Darth-Baiter

it's nice to be able to peek at the past and realize the present. i still think MB sold a BUNCH of rods despite the price hike last year. Those Levantes are still sold out quite often. dont worry folks. the price will drop soon...like right after i buy a few. it is how my world rolls. i'll let you know when i take delivery so you can go cruise the new website pricing.

frog or topwater is definately up there.

@king fisher every time i catch a bass on a crank, i tell myself, "wow..i cant believe that worked!" i got a few this weekend. and yes, it was fun as heck. but sadly, i cant seem to figure out a crank consistently.

i do them all. well, i do lots of them. but i know my favorite way to catch a bass. i do realize it is almost an impossiblity for forum member of any forum to name a single favorite, so i wont try. hahah..:D my single favorite: is bottom contact bass fishing. i love it low and slow. that slow, meticulous, methodical fishing where i am imagining my bait creeping and hopping along the bottom. i love interpreting the bottom contour, pretending i can understand the tactile feedback better than i actually can. then i love when my bait stops (!). i freeze. hold tension. "is it a snag?" "can it be a bass?"..it's like playing chicken at that point. i take a long pause to feel if i can tell if it is pulling back. "nope..snag." proceed. they arent all the typical TAP TAP TAP of a bass sucking in the bait. sometimes it is nothing, but the line moving to the side. jigs, light texas rigs, etc. i love leaning back into the rod to drive the hook point home. i lean hard if it is a heavy hook jig, but for the most part i trend towards needle like hooks. thinner. i like precision casting to cover. lighter bait rigs. i am saying this because i have been thinking about it somewhat. with respect to my next rod purchases. thanks to this forum, i am better educated. i used to just buy rods and use them for whatever techique. drives my boat friend nuts. he laughs when i lose fish. (i'm that guy that hooked a good bass on a Fury 703, with 12lb flouro, and a FROG - it didnt end in my favor) i am gonna buy a couple of GREAT rods to start. may as well rank my favorite techiques so i can systematically buy a few good rods. i'm gonna buy the MegaBass X-bites for my single favorite fishing method. hope my wife doenst notice. hahah. them maybe the FMJ for the heavier bottom contact stuff...or a Windbuster by Christmas. (hey, i have to buy myself something!) i think knowing my favorite way to fish is really helping me save money. yup. i said it. no willy nilly shotgun approach to buying gear like i use to. what is your Single favorite techinque..and is it asscociated with your best rod/reel combo? or no.

waking up, "duck hunting early". i hate it. second is the bad manners on the lake.

i have a cornicopia of hooks. and sadly my hook philosophy has changed. i'll start with the easy ones that seem consistent. the drop shot hook. i have lots of Owner Downshot offshot hooks that are awesome. but i ONLY tex-rig my baits. no nose hooks. i dont ned-rig. closest thing to a fluke is my skinny dippers and i use a 4/0 screw lock. okay. here is where i am changing. i used the Oh-shannasey hook and the Owner Haymaker with affection. but i changed!! i am now discovering longer bait life with the straight shank hooks!! i use the ReBarb hooks with the mono bait keepers. Owner makes a version as well with a slightly heavier wire hook, but the bait keeper is further down the shank. both look awesome. i am so tired of repositioning my bait on that bendy hook keeper on the offset hooks. i plan on using them up, but it is over for me, until i change again

this is what perplexes me most. we all have shown up fishing all full of hope and wonder. only to think a few hours later, maybe golf isnt such a bad idea. then there is that dude that says, "you should have seen it yesterday.." i've seen it with my own eyes. epic fishing, so good i rush back the next day or the following only to find the fish have moved on. nowhere near where they were, or eating what they were eating. we even say things like, "they didnt start biting until 9:30, we have some time" some fisheries like the very tidal California Delta; i can wrap my feeble mind around that easily. one spot can change in hours. days - understandable. fishing is a puzzle, but it is a puzzle where the image changes. hahah.. i am going back to my clear mountain lake, maybe friday. i will kayak to the same spot, throw the same bait at the same stumps. but i know better. and i cant hit a golf ball either.

I was going to ask this.

i'm gonna try free-rigging the Dep Bull Flat or OSP gill thing. i think it will look like a glider in the water. those darn sinkers are elusive! i tried spreading out one of the regular pinch type sinkers and that was unwise. it bet it would fray my line.

i have NOT tried it yet. why? i honestly cannot find the sinkers locally. on my bait orders, i always forget to buy sinkers. but yesterday, while i killed it on the Tx-rig; i think i understand. i was using a 1/8 tungsten bullet. it's relatively tiny. i was in super clear water yesterday and i watched my bait bounce down a ridge. as i lift the rod, the bait dances up and drops immediately at slack line. the bait and sinker separates 1-3 inches max. i think there is too much material in the sinker and therefore more surface to surface contact between the tungsten and line. friction. i think the hoop of a dropshot sinker is much less friction which should allow them to separate more. i will hit the shop local to my office later this week and buy some. time to try the free rig. i think free rigging a big flat bait like a gill shape will allow some drfting of the bait. second thing..i believe we may need those rubber sinker pegs less than we think. especially on the lighter sinkers.

monday isnt so bad if basking in the afterglow of a good fishing day.

you could put a dead deer in a Nucanoe 12, i imagine. that thing carries a stated 650lbs if i remember correctly.

yesterday, i fished the clearest lake ever. i worked a jerkbait. a V-110. Elegy Bone. no bites, but i had the opportuntiy to watcht the bait in action. the tiniest jerk of the rod, slapping back slack line gets the bait to do this dance. it darts. it wobbles side to side in a twist. the water was so clear i could see it coming back from a ways off. i am not entirely sure i have been working it correctly. i think i over-jerk. i can get it to dart and wobble way slower, keeping it in the strick zone..and i should wait longer at the pauses.

i have the Owners. i should just give them away at this point. i dont use them at all. i just texas rig them now. pegged if i feel it would help, but usually not.

Which levante. The leviathan?

Zoom 6” GP. But it’s failed me all spring. Nothing. Last year it was insane how well they worked. Probably since I ran out and bought 8 bags. Boom. Jinxed myself.

Even 3” taken off the end makes the rod feel weird to me. It’s a goner if it happens to me.

Tell Dr John hi!

I couldn’t fish Saturday because my allergies were epic. I thought I had Covid! I didn’t, and my allergy med finally got the upper hand. I told myself, “okay D-B, set the alarm for 3:30 am; and if you feel fine - go!” I woke up before my alarm and my cough was kinda gone. My eyes were red, but I figured I don't understand? I got eye drops from doc anyways. I drove and drove and got to the ramp. It was empty. I paid my fees and launched kayak. I cross the lake and got one dink. I came back across, and my instinct was, “why did I leave?” I went back. Water was super clear. I could see the lake bottom 11 feet down. I just started casting far. It was dink-fest but I stayed with it. The occasional 3lb fish would bite. I fished and fished. At 9:30, the dinks left and nothing but 3’s and 4’s were there. It turned on. I was catching. A couple of fly fishing guys were also catching. One of them yells. ‘Looks like we’re invited to brunch!” It was so fun. The bass boat guys didn’t catch. I think the fish were wary of their boats in the clear water. Dunno. at noon, I called it. The dinks decimated my bait supply anyways. I got them on creatures, cranks…and one jig fish. I think I got 10 3-4’s and countless dinks. Lake was en fuego. As a bonus, I was surrounded with a herd of 200ish elk. It was stunning. And some bird of pray kept dive bombing fish around me. It looked like an eagle. I loved fishing solo today. No pressure of hoping my friends catch fish. It was nice making it all about myself. :D

I’ve never caught a catfish. My friends do all the time. my thing is Pike-minnow. I might get into a few tomorrow.

Killed it!!!

Don’t get all sciencey on us G.

more so on cloudy days, since the UV rays come thru clouds unscathed.

i fish like i am an arabian sheik. covered. my dermatologist is smoking hot..i dont want to disappoint her.

i cant stand sprays. i end up spraying my hands and them wiping my face. no thanks. my wife is in France now. word is she bought a bunch of non FDA approved stuff. she is Taiwanese and she stays white. she cakes on protection. she bought me some new stuff to try.