Bass Rutten

Rooster tail whopper plopper

True, it did kill the sluggo, but it seems like no one fishes it like that anymore.

I find the plain ol’ senko makes a decent stand in for a soft jerk. I also twitch a weightless trick worm around shallow vegetation like a jerk bait.

Bearing newb here, can you recommend some of those shimano bearing equivalents for half the price?

Good golly, for bank beating I prefer 1 rod, 2 at the most, I hate having to babysit extra rods but it is nice having the extra options. When out the other day me and my buddy were joking about how we need to hire a caddy like golfers, “Caddy, hand me my medium heavy nrx and tie on a 1/2oz black jig and chartreuse craw”, lol one can dream…

I’ve been doing pretty good the last few weeks on bigger wake baits up shallow and on outside weedlines after 7pm.

I've attempted this throughout the years but always find compromise is required to stay strictly brand consistent. Two places that I have found it useful to apply consistency is rod length and reel gear ratio, otherwise the best tool gets the job, although I do find most of my gear to say shimano or daiwa on it, semi-consistency works for me I guess.

Does the bird's nest happen at the very beginning or end of your cast? Two different solutions. Backlashing at the beginning of the cast means you need to dial in more brakes, the end of the cast requires more spool tension or feathering with thumb.

I’ve handled the carbons but not fished with them, owned a few furys, I’d go with dobyns for the lifetime warranty and customer service.

Interesting, I grew up fishing trout with inline spinners exclusively and find I'm still drawn to them. Curious as to how/when/where you use them for bass, largies/smallies?

You didn't mention line, but could probably get a 1/2oz chatter down there with a thinner braid like 20 or 30lb on your current gear. If you go with a 3/4oz chatterbait, it weighs an ounce by itself, 3/4oz is just the lead before adding the hook and other components nevermind the trailer, with trailer it's closer to 1.25oz. I use a 7'3" daiwa swimbait rod rate to 4oz for 3/4oz chatters and spinnerbaits. You'll need a heavy rod at a minimum, the longer the better, your going to need to move some line to get a good hookset at those depths. Since your on the bank I'd look into lighter swimbait rods which tend to be 7'9"-8"0 long, the dobyns 794/795 is relatively cheap and will cast well down to an ounce, irod has some decent budget ones too, don't forget a 200 size reel, go monkey!

I'd stick with braid on your topwater rod only because of the frog. For the 7'mh a quality 15lb fluoro like abrazx is great for bottom contact, I also love a good copoly like p-line cxx, it's a little more versatile by allowing topwaters too. For spinning I'd go 6 or 8lb fluoro if you're dead set against leaders, but when a friend convinced me to try braid w/leader a decade and a half ago it was a game changer for me. The alberto knot is dead simple, people make to big a deal about leaders being troublsome imo. I use 10lb powerpro to 8lb fluoro.

Shimano poison adrena 7'3" mh, it's more moderate than most fast rods and the tip loads up more like a medium, combined with the shimano curado mgl reel I can cast a trick worm with 3/16 jig or weight no problem, pretty far too I might add thanks to that mgl spool. Right now I'm experimenting with 12lb pline cxx copoly but I typically run 15lb abrazx or pline tactical.

Shimano expride 7’3” xh might cover all that, it’s not a broom stick, it’s got a mod-fast taper that makes it crazy versatile. I don’t flip or c-rig but I’ve punched, jigged, t-rigged, and mojo rigged with it, rated to 2 ounces.

If going the jighead route why not just buy a swimbait body which was designed to fish on jigs? Your paying a premium for a full body style swimbait and using it in a manner it isn't designed for and I know they ain't cheap. If you do rig them on a jighead you'll probably find they won't last long due to it's split belly and not having much plastic for the hook to bite into, especially if you trim the head back to make the jig "blend" into the body. Jighead/body swimbaits are what I tie on when I want to slow roll or stroke them deeper than the full bodied weedless styles which shine around shallow vegetation and cover. All that being said I like the owner and the kalins saltwater bullet style jigheads, the eye placement stabilizes the head and gives the tail a little more thump.

Rods launch lures not reels.

Not quite as fast as the overhand but I use a 3 turn clinch, hold the improvement.

ˆ8.5 Gettin some ted nugent vibes there... One of my faves, super unique and talented

The stock 4x hooks are complete overkill. Owner st-41’s work great on ploppers.

A few years ago I went to a system where each rod I own has a dedicated 3700 plano, only lures used on that rod go in that box. You’d be surprised the selection of lures you can fit in one. My mh casting rod box for instance has in it right now some poppers, wakes, spooks, 4.8 keitechs, 1/4&3/8 swim & flipping jigs, worms, senkos, soft jerks, creatures, I change out lures based on time of year or other variables. This has worked out great for all fishing scenarios I encounter be it bank, boat, kayak or canoe and keeps you from being too weighed down while providing a nice selection of options.

That was my plan but I’m just used to fishing on bottom, fishing a near vertical wall of rock is messing with my head

First time quarry fishing and got my butt kicked today. Windy, cloudy, deep, clear (5-10’ vis), mostly rocky shoreline some moderate submerged grass/other vegetation near shore dropping off quickly into unknown depths. Spent some time fishing a deps slide swimmer and got some very nice smallies to show themselves (shore fishing only), got some follows, several at a time more than once, almost right to my feet, no takers though. Frustration ensued then I tossed around some jerks, a mojo rigged centipede , ned, spinner baits etc. nothing, nada, not a sniff or follow, only interest was in the glide bait. Can drop shot be effective fishing steep banks from shore? Finesse and smallie fishing in general is not my strong suit, going back tomorrow what would you do?

I'm not familiar with that reel but whats worked for me on most reels is to turn on all brakes and/or set the brake control to the far upper range then use the cast control to fine tune. Also to me the rod is more important faactor in skipping over the reel and that xfast rod isn't doing you any favors, I find shorter (6'6"-6'9) rods with a tip that loads with your lure of choice gives you much better control and accuracy, but as basswhole said practice make perfect. Also peg your weight if you're not already doing it to keep the package tight or consider using a jig until you improve.

Rod, reel, line, lure, settings?

Hell yeah! Just snagged a Zillion HD for $199.00, not sure if I want to kiss you or curse you lol