LrgmouthShad

Don’t do it. Large rocks will eat your chatterbait up. That along with laydowns is how I wound up losing all my jackhammers and swearing off chatterbaits. The problem with me and chatterbaits is I try and get way too messy with them.

Back from the field… back in the gym. Just did an easy upper body workout of rows, slight decline dumbbell press, cable bicep curls, cable tricep push downs, and some abs. Super fast, super easy. I’ll go for a quick run before making lunch. Have next couple days off from work

Hey y’all, I know a guy that uses the zoom speed craw on a shaky head and claims that it is consistently one of his best producers year round. He will go behind boats in his kayak and clean up after them, catching some very respectable fish. I’ve fished with him before and call him the shaky head wizard, albeit when I fished with him he was using a finesse worm, not the craw. If anybody uses this bait on a shaky head and has been keeping it secret, want to know if you will spill the beans. I want to know what’s up with this bait and how you like to use it

I see a good amount of discussion on this thread about the timing of the prespawn. For those in Missouri, especially central Missouri, when do you believe the super-early stages of prespawn begin? Tentatively, I can expect to be here in MO through about late Feb and wondering if I can catch the very earliest parts of the prespawn before I depart. Seems like larger lakes are going to stay thawed through the winter or at least for a while, fingers crossed. Obviously I am not very familiar with the typical climate of Missouri.

Hmmm. Did you enjoy ‘America’s Game’ this past year?

You right I’m still salty though

That’s really interesting, thanks for your response.

Hey y’all, I just shot a reply on another thread and it made me think of a question that I’ve had but haven’t asked yet. I’m curious to get people’s thoughts on how much anchoring disturbs fish in the surrounding area and how long you think it can take a fish to “forget” or disregard the anchor after anchoring and assuming that the fisherman is quiet in the boat. I feel like there are a lot of variables here and also some things that just can’t be measured or explained so answering in a purely anecdotal sense is totally fine with me and probably even appropriate. Just want to see what everyone’s thoughts are. I started anchoring a lot more over the past year and don’t have enough experience myself yet to answer my own question.

Only with buzzbaits? Let us know if you observe it happening with other baits too. I fish a lot of the time by anchoring now, and the sun angle always factors in to my decision of where to place my boat. I want the boat’s silhouette to be extending away from the fish, so that they do not see the shadow. That would be throwing into the sun, as you say. I also try and approach spots so that my boat’s silhouette does not extend towards the fish, if possible. And wind is a whole other factor. What have you observed with regard to wind?

Nice to hear. I think in that structure fishing video series you sent me, Albert Collins and Glen Freeman both agreed that they prefer to fish structure without brush piles etc.… interesting to get another perspective and also helps to bring context to other posts you’ve made. Of course there’s other offshore cover. Grass or standing timber. I like starting with a Texas rig or jig when fishing structure now simply because they do not hang easily and I can feel out any cover with my first dozen casts or so. Thanks for your response, been meaning to ask you

If you had to to put a number to it, about what percentage of your structure fishing has been connected to cover of some sort? And how do you feel about that percentage? Do you think it should be higher or lower than what it is?

Grew up wearing glasses since some young age, started wearing contacts in high school, laser surgery early this past year. Vision is great but it’s still young of course.

I hate that they increased the price on those. Buyers are definitely overpaying

You’re into green huh? What about She-Hulk?

Live this day for your next 100 days? Or skip forward 1 year?

I’m just here for the posts @Deleted account makes on A-Jay’s Working to Stay Lean, @dodgeguy screaming “GET THE LEW’S!!!!”, and @Jeffrey Walker’s latest research question for his readers on some ultra high end piece of gear.

Exactly

From commentary on a Journal Science study done sixty years ago on the effects of dopamine: “But instead of pleasure, intoxication, or happiness, they [the study participants] tended to repeatedly stimulate an area of the Midline Thalamus [being able to choose to stimulate different parts of their brain]. It causes mild frustration and anticipation. Huberman calls it the hope center of the brain.” The hunt is very enjoyable Source: https://medium.com/mind-cafe/a-neuroscientists-simple-recommendation-for-a-more-enjoyable-life-77cf343a0c3

Well first I am going to assume you mean the standard double willow war eagles since war eagle makes a bunch of different ones. If so, I don’t truly know since I have not fished the SV-3s. I look forward to trying them and was happy to receive them as a gift. But I would think they fish pretty different. The blade shape, blade thickness, and frame size between the two spinnerbaits varies quite a bit. But in terms of profile, yeah, I would say they are pretty similar. The screaming eagle is another matter and so are the rest of war eagle spinnerbaits. For specific war eagle questions, I would direct them to @Bluebasser86

Thanks for mentioning that. My post references hildebrandt blade sizes since that is what I am comfortable with. And I agree with ya that a spinnerbait with small blades still commands a good amount of attention. It’s a pretty aggressive bait in my mind, even the smaller frame ones

That’s because big game is “stretchy” I guess. I thought about giving you an answer you wanted, like trilene xt. And xt is good line. But then I would have been dishonest with what I really recommend. The stretch in big game does not prevent good hooksets. It’s an inexpensive all-purpose line tough as nails Edit: as some illustrations of the strength of the 15lb, I’ve broken hooks, broken small laydown limbs, and wrapped the line over my shoulder and put my body weight into it trying to break the line and all of the above have occurred before without breaking the line. It is stupid strong

Just use big game

Advantages of using smaller blades are simply more speed/deeper retrieve/more stablility which I’m sure you already know. And another advantage is that they present a smaller profile for the bass which sometimes they like as you mentioned. Burning a spinnerbait can be effective for smallmouth, works better with small blades. I’ll talk about my preferences first. I can’t speak to double willows since I don’t use them enough but for either a colorado/willow or indiana/willow, I generally prefer a pretty small colorado or Indiana on my smaller weight spinnerbaits… let’s say a #3 or 3.5 at the largest. But my willow I like to be large. Either a 4.5 or 5 depending on the weight. Otherwise, for double Indiana, double colorados, or single colorados which pretty much encompasses the rest of what I throw, I lean towards slightly smaller or average size blades. Why do I prefer these size combinations? Because I’ve found these to be versatile and effective for me. I want to be able to take a spinnerbait and run it in 3’ of water near the top, and then turn right around and also be able to crawl it on the bottom in 12’. I like other blade sizes and combinations but eventually everybody finds what works for them and that’s kinda what works for me. By the way, I totally agree. These spinnerbait blade threads continually pop up and seemingly in clusters at a time. I’m not complaining either. They make for fun discussion.

I rarely lose a spinnerbait so long as not fishing from the bank while also fishing on the bottom while also fishing around timber. Excited to hear you’ll give the SV-3 a try. Two other great spinnerbait frames that I like are the Nichols frame, especially 3/8oz, and 1/2oz Booyah Coverts

Chatterbaits were made for Lake Menderchuck and Lake Menderchuck only. For us mortals, the OG spinnerbait is king ?. Still, what caught A-Jay’s best brown bass?