DitchPanda

You bet...especially when it's hot as heck out like this. Tuesday it was sunny and I caught 2 dinks in an hour. Clouds rolled in and I managed 5 in like 15 minutes on a worm and a finesse jig. Clouds went away and I only managed 4 more in like 2 hours.

Swim jig is more subtle...I throw it when fish are pressured or in cleaner water...summertime when it's hot as well. I throw a spinner bait in rainy/cloudy or windy conditions when you can use that extra vibration. Stained to muddy water I throw a Colorado blade spinnerbait.

Couple poppers 2 frogs-1 black 1 green 2 buzzbaits ( black w black blade), 2 bluegill swim jigs 1/4oz 3 sniper jigs green pumpkin 5/16oz Senkos green pumpkin & blackblue 2 kvd shallow 1.5s bluegill colors Ned heads 1/16oz and TRDs green pumpkin (keep in bag so they don't melt!) 5 each 2/0,3/0 and 4/0 round bend worm hooks 5 each 1/8oz and 3/16oz tungsten worm weights Summer craw menace grubs Green pumpkin zoom ultravibe speed craw Motor oil color worms-either 7in Berkley power worm or 6in mr twister phenom

I love spinnerbaits...with a passion..but they are primarily a spring and fall bait for me. In the summer when the bass are hot and a little more particular I lean on a swim jig more and more. For brands I throw a lot of the standards that a lot of guys throw...booyah, strike king and war eagle. Over the past few years my favorite by a landslide has been the Nichols metal flake blade spinnerbaits. They are a little spendier but the are durable, more compact for the weight and they come in some unique colors.

The salt doesn't bother me but the oil dumped in the bag sure does. I've noticed it with a few brands...yum seems to be particularly bad at times. I've bought yum dingers that were so oily that I've dumped them out on a paper towel..cleaned them off...wiped the bag out and put them back. Kind of a pain to hold onto otherwise which makes rigging a chore.

So a couple days ago I posted that i was gonna challenge myself and try to catch 5 keepers (15inch) today. Lately I've been catching 5 total with usually only 1 keeper. First off it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy so of course it was sunny and warmer than they predicted...imagine that. Second I slept in..guess I'm worn out from working alot...so I missed the morning bite window. Well I didn't let the stop me and got out from 1:30 til 5. To my surprise the fish cooperated and I caught 11. I ended up catching 4 keepers and 1 that was an inch short. Typical summer pattern of straight junk fishing...had to throw all kinds of stuff at em. Caught 4 on the ned,3 on a Texas rigged worm, 2 on a jig, 2 on a popper and missed a solid fish on a frog. Big fish was around 3lbs and she ate the old phenom worm. Best part of the day was gaining confidence in the ned. For a lot of guys it's been a go to since before it was called the ned rig..for me it's been a source of letdown and frustration for years. Today I finally turned a corner and got it figured out..so that's awesome.

I've only had one split ring failure I can recall and it actually happened this april. It was a stock split ring on a Cordell super spot...luckily the fish had both hooks and the other one held. The fish was close to 7lbs and I was using a heavier rod than normal...both of those must be the cause for the failure.

Pflueger for spinning ...Abu for baitcasting. I have others but these dominate my inventory. Not saying these are the best...just what I like and use.

I frogged with a 6ft6 medhvy fast for years with 65# braid and caught tons of fish. Lock your drag down so there is no slip when you swing. Also feel for the fish...it's not about amount of time just watch your line and feel for weight..once you get the hang of it it's very easy and literally only takes a second. Most important I've seen is bend the hooks out a little that way there is no chance of the points sticking in the frog.

I'm finding more stuff now then normal...nothing great but better than I woulda thought...rapala shad rap couple bomber cranks and a nice set of pliers. Honestly I guess I never worry about fish going home with them...I mean these people don't know how to fish so how many are they really catching. The last sentence I agree with totally..not all people are bad but if 1 in 25 is a disgusting slob and you've got a hundred newbies floating around your gonna get some trash. And of course you notice that..don't even see the people respecting the resource. I've received more feedback on this with a non positive tone than anything else I've posted...and I get it but like I said before I'm an optimist but also a realist. I notice the bad but try to focus on the good instead...making a bad situation seem not so bad.

Yeah it's crazy how affordable they are. You should get a pack...on the very unlikely chance you have them which you wont....your out 3 bucks. Can't even buy a beer at the bar for that.

I never really peg a weight on anything. If I fished heavy grass I might..but I don't so I don't peg! Feel like if I want a pegged bait I'll just use a jig of some sort.

I'll say this..I'll let her touch the grill. And I feel fine saying that because I know it will never happen.

10lb braid on a heavy? Need to need that up to at least 40 or 50 in my opinion. Also id probably step up to 20lb on the other heavy.

I've been throwing a jig almost every time out along with other baits I've got confidence in for larger bass like a buzzbait. I think my biggest problem is im a bank angler and a lot of bass are probably offshore now because of the heat. At least a lot of the quality fish...I've been catching lots of dinks with a few nice ones mixed in.

I know how good lipless are in spring and fall in cool water temps...but who out there keeps on throwing the right thru summer? I've had mixed results myself but have found the most success either with a burn and kill retrieve or stroking it off the bottom pretty aggresively. I've also had better luck this time of year using a smaller bait ..my favorite being a spro aruku shad jr.

So I had planned on getting out this weekend but ended up working both days. Got called in to help out on a shorthanded crew...that on top of some things that came up I didn't find time. On the plus side I now have Tuesday off...and if it doesn't storm to much it looks fishy. Chance of storms but mostly just rainy/drizzly and high of 73 which is a nice change from weeks of 90s with high humidity. Anyhow I've been struggling to catch many keepers...which here is 15in...catching lots of shorts. Tuesday I'm gonna really get after it and try to catch a tournament aka 5 bass limit. Anybody else struggling right now? Maybe I just suck

At my local lake the most common bycatch now is drum hands down. They will chomp a crankbait or spinnerbait. Had a nice one maybe 4 or 5lbs cool me on a shallow crank a few weeks ago...thought maybe I had a big largie on for a minute...but when it kept pulling I realized what it was. I catch bluegills, crappies, green sunnies, white bass and even a few pike now to. Oh yeah and walleye from time to time which is always welcome. My most exciting bycatch to my largemouth fishing is smallmouth...they got in during flooding several times the past few years. Catfish used to be a common accident for me but I haven't caught one in years...except for on purpose of course. I saw a cool video Bluebasser has on youtube of a catfish exploding on a popper. I had one eat a spinnerbait in about a foot of water one time...just crushed it while I was waking it by a log. Somehow I got the fish out of the snag..big girl probably 15+lbs. Folded that strike king up like a paper clip.

Oh yeah those are great too

Dang dude that looks awesome. Was gonna make brats on the grill but I didn't get home until 8 and my lady won't do the grill. She did make me some wings in the air fryer..which turned out great.

6.3 to 6.8 is what I use most often

Sounds to me like your covered. Med hvy can do buzzbait,senko,swim jig,regular jig and bladed jig. Heavy for frog. Spinning for shaky...could also use spinning for wacky senko. It's nice to have a lot of specialty rods to really get into techniques...but if you gave me 2 medhvy fast 7ft baitcasters and 1 medfast 7ft spinning rod I could do almost everything I need besides maybe some cranking applications. Even some of that could be rectified with line and a looser drag.

Was gonna say man you better get on the ball..I think I have more jigs then you have baits! Honestly I've got way way to much crap...and I love all of it. In fact it may be time for another tackle warehouse order!

For me over the years it's been 3 types of colors: purplish like tequila sunrise or blue fleck...black emerald...and the oddball nobody has probably ever heard of green pumpkin. Specifically yamamoto and zoom green pumpkin which in my eyes are more brown.

Maybe I shouldn't have said the benefit..maybe I shoulda said the best part of a crappy situation