NeroXyn

I am currently intrigued for trying glidebait/big swimbait. Out of all sources, S-Waver 168 seems to standout and the color are Lite Trout or Bluegill color. I may not want to commit buying two colors at the same time since I don't want to spend too much for branching out without gaining confidence first. Between those two, which one you think is the best starter? Context: 99% of the time bank and pond fisherman; the 1% is actually going to a big reservoir (Castaic Lake specifically) Some ponds, like Echo Park LA, actually have both trout and bluegill, the former being stocked regularly. Most of the time, the water clarity is fairly stained to clear - 9" to 3 ft visibility - but since for some miracles, LA was raining hard during the last 2 weeks, causing some ponds to be straight muddy. Water depth: 1-5 ft. Thanks.

Wouldn't hard cover go under the bait, rather than over the top? the Funny thing is all my chatterbaits are Z-man weedless, but I have yet found the scenario where a normal chatterbait would actually get stuck. I was too conservative when buying one because of my experience for snagging crankbait in a branchless pond for no reason (I presume the hooks often get stuck in between cracks). My current favorite pond is muddy due to unusual rain season, which leads me thinking chatterbait is a good idea. It is just the fallen branches and whatever debris that is on the flooded surface that kind of scares me for using a normal chatterbait like jackhammer, the twice the price of my weedless chatterbait.

I was wondering why there weren't many variants for weedless chatterbait considering they are good around grass (not directly in grass, i believe - that would be swim jigs' job). There is literally only one thread before talking about this but I am yet convinced with the reasoning. With the chatterbait scenes all clouded by Jackhammer, I thought it would be a good idea if they came up with the weedless version just like z-man crosseyez and project-z weedless. Is the use for weed guard on chatterbaits irrelevant, maybe because how the blade still tends to drag the whole forest of grass if it comes through? Thx.

I assume that is for bottom fishing? How deep does bass usually suspend in the lake during winter? Considering the lake has a drastically steep structure, how do I know If I am not fishing on 200+ ft water, hovering in the middle?

Wow, what a long way this thread has become. Thanks guys! Maybe I am just way too stubborn for finesse fishing, especially when my sources of knowledge have both extremes. My very first bass was caught on a squarebill in the middle of a city park in LA city and have fallen in love with the power technique since. After I posted this thread and saw several replies, I dropped by the lake and speed cranked using DD crankbait (Tactical DD), hoping to force a reaction strike, and still managed to catch one. I never thought the lake has many steep ledges leading straight to deep water and I now see why mr @WRB and many of you suggested finesse approach such as drop shot (vertical fishing) or scrounger and others since you can slowly fish in deeper water. Looking forward visiting again this month.

Thank you so much for the thorough answers! I am sorry If I had you answering it mouthful.

Hi, I am looking forward to fishing at Castaic Lake, especially the Upper lake, and I have several questions: As for these day during late summer, is it viable to bank fishing at the upper lake? I heard the lake is very, very shallow right now. How much depth should I expect from the Bank (maybe from near the dam point)? How does it affect to the lure selection? Speaking of lure, what exactly types of lure can you suggest? I am mainly a (squarebill) crankbait guy, so I am hoping fishing squarebills are still viable. I keep seeing videos and videos people suggesting a drop shot but I can't stand stay still and wait; I had bought several drop shot setups several times and still never once accomplished anything. The other finesse alternative I also keep seeing is split shot rig (by mr. WRB), which is the closest finesse technique I will ever try without boring myself. How worth is it to rent a boat? Which point of the lake should I focus on on the boat? Do you really need to be at the center of the lake with 100+ ft. water depth? Do you need to rent it on the spot or reserve it? Do they usually ask for fishing license? What about the Lower Lake? What is the water level should I expect fishing from the bank? Any grass or timbers? Which sides/what spots do you usually recommend? I realize I am asking a lot of questions, so no need to answer all of them. I just want to get the general idea before planning going there since I rarely spare half a day on the water. Thank you very much!

@WRB Is there any difference between mojo, split, and slip shot? All of them seems to revolve the same concept: putting weight in between the reel and the bait. Carolina rig seems similar, too, except with extra components. Thx.

Magic Johnson Park, LA It's been a while since I posted an update for this pond (June-ish). Pond Profile: - It is a size of 5 basketball courts, not sure the exact acre. - the deepest depth seems to reach 8 ft., which the shoreline angled mostly 30 degree delevation. - The shores are made of stacked-stones, so there are gaps between the stack and I managed to snag 3 of my squarebills regardless how good they are being snag less on grass and timbers. - Visibility is random, ranging from 8"-2 ft. to 3-5 ft.; Stained green, algae'd. Memo: Been fishing 90% of the time using squarebills. I used to work on BX Brat 03 Silver (dives to 3 ft.) since the grass was still up high during early summer. Ever since I fished there first time, none of other fishermen seems to fish any types of crankbait. Majority of urban people (at least in LA) seems to like dropshot, ned rigs, anything that is chill, contrary to my huge preference in power fishing, although I saw some spinnerbaits, too. I tried also BX big brat 06 Pearl Shiner, which is a silent bait. It still catches as consistently as any other 1.5 squarebills, but the drag on that bait is way too strong compared to KVD 2.5. Very recently, I figured fish aren't eating much (both during early morning and mid-afternoon) when using silent squarebills, so I experimented with R2S Biggie Poppa Abalone Shad, and speed-crank it just like what TacticalBassin does with their crankbaits - it worked wonderfully. This is also when I noticed regardless the 3-4 ft. visibility in the morning or 0-2 ft. visibility in the afternoon, fish still wants natural color better (chrome-ish in the afternoon, chrome-ghost in the morning). It proved my hypothesis that: (1) if a pond is pressured enough, bold color cranks aren't as effective especially the bold-colored rattling baits. (2) Rattling baits work great when using natural color all the time, because, in a sense, you can surprise fish that way while the rattle is anticipated from 4 ft. radius. To be honest, the only bold color I've tried are white-based (i.e. Sexy Shad, Chartreuse Sexy Shad). I am looking forward trying chartreuse-based color such as black back sexy shad, hopefully it won't disattract fish from far or at all.

I have never had issue with round bends, personally. In one of their fall lipless fishing, they fish lipless in the morning, and that is when a school of bass is chasing baitfish. In their fishing context, those bass are fired up. Round bend may have a better hook up ratio in this case, but since the bass is so hyped they can shake off the hook easily, thus the advantage of EWG. I never have had such situation, since I am doomed fishing from the bank in a city pond lmao.

Aren't we talking about treble hooks, though?

Funny you say that, because TacticalBassin, ones of the prestigious fishermen seems to adore EWG more as well and he doesn't have his own treble hooks brand. Does that mean they oversell Gamakatsu EWG or Owner ST-35? It is more unlikely. In my experience, EWG Treble is harder to get hooked when the fish is very shy and especially in pressured water like major park ponds (where I always bank fish on). However, once it gets bit, the hookset is so violent, it can rip the fish mouth skin by 1/4" - it won't let go as easily. I believe that is why it is more favored when hooking a bigger fish. Bigger fish have stronger skin and the ewg hooks won't bend as easily (or at least will put much more effort making the tip angle outward). Round bend is other way around - More hooksets, less guaranteed on sticking on the fish due to the hook angle. With that said, there are treble hooks that are kind of hybrids, which looks like a round bend hook but the tip angle is little bit angled inward. KVD 2x short shank 1x strong is one example.

^^^ That is super interesting. I've got KVD 1.5s and the weight ball seems to be very low too. Do balsa baits such as Rapala DT series have the weight not at the bottom?

I don't think mine is any #X strong hooks. It doesn't feel much heavier that the original hooks either. That is the thing. KVD 1.5 is 3/8 oz. and so is BX Brat. I really think the question boils down whether or not it is due to the balsa core. Both baits I installed with the same hook replacements.

Hi, everyone. I was bank fishing on the other day using BX Brat 03. Right out of the box, I changed the hooks from #6 to #4 since it looks more appropriate to me and It was the size that TacticalBassin seems to recommend for the size. On the water surface however, I noticed that the squarebill was slowly sinking, instead of floating, so I was wondering if it was caused by the fact upsizing the hook size really offset the buoyancy force, or is it because of the balsa core of the bait? It never happens to my KVD 1.5s, but I guess they are all plastics and have bigger body profile (thus more surface tension). I never caught a fish using the original hooks, because I was afraid the hook wasn't wide enough to hook the fish mouth, and I am not bothering buying a specific short-shank #6 hooks only for one type of crankbait. I am starting to become anxious once I am taking the lures to more woody areas as the hooks won't allow the them to float, potentially causing snags. Thanks.

I'd rather fish a bowling-sized bass, if you don't mind lmao. I already tried swim jigs, but I thought I can still do better with Chatterbait since I gained my confidence in it. Also, I never like slow-moving bait like a Texas-rig or dropshot, which are more effective methods.

ain't that a relevant answer.

What'd you if this happens, especially when it's all grass? Do you still reel it in while dragging grass or immediately reel it back and remove the bits and throw them back? My confusion lies when people say if the blade ever stops moving, that might be fish so you immediately make a strike. When I get the blade stopped, most of the time I know it is because of grass, and I can't differentiate it. When I move the rod little bit to detect whether it is a bite, It is already too late to strike before the fish spits it out. TacticalBassin, TylerReelFishing, BassResource in general, you name it. What size do you usually use? I only have 3/8 oz with a paddle tail, making it around 5/6 oz. Sometimes if I reel it too fast after the bait hits the water, it just splashes on the water surface. But if I slow down a bit, it already swims through the weed jungle, so I am not sure size the the problem.

I am pretty sure they are many variant of answers for this, so I'll go straight to my questions. People say that ideally chatterbait works around grass, although it catches more weeds and stuffs (not slime surprisingly) more often than spinnerbait. What I am thinking is how do you detect bite if the blade stops working because you are dragging all those weeds and stuffs? For context; I caught my first bass using a bluegill chatterbait on Echo Park, CA. The urban lake is very pressured, even at 5:45 AM, and has max. reachable depth of 8 ft. from the bank. The grass/weed rises from the bottom up to 5 ft., so effectively the grass line is about 3-4 ft. from the surface. The edges are covered with lily pads and lotus and gated to prevent growing further to the main water body. The water color is dark blue (might be treated due to vegetation).

Interesting that you mentioned Scrounger jig, because it looks like a chatterbait with a fixed blade attached to the head.

That's a good thought! I didn't even think of that. Thanks!

Is it also because normally people would just steady retrieve with crankbaits?

So I have done some research on deep diving crankbaits (although I am wholly a bank fisherman using squarebills). Most people would agree that for deep diving should use a low speed gear (something 5.4:1 to 6.4:1), but I saw videos from TacticalBassin on YouTube explaining different type of retrieve which they called "Speed Cranking". Their setup in term of reel is entirely the opposite than the general wisdom. They would use high speed gear such as 8+:1 ratio, and they work the crankbait like "burn, burn, pause. Burn, burn, pause." I was wondering what you guys generally think about that, and if anyone actually try using that technique? I believe they say it should work on any type of crankbaits, because the main idea is to trigger the core reaction strike rather than feeding. One of the examples As for squarebills.

It's my first ever post here Fishing time: 06/20/2021 (~06:10 AM - 07:50 AM) Notes: Fish Caught: 1 Largemouth Bass (on Rapala BX Brat 03 Silver) Rod Setup: KastKing Blackhawk II MH/F 7'1" Baitcaster, 7.2:1 Kastking Royale Legend GT, 12-lb mono Trilene, a snap. Lure used: Rapala BX Brat 03 Silver, KVD 1.5 Silent Squarebill Gizzard Shad, Super Spot 1/2oz Foxy Shad. Lake Size: 105-Acre combine both north and south lake, but the (renovated) southern lake is currently not allowed for fishing. Depth: (Northern Lake) 2-5 ft., the deepest point: 7-8 ft. (I believe). Clarity: (Northern Lake) 3-5 ft. water clarity, (Southern Lake) 0-2 ft. Chocolate Milk. Personal Verdict: - Hella lot of slime reaching up to 3ft. - Since there is no branches causing snags, I might want to try medium-diving crank to get the depth quicker for burn and stall retrieve. - As for now, Lipless seems to can't keep up with the slime, and the fish is more lethargic than the first time I fished there (Jan '21). - Silent is way to go. *I screwed up the date in the content. I should be on June 17 not 20