Finessegenics

I have the 3.5” speed craws in scuppernog. I’m down to my last 5 or so baits though. I believe some JDM plastics also come in scuppernog, but I’m not sure how they look compared to Zoom’s scuppernog. Great mentions so far..love me some motor oil grubs. Still can’t figure out if it’s a muddy or clear water color but all that categorizing is nonsense anyways. I’ve been brainwashed by the manufacturers lol… And some colors are well-known depending on region and the individual angler’s immersion into the fishing world. If I had to give one a shout, it would be Opening Night by Z-Man. I don’t know of any other brands which have something similar.

To be honest, I have no idea how I came up with the name and why I stuck with it. It’s kinda ugly lol! But I do have a ML rod with a 1/16 oz ballhead and various plastics tied on 75% of the time ?

One of my favorite ways to catch em is by burning a spinnerbait. The bite is hard to explain, it’s like running into a wall! This river smallie was a hair over 4#. Also, my apologies for the awkward moustache! Just experimenting a bit ?

War Eagle Screaming Eagle in Aurora. 1/2 oz for me.

Flying Lure! I still have a few which I inherited from my some of my grandpa and dad’s tackle boxes. Looking at all the gimmicky “as seen on TV” baits, this is probably the one which makes the most sense.

Ok, I know Letterkenny...but I've never watched it! I'm more of a trailer park boys guy ?

Fishing shouldn't stress you out. I had a tough year too and the days that it does click are much more rewarding. I've gone through some rough patches in the past too...In 2019, I think I went a whole 20 something hours of fishing without a bass, and not many other fish at that. It's just the way it is sometimes. To keep things optimistic, my goal is to always go home having felt like I learned something that would help me catch fish in the future. Your perspective really changes when you are searching for information, rather than just focusing on catching. That outing with your dad taught you something, right? I don't know if that makes sense, but I hope it helps you. Don't give up, we're rooting for you.

Nice! I'll have to add it to my bucket list. Honestly, maybe as soon as summer 2022. Is there lots of accessible shoreline or are you getting out there on a boat or something?

I'd love to fish the St John one day. Heard lots of great things about the bass fishing there. Do you live in NB and fish it?

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Consensus as of lately on the forums are that pfluegers are not what they used to be. I like my president and president XT. No problems for me yet. Ive been hearing lots of good things about the Daiwa Revros. I got one of my friends into angling last year, and with my help he picked out a Revros for his first setup. It’s the 3000 size but it’s awesome and feels really nice for the price. They make a 2000 and 2500 as well. I believe they are $60. I regret not buying one myself and that’s saying a lot.

Don’t want you to get reprimanded, but what do you mean? LOL

Assuming you’re fishing them with a tube jig, so exposed hook, the strike king pro coffee tubes are really hard to beat. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_Coffee_Tube_35_Pro-Model_8pk/descpage-SKCTP.html I equally use XZone X-Tubes. They have some interesting color patterns and they are a little larger than the coffee tubes. My favorite color is Killer Perch ? https://www.xzonelures.com/shop/3-75-x-tube-5462?category=129#attr=6748

Today was Canadian Thanksgiving, so happy thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians here on BR. I enjoyed an early dinner (or late lunch?) with the family and then hit the river in search of fish. I had about an hour and a half of sunlight to work with. Bank fishing on this river is super productive this time of year and I wasn’t disappointed. I was fishing in 2-5 feet of water, with a gravel bottom. Few weed patches here and there and there’s even a few huge boulders to target, but they’re in extremely shallow water; ~2 feet. I started off with a chartreuse craw Arashi Squarebill. Lost what looked like a decent smallmouth on my first cast after it jumped a few times . Three casts later, hooked into one and landed it. I honestly believe it was the same fish, which is weird since I hooked it twice. This one weighed in at 2.5 lbs (anything above 3 is a good one for this river). Tried some different colors of squarebills with no success so I made the switch to a 3/8 oz football jig with a chigger craw trailer. I was getting so many bites but couldn’t convert any into hookups. I believe they were smaller bass, picking at the claws of the trailer. The fish in this river aren’t particularly big on average so I imagine it’s hard for them to get a full sized football jig into their mouths. Still, I noticed that a lot of my hits were coming on the retrieves where I was working the jig a little more aggressively. So I said screw it; next cast I’m gonna retrieve it 2-3 full rotations then give it a pause. Before I even let it pause, what felt like a freight train absolutely smacked the jig. I set the hook and the fight was on but it was short lived. What looked like another decent smallie spit the jig. Not sure if the hook ever even made contact with its mouth or it was just holding onto the bait. After losing that fish, I continued with the football jig and continued getting those little bites telling me I was on some smaller fish. I decided to change it up to a swimbait on a 1/8 okashira screwhead. It’s a simple presentation and figured anything would go after it. After trying a few different holes with no success, I went back to a jig; but this time I made a change. Instead of a full size 3/8 oz football jig, I made the change to a tiny little 5/32 oz tungsten keitech jig. This thing is so small, even a TRD is too big a trailer for it. I figured I might as well catch some of these smaller fish. Well that decision was the ticket!!! I covered it full of Garlic Crawfish Liquid Mayhem scent and went to work. One of my first casts I landed another decent smallie, and then another, and many other smaller bass, 1 lbers. Finally, I topped it off with a perfect eating size walleye. All from the same hole! These fish all came with sunlight dying out, around 6:10-6:30 pm. I was dragging the little jig on bottom. So it was sort a slow reel, but constant so that it would maintain contact with bottom and always keep moving. Catching the walleye made me think that maybe they had moved in shallow and there was a feeding window since the sun was setting. When there’s one, there’s usually more. I tied on a trusty walleye setup of mine, a fire tiger ripple Shad on a 1/8 oz ball head and gave it a few casts. I was hoping for another walleye but instead caught a tiny smallie. No other bites after that and it was already dark (I had overstayed my hour and a half by a bit), so I headed home. This is a long post for what most would consider an average day of fishing but it meant a lot to me. Haven’t been feeling the best lately and just super stressed with life in general. I haven’t fished as much as I hoped for the past few weeks or so and this reminded me how good getting out in nature is for the soul. Thanks for reading guys!

They look great to me. I'd buy them! Maybe add more silicone strands, it does look a little bare. But I have no idea how that would affect the action of the hair underneath.

How did it go?

To me, they are similar enough that I use them interchangeably. A grub does seem more subtle though like @PaulVE64 mentioned. If a boottail isn't working for me, I'll usually switch to a grub and make a few casts just in case. Basically, I switch to the other for a bit when one isn't working. Also keep in mind not all boottails have the same action either. Some boottails are more subtle than others.

I would have gave them a shout too but I use The Mister Twister Ringworms instead. Awesome baits anyways! I threw one a split shot rig this spring and caught a few smallies

I used some 10# on my 30 President XT this year and I'm not the biggest fan. It's good line for sure, but I still prefer original Power Pro. I find original PP to be more abrasion resistant...but I'm sure the reality is that there is not much of a difference. I also like the fact that the PP is a little stiffer and rougher, which sounds weird to most people when talking about fishing lines. In theory, that means it does not cast as well as the 8-carrier 832 but the PP just feels more solid to me. It's a preference thing really. There are a lot of solid braided lines on the market. I've tried Yo-Zuri's and I like that too. Experiment a bit and you'll find something you like.

The Ultra Vibe Speed Craw on a swing head!!! ?

I was in the same position as you; looking for a simple unit and making it portable. I went with the Lowrance Hook 4x and got a really good deal for it at SAIL. It does its job, all I really wanted to see was depth and water temperature as well as large boulders or logs on bottom, etc... I've seen a few fish on it, but I'm not necessarily using it to find fish. I made it portable myself, thanks to the fact that I was able to find a suction cup for the skimmer transducer through cabela's. If I'm not mistaken, even humminbird makes a suction cup mount for some of their transducers. Ive heard a lot of negative things about the suction cup mounts but maybe I just got lucky. They can come off, the cable can then get caught in the prop. Lots of problems so just beware if you go that route. Mine has never came off once. I had in on the back of a boat for 7 days and it did not budge once. There are also the pole mount https://www.amazon.ca/Brocraft-Universal-Portable-Transducer-Fishfinder/dp/B01FX7WMXW/ref=dp_prsubs_2?pd_rd_i=B01FX7WMXW&psc=1) options but those can get a little pricy. Here's some pictures of my setup. A marine battery box is probably more ideal than this old tacklebox but I haven't had any issues yet.

I haven't with strike king but have with other manufacturers. It's not something which bothers me much unless the color is completely off.

I can only speak for the 956-Camo comparison. Camo is a lot like Strike Kings "Falcon Lake Craw" if you've ever used one of those baits. The belly of the camo baits are a dark red compared to the orange of 956. Topsides are similar enough and they both have red flake, so I'd give it a go.

I prefer having them on bottom, drifting with the wind. No better walleye tactic!

Absolute football ? Color on that fish is really unique too!