Drawdown

Weightless Texas rigged plastics when the bite was awful, fishing from the bank. Killed quite a few skunks that way.

Welcome, man!

Somehow that seems different. Those fish have eyes bugging out—mine seemed to have a little air pocket under the eyeball. It was hooked in the side of the mouth/jaw. I don’t suppose the hook might have somehow poked behind the eye, first to create such a bubble? May not be an answer other than “you see strange things when you’re fishing.”

infected popeye disease?

Caught this one on a farm pond this afternoon. Looks healthy except for the bubble. Anyone else seen this happen?

See, just like TNRiver46, I too don’t have this problem, but that’s exactly what I’d do. Take it to Bass Pro in Chattanooga to have a shot at living in the big tank.

Weightless Zoom trick worm fished so that it “glides.” Bet I would catch even more with a finesse worm. The thing is, it takes awhile to figure out the rod tip retrieve so that the worm’s action isn’t overly jerky, but rather smooth in the water. Glides along with a subtle swimming action. Case in point: I fished a pressured pond with low water today, and after an hour of naught but a missed strike, I got to a spot where I could see bluegill swimming by sunken logs. I cast beyond this traffic corridor, working the worm back to shore, and each time changing the rod tip pulse. To that end, don’t underestimate just watching by worm by the water’s edge; you’ll be shocked at how gently you have to work the rod tip to keep the worm traveling in a straight line, but with just the right subtle swim action. I wasn’t even thinking about getting a hit. But on the next cast, I both felt and saw the bass hammer it. Seems he was either cruising, or he was stationary and must have seen me present the same worm at least a half dozen times. He was close to 2lbs, could have been just barely shy.

If I had to pick one just for soft plastics, Zoom. If I had to pick one for both, Berkley.

Around dusk/dawn (or “crepuscular periods” for you sophisticates), do a weightless UV Speed CRAW as a topwater on a small (like 2/0 maximum) EWG.

How hard are y’all setting the hook to break 15lb fluoro? Goodness! Wouldn’t happen to be using a clinch knot or something?

I’ll be keeping my eyes fixed here for announcement of Curado K-fest at a variety of retailers with steep discounts. Need something to go on the Dobyns Sierra 703C I bought today for $70 at a local tackle shop.

I’d honestly go with a Neko or Shakeyhead with a worm that’ll stick its tail up or have neutral buoyancy (Zoom Trick Worm equivalents; Z-man worms, etc). Easy bait to deadstick and twitch in place, or mess with the rate of fall by changing weight. That’s probably what it will take—staying in their face but having the ability to tweak the amount of action you put on it.

Thank you! This is excellent, one of the reasons I love this forum. On a separate note—I wonder if there’s diminishing marginal returns on how weight impacts the action on ROF. I know there’s a massive, substantive difference in how a bait works when going from 1/8 to 3/16, but is it really *that* different going from a 3/8 to a 5/16?

I know what you mean about “Jedi-sensing” the strike, and got quite good at it with my SLX (which I know isn’t a REALLY good rod; but a solid one)—but recently fishing in a stump-ridden area where I kept setting the hook into snags shook my confidence. Now I’m starting to leave hooksets on the table when I probably shouldn’t. I just need to buy a pile of painted lead sinkers and quit caring, I guess. If I set the hook on a snag, be okay if it happens until I get better at discernment.

In principle I agree; yet with having the worst sensitivity on the drop, it gives me less confidence than finessing the bait very slowly on the retrieve after it has reached bottom.

Anything over 20’, but somewhere over 15’ is when I start to wonder if heavier weight would shine better (even assuming there isn’t strong current, like is often found against a bluff wall—if there is, I feel at least 1/2oz is necessary to have any sense of control over where your bait is presenting after the cast). Since you mention line diameter: I’ll summarize what I’ve been throwing with the tackle I have: For Texas rigs, I’m typically using medium action spinning rods, 20lb braid to 8lb fluoro. This summer I’m usually throwing a 6-8” worm, a baby brush hog, or sometimes even a 6” lizard. In the spring, I really like to throw craws on 1/8 or 3/16ths bullet weights. On MH casting gear (BPS rods rated 3/8-1 1/2oz) I have either 40lb braid to 17lb fluoro, or straight 14lb fluoro. If I’m not throwing topwater or hard baits on these, I tend to pick moving presentations (UV Speed Worm), though I am also experimenting with somewhat suspended ones (free rig, 1/4oz bullet + NetBait Dagger).

I’ve fished a lot with 1/8oz and 3/16oz lead bullet weights, and have gotten a decent feel for when I want one over the other. Very recently bought some 1/4oz and like how they play with beaver style baits, though I have very limited experience with those, too. Wondering what the principal advantages of getting some 3/8oz or 5/16oz weights would be…but I have two questions: 1. at what weight do you definitely switch from lead to tungsten? 2. at what weight is the purpose of the weight switch from being multi-purpose to more specialized, like for “pitching” or “deep water” applications? I’m inclined to see 1/2-5/8oz as solidly falling in this category, since I’m used to throwing skirted jigs this weight. But am open to reconsider.

That tiny brush hog is good. Matches the size profile of a small sunfish, trout, etc. I’ve only fished it on a small jig head, to date. But I fully intend to throw it on a drop shot and a 1/16th oz Texas rig at some point soon. Man, the weight was about the size of the lure! ? Was the weight pegged in this case or free-sliding?

It appears this one may be discontinued; it’s out of stock everywhere, seemingly. I will say, for whatever reason I lose contact with a YUM dinger pretty badly when I fish it weightless at any real distance, and can’t seem to get to a comfortable amount of slack like with a trick worm.

After catching one last night on a weightless baby brush hog (which I rigged up by accident—I’d always used a 1/8oz weight), I realized how much I love the retrieve. Alternating between letting it suspend/sink and twitching horizontally and back up from the bottom required a satisfying level of focus and patience. Felt like one of those Japanese YouTubers! I’m thinking of buying some of those “duck call” baits (Yamanuki) to go along with throwing what I already have weightless (especially in the summer—trick worms, stick baits, etc). Any other plastics you could recommend that lend themselves particularly well to weightless presentations, especially ones that involve working the bait in some way? I’m sure there’s got to be some creature baits that shine better than others without extra weight.

For the money, the spinning Blackout has no business being as good as it is. Hangs in there sensitivity-wise with the SLX, and maybe does even better (because of the skeleton grip). I would pick up 13Fishing rods at blowout clearance prices in a heartbeat.

Only reason I could imagine going bright is to use a white one, pegged, with black or white bait. Sort of a broken back Rapala effect, underwater.

I can see the YouTube headline now… “BANK FISHING OFFSHORE!!!”

No idea on the lake, but the chicken tenders are good at Perry’s Chicken at the truck stop just north of Cordele. ? Rooster sauce is the best dip for it. At least you’ll have that to look forward to while the fishing is tough.

Stuff like that makes me wonder if a the day is coming when a pro will successfully use FFS to find the stingy offshore fish he wants, and park it in front of them, changing colors and flakes until he hits what they want. As it is, the tried-and-true method seems to be to keep looking for “active fish.”