softwateronly

Me too, in some ways more than the fish though. With the weed growth in my lake, I do much better in warm weather with the magnum fintech title shot getting through the maze on the bottom. I've always been intrigued by this one from them too... https://hogfarmerbaits.com/collections/hair-jigs/products/stand-up-hair-jig?variant=44138030530863 scott

I throw braid to leader and versions of those baits. I'm usually 50lb pp slick 8 to 20lb sunline fc 100. Sometimes I retie 20lb ultra green mono to help keep the rats up in the water column. I haven't broken off much or ever, but I'm not in the *** or timber. Imo, braid to leader shines most on the beast hook swimmers, I get bit so many times at the end of my longest casts that I really rely on the no stretch of braid mainline. scott

I've used these for worms and swimbaits... https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Hog_Farmer_Baits_Stand_Up_Swimbait_Head/descpage-HSU.html scott

The last 10 days or so, it’s been a 1/2oz and 3/4oz jig, 5/16oz Trig mag zoom worm, and 1/8oz free rig menace grub, all on casting gear. I’ve spent time trying to force feed a magdraft, swinghead, swim jig, buzz bait and frog to limited success. The preacher jig is starting to find bites, probably gonna add that to the force feed rotation till it hits. scott

I've done pretty good with these, but they might not fit your criteria. https://hogfarmerbaits.com/products/uptons-customs-reaper scott

Are these borrow pits big enough for ramps/roads for the excavators/trucks? If they are, maybe time to work a jig, big worm, flutter spoon, preacher jig, or soft swimbait in the 15-30’ depth on those ramps. You can also throw larger swim baits, hair jigs, and spoons at the color line, where the water turns from lighter to darker. You can get suspended fish that ambush up there and in my experience they tend to be bigger. Then nighttime, low light, or bad weather might bring extra bigguns in shallow. These ideas would be where I’d start and I would throw larger profiles. scott

I'm with @Pat Brown and @waymont gambler ez's, d-walkers, and xzone swammers are my favorites. The beast coast miyagi has been a great nighttime bait this year and so far surprisingly durable. scott

10" bull worm couple weeks ago in MI. Fish a big worm anywhere you think there's big fish. Caught a 7" bass today on a 11" keitech mad wag long worm, so don't stress about the size of fish. I usually start throwing worms post spawn and continue till fall turnover. scott

It most certainly works, definitely worth a try. scott

I'm fishing the Ima glide with reel chops more than rod twitches. Am I missing out? It seems to be working, but also isn't a top producer for me. scott

Certainly has a different kick, but that kick and roll are highly effective. River2Sea d-walker is the longest lasting swimmer I have ever used. I've lost way more (and the hook/jig) to pike then bass ever tearing them up. Worth trying $15 worth, because it'll probably last you into next year. I also caught my pb on it, so definitely biased. Gambler EZ's also seem to last twice as long as keitechs and catch just as much for me. scott

I watched the morning sunrise illuminate the furthest SW corner of my apartment in order to ensure that the Chicago grid is indeed laid out in the cardinal directions. Later around sunset, I caught no fish on the shore of lake michigan. Everything in between and after were varying degrees of fine. scott

Swimmon on a finesse jig or even free rigged has been good to me this year, and is great on chatterbaits. On a jig, the tails subtly float and wave like the skirt. I'm also starting to fall in love with the 3.8" jackall ishad for finesse jigs, neds, and minimax. I love finding multiple uses for my trailers. scott

I mix baits in fewer bags for bank fishing. Color bleed does happen. Otherwise I've encountered no other ill effects. I gravitate toward 3 main color groups, and mix my plastics based on color not profile. scott

I don't know, one day I hope to get a peacock, but I'm not sure that SM out fight LM through all water temps. In general, I think SM are more acrobatic, pull more drag, and are pound for pound more relentless, but big LM in high 60's to mid 70's water temps have made me a fool countless times. I'm gonna go try to catch some smallies later today, I hope they read this. scott

Something that worked for me is breaking a body of water down to a manageable chunk that I could work over 4-5 times in a row, and continually come back to as I expanded patterns and learned more. I fish small lakes compared to most on here, like 75 acres and 325 acres, so I can only guess how daunting figuring out some big water can be. I picked a section that had the geography and depth to support the spawn and the closest deep water to that area and spent time on it. Over a short period of time I learned there can be a lot of dead water. Over a longer period of time, I learned that the water I thought was dead is in fact holding fish but they are not always active. Spending time on this smaller chunk of water over years has given me insights into the ebbs and flows of seasons, water temps, water levels, fishing pressure, fish migration, and even bite windows. If you have electronics, finding the shad would be my priority. If you don't, structure, cover, and bird watching would guide me the most. scott

I've seen fish rooting around silty bottoms in clear water. They make a decent disturbance for sure. So that makes me think it's an actual attractant for the bass. Maybe your c-rig bait needs to get a bit off the bottom, fluke rigged where the nose helps it glide up on the pull, or shorten your leader so it's not as much in the large dispersed cloud, but closer to the actual muck raking. Slow steady movement seems better than long pauses. Possible a slight upgrade in the size of your bait can help it get found too. Powershot/tokyo rig, stroking a jig or cracking a tube are things I would try as well. scott

I guess I do a version of this naturally, or learned it so long ago that I forgot I read it. I like throwing bigger soft swimbaits when I first arrive, hoping for bites but definitely checking for followers. If I get followed, I usually follow up with a slower, deeper, smaller, more erratic swim jig retrieve. Without followers, but I'm confident I have the right place, I like to drag a bulky slow falling jig. I've always attributed it to trying to determine where in the water column the bass are hunting and how active they are to chase down their food. I fish a lot of deeper weedlines on chokepoints on my small lake, and I get my spots buzzed by ignorant boaters all the time on busy and even empty days. (There is no stopping certain people of a certain age taking their 3mph pontoon cruise on the exact route that they want.) I definitely have found success firing right into their wake, landing as close and as safely as possible to the prop wash. Getting fish this way is cathartic to the whole experience and has kept me from not enjoying my time out on the water. scott

Here's what I have; jdm for all the reels 6'10 expride M/MF - zillion 10lb pp; I throw mostly jerks, blade baits, and topwater with this 6'9 MC Days M/F - alphas 800S 10lb pp; jigs, paddle tails, neds, free rigs, jerks, blade baits 7'1 Feather ML/F - alphas air PE.8; neds, jig worms, micro t-rigs/free rigs The air is new to me this spring, I've never thrown jerks on it. The 800S/Days set up is versatile enough for me to go down to @ 1/8oz total. If I ever get a true bfs rod, I'd probably throw the air on it and get another alphas 800S for the ML feather if the alphas stays under $200 on digitaka. I think the air would be too little reel for some of the heavier jerk baits I have success with. Maybe check out just getting a lightweight spool for your zillion, you can swap in and out based on what you're doing? scott

I've fallen in love with it. MC Days 69M/F has been my GL smallie rod. 1/4oz ballhead jig is a killer on the rocky shores. I've also done 3/8oz ballhead jigs and free rigs in weedy inland lakes, the reel sweep hookset becomes more important w/ t-rigs and heavier weed guards. Blade baits and jerkbaits in colder water. I also have a couple M+ rods that definitely do better in heavier cover. I fish braid to leader which probably helps with hooksets. scott

I have both, currently I have 10lb power pro on each, both on M casting rods, one F and the other MF. I think the 800S outcasts the Zillion at 3/16oz, but seems similar at 1/4oz. The Alphas Air is a definite improvement for light bait casting. Hope that helps. scott These weights are approx total weights, I'm not weighing the rigs. 1/8oz free rigs, jigs, and or neds get used on both setups.

This is the exact type of lake I spend a majority of my time fishing. I throw a lot of jigs, t-rigs, title shots (as a shakeyhead), beast hook swimbaits, mojo rigs, and have just discovered how effective the free rig is. I like to play around with as light of a weight as I can do (sits on top) and as heavy of a weight as my rod will fish (punches in/out aggressively). The right rod matters a lot to me in this, I usually like to get slightly hung up, then use my rod to shake, bounce, slither my way out of it all while under control, seems to draw strikes. Other times, I like to be more aggressive and pop it pretty hard so that I'm getting up off the bottom quickly and free fall back down. Most of the time, I combine these retrieves and change the ratios based on how the fish react. scott Yesterday's 3/16oz free rig rage mag menace popped up and 1/2oz Zorro booza jig w/ d-bomb slowly worked through. Both on the deep side of a break in 13-16'

Can we do tasty, mostly affordable whiskey and **** beer everyday? Bulleit and an Old Style, Michter's and a Hams, Mckenna and a High Life....I'm thirsty now scott

Most of the time I keep 2 swim jig setups on my deck, 5/16oz DJ swim jig w/ 4.5" paddle tail on a Expride 7'6 MH/MF and a 3/4oz DJ Cali swim jig w/ 5" paddle tail on a Conquest 904mbr, always braid, usually braid to leader. I feel like I can go over or through any cover on my water at any time. I like the longer rods for this technique and both these rods have the proper tip/backbone ratio for straight swimming or popping it off the bottom/cover. I also like the Dobyns 755/735 actions for this as well. scott

The 6'10M expride is a great rod for the fireworks jig. You should definitely try it before you get another, so you can find a different bait to buy a new combo for scott