Aaron_H

Also an A++ lipless crank rod.

I don't pay any attention to the load of the rod when working the bait, the rod loads when I am casting, and when I am fighting a fish. Working the bait is about slack line. Stiffer rod or less line stretch will allow you to work the bait with less effort, but a softer rod will load deeper and keep those trebles pinned. Gotta find the balance that works for you, but the Expride 6'10" M/MF is a fine example of that balance IMO. I use the 6'10" M in the SLX A line and it works well. YMMV

I'll give up my Berkley Big Game when you can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

I originally titled this I Guess 2025 Came Early

Thanks, y'all. It's been a tough grind since I was last on a decent hot streak, so these two felt real nice to get finally. The year's not over yet! There might still be something left for me in 2024, but I'm 100% satisfied if I ended the year on this note. @AlabamaSpothunter I believe this is only the second time I've broken 20lb from the bank, definitely unexpected, I was already a happy camper with the 8, let alone getting a 7 on top of that. Gotta love that lipless bite, when it's hot it's HOT.

Got out this evening for a few hours before dark at one of my favorite spots, started fishing right at 2:00. I really wanted to try out the new reel I picked up for my chatterbait setup, and managed a small bass right off the bat with it. Before moving down the bank, I picked up the lipless and worked my way through the spot again, and second cast with it I hooked into this big girl: My biggest of 2024 so far and will be my first FWC TrophyCatch submission in almost 2 years. Finished working the area some more but no other bites after releasing her, so I moved on. Bite slowed but I was getting them here and there, mostly against grass lines. Got a 2.84 and this 4.52 on the chatterbait out of a windblown corner. I like this Curado 150 MGL quite a lot so far. Worked my way back towards where I was parked, threw the lipless around some more active feeding I was seeing, and ended the night with another big girl, my second biggest (barely) of the year: Unfortunately, the treble just barely got her in the gill she didn't bleed when I got the hook out, it wasn't until I got her up for the picture that I noticed she had started to bleed so the picture turned out bad. Got her back in the water until the bleeding slowed, then got a weight and sat with her in the water until the bleeding stopped and she had a strong release. Both of the big lipless fish made strong runs and multiple jumps and stayed pegged. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I've finally got my lipless setup dialed in to maximize my landing ratio (as much as I can, at least). Star of the show tonight was this lipless, 3/4 oz Thunderhawk Sergeant in the new Shad color. Ended with 9 total, those were the only ones worth weighing, plus a few 1 pounders. Puts my 5 fish bag at roughly 23.6lbs for the evening.

This would be hell on my knees and back, I think I would throw a heavier lipless or lighter line if I needed to get it down deeper before I did this. Not saying it doesn't catch fish, though.

I hope for a personal best each year, so that is my hope for 2025. Barring that, at least getting into more in the 7+ class range, only one this year and one last year. My plan is to jerkbait fish hard in the next couple of months and fingers crossed I'll hook into a jumbo. But overall I just want to be able to get out more than I did this year and have fun fishing.

Those dragonfly soft plastics are veryyyy interesting, especially if they float. Would be a deadly little topwater here during the summertime I would think. Two more TW orders showed up this week. The first was just some terminal tackle I was low/out of plus a couple of baits to try, love the one knocker so want to give the hard knocker its fair shake, and trying out the downsized 97mm Provoke. My only downsized jerkbait is the Rapala Shadow Rap Shad, which is a great little bait but I wanted something I could get a bit more distance with and would stay down a little longer without adding weight. Second order is an upgrade to my chatterbait reel from the SLX XT, looking forward to throwing this, and may purchase a second one in a 7:1 here soon to upgrade my lipless reel from an SLX DC.

Congratulations on a truly epic year!

This was why I made the switch. I have traditionally thrown my chatterbaits on a reasonably parabolic/slow 7'1" MH/F, I affectionately referred to it as a "Moderate fast+." On that rod, I threw it braid-to-leader, and while I caught many good fish, those big ones more often than not would come unpinned on the jump no matter how I tinkered with drag, rod position, reeling, etc. Switched to straight mono, and landed my current biggest chatterbait fish at just under 7.5lbs, but I still kept losing more big ones than I landed on the jump, the graphite was just unloading too fast and like you said with those extra rotation points versus a traditional jig it was giving just enough slack to throw the bait. Made the switch to a glass rod a couple of months ago and while I have a much smaller sample size, the results are very promising so far.

I had a 7lb tilapia turn a stock split ring into a pretzel, and I've lost a couple of small bass that completely bent out stock Rapala split rings. There are a few companies I trust the stock hardware on, but everything else gets upgraded split rings (Owner hyperwire round for hooks and oval for line tie) and hooks (Mustad 1x strong 2x short EWG).

Second order showed up. Some 4.5 Spunk Shads and some 3.5s for the MiniMax. Some 2.0 and 1.5 decoy snaps for the chatterbaits, and some more Thunderhawk Sergeant lipless cranks in a new shad pattern, 3 in the 3/4 oz rattling version and 2 in the 1/2 oz silent version.

If you are already using quality hooks like @A-Jay suggested, and you are still bending out hooks, I would look elsewhere in your setup to see if there is a reason why your hooks are bending. Drag too tight, line such as braid not having enough give, rod too stiff, etc. can all lead to too much force being applied to the hooks.

2023 and 2024 (so far) have definitely been more of a struggle than 2022 was. In fairness, 2022 was a bonkers year for me, with my best five bass going 45lbs 6oz. That may well turn out to be the year I peaked. Last year I only got two 5lbers and one just over 7lb in October, and this year is the same result so far, two 5lbers and one over 7lb in October. Still plenty of time to fish and we're getting into Big Girl season so I have my fingers crossed that I might tangle with a giant here soon. I ended up having some pretty frustrating days this year and last, lost some really big fish that caused me to rethink some of my setups and how I'm throwing certain presentations. One of which I got a real good look at up close and I strongly believe was a DD. It can be a little soul crushing but I know they're still out there and hopefully I'm a little more dialed in on my presentations for the next time we cross paths.

8 bags of 3" Zakos showed up to my door today. Picked some up in green pumpkin, green pumpkin/white, white, and electric shad. I did not expect them to be positively adorable on the back of a MiniMax. Tossed it in the canal out back to see how it looks, action is as promising as its big brother. I have some 3.5" Spunk Shads coming in a separate TW order that should be here tomorrow, as well.

Depends on how I can get them to react. Sometimes it's burning it in as fast as I can on a straight retrive, sometimes I'm hopping bottom with it (less often as there are many stumps and roots where I fish), sometimes a slow yo-yo retrieve. My most effective retrieve is to cast out, give it a second then give it a good twitch/rip with the rod tip. Keep the rod tip high to start and reel down at a moderate pace, when the rod tip is around 2-3 o'clock I give it another rip, pause to let it fall/flutter for a second, rip, reel with my rod tip back up high. Repeat throughout the cast. The overwhelming majority of strikes are immediately after a rip on that pause. I don't care if I'm around grass or open water, that rip action is what triggers them into thinking they've been spotted by a fleeing baitfish and they hammer it. Imparting that erratic action is key.

They're so versatile!

I picked up some in gold, chrome/blue, a natural bluegill color, and then my store had a color called American Shad on clearance for like $2.97 so I bought 4 or 5 of them I think. Really solid bait IMO once you upgrade the hardware.

Two incredible fish, congrats @Dwight Hottle and @AlabamaSpothunter For me, today was a dinkfest. Biggest went 2.47lb and choked the H2OX lipless deep, got her in the gill so no glamour shot, just got her unhooked, got her in the water to make sure the bleeding was stopping, quick weight then release. Got a couple of small ones on the 1/2 oz MiniMax. Have some 3.5" Spunk Shads and 3" Zakos in transit to pair with these, but made due with cutting down a Zoom Fluke, seemed to work just fine. Missed quite a few bites on it, but I think the smaller profile was just attracting more tilapia strikes than usual. I'm starting to see more shad balled up on the surface, which is a good sign of things to come hopefully.

I find this surprising. I fish the Warpig and I like it quite a bit and I have caught some nice fish on them, but I find the vibration and sound to be very subdued in comparison to many other lipless cranks I throw. That is part of why I like it, I think there are instances where that different vibration/sound profile are key to triggering bites. Like you, I'm probably pushing 70 or so lipless cranks in my boxes. Different sizes, sound profiles (key IMO) and vibrations, for yo-yoing or burning. If I had to pick a top it would probably be the Booyah One Knocker. Nice smaller profile at the 1/2 oz weight, I love to throw in in the fall and yo-yo it through/around balled up shad. Great vibration and the one-knocker sound is killer when they are a little too pressured for a rattle bait but not enough or too stained water to use a silent lipless. The 1/2 oz in copper shiner is responsible for my biggest lipless fish at just over 9lb, so it has a special place for me, but I find myself throwing flashy momma (chrome sexy shad) basically 100% of the time I throw it these days. The Thunderhawk Sergeant (both the 3/4 oz rattle and 1/2 oz silent versions) are in my top baits, also. Great vibration, nice shimmy on the fall like the Red Eyed Shad, and they sit nose down on the bottom every time like that Jackall TN series and the 3/4 oz sinks quickly for jigging bottom. Kind of a do-all lipless, and the free rotating hook hangers 100% make a difference in landed fish percentage in my experience. Just saw they're coming out with some different sizes of them that could be worth checking out, but I'm good with the standard size. Can't not mention the Red Eyed Shad, though. This is the hardest vibrating lipless I throw and it feels like it's rattling my bones when you rip it. Great shimmy on the fall and I throw this a lot in spring and summer but it rips and burns well, too. If I just want to burn a straight retrieve, though, it's hard to beat the original Rat-L-Trap. If I need a less aggressive sound profile, the Rapala Rattlin' Rap is killer, as well, and has gotten me some big fish over the years. Bought quite a few of those H2OX lipless cranks to try as well. Box says Medium Profile Lipless but online they're listed as 5/8oz RT. Promising so far, good rattle, great vibration. I would upgrade the hardware but they are worth checking out IMO.

Footballs on a football, excellent work

I've also had knots slip between the coils of cheaper split rings, would eventually work its way completely free if I hadn't noticed during a retie. Oval split rings on all hard baits for years now, never had another issue.

I'd have to tell myself it was a catfish just so it wouldn't keep me awake that night. Nice catches! Jerkbait bite hasn't been super hot for me yet, really looking forward to that in these coming weeks.