txchaser

Must have a lot to do with hookset style or something like that. I tried a bunch of flavors of worm hooks and couldn't for the life of me get a hook in the fish. Just kept blowing it out of their mouth. But (specifically) the mustad grip-pin EWG has been really reliable, and a flipping-style hook works just fine. But this style just doesn't work for me and my sweep set:

Light baits the tatula SV, old version new one is far and away the winner. It really depends a lot on how you are going to use it, and in particular the rod and lure you are going to use. Casting a rattletrap or a chatterbait, the reel won't make that much difference between the elite or the t100. It sounds a bit like you want a do-everything reel, including lighter baits. If that's true the Tat SV is a winner. The last couple of yards you won't get out of it just won't matter that much.

Y'all pay attention, Catt spends a lot of time with a t-rig in his hands. @Catt do you have a favorite winter profile on a t-rig?

Spend at least $100 on the reel (Daiwa Fuego or Tatula 100) and whatever you have left on the rod. I still use some of my 100's, and I have a stack of zillions and a steez. The zillions are definitely better than the 100's. By a lot. Still not enough to warrant a rod downgrade. But the difference between $50-$99, and $199-$249 on a rod is really big. After about $250 the diminishing returns start to show up. If you gave me $400 for a setup I'd try to find a used fuego or t100 in the forums here, and buy a kistler helium with the rest of it. With $125 for a setup it'd be a used fuego (don't go lower than this if you can help it) and a tatula XT rod on sale, or a daiwa aird-x, which have a lot of reports around here of being workable rods that fish way above the price point. There's a bit of a minimum spend to get a reel you'll use for years; after that dump it all into the rod.

I think you can find 360 fish with a livescope, but can't find suspended fish and catch them well with a 360. I'm biased though, the last garmin box showed up today. I had to ditch my hummingbird unit and get a Garmin one, and I still made the livescope choice. If you are going to be pretty bank oriented the livescope utility probably falls off some.

I've come full circle on this, using the edge jig box for a while. It's great for chatterbaits, but I really don't like the pressure it puts on the skirt. So I'm headed to an edge thin 3700 and lay them down. That's how the extra jig box is anyway, and they are easier to see and find in that box. I'm mostly moving towards one maker across multiple weights so it's pretty easy to see S/M/L. If someone made a foam insert 3600 or 3700 box that was deeper I'd probably try it, but the spro was way to shallow for jigs with a brush guard.

Nah it's the opposite of that. For what it's worth, I don't recall the long casting actually casting any longer than a tatula 100 for me.

Sometimes the all-in deal is better on amazon.com and sometimes it's better to make an account on amazon.co.jp

I had one, and didn't notice a huge difference with heavier baits. If you are going to throw light stuff, then it'll definitely make a difference. Fish it a day and see.

Tackle warehouse - The 99.00 tatula elite (non ags) are a steal. The MH/R action is one of my favorite moving bait (single hook) rods, and does well with big squarebills too. The 7'6" that's on sale will throw deep and heavier mid cranks well too.

I got a 1oz 321 on ebay.

Echomap UHD2-9, LVS34 Time go down the rabbit hole. I've spent enough time on other people's scopes.

Big fish, in no particular order: flatsides (mostly 6th sense, shad colors were poor performers) buzzbait netbait's trick worm, both as a t-rig and a bubba shot. turned some average days into big fish days chatterbait (jackhammer, caught bigger fish on BG presentation vs shad this year) 6" optimum boom boom soft swimbait deps 7+ deep crank, i was fishing it wrong, but the results said otherwise silent lipless (don't sleep on this deal) jackall 4m+ digle keitech with owner flashy swimmer (green pumpkin, 4.3 or 4.8) Shimano world boost jerkbait and dd jerkbait significantly outperformed everything else if the sun was out. The big ones couldn't stand it sitting still and flashing. I don't know what to do now/numbers/rescue bait: Keitech 3.8 in bluegill flash, owner flashy swimmer

If it makes you feel any better, the heavy skirted version of this, fished just above the bottom, caught me some big fish this year. Haven't spent much time with the unskirted version yet, but I bought them and I'm pretty sure it's going to be good. I bought them to fish in some spots where the pondweed grows heavy and a chatterbait is a no-go.

Take him fishing in your trophy bog!

Yeah that's fair. I'm in texas so craw-style and big worms are in the middle of the fairway for me. And the 5.5 inch ribbed senko (slinko?) is a great bait with floating plastic. So they are getting more wallet share from me.

I'll add that I've been fishing a 7" helix and when mapping is on the 10AH should be just fine, but it isn't. It's just not enough for a long day, so now I have to carry two 10AH. Point being, find someone running that specific unit and see what they are using; you may need to size up vs what the math says.

Fishing a red one in the winter instead of waiting for early prespawn... interesting. I'm fishing more and more red-ish colors all year round and getting some good results. I'm definitely trying red this winter.

Dead of winter fishing a chatterbait like a biffle (right off the bottom) made a really epic day for me one winter. It was cold and nasty out. Blade bait might have done the same thing.

It's not exactly your question, but if you are branching out the Jackall swimbait in that size is worth trying. I really like them on an a-rig. It's a tight wiggle, but not as tight as the 6th sense.

+1 on having a tail spinner handy @AlabamaSpothunteryou tried the 6th sense tail spin?

Everyone's guessing about bass, but some people are better guessers than others. Pay attention. Good questions are worth a lot. Bass fishing isn't as hard as we all make it out to be; good bass fishing is way harder than anyone realizes. People that know I fish think I sit around all day waiting for something to happen. Structure and cover, but structure first. If you are casting at the shore, try turning around and going the other direction. Every year we learn more about bass (livescope open water fish, texas fish study) The more I learn the more I realize I don't know much at all. But I know more than I new last year, and that makes it fun. And my favorite, this community is absolutely awesome.

If I recall correctly it is ten hours of mapping, so just map, don't run the mapping while you fish until you get the card.

I'm in

I'll give him an A+ for the whiteboard and timmy, it was pretty funny. The big piece he's missing is that no one's getting rich. They thought they were, but they aren't. Love em or hate em, the guys that did the mega rollups in fishing are getting their butt kicked and will likely lose all their investors money. For what it's worth I think GSM has done a nice job with Yamamoto so far. No affiliation whatoever with GSM or Gary on my end, just as a consumer I buy more stuff from them now. We'll see how they do with Big bite.