plawren53202

Anyone? I was watching yet another YouTube video where a pro was throwing a hair jig. I would really like to give this a shot, but I just have no idea what kind to get for largemouth. A lot of the hair jigs I see are obviously made for different fish, mainly stuff up north like walleyes, crappie and other species. I'd love to hear from anyone who uses a hair jig for bass and know what kind you use. Thx!

In theory that's a good idea, and one I had thought about before. Unfortunately there are at least two factors working against it: (1) your use of the word megalomaniac is not far off from the truth; our subdivision has had this Hatfields & the McCoys thing going with a neighboring subdivision for at least 10 years (and about which I absolutely couldn't care less) so subdivision leadership has kind of evolved from that; and (2) technically our pond is posted as no trespassing-subdivision residents only. However I think the HOA has no courage to actually enforce that and instead wants the fishing to get so bad that all the non-residents finally get tired of coming and stop. That I think is one reason they continue to try to kill off all the weeds in the pond, b/c I know some subdivision residents have told them the fishing would be better if they let them grow. Unfortunately for the subdivision leadership those little bass are incredibly efficient at reproducing even in a goldfish bowl of a pond, and I know they had a good spring this spring because there were nests everywhere and now I am seeing swarms of bass fry everywhere ?

Quick background facts for my question: Pond is my subdivision HOA pond (I'm in MO). 3 acres or so. It's a typical subdivision HOA pond--which is to say it's like a shallow goldfish bowl. I'm guessing it's 4-5 feet deep tops out in the middle, and almost no features at all. I'm pretty sure they just dug it, so no dam to speak of and no creek channel running through it. There are a few weeds that try to grow along the banks but the darn subdivision property managers want to keep it "looking pretty" so they try to kill them off as much as possible. As a result there is literally no cover at all for these fish to find shade under during the day. Keep in mind there are no lunkers in here, by any means; it's dink central, but it's a good way to get in an easy hour of fishing before I have to leave for work or after I get home. The last couple of weeks, here's the pattern I've picked up on. Early early in the morning, like 5:15 until about 6:30 or maybe 7:00 if cloudy, I have caught quite a few on top (a Plopper). They will be holding tight to the bank in inches of water (I can often see the wake as they swim out to grab the Plopper). Bite then transitions to either a wacky worm or a shaky head fished out 10-20 feet from the bank. Then shuts off. Evenings are the reverse. Until about 7:30 or 8:00, no bite up close to the bank. 7:30 or 8:00 until dark, back to the wacky worm or shaky head 10-20 feet out from the bank. Lately I haven't been able to get any kind of a topwater bite in the evening, last night I threw a Plopper and a frog for a while until just dark and no bites. Bear in mind its been hot here for last few weeks. Dead dog hot, like 90-95. Seems like these fish are coming up to the bank and feeding mainly at night. That's why I can catch them on a topwater first thing in the morning, and in the "transition zone" a couple of feet deep after the morning topwater bite and late in the evening. My theory is that from the time my "transition zone" bite shuts off in the morning until it turns back on in the evening, they are going out to the deepest water they can find and just sitting on the bottom chilling, not doing anything. Two questions: (1) That sound like it makes sense, or am I way off base? (2) Assuming that may be what's happening (and I expect that we are in the summer pattern now for the next month or more), do you think these fish are at all catchable or not worth my time? If I thought they were catchable I would give a shot throwing a weighted worm or a jig out as deep as I can get it and dragging the bottom. Or maybe some kind of reaction bait like a squarebill dragging the bottom trying to trigger a reaction bite if they aren't interested in feeding then? If I were a fish out there trying to stay cool in 4 feet of bathwater and no shade, though, I would have no interest in eating LOL. This type of setting is new to me. Normally if I were on water that had a discernable creek channel, docks or hard cover with shade or anything else like that, I'd give that a shot. Just trying to figure out if it's worth my time to dredge the "depths" with something bottom bumping or not worth it.

Oh man don't tempt me, one of the things I was excited about the Aird was that it was a step in the "less expensive" direction from the last 2 rods I bought, Dobyns Furys. ? But the XT and the Tatula are pretty reasonably priced, so if the Aird is any indication, they must be really great rods at a good price.

I don't really fish a Neko rig specifically, because most of the time I am bank fishing ponds where just an unweighted wacky rigged worm sinks quickly enough to reach the depths I need. But I do fish a wacky rig a lot, probably my #1 bait. As far as hooks, I have been having really good luck with the VMC Neko Finesse hooks. I recently switched to these because I had been using the VMC Ike Approved Wacky weedless hooks and having a lot of problems with missing fish and not getting good hookups. Members on this forum suggested the VMC Neko Finesse and it has seemed to hook up much better. As far as baits, for my highly pressured public ponds I fish a lot I usually use the 4" Yum Dinger. "Bream" color, which is green pumpkin on one side and blue on the other, has been working well for me in a range of water clarity, from pretty clear to fairly stained. For waters with bigger fish I go to the 5". I would think these same baits would work well with a nail weight plugged in one end. I just recently picked up a pack of the Missile Baits Quiver Worm. I haven't tried it yet but it looks like it would work really well for a wacky/Neko rig if you want a little more action than just a straight stickbait. The Quiver worm has a flat paddle tail on one end. Other end is flat like a Senko so the nail weight would plug in perfectly there. The "Goby" color in the Quiver worm is close to "Bream," patches of green pumpkin and patches of light blue. One more tip--if you can at all get ahold of one, get an O ring tool and a bunch of the little black O rings. These do such a great job of saving your worms. I used to get maybe 3 fish out of a worm if I was really lucky, more often 1 or 2. And I had a lot of fish just ripping the worm off the hook so I couldn't hook them. Since switching to the O rings I can get a lot more fish out of one worm. Last night for instance I caught 5 dinks and lost 2 or 3 more, all on the same worm. Granted it was nearly shot by the end, but still, could never have come close to that without the O ring.

I think I'm through the honeymoon period on the Daiwa Aird-X ML spinning rod I recently picked up, and I am still firmly of the opinion that this is a whole lot of rod for the price (got mine for $55). The construction seems really well done; the components like reel seat and guides seem quality (the reel seat is a little different than what I am used to, but I am actually really liking it because more of your hand is in direct contact with the rod blank). It surprised me at how light it was for a $55 rod when I first got it. And it's pretty eye catching for a basically all black rod. But now I've had a chance to put it through the paces. First as an aside, not specific to the Aird necessarily, but this was my first ML rod. The ML really hits a sweet spot for me for dink largemouths in a lot of the highly pressured public ponds I fish, and creek smallies. The Aird is extremely sensitive, especially for this price range. This past weekend I used it for straightlining minnows for crappie at Kentucky Lake. They were biting very tentatively and just barely nibbling. I was catching at least twice as many as anyone else on our boat, and I think this was largely due to the sensitivity of the Aird, I was feeling bites no one else could feel (also probably due partly to having Sufix 832 mainline, no one else was using a braid/leader combo). Tonight at my subdivision pond, same story, the little dink bass were just barely nibbling on the wacky worm I was throwing and I could feel every tap. Then on the opposite side of the spectrum, at one point this weekend while crappie fishing, I hooked a gar that was pushing 36 inches or so. The Aird, especially for a ML, surprised me in how well it handled a fish that size. Then went right back to feeling the slightest crappie nibbles. This rod was my first Daiwa purchase, so needless to say I have been impressed. As I have been also with the Daiwa Regal LT reel (1000 size) I paired it with. My experience with this model really makes me want to give one of their casting rods a try, as well as a heavier action spinning rod. But based on my experience with the ML spinning, if you are looking for a super quality rod in the sub $100 price range, the Aird X is a really strong choice.

Oh dear God, how I hope this prediction of 2.0 isn't true but fear that it is. Count me in as one who has experienced the fishing tackle shortage in stores (the fishing section in every Walmart in our area is just feet and feet of bare hooks). For me, far worse has been the increase in traffic at the public places I bank fish. Not good traffic. Just tonight I was at our subdivision HOA pond, which has just been hammered and decimated the past few months, and I picked up two wads of line, an empty corn can (?) and an empty bread bag (?). I caught one little 10 incher tonight that had a rusting hook down in his throat, and a separate hole in the side of his jaw IN ADDITION TO the spot where I hooked him tonight. That to me was the perfect symbol of what this pond and the other public places I bank fish have gone through these last few months. I was down at Kentucky Lake this weekend, and of course there was a lot of party boat traffic for the holiday weekend, but the fishing pressure seemed very moderate. Same story last time I was down there a month ago. Unfortunately it's the places I have regular access to through the week, public bank fishing spots in metro St. Louis, that have been hammered with this new Covid fishing traffic. Like someone else said, I think it's largely due to Covid but also due to the explosion of fishing on YouTube and social media. Again, I don't know that all of this is the good kind of traffic. Fishbrain really cracks me up these days. In my area, the local feed is filled withv(not surprisingly) kids and teenagers wearing Googan shirts or hats and posing with 8 inch bass, dabbing and posing like they just caught a 10 pounder. It reminds me of when a cornerback in the NFL gets burned for 40 yards but puts a solid hit on the receiver at the end of the run so he gets up strutting and dancing like he just won the Super Bowl. I got into fishing because I had a dad and two grandpas who had fished their whole lives. From my very youngest memories, they took me along and tutored me in the art of the sport. But way more important than that, all of them taught me a profound respect for nature, the land, the fish, and the sport. Leave the land better than you found it; you don't kill what you aren't going to eat; the fishing gods will always humble you; the fish were here for a million years before you came along and they'll be here a million years after you're buried in the ground. Those kinds of lessons. I'm afraid that a lot of these newcomers who are just jumping into fishing after watching a bunch of hot dogs and fishing bros on YouTube, and just because they're bored with so many places being closed right now, aren't going to have any of that respect. Ok, rant over. Get off my lawn and all that. It's just that I used to think that an influx of more people into fishing would lead to good things like investment of more resources and more money for gear manufacturers. I think I don't think that anymore. It's probably terrible but I keep hoping that a lot of these fly by night newcomers will not catch many (I certainly don't see many people at the public bank spots I fish catching many), get bored and move on to something else.

That is the jighead. I carry all three weights in several colors. Like galyonj said, I use just whatever is heavy enough to get down in the current. So for instance if I am fishing a slow pool with not much current, I would use the 1/15 oz.; faster current I might go heavier. I just want to make sure that fish feels as little weight as possible when he picks it up, but also recognizing that the bait has to get down to the fish so it doesn't do me any good if the current just carries the bait off before it reaches the fish. On the hellgrammites, I would love to always use a 1/16 oz. weight. Again that doesn't always let me get down to the fish depending on the current so I might bump up to a 1/8 oz. For hook sizes, I have caught smallies on 4/0 worm hooks and on Beetle Spins that I was really intending to catch sunfish. For instance a lot of those Ned rig hooks look a lot smaller than you would think for smallies or largemouth. In general for a creek smallie something in the 1, 1/0, 3/0 range is probably my comfort zone.

Have a pond almost exactly like this on my inlaws' property. Any kind of topwater early and late in the day, buzzbait or Plopper if the surface is clear enough to avoid getting the prop fouled constantly, otherwise a frog. Then a weightless Super Fluke. With the weight of a 3/0 or 4/0 hook, especially if you use a heavier wire hook, the fluke has plenty of weight to sink down in holes in the vegetation where you need it to but then glide over the tops the rest of the way. I think bass in a pond like this get used to sitting down in the vegetation looking up for prey.

Ditto on the UL rod comments. I just recently got my first ML rod, a Daiwa Aird. For me this perfectly hits the sweet spot for smaller largemouth and smallies in the ponds and creeks I fish. Enough bend to make it fun, but enough backbone to land them without a prolonged fight. (As an aside, I was using this rod for crappie fishing on Kentucky Lake this weekend and successfully landed a gar that was close to 36" long ?? So that ML Aird can take some abuse!) For baits, Ned rigs work really well for me in creeks and small streams. On my creeks I have a lot of luck with Blue Craw and PB&J. I've been using the standard TRD Finesse on regular (not weedless) jig heads. One downside about Ned rigs in creeks is they do get snagged on rocks. However, I've been using some Eagle Claw mushroom jig heads (the ones that come in different colors) and they have pretty light hooks so even on 8# line a lot of the time I can bend the hook straight enough to come loose. I also have really good luck on hellgrammites. John on Creek Fishing Adventures uses the Nekko ones but they are a little too pricey (and hard to get) for me. I've been using the Bass Pro brand in green pumpkin or watermelon, just rigged on a plain light wire jig head. Good thing about creeks is there are a lot of baits that can work. Rebel hard baits (Crickhopper, Wee R Crawdad) are staples on creeks. Beetle Spins will always catch some. Rooster Tails or Mepps Aglias work great as long as there are not too many weeds to keep getting snagged in. 4" Yum Dingers rigged wacky or weightless Texas rigged. Lots to choose from!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. At this point as much as I like the looks of the rod I'm kind of feeling "meh" about it. Maybe if I can catch it on sale sometime.

That's exactly the pair I got. This weekend was my first full weekend of fishing with them. We went hard, 5+ hours both morning and evening for 3 days straight, in hot bluebird sky days. The Shady Rays were great. That's easily the best $35 I have spent on sunglasses.

Dobyns Fury MH/F, Lew's Tournament MP in 7:1, 25# Sufix 832 and Sufix Advance 12# leader. Not sure if the 90 has a smaller prop or not, but the 75 definitely seems like it has a louder or lower plop. I like both for different situations. 90 when I want a slightly quieter presentation, 75 for louder like when more chop on the water.

Count me among those who have never used a wake bait. I use lots of Whopper Ploppers, lots of walking baits, and lots of shallow running squarebills. Does a wake bait fit in between those (between a topwater and a squarebill)? What situations would you typically use a wake bait for?

Your box looks awesome. I do enjoy preparing, it's kind of my fishing fix when I can't be fishing, but organization is not my strongest trait so my final product doesn't look nearly as good as yours. I made major progress when a few weeks ago I bought the Academy/H2O terminal tackle box and "organized" my stuff in it (BTW, I was really impressed with the H2O box especially for $13 or however much it cost), but definitely no labeling like yours.

I'm glad they worked out for you as well. I have been really impressed with mine. I'll add since my last post, I also had the opportunity to test out their free replacement policy for damage or loss. The first time I wore them to go fishing, I had put them on the bill of my cap because it was 5:30 a.m. and not sunny yet. I was walking down a trail through the woods to my fishing spot, and being early morning the trail had tons of spider webs across it. I finally reached the point of frustration and took of my cap and swatted away a bunch of webs, forgetting that sunglasses were up there ? Apparently they got slung far into the woods because I could not find them. I'm happy to report the Shady Rays replacement procedure was super easy. You get up to two replacement claims. Just $8.95 for processing and shipping. My replacement pair arrived via First Class Mail pretty promptly. Back to happily wearing them again.

I've never tried backreeling, so AR is not an issue for me either way...but glad you're digging the Sahara. A month or so into getting mine (in the 1000 size) I couldn't be happier with it. Paired with a Dobyns Fury spinning rod, I've used it enough that the honeymoon period is about over and I still can't believe how much rod and reel I got for what I paid.

I have the 733 Fury. I have not fished the 734 but I know that a 1/8 oz. weight plus a plastic bait feels like it is on the lighter end of what I'm comfortable with on the 733. Not to go against the stock answer of "734," but I would lean toward the 733 for your anticipated use.

Going to be doing classic TVA lake ledge fishing in the next couple of weeks. I've got my new box full of SK 5XDs and 6XDs in lots of sexy shad and chartreuse blue colors ready to do. Also have some big swing head football jig heads, and a few bags of Ol Monster worms along with Carolina rig tackle. I also keep seeing reference to hair jigs and spoons for ledge fishing. Been watching lots of the pros YouTubes who fished the FLW Chickamauga tournament last week and I've been seeing lots of both of these. Spoons and hair jigs are definitely NOT part of my normal bank fishing regimen and though I have looked at them, I don't even know where to start LOL. Anyone got any pointers on good hair jigs or spoons I should add to my kit for the upcoming ledge fishing? And if possible, it'd be awesome if they could be gear that can be found on TW, BPS or similar sites. I can picture the best hair jigs in the world being something hand tied by some voodoo doctor down in the bayous of Louisiana or in an isolated cabin in the Yukon ?

That was incredibly helpful. Thanks so much for the detailed review.

From the looks of the numerous wads of line being left around my subdivision HOA pond these past couple of months, I would say they're after dink bass and undernourished bluegill ?? Just for the record, from the litter around the pond I have also deduced that they are after these same monstrous sized prey using a 12" Castaic swimbait and Ol' Monster 10" worms ?

?? How true this is LOL. The fishing gods are very effective at avenging our pridefulness, I have learned that the hard way.

At present I only have a "jack of all trades" baitcasting combo, a Dobyns Fury/Lew's Tournament MP in Med Heavy/Fast (the 733C). I do really like this combo. I'm thinking about branching out to a second casting combo that is more specialized, either a Heavy rod that could serve for pitching jigs and dragging big Carolina rig worms; or something a little softer for crankbaits and other moving/treble hook baits. I'm leaning toward the softer option because I fish a lot of squarebills in the spring, and a Whopper Plopper and Spook a lot in the summer and fall; also fish lipless cranks a lot all year. As much as I love the Fury/Tournament MP combo, it is definitely a very conservative looking combo. I recently added two spinning combos, and they are really subdued looking too LOL (Dobyns Fury M/Shimano Sahara, and Daiwa Aird X ML/Daiwa Regal). I know it's petty and stupid but I really like eye catching combos. When I got the Fury/MP I had to fight really hard not to get the Lew's Mach Crush combo, even knowing the reel was not aluminum frame, because it just looks so darn cool. So I really wouldn't mind if my next combo was something a little more eye catching. Thus my interest in the Wheeler rods. I know some people might not like the looks but I think they are really cool looking. Obviously I do not want to get something that looks cool but is crap, I know there's lots of that out there. I hear good things about Duckett rods so this seemed like one that would have good looks and back up with quality, but I am struggling to find firsthand comments about them (maybe that itself is a sign?).

You are correct, neither TW nor Duckett's website give line/lure ratings. Even more than that, though, I was just looking for firsthand observations and experience on the water with them. I put a lot more value in that than what a manufacturer or retailer says about a rod.

I strongly suspected that was the case. I used to race dirt track stock cars. People in racing always say, "Racing isn't what I do, it's who I am." I find that to be much more the case with people who are serious about fishing.