ElGuapo928

We do a lot of night fishing here in the Roosevelt “jungle”, so I definitely feel your pain. I would venture to say that the most common thing fished in summer night tournaments is still a 7” or 10” Power worm on a Texas rig. I still throw a lot of light spinnerbaits as well. The smaller profile 3/8 and 1/4 oz baits pull through the salt cedars easily. One of my buddies likes to throw a Fluke at night and has pulled in some nice fish doing so.

I don’t normally let it bother me too much. I have more good days than bad, and I’d rather have spent the day on the water than at the house watching TV.

Duo Realis Shinmushi and Koshinmushi are tough to beat for a small/light topwater. My son has one of those Lunkerhunt spiders that he fishes on spinning gear and actually does pretty good with it.

Most of my baitcasters have 12 or 15lb fluoro or copolymer (mono). The one I usually throw topwaters on has 12lb copolymer. Spinning rods all are 8 or 10lb braid. Heaviest I ever go is 30lb braid, and that’s for rare occasions.

Never been ashamed to pull a dink…..always worth the laughs to get the smallest one. This little clown thought he was up to hitting a 12” Noodle worm.

I carry both the standard Bass Pro hunk of lead/chains one (throw away the string that comes with it and get a 20’ retractable dog leash) and an extendable pole type golf ball retriever that I found at Goodwill for $2 and tie wired a couple of coil springs to. I have also used the net to snag a RatLTrap from a tree.

It’s all in your attitude. If you’re enjoying yourself and learning new tricks and techniques, then by my metric you are doing good. The big fish and numbers will come with time on the water. Fish with some buddies and do some informal, penny ante competitions…it’s a ton of fun to do 1V1’s for who buys lunch, or “first, most, biggest” for $20 each category. Gets you into a different mindset and can make the slowest day into a challenge.

Certainly looks like that should be the ticket.

There aren’t a whole lot of docks to skip under in this entire state, so usually my skipping has been limited to flukes or Senkos under the brush or into old culverts. I was shown the art of skipping a Silver Minnow spoon under docks on Lake Conroe, and that was a ton of fun - they’ll skip pretty easily and go a long way.

Reaper or 4” worm on a dropshot is pretty much standard, but doodling a 4” curl tail is always on the menu. My absolute favorite though is a 4” straight tail on a 1/8 oz darter head. Dropped through suspended schools can be a killer.

I have one white (bone) Rico that I will throw when it’s really slick and glassy. Lately I’ve been fishing a Choppo 75 like a popper - jerk, sit, jerk, etc and picked up my PB smallmouth a couple weeks ago doing this (4 and change on my cheap, wholly inaccurate scale, but still a toad for a Roosevelt smalljaw).

When the water gets muddy during the spring runoff, my top choice is a black double Colorado spinnerbait. Other than that, it’s business as usual.

When they’re keying on small threadfins, I’ve found that dead sticking a reaper on a dropshot can be deadly.

If I had to narrow it down to just one of the current reels, it’d probably be a 30 size Revo X, with 12 lb braid and fluoro leader in 6, 8, and 12lb.

I’ve been throwing free rigs more than anything the last year or two. My main setup is a 7’ M/Fast with 15lb fluoro. Typically 3/16oz weight and 4/0 EWG hook - move up to a 1/4 oz if it’s windy. I have recently started tinkering with a 6’6” M/MFast spinning rod, 8lb fluoro and a 1/8oz free weight, dropping a 5” Zipper on a 2/0 EWG. Following the scopers around and picking up the fish they left on the ledges in 15-20 foot range has been really successful, they’re grabbing it on the fall and heading for deep water - almost self setting.

Red shad 10” Power worm is always solid, but a 9” BPS “triple ripple” in red shad is the deal after dark.

I feel your pain, my hookset/chakra/biorythm/whatever isn’t compatible with swingheads either. I lose far more fish on them than I ever did standard football heads. I solved this problem by dumping my inventory of swingheads off on a buddy.

Find you a copy of “Bass fishing in California: Secrets of the Western Bass Pros” by Ron Kovach…..got pretty much everything you need to know in it.

I still pay for membership, but I think it’s mostly out of habit now. Bassmaster has gotten where it has less worthwhile reading content than the weekly Subway coupons in the mailbox. Would love to see a return to the 80’s/90’s.

Ever since going rounds with cancer, my level/lack of heat tolerance has determined that my last cast takes place between 85 and 90 degrees. Once temperatures get cooler, my cutoff becomes when I start getting cramps in my arms.

I’m pretty much the same most days. I do like to measure/weigh the bigger ones, mostly just to satisfy my own curiosity. I enjoy small/club type tournaments and don’t really mind/care if I’m in contention or just donating. If I blank for the day, I don’t care - getting on the water is a “W”.

That soft serve cone always felt like the perfect ending to a day on the lake!

We’ve all had days/stretches like that. More often than not it comes down to a subtle change in presentation speed or movement. Even your line could be the determining factor. Find some bait/rig/technique that you have real confidence in, and stick with it. I’m a firm believer in my “pet” rigs, to the point that I don’t leave the house without them tied on.

I’ve only done it accidentally, dragging something as the wind carried me while digging out a backlash. Ashamed to admit I’ve caught a few fish this way.

Of the places I have been, the only really significant change in bass behavior from what I normally see here in central AZ has been East Texas, fish were far more aggressive and less spooky than their desert dwelling cousins.