BrianMDTX

The past few weeks have been tough. In May, June and July I was getting into some nice size bass and catching 6, 8, 10+ on every trip to the pond. That really dwindled in August. Last week in over 7 hours I had one catch (maybe 14”) and that was it. So I’m going to fish tomorrow or Sunday with some new presentations and see if A-I catch any bass lol; and B-learn how to fish some different styles. I’ll have one spinning rod rigged with a 5” Senko WR, just in case. The other spinner will be set up for a dropshot rig with a 4-1/4” Strike King KVD dream shot in dirt. It’s a shallow pond so I have the hook tied 12” from the sinker. One baitcaster has a jig with a 3.8 Keitech in sungill (caught the one bass on that last week but still a new presentation for me), and the other BC is a Carolina rig with a 3/8 oz. bullet weight and plastic bead and 18” of leader to a purple Zoom Mag II ribbon worm. I haven’t fished a Carolina rig since sometime in the 70s or early 80s when I knew nothing about how to effectively fish lures (and got bored easily and fell back to live bait. Ah...youth!). Should nothing produce, I have a weightless GYBC watermelon/black flake 4” Fat Ike on a 4/0 Gammy EWG and a 4.8” Super Impact Fat Keitech in sungill on a 3/16 oz jig head to try. I may also use that or the 3.8 Keitech as a trailer on a couple of War Eagle spinnerbaits as well. If you have a better suggestion on how to rig that 4.8 Keitech, let me know. Both baitcasters are spooled with 12 lb. YZH.

I think so. But it’s always a great topic for discussion! That’s my fear lol. With the 10/0 weighted screw-in hook they recommend to use, the total weight would be 2 oz. That’s a full oz. over the rod’s weight range. Man. A HF rod and reel. Whodathunkit?

You don’t even want to try stripping line or respooling reels around our cats lol.

The monkey needs a 100 grain broadhead right there!

OMG. I didn’t realize the clock was running lol! Nothing for now. Need $$$ for bow season!

It’s a nice bass for sure!

I like that. Might have to feed the monkey again!

With a worm hook like a Gammy 4/0 EWG rigged like a TR?

What’s some good jig heads for shallow (5’-7’ deep) ponds? I have some GYBC 4” Fat IKA’s and I don’t have any plain jig heads on hand.

I used 20 lb braid to 8 lb YZH and I thought the knot was rather small. It went through the guides on my Fenwick HMX easily and was long enough to be on the spool without causing line issues. I had one TR get snagged that I could not get out. I cut as much braid as I could, wrapped it around a piece of wood and pulled until it broke. It snapped the 8 lb leader where the line exited the knot, but not the knot itself. I was pretty pleased with the strength it had. Granted, I’m a novice with tying leader knots, but man, this one is almost foolproof to tie and seems pretty strong. I’d have to tie an FG or Alberto to compare sizes, though.

Have any of you ever tried the Lefty Kreh leader knot? When I was using 8 lb YZH leaders to 20 lb Sufix 832 braid I used this knot several times. It ran through my guides well and I never had a problem with the knot failing. I’ll add the caveat that I did not catch any truly big bass on it (largest was 4 lbs), but it is simple to tie. Even a horrible knot tier like me can tie it in less than 30 seconds. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GDxGy3Nld2g

Man...that's a lo-o-o-ng wait!!!

IMO, no. It's basically a stick at this point. All the action (flex) is gone.

Oh yes they can! They really pop the surface when sucking down bugs on the water.

Yeah, I don’t need anything that heavy as the ponds I fish don’t have thick vegetation. I guess a HF casting rig would be ok for heavier baits like this swimbait.

He’s right. The tip end is where the action lay.

Squishy, I think you are just starting out. So am I, after a long, 30 year hiatus. I started fishing again in May with old (like 30 to 50 year old) rods and reels. Since then I’ve purchased four new rigs. A baitcaster with a MF rod; a baitcaster with a MHF rod; a spinner with a MF and a spinner with a MLXF. That pretty much covers me to fish almost every presentation except punching, which where I fish is not an issue. Are these rigs specialized for every presentation? No. You’d need God knows how many rigs to fish every presentation to its maximum potential. But it covers a lot of the spectrum. From topwater, to T-rigs, jigs, weightless plastics, wacky rigs and others I haven’t dabbled in yet. You can easily fish T-rigs with your MHF, as well as topwater, tubes and jigs. Your MF spinning is good for WR, as well as dropshotting and other finesse presentations. Trust me, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the specialized rigs to the point of insanity lol. But three or four rigs can cover a lot of ground.

That thought crossed my mind. Hmmm...my 60th birthday is 15 days away lol. See above lol.

The bait monkey was hard on me last week. I bought several things from TW, including Fish Lab Soft Bio Gill Weedless Swimbait in ghost bluegill. I purchased the 4.5" swimbait, and must have missed that it was a 1-1/2 oz bait. The rod I was planning on using this bait on is a Daiwa Aird X AIRX701MHFB, which is rated to 1 oz. It looks like a really nice bait. I guess the smart thing would be to return it to TW and replace it with the 3-5/8" version at 3/4 oz. How is returning baits to TW?

I prefer a BC with a MHF for T-rigs for the hookset. I have 8 lb YZH on my spinners for weightless Senkos (mostly WR).

It was 30 years for me. Got back into fishing in May. I was amazed at how many different types of lures (and changes to older lures) are out now. And yet I caught a nice bass on a 40 YO plastic worm and just caught a bass on a 30+ YO jig lol.

Umm...not today for sure!

So, not the biggest bass, but it kept me from getting skunked. We were basically unscathed by Laura until we caught the trailing rainband yesterday. Booming T-storms and huge downpours. When I got to the pond this morning the water level was high, but the turbidity of the water looked normal. But definitely put the bite off. A shame, as my daughter and her fiancé are here from MD and I was hoping to get him on at least one decent bass. But even my “never fail” WR did not get one strike. But this did: I know the trailer is a 3.8 Keitech in sungill. The jig? Man, that’s probably 40-45 years old and I have no clue who made it or what it’s called. I didn’t even work it. It hit it as soon as it hit the water. Never caught a bass on a jig before. So far this year (since May) I’ve caught bass on plastic worms, a spinnerbait, a topwater (Whopper Plopper 75), a swimbait (the Keitech 3.8 on it’s own) and now a jig. All firsts. What’s next?

I’m glad we dodged that bullet in the Houston area, but my heart goes out to you guys in LA.

Right now those tropical waves show a <40% chance of development, so let’s hope it stays that way. I was lucky and only had no power for 7 hours yesterday. Another similar hurricane in the general area would probably be devastating to the power grid.