Bazoo

You might consider the Trilene knot. It's very similar to the clinch, having an extra loop, but works with braid. I've not used it with fluoro, so I can't say it'll work there. But it's good for braid and mono and leaves very little tag end. Very quick to tie once you get it, just like the clinch and improved clinch.

There is a few creeks around that I will fish. Mostly I don't have much luck in mine though. 1 of them is pretty heavily fished, another is in the city and not much of a creek.

That is weird. Perhaps they are using another knot for the leader to swivel, and just saying is a palomar.

Howdy and welcome.

I think bass can see any line, and I also think that seeing that line doesn't affect them. What I do think should be a consideration is the way they hear the line through their lateral line. I think they hear braid better, as it's louder. Braid is okay for some applications, but for heavy pressured fish, they hear it and avoid it. Especially if you're snagging up, or ripping fish out of a brush pile. Fluoro would have an advantage over mono only because most people use mono so most bass have had a bad encounter with it. Second is braid. Most weekend bass anglers around here, at least the ones I know/have seen, use straight braid. I'm wanting to try straight fluoro on a backer at the city lake I fish but I haven't taken the plunge yet.

Sorry to hear of your issues. Wow, I replaced an alternator just recently and it cost around $300 for the alternator. I could have gotten it for 1/3 if I'd had time to order it online. I had it on within an hour though.

I use offset worm hooks for most soft plastic rigging. Texas rigs with senkos, flukes, and most other worms. I use EWG hooks for thicker soft plastics, or, if I want my lure to have a bit of a keel to keep it from spinning, such as I occasionally do when texas rigging a curly tail grub. I believe that the fish pay attention to the hook in heavily pressured waters, and I have more confidence with a soft plastic if it has the least amount of hook visible.

Thanks all.

I decided to give the rock bank a try with a stick worm. I don't fish much stick worms. The boy was using a lizard. I wasn't having a good trip, broke my rod tip, gut hooked 1 plus the boys was gut hooked, couldn't recover my lost jig. It was super muggy and hot and I was sweating bullets (not to be confused with bullet weights). So I went back to church and did some cleaning. Decided to give it another shot on the way back home and got 3 others on a drop shot with a finesse worm. Super hot, and I decided to fish down a bank with little cover. One of the drop shot bass came in from of some cattails, but the other 2 were just along the shore. I'm starting to get some confidence with the drop shot.

I do it regularly with lures I am getting confident with. Today, I did 2 short trips. First was a stick worm, second was a drop shot. I often do a 2 lure day. Whereby I will have 2 that I'm working on rigged, and thus, if they don't want one or the other I have an alternative.

The tip on my all around rod broke earlier. 6'6" abu black max. The blank broke right at the junction of the tip top. How much flex/softness will I lose by putting a tip on the broken rod? It's about 3/4" shorter.

Thanks. I had not heard of that.

I tried searching about him winning a classic without an outboard but couldn't find anything. Could you relay the story? or do you know where I could find more of this feat?

Thanks Joe.

I try to be mindful of my rods and reels when fishing, trying to not ding them up. I wouldn't go so far as to call it babying. Trying to keep the rash from getting worse.

Watching TylersReelFishing, he sometimes uses a spinner that he attaches to his hook when fishing a fluke. He first threads the head on the hook, then he puts the spinner on the belly of the hook, and then pushes the hook point through the body regular texas style. Anyone here do this? What spinners do you like for it? I think it'd be a great way to give some flash to a fluke, and might be just the ticket for giving the bass something they haven't seen before.

I'm not sure what it's called. I got it for Christmas a couple years ago, so it either came from Walmart or Academy. If I can find it in store to get the make and color I will report back.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of that.

I shared these in the Latest Catch Thread. Confidence is nearly 100% now.

Been focusing on learning the drop shot and jig. Thanks to @Joedodge for gifting me this jig. I caught a handful on it then lost it in a tree branch. I think I can recover it though. It's the perfect size for these smaller bass that inhabit this pond.

My 5 year old always wants me to zoom in on that avatar when I scroll past your name on the forum.

Glad you didn't disappear.

I guess my biggest current issue is getting in a rut when they aren't biting. I might take 30 lures with me, and use 4-5 regularly. If the fish aren't biting those 4-5 lures or even the first couple, I usually keep with it, not changing lures for too long. I've been trying to break that, using new stuff, or at least stuff I rarely use. I try to fish something I'm not comfortable with a few minutes, if not every trip, every couple. Short trips though.

Big Game was, and remains... solid economy line.

I'm still learning all the time. When I first started out, I didn't understand fishing soft plastics. I tried it, and didn't get bit, so I just gave up on them. I had a bad habit that I'm still working to break; Deciding something isn't for me without having tried it; Forcing fishing to fit into my preconceived notions. I gave fishing a break for about 12 years or so, then when I had a son and he was old enough I decided it would be an important part of my boys childhood. My dad passed when I was 5 and I didn't have a lot of fishing opportunities. I remember going fishing 2 times before I was 12, once with my dad. Then, we moved to a house that had a pond, and I fished a lot. My mom's boyfriend taught me some, what I was willing to listen to. I caught a few. When I got back into it 3 years ago I decided I was going to master all the core lures. Texas rigs, jigs, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits. For me it's about covering the basics and being well rounded. I want to be able to go out fishing with anyone and be able to hold my own. Not to mention I really enjoy fishing, catching fish, and lures.