softwateronly

Not for less than 295. scott

I lost about 20mins after my post. Good luck my friend.... scott

Dangerously opened aliexpress and there's a few zillion tw sv g options right at the $200 mark again. Help! scott

My take for cold water is I want a jerk that gets down 1/2-2/3rds of the bottom depth, 10-12' flat a 5-7' diver, 15-20 fow I like a 10-12' diver. I also have to anchor to properly fish a jerk, whether that's a spot lock or old school anchor and line, I don't want to impart action at all until I hit the slack line. The extremes do best for me, no movement to highly erratic darts and dives. The wind is always a challenge, and for me I'm willing to always place my boat to throw with the wind. Cross wind just kills the action as my braid on the surface and floro underwater gets blown or pushed by the current, interrupting my dead still to dart and dive. And into the wind on most days just eats too much into the distance. I carry various small swivels and add them to my front hook hanger to weight a vision 110 jr. For larger jerkbaits, the nishine outer weight system is nice, but somewhat more expensive as lead wire is way more cost effective. Casting distance is super important to me as well. I get almost all of my fish on the furthest 1/3rd of the cast, probably has to do with very clear water. Throwing with the wind helps me a lot, as does having multiple combos for different sized baits to get the distance I need. Vision 110 jr+1's do best for me on a MC Days360 610M/RF and larger, heavier jerks, like the nishine erie darter 115MD, do best for me on a PA 6'11M+/F. These 2 jerkbaits account for 3/4 of all the jerkbait fish I'll catch in a year. I guess it's a long winded version of saying, try anchoring up wind of where they are before you buy anything new. scott

I prefer the alien abduction method at night, bright led headlamp right in the eyeball. In the morning, none of the other fish will believe it was real and neither will that one scott

@txchaser I'm with you. Mid strolling is a slow mo scrounger presentation imo. I like having both rigged up, search for active fish with the scrounger and follow up with the jighead minnow. The scottsboro softbill finesse scrounger is fantastic for the smaller presentations. scott

Thanks! Just an absolute pig who's body is brutalized. That's the most beautiful ugly fish to me. scott

@Bluebasser86 Congrats!! That's a showing! Air temps in the mid 30's, got out there for a couple hours in the clean water of a wind protected marina in NW indiana and was sticking them one after the other till the sun popped out. Terrible pics incoming and still no scale, but landed what certainly is over 5lb and my pb. All in all, about 18-20 in 3hrs. scott couple chunks to start... A real nice one... bonus brown?... my pb....

That sounds like a perfect morning! scott

This was a revelation to me a few years back. Because of the highly skilled anglers on br; I changed up my approach at night and caught many more and larger bass. A swim jig/paddle tail, grass jig/beaver, and large t-rigged worm are my biggest and best players now. I never gave the bass enough credit to find and eat without or limited vision. scott

Here is an interview with the grass piece lure maker. He talks about trailer angle. scott

This has been my favorite....a fast solid tip with the backbone to control bigger fish. Abu Garcia Salty Stage Kurodai 7'3MLS/BF Casts 1.5-20g https://north-one.jp/products/0036282110861?_pos=1&_sid=4d56d90da&_ss=r scott

I certainly don't have the record as @A-Jay does, but Zona and KVD are good friends, fish the same water together, and complete opposite in their jerkbait retrieves. My bass catching retrieve is the aggressive slack line hit more similar to kvd. I want the bait to be dead still, instantly roll, dart, flash and dive, then dead stop again. All in all, my bait is traveling just a few to six inches per hit. This also catches cold water bass where I fish. Highly erratic but slow enough to give them time to slowly rise up to inspect, then when they are close enough the next jerk makes them bite, often hooking themselves and me not knowing unless the line jumps or I go to hit again and there's weight. I'm also gonna follow the A-Jay/Zona model and mix it in. You need every advantage. My point is put in the time, you'll find it. It's a great technique in cold water and often the best way to catch em. My rule of thumb is to pick a bait running depth about half way down. If you're fishing 12' fow a jerk that gets down to 5-7' is usually best, 20' fow a +1 style should get you to 8-12' fow. For me, cold water needs a true suspend or an ever so slow sink, like 1' every 5 seconds. Slow float isn't very effective for me below 55. I throw pe 1.5 to 20-30' of 10lb sniper. I think light floro is an advantage for both action and depth. Random thought; a large net and good pliers are almost a must, you're gonna eventually be landing a 35"+ northern with a face full of teeth and trebles. scott

I use 10lb maxima ultragreen for more than a few years as leader and have been happy. No unforced breaks. I can't say it's the best, but I can say it's high quality. scott

My favorite places to fish on my small natural lake have a large variety in structure/cover in a small geographical area. I often camp out and work over all these options from multiple angles, depths, speeds, and baits. I'll catch fire on the first real break from 4-8' and wear them out till it dies, then often the outside weedline in 15-20' can catch fire. Then I can struggle to find a bite in either type location either here or over there in another proven area. So was I on a pattern or was there a bite window? The more time that goes by, the more I think I timed a bite window because I believe these locations I'm referring to always have bass. So I have no idea how to disentangle a pattern from a bite window on a lake I have been on for over a decade. I make educated guesses on what type of locations should be best, look for activity, and start there. Then it turns into everyone's favorite clash song; should I stay or should I go? scott