Jermination

im really unsure if it was the size and profile of the bait as much as the weight. The spro wameku shad weighs 3/4 oz but is the body of a 1/2 oz. & they'd tattoo it, but not the 1/2 oz sk redeye. IDK maybe its just one of those things i shouldnt question and just deal with lol

there's old men around here that seriously do nothing but throw buzz baits and regularly take us all to the woodshed. No idea how they do it, but they do lol

nope. the fish were in about 2 feet of water. both would hit the bottom pretty much the second your lure hit the water. I like the wakemu shad because it has a dual line tie & can make it run a little more wobbly or tight just by changing which one you tie your line to

damnit russ i know that already!!

sk redeye. also caught several on the spro wakemu shad

Wanted to get your guys thoughts on something that i tested out this weekend on chickamauga. So my experiment was on a tapering red clay point that is littered with stumps & the creek channel deepens off of both sides. This area is always loaded with fish down in the creek channel and they come up on the point to feed throughout the day. I wanted to find out why the 3/4 oz was significantly better in these type of scenarios when the fish are dirt shallow. I threw both for probably an hour & 1/2 and the 3/4 oz outfished the 1/2 oz 8:0. Came to the conclusion the 3/4 oz puts off a mud trail that the fish follow and when they see the big red trap they just can not resist. Had 4 fish over 3 1/2 from this one area & the other 4 were 15 inch keepers. They would not sniff the 1/2 oz, retrieved with the same cadence & bottom contact. I ran up river and caught smallmouth too floating the current, but i really wanted to get your guys thoughts on why the 3/4 oz was so much more effective than the 1/2 oz in the same model. The map isn't the exact spot but the layout is very similar

Ah the north & south fish are so different, it's amazing really

yeah man i don't even pick a jerkbait up once the water gets above 55 degrees. They will still eat it but there are better options in the box. are you catching mostly brown or greenfish cranking? Smallmouth are super curious creatures & additional pauses will get you bites that others miss. I can't tell you how many times i've picked fish off from the back of the boat or pulling on a spot shortly after someone leaves by having a different cadence

smallies do around here. I think more of it depends on the type of structure you are fishing. If the fish are a little off the bank feeding upwards i believe they will choke it more than if you are firing one up getting a reaction bite beating shallow rocks. The fact you are getting bites in very clear water on a crankbait is solid, sometimes they wont sniff one on a slick day. Around here(east tn) i will swim a worm or chatterbait in very clear water with slick conditions and they seem to choke those a little better than a crankbait. Try to implement a few more pauses in your cadence and see if that effects your hard hit ratio

all about your water conditions my man. if visibility is greater than 2 ft throw your jigs on fluoro. Anything less braid should be fine(if you are fishing rocks they WILL SHRED your braid). if you do decide to go with straight braid and visibility is more than 2 ft take a black sharpie and color the line up to 4-5 ft above your knot.

all about durability my man. long as it holds up in the elements and still catches fish i'd call it excellent work! i've did this on a few of mine over the last couple of years and its surprisingly easy. Haven't had to rewrap any of them in two seasons of fishing 3x a week so i'll take it

15 is the heaviest i use year round. The only exception being 7in+ swimbait, alabama rig, or a frog on chik grass. I throw the A-rig on 20 lb mono, given i've never had a fish break one off but i throw those select baits on heavier line for my pockets safety's sake

alright man this is one of the biggest things i struggle with and know how hard it is to leave fish when you know they are there. If they are in a mood you just have to crank up and go find more active fish. There's no other way around it. You could ned around for hours and maybe entice one to bite eventually but its going to make for a very long day. If you are around A BUNCH of shad, try to find smaller groups of shad. preferably one big bait ball in a creek channel. Chances are that smaller amount of bait will be corralled there for a reason. If you must stay and fish there I would recommend throwing something that moves to try and stir them up then follow up with something that sinks and is subtle. The options given above are all decent, but i think the main thing here is you can't force them to bite and need to expand your horizon and search for some more active fish. If the smallmouth are in one of these moods on some of the local lakes around here i crank the motor and go up lake to hunt for green fish. Not sure if this helps but do know this happens to everyone!

i usually throw a 3/4 oz with 15 lb fluoro, i have a 13 fishing concept c on there and can sling the thing a country mile. it'll do what you want

i throw big football head jigs on mine. great for it. try your best to break it in half setting the hook, cant be done lol

^^what he said

i used to use a 7'9 omen black moderate action and would pin chik fish like nobody's business. Had an unfortunate incident while flying and it was snapped so now i throw one on 7'4 13 fate black h/f. half the lakes in this area the only use for a frog is to throw in the trees and shake the mayflies in summer

I actually weighed a few in out of the dead sea on saturday lol

i have a 7ft m/m curado rod that i throw squarebills, dt 6's, 3/8 spinnerbaits, & chatterbaits(if there is no grass to rip through). feels great and buttons em up

they straight catch em here in east tn. id pick a few up...RED

Anywhere you want within an hour. Cherokee, Douglas, & Norris 30 minutes north, Loudon/Tellico 10-25 minutes west, Watts bar 30 min south, chickamauga 45 minutes south

nice. when i got it a couple years ago it was either 69 or 79--havent had to buy a new one because its been so good. I have a medium/fast i use for neddin

all star. best finesse rod ive ever used. i just do not miss fish on this rod and it keeps em buttoned up on the ned etc. I pick this rod up over several more expensive finesse outfits laying on deck, probably 70 bucks at academy

i just bought a ghost tuesday and havent been able to get boat on water yet but tried to play around with this in the driveway last night. The ghost comes with a connector to plug in to your one at the dash, and it is supposed to be able to connect via bluetooth to the units. I think we are waiting on software 19.3 before the bluetooth capability works(supposed to be this month sometimes?) the down imaging & 2d from the built in ducer seems to be working fine on the one up front i have plugged in(its just a gen2 touch) and the carbon on my dash will recognize the ghost on bluetooth, but will not connect yet.

catch plenty on tubes & neds in east tn. when it warms up throw it on a carolina rig, put a piece of an ear plug up in the tube so it floats and use 17+ mono for your leader. they chew em. my partner caught this one on a tube on a ned rig sunday afternoon