LrgmouthShad

Okay, I'm not crazy about chatterbaits, but that actually boggles my mind. Your Maine bass are cray cray. Never thrown a dropshot, free rig, tokyo rig, or inurig. Never caught a double, same as @the reel ess Never caught a bass on a walking bait, but ain't really put time into em Mention any cover, I'm good to go. I'm pretty sure somebody could name any type of cover and I've caught a bass out of it. The craziest is tires, but lemme tell you, there's some tires that hold some schools of bass.

Weaknesses: Generally not great with topwater. I think I could get a lot better at just fishing the conditions that I’m given. I stink with jerkbaits and flukes Strengths: I am proficient with the basics. I really like tossing a Texas rig, a jig, and a spinnerbait. I probably feel most comfortable with a spinnerbait on my rod, since it’s all I used to fish in NY for like 8-9 hours in a day and just wreck the heck out of pond bass and small lake bass. I also have a good idea of what I am doing with my electronics and what I am looking for

What size blades do you like to use for your 3/4oz model? I’ve never made a double Indiana with that weight head before. If you could identify either the brand of blades as well, or offer what the Hildebrandt equivalent is, that would be wonderful. Hildebrandt sizing is generally what I am familiar with. Companies are sometimes all over the place with different blade sizings. I can certainly make some of these spinnerbaits up and see how I like them.

Good for you on using the huge worms. They work, I just was surprised is all. Uh, really kinda depends on the rig. My favorite ribbontail is a zoom mag 2 which is two sizes underneath magnum ol monster. It is 9” long and very very thin. I will use ol monsters sometimes and I’ve used the magnums in the past with some success. I like gambler burner worms 6” and 7” which weirdly have completely stopped working recently. It actually boggles my mind. I like zoom finesse worms on shaky heads I like zoom trick worms generally

Good grief. Is that a zoom magnum ol monster? Great fishing by the way ?

That right there. That blade has got to go. Im insane about the bigger blade, lol. Watch I never catch anything else on it for the rest of my life ?.

I read that section in his book and bought Nichols pulsator single colorado's accordingly. 3/8oz comes with a small #4 colorado. It got my PB in NC. My NY PB @6.21lbs is on a zorro short arm aggravator, also 3/8oz and also a small #4 colorado. Single colorado spinnerbaits are deadly. But like all other spinnerbaits, they have a time and a place. Single colorado spinnerbaits also tend to produce best, IMO, conveniently during the times that you are most likely to land a giant on a spinnerbait. That's winter and prespawn. Your spinnerbait box is not complete unless you've got some single colorado's in there. I do believe they are a big bass bait, but they are just a tool at the end of the day, and lots of other lures can work for giant bass too.

Update: I like the point you make at 6:20. Spinnerbaits are heavy cover machines, and should be treated as such. I will throw them in open water too, especially if there is some good wave action going on, but for the most part I want to be around cover. I think cover is the best form of concealment for a spinnerbait. The cover can literally block a fish's view of the spinnerbait, if the angling is right. From what I have seen, the best spinnerbaits for coming through cover have a short distance from wire bend to head, and a smaller hook. There is no need for a gigantic hook on a spinnerbait. It just has to be stout.

There’s a lot I agree with you on here. The beautiful thing about spinnerbaits is they are each so wonderfully unique and customizable that any fisherman is free to tweak them as wanted to fit a certain style. At least that’s my excuse for owning like 150 of them, tweaking each of them frequently, and having a box full of just blades

Dang man, hang in there. Sorry you are going through this. Prayers up.

The Megabass SV-3 with upsized back blade to #5 Hildebrandt is starting to amass a respectable list of catches.

I was about to walk away with one tiny dink today. Was getting my butt kicked. Not been enjoying September; didn’t fish yesterday. But then I decided to hit two more places with a spinnerbait in the wind and on the second one, got a good un. Went 4.27lbs

God is great, bass are good, and I am crazy.

4 for 19lbs is the closest I have come that I remember. One more fish would’ve done it, but I could not get another. This was on my arch nemesis lake, Lake Somerville, in April. Jig fishing a nice point. I have photos posted elsewhere but they are not saved on my new phone currently so I’m not going to go find them. I caught one over 7lbs, one over 5 lbs, and then 3+ and then maybe a 2lber. The +s added up to about what was needed to hit 19lbs Night fishing Stillhouse Hollow July 4th weekend I caught 8 that weighed in at about 3lb+ average. Put me around 24-25lbs I should have some time to fish Stillhouse in Jan or Feb. I predict I could catch this bag or heavier in the month of February

Side scan and mapping are the two most helpful things that a sonar unit can give you, IMO. Y’all need to learn how to scan a piece of structure using side scan, and then be able to mark a piece of cover or a school of bass or whatever that you see on side scan… without leaving the side scan view. Just see something, mark it where you see it, then keep moving. Your waypoint will be off to the side where the POI is. If you learn to do this, your structure fishing game will improve exponentially

Less is more, with this. When someone taught me how to do this, I started trying it out, and I barely got a bite in like 4 hours, while my partner was loading the boat. I was watching him closely, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Eventually he stopped me and said “you’re reeling too fast.” And he also said that the rod shaking should be very gentle, not exaggerated at all. I made those corrections and all of a sudden I started catching up to him.

Nah you good fam

Some do this. Some don’t. I will do it sometimes. There’s kind of a couple schools of thought on it. One is turn the electronics off immediately when ready to start presenting. Another is to just park the boat and let the transducer noise become a natural part of the environment instead of something that comes and goes. Kind of like how we can forget about a certain noise, like a fan running, if it is going on long enough. My advice to others is do whatever you are confident/comfortable in.

It’s kinda gotten to the point where if I am on a new body of water and I don’t know what the really hot colors for soft plastics are yet, I’m probably going to start with black. It’s probably going to work. It’s just a question of how good

good luck brotha ?

^ If you listen to the Bassmaster Elite circuit, the commentators will claim that to succeed at the highest level today, you must be competent with FFS, electronics generally, and versatile with many techniques

Electronics are a tool and I thoroughly enjoy using mine. I fish structure and reading the structure and observing life in the lake is a huge part of the fun for me. I don’t have any desire to get FFS but I’m not convinced that I wouldn’t like it if I tried it. Whether structure fishing in big lakes or fishing small ponds… I love bass fishing!! Note my age (big influence on this discussion IMO): I am 23

Went to a pizzeria+brewery with some friends and tried a stout called Old Rasputin. Could be a local deal. It is the best stout I’ve ever had

Alright y’all, I’ve decided to share my shaky head retrieve. This is what works for me. Feel free to share what works for you. Reel extremely slow while gently shaking your rod tip. If you do it right, the worm should barely, if at all, lift off the bottom, and the tail will gently wiggle and bounce. In my opinion, the closer you track the bottom, the better your odds are of getting bit. You are imitating a baitfish/slim creature feeding on the bottom. Pause intermittently in between this retrieve, letting the worm rest. You can bounce the worm at rest too

65 over 50 for punching for me because I am sometimes punching next to, into, or past wood. Hydrilla and standing timber coexist in a lot of places on Stillhouse. My braid can get cut by the timber, and I want extra resistance to that. Otherwise, as far as purely punching goes, I’m not concerned with casting distance and I appreciate the way 65lb comes off the spool as opposed to 50lb. So in your poll, #2 and #4