txchaser

Bigger fish: -Alabama rig, mostly open water with deep structure where fish are relating to the shad -Z-man Giant TRD, both t-rigged and carolina rigged. It'll stand straight up off the bottom with a 6/0 grip-pin in it. Usually heavy weights, in 10-20" near depth changes like long points with a sharp dropoff -1/2 oz and 3/4 oz Jackhammer and Crosseyes chatterbaits (weed guard) - in white. Anyone have any recommendation for a more threadfin-looking color, including trailer? White is a little bright in much of this water. Everywhere, but lots of bigs fishing it near the bottom. -Flat-side squarebill - feeding flats near deep water -Stanley Buzz-frog Jr responsible for a new pb, grassy flat near a deep creek mouth, actively feeding on shad. She was right out over the deep water. Haven't caught much else on it, but it was the deal for that fish for sure. I needed something small but attention-getting, and I had recently lost a monster about 100' away on an a-rig. Just seemed like they were keyed on a certain size, and that was the best thing I had in that size. I suppose I have a bias to think that buzzbaits are big-fish baits, and at the time I didn't have a little buzzbait. -Jackall Digle - 4+ meter Hands down the winner for the year for big fish.

Started fishing deeper this year, mostly 10'-20' instead of 1'-8', but not video-gaming fish as I don't have spotlock. More structure fishing that cover fishing I suppose. Wow! it's really different for sure, and got me into some great fish that were otherwise largely unmolested. Thanks to a comment from @WRB I usually start out just looking around trying to find the life zone, which seems like a pretty consistent 5' range. Well, that and getting right down to the thermocline, where there is one. My first fish on Saturday was in 17' of water on a crankbait...in late fall in texas... but I trusted what I was seeing on the electronics, and the weather has been really weird. Definitely caught fewer fish this year, lots of learning... but definitely caught much bigger average fish this year too, and broke my PB twice. Still occassionally spinning out on the beginnings of a bad pattern, catch two or three fish doing something specific, and mis-translate it for a while.

For me, an MH Mod, or in some of the daiwa lines, Regular, is great for open-hook moving baits and swimjigs.

For me, how fast I move the rod and how far I move the rod are different questions. For me, in almost every presentation, some variation of a sweep set gets me very good results. Close range jigs are likely the big exception, still a full smooth hookset with no slack, but more overhead. As an example on fast/far, with a tiny exposed hook I just don't feel the need to go very fast or very far, and some 6/0 hook buried in plastic or on a jig, next to a big laydown, is going to get fast/hard and far too. IMO the 'far' movement is more likely to move the head than the fast movement. Especially since the back half has all of whatever is going to stretch already loaded up. Learned how to not set the hook like an excited 6 year old here, thanks BR.

I'm about 40 hours in of fishing the 22lb pretty hard, in both wood and rock. It's goofy strong, and one of the things most don't notice is it is roughly the same size as 15lb big game and -thinner- than 20lb invisx. Anyway it is goofy strong, I bent a 6/0 mustad grip pin hook out on a snag; they are pretty heavy hooks. Likely overkill for all but gnarly cover, but when you need it, it really works. Probably the net net result is a even more confidence in 20lb tatsu with a double SDJ.

Two thumbs up on this option. Low drama and you get more fishing in.

Something I learned here is that big fish and little fish do different things. Whatever is working for the 2-4lbs, don't do that. Do something else. More/less color, louder/softer, etc. Find the very best pieces of cover and pick them apart. Same for structure. Start with locating the deepest water, more often than not they seem to be near it. Outside weedline near deep water, on a flat near deep water, etc. Somewhere around here is a story where I pitched a jig at the same bush 26 times without a bite. Eventually found the right spot on the bush - it was the biggest submerged cover, halfway down a slope, 10 feet off the bank, with close access to the deepest water. Anyway there was a big fish there. It almost had to be there, because the only other options were structure. But if you drove by it too fast with a couple of casts you were never catching that fish.

Humminbird Autochart is really nice for making maps. You'll need the $100 upgrade to do more than 8hrs of mapping though.

Jackall Digle - squarebill made in 2,4,5 meter increments. They have turned some average days into some A+ days, and one of the hardest strikes I've ever had from a bass. 5" Swim senko rage rigged, mostly drug on the bottom or small hops. It is a slow presentation but has been a winner. Stopped fishing it one day, no idea why, and I need to get it back in the mix.

HUCA (Hang Up, Call Again). That's a nonsense response from them, someone had a bad day or something. Or maybe a new person. FWIW the one time I needed warranty from daiwa the issue was arguably my issue not theirs, and they treated it really well ie they fixed it anyway.

https://www.fishfindermounts.com/ If you end up with one that isn't designed to be portable, these guys make amazing mounts. A lot of attention to detail, and looks and feels like it was made in a machine shop. I have one with an integrated battery and I love it. For what it's worth, I think the next most important feature after what you listed would be mapping or DI. Oh one other thing... If you are on the bank at all the Deeper castables are pretty good for the price. They also have a boat mount, but a phone screen is a little small for in the boat.

Dirt shallow. Including tossing senkos and frogs up on the bank and dragging them into the water.

So as an update, I decided to try the Poison Adrena. While it isn't mentioned anywhere in the description, it says "Big and Fast Moving" on the rod. It meets my needs, as it gets into the tip a little during the retrieve. Surprisingly it does ok with 1.25 and with 3/8. Great for swimjigs, heavy underspins, etc. I wish the tip was just a hair softer, and it had semi-micro guides, but it is to the point of just being unreasonably picky I think. application. I like the rod and I'd buy it again for a chatterbait rod. And the daiwa regular MH is doing great as a regular and deep squarebill rod.

@Glenn I'm digging the videos from new people, brings a different perspective on similar problems or situations.

IROD makes a great 1-4oz a-rig rod. Was throwing it enough to get a dedicated rod... If I'm slinging $40 worth of lure I might as well get the right rod for it. Works in summer if they are active and chasing, caught my first 3-fer recently. Was kind of disappointed, it was so heavy I thought surely it was a DD. Nope, just three combined that went over 10. While we are on it, pay up for your a-rigs. Sometimes the hardware is a little low end. G-funk is the best one I've found so far. Big Daddy Dayton (or something like that, on TW) hardware has failed on me, and there's no way to contact them w/o facebook, which 100% I won't do. I'll never know just how big that fish that busted a swivel really was, happened on the strike Still looking for more resources to get smarter on the a-rig, post em if you got em.

While it is certainly possible to buy a brand that probably has the best margins in soft baits and try to squeeze out a few more %, it'd be full-on boneheaded... it's about the exact wrong place to put attention on a premium brand. Picking up nickels and ignoring dollars blowing by. If it was mid-range, sure. But it happens /shrug I wouldn't be shocked to see them a) cut the bottom 10% or so of baits and or colors that never really took off, unless they are working well in the JDM market, perhaps cut things that are really expensive to make and don't sell much and b) go on a pretty aggressive line extension to see how far they can push the brand. They'll probably have some money to try new stuff.

IMO the tip is on the X end of XF. It is really nice and crisp. But it would be near the bottom of my list for most of what you described above.

Yep they were green pumpkin matte, coated somehow but not painted.

I'm looking to restock some tungsten weights, preferably in no-chip GP. Strike King used to make some, but not anymore. Do you have a favorite?

Jackall Digle 4+ opened up crankbait fishing for me* and caught bigs. It's a deep squarebill that I bought for fishing suspended treetops, which I haven't done with it yet. *where I fish the normal squarebait depths are often weedy and a much better fit for other presentations. But at 10'-12' feet they are short or gone altogether, and it was catching fish that I couldn't get on any other way.

re dead grass holding fish I heard an interesting in-depth podcast with a biologist who was some sort of lake plant expert, and they made a really interesting point - if it's been dead a while, true, but if it is recently dead it can amp up the ecosystem and food chain for a little while. Eventually goes anaerobic and everything runs from it. So far, the BR community has been an incredibly good source of information that has been pretty accurate. And even when there's not agreement, it's pretty easy to play with both approaches on the water and see.

If I recall correctly that specific braid is pretty slick, and slick braid is tough on an FG knot. Four things have worked for me - try them independently: 1) Try wetting the braid before you cinch it down. Seems counterintuitive but it has helped. 2) Instead of pulling on the cinch, try a light popping motion. It'll be really obvious when the knot starts to catch. Something about getting it started I guess. 3) Are you cinching the first two half-hitches down really tight? 4) Scrape the braid with your fingernail. I don't think this particular braid is waxy, but if it is, try it. Bonus: I think the japanese style hitting the end of the leader with a lighter to get a tiny mushroom on it -after- the cinch is a decent idea. I still do it because I can't see a reason not to. Bonus 2: six-turn surgeon is really fast, and since the line is small the knot won't get in the guides much anyway. Worth a shot. Bonus 3: STOP HOLDING THE LINE IN YOUR MOUTH. Can't see a dang thing. Tie it to a belt loop or a shirt hole so you can see what you are doing.

If I recall correctly that specific braid is pretty slick, and slick braid is tough on an FG knot. Three things have worked for me - try them independently: 1) Try wetting the braid before you cinch it down. Seems counterintuitive but it has helped. 2) Instead of pulling on the cinch, try a light popping motion. It'll be really obvious when the knot starts to catch. Something about getting it started I guess. 3) Are you cinching the first two half-hitches down really tight? Bonus: I think the japanese style hitting the end of the leader with a lighter to get a tiny mushroom on it -after- the cinch is a decent idea. I still do it because I can't see a reason not to. Bonus 2: six-turn surgeon is really fast, and since the line is small the knot won't get in the guides much anyway. Worth a shot.

If I was mostly fishing alone I'd get the yakattack or the bearclaw that @J Francho mentioned. I like how flat the bearclaw is, but it looks like a shorter reach too. Now that I've seen it, for my needs I'd probably get the bearclaw and second true full-handle net if I had to do it over again.

Owner flashy swimmer with a keitech 3.8 fished along the edges and tossed into larger open holes. Surprisingly weedless and can be drug across the top and swum through the holes. A toad fished the same way can be really effective too. Chatterbait fished along the edges.