softwateronly

Exactly, 131 South then jog a bit west before the border. scott

^^ This what I think too. scott

I'm a huge fan of Major Craft Days, they are by far the best bang for the buck I've come across. They come in right around $155, eva foam and split handle though if that's your buddy's deal breaker. The 6'9 MH/RF is probably what would be appropriate for a fan of the 783/mbr, but the 6'9M/F (2 piece only) is also a contender with a quicker tip to backbone feel. To me these sit just under 2018 poison adrena in terms of sensitivity but I like their actions just a tiny bit more. scott

@wolfe_ohara I'm sure special ordering is not an easy request for small shops, but I certainly appreciate when they work for their customers. If you're in SW MI, Clear H2O Tackle has a good selection and will order for you, they have for me in the past. scott

I haven't "dropped or punched" like that. I've been partial to throwing a 3/4oz swim jig, and slowly reeling and breaking through the wall of weeds along the bottom, very erratic short handle turns till bit or it loads up on the next patch of weeds. I've definitely run into an abnormally large bass population in 5x5 area doing this though. The kind when you can make the exact cast 7-10 times and get fish on most, often they are above average in size and it's the interesting breaks in 8-14' fow where I target. This is reliable for May and June, but starts to fade by the end of July on my lake. I'm getting to the time of year when a lot of bass seem to abandon structure and cover and hunt shad on large 20-30' deep flats. scott

I lean toward gp, black, blue, and purple with some brown thrown in there. But what doesn't catch for me is arky style heads. It's either a weed choked inland lake that demands a grass jig, or the broken concrete and rocks of lake michigan that demands ballheads or football heads. Admittedly I now don't throw them often but I can't remember the last time I caught a bass on an arky head. scott edit: my swim jigs are almost all crappie or alabama bream colored skirts.

I fish alone, (without ffs) own too many rigs, and spend a lot of time chasing schoolies this time of year. I almost always have a deep crank, scrounger, br fish, kastmaster spoon, little cleo, underspin, and a jighead minnow ready. That's 7 rigs ready for when they start busting the surface. Then I have a worm rod, jig rod, and swim jig set up not to mention a couple daily random choices when I'm attacking structure/cover waiting for them to show themselves out in the open. That's at least 10, usually more; I just embrace the deck chaos because I see no other way. scott

Those are microwave guides right? scott

Only if opening 42 tabs on chrome and leaving them open for 4 days before I click pay counts. scott

Straight shanked hooks do not texspose well because of the angle, leaving the point out and up willing to catch on the cover; more than likely that was the hook being used when you saw it. The og way was to bury it in the side of the worm so it could either go thru the top or pop out the side to make sure you got a good hookset. scott

That is a great morning! Way to find them when everything changed yet again. I'm lucky to be able to get on water with LM and SM, but neither of my areas are better than 95/5 in ratios of either numbers or size. Your pond and your skills are really fun to watch. scott

Not a master in anything, but have dedicated time to a wide variety of baits on my home lake: Things I'm working on and increasing my success rate; neds, jig worms, and deep cranks Things that are slipping away from me and sometimes not finding success even though I've had it in the past; a-rigs, all topwater, and glides scott

WTH!!!!! scott

@Swamp Girl That might be nothing or it could forever open your eyes to something your fish do that you didn't know about. I found a couple spots like that on my lake that can hold bass without "interesting" structure or cover and it changed my approach. I'd check that drop-off more often and especially in early spring / late fall if your shallow bass disappear. scott

If you wanna go fancy, the karashi is a blast. scott

I think most of the time, bass will eat any opportunistic profile when feeding, from bugs to crawfish to bait to even other smaller bass. Looking up or down to feed being the most important consideration. But I have found times when they are so keyed in on a specific prey, that size, color, and profile have to be matched to be considered. scott

Mike can also count me as a happy customer. Fast, fair, and detailed, will definitely send my reels to him again! scott

@D Stranahan those hooks stick em for me. I can't remember one coming unbuttoned since I switched to using them for big worms. You should give them a try and see if that's the same for you. scott

Here's the description from the hookuptackle website... The developmental concept for the “Spearhead Ryuki 70S and 80S” were to capture the middle to large size main-stream rivers targeting various species of trout by casting down-cross. The semi-long lip to grip the water and flat-side body with low center of gravity fixed weight settings have equipped the lure with a high level of swimming performance in the strong flow of the main stream. Its action initiation is prompt and can handle consecutive twitching through the rod work. Some lures loose the casting comfortability through the increased body size of the lure, but by controlling the height of the body, we have managed to realize the top of the range castability. Ryuki 70S will show its true strength against the Seema in the main-stream, Red spotted masu trout and the very selective Cherry trout. It has awesome swim balance in order to tackle the intricate flow of the stream while tracing the bottom to middle range depth. Length: 2.75 inch Weight: 1/3 oz Depth: 2-3 ft. (Sinking) scott

Spoons, tailspins, hairjigs, jighead minnow(including on the bottom) and scroungers for me but they're always relating to bait when I've had success. scott

I'm like @Choporoz @Pat Brown about not wanting to do it, but sometimes in crystal clear smallie waters it's definitely part of being effective. So instead of just dead sticking, I stay active by "bed fishing." I just barely tap the rod, bounce between taught and slack, shake, etc. Anything to stay engaged. I'll drag just an inch or two, repeat the process, but then I'll break out with a quick snap/jerk/double hop. Sometimes the opposites in the same retrieve are the way to go. scott

I drop the tip, reel into weight and sweep, lift and continue reeling. If the weight isn't there, I kill it and dead stick for as long as I can stand it. All of it seems to happen just a little slower on the initial reeling than how I treat a jig bite. The gammy g-finesse hybrid hookup ratio has been stellar since I switched to it. scott

I volunteer to be first in line. Just tell me where and when. scott

mustad ultrapoint 6/0 1/4oz. I shake 7" minnows with it. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?start=0&count=20&searchtext=mustad+ultrapoint rangerollers - https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Round_Head_XL_Jighead/descpage-ORHJH.html @Darth-Baiter, if you want an almost ball head, scrounger without the bill does the trick. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Hog_Farmer_Baits_HogWobblers_2pk/descpage-HTH.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Scottsboro_Tackle_Co_Softbill_Sniper_Head_20_2pk/descpage-SCTF.html stand up heads are good too... https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Hog_Farmer_Baits_Stand_Up_Swimbait_Head/descpage-HSU.html scott @Tackleholic I forgot I saw these recently..... https://scottsborotacklecompany.com/products/scottsboro-tackle-co-magnum-hellfire-swimbait-head

I throw them on and off all the time. Soft swimmers dominate the warmer months for me; but I still like throwing the chad shad at night. Glides tend to mostly be colder water baits for me, but I might be doing it wrong. This is all in SW MI. scott PS - @10,000 lakes Bassin reminded me about the B5 and it's been great getting bites out in the open water now that the shad fry are getting corralled.