LrgmouthShad

Ohhh boy I need to do that sometime. Live bait fishing can be really fun Awesome fish by the way!

Mother nature threw out some crazy weather this weekend. Saturday there was sun, rain, and thunder all together for a little while, and it just started snowing here a second ago. I bank fished Friday night and went out in the kayak Saturday and this morning. Four this weekend is all. That's okay. I'm having a blast. Nothing Friday night. Saturday I had a mind that there would still be some fish shallow that I could catch. The two I ended up catching were both on a red eyed shad out deep. And although I played around with a lipless quite a bit for the rest of the time I fished, I just couldn't get a pattern going on it. Both of those bites were early too. So with that in mind, I went out very early again this morning, even though it was bitter cold and quite windy out. Probably the coldest weather I've fished in. Morning was a good idea. It got crazy windy later in the day today (right now weather says 18mph) but I caught a bass and a pickerel early when the wind was a little tamer and I just figured I'd call it good around 10:30. And both of those fish today were off the same point as Saturday with a lipless again. So that point and yo-yoing lipless were my skunk busters this weekend :).

So I roll cast a lot in the kayak. I noticed that I had to roll a little higher than usual when casting and that the reel felt a little overloaded when casting 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigs with bulky trailers or 1/4oz Texas rigs with the big, full size brush hogs. And some might say, that’s probably your rod, not your reel, man. But I moved the reel over to a 7’ Heavy and noticed the same thing, although it was of course a little better. My opinion… it is not as versatile a reel as many claim it to be. Just kinda depends on what you want it for. I’ve been running 12lb trilene big game on it. Edit: I’ll add some lures it performed exceedingly well with. 3/8oz devils horse, 3/16oz Texas rig with baby brush hog or similar smaller plastics, and 5/16 oz finesse jigs. All of those….. she going…. and going and going… and gone.

Love your signature. ?? Bring your rod with ya!

So glad you are still with us, Tommy. It’s gonna take far more than that to take you out! I’ll pray for ya.

That is fascinating. Thanks for sharing

Well, I found it kinda interesting. Because while I found that a pegged texas rig skips amazingly well and ensures that the weight is connected to the bait throughout the skip instead of flailing wildly around and potentially becoming very far disconnected when the lure finally falls........ I had better results on skipping an unpegged texas rig. This was just a handful of experiences though. I need more time skipping.

One more for you. Why is that your preference? I played around with pegged versus unpegged recently. Want to get your thoughts.

Hey ya'll, I've generally heard a lot by now that wind is good for fishing offshore, and that it generally helps with fishing moving baits. The only reason I can figure why moving baits are better in the wind is because the light reflection off waves breaks up the profile of these baits. But for offshore stuff... I'm not sure why it is better in the wind. For the same reason? What are ya'lls thoughts and what else do you consider good areas to fish in the wind?

Took a look at what the top 25 pros were using at the Hartwell classic. Whole lotta wacky rigs and jigs. Surprising number of swimbaits. The most interesting was Taku Ito's Norries Flip Gill

How are you rigging the rage bug? Texas rigged? Pegged or not pegged?

Hey ya'll, What are ya'lls favorite baits to sling around docks? Is your choice influenced by how well you can skip em?

When fishing bottom baits I keep rod tip high to create a big bow in the line and also still leave a smallish amount of slack on the water. I create both a bow and slack because @Catt told me to one time. When fishing moving baits, my rod tip is not totally lowered. It's maybe a 10 o clock I guess.

Organic tomato sauce!

Ah yup that's correct. Ain't nothing like it

Now that REALLY isn't a bass!

Of course I'm gonna make a post about spinnerbaits, but I hear so often "bass don't bite spinnerbaits below 50 degrees." What... do the bass have a digital thermometer that tells them what temperature the water is and when it reaches 49.9 degrees, they say "ope, that there flashy object just don't look good no more. I'm a little chilly, I need a blanket." Ya'll cannot reach speeds I reel spinnerbaits when "true" slow rolling with your 7 speed reels! But if KVD caught em burning a spinnerbait when it's 45 degrees, I wouldn't be surprised either!

Yes sir. not even close

Despite not being able to count scoops of coffee I put into the coffee maker in the morning, I can at least remember what line is on my small selection of several rods I use in the kayak. Phew

That is absolutely wild. Thank you for sharing. As far as I knew, FG knot was king. I will have to give this a try now.

If the wind is from the sky, I'm gonna try.

Better than mono? I'm going to have to disagree with you there. I won't go so far as to say that mono is always more abrasion resistant than fluoro. I think that'd be silly. But I do think abrasion resistance varies greatly from line to line for both fluoro and mono. The mono I've used the most is big game. It has performed much better in terms of abrasion resistance than invisx, perhaps the fluoro I've used the most. I like both lines, but invisx gets shredded around rock IME, YMMV. I'm a mono guy, but invisx is otherwise great stuff. I would have confidence throwing it.

They are beasts. They have no weak link. You can throw them into whatever and they come out every time. And they're also very durable too. Sorry, I'll find a room.

Been fishing it more and more. It is a beast with lighter lures, but its performance with heavier lures, at least for me, leaves a little to be desired. It feels a little overloaded when trying to cast them. Still love mine, since I got it for relatively light setups, but bear this in mind if you pick it. I also notice its comfort level can be very different depending on what rod you put it on, so if you can get it in person and match it up with a rod and feel the setup in your hands, that would be ideal. Again, I'm fortunate that my setup is extremely comfortable. It's smooth as butter, casts a mile, and has some really great drag. Great reel.

I think you'll catch a bass or two with those nichols SBs. ? One of the highest quality SBs you can buy.