Aaron_H

I just picked three up today based on some older posts by @Bluebasser86. Two in Crackle and one in Ghost Shad. Swapped out the split rings for an Owner #4 oval line tie and Gamakatsu #3 Superlines, and hooks to #6 Gamakatsu EWG trebles. Walked out back just to make sure it suspended right with the new hardware and caught a bass on the second cast. Suspends perfectly and great action on the twitch. I've only fished with a handful of jerkbaits as it's never been a strength of mine (changing this year!), but I'm very impressed with the lure for only $6. Even with the hooks/rings I'm still only ~9 bucks. I'd pay $10 for this easily if Academy just put good hardware on it from the get-go, but it's an industry-wide problem so I can't single them out for it.

Just an itty bitty guy, but always nice to catch a fish in your backyard. Went out behind the house to make sure a jerkbait was suspending properly after a hardware swap, couple of twitches and POW, little guy smoked it. Shout out to the H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad. Fantastic action for such an inexpensive lure. I'll definitely be picking up a few more.

I have the previous model Defy Black (with the cork handle), 7'1" MH/F. It's a great jig rod for $60, nice parabolic action if that's your deal for jigs. I ended up preferring a faster action for jigs so I don't throw them on it anymore, but it handles them very well. Sensitive and light for the price, punches above its price point much like the Aird-X does IMO. I've thrown traps on it, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, Texas rigs, topwater. Good do-all rod with nice backbone but that softer tip.

Stopped into Academy today for a quick jerkbait purchase. Been hearing too many good things about the H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad, so picked up two in Crackle and one in Ghost Shad to test out. Got the hooks and split rings swapped, tested it in the canal out back and dang...they suspend great. For six bucks (plus hardware upgrade) I do believe I will be picking up more, looking forward to throwing them this week.

Dobyns Shimano 13 Fishing Fenwick Star Rods

Excellent choice. I had to order a handful of extras when TW got them back in stock.

A true crankbait rod + reel will be a little tough in that budget, a Dobyns Colt 705CB + Shimano Caius would be $10 over. Lots of rods on the lower end tend to be more parabolic than their rating, though. A Daiwa Aird-X 7' Medium/Fast + Shimano SLX would be right at $150 and should handle the technique fairly well.

Nothing crazy, but this is what I'm working with at the moment: Spinning: Rod: 7'0" M/XF Shimano SLX | Reel: Quantum Smoke S3 PT Inshore 25 | Line: Power Pro Super Slick 10lb mainline to 8lb Trilene Big Game mono leader | Technique: Ned rig, bigger panfish presentations, lighter finesse. Rod: 7'0" M/XF Shimano SLX | Reel: Quantum Smoke S3 PT Inshore 25 | Line: Power Pro Super Slick 15lb mainline to 12lb Trilene Big Game mono leader | Technique: Wacky rig, smaller jerkbaits, general finesse. Casting: Rod: Dobyns Fury 705CB | Reel: SLX DC 151HG | Line: Power Pro 30lb mainline to 15lb Trilene Big Game mono leader | Technique: Lipless crankbaits. Rod: 6'10" M/XF Shimano SLX | Reel: Shimano SLX 151HG | Line: Power Pro 30lb mainline to 12lb Trilene Big Game mono leader | Technique: Jerkbaits, smaller topwater, weightless senkos. Rod: 7'2" MH/XF Shimano SLX | Reel: Shimano SLX 151HG | Line: Power Pro 40lb mainline to 20lb Seaguar Premier fluoro leader | Technique: Jigs, Texas rigs. Rod: 7'2" H/F Shimano SLX | Reel: Shimano SLX 151HG | Line: Power Pro 50lb | Technique: Frogs, heavy jigs. Rod: 7'1" MH/F 13 Fishing Defy Black | Reel: Shimano SLX 151 | Line: Power Pro 30lb mainline to 15lb Trilene Big Game mono leader | Technique: Chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, bigger topwater. Rod: 7'2" M/XF Shimano SLX | Reel: Abu Garcia Pro Max | Line: Power Pro 30lb mainline to 20lb Seaguar Premier fluoro leader | Technique: Weightless senko, light Texas rigs, finesse jigs, underspins. Need to replace the Abu, it was my first baitcaster that I learned on but it's....not enjoyable to use. It's okay for what I'm doing with it now but it's got to go. Will eventually replace the jerkbait reel with an SLX MGL and move the standard SLX over to retire the Pro Max. Other than that, no other imminent goals for the lineup. Just slow upgrades.

I typically fish 110-125 days a year. Definitely less than 5-6 times per week, but I usually have long stretches where I will fish that often. Then (because hurray Florida) I might have to take a week or two off because of lightning storms in the summer, so it lowers my average. Haven't gotten burned out yet. Even the days when I'm hitting the same spots or throwing the same presentations, the bite is always different enough to keep it interesting. The fish are almost never static, so there is always a new puzzle to solve and that keeps me invested.

Still on my 2022 jerkbait grind, definitely gaining a lot of confidence over the past two weeks. Today was the first ones with any decent size to them. Managed a 3lb 11oz and a 3lb 9oz on the Rapala Shadow Rap Shad I found last week. Got a mess of tilapia on it, as well. Also managed a 4lb 10oz on a Toledo gold One Knocker, biggest of the year so far. No giants yet but 2022 is still young, just happy to be getting decent quality fish early into my jerkbait venture.

Another +1 for Tackle Direct's shipping, Bought a few saltwater rods from them and all showed up in the standard sturdy cardboard tubes.

Well, I'm a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. system, but some techniques are harder for me to do that with than others. Over the last year I've been throwing: BPS Stik-O 5" (green pumpkin, watermelon/red, junebug, white) Bitter's Salty Sling 5" (Fire & Ice) Baby Brush Hog (Watermelon/red, green pumpkin) Strike King Ned Bug (watermelon/red) Missle Baits Ned Bomb (Super bug) Strike King Hack Attack jig (green pumpkin craw, black/blue) Strike King Skipping Jig (watermelon/red) Rage Craw (green pumpkin, watermelon/red, black/blue) Rage Bug (green pumpkin, watermelon/red) Chatterbait (green pumpkin, white/chart) Zako (green pumpkin, white) Strike King spinnerbait (white/chart) Whopper Plopper 110 (loon) Zara Super Spook Jr. (white/red, black/chart) R2S Bully Wa II (Little Allen) Rapala Husky Jerk (olive ghost) Rapala RipStop (carbon) Rapala Shadow Rap (olive ghost) Rapala Shadow Rap Shad (Halloween) Strike King Red-Eyed Shad (gold/black, bluegill, blue gizzard shad, chili craw) Rapala Rattlin' Rapala (bluegill) Berkley Warpig (gold/black) Booyah One Knocker (copper shiner, flashy momma, Toledo gold) Thunderhawk Sergeant rattling (gold/black, bluegill, bone) Thunderhawk Sergeant silent (gold/black) Yo-Zuri LiveBait Shallow Vibe (gold/black) I think that's it. Having it typed up, it surprised me that I didn't throw any lizards or ribbontail worms over the past year. Both have been big producers for me in the past, should break them out this year for sure. Lipless cranks are the hardest category for me to simplify since sound profile is my top consideration for the technique.

Are we talking lure types (i.e. jerkbait, squarebill, worm) or specific lures (Rat-L-Trap, Vision 110, Zara Spook, etc.)?

Yep, Ande's mono and fluoro is almost all I use for leaders when I'm fishing offshore for snapper and grouper. I haven't used the Back Country specifically, but the brand puts out a good product.

For sure, boiling is an easy enough fix. But when I buy plastics I expect them to be ready to go out of the package. When half of the product needs fixing...there's a problem. Love Zoom's products, but I'm not on their payroll so why am I doing quality assurance on their stuff.....? ?

If you're seeing alligator gar that far south, I would contact FWC. I'm sure their biologists would be very interested in seeing their range grow again. They're typically only found in the panhandle. Sounds like quite the (almost) catch, though!

As others said, a fluke is gonna get bit regardless of the name on the package. One thing I will say is that as much as I hate excess plastic waste, the clamshell packaging keeps the baits from getting bent and kinked like so many of the Zoom flukes do.

2022 is the 'Year of the Jerkbait' for me. I've fished them a little bit in the past, but never enough to develop confidence or trigger fish consistently, but plan on changing that this year. Already some promising results in the past week, had a big one on yesterday but she managed to shake free. But it gives me some confidence that I can trigger big bites, just need to fine tune.

That's an H2O Xpress crankbait from Academy. They make a handful of surprisingly nice hard baits for a store brand once you swap out the hardware. Nice find!

I have never caught a single fish on a topwater popper. Now if I throw topwater it's a spook, a whopper plopper, or a frog.

Found a Shadow Rap Shad in Halloween yesterday while beating the banks at my favorite spot. No rust on the hardware, I believe it was lost by a couple of guys I saw fishing there late in the evening the day prior. Zero rust on the hardware, but I'm not a fan of the hooks/rings on Rapala baits so swapped them for Owner rings and size 6 Gamakatsu EWG trebles. Going to try throwing it today and see how it does. Softens the blow a little since I lost two lipless cranks in the past two days at this spot. Been fishing there for almost six years, just when you think you know where every snag is located....

I'd have to go with a 1/2 oz gold Red-Eyed Shad, or a bluegill Rattlin' Rapala. It would make some of my favorite spots off limits, but that just gives me more time to focus on other favorite spots, I guess. If I wanted one lure I could be successful with anywhere I fish, it would be a watermelon/red Stik-O.

I've caught a handful off of beds, it's not terribly different from a bedding bass. I just pitch a small soft plastic, get it right in the center of their bed and let it sit. They'll pick it up to get it off their bed, guaranteed. My most productive time for them is in the late fall when bass are schooling up the small shad, they aggressively hit lipless crankbaits and other small baitfish profiles. FWC says they don't eat baitfish, but I'd like to introduce them to a few of my ponds....

Blue tilapia, most likely. Just gotta know how to trigger 'em! ? I ended up catching just over 50 of them this year, biggest one was 7lb 2oz. This one here went 8lb 10oz.

I have many days where I'll catch a handful (or more) of tilapia in between the bass. Especially one pond where the tilapia are very aggressive strikers on crankbaits and chatterbaits. The occasional crappie and sunfish, as well.