DitchPanda

What baits are you strongest at? Maybe it's not even your favorite..but why do you feel most proficient with? For me id say a spinnerbait and a finesse jig. There's a lot of things I feel confident with but my confidence is highest with those two. They just make sense to me. Was also gonna include senkos but that's almost too easy and kinda cheating!

I do not boil it. I do use kvd line treatment on it and mono is cheap so when it gets tough I just replace it.

Looking for a frog rod in the $60 and under range. I know that's not much of a budget but I don't fish frog enough to merit a high end or even moderate end rod. Any suggestions? I've tried my Berkley shock 6ft6 med hvy and 7ft med hvy...the 6 6 was too short for me and the 7 was a little too soft for my liking

Senkos...swim jig...Texas rigged brush hog...flipping jig with a speed craw...popper or buzzbait

Lastly I wanted to add that I'll be 37 this month I've got 20 years of bassing and 10 years inshore saltwater fishing (similar to bass in a lot of ways) under my belt. I have several techniques I've learned in the last 5 years so this takes time. There's two things I've done to make myself better at certain things. First ill find a few I wanted to try and go out and try each one for a while. Second the next several times out I'll stick to the one I liked the best or had the best results with until I feel comfortable with it. Then I just add that into my arsenal of established lures and go back to fishing my strengths with that mixed in until I'm proficient at it. May take weeks may take months. Then I pick something else and repeat the process just slowly adding tools to the toolbox.

I will agree with some of the above feedback and say having the one two punch of crankbait and texas rig ( maybe most versatile rig ever) is a solid foundation. I too fished a Texas rigged worm and spinners exclusively for years until I branched out. If I can recommend a few more lures too branch out..first is a spinnerbait. I feel like if you can fish a crankbait then a spinner should be easy for you too pick up on plus they are better at being snag resistant. Second I would suggest a finesse type jig..maybe like a siebert sniper jig in 5/16oz with a small craw trailer. A zoom ultravibe speed craw fits great on there and is awesome as a swim jig trailer or a Texas rigged bait so they are perfect multiple technique baits to have laying around. Now some people would argue that a jig is hard to figure out but if you fish it similar to how you've been doing the Texas rig then you'll figure it out no problem. Lastly if your trying to learn Goldwater is recommend throwing a popper. These are easy to figure out the basics..and yes learning to walk them takes time..but they still catch plenty of bass with a pop pop pause technique. Lots of great poppers out there but if suggest a rebel pop r or booyah boss pop in the 1/4oz size. To make it simple if your not great with a baitcaster these will throw a mile on a medium power spinning rod with 8lb mono.

Guess I've always been under the impression that swim jigs are a cleaner water option and that black and blue was almost always a stained to muddy water option. I've seen a lot of guys over the years commenting on here that if the water is dirty enough for black and blue then they opt for a spinner or chatterbait instead because of the extra vibration. Obviously a lot of you guys have had different experiences. I should add...and yes I know this is blasphemy...that over the years I've done well with black plastics and buzzbaits but jigs not so much. My local lake is very rarely clean instead at least having moderate stain but even still I do way better on green pumpkin or brown jigs. June bug also seems to be a better choice for me as well.

I am one of those newcomers you speak but..but I've seen your advice in several old posts when I do searches..glad to see you back?

I actually just fried up some bluegill with some morels I found this morning

I have a buddy who is a tattoo artist by trade...he's been doing it along time now. Has full sleeves and a bunch of other tats all over..I love him like a brother...we have been friends for almost 20 years but I don't get it. And he knows that. Has no impact on our relationship.

who is using these? I've seen mixed reviews some people saying they are the ticket others saying you need more vibration if the water is dirty enough for black n blue. What say you?

Around me locally there's been a secret color that some of us bass studs know...you guys probably never heard of it..think it's called green pumpkin? Seriously i don't know enough guys that bass fish to learn local secrets. If they are any. For me it's green pumpkin everything and instead of black n blue I like junebug. But black n blue does work just not as consistent for me. One thing I will say I've noticed is a bluegill swim jig is better than shad but a shad spinnerbait is better than bluegill. Bladed jig wise both seem equal.

I haven't done it yet but I do have a couple bags of white zoom ultravibe speed craws begging to go on a bladed jig. And a swim jig.

I'm fortunate in that I still have my parents. My girlfriend on the other hand was an oops baby so her parents are much older. She turns 30 in a few days and her father passed when she was only 18 just 3 months out of high school. We have been together for 9 years and although I knew her before I never met the man. But I see the way it still affects her and my heart breaks for her. This is a strange time we are living in and it makes these unfortunate life realities that much more devestating. My heart goes out to you and yours.

I am also a no jewelry or tattoo kind of guy...which is unique I guess in my age bracket/ generation. Honestly I think you stand out more now with people my age if you don't have tats.

I currently use the newest generation lightning to 7ft medium modfast..haven't fished it much but it's good for the money. I also heavily use a pair of the previous generation shock 7ft medhvy rods that are great for spinnerbaits,swim jigs, buzzbaits and bladed jigs

Not out of line in the least as long as you weren't crude or jerky about it. If you were reasonable about it then nobody should have an issue and should understand. Me and my fishing buddies do this sometimes usually in 2 scenarios. 1st scenario:get on a good pattern on a small local pond/lake..this needs no explanation it explains itself why this is bad. 2nd scenario:get on a unique bite on a heavily fished body of water...for example a few years ago a buddy was fishing a local lake with alot of perch and walleye pressure but he figured out a cool way to catch numbers of big crappies. We told a couple close friends and family but that's it. To this day we can go out and catch as many 11 to 14 inch slabs as we want most days...and never see anybody outside our grouping this technique.

The spawn in my experience isn't really a certain month type of real it's more water temp related. And 50 is not where largemouth spawn more low to mid 60 range. Length of day does seem to matter to in getting fish moving predawn but the actual spawn has always been temp based from what I've seen. For example my local ponds have been low to mid 60s recently...2 weeks ago I was catching lots of 3 to 4lb nice fish...Last few times it's been only small males.

Ha the boxing thing makes me laugh. There's an older guy I know who used to talk about how those UFC guys are a bunch of losers and that he could take em in a real fight...you know a man's fight a street fight. I would just smile and casually say "ok dude".

Bomber square a...cheap and effective! I have Berkleys strike kings Normans etc...always come back to the bomber. Even with changing hooks they are under $5

Look I'm all for being respectful of people's property and I agree there are jerks out there no doubt. But here's the deal the majority of people are good and don't go out of there way to make things negative for other people in fact it's usually the opposite. The reality is docks just like other pieces of cover hold fish and people are going to fish them. If someone hurts your property in some way report them. If that's still not enough then don't have a dock on public waters. People have the right to fish the water..you don't own it...if they mess with the dock or any of your property for that matter that's a different subject. I am sorry about your daughter that stinks for sure. Let me ad that I don't fish docks very often more or less because there is a chance I could get snagged on a post and leave a hook there for someone to encounter. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to fish it if I want to.

Senko weedless can be fished anywhere..and a swim jig comes through cover very well so I'd fish around some sort of cover...be it holes in weeds or hard cover like lay down trees

One thing I do as a shore guy is fish windblown shores but try to do it from angles where I cast to it with the wind at my back. Also with the small bodies I fish it's possible to find productive areas that are at least partially protected. So for me if say 20+ is kinda when I get annoyed..even then I still do it sometimes.

With the senko you can rig it wacky style or weedless texas rig style...sparse cover wacky heavier cover weedless . For both id go weightless for sure. I'd also throw a swim jig with a menace grub if the water is clean...or a spinnerbait if the water has stain to it. I've caught a few on a chatterbait or lipless crank this spring but the swim jig and spinnerbait have been my number #1&#2 moving baits by a wide margin. Last spring I did much better on a chatterbait and lipless but our local waters were a lot dirtier from rains and flooding.

I have had opposite experience with law enforcement ..a few years ago I was at a local pond and came across a guy who has tipped a couple too many. Well he wasn't driving/operating anything so it didn't really bother me...until he threw a half full beer can into the back of my truck for no reason when he thought I wasn't looking. So my mind instantly went where most people's would go...I figured I'm a big strong guy and this guy deserves a little lesson so let's beat his face in. But instead my adult smarter self took over and I talked to a park guy. He promptly called the local DNR and town police and the guy went to jail for public intox. I'd call somebody...if you confront these jerks yourself they may try to fight you.