Luke Barnes

I looked at some Arkie brand ones at Wally world. I lost the only true finesse jig i have so am looking to make my own. Does the Arkie head do good for hopping and bottom bouncing like a t rig?

I keep Bang Craw/Shad in my backpack and never had a problem. I get more smell out of having packs of Berkley Power bait soft plastics in it! Now I don't keep JJs in it because ive read too many horror stories on here. I keep spike it in my backpack until i learn the hard way not to.

I habe bang craw/shad scent. Its not messy in the least. I dangle the lure in front of me and spray. I stop seeing an oil slick about 5-7 casts. I thought about Megastrike and fish sticks and still may pick up one. Also pro cure gel has a ton of flavors? Scents? Types? You know what I mean. Either way i want what works because I can't buy a bite this year.

I used my first full size finesse jig with a rage menace trailer yesterday. Was in the rocks so figured i would be ok because it was a football head. Looked great underwater. Lost it after about 10 minutes. Switched to a SK Bitsy Flip in Cajun craw with a TRD Crawz trailer and didn't get a sniff. Im not giving up on the jig but I, so far, have zero confidence in it.

ive never used a trailer on a spinnerbait. On any kind of jig i do.

Huh? Then why do I buy hundreds of dollars worth of lures and still dont catch anything when I should be using a rag?!?!

Berkley Power Swimmers are tough, have good action and have the Powerbait stank to them. My other go to is SK Rage Swimmers. Good colors, good action, good durability.

I prefer the Academy brand spinnerbaits. They are Wahoo brand. $1.99 and 10x the color and blade choices of the Wally world ones

Debo is the only you tuber I will watch anymore. He doesnt care if he catches a Debo Dink or a hog. He just loves to fish, like me. I was a subscriber shout out about a year ago! On topic, I'm known to take way too much. Got the biggest backpack Bass Pro offered and it probably weighs close to 40lbs. I'm a pretty big guy so it doesnt bother me, but I did finally decide to make a small easy to take along bag. Its nice to just throw it in the car and leave it and not worrying about all your tackle being stolen out of the car.

Sounds like I'm in good company with some, and some are doing good so far. This time last year I had caught my first ever walleye and smallmouth. Also caught a 15lb channel cat. This year stinks. Partly for lack of trying hard because i haven't had much chance. But last year I was working a squarebill in February. Now I can't get them to even look at a slow dragged ned. To add to it I just messed up smoking salmon for the first time so me and fish are not on speaking terms.

If I get a chance it will be for an hour or so after work at a pond. The only thing giving me any sort of confidence is they are usually heavy with fishing pressure but I havent started to see people out fishing yet. I will fish any way, any weather but I'm originally from upstate NY and these native Okies are pansys in cold weather!

Is that to protect the spawn? @Finessegenics same question for you? Closed season because of the spawn?

For chatterbaits all I will use anymore is a Zako except in Firecraw then I'm using either a Rage Menace or Rage Craw. Zakos arent small though. The smallest swimbaits I use are 3.5" on a smaller swim jig.

So you have a limited season or is it a weather thing?

Granted the last four times I got a line wet were either family outings I happened to bring a little bit of gear with me or had my travel telescopic with a tiny little tackle box that's about the size of a pack of smokes. But I havent even caught a bluegill yet. When it was cold I threw an A Rig, dragged a new, slow cranked a swing head, creeped a drop shot. Nothing. Now that it's warmer ive only gotten to go for like 10 minutes before my kids required my attention. This time last year I had killed it! But so far 2021 is the year of bad luck for me. I feel bad because I spend way too much on fishing gear and tackle and lures and have nothing to show for it. I think maybe I just like collecting fishing gear more. Either way I'm bummed and need a break through bass in a bad way.

That's one fish I'm clueless about is creek chubs. I know they are good bait but I don't know if they are in oklahoma or not. Let alone which creeks they are in. All ive ever seen/caught in small creeks were sunfish and saw minnows.

Thanks for the info both of you. Without cover I wasn't sure about the bass. I figured blues and flats would roam them for baitfish but didn't think about carp. I may have to take all 12 combos, including fly rod, and see what I can catch when it warms up.

A lake I bank fish from has a cove with a nice amount of rip rap that i like fishing, but I noticed there is a big flat that's sand bottom and almost nothing in it cover amd structure wise. What kind of fish cruise the flats like that? I didnt think bass would unless keyed in on a school of shad that went that way. But it has large and small jaw plus walleye in it and everything else in between. I think hybrid white bass/strikers too. Anyways, anything ever come up on something like that to feed or spawn?

Yeah no kidding! I priced just lenses for the Mainlink frames I have and I might as well buy another pair! But to drop $150 on just a bit lighter sunglasses isn't in the cards. Also I agree with everyone that a quality pair of UV blocking sunglasses are worth their weight in gold. I have very light sensitive eyes and I cant go outside without being in discomfort without some type of sunglasses. I learned when I bought my first pair of Oakleys at the PX in Iraq, how much quality lenses make a difference.

My problem has been finding clear or yellow polarized glasses for that last half hour of daylight before it gets dark. My Oakley Deep Water Polarized are amazing but dark so when the sun goes past the horizon they are too dark amd I have to take them off. Anyone have any suggestions?

Another goal. Get my job boat on the water. This marks two years ive owned it and it's sat awaiting a few things worked on to be ready. Trailer tires, seats installed, but a trolling motor and battery. Ive about given up on it many times and I will probably consider selling it again. But maybe I'll actually get it on the water.

Ive never seen that color of skirt. What brand is it?

I like that skirt with the red throughout it. You buy the skirts and put them on?

I had one and about 10 minutes of slow rolling it along the bottom I hooked up. It came through the vegetation i was fishing pretty well. Then i casted into the wind and got a birds nest, picked it out, missed a kink in the fluoro and sent the dark sleeper to sleep with the fishes in the middle of the pond. Bought another because im pretty confident in it and a good while back I posted about using swimbaits like jigs and these were mentioned. Alot. So I'll use the one I have now until I lose it and buy another!

My very first chatterbait was this exact one. It caught me plenty of nice fish in ponds with no shad. Ive got a Thundercricket in white/chart now too. Ive got a Berkley Power Swimmer rigged upside down for a trailer. Its a good color combo that's decently natural looking in dirtyish water.