casts_by_fly

On the lighter end (plastic worms) I’m going to assume around 1/4-3/8 total bait. On the upper end, what’s a smaller swimbait to you? 6” magdraft at 1.25 oz?

I asked this question here about 2-3 years ago and got all the same answers above. After trying them all (and a few more), I came to the conclusion that Toxic is not only biased, he also knows what the heck he's talking about with the DShad (among other things). The basic profile and initial sink rate is pretty similar for most of them. But what really gets me on the dshad is that tail shimmy on the fall. The body drops just a little lower than the tail in the water and the tail just wiggles back and forth, especially with a lightly weighted hook. You can fish it weighted and fast just under the surface, weighted a slower a little deeper, or slow down low. My only gripe? I wish there was one in the same proportions but 1" longer for just a little bigger profile. Halyway between a dshad and a superfluke size.

@BassSteve When you're reeling in and not paying attention, are you keeping your thumb on the spool or your finger on the line ahead of the reel? That will bias the line lay quickly and you'll not realize it.

Lots of good advice above. I would echo most of it. Despite the conditions, remember that the fish still have to eat. Their metabolism is up since it is summer warm. They have to eat something at least once or twice a day. So getting out when they are eating, finding where they are, and putting a bait right in front of them are the keys. How you achieve those are up to you. If you're time on the water is already specified, then getting as many good casts in the right places is going to give you your best result. For me in muddy water (or algal bloom) I want vibration and thump. Big colorado blade on a white spinnerbait, vibrating jig with a 4" trailer, a squarebill with loud rattles. If the fish can only see 6-12" in the water then you need some other way for them to know your bait is there. Throwing a 3" ned rig might get bit if you put it on his nose, but man you have to be right on them. If you know the fish are holding in an area then sure. But if you're not sure where they are then you have to find them first and a 'thumper' bait will let you do more of that. And as noted, if the water has come up more than a couple feet, get up in it. It takes them a day or so of consistent high water to move up but once they do that single colorado in 2-3' of brushy high water is a winner.

@Smirak TW has the porcupine in stock. I just got two packs to try.

@AnonymousSoreMouther - this was my solution. I had added the rod holders before I added the 4-rod horizontal holder. Then I wasn’t using them, so I put one back in for the net.

@Scott F considering he’s fishing tournaments and losing 20+” of fish I’d say it matters to him.

I’ll never say no to a 4# fish. But give me the same conditions 2 or 3 years ago and it would have been a limit of them. I’ve done it a couple times there. This year though, I’m not sure. I don’t know I’ve ever see this many shad in this lake. And the algal bloom for the first half of this season was awful. I think there is just a TON of bait in this lake right now and they aren’t as keyed on the bluegill bite like they have in the past. And with as much bait as is around they can be selective about what and when they eat. I’ll figure them out again. They will settle into a rhythm again.

@AnonymousSoreMouther - not sure which kayak you’re in, but I too use the leverage. I used to have an autopilot and when I moved to the boat I kept the net. I have the bigger hoop leverage net. When I get in the boat (or when I was in the kayak) I always left it opened and ready. In the kayak I had it in the rear well over my right shoulder/side. I hold the rod in my left hand so just holing the rod in my left I’d twist to my right and the net was ready. I made sure there was nothing in the rear well that could get tangled in the first place. And I fished standing up, but would sit to net the fish. I still do half the time in the boat- I’ll sit on the drivers seat to get low to the water and slide the fish in.

I thought it was lined up to be a great morning. The lake had just cleared in the past 2 weeks. the bluegills are spawning by the hundreds. The shad are still spawning. A half moon that is out during the day making for a dark night. Went to my ’home’ lake that has always treated me so well the past few years but it’s really off this year so far. I made two laps of the lake for a total of one bass (and a pair of pickerel). I fished top, middle, bottom. Fast, slow. Power lures and finesse. Even threw an urchin for a while. About the only thing I didn’t do was break out the swimbait rod. Alas, 1 bass. But if you’re going to launch at 4 am to only catch one bass, at least make it a good one. 4#, ~20”

@scaleface - send them my way then. I did the same with some older frogs and I threw an urchin today for the first time. Can’t say I’m going to love it, but I can see the potential. Need to dig through the old frogs if there are some hooks to salvage since I only grabbed one today.

Much of the time, if fish are hitting moving baits at all, they will hit other moving baits. A crankbait, vibrating jig, spinnerbait and cover similar territory and depending on the cover you’re in one might be better than the others. If you’re catching a few fish but not like you’d expect, then a change in color or a change in specific bait can make a difference. I use this same logic for crankbaits as well as all the moving baits. Like MikeL said, I’ll vary the retrieve or location in the water column first before I change baits. Heck, you already have it tied it, so fish it’s different way for a bit.

You have spotlock, so that takes a lot of the movement out of it. Sharpen your hooks. Now go do it again.

@MassBass - they still offer hot mustard in some baits. The DT series have them. And “old school” is a pretty close approximation. Also, if the water has a little color, that’s what I’m throwing

I have the feather that frydog mentions (because he told me to buy it) and it is rated 1/4-5/8. A touch more moderate than I wanted but it’s a good rod to consider. I moved on to the Cara BFS 7’2” and that’s what I was looking for. They call it bfs but it isn’t. I can throw a true 1/16 oz on it with an aldebaran on it but mostly it stays rigged with a 4” piece of plastic and a 1/16-1/8 oz piece of lead (jig head minnow, light Texas rig, etc) as a spinning rod replacement.

You’re going to have to find what works for you in your waters. the base colors you’re getting are good in a lot of places. I some cases, you might find a standout color. My dad’s lake, the bass just work with a black grape in dirty water and pumpkinseed in clear. Yesterday I was doing nothing on green pumpkin variants but red shad got bit on the third bite in the same place (and caught a couple more later). Sometimes color doesn’t matter. Until it does. And the marker pens are a great option for a bank angler. A chartreuse or pink tip can be the thing they want. The most specific time I was throwing a cutoff from a GP senko on a Ned rig. I had painted the tail chartreuse with a market and they loved it. Being a senko, it lasted 5 or 6 fish before it was done. I put on another (sans tail) and couldn’t get bit. Tried a craw, other plastic, etc. Didn’t matter. Put on a 3” zman Ned and painted the tail chartreuse and they ate it. Clipped the tail off a senko and painted it chartreuse (while I fished the elaztech Ned), rigged it up later, and got bit. The tail mattered. Same cast for every fish (25 that night). Long story short, try different colors if you think you’re in the place the fish are but they aren’t biting. And if they are biting but not great, try other colors.

A true ML is starting into BFS territory. A “true” BFS rod is in the light or lighter range. I use quotes use to mean the origin of BFS. Right now in the market, BFS has expanded from where it started to getting into light bass applications that casting rods haven’t been before. That said, every rod is different and in the market right now there are options for everything. If you think about a medium being 1/4-5/8, then a ML is more 1/8-1/2. Every manufacturer is different, but that’s a nominal way to think about it. And there are a lot of manufacturers that are making casting rods in that realm now. I love my Cara BFS rod which is basically a 7’2” ML spinning rod build on casting gear rated 1/16-5/16 (but the spinning blank is 1/8-5/8). Great for all the things you mention. I have an aldebaran on it but for what I do I should swap one of my zillions onto it. Phenix has a couple rods in that range as do others. If you like throwing that 1/4 oz range a lot then why not?

Glenn’s video will be good. To put it in fly rod terms (I used to build a lot of fly rods, worked in a couple shops, and exclusively fly fished for a couple years)- action is the same. The faster the action, the less of the rod bends when casting. A true extra fast fly rod will primarily bend in the top 20% of the blank when casting. Casting off the tip would be the fly term. A slow or moderate action fly rod will bend down past the middle of the section. Think of a bamboo or fiberglass fly rod where a normal cast will get it flexed down past the middle ferrule. That’s how to think about action and it applies to bass rods also. In bass rods you don’t get the really slow actions- really a true moderate action is about as slow as you’ll see. For power, lite, medium, and heavy (with the in between ML/MH/XH versions). Medium and heavy cover most things in a casting rod. For what you are talking about, a true medium power with a fast action will have a light tip and not a ton of power under it. That will happily throw a shaky on light line and a quality reel.

If you're talking about a 1/8 head plus at least a 4" worm (ideally 6") then that puts you right at 1/4 oz total weight. As long as you have a rod with a light enough tip to handle it, one of the Daiwa SVTW spools (zillion, tatula) will handle that. With 12 lb mono, a zillion, and my lighter MH finesse jig I can throw a 4" unweighted fluke which is certainly lighter than what you're talking about. Plus that rod doesn't have as light a tip as I'd pick for your application. I think a spinning rod is a better all around choice for what you're doing, but if you want to make a baitcaster work then you don't need to go BFS for this one.

Experienced.

I guess you're just going to need to get a trolling motor for that predator... I joke, but I agree with you that the predator/sportsman series are really at their best with either motorization or some form of pedals for propulsion and a rudder. They are big, heavy, wide boats that are a pain to paddle. Even more strikingly for you since you know what it's like to paddle a light, sleek boat.

The bluegill spawn continuously. They will spawn every full moon until September (in the northern climates).

This time of year, bluegill are spawning and shallow. The bass are eating them. Ideally, I would be starting the morning where there are bluegill beds and in fact on Friday I will be doing something similar. That +/- 2 hour run around sunrise is when bass are pushed up shallow next to the bluegill beds. For me, that’s buzzbait territory, though if they aren’t willing to eat on top then a vibrating jig is maybe even a better choice. The morning summer bite is a thing so that’s where I’d focus my time. If the bottom around the timber is shallow and solid (or ideally sand/gravel) then that’s where I’d start unless I knew for certain there were bedding bluegills somewhere else.

@dwong snug to cover. They basically disappear from FFS which says either I'm in the wrong spot or they are tight enough to the cover to blend in. And given the size of the lakes I'm fishing I'm going with the latter. My own thinking is that on those days when they are truly negative for whatever reason, they are sinking into the cover they prefer the same way you'd cozy up under a blanket on the couch when there's a bad winter storm out. They will occasionally make a trip to the kitchen for a cookie or hot cup of coffee, but it takes a lot. Now if their wife brings them a piece of chocolate and a cup of coffee, and they don't have to move from the couch, then they will eat it of course.

I think tomorrow might be the trip. I reserve the right to change my mind once I get to the lake, but I’m going with the intention and setups to do it. Two spinning rods (neko, slipshot), a Texas rig, a floating worm setup, and a shaky. I even have a punch rig set up in the boat that I might just throw a trick worm on the back.