DitchPanda

I'd buy some grid iron arky jigs in straight brown and green pumpkin. Those are my preferred jig colors. Any way you'd consider making some with the sniper head? That's my favorite jig...period.

Yeah I don't get it. I live in Iowa..we have 15in of ice and its gonna be -5 overnight...if I was Jones ing that bad to fish I'd hit the ice. If I was in Texas or alot of other places I wouldn't be sitting at home wanting to fish.

What head? What colors you thinking?

Good on you man..its tough to make a decision like that even when you know and feel its right. I did something similar at work last year to a certain extent. I was safety committee chairman at my plant for several years..we were responsible for safety permits and policies around the site aimed at limiting possible injuries..we would also do trainings and RCAs after an incident within our fleet to help gain knowledge on how said and what changes needed to be made policy wise, operations wise or engineering wise to mitigate the risks. With our structure change and work load shift combined with my new role as utility/ water manager consuming all my time I wasn't able to give the effort or time I saw fit to fill my role so I stepped down. Wasn't an easy decision and not everybody agreed with it initially..but it was the right one for the plant and my piece of mind. The people at the plant are my friends and I couldn't justify half as$%&# it with their personal safety.

Every time I've seen a fish kill or at least a significant one for that matter there has been plenty of evidence.. Dead fish along shore, rotten fish stench being emitted from the body of water. I would assume you would have seen this evidence had it happened since you frequent the pond regularly. I'm in the mindset that you should change tactics..try a rugby head or light shaky head with a roboworm..that will get bites period if fish are present. Weedless Ned rig should work as well. Then once your satisfied that fish are still present and catch able move onto a big fish bait. In the past 5-6 years the most consistent bait for better than average fish has been some sort of flipping jig. You can find a head to match any situation..rock, wood or weeds. As @Glenn has eluded to your pond could be suffering from water quality\ oxygen issues but I'd sure think that after 2 months like this a kill would have occurred. This is just speculation based on what I've seen over the years I'm not a biologist so I'm no expert. I'm just guessing that if they were oxygen stressed to the point of little to no eating you would have seen some succumb to that stress by now. One other thing I'd add is if this pond is small and receives any decent amount of pressure the larger fish may have wised up some. I have a local pond that I've fished religiously for 20 years and I've seen this play out every year. From pres pawn thru spawn ill catch the biggest bass in this pond for a few weeks to a month. Then from June thru September you'd swear all the fish over 3-3.5lbs have died. Then starting again in October the 4s,5s all the way up to 7-8lbs start showing again.

I understand his post because I read it..in fact if you had read thru you would see I already offered a suggestion. That doesn't mean another suggestion doesn't make sense even if its outside the original parameters.

This guy knows whats what

Right on brother..good luck to you in your decisions and future endeavors

Not sure if its from several glasses of whiskey tonight or my age finally catching up to me. But I find myself reflecting on myself and how my life and priorities have changed over the past decade. 10 years ago I had 50 friends...was partying alot..and I'm ashamed to say was struggling to make ends meet bouncing between sh$%& apartments and my parents basement without as much as 2 dimes to rub together. Blink of an eye and I'm rolling up on 40. Finally got my head pulled out of my back hatch and things are much different. I own my house, lead plant technician and waters\utilities manager at my plant making a solid living. Have very few people I'd call friends now but the relationships are much deeper and more meaningful. Most importantly I have a woman thats been by my side thru all the drinking, parents basement BS..still with me now during the promotions and prosperity. All I can say is life is strange and it gets away from you. Most importantly life is good..the result is important but no more so than the journey. Its what makes us.

Correct My point is IPT is the real measurement

I don't always give it alot of thought but I wouldn't frog with a crank bait reel or vise versa. One thing guys arent really taking into account is inches per turn. Take a slow Abu Garcia c3 5500..ipt is 26. Most low profile bait casters with a7 to 1 ratio have like a 28ipt. That's not much different.

I can't get away from the Michters single barrel rye. Its easily my favorite whiskey right now by a long shot. I'm not a huge drinker now days but I went thru a bottle in 2.5 weeks. Its dangerously smooth and delicious.

Your killin me smalls

I'm doing what I can to survive winter up here in the Midwest or southern north? Whatever you'd call Iowa . Doing my normal stuff...watching and reading tons of fishing stuff and filling in gaps in the arsenal..just got a new jerk bait rod in last week and I have a jig rod on the way. Normally I'd ice fish to help hold me over but I'm just not feeling it at all. Luckily between my new role at work and my diet\lifestyle change I've got things to focus on which helps. If we are lucky up here like last year I've only got 5 weeks til ice out..realistically it will likely be more like 8. Positive note I've been doing a moderate keto style deal since just before Christmas and I've lost 12lbs in 5 weeks..plus my knee and back are starting to feel better.

I use siebert snipers and boss finesse flips for compact flipping and they swim fine as well. I haven't bent a hook out at all on the BOSS heads even with a flipping stick and 20lb copolymer or 50lb braid..I've caught several bass in cover in the 6+ range on those two heads over the years.

The fusion hooks are great IMO...almost on par with gama and owner..they are for sure a premium hook. And for around $2 a pack I'd buy everything they had that I have a use for.

Personally I'd go with a 2000 size daiwa Laguna and 7ft Berkley lightning rod...comes in slightly over budget at $80..but that's the best I can do.

I'm now working 8 hour days Monday thru Friday ..also because of this I'm no longer working holidays or weekends. If a holiday falls on a weekend we take the prior Friday or following Monday to recognize the holiday. Between paid holidays and PTO I accrue I get 29 extra days of a year..I'm not complaining.

My favorite soft plastic color overall is green pumpkin..junebug is 2nd and much more productive color for me than black and blue.

The clear plastic is on the new lightning shocks..and I agree I don't like them. The new lightning rods have a black reel seat..they are solid for $40. I agree tho the Aird is in a different class for the money.

Btw I rig them vertically as opposed to horizontally to give the jig a more bluegill\baitfish profile. The paddles are up and down that way so it swims like a fish tail.

Will do..unfortunately it will be at least 6-8 weeks if not longer

Thanks for all the info and feedback...decided to go with the Ark lancer pro 7'3" mag medhvy. I like my Tharp rod so much I wanna try another one of their offerings.

I've thrown swim jigs alot in the last 3 years..ive thrown speed craws, single and double tail grubs and various paddle tails..the rage menace has been head and shoulders above everything else for me..I mean its not even close.

Oh yeah you mean Drew Benton..I remember when he was fishing "scotts spot" even tho he had fished it all tournament so Scott was whining at him and he says fine you can have it I don't do well with cry babies. Scott says I'm not crying I'm just then Drew says no your crying..cuz your a cry baby. Classic! Btw how do you meld really well rounded guys like Feider or Palaniuk? I've seen Brandon win power fishing and win finesse fishing. Seth has won dropshotting and he won angler of the year last year flipping and spinnerbaiting no deeper than 8 ft of water. Martens was another guy like this..RIP hog snatcher. Dude was known for his drop shotting prowess..but he dominated Chesapeake bay with a bladed jig and spinnerbait..that year he also crushed everybody at havasu flipping heavy reeds with 50lb braid and a slither rig. A few years prior he won the all star championship in Decatur Illinois shallow cranking. He was the epitome of well rounded.