CDMTJager

Thank you.

Gotta figure out how to DS my pics a system says they're to large and won't let me upload any.

I very much enjoy fishing in a light to medium rain. I have excellent HD PVC rain gear just for such fishing days, and 9/10 such days are very productive and best of all 999x/1000 I have the lake 100% to myself

NEVER been a guy that luck had a habit of visiting often. Not once but TWICE I have come as close to drowning as is physically humanly possible and managed to survive. Both times I survived was almost entirely due to the fact I was in absolutely awesome shape and could swim like Michael Phelps. Neither time was I wearing a PFD. I am not betting on the third time I end up in a bad situation in the water my luck will hold out. I will not now go in a boat without wearing a PFD. I won't even go swimming in deep water without wearing a PFD and neither will ANY of my kids EVER. After MUCH research I bought a NRS Chinooks for all in my family. I have tested it enough times to know it will float me face up and keep me afloat very well. On a unhappy note are a SCUBA diver who has done 100s of dives in lake Michigan off numerous friends boats on several wrecks. One such dive on the material service wreck I couldn't make it due to working that weekend. My friend who then owned a 42' Viking sport fisherman was looking to drop anchor on the wreck while 4 divers were suiting up, including his sister. His sister's BF was not a diver went along for the trip and was sitting on the transom with his feet on the swim platform. One guy saw him fall off the boat into the water, no one thought much of it, until his GF my friends sister screamed "HE CAN'T SWIM" one guy instantly threw him a life ring and it landed less than a foot from him but he was so busy panicking he made no effort to reach it, two guys went in after him less than one minuet after his GF announced he couldn't swim, but before anyone could reach him he disappeared beneath the water and drowned. As it turned out he was THE ONLY person EVER to have set foot on my friends boat that was #1 NOT a SCUBA diver and #2 Could not swim. Nothing worse than a 100% preventable death. My friend never again took that boat out and sold it very soon after that. If you can not swim and go out on a boat, unless its a Ocean Liner do everyone a favor and wear a PFD.

50 years of fishing experience has pushed me to this conclusion about color importance in bass fishing. This is MY experience fishing specifically for largemouth bass in medium to small lakes in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Rivers in Indiana, Illinois for smallmouth Color matters more often than not Sometimes color matters everything Sometimes color matters not al all. Same colors for largemouth rarely have worked for me for smallmouth. But day in and day out color selection of my luers matters especially with my soft plastics. As the almighty good lord as my witness I wish there was a better more precise answer about the importance of color but in my 5 decades of fishing that's what the bass not bass fisherman have taught me is the truth of the situation as it applies to color selection for bass lures, ESPECIALLY soft plastics. It is the job of you the fisherman to determine which of the three applies to your given fishing situation. But I will say the vast overwhelming majority of the time colors that closely match natural forage fish the bass eat in that lake have worked best for me UNLESS they are on fire then a very bright color like Sight Fish/White Ice out catches all other colors. Color matters even more in my experience when creek fishing locally for steelhead and salmon VS color selection for bass. I can not tell you how many times I have picked apart every inch of a area of stream I would bet my house has a steelhead in it of a King or coho with a nickel bladed #3 Mepps that works 90% of the time, then I throw a firetiger another killer good color then bright orange still nothing then a pink bladed #3 and first cast get a fish and 3 or for more. Come back tomorrow same stretch nothing atmospheric has changed creek level is the same and they wont tough anything but a copper color blade #3 Mepps. Best guess is 70% of my most productive hard crank baits best resemble a minnow color of some kind or a bluegill unless the bite is hot then I go to bright or bright/dark strong contrasting colors For example I tried chatterbaits in white/chartreuse, greenpumpkin, watermelon, black/blue sparkle flake. Hands down absolutely no doubt whatsoever from March till post spawn black/blue sparkle flake with a red trailer out perfromed all other chatterbait colores by at least 3:1 in my lakes But once spawn was over again in MY lakes throwing any chatter or spinnerbait in anything other than chartreuse and white is essentially a waist of a cast. I know because I have $100s of dollars tied up in a multitude of different colored chatter and spinner baits that see little if any use now. I'm sure bass fisherman in other parts of the country will tell me my favorite colors are duds in their lakes and I'm sure they are correct. After all these years I do all I can to let the bass pick my favorite bass colors. Yes I absolutely take into account water clarity and light conditions, but ultimately the best bass colors are up to the bass to pick. I am very fortunate in that the lakes I fish most often average about 2-3 foot water clarity. I wish I or (anyone else for that matter) has a better answer or system about choosing lure colors but I just don't nore do I know of one.

Would you be so kind to allow me to impose upon you the favor as to explain why?

I fish 90% from shore. I fish three different lakes 90% of the time. By May 7th I am fishing in heavy weeds and emerging lily pads for 90% of my fishing. So its weedless or waist 75% of my casts when my luer comes back encapsulated in a baseball sized clump of weeds. 80% of the lake I can reach with a cast is less than 12 feet deep. So I am fishing shallow heavy weeds and pads. These three lakes have zero hard bottom. Use to fish frogs and T-rigged worms and creature baits from now till deer season ends my bass fishing. But this year I discovered weedless rigged 5" & 5.25" soft plastic flukes rigged with both weightless and weighted hooks. I have been absolutely murdering the bass NONSTOP with weedless flukes since mid April. I toss them in open areas and lanes between emerging pads and weed patches or along edges of patches of weeds and pads next to open water work them like a jerkbait and hold on tight. These three lakes are relatively shallow, very heavily weeded and with massive lily pad cover and do not lend themselves well to be fished by larger bass boats. Thankfully most sore fisherman fishing these lakes have no idea how to fish heavy weeds well so there are VERY good populations of 2.5-4.5lb bass in them very accessible from shore and wading. I just do not see a better method to fish my lakes than a weedless soft plastic fluke because it allows you to cover a lot of water quickly and thoroughly. Once I catch a bass I slow down and pick the area apart. I have had MANY 10+ bass mornings and evenings with 20+ bass not that uncommon. I can not suggest you give a weedless soft plastic fluke a try strongly enough. One other luer I would suggest that I am trying for the first time next time out is a T-Rigged floating and sinking speed worm with a 1/16 bullet weight. Watch a few YT videos on how to work a speed worm in very heavy cover. I think a speed worm will be very successful in my weed choked shallow lakes and should work well in yours also.

In the three lakes I do 90% of my bass fishing by first week of May weeds are so thick you must fish all soft plastics 100% weedless. So bare hook rigging is not an option for me. 7'3" Shimano Intenza MHFA spinning rod Kast King Royal legend Glory size 4000 5.25" Cabela's Shadee Shad 5" Zoom Super Fluke 20lb Sufex 832 braid size 1# ball bearing swivel to 16-18" 12lb or 15lb Yo-Zuri Copolymer #4/0 Owner Twistlock light hook #4/0 Gamakatsu Super Like Spring lock hook I had hooking up issues using a 3/0 hook and came here asking for advice same as you. Members here suggested I upsize hooks from a 3/0 to 4/0 and I did and my hookup percentage went up significantly. Now if I do my part correctly detecting a bite and make a good tight line sweeping hook set I hook up of at least 80% of the time. This is my first year ever fishing soft plastic flukes worked as a weedless soft plastic jerk bait in heavy weeds and lily pads and I am do ing absolutely fantastic catching bass with them.

Chatterbait/willowchatter Frog Weedless fluke weightless and weighted

I'm on the lower end of rod and reel knowledge so bare that in mind on my advice, but I have about 10 3-5hr long trips on my 7'3" MHFA Shimano Intenza A spinning rod and have been absolutely astonished by it's sensitivity and ability to set the hook on long 40+ yard casts and its ability to drag bass up over and out of weeds and pads thicker than a boilerplate. All I have fished with it so far have been 5-5.25" weightless soft plastic flukes on a Owner or Gamak screw lock hook. I use 20lb Sufix 832 a swivel to 12 or 15lb Yo-Zuri copoly. I chose a spinning rod setup over a casting setup because I can cast a spinning rod with laser like accuracy, despite very considerable efforts trying with a baitcaster, NotSoMuch. And very accurate luer placement is everything with the weeds and pads where I fish my weedless soft plastic flukes and worms. Prior to this rod I was using a 7'3" MHMA rod and lost three very good bass in one evening in under 2hrs that hit at the end of 40+YRD casts, because the rod had not the backbone to winch those bass up, over and out before they crashed dived into the weeds and were lost. Since going to a MHFA I have not lost a single fish to the weeds and last trip was able to winch a 30-33" northern pike in before he could get into the seeds. But I can find it NO WHERE for less than $160 and I was very impatient in my purchase so there might be just as good of MHFA rods by different manufacturers at a better price.

Been fishing over 50 years. For 90% of that used Trilene XL and XT and occasionally in lake Michigan chasing smallmouths in and around brake wall structures used Berkley Fireline. One day 5 or six years ago saw an online article about copolymer fishing lines and it reviewed Yo-Zuri Copolymer. Gave it a extremely high rating for abrasion resistance and breaking strength. Back when it still was available OTC at my local Cabela's I saw a 250yd spool of 10lb for IIRC $7 or $8 figured give it a try. Decided to give it a true baptism of fire first use and used it as my line for my spinning setup for fishing inline spinners for steelhead and salmon in creeks full of the nastiest above and underwater snags in the form of trees and tree roots you can possibly imagine. I ended up so impressed it is the only non-braided line I use now. In MY OPNION I feel for the cost Yo-Zuri copolymer can not be beat. Been using Yo-Zuri copolymer for five possibly six years now. Use 6, 8, and 10lb on my spinning gear and 12 and 15lb on my baitcasting setups. I am satisfied with Yo-Zuri in every possible way. I personally just can not see enough advantage in 100% fluorocarbon to be worth spending 3-5x as much VS YZCP.

Would greatly appreciate the input of owners of these two rods experience and buying advice. looking to buy another 7'3" MHF spinning rod for fishing soft plastics in heavy vegetation. The St. Croix Mojo bass Trigon and Shimano Intenza are close enough in price the difference is negligible. If both are equally well made, then whichever is the more sensitive rod for fishing soft plastics is most important to me.

Not trying to hijack this thread whatsoever, but I picked up a 12' Sundolphin arm paddle kayak at a great price for purely fishing smaller lakes near my home and have watched OVER 100 kayak fishing 101 videos on everything pertaining to both kayaks and fishing from them and no body touched on backing up instantly after a hook set I mean not even hinting as much. I will have to research this more thoroughly as I can see this being essentially impossible to do in a arm paddle kayak.

Your opinions mostly mirror mine. I did fork over $120 for a single baitcasting reel for a $180 reel on close out. Kinda hurt because most expensive reel before that were two made in Sweden Abu Garcia 4500's I paid $100 for both at a local fishing store GOOB sale back in either 1989 or 1990. All my other baitcasters are the Kast King Royal Legend and Royal legend II I usually pay less than $45 for them with a 10% off coupon. I have fished them pretty hard as I was able to afford to build a bait casting set up for cranks, frogs and chatterbaits. Then I was shopping at Amazon and Ebay in March of this year because my boys were in need of their own baitcasting setups and saw Abu Garcia Max Pro4's for $48.15c TMD. Thought a $75-$80 reel for $48 is worth a try so I ordered one. Thankfully it arrived quickly and I spooled it up with 12lb Yo-Zuri Copoly and did a dawn till dark day of fishing chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. Got home that night and ordered five more so significantly was I impressed with the Abu Garcia Pro Max4 for a <$50 reel with tax. Once my sons proved they are serious about fishing on as regular of a basis as possible I ordered two more so my both my sons and I can have their own dedicated baitcasting setups for frogs, chatter and spinnerbaits. I will be the first to admit I am basically a novice about the intricacies of baitcasters and also will admit IMO the Abu garcia Pro Max$ is not worth $75 but again IMO it is an absolute awesome deel at <50$. My four Kast King Royal legends are all 4 years old now and I do yearly maintenance on them (as well as all my reels) and they have held up well with zero issues and I'd say from March till late september get used an average of four days a week 2-3 hours minimum each use and I feel the AG Pro Max4's are a significantly better reel and so far I can not be more pleased with the AG PM4's performances. Love to afford mid higher end rods and reels but when you're buying for three VS only one $250-$300 each fishing setups for me are just not financially possible as my boys are both attending local colleges full time now. I am very thankfully I recently stumbled across a deal on MHF 7'3" 13 Fishing Blackout casting rods at Ebay for $270 if you bought a bundle of five rods so I bought a bundle. I already had bought two 7'3" MHF 13 Fishing BO rods from Tackle WH or Tractor Supply for IIRC <$50 or $55 each and was very satisfied with them so when an even better deal on them arrose I jumped on it. Now my son's and I have pretty good baitcasting setups for under $110 per setup. I know a lot of guys here wouldn't be happy with these setups, but these are fisherman who both own bass boats and spend likely twice as many hours chasing just bass than I do so it is only logical fisherman of that caliber have higher quality fishing set ups. As a dedicated shore fisherman who's bass fishing setups are completely ill suited for the steelhead and salmon fishing I do every year and my bass and steelhead/salmon setups are again ill suited for when I case bluegills and perch every year and I need a few dedicated setups for panfish one can see where $300/ea fishing setups are just not financially prudent for me. "I haven't tried the KK rods or line yet, but I'm going to" And BTW. I have six Kast King Crixus Spinning rods. Two are 7' MHFA, two are 7'3" MHF, one is 7'6"MHFA one is 7'3" MAF and I am 100% satisfied for these rods performances considering they all cost <$43 each. For the price I feel they are great spinning rods.

Bare in mind I am a shore fisherman and encounters with bass over 6lbs is a rare thing indeed. 98% of the bass I catch on frogs are under 5lbs. So if big bass over 6lbs are a very real possibility for you, (they are not for me) you might wish to use bigger frogs than I do. Currently use a 7.1:1 Abu Garcia Max Pro4 I picked up off Ebay (four of them to be exact) for <$50 TMD a 7' MHFA Ugly Stick Elite and 50lb Power Pro Braid. Tried Walking frogs from Booyha, Strike King and Scum Frog, popping frogs from Scum Frog and Booyah. Hands down my best performing most successful for hookups and landings has been frogs made by Scum Frog. Best performing Scum Frog has been the SCum Frog trophy series frog which is slightly smaller and is made from a plastic that is much softer and compresses much more easily the any other frog I have. For me and the bass I catch 90%+ of the time using a smaller frog GREATLY increased my hookup and landing success. For me absolutely no other way to fish for bass beats frog fishing I absolutely love it. I'm sure because for 90% of the lakes I fish you either become good at fishing frogs for bass or don't fish 70-75% of the lake so completely do pads and weeds take over the lakes I fish by last week of May.

Once I learned this trick yes my spinning reel line twist was significantly reduced. At first I did it to reduce wear and tare on my bail closing springs, then I learned it also greatly reduced line twist.

Thank you Sir as I do sincerely appreciate you sharing your advice and experiences with me. I fish 98% from shore. Despite YEARS (NOT kidding by years) of trying and investing in $100+ baitcasting reels, I am still many times more accurate casting with a spinning set up VS a baitcasting set up. Talking SCARY accurate. For most of the year from late April till deer season ends my fishing, I fish almost entirely lily pads and weeds. Absolutely 100% beyond all doubt my most productive areas to fish are the open lanes or areas between sections of lily pads. To fish these most effectively one absolutely must be able to cast with as close to rifle like pinpoint accuracy as possible. I personally can only accomplish this using spin casting setups. Using spin casting setups to fish heavy weed growth with soft plastics I am literally catching 3-4x more more bass VS baitcasting setups undoubtedly 100% due to MY difference in casting accuracy. In my opinion only reason I enjoy so much success using a baitcasting setup for frogs is #1 I make so many casts I can not help but cover all the best areas and #2 I can work a frog 2-5x faster than all soft plastics save for flukes or swim baits. As far as my use of braided line goes it is VERY application specific. I use braid ONLY in heavy vegetation cover to be able to winch bass up, over and out of heavy cover before they can crash dive into it making recovery for a shore bound fisherman like me all but impossible. Rest of my baitcasting or spinning setups use 10, 12 or 15lb Yo-Zuri Copolymer. 90% of my fishing is for fish in weed growth that varies in degrees of density depending on time of year from I can get a shallow diving crank, chatter or spinnerbait through it or stary just above it till about now when I rarely use crankbaits again (maybe 10%) to occasional use of chatter or spinner baits (maybe 20%) to almost entirely soft plastics rigged weedless. Although I must admit using braid to mono for fishing flukes in heavy cover has shown me just how much more eaily I can detect strikes using 20lb Suffix 832 VS YZCO I will likely give 10lb 832 to Yo-Zuri Copoly a try fishing soft plastics. Just have to find braid to mono knot I can tie with 100% confidence. This year I discovered fishing 5-5.25" soft plastic flukes rigged weedless and it has literally been a borderline religious experience so great has my success been. And casting these flukes with as high of accuracy is of the utmost importance to my fishing success and FOR ME that means spinning setups only. As a reloader and firearm accuracy fanatic that can maintain MOA groups out to 500 yards, I greatly envy fisherman I watch who can put a bait in a bucket at 40 yards with a baitcaster, I'm just not one of those fisherman.

You are not the first nor the tenth person I have read or heard say this.

If you'd be so kind as to explain why? as I am using HI-VIS yellow braid. I am using some likely 30 year old Sampo SST ball bearing swivels to connect braid to copolymer to eliminate line twist in my spinning reel.

I'm a shore bound fisherman. 80%+ of my bass fishing is in heavy weeds and pads from now till I stop fishing to chase deer. For my fluke and soft plastics fishing T-rigged in heavy weeds and pads I use 20lb 8 strand braid to a 10-12lb copolymer leader. I can cast 45-50 yards, farther if the winds favor me. I can winch 4lb+ bass out of the thick stuff no problems. Absolutely couldn't do that with straight 10-12lb non braided lines, and can't cast a weightless weedless fluke 40 yards with 15-20lb mono, so braid it is for this application. For my frog fishing it also 30 or 50lb Power Pro. For casting crankbaits chatterbaits and spinnerbaits its 15lb Yo-Zuri copolymer 100% of the time last 5-6 years awesome results. For weedless soft plastic other than flukes its 12-15lb YZC For all live bait and finesse presentations its aslo 6-8lb Yo-Zuri Copoly. For creek fishing for steelhead, salmon and trout its 8lb YZC for drift fishing skeen and 10lb YZC for inline spinners. No way absolutely no way I could go 100% braid as to many of my presentations rely on a line that doesn't float and must be difficult for the fish to see. Doesn't necessarily HAVE to sink but can not float.

Lakes nearest my home are a dream come true for shore bound frog fisherman. A normal outing of frog fishing on my favorite lake under good frog fishing conditions I was getting at least 10 blow-ups but missing 55-60% of them. So I watched a few YT for fishing vids and one suggested I try a smaller frog made of softer plastic. Did some online looking and the smallest frog I could find was a Scum Frog Trophy series popper frog FS at TWH. I ordered 4. When they arrived in the mail I immediately noticed they were indeed smaller than my other frogs but what really struck me as different was how much softer and easier the body would collapse. First night I used the new Scum Frog TSP luer my hook up rate went from less than 50% to 70% hooking and landing 7 of 10 bass that hit my frog. That last year in June. Now That I have my discipline to the point I can wait and reel to the bass at the hit and feel the bass on the frog and then set the hook when I do that my hookup rait is over 80%. Link to the frog I now use: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Scum_Frog_Trophy_Series_Popper_Frog/descpage-TYP.html

Interesting story. My mom back in 1991 was at a garage sale when I was just getting HEAVY into bow hunting deer. She's at a garage sale and sees this right handed Bear Kodiak recurve bow set up for bowfishing for like $25 and buys it for me. Luckily bow fits me pretty good. It was actually bullfrog season in my home state and one of my favorite small fishing lakes was LOUSY with BIG bullfrogs. I'm talking loaded like drunks in NYC on St. Pats day. So next day I drive to this lake and start cleaning house on the Bullfrogs. Limit is eight and takes me about 12 tries to get eight as I have to figure out how to aim instinctively as this bow unlike my compound has no sight. Go back every day for the next three days. Getting so good now I am actually making consistent headshots. Everybody in my home is loving the deep fried frog legs I am cooking up. Fourth trip I am there maybe 10 minutes and have 4 frogs in four shots and now are picking only the biggest bullfrogs I can find passing on the smaller ones. I see a DNR guy walking towards me I figure he wants to check my license which I have. He introduces himself and watches me get my last four frogs in four rapid shots without moving all are head shots. Guy compliments me on my shooting ability and asks what do I know about bullfrog bowfishing rules. I think to myself "Oh crap now what" I tell him season dates and my limit is eight and a bow is a legal means to take a bullfrog. He replies yes you are correct but asked did I realize this was a FOREST PRESERVE lake and I again said yes but I added I'm not sure where this is going. He then informs me I can not bowfish for anything in a forest preserve lake. So I lower my bow and say I had no idea whatsoever this was a fact. Thankfully he chuckles and says I can tell by the look on your face you really didn't know you were breaking the law and says enjoy your frogs and next time use a 16' cane pole. I asked how do I do that? He tells me get a 16' cane pole put about 24" ice fishing tip up braid on it and attach a ice fishing curly tail grub lure to it feed the poll through the reeds twist the rod uncoiling and lowering the bait in the face of a bullfrog giggle it around some and when it eats it set the hook and you have legally caught a bullfrog on forest preserve property. Thanked him for his cutting me a big break and I quickly left.

Thank you for your advice. So far I only ever work my flukes as a soft jerk bait. But I absolutely always speed up my retrieve every retrieve and undoubtedly over 50% of my strikes occur either when I stop and the bait falls or after I have speeded up a retrieve and pause. And yes I have caught more than a few fish that hit while I was just reeling in the fluke towards the end of a retrieve but I have not enjoyed as much success working T-rigged boot paddle swim baits as flukes. In my lakes exposed hook swimbaits or flukes are nothing but veggie salad harvesters.

You sir are exactly correct. I now do precisely as you describe/advise. I detect the strike fast as possible take up slack by reeling down and to fish make huge side sweep to my right as I retrieve with my left hand. I went 10 for 10 last night but as stated lost two to my knot slipped and failed. I agree with you. Last night used only a Gamak Super Line screw lock hook hooked up 10 for 10 but lost two due to knot failure caused by eyes no longer able to see small knots well enough to confirm knot tied correctly.

Well followed the advice of members here on trying new and different hook, rod and line selections for fishing T-Rigged soft plastic flukes and I admit while it was only a single outing but I definitely experienced a significant increase in success in my opinion. Little back ground first. I found a new area of this lake I have been fishing since THE SIXTY's, I never fished before. It is obvious to me based on my years pf past experience, from mid April to end of June the weed and lily pad growth in this new area are perfect for BOTH holding bass and fishing with a soft plastic fluke. Once July 4th weekend gets here the pads will be so thick I will loose 70-80% of the open water areas that allow me the ability to fish a soft plastic fluke like a jerk bait. So considering my situation and I wanted to give a MHFA spinning rod a try my lack of patients got the better of me and instead of holding out for a better deal on a rod keeping me much closer to $100, I went with a 7'3" MHFA Shimano Intenza spinning rod. So based on the advise of member's here I am now fishing with a 7'3" MHFA rod VS a 7'3" MHMA rod, size 4000 reel (VS 3000) 20 lb Suffix 832 (VS 30lb) to 10lb Yo-Zuri Copolymer and a size 4/0 Gamak Super Line screw lock VS a 3/0 Owner Lite. Must admit I had originally planned on starting with a 4/0 Owner SL Lite hook but failed to pack any with and only had Gamak's on hand. Worth saying I use a spinning rod because I can cast at least 2x more accurately with a spinning rod VS casting. Last night conditions were OK but less than Ideal with strong 10-15 MPH ENE (I was only able to cast NE/E/SE, no W casting at all) winds after two consecutive days of T-storms and moderate to at times heavy rains. Was 80* and 50/50 sun to clouds. I fished one of my best areas and new for this year, sections of minimal emergent lilly pads with open areas spaced between pads but entire area has weed growth now to thick for even a chatterbait. Entire area is in a pocket between one very large point and one smaller double point. Fished a Cabela's 5" Shadee Shad in White Ice I dipped the last .5-.75" of the tail in chartreuse dye and used a ORG Spike-It maker to put orange on the flukes belly to make it (guessing here) somewhat resemble a bluegill. Numbers of fish caught on this color modified fluke VS unmodified is significantly greater. First cast was at 4:30p. Fishing started slowly for this spot as I didn't get my first bass until 5:22pm. This is a new as of this spring area of the lake to me have fished it 14 times now and the previous 13x had caught a bass within the 1st 10 casts every visit. Ironically I for years I walked right past this area because I didn't want to deal with busting through heavy weeds full of ticks and essentially a wall of thorn bushes to gain access to the fishing this area and seeing as after 14 times fishing this area and not once ever seeing anyone else fish it I now know why it has been not just a great spot but a consistently great spot as I have yet to fish the area and not catch at least three bass and the size and quality of the bass are as good as I've caught from this lake. Also there are no areas of the lake close enough to see a person wading and fishing there so no one actually can see me while I am fishing it. I actually found it by just blindly busting through the brush just to see what I would find as the area is not visible from shore due to 8-10' high year round brush and weeds that grows as thick as boiler plates. I'm sure the wall of thorn bushes and tick infestation combined with it is a VERY VERY long walk to access it has kept people out so far. I have now fished this area 14 times and all 14 times I had to remove ticks from myself or my clothes. Caught two more bass in under 40 minutes last one and bass #3, was a solid 3.5-3.75lb bass that came off a cattail reed point that hit as soon as the fluke hit the water and took advantage of the delay of my noticing the HI-Vis line moving (wind=choppy waves) and by the time I set the hook had gotten WAY into the reeds and I had to drag her out. Thank God for my 20lb Sufix braid. Decided I best retie to my swivel with a new Yo-Z leader and with in 10 casts got another bass on set the hook, felt him fighting hard and then felt a weird sensation and lost the fish. Looked at my line and it was painfully obvious my knot had slipped and failed. Cost me $2+ in a lost hook and new fluke. Retied and not 10 casts later exact same thing happens. I have never that I can recall EVER had two knots fail me during many many weeks of fishing let alone two times with two knots in a row. If being 100% honest, yes I do tie bad knots every now and then but I could always see well enough to see that I did so or I felt that something about the knot didn't feel right when I cinched it down and I would retie. I now must face the fact my eyesight has changed and I can no longer see small things like a fishing knot well enough without my 1.5x cheater glasses to see and confirm if I tied it correctly or not. So I went to my tackle BP got out my cheaters and tied a prefect Trilene knot wich did take two tries, but that knot held up fine for five more bass that night. Caught three more bass in that location before it went cold and I moved to a different location and threw a frog. New location had a lot of lily pads caught one bass on the frog B-casting setup, one got off my frog, and missed two blowups. Went back to same area and caught two more bass on the fluke, one on the frog, location again went cold. Moved to again a new location caught no bass on frog or fluke. It was twilight now and I went home. On all eight bass I caught up to that point on the fluke I noticed four things. #1 I didn't miss any bass that hit, and I successfully set the hook on all eight of them. #2 despite all of them going airborne multiple times none got off #3 the hook was set in all of them so well I needed my NN piers to dislodge the hook meaning no way were those bass getting off #4 and likely very important, of the 10 bass I got on and 8 I got in 9 of them hit within the first 10-20% of my retrieve while I still had out 80-90% of my cast making a good hook more difficult VS of I had out much less line. In the past I was having at least 20% of the bass I got on get off and of the bass I landed at least 30% if not more in MY opinion despite VERY hard tight line hook sets, the hook (IMO) exhibited poor penetration and required at most minimal effort to remove the hook. Last night I experienced (Save for my two incidents of inept knot tying) 100% success in hook sets and landing the bass and the hook penetration IMO could not possibly get any better. As I said this is but one outing and 8 bass, but a I can not argue with an increase from 75-80% of hooking fish to 100% and a 75% increase of landing fish to 100%. I feel my increase in success can be essentially attributed to combination of three factors #1 using a MHFA rod VS a MHMA rod #2 using zero stretch braid VS copolymer #3 using a 4/0 hook VS a 3/0 hook. I did absolutely nothing else different or changed nothing at all from my style of fishing or how I set the hook. Absolutely no doubt in my mind I could feel the difference in how the combination of MHFA rod and zero stretch braid allowed me to make a more solid forceful hook set VS the MHMA rod this was most pronounced and noticeable when bass hit when I had 35-40 yards of line out. Best way I can describe the difference is now the hook sets felt to me as if I had snagged a large object more than hooking a fish. On one bass last night, a rather good one at at least 3.5-3.7lbs that hit almost immediately after my fluke hit the water at the end of a 40-45 yard cast about 5-7 yards other side of a section of pads, I was able to with minimal effort get him up on top of the water and winch him over all the weeds and pads to land him. I had the same thing happen in the past using my MHMA rod and I couldn't essentially "manhandle" a bigger bass anywhere near as easily like I did with the MHMF rod, and both rods are 7'3's. Thanks to a few simple changes suggested by members here my success hooking and landing bass has gone up at least 25%. Thanks to the great members here for their help and sharing their experiences with me.