00bullitt

Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper and/or Little Dipper.

I tried it last year with a Keitech jig. It hooks fish, but you lose them because it breaks the Palomar knot the dropshot hook is tied on with and then fish go bye bye. The dropshot hook knot is the limiting factor.

I typically let the fish dictate. The more they suspend off the bottom, the longer the leader I use. 30" is my go to length typically, but I have thrown leaders up to twice as long. Bottom contour and vegetation play into that as well as the presentation of the plastic on the hook as sometimes I throw plastics that float. I've identified things in the past by mistake. I have broken off my hook on a 3' leader and tied back on with 16-18" just to expediently get back in the water and bites increased. Nothing hard and fast. I typically start with 30" and change according to what I see on my electronics. In the summer, I do well with big 12" worms on big 5/0 hooks and short 12" leaders down deep.

Bass are bullies....they intimidate and eat everything to include their own! Ive caught bass with all kinds of things in their gullet. They do no discriminate! They do get keyed in on abundant forage. In a lake with no shad, probably bluegill would be the most prolific fish in a pond/lake.

The nose hook Fluke Stick Jr. has been a secret weapon on Lake Hartwell since it came out. Patrick Walters used the technique to win the B.A.S.S. Eastern Open back in Sept. 2020. I like throwing the Donkey rig. The mainline will be a Sniper Finesse #1 hooked thru the Fluke Stick Jr. with an Owner centering pin for added strength and then I have a Super Fluke on an EWG on the sliding leader. The nose hooked Fluke Stick sticks them 4 to 1. As in they eat the stick over the Super Fluke just a foot away. And the #1 Sniper Finesse hook pins them in the roof of the mouth 90% of the time. Landing ratio is excellent and I often need pliers to get my hook out. I will throw the Fluke Stick Jr. nose hooked by itself on spinning gear; only to get that extra 20 foot of casting distance on spooky fish in the clearer water. This technique has proven itself on Lake Jocassee, Lake Hartwell, Lake Russell and Clark Hill (SC/GA lake chain) where I fish most. Its a technique that give the fish something different to look at and it has been getting their attention and secretly winning T's until Patrick let the cat outta the bag with his big win. Nose hooking a bright colored magnum trick worm also works great in my area in Spring/Summer. I will say, much of the success many of us are having with these techniques are due to Live Sonar. I would hardly ever throw some of those presentations in deep open water if I was not able to witness bass behavior in real time. Livescope has changed the way I catch, as it truly turns fishing into catching for me. Fish react totally contrary to what we thought. I watch Spots come up from 50' of water to crush a subtle soft plastic on the surface.

The Owner Sniper Finesse has become my go to for Drop Shot, Neko, Nose Hooked Flukes and Wacky rigging. I use #2 for Drop Shot and a #1 for everything else. There is a weedless version too.

I do agree....JuneBug type colors are my preferred for off colored water. I also prefer the heavily scented Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm in their smoke/purple for more off colored water. That MaxScent makes the bite so obvious and Im convinced it draws fish in and they hold on longer.

Bill length plays alot into the action. I tune most all of mine to run the way I like based on the trailer attached. I use my Norman Speed Clips and attach to a small Spro swivel connected to a split ring. Depending on the trailer used, could cause the scrounger to spin on retrieve and will wreak havoc on your line. The Hog Farmer 5.25" Spunk Shad is a more subtle action and rolls little to none. I prefer the Strike King Blade Minnow, but the bill needs to be shortened and thinned to prevent rolling/spinning. I typiccally only run the heavier than 1/2 ounce heads and fish them deep (15'+). Less than 15' and Chatterbait or boot tail swimbait is my choice. Also works great for Stripers and Hybrids when they are chasing suspended bait in late fall/winter. When specifically targeting Stripers, I will whip some white bucktail and a few strands of mylar with some red thread just behind the bill and use a Hog Farmer Spunk Shad and count it down or Livescope it to depth and work fast through a school. The Blade Minnow definitely likes to be worked slower. Those are just my two choices of baitfish imitating trailers....tons of things work well. Magnum white trick worms have done well for me too. Its something they are not used to seeing and has pulled the LM on heavy Spotted Bass waters like Lake Hartwell.

Rage Menace Jr. rigged verically has been a favorite as it is more lifelike and mimmicks fish tail action. Used to like Zako but it was a tad large/heavy and actually seemed to inhibit some of the action on the bladed jig. Really digging the Strike King Blade Minnow. Blade Minnow on a 3/8-1/2oz Scrounger head has been the freaking heat too! Green Pumpkin Pearl Blade Minnow with a dab of dye on the tail. I like orange or red.

I've used Norman Speed Clips on my treble hooked baits since they came out. Crankbaits are my confidence bait and what typically boats me the most; I throw them ALOT and change them often. I have only ever lost ONE lipless crank that happened to be an LV500. Slung it off on a hard cast, but quite certain I did not verify the clip was fill attached and closed. Actually retrieved it a dozen times before it sailed off and sunk into the abyss on a cast. As far as the split rings go, they are unnecessary when using a clip. Years ago, I watched the action of crankbaits underwater in a pool (long before waterproof video cameras existed) with and without speed clips and with/without split rings. I saw no change in action. I did notice that with no split ring and the use of a speed clip, the plug would dive to depth sooner and quicker. I am a huge advocate of the small Norman Speed Clip on trebled baits.

The Ned Bomb is my go to Ned Rig bait, but I fish it different than most. I used to fish the TRD and Ticklerz. They catch fish on the bottom, but as soon as the fish get their bellies out of the mud, the are active from 1-5' off the bottom. I see this on Livescope. Shaking a TRD in front of their face off the bottom did not interest them. The tail of the Ned Bomb creates a tail swimming action that gets bit when I suspend it just above them and twitch it ever so slightly. I do use a dab of super glue gel to keep it in place on a Swagger Tungsten head. Unconventional Ned technique, but Livescope shows me how to adapt to their behavior. I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching them crush it at 40'! Ive been fishing for 40 years....never would I know to do the above if it were not for Livescope. One of my new favorite baits to use on a 1/5 Ned head is a Zoom 4" Dead Ringer and I cut the curl off the tail and die it orange. I have caught fish from 5' to 50' directly under the boat. They crush that thing!!! And those little #1 hooks are magical!

Absolutely love the Flirt 4.95 & 6.95. Flirt 4.95 is my go to for drop shotting on an Owner 1/0 Cover Shot hook. Works well nose hooking on a #2 Owner Sniper Finesse, but line twist is pretty bad and its not weedless. Flirt 6.95 works great on a shaky head and on a Neko rig. Their colors are phenomenal as well.

The majority of my drop shot fishing is using 10# fluoro. Line strength has a lot to do with hook up ratio. The lighter the line, the lighter the hook. With 10# test, I have an aggressive hookset using a Medium Light action 6'10" to 7' rod. For nose hooking baits, I use the Owner Sniper Finesse #2 and for a weedless application, I use either a #1 or 1/0 Owner Cover Shot hook. I lose very few fish and catch pretty large spots. For the lakes I fish in the South, I have seen little to no difference using 10# or 6# so I stick with 10# as the hook up to landing ratio is very high. For lighter line, I do prefer the Gamakatsu Aaron Martens G Finesse Drop Shot hook in a #1 and only nose hook. My bait of choice for nose hooking is the Zman 4.2" Trick Shotz or Finesse Shad. They are durable and last and they float and have a great dead stick action. For my weedless bait, I only use the Reaction Innovation Flirt Work 4.95 in a few key colors that I have confidence in. I used to be dead set against drop shotting, but when I started catching the numbers I have been and often hooking spots of substantial size in 10-60' of water, I now keep 3 spinning rods rigged up. Just a few weeks ago, I caught 69 spotted bass on Lake Hartwell in 6 hours. I have many days where I catch 20-30. 69 bass is the most I have caught in one day EVER. Best 5 went just shy of 18# with a kicker 5# LM. Dropshotting gets it done on the lakes I fish. Granted I still prefer to power fish whenever possible.

Yes. Those were made in Texas. I have several. Have had them for 20 years. Still use them and like them

I was using just regular 8# and 10# red label. Broke off a good bit with the 8#. Hardly ever with the 10#. 10# Gold seems to be as strong as 10# but at 8# diameter. I am now making the switch to straight 8# Tatsu. Really liking the straight FC on a 2000 size reel. The Tatsu seems to be as strlng as the 10# red label, but very supple and impressive low memory.

I run two drop shot rigs; one with straight 8# Tatsu and the other with 15# Suffix 832 and 8 or 10# leader. I catch twice the fish on the Tatsu than the braid to leader. I get far less line twist with Tatsu than braid. I have no loss of sensitivity with Tatsu. Rods are both G. Loomis GLX 822's. One is an SYR and the other a DSR. If I could only have one, it would be rigged with straight FC. I REALLY like the Tatsu having come from Sniper.

I have several 2020 Zodias Rods. They are definitely rated much lighter than they are. Mediums feel like other Heavies. I have 7'2" MH and H casting and they have little to no bend. Just got a 7'2" Light and its what other Mediums are. Love the rods though. I have a 7' Light and Medium Light spinning. Both are perfect for the intended use. I had a Medium and returned it as it was too stiff. For contrast to G. Loomis, the 7' Zodias Light is slightly heavier than the E6X 821SYR and the 7' Zodias Medium Light is just slightly heavier than the E6X 822SYR. I absolutely LOVE the 7' Medium Light.

I will say this....Garmin Livescope is worth 10 times the investment in what you pay. I've learned more about fishing in the past 3 months than I have in 20 years. Color/Contrast matters tremendously!!!! As does presentation and bait size. It will turn a bite off or on in a flat second. Just yesterday....on Lake Keowee in SC, I was dropshotting a Watermelon red flake worm in 25'. Saw fish checking it out. I was on two big schools feeding up on baitfish. I put a blue craw color on and boom, 3 fish back to back. They turned off again....still there, I see em on Livescope (and I know they are bass). Switched to Morning Dawn.....Boom! 4 more. Did that for 3 hours on the SAME SPOT. Kept changing til the sun got overhead and Iiterally followed that same school to 40'. They would not touch a drop shot at 40', but they destroyed my vertical jigged blade bait. Big spotted bass too! Tried crankbaits in some schools suspended on deep creek ledges at 18-25'. They were reacting to my shad colored Berkley Dredger 20.5, but wouldnt commit. Had several follow it to within feet of the boat. Visibility here is 8-10'. Changed to green craw color and they started eating. Watching fish react to top water is insane. I throw various top water baits over deep schools. They are ALWAYS interested to come up to about 5' below the surface and return. Calling fish up from the depths is REAL. You know what gets bit when they wont commit to topwater? A Fluke.....a poor little innocent noiseless fluke! Yep, they come up from 25' to eat a Fluke. Subleties make the difference! When all they see are baits that make noise, they tend to go after the noiseless ones. Livescope is a game changer if you wanna learn bass behavior.....and CATCH MORE FISH.

I have always been a MB Vision guy. Have a small fortune invested in my jerkbait box. With that said, I now buy the Jackall Rerange, Rerange MR and Squirrel. They have surpassed my Visions in every way at half the cost.

Found that Palmetto exclusive on their website. Had no idea Palmetto State Armory was getting into fishing tackle. They produce it in the entire Strike King lineup. https://palmettostatearmory.com/accessories/fishing.html Thanks for that info. Gonna order a few.

Where can one find this tackle store with that color? I live on Hartwell and fish it regularly.

I have been a die hard MegaBass Vision guy and have a large box full of them. Recently, I acquired a Jackall Rerange. Caught ALOT of fish on it. Then I bought the Garmin LiveScope (Panoptix) and what I was able to learn was game changing. I can now verify the depth of my bait. So for crankbaits and jerkbaits, that became enlightening. And best of all, I could feed the fish how they wanted to be fed. I could alter my lure, presentation, color, etc and find what/how they wanted it. I have caught fish on the Vision 110+2 before but nothing like the standard or +1. On LiveScope, they just don't react to the +2 like they do the +1. Color being equal, the fish will come up further to eat the 110 +1 which gets down to about 6-7' on 8# test fluoro. I can get to 10' if I throw it on 8# braid on my spinning rod. Plus I can cast it about 30' further and stay in the zone a bit longer and give me more distance to get to the target depth. I learned that out of curiosity. I had a spinning rod spooled up with Suffix 832 and new it was like 2# equivalent so wanted to see what the ultra thin line would do so I chunked it out there on one of my spinning outfits; a G. Loomis E6x 822SYR (6'10" Mag Medium). That thing flew FOREVERRRRR! Needles to say, I have started throwing my jerkbaits on my spinning rod and the action is actually perfect whereas I used a 6'8" Medium ExFast baitcaster rod before with 8# Fluro. Anyway, the Rerange throws even further, than the Vision and has a different trigger effect on bass. Watching fish react on LiveScope is game changing. They tell you so much in real time. I bought the Rerange MR and a Squirrel also. Both have caught many of fish. I have always liked the LuckyCraft Staysee Pointer 90 for my deep presentations as it would easily hit 10' on 8# Fluoro with minimal effort and the spotted bass where I am liked the smaller profile. The Jackall Squirrel is like the Staysee and gets to about 9' with ease. Watching fish shoot up from the depths to attack a jerkbait on your screen is exciting. Keeping them on those itty bitty thin hooks is nail biting! Livescope has changed my fishing forever now! Best investment I have ever made in fishing equipment! Working top water over fish has been very enlightening as well. I can't see the lure on top, but I can certainly see the fish react to the bait and presentation. I can quickly tell you if they want it fast, slow or dead in the water and what kind of sound they prefer. I found some fish suspended in treetops. Trees were in 60' of water. Tree tops were about 12-13' below the surface. I threw crankbaits, lipless, swimbaits various topwaters and finally found them crushing a Strike King 2.5 Wake ripped over head. They ALL came out of the treetop....AT ONCE!. Talk about firing up a school. I was almost about to write them off as Crappie and leave. Several times they would come out of the tree to about 4-5' below the surface and linger under the bait but never commit. That 2.5 Wake ticked them the heck off! Thinking it was the sound as it was unique and could be heard a good ways from the boat. None the less, we caught them there for an hour straight, almost back to back until they dispersed into the trees. Anyway, I typed all that to say, the Jackall Rerange, Rerange MR and Squirrel have REALLY gotten the fish's attention where I am in Georgia. Plus, they cast a freaking mile on spinning gear. While I won't throw out my Vision's, any new ones I buy will most likely be from Jackall. Jerkbaits are one of those baits that I never threw much of. With the intel from Livescope, its game on now for every lure as I throw something at fish that I know are 100% there until they bite.

Have used all of the ones mentioned for years. Recently tried the Berkley Highjacker 100 and LOVE that thing! Easy to walk and great to work fast or slow.

I'd have to say I'd take a spinning rod rigged up with a small swimbait. Specifically my G. Loomis E6x 6'10" SYR(love that action) with a Johnny Morris Platinum 3000 series reel. I love a 2.8 Keitech or 3.5 Easy Shiner in Alewife color on a 1/4oz. Dirty Jigs Guppy head or 1/8oz Megabass Okashira screw head. I throw it on straight 8# white Suffix 832 braid. I can cast that little thing a country mile and I have caught every species of fish that swims on it across the country. I have caught my PB smallie on it too; 5lb. 4 oz. (Morning Dawn Keitech 2.8) Extremely versatile lure that I can cover water rather quickly with and target the entire water column.

IMX 906 is a great rod, but far in excess of $200. I love mine and it was worth every penny, but also really enjoy my $110 St. Croix Bass-X 7'2" Medium-Heavy/Moderate. I throw my faster/tighter wobbling deep cranks on it and keep the 906 for throwing my wide wobbling deep summer cranks where the action of the plug is more difficult to detect those swipes since it is more sensitive. Both cast a mile since they are usually throwing a heavy plug.