Aaron_H

Just a couple little guys from earlier while experimenting with the Owner single replacement hooks on a jerkbait from another thread. Too early to make a verdict, but results so far are positive. First one hit hard on the twitch and got the front hook right in the corner of the mouth, second one grabbed it on the pause and got the middle hook right through the nose. Also the hookup ratio on that 3" Savage Gear pulse tail RTF bluegill (say that five times fast) is proving to be pretty disappointing so far.

You've already gotten some great advice on things to try, but I just wanted to say that it is never dumb to seek advice or try to learn something new. We all started from square one and there is always something new to learn for even the most experienced angler. I will throw the jerkbait into the mix, very productive technique to get some confidence in.

You can find good deals on the SLX combo. A couple of reputable sites sell the combo for around $140. I don't think you will find a better rod/reel combo at that price.

No problem. So when the lure is moving, the trebles won't just be hanging straight down, they will usually press up against the bait (or back away from it in the case of the rear treble). Because of this, you want your front/middle hook to be attached in the direction that you have the one shank pointing straight down when the hook is pressed against the bait. But for the rear hook, when it's pulled away from the lure you want that one hook pointing straight up, the reverse of the other two. This will give you better hookups in my experience with fish that just slap at the back of the bait. Basically, Berkley had all three trebles facing the same direction, perfect for the first two but backwards for the rear one. Side note, the way I'm holding the lure in the second picture makes my hand look super weird. ? The trebles wouldn't site quite right against the flat surface in the first pic but hanging down you can see how they should lay.

Those are some nice bass, man. Good to see you succeeding after the heartbreak of losing several lures in a row. Keep it up!

Double uni is my leader connection knot of choice, properly tied it's more than strong enough for most applications.

This feels like such an easy thing for companies to get behind, but so few baits come stock with one.

Interesting. I only picked up two of them to try, but the hooks weren't particularly sharp out of the box on either of mine. They lightly scratch my fingernail but don't dig at all. I lost most of the strikes I got the day I fished it. I swapped the hooks on one and sharpened the ones on the other, so we'll see. I really like the action of them and they definitely get bit, I'll be picking up a couple more. I won't hold the hooks against them, dull hooks will happen on large production runs from any company and it's completely possible I just got unlucky.

Just a mini update: I only have the 1/0 size Owner single hooks from when I was testing them on lipless baits (to replace size 4 trebles), put them on one of my 1/2 oz jerkbaits that uses size 6 trebles. I was worried they would be too big/heavy, but on my food scale the bait still weighs the same with the bigger single hooks versus the trebles. Action doesn't seem to be affected, still good wide slashing action. Just made a few casts out back so I can't comment on hookup ratio yet but I'll fish with it the next few trips and see how it does.

Negative on an exact match. I believe they have a few green pumpkin/watermelon laminates (Sooner Run, Double Trouble, Sure Thing) but all of them have red flake instead of just black. Dark Melon is kind of in between the two, but not a laminate.

I wouldn't usually hit the same spot twice in one weekend, but I was still a little chapped about losing that big girl on Fri so decided to try my luck there today. Bite was much slower, but first fish of the day on jerkbait was 3lb 5oz so I took that as a good sign. ...Which quickly led to more consternation. 45 minutes in and I lost yet another big one on a jump. She was every bit as big as the one I lost Friday. Hurray She threw the lipless, which surprised me as I generally don't lose many fish on a lipless, may have just had her skin hooked or something. Rest of the evening continued to be mostly an exercise in futility but stuck with it. Lost a pretty nice crappie right at the bank, got a couple more bass under 2lb. On the way back I managed to hook into one more nice fish on the lipless. Got off 4 jumps and never came unpinned, dunno what happened with the other one but thems the breaks sometimes. This one came in at 5lb 9oz, a nice consolation for an otherwise frustrating weekend. Ended up with 7 bass total. And of course my at-this-point-obligatory tilapia catch. Ended up with three of them today, I don't think I'll ever begin to make a dent in their population.

I've played with the Owner single replacement on lipless baits here and there and haven't experienced any loss of hookup ratio with them. I haven't used them on jerkbaits yet but I may put some time into that and see. If I do I'll update.

If you are willing to branch out from the Yamamotos, the BPS Stik-O comes in 5 3/8" which would be right in your sweet spot. Looking at underwater footage I cannot personally tell the difference in fall rate/action between it and the Senko, it has been my stick bait of choice for about five years now and has produced some excellent fish. Zero issues throwing it weightless on a baitcaster, as well. I think the 30 packs are on sale right now for around $8.

It's a touch shorter than 7', but the 6'10" medium Shimano rods (in whichever line fits your budget) would do well enough at any of these techniques. I use mine for jerkbaits and weightless senkos primarily, but I have thrown lipless cranks and squarebills on it and it does well, enough bend to keep the fish buttoned up but still stiff enough to rip the lipless and get crisp action on the jerkbait.

Was just coming here to post that, excellent deal on some really good budget lures. $4.49 for the Ultimate Jerk Shad is a steal.

Yeah the cloud cover was a (small) blessing that day. Didn't stop us from being absolutely drenched in sweat but probably saved the bite a bit. Your post about catching them in the dead heat of July reminded me of that day. A lot of summer days are just dinkfests for me, but every now and then I'll be fortunate to happen across a bigger one. I'll be out there either way, can't catch any bass from the couch. The only weather that's a hard no for me is lightning.

Today was frustrating with a capital F. Hit up the spot from Monday to see if that high water situation still had the bass pushed up shallow. They were still chewing pretty good, but it was just one of those days for me. I lost probably twice as many as I caught, and lost all four bigger fish I hooked into. Ended the day with only ten bass and five tilapia. Was throwing the Stunna in gold that I just picked up. Action is great but I'm not a fan of the Fusion19 trebles on it, the ones I got are not very sharp out of the box (I feel like a $15 lure should be ready to go right out of the box but maybe that's just me). Had three big fish spit it, one threw it on the jump and she was a biiig girl, she was easily 8lbs. That one was pretty demoralizing....Out of all the bites I got with it, I only landed two small bass on it. Both about the same size. Most of the fish were on a Booyah One Knocker, mostly dinks but a couple of "slightly" better 1.5lbers or so. Had one eat it pretty good head first. Thankfully no hook in the gills, just one hook right in the top of the mouth. And what would a trip be for me without catching more of these buggers..... I seriously cannot escape them.

The most miserable conditions, but the big ones still gotta eat. July 26, 2018. Upper-80s, zero wind, unbelievably muggy and miserable, getting torn up by mosquitoes. But the big girl came out to play and ate my chatterbait right at the bank, came in right at 7lb 0oz.

Second part of the order showed up today. Made a couple of casts with the Stunnas in the canal out back just to see, they look great in the water but sink a tiny bit faster than I expected. Not a problem, though. Hardware is solid, but they have the rear treble backwards IMO, I prefer the point facing up instead of down on the rear ones. Split rings feel great, a size smaller than I typically use but pretty stout, only thing I did besides turning the rear treble around was swap the line tie for an oval split ring. The little 3" Savage Gear bluegill looks fantastic, but I didn't get to cast it much to check out the action. Picture quality is bad, I know (damaged phone), but the colors look fantastic in person. Very much a spot on shellcracker imitation. I can definitely see myself checking out the 4" version as well as the 4" Baitfish RTF if these perform well.

That I cannot answer, perhaps I am just the Tilapia Whisperer™ ? I'm not sure what, if anything, has changed. I have fished these types of lures for years but have only started catching tilapia in significant numbers over the last 18ish months. Plenty of vegetation and their usual forage available, but they are just super aggressive in a few of the ponds I frequent. I thought it was just aggression protecting their beds around the spawn when I first started getting them, but it's become a year-round bite.

I use my memory, but I keep it relatively simple and have less than 20 combos to keep track of. I'm not going to judge others for having difficulty or needing a tool to help. I had a bad concussion as a young adult after flipping a car and have noticed lapses in memory here and there as I get further into my thirties. If someone tried to tell me those issues were because I was lazy or because I use a cell phone I'd tell them to kick rocks, you do not know everyone's circumstances.

I will preface this by saying that I am still very much an amateur with a jerkbait and I have no doubt that you will get some extremely in-depth answers here soon from our more knowledgeable members, but this is how I've been approaching the technique lately and have had some moderate success. For my setup, I'm using a 6'10" medium SLX rod paired with a standard SLX HG (the 7.2:1, you want a little faster reel since you're working the bait with the rod and only reeling to pick up slack and for fighting the fish). If I could start over, I would go with the SLX MGL, as it can handle the lighter jerkbaits better, but the regular SLX does very well with any jerkbait 3/8-1/2 oz. I personally like the characteristics of braid for how easy it is to impart action to the jerkbait, so I use 30lb PowerPro to a 15lb mono leader (for extra stretch and for helping keep the hooks from fouling the line as it is stiffer than braid). As long as you have your drag set properly, the medium power rod has enough bend in it to keep the trebles pinned. If braid freaks you out with those little trebles, 10-12lb mono or fluoro will be your friend here. Or throw them on a M/MF or MH/MF rod. You will figure out the system that works best for how you fish them. Next is figuring out what buoyancy will work best for you. There are three main categories to consider, suspending (sit still on the pause, although this is heavily dependent on water temp, most will sloooowly rise or fall), slow risers (which will slowly float to the surface on the pause) and slow sinking (just what the name says). I fish all three, but I've had the most success in my waters with slow risers. You can always play with hook size and/or Suspend Dots to alter the buoyancy if you feel like it. I like slow risers in general as a starting base because you can always add more weight to get it right, you cannot always remove weight. My best producing jerkbait is, believe it or not, the Academy H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad. It's a Vision 110 copy, and while it is not quite the premium bait the Megabass is, for $5.99 it is a must have in the tackle box. Rapala Shadow Rap (slow sink) Shadow Rap Shad (slow rise), and Husky Jerk (suspending) are also quality baits on a budget. I'll be giving the Berkley Stunna a try here soon too, but I've heard great things. 13 Fishing Whipper Snapper, Jackall Rerange, Lucky Craft Pointer, it's a huge category with tons of quality baits. The last thing to consider is your cadence, how quickly you work the bait. I think of it in terms of reps/sets. A rep is one twitch, and a set being the series of twitches before a long pause. I typically do sets of 2-4 reps with a pause anywhere between just a couple of seconds to 5-10 seconds. This is going to depend on a few things, including water temp and fish activity. If they're actively feeding, speed it up to trigger bites. If they're more lethargic, slow it down, not just more time between sets but also longer pauses between reps. It's not always the same day-do-day even in the same fishery, but you will figure out what works for you. I always start fast and slow down if I need to. Hope that helps.

For the centrifugal brakes, I'm almost always set and forget and only fiddle with spool tension if there is a drastic weight difference between what I'm swapping between. Otherwise thumb control all the way. The only time I will change the internal brakes is if I'm dealing with extreme winds; either 3 or 4 on depending on what I'm throwing, otherwise 2 or 3 on is my normal.

As a power fisherman.....