BrianMDTX

Well, Tom got to it before I could. And likely explained it a helluva lot better than I would have! ?

1- wacky rig 2- Texas rig That is my 100% always.

Controlled aka semi-slack is how I fish bottom baits. You can get a boatload of guthooked bass fishing a T rig with slack line, as it takes too much time to detect a strike. Wacky rigs tend to be different, as even with a liberal amount of slack, it seems the bass tend to hit and run with those presentations much more than they do with a T rig. You can see the line move even when slack most of the time on a WR. Not so much with a TR.

I’ve stood on that dock many a time, but never saw that big a swordfish hanging on it. That’s a great catch! Before I read the article my guess was going to be that he caught it at the Baltimore Canyon, but it was the Washington Canyon.

I believe that is None But The Brave. But the OP’s flick doesn’t ring a bell.

That’s what I use on those worms. Mostly use 3/0 EWG’s on Jelly Worms and 3/0 round offset’s on Zoom Tricks, 5” Senkos, etc.

I must be in minority when it comes to Ned rigs lol.

One of the nicest bass I’ve caught from the middle of the pond I fish was a weightless Zoom Trick TR that I crawled very slow on the bottom. 5.18 lbs. But that was in early April. I haven’t had any success fishing the deeper parts of the pond lately.

I’m almost 61. When I became an adult, my father told me one of the things he most regretted was teaching my brother and me how to fish…while he tried to fish. I took that to heart. When I first taught my daughters to fish, I brought two spincast rigs for them and nothing for me. They want to cast, reel and do things themselves. And they are going to get snagged in trees, rocks…maybe low-flying aircraft. But having some cranky dude spewing $&%#! under his breath because just as he’s starting to work a T rig or cranking in a spinnerbait he hears “Dad! I’m stuck again!”, or “Dad! Is this a bite? Lemme reel it in and check!” is not the way to go. I forgive you, Dad. You certainly taught me to tie a great IC knot and definitely taught me to respect nature, the law and my fellow man. And in your own way, showed me how to be a good dad.

I don’t have a yak; I have a Sea Eagle Packfish7 inflatable that I modified with a 7” pedestal and a folding swivel seat. I added two rod holders behind the seat as well. The two front rod holders are great...when paddling, but you can’t fish with one rod in a holder, let alone two. But I can store one rod one either side of the seat facing rearward so with two in the rear rod holders and one on each side of the seat, I can comfortably bring and fish with five rigs. Is it fast? No. Can I travel far on the water? No. Is it a pain in the butt in the wind? Yes. But it’s easy to transport inflated in the bed of my truck, not a struggle to carry, easy to board and disembark, and it gets me access to places I could only dream about fishing from the bank. And at only 7’ long inflated, it’s very easy to store. Even easier when deflated.

I have a Fenwick HMX66M-FS-2 M/F and I really like that rod. Great for Senko WR and weightless TR Zoom Tricks and similar baits. Mine has a Daiwa Revros LT2500 spooled with 20 lb Sufix 832 and a 6 lb mono leader. I really like that rod!

I can't help you. Hooks are like broadheads in bowhunting. It brings home the bacon. I don't skimp on hooks.

Maybe I’m old school (highly likely lol), but I find it discomforting not having my thumb in play. Besides, it makes it so much easier to stop my bait just where I want it. Especially if I want a soft entry. I learned on a Daiwa Millionaire 3H. Had a spool tension knob. My thumb WAS the brake!

I have a Fuego CT and I have had no issues. First question is, how (did) you set your spool tension? You should loosen the spool tension so that the spool moves back and forth, then tighten incrementally until you can’t hear it click anymore. As far as brakes, I freely admit to using my thumb way more than I rely on the brakes.

Tom, I think you have more experience bass fishing in your left pinkie than I have in my whole body, now or ever. So I listen to what you have to say. Unfortunately I have not been able to fish this pond at night, either from the bank or my boat. I have fished in evenings until dusk, but not overnight. But...something tells me you may be spot on. They are likely feeding during the night, and early morning is not an active period until late morning/early afternoon. Fishing the bank at night I’d need my Thermocell for sure as the mosquitoes are atrocious. On the boat would probably be better. I have to check if that’s permissible. But I think to start I’m going to skip early morning and start at 10:00 AM. All: thanks for the advice. This site is a gem!

Right now mine has a Daiwa Tatula 100H spooled with 12 lb Berkley Big Game.

As you and @roadwarrior have stated the same thing, I thinking this is the likely reason. In fact, it makes a ton of sense. IMO, the fishing is worse. I caught my last 5 lb bass in March and my last 3 lb bass in May. Everything since then has been superdinks, dinks and 1 to 1.5 lb’ers. As far as I can tell, the water clarity is the same as last year, although there was a heavier amount of duckweed last year than this year. Weather is essentially the same. We had some very heavy downpours in June but this started prior to that. This pond gets pressured, but mostly anglers fishing with live bait for panfish. I run into some bass anglers, but most are casual and never very successful. And it’s 100% C&R, so they aren’t being caught and removed. But, I now have a plan. I’ll hit the water at 9:30 AM and be ready to fish the midday.

I touched on this on my recent Latest Catch Pics post, but I’m looking for some serious feedback. 95% of my fishing is a 2-3 acre pond in Texas (near Houston). It averages about 7’ deep throughout most of the pond, and drops off to 1’-2’ deep until less than a foot off the bank. About 1/3 of the bank is landscaped as a small park; the other 2/3 is surrounded by heavy tree growth right up to to the bank and out over the water. It is rain-fed, so no stream enters it (so no submerged channel structure) and the exit in case of high water is a drain topped by a concrete slab. This pond was hot in the early morning all last year except for September and was this year up until the first week of May. Since then it’s been a struggle for bites on any lure until at least 10:00 AM. That’s when the bass seem to start hitting baits. Whether overcast, partly cloudy/sunny or full sun with bluebird skies does not seem to make a difference. Which I find strange. Once the sun tops the trees the surface is pretty much in full sun, except for shade provided by limbs overhanging the water. But bites can be had there or in open spots with zero shade. Granted, the water is stained green and has duckweed floating in it in most spots, but I would think in a pond like this, early morning would be best and the bite would start to taper off after 10:00 or so. About the only bait that stays true to form is topwater. After the sun’s up and it hits 8:00 AM or so, topwater is dead until evening. Thoughts?

Medium-sized topwaters as mentioned above. I also found it works pretty well with weightless Texas rigs with “heavy” baits like a Fat IKA and Neko Macho. They cast easily, it’s a cinch to work the bait and so far, hooksets have been great. It’s a nice rod. I think some may feel it’s a bit too “whippy”, but I’m not very partial to very stiff rods anyway.

Strange, strange morning. Got on the water at dawn. I rigged a Whopper Plopper and on the 4th or 5th cast, it got hit by a decent bass as it hit the water. I swept the rod and started reeling it in, but something felt off. It came up on top and I could tell it was hooked in the gill plate and/or body and was being reeled in without a fight. Once on top, he threw the hook, and like that, the topwater bite vanished. I started working a jig w/Rage Menace trailer without success, then had a dink strike a Zoom Z Craw. After that, it was a dead zone. Until almost 11:00. Although I swore no wacky rigs today, I succumbed to internal pressure, caved in to my weakness and tied on a 1/0 circle octopus hook and a #956 Senko. Just like that, I had a dink strike and let go. Cast it back out and caught an ok bass. A few more casts and I had two more. Ive noticed this the past few trips. Early morning is dead, but mid-morning/early afternoon is pretty good. I may start sleeping in.

I’ve bought both my Revros off Amazon and received them quickly.

I'll be 61 in September. I caught my PB (6-7 lbs estimated per length as I had no scale) in May 2020, so I was 59. Before that, I'm going to say I think it was 1973. What I thought was, at a minimum, a 3 lb bass, but looking back in retrospect was likely a 2 lb'er.

Good post Spankey (especially as I fall in your category lol). Unlike rods and reels from the 60's and 70's, lures from that age can and do work just as well as many modern baits. Whether crankbaits or soft plastics. Mann's Jelly Worm has been around since 1967 (when I was still playing cowboys and Indians and cops and robbers), but it is still in my tackle box and is one of my favorite baits to work on a Texas rig. Old floating Rapalas, Heddon Tiny Torpedoes and a Arbogast Jitterbug as well. You just gave me an idea. I think I will do a Throwback Thursday next week and fish the afternoon/evening with nothing but baits from my youth. I need to replace the trebles on one jointed Jitterbug but the rest are good to go. I'll use nothing but old school baits and see how it goes. Now, I have several rigs that date to the 60's, 70's and early 80's. I'll part with them only when I depart this vale of tears, but I have no real desire to fish with them any more. Modern rods and reels are so much better. Lures? Not really convinced about that!

Tool is also slang for male anatomy. Ruminate on that and it'll come to you. No pun intended.

That actually looks pretty cool!