Aaron_H

This fish bent out multiple Gamakatsu EWG trebles on a jerkbait. It's been a few years but IIRC 3 of the 5 hooks that were in her were bent out. I have since switched to Mustad 1x strong 2x short and have no issues.

Congrats and welcome to the lunker club. Awesome fish, bud, you love to see it.

I may be mistaken, but is this your first over 8lbs?

I've been using this one for 2-ish years now, I have had no issues. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Rapala_High_Contrast_Digital_Scale_50lb/descpage-RHCDS.html

Only sometimes, but I appreciate the vote of confidence. Phil's advice will get you bit for sure. Junebug is as close to a magic color as you can get for Florida. Watermelon/red or green pumpkin for clear water, or white if they're feeding hard on shad. A weightless Texas- or wacky-rigged Senko is another surefire way to get bit if the bite is slow, like Geo mentioned. Most of the fish should be post spawn now. I tend to focus on moving baits this time, lipless crank and bladed jig, spinnerbait, etc. Last time I was out, the fish were pushing shad up against the banks/into pockets, a lipless, squarebill, or spinnerbait would be ideal there, chrome or shad patterns should work well.

Glad to hear from you. Coincidentally I had been browsing the Southeast forum and was wondering how you were doing just a few days before @SC53 posted this. Praying your recovery goes well and you are able to get out there and do some fishing. @Swamp Girl I shot Alex a private message a little over a week ago, no response as of yet. Hope things are okay with him, too.

That's my father's go-to paired with an underspin. Great little bait, though I mostly use the Mayor these days myself. Nice catches! I need to take a break from the moving baits and pick the jig back up soon, those bites are addicting!

No words, what an awesome day. Congrats!

I had an 8-10 that never jumped during the fight, she stayed down until I got her all the way to the bank. Halfway through the fight, I thought maybe I had foul hooked a big grass carp until I saw color. But even then, she still had big head shakes and made several strong runs, the fight still felt like a bass, just minus the acrobatics. I thought I had the bass of a lifetime for that first 20 seconds of the fight the other day before I realized I had snagged a gator. Hell of a fight on a crankbait rod, but seeing it helped ease the pain since I knew it wasn't a bass.

Stopped into the Tampa Bass Pro today to pick up some ammo and decided to see if they had any fishing stuff. I've only ever been to the Orlando location, this one definitely had a reduced selection in comparison. However, they did have the new Knockin version of the Hammer Trap, so I picked up two in gold/black, then grabbed 3 colors of the standard one that I wanted to try, as well as two packs of the 5.5" Spunk Shads to see how they do in comparison to the 4.5" I've used.

Lipless cranks are my tackle addiction, close to 100 of them currently. I have them organized by general sound profile: rattling, knocker, and silent. And with the rattling and knocking categories they are organized by pitch or volume. I use a knocking bait a lot in the fall, as the water starts to cool a bit, rattle bait a lot in the spring and summer, and silent whenever the fish are pressured or I'm in high visibility conditions. But I'll admit a lot of this is probably more in my head than the fish's. Straight retrieve: Rat-L-Trap is the king, Rapala Rattlin' Rap for a more subtle sound (inasmuch as subtle can be used with regards to a lipless). I like the Rapala a lot in late summer, especially the 07 size in bluegill. Hopping, yo-yo, burn/pause, etc retrieves: Thunderhawk Sergeant (rattling and silent versions), Booyah One Knocker, SK Red-Eye Shad/2-tap. The Thunderhawk is a good combination of features, has a great shimmy on the fall and sits nose down on the bottom every time much like the Jackall TN, great vibration. Rotating hook hangers help keep fish from locking up the trebles and getting leverage. Red-Eye Shad needs no explanation, and people can dog the Booyah for not living up to the Xcalibur, but in my experience it does very well on a yo yo retrieve and gets hit on the pause more often than on a straight retrieve. Great sound profile. The normal RES is super loud in the water, and it vibrates so hard you can feel it in your bones, definitely one of the more aggressive lipless that I fish. The 2-tap version still vibrates like crazy but it's got a high pitch knock, not quite tinny but in that ballpark, whereas the Booyah One Knocker is a much deeper sound. I have a bunch of others that I play with to see if they're worth it, the H2OX 5/8oz RT/Medium profile lipless is a good one as long as you upgrade the hardware. The 6th Sense Quake suspending has been interesting playing with a burn/pause retrieve. Need to throw the Bill Lewis Hammer Trap more here soon, that one seems promising. They just came out with a knocking version too that I'll end up ordering. I try to keep colors to basic categories, but I'll admit I probably have too many variations at this point. My go to colors are gold, bluegill, and some sort of shad pattern. Rat-L-Trap: Blueberry perch, chrome/blue back. Rattlin Rap': Bluegill, baby bass. Thunderhawk Sergeant: Shad, Bait, Gold, Bone, Bluegill. RES: Bluegill, Gold/black, Blue gizzard shad. One Knocker: Flashy Momma, Copper Shiner, Bling.

That is no joke, Dwight is a hammer.

I may still have a few packs around of both sizes (I think in watermelon/red or green pumpkin), not sure if I gave them away or not. I bought them for a bladed jig trailer and the tail looks incredible in the water, but I just didn't get bit on it like with the Zako.

"Back" is a strong word considering how little I've been able to fish lately, but I sure do appreciate it! Been able to get out 3 times in 2026 so far (missed all of February sadly) which is already 75% of my trips last year so here's to hoping. It definitely felt great to be out there again and I was fortunate to connect with a quality fish and some decent numbers. I'd like to break the 8lb mark this year, last one was Dec 2024.