txchaser

A few nuggets: 1) 6th sense blade bait has Texas-weight hooks on it. They work great. We don't get enough really cold weather here for me to be all the way dialed in on whether the other brands I have work better or worse in terms of catching. But you can fish it on a heavier setup for sure. 2) With catt/Tommy in the room with us, sometimes rate of fall matters. Mostly I've seen when a faster ROF forces a decision when they are on the bottom but eating up. 3) a follow-on from #2 - if they are eating on the fall vs picking it up, kind of a double pump can get a few extra fish - lift it, let it drop but not all the way, then lift again. Imagine a baitfish trying to get up in the column that can't quite make it. That second drop can be too much for the bass to stand. 4) Bill Lewis/GSM make a 6" blade bait. Ohh it's good if they are on big gizzards. 2oz, so be ready with something like an a-rig rod. And it has a bit of a spoon-like fall too.

Nice deal. Works on the 7" ones too. These are really good baits.

Nice fish. While I understand not sharing location or specific bait based on people's bad behavior in the past, you've clearly learned a lot about fishing big baits for big fish. I think a lot of us (certainly me) would love to hear about what you've learned about the approach along the way.

I started braid to leader on everything and only use it on spinning rods now. When I used it, the FG knot was the standard. Goes through semi-micro guides just fine. Unless you're on the bank I can't find any upside.

I'll point out one other thing I learned from Tom - big (adult) fish often behave differently than smaller fish. Different places, different timing, etc. Think about them like a different species and then think about where and when (and what) you caught your big ones on, and you might get some ideas. As an example, I've never caught a big fish more than a cast length from deep water - whatever deep water looks like on the lake.

Simms has a line called Rogue - a bit of stretch, windproof, waterproof enough for sprinkles. It's an outer shell with a little insulation. Jacket and Pants. And for the legs they also make a heavy base layer Rogue pants that are kinda like sweatpants. That and whatever thickness mid-layer is enough down to probably mid-40's, depending on the wind. Windy or colder gets me in a bib (aftco heavy goretex) and a hard shell (gill offshore with wrist seals if wet, huk ice fishing top if not wet out). I got the ice fishing top on some ridiculous post-season sale... it's really warm and has additional flotation. Boots have been whatever muck boots or Alaska boots, but I'm going to try the huk deck boot this year. Wool socks. Sometimes toss a hand warmer in each boot. Handwarmers, windproof beanie, 1/16 neoprene gloves from NRS. Scarf or winter neck gaiter is nice. We haven't had any actually cold days yet. Some outlier learnings - 1) with the Daiwa magnetics, you can just turn it up a couple of clicks and a gloved thumb will work just fine. 2) regular gore tex and heavy goretex shell are not at all the same thing

Everyone leaves a legacy. Some people leave one that's big, and wide, and good. We can all aspire to leave the kind of wake Tom left in his life. Missed, but not forgotten. See you on the water, Tom.

six

Yes and I love them. 100/200 are both great. Like "cmon man there's no way this thing feels like this at this price"

This doesn't answer your direct question but might help get at what you are solving for. I have a steez, a stack of zillions, and a couple of the new-style tat100 and tat200's (plus some older stuff). The 100 and 200 are absolutely great reels. Look it's not a zillion, but I can tell you that I have a couple of zillions in the backup reel bag and I'm still using the 100's that I could switch out in five minutes. Related, I can't tell the difference between the JDM and USDM models of the 100. I'm most picky about geariness. Feeling the buzz makes me nuts!. No buzz. But right after that it is slop or flex. I don't experience anything like flex under load on the 100's or 200's. There's a little handle slop that seems to always be the case in the Tatula lines. Some from the knobs and some at the shaft. If I had to start from scratch I'd have a couple of zillions for presentations where it would make a big difference and the rest of them would be 100's and 200's. So far the 200's even feel stable on 3-5oz baits, a-rigs, etc.

25% off 6th sense at copper state tackle

Original bags, in one of these, or the tall ones, or the small ones. Only thing I'd change is some dividers in the larger ones like this. Usually a bag will hold a couple of types, like craw and chunk, or brush hog and lizard. A few have their own bag like hover stroll or straight tail worm. If you aren't in a boat, a couple of the small ones will do.

I have the Plano edge spinnerbait box. I don't use it; it is huge. I've come all the way back around to a CD case. In fairness, spinnerbaits are a very rare presentation for me so I'm prioritizing space over selection - 12 is enough.

Baitcaster - pick something with Daiwa hyperdrive gears, be happy. Bigger for swimbaits, tat100 for "just another reel", zillion G or HD otherwise.

Rate of fall absolutely matters when they aren't really eating much. It is one of the ways livescope showed me something new. Haven't seen the need for the jigging spoon yet, mostly just flutter spoon or a heavy (3/8) headed minnow which drops like a rock.

Bought a Kistler Big Country swimbait rod. Way way upside surprised at the action on this rod. Enough tip to not cast like a broomstick, transitions fast enough to be just fine setting a beast hook.

Keitech Flex Chunk https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Keitech_Flex_Chunk/descpage-KFXC.html 4.2"

All these reels are pretty competitive at the same price point. Some features a little better here and there across lines, like anything. I can feel the tiniest gear issue, so the Daiwa hyperdrive wins for me. I have a few "not those brands" and they work just fine too. JDM availability swings it all in favor of Daiwa and Shimano though, because it breaks the price/performance curve.

I ran braid to leader for a long time on that rod as a moving bait rod or a senko rod. I think it's a better rod with braid to leader as it is kinda soft, especially for bottom contact. Might be setting the hook too hard on your finesse jig though. There's not much give. When I threw a senko with a light hook a little wrist was plenty. Ease up and see what happens.

Have a link, Tom?

Yep, this is the juice for the winter.

I fish a fair bit with an A-rig, but I still have lots of questions: 1) Is there a useful difference between the 6.5 and 5.5 arm lengths? A couple of my a-rigs have the shorter length. 2) I also have some "mini" a-rigs, but I never really saw a situation where I thought to myself "you should throw that" 3) I've been using a gentle curve/bend to get to almost 90 degrees. Makes for a nice big presentation. Is that really the right bend? All of the storage options I've found so far crank it back down so far I worry about the wires. So I started wondering if I'm over-doing it. Each of the Plano a-rig box, TW tubes, red ones that slide over, etc all seem to really put load in the exact opposite direction which seems like a bad idea. 4) some of these rigs have small blades (6th sense, stealth rig, most of them), some have big blades (Shane's moneyball) - I think I know when to throw the no-blades, but small vs large? Again, make enough difference to specifically choose one over the other? Thanks in advance!

I missed that the tail swims too. Was thinking more as a pitching or dragging bait. Even better!

Two things that have helped me over the last year, when I remember to do them: 1) If I feel a fish start moving up like they want to jump, I stop reeling and go from heavy pressure to medium pressure. Rod still stays very loaded, but I'm trying to give them some feedback to stop running up. Usually this all goes down in three seconds or so - pressure backs off a little, they chill out. It works more than half the time (probably most times) - they will stop coming up and stay at their depth. 2) When a fish does get in the air I have to stop horsing it with the rod and just reel as fast as I can. I think I'm opening up the hole from the hook because I'm overdoing it trying to keep them pinned... lost too many shortly after touchdown. Just reeling really fast seems to keep them pinned and doesn't yank a big hole.

6" WCZ Citizen (Sidekick color) I made the mistake of getting on their mailing list, and they had a drop.