Finessegenics

A. 20 B. 40 C. 14 D. 21 E. 81 Decent. This has been my best result so far and that shows how poor my picks have been this season. Hopefully Schlapper who is at 14, can slide into the top 10 tomorrow

I’m also not a big fan of chunks. There’s a lot of great 3” ish craws on the market. Any of the “baby” rage products, XZone finesse craw, Powerbait Chigger bug and even just any old double tail.

I use regular old removable split shots. I don't know if there is another name for them. @RDB does make a good point about possibly damaging the line when crimping.

Like a Carolina or Texas rig, you can really throw anything you want behind a split shot rig. But as it’s meant to be used on pressured fish, people generally fish smaller worms such as senkos, and finesse worms. I use “dropshot” marketed hose and usually nose hook the baits. I don’t think it matters where you throw em, as long as you’re around fish. Also want to add that it’s the slow fall of the bait that triggers the bites. Therefore, after casting the rig allow some time for the soft plastic itself to slowly glide to bottom.

x2

I’m not picky about my braided line. In my experience most of them from the name brands are good products. Original Power Pro is my favorite and is smooth as can be. I also tried some Suffix 832 towards the end of last season and found it great. I have two 300 yard spools in 10# to use (thats a few seasons for me). Gonna start out with the 832 this season and see how it goes.

Don't overthink things at this stage. Buy a black/blue jig for muddy water and green pumpkin for anything else. As a beginner, it's easy to overwhelm yourself with everything that's available out there. I went that route and I spent wayyy more money than I needed to. I have piles of baits that I don't even use. Just go fishing, and as you gain experience you will notice what works for you and what doesn't.

That’s a mouthful...

No. It's just the name of the rod. Shorter rods are generally easier to skip with though

I regularly catch bass in muddy water on small ned-type plastics. Chocolate milk? Not as much. Maybe try adding a blade to the back of your bait like this

Almost any plastic is good on a swinghead. For your description, count in another vote for the Rage Bug. The following are not creature baits per se but I really like the XZone MB finesse craw. The regular size is a little too big of a presentation for me. A Zoom Speed Craw has also done very well for me.

Nice job. I'm also not a fan of screw lock bait keepers. I like the Hack Attack Fluoro jig but the keeper is a PITA. How'd you remove the screw lock keeper?

A rage plastic for sure...that coffee scent smells yummy

I have braid ready reels and still use a mono backing. There is no need imo to fill up your whole spool with mainline. You’ll never use all the line that you ended up putting on your reel. Though if you do fill up the whole reel, when it’s time to change your line, you can just “flip” the braid.

Jeez... Am I the only one feeling a little insecure about my casting abilities after reading this thread? ?

As far as I know, casting with the right and reeling with the left hand is traditional for spinning gear, simply because most people are dominant with their right arm. I don't know why the same did not carry over to baitcasters. As I can already see by the replies to your post, it seems most people like to cast and hold their rod with their dominant arm. This isn't relevant to your post but I couldn't resist mentioning it ? I don't switch when using a baitcaster. I cast with my right and reel with my left with both spinning and b/c. For me, the only downside to not switching on a baitcaster is the slight movement I have to make to palm the reel after making my cast. Obviously, it's become automatic for me and I'm much more comfortable doing that than switching hands.

Curado K! Very robust reel with a large spool, perfect for thicker diameter lines. I think I’m going to pick up a second one for myself this year too.

Use whatever rod you have. 4 years ago, when I had just picked up a baitcaster for the first time, and long before I ever joined bassresource, this was the video that helped me the most. I had already been using a baitcaster a few weeks, but was struggling to some degree. So I decided, hey why not pretend like I’m starting over. It sounds a lot like what you’re describing. You shouldn’t be trying to “cast hard” with a baitcaster. It’s not a spinning rod where you can sling it with all your might. Even that’s not 100% effective with a spinning rod. It really all is in the technique.

I’m sure you can, I just have no experience with traps. There’s a lot of good info on YouTube but a lot of them involve hook and line. Though I’m sure a size 12 hook would be small enough?

Believe it or not, your best bet at catching larger creek chubs is probably on hook and line. They’ll eat small chunks of nightcrawler and even go after small inline spinners. That seems far too time consuming just to get your hands on live bait though. I can’t help with the trap aspect, but they seem to prefer flowing water. I’ve never seen them hanging out in stagnant, dirty water.

I am a huge fan of the Swammers. I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily better than any other swimbait but they have a truly unique action. I have Fat Impacts too but they get less and less use. As already mentioned, the swammers have an awesome action. The whole body rolls and the tail thumps really hard. When you look at a fat impact, it’s more of a tail wobble while the rest of the body is still. I use both as stand alone baits but only the Swammer as a jig trailer. I use the fat impact when I want to creep a swimbait slowly along bottom. The fat impact gets moving really easily. I don’t need to retrieve fast to impart action on it. Since then swammer is more aggressive, I’ll use that when searching for active fish or just when I feel like really chucking and winding. The Swammer makes such a good jig trailer. The “roll” is so aggressive that it gets the whole jig shaking. The skirt pulses on the retrieve, and there’s no need for pumping your rod.

https://fish.shimano.com/content/fish/northamerica/us/en/homepage/Shimano_Product_Page.P-CURADO_MGL_70_K.html https://fish.shimano.com/content/fish/northamerica/us/en/homepage/Shimano_Product_Page.P-CURADO_70.html

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-PFLGRREELS.html?from=basres If you can find one, I'd suggest this. I've been loving mine as a cheap option. It also feels like a legitimate upgrade over the regular president. It seems to have some negative reviews, but I have nothing but praise for it. The size 30 president XT is a whole ounce lighter than the 30 president.

Red and white seem to be a common pattern in fishing lures but I don’t use it that often for bass. Of course, I’ve caught some bass on red and white daredevles but maybe I should throw it more. Its primarily a pike thing for me. They like just about anything that’s flashy. I don’t think they’re after it because of the color. The nickel or brass on the back of the spoon is probably what attracts them. The lures I do use for bass with that combination are mostly white, with some hints of red. I’ll throw a white spinnerbait with a red zman split tail trailer. Or an all white popper that has a red belly/lip. There’s no rhyme or reason behind this for me. But I’ve heard that fish key on that red spot when they see it on a white lure. I figure it can’t hurt. Maybe it’s the contrast?

How can you beat red and white? Straight retrieve for me.