txchaser

In texas, sun is serious biz here. For the worst of it, an Outdoor Research boonie with the cooling dots is hard to beat. If it is too windy for that (it is a soft hat) Huk's boonie is pretty good. Alternatively a ball cap with a hooded fishing shirt (Huk Icon is better than the rest, particularly the new style with thumb loops)

A tip for this, and any other line comparison - the tackle warehouse site has line diameters posted. In this case, 8lb big game and 12lb InvisX are the same diameter. So you have been fishing bigger line than you thought - big game is one of those brands that's always big for the rated pound test.

Welcome to Texas. Nearly anything with a couple feet of water year round will have bass here, including the city parks. There's a public lake in Grand Prairie by the naval air station that I see fishing reports out of some. And Fork isn't far away either. Fishing is good all year round, but for the occasionally funky window when we get really volatile weather. Then it's still good when you can find them. Boat or the bank?

New-ish tatula 100s with hyperdrive, bought from Japan. They just work, and they are butter smooth because of the new gear cut. Barring that, the zillion HD at 250 is so good for frogging or heavy punching.

Rod tip up high to keep the line out of the water and the buzz bait riding high might be impacting the mono hookset a lot.

This year was kinda weird weather, but it seemed like there wasn't really a funk, it just would have felt like that if you didn't move out a little deeper. It was like they didn't stage up at the pre/post spawn spots, they just kept going to early summer.

Pretty sure Daiwa built them for evergreen. I have a super combat and it's a really nice rod. I guess I'd peg them as JDM-quality Daiwas. I almost pulled the trigger on a couple of the combat sticks at schools but then I realized I ... have enough rods.

Almost always within a cast length of deeper water. Usually more like 1/2 cast. Most of my big fish were near a deep/shallow transition. If you were a monster bass and could bully any other fish, what spot/area would you pick? Agree that they have "seen it all" so slower/faster smaller/bigger. I'm pretty sure all the days I caught a trophy fish, the rest of the day was kinda mediocre. Tells me I was probably doing something really different, and the average-sized fish didn't like it. IMO the big old girls are a different species, often skittish and sensitive to sound and movement. If you ask the question "how do my 10-20 biggest fish behave?" you might see a little different pattern there. Only one out of my top 5 were caught sitting deep casting shallow.

Best frogging and punching reel ever. It really shines winching big girls out of slop.

I didn't realize how strong of opinion I had about this till I read the thread. Open-style hook keeper on the bottom, a few inches up from the reel. Kigan clip is my favorite, because it holds the lure in place while I take out slack. Second best is the bent wire loop. Doesn't hold the bait with line slack, but otherwise no complaints. Every other style frustrates me, Fuji add-on most of all. Maybe there's a JDM addon that works well. Hook on reel? Tried that on a shimano rod. Zillion's all scratched up, probably blunting the hook, doesn't work well with soft plastics. Keeper on top gets in the way of line on casts. Closed keeper means I wreck soft plastics taking the hook out or pushing it through. Split grip placement has all the issues already mentioned. I find the fuji takes extra steps to get the hook in it especially on soft plastics. It's just... Fiddly. And the sun ends up wrecking the bands over time.

Fly fishing for bass got me started on this whole crazy journey. I will never forget the fish that was crushing my little 5-weight rod, flying in the air. I'm fairly certain I only landed her because she ran the wrong way on the final surge. The tippet was setup for trout, and I had no net. Might have to dig it out and give it a run again.

Plus early prespawn, plus post spawn. There are a bunch of fish who's default place to be is hanging out in the column.

Over time I've started to care much more about the shape or features of a hook than which of the major or jdm brands it comes from. Like if I want an EWG for soft plastics, the mustad grip-pins have been outstanding. And on a straight shank I want a CPS, because that application (punching, slither rigs) tends to be pretty violent and I want to spend zero time replacing plastics or sliding it back up. And if I'm fishing a Fat Ika, there's no better-fitting hook than a Hayabusa.

I'm on my third pair of outdoor research. I don't recall anything on the palm. Very light, cool in texas summers.

I've been reflecting on this and my five biggest fish were all on days where the rest of the day was fairly mediocre for anything but smaller fish, and not very many of them.

I've bought a bunch of reels from amazon Japan and it has always turned out great. They get here fast too. If you decide to go back for more, pick up a new tat100 while you are there. I'm very upside surprised by this reel for applications where the SV Boost spool doesn't do much for me.

These work great. I got a bubba because I thought it would be cool to have all the friendly one-boat tournament tracker in it (to compete with friends) and the app, but I never use any of that stuff.

I live in Texas so probably have some similar waters. Some thoughts: 1) Josh Alwine's books really are worth the read. Won't cover it all, just read the books. 2) I have zero big bass more than about 1/2 a tail swish from deep water; deep is relative but call it 10 feet. Pay really close attention to how far a bass would have to go to run to safety. 3) if the timing is right a feeding flat right next to deep water can be pretty good 4) Per survey and catch data, I really try to stay away from water less than 5' deep. Not impossible, but both the state electroshock data and my own catches support this. Another way to think about it is "outside grass line and deeper" if you have grass. 5) if you fish the same spots with the same lures and the same cadence as everyone else, expect to get the same results. As an example, one of WRB's "regrets" was not learning swimbaits in the early days. If you drive your boat around flipping at obvious cover, nothing is going to happen interesting. 6) IMO, lean hard into FFS. The shore fish get hammered in Texas, and these fish didn't get to be big because they are dumb. They are big because they are skittish and have good genetics. 7) Gizzard shad is a major forage base for big fish here. Proceed accordingly. 8) If you treat really big fish like they are a different species, everything starts to make more sense in terms of their behavior. IMO < 4lbs, 5-9, 10-13 all behave differently. I'm frustrated a little now because my habits are getting me the middle class (which is still great) but isn't putting monsters on the board. 9) Prey and bass biology is worth some of your time. 10) in general, I get bigger fish fishing slower, and deeper when I'm not scoping. Steadier too. For whatever reason the erratic movement gets me more fish but not big fish; not true when you are scoping and playing cat/mouse though. 11) Prespawn for big fish starts way earlier than most believe. 12) time of day/feeding windows matter a lot, feeding windows are very much something I need to learn and understand better. But they don't have to eat all day when they can run up (or down) and eat a 6-8" gizzard.

WCZ Heckler 6" in Cupcake.

Consider OH Ivey too.

I was missing a lot of fish on a slither rig (1/2 head with a skirt) until I moved to a straight shank. No more misses, but baits get ragged out faster. I'm a fan of the owner CPS flipping hook and I use it on everything but trick worm sized baits.

Scheels has the evergreen combat stick line for $130. Evergreen's rods are made by Daiwa, and warrantee service is via Daiwa too. Given the original price of $229, these are likely Tatula-Elite equivalent. https://www.scheels.com/p/04317822797?queryID=eeaf766092bf6311

I know it's just a demo video but this is really cool. I've started seriously thinking about an upgrade this summer - this and a big screen.

Safari. Deleted Cache/cookies/etc. Had to close and re-open the tab, no more flashing F now.

I have a Bubba and one of the Rapala's shown above. They both work fine. I kind of like the rechargeable battery on the Bubba. re: the features and the app, maybe it's just me... but I never use any of the features. It's just a scale.