Cdn Angler

Lots of irrational brand biases. I have a bias against anything Berkley, flatworm excepted. Too many of their products just seem like garbage so I don't want to use them, particularly swimbaits. Most of this is based on nothing, but what they make doesn't look right to my eye for whatever reason. Even the names sound stupid to me. Livetarget I dislike from buying their stuff and catching nothing. I assume it looks good and has no action. Megabass I haven't seen any increase in catching ability compared to comparable or cheaper lures. They do look great though. Spinnerbaits, pretty much hate everything except R2S. Why? I like R2S spinnerbaits so everything else looks/feels weird by comparison. If a bait, new or 40 years old, says Cotton Cordell, Rapala or Mepps on it, I assume it'll catch fish, whatever its other shortcomings are. When it comes to reels/rods, I assume anything Japanese is better, rightly or wrongly. A standard jig with a weedguard/skirt will never make any sense to me. I'll still fish it, but I'm always inclined to favour a straight texas rig. I don't think that jig looks one bit like a crayfish or a shad/bluegill, despite bass wanting to eat a jig and it being a proven thing. Topwater will catch fish in any possible conditions. Based on wishful thinking. Context for catching any big fish matters. Don't much care otherwise. Dislike pros or youtubers who seem to exaggerate a southern accent or yell biggun every 5 seconds. I swear many do this intentionally. Nearly any crankbait will get bit unless it doesn't run true at all. Not as much as another crank in a given situation, but it'll get bit. Preferred colours do matter and are based at least partially on reality. Why? Nobody knows. I think there are noticeable regional preferences that don't make sense aside from individual anglers trial/error i.e. based on reality and that somehow gets translated into the "bigger picture." It would be cool to have actual experiments done to figure out how much line colour/size and colour matter, but it is impossible as there will never be enough data. If you are fishing from the bank or a boat with no trolling motor you are better to sacrifice line size/strength for casting distance. Can't land a fish if you never hook it. Most advice from quality sources is meant for people with 10 rods in a bass boat with a trolling motor and livescope. Few mention that. Keep that in mind. Bass are basically big sunfish and will eat anything. Fishing is about getting in touch with nature. People fishing looking like a Nascar car are poor representations for the sport and look ridiculous. Tournament fishing is, mostly, an abomination. I still get it and watch it/sometimes compete, but it is one of those things that is only a good thing if a not lot of people aren't doing it. Also on tournament fishing: you should know, every second, what they are throwing and on what setup and in what depth of water. Randomly showing people catch fish says about as much as watching the Super Bowl, but you only see the score go up and down, but don't know how they scored. Pointless. Too much technology destroys the essence of fishing. Most of fishing is based around biases and inclinations, most of which are unscientific or based on a super limited quantity of trial and error or outright rumour. If you are pretending otherwise you are kidding yourself. At the same time, some are able to distill all of the variables better than others. Fishing can be a hobby, not a sport. You can just fish to enjoy nature and get outside and that doesn't make you any less of a fisherman. The point of fishing generally isn't to catch as many fish as possible for a cheque or to post something on the internet, it's to commune with nature and to escape from your daily grind. If you catch 10 fish or 5 fish, or a 6 lbr or a 2 lbr, the result is usually the same.

A bass over 5 lbs here is big, with 6 lbs being enormous. Anything over 4 is a quality fish that I'd be happy to catch in a given outing. Baits for me that seem to disproportionately attract larger bass are a 1/2 oz spinnerbait, crayfish texas rigged (rage-craw, keitech crazy flapper) and a good sized topwater (large walking bait or whopper plopper).

I don't use them to hop or dead stick. In the Spring they are one of the best options here for pike when bass are out of season, but you'll still catch quality bass on them. Once bass are open you might have a week or so when they are still on fire. In the summer I fish them over grass and the Cotton Cordell Spot is still the best producer. I like the River2Sea Ruckus as heavier and can be cast further and fished a bit deeper.

I bought it while on the coast with the hopes of using it for muskie fishing. I threw it about ten times and it was like retrieving a rock. I just couldn't picture any fish biting it. Afterwards most reviews I read said about the same thing. I'd agree with you in terms of bass, but fishing for big pike/muskie the go to is often crazy gaudy lures that resemble no fish or giant bucktail spinners that again aren't exactly similar to a big fish that a muskie eat. I've never heard of anyone fishing large inline spinners for big bass, only realistic swimbaits that resemble actual food. I suppose a whopper plopper is a muskie bate that migrated, but most top waters don't seem to resemble anything and it is more the disturbance they make than the visuals.

I have one of these and it is gigantic. Can't say I've caught anything on it and the action doesn't seem to translate to this large a lure. https://www.muskyshop.com/products/crankbaits-bill-lewis-supertrap

12 lb flouro on a spinning rod.

The Roumba is basically my favourite thing to fish of any hard lure out there if the water is calm. The rattling version is extremely loud if that's what you want. It can't be burned, but fished slow-ish it kills, especially in clear water for smallmouth.

I've never had any problem with the VMC Wacky Hook. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/VMC_Ike_Approved_Wacky_Hook_25pk/descpage-VMCWKH.html

Rapala shad rap shad gets my vote. I don't even know why, but it gets bit. They also sell in shallower and deeper versions and have slow sink and slow rise versions. That bait has the juice and easily outperforms a Vision 100 around here. Bass, pike, muskie, they all bite it. Only negative is that it doesn't cast as well as premium jerkbaits with a weight transfer system.

Will do but it'll be about 3 months for the ice to thaw. Excited to see how deep these can go.

Owner Hyper Wire Split Ring #4 50lb 12pk 1 $4.99 $4.99 Gama Offset Round Bend Black 4/0 5pk 1 $3.99 $3.99 Z-Man Floating Wormz Green Pumpkin 7" 1 $3.99 $3.99 River2Sea Ruckus Real Perch 1 $11.99 $11.99 River2Sea Ruckus Terminator 1 $11.99 $11.99 Savage Gear Ned Salamander Green Pumpkin Purple Copper 1 $4.99 $4.99 Savage Gear Ned Salamander Albino Flash 3" 1 $4.99 $4.99 Jackall Rerange 110MR RT Perch 2 $14.99 $29.98 Nichols D.F. Blue Shad White Blue DBL Wil White 1oz 1 $9.99 $9.99 Nichols D.F. Blue Shad DBL Wil White 1.5oz 1 $9.99 $9.99 Nichols D.F. JT's The Best Color Ever DBL Wil Wtmln 1 1 $9.99 $9.99 Nichols D.F. JT's The Best Color Ever DBL Wil Wtml 1 $9.99 $9.99 River2Sea Pro Tuned Rover 128 Powder Dirty Jigs Replacement Skirts 60 Strand Avocado Pumpkin 1 $4.99 $4.99 Sweet Beaver 4.20 Green Pumpkin Magic 1 $5.49 $5.49 BOSS Replacement Skirts Emerald Shiner 1 $3.49 $3.49 Reaction Skinny Dipper Lime Ice 1 $5.99 $5.99 Kalin's Scrub Green Pump Seed 1 $3.29 $3.29 HogFarmer Spunk Shad Green Pumpkin Magic 5.5" 1 $6.19 $6.19 HogFarmer Spunk Shad Blizzard Gizzard 5.5" 1 $6.19 $6.19 Man Bear Pig Dirty Sanchez 1 $5.59 $5.59 Man Bear Pig Flora/Bama 1 $5.59 $5.59 Xzone Lures MB Fat Finesse Worm Black 6" 1 $4.99 $4.99 Xzone Lures MB Fat Finesse Worm Green Pumpkin Black Flk 1 $4.99 $4.99 Z-Man Floating Wormz Menthiolate 7" 1 $3.99 $3.99 Jackall Aragon Black Chartreuse SR 1 $12.87 $12.87 Jackall Aragon HL Aurora Black SR 1 $12.87 $12.87 Jackall Aragon Purple Chartruese SR 1 $12.87 $12.87 NetBait STH Finesse Crush Worm Killer Pumpkin 3.75" 1 $5.99 $5.99 NetBait STH Finesse Crush Worm Midnight Green 3"

This is a scenario I often encounter, but have never had any success catching fish. Typically it'll be a rocky hillside leading into the lake and then almost immediately a huge drop-off slanting down 20-40 feet (basically a long underwater hill mostly vertical). I've looked for fish against the rock wall super shallow, tried to fish the bottom (rocky but flatter) and hoped for cruisers mid-column. Never any luck. There's rarely any brush/timber or even boulders in this scenario. Is this likely to be dead water? That's my assumption and I now skip these spots, but I'm not sure if I'm missing something or should permanently write them off?

I'd probably end up with a small inline spinner, tiny curly tailed grub, and a ned rig.

The most common way to fish a tube is on bottom and to fish it like a jig more or less. I've had success fishing it mid-column like a jerkabit with minimal weight - not ideal, but that's what I had when I needed to do it and it worked. You can also pitch and flip a tube, work it like a jerkbait, deadstick it. The possibilities are endless. I think the main thing is just to think where in the water column you want it to be and then weight it/work it appropriately. Most times that's going to be a tube jig weight that puts it on bottom.

Thanks all. After some Googling it looks like it is a Mann's Stretch 10, dives 8-10 feet I guess. Whoever said Rippling Redfin isn't wrong, because that's what's shown in the background of the same picture. Gotta love the cotton cordells. I put new hardware on the Mann's bait and hopefully it catches fish. I like the perch pattern and profile...hopefully the glitter is a positive and not a negative.

This is a tough one. Last year I tried to commit to an a-rod but caught zip on Thing looked like a buffet table and had a couple follows. I never used it on a day when everything else was hot so might just be bad luck. My main issue last year was WFH with covid, which continues. I used to fish to get away from people. But in Canada everything's been shut down and I work from home. I'd then drive 2 hours on a Saturday to be alone some more and instead of feeling relaxed I'd feel even more anxious. So I'd like to figure that out and hopefully get a more balanced approach, covid willing.

Plan 1 is a few trips way off the map where fish likely never see a lure or at least not more than a few per year. A lot of work involved to do so and serious bushwacking with a canoe, but hopefully worth it. I'd like to try punching if I find the right environment. I'd also like to catch fish on a chatterbait. Lastly I'd like to hook up and use my electronics. I've always fished with nothing and done pretty good, but there are days where I need a backup plan and I would like to know depth and water temps at minimum. I fish to escape technology, so still reticent and don't fancy fiddling with a screen all day. Those are my loose goals. I'd like to catch a PB Pike over 10 lbs, at least one 5lb bass, and two muskie.

I have 2 boxes for stuff I'm actually bringing on my boat (kayak) to fish. All other cranks are in various planos and labelled for their weight and depth. I have three planos completely full for this purpose and I carry, if you include lipless, about 15 cranks per trip. My boxes for non boat use are basically an even split between 1) shallow cranks 2) deeper (8 ft +) 3) lipless I just counted and I bring on the boat 8 shallow cranks: rock crawler, bomber a, ima x 2, megabass scrank, Big O x 3. Then: 5 lipless ( four cordell spots, 1 r2s ruckus, 1 ima suspending) and 3 deeper divers: ima beast hunter, 3xd and a cordell wally diver.

I won't refuse, but I've had little luck with a chatterbait or buzzbait. A buzzbait I don't get. It just seems less lifelike and you cant pause it like a walking bait, popper, whopper plopper, wakebait. I guess if you have a trolling motor and want to cover a lot of water extremely quickly it makes more sense. Doesn't get bit much up here though it seems. Also casts worse than the above alternatives. Chatterbait I'm going to try to gain some confidence as it must work. Flukes likewise it sounds like I'm best off dead sticking them rather than using like a jerkbait, but I have way more confidence dead sticking a senko so why use a fluke? I need to experiment more. In anything but the most thick vegetation I can't see why I'd throw a hollow body frog with a 40% hook up rate vs dragging a texas rig across mats of vegetation. Again I think I probably just suck at frogging so need to put in more work. If it's open water I cant see why a frog would be better than a popper with trebles.

If you are just fishing for fun then I see no problem with spamming what you enjoy rather than fishing a better option that you enjoy less. In a tournament the whole point is to catch as many/the biggest fish so this reasoning is illogical. A lot of people do just look down on finesse fishing and spinning rods. Heck you even have people that look down on fishing shallow rather than offshore. It's odd because it isn't like bass are big behemoths like musky or marlin that can't possibly be handled with lighter tackle or smaller presentations. But people like to feel tough or like experts so throw shade on more "basic" techniques. I do what I feel like by myself with no explanation to anyone. The reality with bass fishing is you should be versatile to catch fish through whatever means possible, at least if you're trying to maximize time on water relative to fish caught.

I'm in Ontario Canada and in terms of natural colours that exist red isn't much of a thing. Our crayfish are brown 99% of the time. We don't have shad, but there are plenty of white/silver coloured minnows. Perch do have a lot of yellow in them. In terms of colours you are best off going with greens, white/silver, a bit of chartreuse, then brown for craws. That said we get far less fishing pressure so often just having making a lure as colourful as possible will get a bite, so it isn't stupid to fish an all yellow/pink/orange/red pattern depending on the circumstance. But that's usually if you know they are going to be bitey. Typically that is as close to bass-opener as possible, so you might have a 1-2 week window where flashy colours are best. IMO this doesn't happen again until fall and even then it's usually a 3-8pm deal when fish are active. Pike/muskie are different beasts and could be year round for gaudy colours.

I've got a use a plueger, 13 fishing, Fenwick and Shimano rods. I like the 13 fishing rods for the price, but the durability has been awful, so I'm not buying any more. The Fenwick rod was an in-store emergency purchase. So most of my rods/any new purchases will hopefully be cheaper Shimano rods. I like the price point and durability.

Found lure. Says 8-10 feet and there's a feint ns visible so thinking Manns maybe? Lure is like a glitter bomb went off.

duo realis rozante. a slow floating shad rap should work. I have used and liked the yozuri bait mentioned above too. Shad rap is fatter/biggest, duo is smallest but casts like a bullet for its size, yozuri is most reflective, bigger than the duo, more slender than the shad rap, slimmer profile than the shad rap.

This thread is bringing out my inner hoarder. What if they stop making a bait that I love and I only have 10 of them in stock? Might need 15.