Fat Ika

Zoom mag finesse, nice! For years, that was the only plastic I threw. So much confidence. Now it's also my wife's confidence bait too. Doesn't matter what conditions, she wants her watermelon red.

I'm grateful for all the gear and we'll see if 2022 experiences call for any changes. @CrashVector FYI - I definitely miss my 98' Symetre. Had it stolen with almost all gear in 2001. Spinning: Powell Endurance 7'2" Composite / 2010 Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 - 10# Braid - 8 # Copoly - Most jerkbaits, poppers, and small/balsa cranks. Dobyns Champion 792SF / Daiwa Legalis LT 3000 - 10# Braid - Various leaders - Float n Fly, Hair Jig, Spybait with 4000 Vanford straight flouro if the Powell Composite is not available. Dobyns Champion 762SF /Vanford 5000 - 8 - 10 # Flouro - 2.8 - 3" swimbaits with max 1/8 oz jigheads St. Croix Legend Elite 7'6" Med / Fuego LT 3000 - 15# Braid - 8-10 # Copoly : Shakeyheads, light texas & free rigs, Dropshots without exposed hooks, lighter tube dragging, heavy neds/EWG neds, light wacky/neko Dobyns Xtasy DRX 752SF Med Lt / Vanford 3000 - 15# Braid - 6-8# Copoly: Ned, exposed hook drop shot Casting: Dobyns Champion DC 765CB / Steez A - 12-16 # Flouro - Deep Cranks Dobyns Champion DC 735CB GLASS / Tatula Elite - 12 - 17 # Copoly - Bladed Jigs, Spinnerbaits, Lipless, some Squarebills Phenix Composite X 7' Medium / Tatula Elite 10-15# Copoly - Most Squarebills Phenix Feather 7'1" Med/Hvy / Aldebaran MGL - 8 - 12 # Flouro - 5/8 oz plus jerkbaits Dobyns Champion Extreme DX 742C SH / Steez SV TW - 8 - 10 # Flouro - 2.8 - 3.3 swimbaits with 3/16 oz plus jigheads, wacky/neko rigs, shakeyheads, light/moderate t-rigs/free rigs Dobyns Champion Extreme DX 744C FH / 2021 Zillion SV TW - 14 - 16 # Flouro - Heavy t-rigs/free rigs/jika rigs, some football/flipping jigs, some swim jigs Expride 7'6" Med/Hvy / 2021 Antares MGL DC - 14 - 16 # Flouro - Minus 1 oz Glides, heavy football jigs, heavy goby tube heads ALX Enox BMJ 7'2" Med Hvy / Curado DC - 40# Braid - sometimes leaders - Big topwater, frogs, some flipping & swim jigs, heavier cover t-rig flipping/punching

Agreed - Finesse cranks on spinning braid - leader with a composite spinning rod. Aside from that, straight nylon line on all baitcasting cranks. @Smallies Water temp & different braid types/sizes will effect buoyancy of braid......In my personal experience it floats or slow floats. I don't think going with thin braid is going to get you better depth than a proper straight flouro setup, but maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, in most situations, there is no way of avoiding the line management issues with thin braid on a baitcaster. For me line management issues outweigh any other advantages.

@gimruis He sawm off, but I'm not sure if that was conscious motor cortex or just a dead fish with some brain stem activity left before he puttered out. Who knows. I was gonna put him out of his misery, but wanted to give him a fighting chance. If that happens to me, just bop me between the eyes and put me out of my misery, ok?!

Gotcha - Ew. Is that some gold flake in their? Hook me up?! lol

Gotcha. What kind of hair jig and technique? In some part of the water column or bottom contact?

@ATA From your text communication, it sounds like your sharing your desire to increase your spinning rig numbers while winter bank fishing. Not sure if you're looking for others thoughts or just sharing your experience. If looking for advice, I guess me personally, I find no lost efficiency with 3 max setups if I lack experience with the body of water/time of year/situation, but I already know the structure and potential conditions I'm prepared for that day. I'd probably have a hard bait setup, ned setup, & drop shot setup. Like others mentioned, 1 setup will definitely increase your efficiency, especially when your more experienced with a given situation.

Nice @Bassbum1016 New to cold water smallmouth. What's your hair setup, how are you fishing it, and what structure are you fishing it around? Thanks.

Powell Endurance Spinning 7’2” Med composite. I’m 5’9”. 7’2” allows me to still maintain my preferred jerkbait technique positioning, maximize distance with length and moderate action, max length to catch up to sluggish strikes in cold water, and keeps fish pinned. I use braid to leader until air temp increases for straight 8# flouro line management. Even with line conditioner plus high quality flouro, I do not find the line management optimal in colder air temps. I’m short as ****. I never understood the short rod deal for me personally………especially with a spinning rod, since I cannot impart a true/neutral vertical isolated wrist action with a spinning setup.

Largemouth - GP Fat Ika t-rigged with a 1/16 oz unpegged bullet Smallmouth - 1/8 oz Drop Shotting a 2.5 inch tube GP/Purple Largemouth - GP Fat Ika t-rigged with a 1/16 oz unpegged bullet Smallmouth - 1/8 oz Drop Shotting a 2.5 inch tube GP/Purple

Warmouth on a jackhammer. Can't find the pic. Pretty funny Crappie - 4.3 keitech owner beast hook Channel Cat - 2.8 keitech on a ballhead. The most eventful was a muskie I did not land ,but tried snatching a largie. Bass hit jerkbait......immediately after the bass hit jerkbait, I heard a weird underwater sound and was simultaneously slacked lined. Fought an estimated 40" muskie for a bit. At boat side, muskie saw me and let go of the largie. Here's the carnage.

Yeah. IMO the spinnerbait has never gone out of style. I feel like it's just a forced/false talking point for various fishing industry mediums to fill time & content with. 2021 PB Smallie - Dragging a 3" tube on a goby tube jighead in Late Oct. 2021 PB Largie - Sight fishing a stubborn largie in September. That fish finally slipped up on a neko rigged Gajo ned stick.

Agreed. Strong, but it's fun to take a sniff. We've got the great outdoors, the thrill every time we feel a bite, and we can take sniff of the Geecrack. Covid depression killer. They're oval and flat. Side t-rigging is the most common. Durability is exceptional for the supple action you get. Multiple times, I've been able to catch mutliple fish on a single bait, throw it back in the pack, pull it back out for round 2 / take a nice sniff of the Geecrack, and catch more fish another day.

I've done that as well. Works for other live streaming apps/media, but with BPT live streams, it's very unstable.

It may depend on what you're using them for. The tatulas and elites are fine rods. I have no experience with Kage or Rebellion. If you're just looking for all-purpose spinning, tatulas are great. I have not has issues with components. Guides seem to hold up to leader knots after a couple years of fishing for me. Most models are comfortable for my preferences. I love the 6'6" Med tatula. I have others that are longer but they not as balanced and comfortable for me, but I personally enjoy fishing with the 6'6" tatula just as much as my 7'5" Med Lt - Dobyns Xtasy.

Looking forward to these 2 the most. Stage One – Lake D’Arbonne, Caney Creek Reservoir, Bussey Brake -West Monroe, Louisiana Feb. 5-10 Stage Six – Cayuga Lake - Union Springs, New York Aug. 6-11 Anybody ever figure out how to airplay BPT streams to TV with stability? Or have a TV with an OS that you can download the MLF app to? With Sony - Google OS I can never get a stable stream with airplay, even when using casting enhancing apps............nor can I find a TV with an OS that allows you to download the MLF live streaming app.

@Columbia Craw Good to hear they successfully removed. I sincerely hope you don't have to deal with that again. Best wishes.

That's a mighty fine assortment. Those Bellows Gills are nice. Pretty durable and smelly. I had a few amazing days with the 3.8 Bellows Gill this past fall. Just t-rigged plus a 1/32 oz non-pegged bullet in grass. On days with super mild breezes in pretty clear water, they wanted it pumped hard through the grass. It was fun cuz I've never experienced such a consistent reaction bite in calm clear waters. I could fish it fast with single to triple pumps/strokes and small pauses on the fall. I've never felt largemouth strikes that vicious on a soft plastic. They'd smash it immediately after a rip and were instantly hooked every time. Felt similar to a bama shaking or stroking swim jig bite.

@AJ Hauser In the winter, I fish the Des Plaines in Lake County for pike. There's largies & smallies in there, but the bass population is not great. I just pitch hike along the river and pitch jerkbaits in eddies. There's definitely enough d-bags to go around in lake county that get wound up when fishing private waters. If you have not tried. you could also try the Dupage river for smallies in the Plainfield and Naperville area.....I can't seem to find them in the winter.

? Whoa! Thanks for sharing. Thanks for your experience Chris!

Hahaha! I'm pretty good at staring at the water and catching air with the dumb look on my face. I'll be pretty disappointed if I can't capitalize on this technique with the strength of the dumb mouthface. I let you know how it goes in March & April up here.

I have never done this technique, but plan on focusing on this after ice-out. I will mostly be shore fishing generally clear water ponds and lakes in northern Illinois with various bream/perch and northern minnow species as the primary forage. 1. Can you use traditional rubber bobber stops just as efficiently as string stops? 2. Are marabou hair jigs as effective as hair jigs that are marketed specifically for the float n fly? 3. Based on your experience, what jig colors for this type of forage in natural clear water lakes in various light intensity conditions? 4. Any custom jig recommendations are welcome 5. Any tips for northern largemouth vs smallmouth I've researched a lot of the internet resources including this site of course, so personalized responses are appreciated.......... and only a link if it's something you feel is a useful rare find. Thank You

The ALX toadface is one to consider. I don't frog anymore due to some physical issues, but I loved it that rod for frogging and spinnerbaiting/swimjigging in a pinch. For me, it was the perfect balance of enough backbone for most heavy cover, lightweight/balanced for comfortable frog working, nice tip for casting and hookups. I would call ALX Rods/Alex and he'll talk shop with you.

Sounds like you're in my neck of the woods! After ice-out in ponds up here: jerkbaits, subtle/small cranks worked extremely slow, working very slow and deadsticking dropshot.............finesse/football jig, ned, and blade bait if you can find hard bottom. If your from Chicagoland, you've probably experienced this already.............if you want faster paced fishing before the ice is off most lakes, first week of March opener, go to Braidwood cooling lake and fish for some dumb 50 degree plus fish that haven't seen an obnoxious reaction bait in 6 months.

Sounds like a juicy winter spot if they'll bite. I'll meet ya and we'll try different techniques and see what happens. What part of the Fox river? ?