Michigander

My buddy has a Tatula Heavy and I spent an afternoon with it. Fished as expected regarding the power.

I've found that fishing for small sums of cash is quite a joy for me, lol. I don't have the skills or stones for high roller tournaments, but $50 buy in for a Monday evening, oh yeah.

Well... Maybe I can share info on non-tournament lakes. ?

And give up my secrets?! ? Do you get goodies for submitting?

I bought a lot of stuff this week from a lot of places because many of the things I wanted were backordered to the point that they might as well be discontinued. Well, that led to panic buying. ? I also hope 2021 isn't as tackle-scarce as 2020 was.

Hmm... Just looked up a local lake and I don't think I agree with it's recommendations.

They've got good quality tungsten weights at a great price. That's my main supplier.

Started adding in the Zerust Plastabs into all the trays a couple years ago. That really helped. Also pulling all the trays out, opening them, and letting them dry in the garage after a rainy trip was key.

Just PB Largemouth and PB Smallmouth. Any further sub-categories are too much to remember, lol.

You've got your work cut out for you. The techniques you list have conflicting optimizations as others have pointed out. If you drop either top water or jerkbaits (which I assume you meant hard jerkbaits) from the list then you'll have a much easier time.

Those are interesting! I'm intrigued by the strand options. I may try that on some trailers using living rubber strands for accent colors.....

No, 1/8 will be the heaviest. These are closer to micro swim jigs. 1/0 and 2/0 hooks. I've considered just cutting down other trailers.

I'll give it a go. I've had Rage Lobsters overpower my regular swim jigs before, so I'm on the lookout for that here too. Gotcha. Next year will be easier. I can just design what I need and pour them. I would like to have a wedge tail option some day as well.

By Killer Jigs? That's what popped up when I put 2" Twister Tail into Google.

Worth a try! That'll be really wide which can overpower some swim jigs, but there's no reason not to test it.

That rage Ned bug looks worth a try! Those looked a bit big for a tiny swim jig... Maybe not? Jigs will be this size class:

I'm looking for some recommendations for some high action but small trailers for finesse swim jigs. Looking at the Rage Ned Cut R worm right now. 2"-3" would be my target size. Anyone have any suggestions to get some good thump in a small package?

I've got one and used it for a fair bit last year. Overall, I give it poor marks for performance in and around vegetation, which really limits it's usefulness to me. I've used it in a few more appropriate areas but haven't caught anything.

Straight shank flipping hook of your choice, whatever size tungsten weight you need to get through, some weight pegs, and a Jackall Archelon. It has replaced most of my presentations in the situation you describe. I would get a collection of weights as the amount needed varies from spot to spot.

I've done well with poppers after ice out. They make a good disturbance but don't move very fast. I've been unsuccessful trying to coax a bass to break thin ice to grab a frog, but I try every year. ?

That's why I figured I would start out around the top end, don't want to have a negative experience because of the line itself. I might try FC for a while and go back to my usual and that's ok as long as it was a fair shot from both directions.

Last year I was out in the kayak about now. Not warm by any stretch but enough ice was gone that I could fish. Still got snow on the ground now, but days are warming.

I had noticed that but 20lb is cheaper on Amazon right now with free shipping than it will be on sale at BPS even before S&H. ?

I've got Invisex in 8-20lb for leaders. Just wanted to try the premium option of Tatsu to form an opinion of whether straight FC is right for me. Guess it depends how you define moderate and heavy cover. I typically view heavy cover as anything I can't throw a jig into. ?

I've been a braid to FC leader guy for a long time, the only all FC I do is on my drop shot rod. However, I want to give Tatsu a go because I read nice things about it. Should I put 15lb or 20lb on my 7'3" Heavy jig rod? I'll have an SLX MGL 70 on it as the reel. I'll be tossing the jigs in all the fun places that jigs like to be. And I assume that I should get some line conditioner? If so, any recommendations are welcome.