softwateronly

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

!!!!! Just like you predicted a few posts ago! Congrats and well deserved! scott

Not to step on @FishTax's toes, but I find less is more with the shakeyhead. I drag and semi-slack line bounce/shake and pause most frequently. I often practice in shallow water to see how hard I can hit it to get the feel for it. The lightest head I can get away with and still feel in control also seems to help. scott

I love fishing cold water that isn't frozen. Most of my best days for quality have been with water temps lower than 55. Historically, mid-November and the first 2 weeks of April are the 4 weeks I want to be on the water as much as possible. Any open water in October, December, and March can really deliver too, January and February are rarely open but I'll still catch if the lid does comes off. scott

I have the previous gen 7'6MH/MF. My first casting rod that I really loved. It has enough power to do what you're asking in terms of bait weights, just a question of cover. I fish braid to leader and tend to lean toward MF/RF actions in preference. My guess is either is gonna be good for you, but the MH will put more options in play because the XH can fill in on the heaviest cover. scott edit: completely forgot about the 7'7H/MF, the MH is faster but the 7'7H has more power. A really unique and versatile rod. Sorry if I might be muddying the waters.

Looks great! I've never fished one, but in the hookup video I remember that trailer angle, upwards? 5-10degrees, was key to the action. You finding the same thing? scott

Get some lighter weights too. The 7" rolls easily on a 7g ballhead and it still gets down there quick enough for me. If you like eyes, Picasso makes a 90 degree head with a 5/0 and a 2x gammy hook. scott

A free rigged 3-4" death adder, a very compact grass jig, and a weightless osp dolive stick/spinuts were my goto finesse baits last year. I agree with @gim and @A-Jay that I usually prefer to seek out the active bass on more active presentations or just get a 10-12" worm and slowly work the best cover and go for trying to trigger quality fish. scott

I tend to buy/try new to me lures for specific instances. My hit rate is pretty decent, but I do have a tendency to forget my initial intentions if my black friday purchase is for the dead of summer. Last year I dipped into the poop baits on BF and missed lots of opportunities to learn it's nuances as I started throwing it too late in the season, imo. On the other hand, if a new to me bait hits at the time and location I expect it to, I'll keep it tied on and try to learn and expand on my ways of presenting it. Jighead minnows have done that for me last year. I expected to target mid column suspended bass, and did so successfully. But pushing it; I've found in my water that it's actually in relation to the bottom when it's most successful. Tracing the bottom within a foot or two has way out produced mid column. Spoons were cold water bottom hopping baits for me until I chased schoolies in the dead of summer ripping and fluttering mid column out over 40' fow. Having a small, home lake is the bait monkeys best friend; i'm always looking for things that are different. This way I can keep my junk fishing of 10-12 rods rigged up, searching for a type of "active that day" bass. So yes; the bait monkey is certainly winning. scott

Probably my biggest smallie bag ever and definitely my best shore bound, city bass day. Ended up with only 8 total, but 7 were definitely 3+lbs with 2 that might have exceeded my 20" 5lber from the late 80's. I'll obviously never know. but I'm fine with that. The great lakes finesse juvy craw, 4" berkely power drip in perch, and a 1/2oz spro bucktail jig getting the 2 biggest. The biggest fish were pretty beat up with sores/wounds, must have been a tough winter! scott

6th sense quake? I have a few suspending ones that have had their days, but I should be able to do better. scott

I find it amazing how much variance there is in all of this. I'm the complete opposite, I've had a 705cb and a 706cb and can't stand that bend for jerkbaits. I feel like I get so many less bites when the rod loads/unloads so slowly on a cb blank, the jerk bait just doesn't dance the same compared to a crisper blank. This is most obvious to me in cold water, which is also when I throw jerkbaits most frequently. I definitely agree with you that those actions on the dobyns cb rods are great for other treble hooked lures. The 15" expride handle isn't ideal for me with rain gear on, otherwise I don't notice with the way I palm the reel. scott

Yes, but seasonally sporadic. I feel like my successes have been driven by exploring and adding in larger, 6-8" and smaller 2-3" baits based on time of year. scott

I'm only a couple years in to modern 2-piece rods; but I very much agree with @ABU is overpriced. Newer rod building tech has tremendously closed the gap between 1 piece and multi piece rods compared to my youth. I have numerous major craft and abu garcia salt and fresh water rods that are indistinguishable in sensitivity and action. scott

The 2 rods I have that can do all you're asking are MC Days 360 610M/RF and the Expride 6'10M/MF. We're close to each other if you wanna try either before you decide. scott

I don't know, and have never caught a spotted bass, but I'd keep both on hand and start with these premises. Fish are aggressive or water clarity is down; start with the easy shiner. Water is cold, or visibility is 15 plus feet, start with the shad impact. Might be worth shaking the impact a bit as well to get some extra tail action, I prefer ballheads, but a ned should work too. Either way, the fish will tell you what they want and you might find the opposite is true. The bait monkey in me says 4" in both is worth having too, as profile seems more important than action way too often. scott

Not for me. I can't even find one place to shop. scott

Poison Adrena 7'2H/F is my big fluke rod, but I don't like the action on a beast hook, it's too keeled for erratic darting. And a pa 6'11M+ is my big worm rod w/ gammy g-finesse hybrid hooks. I prefer the shorter length for tip up cover navigating. With braid to leader, I haven't had issues with hook ups. scott

The ice came off late thursday, and I got the canoe in for friday and saturday. Ended up with 25ish bass, a really big and pregnant perch, and a few snagged shad over the 2 days, most came from a wind pounded shoreline. The shallow, dark dirty water was probably a few degrees warmer and held a lot of 4" gizzard shad. I had 3 over 4lbs by my estimation. Caught them on a blade bait, underspin, jighead minnow, hair jig, Duel shad crank, and a TB DD crank. This is probably the best I've ever done the day after ice out. scott