Bass Rutten

A smaller thinner size of the same weight falls faster creating more separation between the weight and lure, and is less prone to pick up vegetation. Any round eye tungsten weight will work, no need for boutique here. Is tungsten in general better or worth the extra dough for this application? In my opinion yes, but it's just an opinion.

I can already hear the collective sighs and eye rolls, but dropshot and mojo/carolina rigged plastics are how I like to probe areas in and around deep weedlines.

100%, mine seemingly changes season to season, if not the lure type then the size or color or rigging.

I catch about 80-90% of my fish on some form of a jig or worm #kiss Strike king hack attack fluoro flippin jig Strike king elaztech finesse worms Z-man trd ned rig

If they say northfork and have the American flag on the blank they are the older nfc blanks. The new ones, 2020 and later, are undisclosed Korean sourced Toray Japanese graphite blanks. The lmh is legit, love mine. I have a 7'0" HMH Helium for sale in the classifieds here. Going to use the funds to get a 7'3" mh.

I use 3/4 as much as any other size, even more so in the warmer months when metabolisms run high. It's not about the weight for penetrating grass or mats necessarily, the fast rate of fall is a very effective strike trigger, even up shallow in a couple feet of water especially next to cover, and it makes longer accurate pitches effortless.

That’s a tall order, but this one almost ticks all your boxes except the price and rated just slightly shallower… https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Deps_Korrigan_150_Magnum_Squarebill_Crankbait/descpage-DKORR15.html

Hey neighbor, welcome from central Florida!

Hey guys, no reason to buy expensive hydration drinks, it's very easy and cheap to make your own. I learned this from folks who eat low to no carb diets like keto and carnivore which requires increasing your sodium intake to prevent keto flu, they call it keto-ade. They use something called LITE SALT by Morton's which you can get at most grocery stores. It contains 290mg of sodium and 350mg of potassium per 1/4 tsp, the two primary electrolytes in gatorade. I add 1/4 tsp per quart of water and use a flavored drink mix called tru lime/lemon which is naturally flavored and sweetened mostly with stevia (1gm sugar/packet). The flavored drink mix is optional but plain saltwater is not pleasant tasting. Adding a daily magnesium and calcium supplement is suggested as well which are the 2 remaining electrolytes. Happy hydrating!

Is staring at a screen any different than just staring at the water?

Haha that was my first thought too, a few are really pushing the boundaries of finesse here. There are very few hardbaits I'd consider finesse; small poppers/walkers, maybe a spybait. Ned rig, flickshake/wacky, dropshot, mojo rig, swimbait would be my choices for all finesse. In the waters I fish the first few hours of daylight seem to be the best chance at putting numbers and/or big fish in the boat, my approach would be to start the day off covering water looking for fish that are chasing using a 2.8-3.8 boot-tail swimbait, but the mojo rig covers water well too. Once the morning bite tapers off I target cover like weedlines, isolated weed clumps, mat/pad edges, docks, etc with the finesse worms.

No, the trick to getting an elaztech bait over keepers is to pull it over rather than push it, hold/pinch the hook at the bend and pull the head of the bait from both sides onto the keeper, see video starting at 4:28

Eagle claw makes a surprisingly good ned rig jighead imo, my hookup and land ratio is extremely high which I attribute (at least partially) to it's unique "V bend", a modified J hook bend. It has a great keeper as well as a great price, I'm surprised I've never seen it mentioned or recommended before.

No mention of budget, but it's hard to beat the daiwa alphas sv tw 800 for bang for the buck (well under 200 jdm). A very good, compact, finesse capable reel.

Some prefer heavier mod-fast taper rods with braid line for punching and frogging.

Yup the first fish I caught on it wasn’t huge but it was one of the hardest strikes I’ve ever had.

I’ve had a great hookup ratio, the only beef I have with them is one of the fins getting pushed under the hook and having to fiddle with them every cast or two.

It's the ones you don't see that haunt your dreams. I hooked a small gator last year that I wish I didn't see, that glimpse I got of it robbed me of the experience of hooking a near world record bass!

I have not used the dolive stick, but from it's looks it has a very similar body and tail shape as well as action as the caffeine shad which costs out in between them at a more digestible $.87 each, or $6.99 for an 8 pack. Does it catch 63.3% more fish per bait? Only one way to find out. I also discovered an alternative retrieve that has caught fish when jerking it ain't getting them; the weighted hook/caffeine shad combo when straight and steady reeled at the right speed will do a seductive side to side motion similar to a hard glide bait.

The 3/32 weighted owner twist lock light works great on soft jerks as well for working deeper, or faster at a given depth. The weighted 4/0 paired with the bigger caffeine shad is money on the drop, it shimmys just like a yamamoto senko.

A little grease on the gears and oil the bearings and it'll be the reel you want it to be. Daiwa's are known for being on the dry side out of the box. EDIT: Nevermind, I see it's a spinning reel now.

That's a nice little reccomendation for bfs, what plastic do you run on it? I like the Deek's deadspin for an open hook underspin, it's just a tad bigger than roadrunners but more compact than most underspins, the eye and blade hanger location lets it shed weeds pretty good too, great design. Pictured below is the 1/8 with a 3 inch largo shad, about 9.5 grams total, not what most would consider bfs though. Sorry op if we're threadjacking you.

I'm not in your area but booyah has a little spinnerbait called the pond magic. Small underspins like roadrunners are a great alternative for a finesse lure with a little flash, they don't see them much and they flat out catch fish, and not just bass if your into the multi-species thing, just a thought. TW has a nice selection of them.

I have a daiwa alphas svtw800 fitted with a kkr t37 aftermarket bfs spool, it's capacity is rated at 150m of pe#1.2 (.185mm), I got it spooled with 15lb yozuri braided line (.19mm), I estimate it took 100+ meters of line, way more than your typical bfs reel. I mainly use it for smaller jerkbaits and topwaters between, 3/16-3/8oz, it handles down to down to 3.5g (1/8oz) quite well too with the right rod. I haven't experienced line dig so far but also haven't hooked any hogs on that particular reel yet either. For my needs and style of fishing I'm finding it better suited than my actual bfs reel, it's just a perfect power bfs setup and the spool is plug n play so no fiddling or tinkering required, pop out old spool pop in new one, done.

This. Finesse jigs = more bites = more confidence. My first year of fishing I stumbled upon a jig bite while throwing a 1/8oz bitsy bug in a back channel where I set the hook on 25+ bass inside a 25ft stretch of bank within about 20 minutes, it was crazy, practically every cast, although I haven't had a jig bite like that in the almost 30 years since it built up confidence in jigs I have to this day.