txchaser

Not that lake or much of the limestoney central texas/hill country lakes. Mostly going to east texas right now. Everything was dirt shallow today. Water was 64 degrees, up from 50 a few weeks ago. Last weekend felt like pre-prespawn even though it was 57. This was definitely prespawn.

I spent 15 hours or so on a friends boat over the last few weekends fishing almost exclusively with livescope. Granted it was a late winter suspended pattern, but we were never on the spotlock once. Mindful of wind direction and speed for sure, mostly pointed into the wind. Maybe smallies are really different and you spend a lot of time just locked on to them and they are still though. But the more I think about having it on a hand controlled mount, I can't see it being very usable for largemouth bass. Many of them were moving around a lot. Probably fine on crappie. I thought I was going to put it on a separate mount too. But I can't see it now. Dude there was way too much stuff going on to mess with another thing, especially with your hands. A motorized one, maybe, but then you are a bit handicapped when you are moving around hunting. Best news is neither choice is permanent.

The Sebile Soft Swimmer is one of my favorite weedy baits. Tight s-wave on the reel, perfect fall when you kill it. But, Sebile got bought and the new owners discontinued it. Any idea where I can find them beyond ebay? Every now and then a pack pops up there, often in odd colors or for $20.00. Or maybe a good alternative with a similar action? Sebile's new company is making some out of elaztech, they aren't really the same.

Jackhammers are really cheap (12.79) if you are a member, and the veterans discount stacks on that too.

Anyone try these yet? Pretty expensive, but maybe the more open insert is a winner?

6th sense 75x flatside 6" to 8" soft swimbait

Where was the 30% off Steez and how did I miss that

If it always spins in the same direction it's an alignment problem. Either the baits or the arms.

If you need a little bit of standup vs the slither rig, you can add a skirt to this at the top of the keeper spring. Because of the way it is weighted and where the line tie sits, it won't jam up on the bottom, it just kind of sits on it. Northlands tackle Weed Wedge

I'm a big fan of 6th sense hardbaits for texas waters. But I haven't had much in the way of results with the Axis. The 13 fishing jabberjaw produces though.

I don't care much about how they look as long as they aren't bright colors or white.

I have three worm binders and can't stand any of them. The size to bags ratio is just all out of whack. I For home storage, I just use sealable bigger bins from amazon or whatever that come in the six pack. But I have a lot of storage. Just a couple of the open deep 3700 boxes will store a lot of soft plastics and they will be easy to see/find. Plano Pro Latch Utility Box 3731. Alternatively you could try the XL or XXL boxes, but then you are relegated to only home storage as they don't fit in any tackle bags. Here's a pic from @MIbassyaker

This isn't the first time that big fish has seen a boat or heard electronics, and it's not the first time it's ever been caught either. Some of them will have a negative connection with a particular sound. What I don't know yet is whether people are seeing fish scatter from livescope pings. On a regular sonar you wouldn't see it... but on FFS you should be able to see it turn. I think it's the same for a lure - if you catch a 4lb on a rattletrap, boat flip it onto the carpet, keep it out of the water for two minutes, and then toss it in the air for a release, I don't think that fish is ever biting a rattletrap again. Too much negative stimuli associated with the lure. Anyway, if you don't need it on at the moment, turn it off. Related, is there a way to turn off just the sidescan pings and not the down on most sonars?

Mostly keep the soft plastics in their original bag, and keep those bags in a double-deep open 3700. I've tried the other approaches, like the speedbags, and they just didn't work for me because I need to stay portable. Someone posted a pic around here somewhere, I got the idea from BR. Plano edge for swimbaits, taken out of the plastic because otherwise they are too bulky. For the bag itself, surprisingly, cabelas advanced angler II bags are better than others by a lot. Heavy fabric, good zippers, built in rain cover. Outside pockets fit 3600's perfectly. Lots of great little details. And not very expensive either. Whoever designed them actually fishes. Oh buy your own boxes to go in it.

Not quite our use case, but I'd bet $1 that the resonance (or whatever that is) extends to bass-length rods too.

That swim jig is really hard to see on FFS. Like I need another level of casting skill and FFS finagling skill to do it. Probably could have pushed on it harder though.

lmk when you find out. only think I can think of that I didn't try was ticking them off with a deep crank, fast stop and go, tactical bassin style.

On any kind of weighted presentation the giant TRD is amazing. And a little floaty, so the back end is up off the bottom. Defnitely worth getting a pack when you get the big senkos.

When are you throwing flashboost vs 110?

I got a great lesson in inactive fish this weekend, was on a friends livescope all day long. Mostly ignoring a-rigs and jerkbaits. Like I'm staring right at you, and you aren't behaving like a catfish or a gar. BITE IT DANGIT! I just never really understood how many of these fish are around. 49-50 degree water so that didn't help... but yeah. Went to school. The neutral ones sometimes you could coax into a follow.

If you are going to buy a Daiwa in the 150-200 range, get the Tat elite (non ags). It is a meaningful upgrade from the regular Tatula. They are 179, but have been on sale in lots of places lately for 149. At one point I was thinking about getting the Rebellion (199, beautiful rod) and did a deep dive on HVF vs SVF and it appeared that the SVF blank was better. So I bought another Tat elite. They are my favorite rods besides going to a smaller maker like Kistler (who I'm a big big fan of). Although it matters less if you are going to be on braid; other things might be more important. Consider one other thing before deciding - are you really going to be throwing 3/8-1/2 oz jigs with a small trailer, or 3/4-1oz with a big trailer? It'll make a huge difference on whether you need a MH or a H. Last comment, this price point is really competitive and everyone will push as much awesomeness as they can to hit that sub-200 price point.

I have almost no lipless instincts beyond "grassy and don't want a chatterbait" - please send help, I have more lipless cranks than I've caught fish on a lipless.

I'm looking forward to fishing them against a reverse rigged IKA. Apparently (per a video) they were made for fishing deeper in Japan on spots where they know fish are there but won't bite cranks or weighted presentations. The guy says they take forever to get down in deep water but they work so it's worth it. And they made it to snap off the bottom vs a slow lift. Looked for the video (in japanese) but couldn't find it.

You and me both. I have no idea why I need to know how this turns out, but I do.