's worth it wasn't flipped upside down either. I know somewhere on these pages I've read that @Bluebasser86 likes an upsized trailer sometimes, so I'm not alone on an island with this one. I think it's worth a shot if you've had sketchy results throwing bladed jigs, or have been striking out completely with them. 5" trailer shown on top. 7" below.

Most of my waters very are shallow, like 6 ft, sometimes 8ft. It's hard for me to keep 1/2 oz CBs from plowing in to the muck. No problem controlling 3/8oz though. 1/2 oz only gets used at deeper lakes.