txchaser

disclaimer: don't know them, paid for the bait myself, etc etc Bottom line up front: I like it, I think it'll be a winner. I bought a few of the sixth sense gyro tail spinners this week, in the hopes that it was build more stout that most of the ones on the market. I have a pretty big selection of tail spins and blade baits, and they are all built with light snaps and very light hooks, and that can be a little sketchy in many of the places I fish. Weeds often never die off fast enough to be gone, lots of brush, laydowns etc. Point being, I often need to lean into them a bit, and the hardware wasn't really up to it. Hooks on this are the typical heavy and high quality. Anyway, picture below. I like it. Built a little different than a traditional tail spin as it is thicker, and I'll see how it does this weekend. Also upgraded hardware on a Damiki Vault, which has been productive in the 4-6 weeks we get water under 50 degrees around here. Fishing them both this weekend, and I'll report back. One little detail I didn't really appreciate until I got it out of the box - the hook hanger is a full swivel.

I've seen a similar thing on some smaller ponds down at the farm in central tx. 3-4lb common, 5 lb nice, 6.5lb occassionally... went to no big fish at all, nothing over 2.5 for sure. And these are places that only get fished once every 90 days. We culled sometimes, and that helped with weights for sure. What changed: 1) the freeze - while they didn't ice over completely, it may have busted the ecosystem in some way 2) on one, the beavers showed up. they aren't eating the bass (pretty sure?) but they did build some spots and knock down some trees 3) I'm hearing people here and there complain about cormorants, which can shock it pretty hard. 4) on one of the spots I used to always see a crowd of gills. Haven't seen them in a while. Anyway I've seen the same thing in four places now. I don't have any idea either. With all that said, there was another place up here in ntx that was great, and then one day it wasn't. Went from 100-0 very very fast. So bad the owner put a shock boat in it... and the fish were still there. Have you tried creeping up on it like a deer hunter? I do wonder if on a lake that small, some significant part of the population has been sore-lipped enough they bail out when they hear you. I recall one of our members (paul) creeping on a pond on video, because that's what he had to do to get bit.

I read about a pro that would drop a crawfish trap in practice, so he could see exactly what was there and what it looked like. I thought to myself, that sounds fun. Traps are like $10 on amazon so not a high risk bet. Anyway, craws here are mostly a dark GP. But in the spring, it is GP/Red, kind of like the rage falcon craw color. Catt has a pic floating around here somewhere. I had some days on the water last year in spring and early summer that pretty much went like this: red cues, many bites. No red, no bite... or at least like 5x fewer bites. Anyway, put some cat food in a craw trap and see what you can find out. Or just use GP, brown, or black and blue... it'll probably work just fine. Except when it doesn't

Anyone have a line on (sorry for the pun) Tatsu 17lb? Amazon doesn't have it, and the usual retailers I looked at all want MSRP which is .... well I'll just keep fishing this 20lb until I can find it. Ebay has some, but ehhh that's a bit sketchy, unless someone knows a seller -very- well.

Realized I don't think I ever posted. 11B2VB4 when I ets'd. PM for deets/class#/whatever. I look at those pictures, man I was just a baby... but we sure had good toys and bad attitudes.

Bottom line up front: I bought a few of them, and I will be buying more. I have a steez SV (not CT) and a bunch of 2017 tat sv's and the new tat sv's. And then I bought my first (USDM/Brass) zillion... and kept buying them. I couldn't see enough difference between the steez and the zillion to buy another steez. But a huge difference between the tat (sv and elite) and the zillion. Worth the extra $ IMO. Important note - the new spool in the zillion is the two-stage, and it is definitely different on the beginning and end of the cast vs the tatula sv spool. No idea why, but I'm able to run it on a lower magnetic setting than the tat sv. About the same as the steez.

That owner made a good investment, moves like that pay off for everyone in the long run. You know they care about you, and so you'll reciprocate. I'd guess if you got a call from him to pitch in on something that was important, but way out of the scope of your job, you'd be happy to help. I'm really glad everytime I hear about another leader or owner that has a clue. Big companies have by and large forgotten Amazing what happens when we just actually care about other people. Write a note on actual paper and mail it to him. It'll mean a lot.

Humminbird. Once I know what a likely depth range looks like, a whole bunch of water became irrelevant... "searched" With that said, one of the situations I'm often faced with is a pretty shallow (<8') area with lots of grass lanes and pockets and holes. A Keitech toad with a 1/8 oz swimbait hook does wonders - can fish it like a toad, or with that weight it falls about like a senko so I can chuck it at likely targets too. Or if I'm in the no chance of topwater mode, keitech 3.8 with a colorado underspin. Can put it in the nastiest grossest slop or laydown and it just keeps going.

I have this same 1-4 oz a-rig rod and 100% would buy it again.

Thanks for mentioning this, I had been wondering if this was a good idea or just the 'good idea fairy' come to visit.

Same reason I check my line for nicks. It takes so much work to get on big fish and there's so little margin for error when it happens, I'll take every little bit of advantage I can get. With that said, more and more of the baits I buy have great hooks out of the package anyway. Examples - Jackall, 6th Sense, and the one LC squarebill I have all use nice hooks. Strike king squarebill hooks? Eww. Fine on a couple pound bass, but man you live in Florida, you have a real legit shot at a DD on any given Tuesday. Don't let it be a story about the one that got away. I had a pretty big girl on a blade bait this last weekend, and when I got her in the boat, one part of the hook was bent all the way out, one halfway, and one wee little hook was still in the fish. Just a tiny little bit more pressure and it would have been gone. I hadn't yet replaced the hooks as I rarely mess with blade baits in Texas. And I was being careful as I had lighter line.

Just bought a jar of the bigger ones (#10). Neither one of them float. Anything I can do to fix them?

Are you direct attaching jigheads via the split ring, or putting a snap on the split ring?

I have a buddy that fishes for them on a fly rod. Pretty epic battle with a big carp and light line. Not for me, but he has a blast.

So I ended up fishing this front/storm, as I'm just a little south of you. Somewhat prompted by the post earlier in the week by someone who was wondering how the fish behave during the drop vs before or after. And somewhat prompted by these bad-weather monsters in TX and the data from Josh Alwine. I get a little excited when the weather gets nasty, as I have had some of my best days and biggest fish. Wind was gusting in the 40mph range, and sustaining over 20. Basically I needed all my wet weather gear just from spray. Water was really turbid, only about 1ft visibility. Water was right at 50 degrees, which was a little surprising. Fish were super picky - one pattern had them in 11-13FOW, often over deeper water, I think these were the shorebound fish pulling off. They would bite a blade bait (with tail spin) fished mid-column, kind of like a lipless yo-yo style. Would bite as soon as the drop started. Nothing else got a bite. And the other 'part of a pattern' is the shad were downwind, and at 25-28 FOW near the bottom. Could see other fish in there too. This was the one I really went for. But downwind was unfishable for me, I don't have spotlock and that was too deep and too precise and too much wind and waves to try to drag an a-rig slow through there, or even try the blade bait. As soon as I figured out the pattern I left. It was fun, because it was fishing, but three hours was more than enough of that nonsense...wind chills were in the 20's all day. It didn't help when my wife called and told me it was snowing at home so maybe I should get off the water.

I'll just add a low-action one that hasn't been mentioned - maxscent meaty chunk. I figure that stuff might work, and if I'm fishing a low-action bait it's going to be going slow, so that's where it probably has a shot at shining. And one in the middle, it is a stick bait but bouyant - the Giant TRD, texas rigged.

Default for me 3.8, in keitech, exoswim (they look a little different), and in colder water jackall rhythm wave which has a tighter wiggle. Sounds like I need to try all 4.3's and see how that goes too, although this weekend I was hunting for a pack of 3.3's as I wanted to downsize for this colder weather. 1/8 or 1/4 heads depending on how deep I'm fishing, usually the 1/8 down to 7-8 feet. Been using the z-man trout eye heads - i noticed the shad where I fish the a-rig most often had gold eyes, and sure enough, I got more bites... Or at least I think I do, and that's enough for me. 1/8 heads are throwable on a regular rod, sort of. I wouldn't try that with the 1/4 heads. On my "try it" list are the 6th sense screw-lock heads; the z-man are really made for elaztech and can split the harder plastics sometimes. I've tried having a different color on the middle bait, or using a larger bait there, or dipping the tail, and it doesn't get bit nearly as much as the other baits so I quit doing it.

Kuying BFS rods get really good reviews from the BFS on a budget crowd. Some like the Tsurinoya brand instead. And while they are a little more expensive than the basspro, probably a little less snapping too.

If you are optimizing for low stretch, Sufix Advance co-poly is significantly lower stretch than either flouro or mono. And it is really inexpensive to boot, so easy to try out.

It is going to take some time for the water to cool off.

Mostly no, but for three specialty boxes - alabama rig, punching, and deep winter.

I almost always feel like I have a better situational choice than a lipless. I have a bunch of them. Probably more lipless cranks than fish caught on them. I should probably double down and fish them hard, or just leave them all at home.

A few learnings that might be helpful to someone: 1) If you can't get your hands on an epi-pen, pepcid/zantac/tagamet (h2 blocker) and benadryl (h1 blocker) together are a SAR/wilderness backup for bad reactions and no epipen. And is nearly zero friction to carry. It isn't a replacement, but it is better than a bowl of hope and a sip of water. I'm not your doctor, there's no replacement for an epi-pen, etc etc. 2) If you are going to carry a fire starter carry some tinder too. Lots of commercially available tinder out there, or cotton balls in vaseline. And if the weather is too crappy out to fish, go outside and see if you can get a fire started... it can be really tough in wet conditions or with wet and freezing hands. But that whole train is another hobby in and of itself and some of yall might like it. 3) bandaids while fishing tended to just get a bunch stuff jammed under them, stay wet, etc. So I wouldn't use them. But my wife talked me into trying these. https://www.amazon.com/Band-Aid-Waterproof-Adhesive-Bandages-Blisters/dp/B077TN7L3L/ I didn't listen for way too long (it happens). Cuts and pokes are completely sealed off, waterproof, lasts for three days or so, and a bit less scarring. I'm super-impressed by these, and won't wear a regular bandaid. Really does heal better than open-air. 4) One-handed cut of very heavy hooks. They call them mini bolt cutters.

Jackall Rhythm Wave. Read an article about them as a finesse version of the fat impact. Slender body, tighter wiggle, and reasonably durable plastic to boot.

In my experience they shine on slower presentations. Best results have been working a spot heavily, making repeated casts through the same area. No a/b testing in those situations though, so couldn't be 100% sure. If the scent stuff really works, putting it back through an area seems like it would be the best situation. Or sitting there with a drop shot, but I'm not a fan of that presentation.