BrianMDTX

I use mine for jerkbaits.

So did I. And I’ve found it’s oretty decent casting weightless TR with Fat IKA’s and Neko Machos as well.

Rufus Jr. Water Dog

That’s a great price!

You’re a bit over 100 miles from me (which ain’t far in Texas lol). And I get ya. I have had the same issue myself. The pond I fish has a tough bite since early May. Last year at this time I was consistently catching 8, 10, 12 bass or more in a morning of fishing, with many in the 2-4 lb range and some heavier. This year has been different. My last 5+ lb bass was in March and 3+ was in early May. Since then it’s been dinks and 1-2 lb bass at the most, and numbers are down. Its less pressured than 2020, so that’s not it. I want to say maybe excessive rain and high water, but I’m not totally convinced that’s the reason n, either. Even a Senko WR is a tough bite.

I’d take that for action. Except...there’s really no “muck” to throw a frog into. This pond gets duckweed and algae, but not bad. No lily pads, no big weed beds that extend out feet from shore. It’s really pretty clear. Most of the action has always been casting under or near tree limbs that overhang the water, or parallel to the bank about 10’-12’ out. It was very productive all last year except for most of September, and all this year until mid-May. I caught my 5+ lb bass (5.12 lbs) in March and the last one over 3 lbs (3.64 lbs) on May 4, and since then it’s been nothing but dinks up to 2 lbs.

The Summer of Sub-3 continues lol. Wanted to fish the past three evenings but it’s been storm after storm. Water is high from the rain. Calling for storms this afternoon/evening as well, so I hit the pond this morning. Started out with a jerkbait, followed by a spinnerbait with a Rage Menace trailer. Nothing. Switched to a Mann’s Jelly Worm and lost one, then caught this bass. Also started working a weightless TR with a Zoom Mag II. This bass liked it. The only one that did! Tried a squarebill and a lipless. Also zilch. Got nothing on a WR, so I started casting a weightless TR with a Daiwa/GYBC Neko Macho. That fared better. Lost one and caught two. This year has been way tougher than 2020 (as far as fishing is concerned lol). It’s been a long time since I went ofer on a Senko wacky rig. It’s a tough bite since early May.

Shrimp. Steamed crabs beats the snot out of both!

Senkos: wacky or Texas rig Zoom Tricks and Mag II’s: Texas rig Neko Macho: Neko or Texas rig Fat IKA: Texas rig

I have 20 lb braid on two spinning reels and both have 6 lb mono leader. The Lefty Kreh knot is the knot I use. Knock on wood, but I have not had one leader knot failure yet, even when I had to break off a snag. It’s got to be the easiest leader knot to tie, it's strong, and small enough it fits through guides nicely.

I really like my Falcon Lowrider All 'Round Fast, but A- it's 7'; and B- it's $129.

^^^^This

I have a 6’ 10” St. Croix Bass-X MLEF rod paired with a Daiwa Revros LT2000. I love that for wacky rigs. When I reel in the slack that EF tip seems to quickly set the hook. Maybe not all that much faster then my rods with a fast action, but enough to be noticeable IMO.

Cabela's and BPS have Fenwick HMX 66M-FS-2 rods for $79.99. Others likely do as well. I have two HMX’s: a 7’ 6” H/F baitcaster and this same 6’ 6” 2-piece M/F spinning. It’s one of my favorite finesse rods. Hasn’t given me a lick of problem yet.

C’mon, A-Jay, don’t be a killjoy! There’s nothing wrong with bow riding! We do it all the time and it’s safe as can b…..bam! Gah-h-h-h!!! Yeah, accidents happen that fast. I think many believe they have seconds to react. Often it’s milliseconds. And then the regrets come. Sad, but true.

Well, I’ll at least give myself a gold star for perseverance. I fished over 6 hours yesterday and caught 1 dink and 2 superdinks. One on a watermelon and two on a green pumpkin Senko WR. Went out this morning hoping for a change. Oh my, it’s dead. Stayed on the water 4.5 hours then it started to rain and I felt a gust front. Not good in an inflatable. All that time and only one bite. Another green pumpkin superdink. I tried just about everything and boy, they weren’t buying what I was selling! Got all my gear together and it appeared to blow over. I grabbed a finesse rig and tied on a 3/0 round offset hook and a Zoom Mag 2 purple worm. I started walking the bank and almost had another superdink lol. I had to redo the worm on the hook and cast it back out, and it stopped dead on the retrieve. I felt a tap and set the hook. Didn’t bother to weigh it, but was happy to at least catch something that put up a fight!

Somebody said “use a big worm!”, so I took that for action. Stopped by Academy on the way home and picked up some Zoom Mag O Monster 12” worms in Red Shad. Bought a pack of Gammy 5/0 EWG’s to use on ‘em. Well, I was there, and tried to be (semi) frugal. Picked up some 4” Rage Menace in green pumpkin for jig trailers, some new Gammy 3/0 EWG’s and a H2O Hard Jointed Sunfish swimbait in Bluegill.

Gamakatsu 1/0 circle octopus hook

@A-Jay, you beat me to it. Having been away from fishing (not counting panfishing with my girls when they were young) from around 1983 to 2020, the game really changed. And as I’ve attested to many times, I never caught squat on artificial lures except panfish and the occasional 10” bass in the past. You can read all the articles you want in magazines, or watch scores of videos on YT, but nothing beat the interaction with more experienced anglers on BR on everything from rods, reels, line and hooks, baits, presentations, you name it. To go from a 10” bass on a nightcrawler to catching 3, 4 and 5 lb bass on stickbaits, worms, craws, jerkbaits, squarebills, spinnerbaits and jigs on decent gear was a revelation. You cant beat this site with a stick.

Well, I had one. I took my inflatable boat out on the pond this evening. Only brought three rods. One was my MH/F Falcon Lowrider that was rigged with a Rage Craw TR on a 3/0 Gammy EWG. I had a dink hit that right off the bat but that was it. So I took it off and put on a blackberry Mann’s Jelly Worm. Third cast parallel to the bank, it stopped dead as I was crawling it on the bottom. I knew it wasn’t a snag. I put some tension on the line and felt a slight tug, so I set the hook. It started making a run. I set the hook again. It came across the front of my boat fast and went deep. My rod was bent. As it came around the starboard side, I felt the bass pop off. Having caught several bass here 5 lbs and up, this was easily a 5 to 6 lb’er. I have no idea how the bass threw the hook, and it was disappointing to lose it, but dang, it felt good to set the hook on one!

I jinxed myself. I went out on the pond for a couple hours tonight. Started with a Jelly Worm Texas rig, then a Megabass jerkbait and finally a 5” Senko WR. I skipped the Senko under some limbs and it stopped short. I knew a bass had it so I reeled it in tight and the fight was on. It was a decent fish. It headed towards the center of the pond and turned towards my small inflatable boat. It came around front and pulled hard. My rod tip went under water, the bass made a hard tug and the line hit my yak paddle. Whatever that did was enough to pop the hook out and it was gone.

I use 1/0 circle octopus hooks for wacky rigs and never had an issue with losing bass…when using straight mono. When I switched to braid and leader I lost some fish. I corrected that (I slowed my retrieve slightly as I think I was reeling the slack in too fast, and with no stretch, it was pulling the hook out of the bass’ mouth too quickly), and now back to not losing fish. And once hooked, they stay hooked.

I like the Lefty Kreh knot. Very simple to tie and so far, I have not had anything close to a failure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDxGy3Nld2g

Just before I left the pond yesterday, an angler who was casting a spinnerbait from shore wound up like a MLB pitcher for a moon shot on what was likely his last cast of the day. It was. He reared back and heaved that bait with gusto. But his spinnerbait got caught in an overhanging limb. All I heard was “Bam!” and saw a shower of leaves and the last 2’ of his rod depart this vale of tears. He grabbed his tackle, walked to his car and drove off without delay.

@txchaser, this pond is not stream-fed. It’s kept filled by rain. And it’s pretty high at the moment. And not very deep. Maybe 8’ at the deepest. I’ve caught bass on big worms, but lately nothing of size. @roadwarrior, I hear ya. I could see if I never caught anything over 2 lbs here. There are 5, 6 and 7+ lb bass in this pond. For some reason I’m just not getting them to bite on anything.