txchaser

Oh yeah. The wire is bent into a quick attach/detatch shape, and the slop will knock them off. Spin that wire that looks like a tag end around one more time with some pliers. Make sure the eye stays open and loose.

I've lost more fish from horsing than from not being aggressive enough. Often heavy cover though. All the big fish guys I learned from in person pushed me to back off the drag a little once the fish (largemouth) is moving the right way, if it's a big fish.

@ol'crickety are they coming off near the blade or near the head? If near the head, just crimp the wire wrapped around the main shaft all the way down. They are designed to be twisted off to put different blades on. Sometimes they come off in the slop though. If near the blade, it's probably the split ring/swivel, can't help with that. But ten fish in sounds really bad. Never had anything like that... could be a bad batch? So far I always end up back at the owners.

Fishing in the rain (except winter) has made for some really fun days.

I live in Texas, so it probably needs an extra five or ten pounds. A six pounder that far north is a monster. Best day so far this year was two over 8, one over 7, some other bug-eyed monsters that were smaller than the 7 that I didn't weigh. And like @AlabamaSpothunter said, it was very much pattern fishing. Specific extra deep crank on points. If I had put everything away and just fished that pattern hard, I think I would have picked up a few more bigs. I can't help myself to try and learn and see what else they will bite. But if I'm catching fish in the 7-8lb class I need to stop fiddling and start fishing. It's a tough trade though, because there's so much learning by messing around.

TBH harder flouro is a better fit for concrete abrasion than mono, might try a spool of abraz-x. But it sounds more kinked than rough/abraided. But yeah do you want a fish story about the giant that broke you off, or do you want a fish story with a pic of that giant. I notice a bunch of wear specifically on the line on my t-rig rod too, I think it's from fishing it pretty hard this summer, whacking them pretty hard, and being around a bunch of cover.

I dont even like catfish, but that's really impressive!

Hayabusa swimbait/CPS hooks fit the thinner ones of these (and a fat IKA) perfectly. Upgrade the hitchiker that it comes with - use an owner CPS large.

Just don't ever use black crankbaits, they definitely don't work in shallow water where there are dark gills.

Poor bites on a crank are a pretty good sign. Other than that, here's an example: I saw some fish stacked up on a point, and was throwing my 'starting color' and they weren't biting it. The water was pretty clear, so I grabbed the same lure in very natural color and tried that. Nothing. So I went all the way to the other end of the spectrum and threw a blue back chart lure, and they ate it. Made no sense in that clear water, but I knew they were there and "should have" been biting it, so I thought it worth a color change. On soft plastics it's pretty rare that I change color (just start with water clarity and time of year choice) unless I get a clue like seeing specific colors on a craw claw or something like that. Although this summer, sticking it out in high percentage spots and messing around with color has been fruitful. I will say that flake/no flake has seemed like a more important soft plastics choice than color, up to a point.

St Croix has a mod-fast that for me is perfect for cranks with mid-size and large hooks. Same thing for Daiwa's "Regular" I have a composite glass rod, I don't like it, it feels dead to me. It's certainly personal preference, but I have a strong preference for graphite.

FYI Amazon US is starting to crosslist from Amazon Japan. You’ll end up with sales tax that you don’t have if you go to the JP site, but some people may be more comfy with the US site.

No pics but got in some of the new yamamoto ichi and oki worms. The ichi is 10" ringworm (basically the 5.5 floater senko with a ribbon tail. And the oki is a straight worm. Haven't fished them yet, but I'm pretty sure they are going to do well.

Hopefully the smaller half of that list gets sold off to a new owner that can focus on it. How much attention can you put on VanStaal when you also have Berkely and Abu and Ugly Stick?

Yamamoto worked with Owner to make the CPS Light hook for the senko. I've never bent one out, although I've never drug a monster out of grass on it either. There's an identical but thicker version too, if that's your deal. Both fit the 5" senko thickness perfectly for a skin-hook. And the senkos last a really long time unless an airborne dink shakes it off. The only complaints I can find about the hook: 1) if you are in heavy cover it's probably not the right hook. 2) if you are dragging it through algae the head of the hook will pick some up. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Twistlock_Light_Hook/descpage-OTLL.html

IMO just fish what you have for a while. You'll figure out pretty quickly if you like it or don't, and why. You aren't going to break anything. And we all have a bunch of personal preference anyway. Pay attention to your hook diameter, a floppy rod and thick hooks will require a different hookset than that same rod with thin hooks.

Occasionally I'll hear some fishing reference in a country song, but I've never heard mention of a palomar knot in a song, until now. Even if the music isn't your style, it's like a BR forum post in song format.

I don't care at all what they look like as long it isn't white or some other bright color. But I'll match my shirt to the sky color too. Unsanded/unpainted is just fine by me. Just make it ugly and give me better guides or something. What I care a lot about though: Hook keeper, open on one side. the fuji addon keepers are junk, and the closed hook keepers don't work for t-rigged baits. I get frustrated every time I use a rod with no hook keeper. I suppose I can have them added but ... yeah there's not much time for that project. Locking nut on baitcasters should be covered in foam or cork. I don't want to have my hand on threads all day, and I don't want my hand on a lock nut all day. It's my single complaint about the St Croix Legend X I just got. Kistler and Loomis get this right, some of the shimano rods do too, but not the adrena.

Bottom line up front - if you are frogging carry a punch rig, it might open the technique up for you. Use it as a followup bait so you don't spend all day looking for them. Once you catch one lock down on that spot and catch her sisters. Watch Glenn's video. Ok short story, long post: I drug around punch gear for quite some time, and was a bit intimidated by the "it takes all day and you get no bites till you find the spot" thing everyone says. I was frogging one day and a big fish kept missing the frog... But the cover was way too heavy to throw a senko or whatever. It made me mad because that fish wanted to eat and I wanted to catch it. So I cut the frog off my line and rigged up the punch rig. I caught that fish, and a couple of his buddies, and they were all 5+. It was so much fun. 3' of water right next to a 30' dropoff. I feel like I have a lot more to learn, but here's what I've figured out so far: I got really lucky in the stuff I bought, there's nothing I really want to change and every part of it is important to the system. Here's what I'm using: 1.25 oz punch rig. IMO brand doesn't really matter that much. Too heavy is better than too light. Jethro Baits Big-Itz stops. Just need one Jethro Baits Bump Itz (it's a rubber bead). I think this protects the knot from monster hooksets, and it definitely cams the hook up. Jackall Archelon - it's hollow, and on the stiffer side. It is WAY different than trying to punch anything else I've tried, if you are in and out of heavy cover. Owner CPS Flippin Hook 4/0 - Like all CPS hooks, it could use a bigger CPS spring, the large is the right size Whatever skirt color I feel like is going to be the deal. 99% of the time I've used the PBJ-ish color archelon (JL craw) and a matching skirt. 8-carrier braid. really. this matters. 4 carrier is loud. XH 8' rod (I fished this on a H 7'3" rod for a while. The bigger and heavier rod is better on every front. JDM Zillion HD 8.x - this reel feels like it was built for the technique What's the minimum I could start with? 1.25 oz weight (too light will make you crazy, doesn't have to be a punch rig) double regular bobber stops owner CPS flipping hook (can fish a couple of baits all day) bump itz archelon whatever braid you have heavy rod (although I've done it on a MH it was sketchy) whatever reel - tatula SV worked just fine and it didn't break. What about not using a skirt so I catch more fish? Eh, that's fine. Those aren't the fish I'm trying to catch. Last two weekends I was trying both. The skirted was outfishing. Results aren't conclusive so far, and I'll keep trying. Can I just use a rage bug or a [whatever[? No not really. The hook will constantly poke through it if you are in heavy cover and it'll make you nuts. I wasn't paying attention to reorders and ran out of the color I was using and tried a rage bug in the same color. The archelons are not expensive and they last forever. The most likely cause of replacing one is a short strike on a claw that gets ripped off. What knot should I use? I like the Fish-n-Fool for braid. Two rounds through the eye then a uni knot with 12 turns. Use whatever you have confidence in. What's the bite like? Most days they eat it like they are trying to kill it. Some days I can just barely feel a little nudge in the line. Watch your line the whole time, I've had it just start moving off. Where should I throw it? Right where that fish missed. And if you are just punching not frogging, you can start closer to the boat and move deeper until you find out how far in the weeds they are. Like Catt says, the structure under the weeds matters a lot. Look for something different, like grass points, different grass intersections, etc. What's on my learning list? Someone I trust mentioned a drop-shot like presentation for the same use case, using short braid on the dropper. Brambuie makes a heavy cover drop shot weight that will fit the bill here. I think it might get through the nasty mats better. I was missing a lot of fish on a two oz weight. Bonus fish: When you are headed past a grass point throw that same bait right at the end of the point. And again another 5-10 feet out from that visible grass. Hang on and don't get shocked when you find a biggun that moved out of the mat right down that point.

TBH it probably looks very similar to fishing a drop shot where you let the bait fall to the bottom then pop it up. Or you sit around all day waiting for the weightless bait to get to the bottom. That last foot of fall is totally weightless and it looks great. I'm especially liking in the heavier weeds I often fish - the T-rig on a (not Reins) typical bullet weight I think is getting buried up in the grass.

It might... just as important, Megastrike original flavor doesn't clash with the bacon.

Gill Flat produced zero bites. it was a big worm day. I suppose I should have tried the big worm on the free rig, but I did notice that the Reins tungsten bullet weights slide really well, the last foot of fall looked the same as my free rig.

I have a crank that two of my three largest fish were caught on. It split in the sun.

For whatever reason I tried the red shad color anaconda and it was outfishing everything else I tried by a lot. I new I probably wanted some red because of some fresh craw claws, and tried the ribbon since I wanted to see if I could get it through the grass. Straight tailed worms mostly got ignored. Throw it past the grassline and drag it back. Usually the pop when it came up into the first bit of grass is when it would get bit. Or across a small grass point. I'm just going to keep experimenting when I'm in a good place for the style. Related, grinding a 6" boom boom soft swimbait through the same area was worth extra fish.

Bunch of good advice in this thread. I don't know far more than I do know, but here's some more: 1) if you have electronics you can figure out the active life zone, where most of the fish and bait is and start there. It's not 100% but it's a great clue on how deep to start. Then figure out where that depth intersects with structure and or cover. 2) the bass forecast app takes some of the guesswork out of season, weather patterns, etc. Like everything in fishing it's not perfect, but starting with three locations and five baits is really helpful. At this point I mostly look to see what I may have forgotten. Some presentations just aren't on my priority list. 3) In terms of which baits, it's moving fast or slow, on the top, middle or bottom. It's big or small. It has a bunch of action or it doesn't. Somewhere in that matrix is the answer. 4) what are they eating? Offshore fish probably aren't eating gills. Fish on rocks? Something looking like a craw isn't a bad place to start. 5) sometimes the lake will give you clues, like seeing craw claws of a certain size and color, or birds on baitfish. sometimes the fish will give you clues like not being hooked deep in the mouth - if they are slashing at it it's not quite right. 6) water clarity and light will make a difference, usually a big loud thing in super clear water with bright light isn't going to be the deal, at least for largemouth Or you could throw something really high confidence that's a very likely fish catcher like a ned, senko, 3.8" keitech on an owner flashy swimmer, or a texas rig with a finesse worm, and once you know where they are you can try a bunch of stuff.