RRocket

Pro V1 balls are $5 ea And it's a lot easier to shank a ball into the water than it is to get a lure hung up! LOL 😆

It's new rod day today!! Unexpectedly received a rod today from my lovely wife! While she's no fisherman, she does pay attention to my ramblings and knows I love JDMv finesse gear and technique. And apparently she saw a video about some of the "best" JDM rods and bought me one! It's a Raid Japan Gladiator Anti Spinning rod with the model being "Defender". It's 6'3", Light, Fast action. It's beautifully made and was beautifully packaged in a velvet bag. I subscribe to a more minimalist approach and therefore only have 2 other rods, both JDM Shimano Expride B. One a 265 UL+ and the other a 266 L. The 266L is my primary rod for my primary techniques, so I'll be comparing it to this rod as time goes by. Am curious to see what it has to offer for nearly double the price. The new rod is slightly heavier at 94 grams vs. 88 grams for the Expride I've posted a couple of quick pictures beside my Expride. If anyone has specific questions, ask away.

That's definitely a Geecrack Bellows Stick 4.8" in Green Pumpkin. BTW, these smell like Corn Chips or Bugles!!

I skip poop baits, plastic swim baits and chatterbaits (though less frequently) with light action spinning rod. Poop baits skip differently as I had to start the skip closer to me than other baits. I skip these every day, otherwise they're like a cannonball going into the water.

Yea, was surprised that they worked as advertised and work as well as they do. I feel bass fisherman are promised lots from gear manufacturers that rarely come through. Not the case here. Are you using the GP Finesse hook for Dropshot? What size? I might try them for Dropshot...but I already use an "alternative" shaped dropshot hook that's been quite fantastic.

I have to be a bit more delicate with hooksets since I fish UL/L gear...which perhaps in some ways is similar to you slowing down with your hookset speed. I also use fat baits. So I'm always trying new hooks to see what works best with my fat poop baits and fishing style. Recently tried Spearpoint Hooks and shockingly they appear to work as advertised in that once they are hooked and into the "crook" they don't come off. I also note I need forceps most times to help unhook. They have a straight shank, a flipping, offset worm and EWG so I think you could find something to try.

Do you have a photo of them?

Haven't found either of these to be issues for me. Never, ever had a knot failure BTW. All in all, it's a great mono line.

I've been quite pleased with Sunline Super Natural mono.

I frequently fish a swimbait on my dropshot (drop swimming). It's very effective at keeping the swimbait at a precise depth off the bottom. And the weight bouncing during the retrieve adds a little extra action. A buddy also fishes this way for walleye and small mouth in 30+ feet of water. There are definitely presentations that are fished slow on a drop shot. But not all.

I guess it depends what "winter" means. Leaving soft plastics in my garage over the winter would be the equivalent of putting baits in the freezer for several months... Does anyone store baits in their freezer? LOL 😆

Are you sure they were bass? I only ask because a couple recent similar incidents had me questioning myself, the lure, etc First was similar to yours at a pond in the late evening. Blow up after blow up with zero hooksets. On multiple lures. Turns out it was Bowfin hitting the lures but due to their extremely bony mouths, zero hookups. Next was yesterday in a Lake in the morning for Smallies. Several blow ups, no fish. After a bit we figured it out. It was Long Nosed Gar slamming the baits. But again, due to their mouth no hookups. I'm wondering if perhaps it was another species hitting your topwater?

Thanks! Caught on a TRD TicklerZ

Yes, I've fished a variety of other "poop" baits. I try to stay on the lighter side as I'm using L or UL gear. I've used Spin Nuts, Yamatanuki, Imo Kamushi to name a few. All great fun! Thanks for the detail on the hooks. I've done similar, making "Frankenhooks" for this application. I THINK thus far I like the G-Lock the best. I fish in weeds so making sure the hook tip stays buried is important to me. And that unique bend really helps IMO. I'm experimenting with bait keeper discs at the front. Work in progress.

I use them in my boat too! 😃

I value light weight. So I use a set of 6" forceps. Plenty long enough for all hook removal. As a bonus, I learned how to tie several knots using the forceps. Not terribly expensive. For line cutting, I use the extremely tiny Boomerang Tool Company snips. You wouldn't think this tiny thing would cut. But (somehow) it does..and cuts everything. So between the forceps and cutter, they weigh next to nothing and take up minimal space.

I continue to fish these..a lot. These are always in my sling. Deps has since come out with a 3" too, which is the "Goldilocks" size for me. It flat it works and is fun to fish. Casts a mile and skipping is ridiculously easy. With a deft hand you can "walk the dog" with these on the surface or under the water. Currently really like Blue Melon, Golden and Pumpkin Cheesecake colors. Still haven't settled on a favorite hook. I like the way the Gama G-Lock hook tip angles into the top of the bait because the hook keeper nub in the bait gets blown out. But then the front can blow out. So I like Owner CPS hooks for the front. Haven't found a hook that addresses both issues yet. Wish there was a Goldilocks hook for me! Anyone else fish these often?

Nichols Weedless Willy

That's a pretty wild worm. I used the 5.8 and it was pretty impressive. 8" must be heavy since the 5.8 was no lightweight.

Seems like this would be better with an EWG hook on the back to make it even more snagless?

It isn't really a thing, IMO. All I fish is "whippy" rods and even the largest of fish take no more than 30 seconds or so to get in. Though I am an expert with light tackle. As with all things, YMMV.

I'm a minimalist in weight and footprint but a maximist in useability. Not sure if any of this will be useful, but here's how I do it. First, I use a sling. It's extremely compact, light weight and extremely useable. Feels natural to spin it around and then be looking straight down into the storage area. Forceps and a line cutter can be reached with 1 hand. Within the bag there are 2 mesh pockets. In each pocket, there's a Ryugi wallets. One is primarily hooks, the other weights and misc tackle. Contained within I can rig: Texas, Free, Jika, Drop Shot, Wacky, Weighted Wacky, Swimbait/Flashy Swimmer, Neko. Pretty much everything. It's shockingly efficient. Next, I use Daiwa clear plastic storage bags. I think these are Medium. Within 2 of these, I carry my primary/most versatile bait (OSP Dolive Stick) in my favorite color s/sizes. In the other, it's a bait I love to throw, Deps Cover Scat. Again, my favorite colors/sizes. Then I'll carry 2 more bags. These are usually technique specific. I favor the Free Rig, so some type of beaver (current favorite the Egu Chunk) for sure and some type of fish profile (current favorite the Hira Tailor). In the other bag (lately) it's been worms as I've been working on the Flick Shake. Sometimes I'll omit a bag or two and bring my compact OSP lure box. Holds multiple rigged Minimax's and a variety of interesting top water baits (Mini Pompadour), frogs, etc Sometimes I bring it along via Velcro on the front of the bag. I also keep a Daiwa knot tying tool (great!), an exacto blade and a couple spinnerbaits in the front pocket. With everything, around 3.25 pounds. With the heavy specific gravity plastic baits (my current load out) it's 3 lbs 10oz. A staggering amount of utility in a small package.

The Jackal Flick Shake in Cola sure look red to my eyes....