Rockhopper

I don't typically buy baits seen in YouTube videos unless it really catches my eye. I saw this one and thought to myself that looks cool and a bit different. Ordered two packs from TW, and have only fished the green pumpkin dawn color. The second pack I got in the twisted green pumpkin purple color I have yet to fish. The baits have a sweet candy smell to them and a very unique (to me) cupped tail to help with the swagger on the fall. Man, I am really glad I ordered these. Got absolutely hammered on them last night. I tried them out rigged weightless on a 1/0 gammy and also on a weedless weighted wacky hook rigged like a jig head. Pretty dang cool bait and just wanted to share.

I have had success casting to blow ups with a weightless plastic such as a fluke or a worm. I get the bait right in the middle of where the chaos is/was and just let it flutter down like something got wounded in the process. I usually have success doing this guessing 30% of the time.

A $60 SPRO chad shad will be just as good imho.

Hard to beat Maxima Ultragreen. That line is a staple around here for most people fishing big river fish. Been using it as long as I can remember.

https://dobynsrods.com/product/d-blade-beast-white-on-white/ I think they are all out of stock. The only one I can find that allows add to cart is the above in colorado/willow 3/4oz configuration. The green add to cart button pops up when you select those options. I am sure they can be found on other websites and maybe amazon. That is not Dobyns Here are some: https://discounttackle.com/products/dobyns-d-blade-beast-double-willow-spinnerbaits?srsltid=AfmBOoqUvgITJO8alqoEB280qMXIhyWjkqgd2-TK9zu4cch8kwdJtz18

Dobyns Beast and Megabass SV3 is all I will buy anymore. I have gone through a metric crap ton of different brands. Those two are the best on the market imho. https://dobynsrods.com/product/d-blade-beast-shimmer-shad/

juvi gill, kasumi ito, and baby kingyo have been VERY productive colors for me.

Don't let your latitude fool you. Don't hesitate to go even bigger. You will be surprised at what you will catch. I am further north than you are and have no problem throwing 7" to 10" baits and catching fish. Remember though, fishing big swimbaits you can't go out and expect to catch a ton of fish. But it is a ton of fun, and you always have the potential to catch that monster. But I have caught plenty of fish on big swimbaits that the fish is smaller than the actual bait. Fish do not know how big they are imho. If they think they can eat it, they will.

The only electronics I use when I am fishing is my camera on my phone and my digital scale.

Yeah all on the Karashi. They were loving the baby kingyo color last night. I literally have not touched my spinning rod since I got my bfs setup. It is so much fun. I am gravitating towards big baits and tiny baits this year. Decided to make this a year of trying out new stuff. I have all kinds of tackle, but was always fishing jigs and spinnerbaits. Believe it or not, I have not thrown a spinnerbait since pre spawn. 😶

I cannot recommend these Talon rods enough. Incredible in hand. Extremely light. 7'5" on top with the Bantam MGL 7' middle with Curado 71 MGL 7' bottom with Curado BFS What is crazy awesome about the bfs setup is that I just stumbled upon it and could not be happier. The rod has a stamp on it 8lb - 15lb. None of these rods have recommended lure weights stamped on them. The two 7' rods are identical. I have had the bfs reel for awhile, but never had a rod for it. Decided one day to give it a try on the Talon. It will sling a karashi a good 30 yards, and I have fished many other tiny tiny lures and unweighted soft plastics on it too. Its spooled with 7lb Sniper. I cannot believe what I am able to throw on this setup. I have some of those tiny 1" LC squarebills that are 1/16 oz and it will absolutely sling those a good 20 yards as well. But the crazy thing is that the same rod with the Curado 71 on it I use for spinnerbaits, crankbaits, chatterbaits, etc. The 7'5" I have been using for larger crankbaits, jigs, medium sized swimbaits, and top water. These are very versatile rods.

Ok, so I took it apart as far as I was willing to go. Did not find anything weird. It was very clean as it is a very new reel. I wiped everything down. Oiled the bearings, greased the worm drive, etc. Took it fishing last night and that weird tick is gone at least for now. Hopefully it stays that way.

My biggest Karashi and bfs fish yet. 21" and just north of 4lbs. She's going to be a big girl in the Spring. Caught 9 last night in 1.5 hours using bfs out of the kayak. Two perch, one bluegill, one crappie, and 5 lmb. Also caught 3 more lmb using the crush city mayor.

35! No wonder I can't find any. 🤣 PM inbound.

Lost my last egg. My local Cabelas did not have these to replace. If anyone comes across these in the future in store and is willing to do me a solid, please pick them up for me. I'm good for it and will pay for everything with interest. I'd be interested in ghost shad and bone colors especially. Chartreuse sexy shad too.

Washington Gary Loomis

If I was just getting into it and for your weight range listed: SPRO Chad Shad Tiny Klash S-Waver Bucca Trick Shad 6th Sense Trace Bacca Burito 5" Savage Gear line through bluegill Bass Mafia Daingerous unloaded 6 and 7" Huddleston 68

I've noticed since last week that the bite has really died down too. I have been fishing one of the lakes by Camas quite a bit in the last month and I have gone from catching 15-20 in a 2.5 hour evening to about 5-7 all in a weeks time. The only thing they seem to want to eat right now is the Crush City Mayor and the Karashi. I am probably going to head back north in September and start fishing big swimbaits again on Silver and Kress.

My parents had a cabin on arguably the best lake in the PNW for bass fishing. At least at the time. It's in my DNA. Been bass fishing since I could hold a rod.

Yes.

Not yet. Thank you all for the suggestions. The plan is to look into everything suggested this weekend when I have extra time. I will report back with findings.

Those are all great suggestions. FWIW, the reel is basically new, and has done this since new. I have fished it maybe 3 times since I got it. But, I have had it long enough that I don't think exchange is an option.

If I swap handles from another reel and try again, would that help narrow down?

This one is a little hard to describe, so bear with me. The reel is absolutely smooth as butter when you turn the handle EXCEPT under load. By under load, I mean when you cast a lure and the load is the retrieve of the lure not reeling in a fish. No, it is not the lure itself creating this as I have tried it out with many different types of lures. It makes zero noises. Everything on it feels tight, no slop in the handle or anything. It is a fairly new reel. After the cast, when retrieving a lure I can feel a click in the retrieve. This is not an audible click, just a feel coming through the knobs. It speeds up and slows down with cadence. This reel is on a new rod that is very sensitive. Since the reel is so smooth otherwise, I first tried it on a different rod thinking maybe one of the eyes on the first rod had something going on and was registering all the way to my hand. Nope. Same feeling when the reel went to a second rod. My next thought was maybe there is some sort of defect or bur on the plastic worm drive for the level wind. I can not visibly see anything when spinning the handle, but that does not mean it is not there. Thinking the level wind is catching on something as it passes back and forth along the worm drive. I have disassembled it as much as taking the side plate off and removing the spool to visually check for any burring anywhere from manufacturing. I cannot find anything that makes this reel feel this way. I do not believe it is the gears as there is zero noise and the feeling goes away when just freely turning the handle with no load. I have also experimented with the drag and spool tension from completely loose to as tight as possible, and still feel this tactile click click click when I turn the handle during lure retrieve. Any ideas? This is driving me crazy.