Tatsu Dave

Great footwear!! Oh and nice fish as well ?

Here in the north I fish spring to Sept. and then transition to hunting Oct. and Nov. Then enjoy a white Christmas till hard water hits, used to commerical smelt on the ice thru winter because the money was too good to pass up. Spring starts off with bass spawn and away we go. Used to live in mid atlantic state and have to say didn't like it near as much.

Thats when it made the news and became a danger to humans.

We have a winner!

Been on the water almost non-stop now and the bass are very predictable on wood of any kind, layovers-stickups-logs-and submerged stuff in shallow water. Not much still green now so they've moved, areas with rocky bottoms are killer w/ a crawfish plastic cast or trolled slowly along bottom. Yesterday lost count of overall bass catch....at least 40-50, best lure by far was a tequila sunrise ocho. With craws it remains the swimming craw tube in secret craw. Will be out again tomorrow bright and early for a long full day on the water. Good Fishing! Dave

Guess I'm with RW on this one, Been my main supplier for some time now and no complaints. Only problem was a JJ's dippin bottle showed up leaking and half empty, called and they said salvage what you can and sent me a new bottle that same day. Other than tatsu I find them price competitive and back to quick shipping. My time is way too important to me to spend time trying to save a little here and there.

Latest report the vegetation is dead or dying so the fish are locating off weedlines in deeper water. Took most of day to find them yesterday but trolling or casting craw lures in 8-12' got their attention and boated bass despite the high water levels. Water temps still hanging at 64 degrees so fall is coming on slower than normal up here. Good Fishing Dave

Discount is the best I've found for price so far. They ship fast also.

Lacquer Thinner

It won't take long either. Only one braided maker that stands on their color being longer lasting and reviews seem to bear this out with Fins and its only the black. A FC or mono leader or be of the mindset that bass really don't care.

Well I'll finish this thread up with final results for me in my style fishing, the abrasion resistance is dismal for me and showed me why I use tatsu. Fish knicking and nasty wood areas and rocks do a number on it pretty quick. Good line but not for me. Dave

Yeah back in after quick weigh and photo op, put back for someone else to catch. The golden goose flew the coop long ago ? Its unusual and cool but I'd trade in a minute for a 6lb+ green or brown one.

If you notice all of those pics have all the fins colored vs just the bottom half..... could be but I looked at those pics when we got home from catching it, and the fins and entire fish coloration caught my eye as different than this. No more of them seen and caught from what their saying means they are rather rare to study. If its xanthism its only effecting bottom 1/2 of fish. I'm sure I'll never know, if I catch it again we'll see if it changes. Dave

Thats what I believe, like I said in opening post, iodine in the crawfish are what we believe is responsible. I think he had a belly full of something when caught and some of the reddish crawfish particles were still in his mouth.

Well the two things yet to decide on is failure to sink with lighter weightless lures and abrasion resistance, where I fish I will truly find out how well it holds up to all types of abrasive conditions. Tomorrow will be another test day.........

Not really polluted at all, headwaters are spring fed and nothing but woods along its course. We only see fish like this in the fall, and usually they aren't as full colored as this one.

Fisherman up these parts believe that heavy crawfish feeding colors some bass this time of year. Iodine perhaps as well as soft mucky bottoms contribute to this effect. Caught this fish on Smallmouth alley as I call it where at least 7 out of 10 fish caught are SM, heavy crawfish population in about a 1/4 mile stretch. It was healthy weighed 3lb 3oz, and fought well, we took some pics and released back into water. Son caught a LM a couple hundred yards away that had a lighter yellow/gold belly also. Just thought everyone would like to see the beautiful color, not genetic just face and belly. We never catch them like this except in the fall it seems. Enjoy

Tried some out on a rig, 8# that tests at a lot more. It casts well, handles well on a small spinning reel and seems as hard to see as tatsu. Had to break off one time and it is darn strong, stretches a little more than FC but knots hold well and did I mention its real reasonable. Will be using it in the line-up till I decide if I want to go lighter like 6#, it has one thing I don't care for, it floats and I have always liked a sinking line for plastics. We'll see Dave

Not a Dave rig............just a plastics rig with swimbait hooks and spring keepers. Wow that is a lot to type........lets call it a plastics rig. You are maybe getting out there a "little" with rods.....just sayin' ?

Oh its alright! We just change with the new patterns and reset, I'm simply going to a lake close by and avoid the highwater, dead weeds, and new upper bank fishing in bushes. Right now however a cell of huge storms are nearly on top of us so a little more water to help with our "drought" conditions. Fish gotta eat, plain and simple.........I just have to work some productive waters that aren't so level effected like anything with river in its name right now. Thats what I do, adapt and overcome. If I wasn't on a tight time period left to fish I would just take a break but.......instead FISH HARDER! I'll be ready to pull out Friday for a change of pace, deep water and hopefully some big smashers waiting for my lures. If you guys wern't so far away you could go with me ?

Don't you love when a sunfish or crappie manages to choke down a stickbait and hook itself on a 3/0 EWG hook? Amazing, I fish the same plastic baits all year w/ just some color tuning now and again. Stickbaits - senkos/ochos/and true centers Crawfish imitators - rage tail craws/bugs/swimming craw tubes Worms - curly tail/speed tail/straight (finesse roboworm) colors change with time of year/water clarity/brightness of day/and what the fish prefer (most important)..........

Everything is set up in advance from line conditioner to JJ's, will adjust colors and style plastics with what the fish show me for the day. Carry 6 rods at this point w/ my sons 4 that he uses. 10 is all a boat our size can comfortably handle and transport. I only want to retie what gets bit off.........and replace plastics as they get mauled and tore up.

Just got done with my one spot for awhile, high water and junk floating so bad the fishing was terrible. Have these sometimes so gotta say it was a bad one. No pics just some dinks and a hammer handle pickerel to show for 6 hours ☹️ can't be all good or we would want a challenge.

Yesterday a swimming craw tube was all I could catch them on, terrible conditions w/ water 1 1/2' higher than last week, dead weed clumps 3-4' across and tons of algae floating everywhere. Water so dirty that visibility was about a foot, all I caught was 4 SM and one pickerel before the next front blew in. Craw imitators especially in tube form can be a day saver..........just ask me. Fish hard Dave

Thats it! I got 7 rods rigged for tomorrow and all plastic lures sticks-craws-worms-bugs-and wacky's......gonna be a good day to be on the water.