Kenny Yi

I'll second this and add the Shiner color from Reaction Innovations, mostly for the Skinny Dipper

Find EWG ned heads, they're great for areas with lots of hangups.

my favorite is when I spend the night before game-planning, only to find that every single condition I could think of was different than what I expected, forcing me to re-tie everything I brought.

Anything that is truly finesse; drop shot, shaky head, tubes, even inline spinners. I'm decent at the wacky rig now, but that doesn't mean much to me since a child can use it. Crankbaits; I'm a bank beater so it's nearly impossible at some of my spots, guaranteed to lose all of them, not worth my low budget. Fishing rocks/rip-rap; Same situation as the crankbait, keep losing baits. I don't like dragging baits like football jigs and carolina rigs on the bottom, either.

I always bring every type of jig with me in my bag, just in case, but the ones that I use the most are finesse, swim, and bladed. I don't normally go past 3/8 for those styles (the swim jig is a 5/16). That being said, an arkie/casting jig and a ballhead jig are probably the most versatile, imo.

black strands with blue flake and a couple strands of blue on the belly, that's for every type of jig for clearer water, any green pumpkin with dark horizontal stripes that mimic a craw

I cannot STAND leftover fishing line anywhere. I will always see a leftover styrofoam container with live worms in any public park. Without fail... ? Taking one small step closer to the water to land a fish and sinking 3 feet into the mud. I HATE cleaning off mud. Seeing a great spot on the other side of the water, only to find out that to get to that spot one needs to walk 2 miles around the creek. Lastly, snagging a bait in a tree. Not because I snag it, what makes me mad is if the knot breaks and the lure falls - in slow motion - into the water, right freaking in front of me.

Try it! Seems find to me. So much of fishing is doing something and deciding whether it was good or bad.

X2 I like to skip finesse jigs under docks or laydowns. I've been liking the 3/8 Buckeye Ballin Out Jig with a BPS 3.5 River Bug recently. It has a round head, but still skips great (heck, it was made by GMAN so ofc it skips great).

Yes. Lol on a more serious note, Brian Latimer made a drop shot video awhile back and said he uses both Zman stickbaits (sometimes wacky rigged) and Ned baits (also sometimes wacky rigged) for that exact purpose.

Flashy and loud: Spinnerbaits, Buzzbaits, Chatterbaits. I am no bass behavior expert, but i would guess the cloudy sky and the water's distorted surface from the rain help the bass feel comfortable, which would lead them to a feeding mode.

X2. Had these small brand 4/0 ewg hooks that were the exact same size and thickness as a Lazer Sharp 3/0 Superline ewg. Now I hold the hook up to the bait to make sure.

Today, I tried out the reel with chatters and spinnerbaits with both blade types and combinations. My final thought is that it wasn't very comfortable. I guess I like to have a faster pace for moving baits and it was the added fatigue of trying to keep that speed with such a low ratio that led me to dislike it for those situations. However, the reel is of good quality with an aluminum frame, casts pretty smooth, and has dual braking, so it will definitely stay in my backup bag for tournaments, should the right situation show. Thanks for the help, glad to have found a place for the reel!

If your availability is from 3 till sundown, then fish from 3 till sundown!

I also think the knife point of the Trokar hook looks really cool ?. Whether it actually leads to better hooksets, who knows...

It's funny cuz I do think that I am a speed retriever, despite using high gear ratios. I definitely think a 5.2 will help by letting me do fast retrieves with less IPT, along with increased torque for those high resistance baits Thanks guys!

Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon DSG combos that are under $100 (Lews American hero, Lews Carbon Fire) Reaction Innovations soft plastics - they simply get bit!

I used to use VMCs until every plastic keeper starting breaking and chipping. Now I use Trokar, typically 4/0

Had this jig in the old tackle box for years now. The trailer is a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, so don't mind that. The head design is very unique, it has eyes and the front part is flat. There appears to be rubber strands that mimic a flared skirt, they are glued onto the jig. The skirt band has loops that seem to be for rattles. Also, anyone else use a chartreuse skirted jig like this? I've tried using it before, never got bit.

Not sure what to use it for. I hardly fish offshore, so deep cranking is out of the question. I could see using it for slow rolling chatterbaits, but not much else. I'm a 7 speed guy, so I'm wondering if there's a bait or presentation that would benefit from a much slower gear ratio. It's a really nice reel and I don't want it to sit in the cave for months.

For chatters, I use a GYBC Zako as a trailer, sometimes I'll use a paddletail. Best swimbait would probably be your Keitechs, but I have liked the RI Skinny Dipper. For swim jigs, I don't really use paddles unless I really want to slow down, I'll use a menace Grub or Z craw jr most often, Skinny Dipper has produced also. As far as price, those all fall in the $5-$6 range, but they last long. In short, my favorite soft swimbait is a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper.

One time, as a kid, I was fishing on a tiny dock next to the lake house I was staying at, barely one foot of water. Light rod, bread bait, and tiny hook for pan fish, hammered them for hours. Then suddenly, the entire school of pan fish darted away from my bait. I sat there confused for ten seconds, wondering what I did wrong... then a 6 pound channel cat swoops in and chokes the bread and runs off! Was able to hook him with millimeters of skin and landed the fish.

Just wondering if there are anglers who do flip their baits... every single angler/video/forum says "flipping and pitching", like they're synonymous and used as equivalents. However, I have yet to see a single person actually "flip" their bait when fishing (pulling the line between the reel and the first line guide to create a close quarters pitch), they only pitch the bait (myself included). Maybe it's different elsewhere, but I've only ever needed to pitch since I can pitch pretty well regardless of how close I am to the cover. Not to mention there are "flipping rods/jigs/rigs", only cementing my curiosity as to who is genuinely flipping.

I see people who use a C-rig with a jig as the weight

Same, i prefer creature baits over worms