Pumpkin Lizard

Was bass fishing last Sunday on a lake with Wipers. The Wipers went on a frenzy in the evening. The only two lures I used was a 4 inch Mayor and 6th Sense Trace. The Mayor outperformed the Trace by miles. Honestly the fishing was so hot for a couple hours that the only thing stopping me was getting them off the hook quickly enough. I completely lost count of how many 10-15 inch wipers (easily 40 not more than 60) I caught but on the VMC Hybrid Jig I only used one Mayor. Which is kind of amazing because Wipers have a tendency to really wreck a bait in my limited experience with them. It was pretty ragged at the end of the night but it was still swimming like it should. The corkscrew on the jighead really locks it in and I think it increases the lifespan a great deal.

For the pigstick I had been using 5 but I just dropped down to a 4. Anything bigger on that bait with sunfish around and it’s like a hot dog in a hallway.

The Mayor is one of the most durable soft plastics I have ever used. I put on a VMC hybrid jig and I'll lose it to a snag long before it wears out. I would think using it as a trailer negates some of it's effectiveness since it has that "wobble" that a Magdraft has. If you find something more durable than The Mayor let me know. Yes. I do at least. The four inch is small enough to catch every fish but big enough to attract the bigs.

In terms of durability and action, I like the action of the pigstick better than a Senko and it seems to last longer in general.

I paid 12.99 for my pliers.

Me too. I have better luck with Gamakatsu off set EWGs but in general with EWGs I notice that I am pulling plastics through a fish's mouth more often than I like.

The same place the guy that lives on the lake is. Yet another bad tournament for the FFS is killing fishing choir. Close till the end. Watching Welcher trying to get his boat upstream was fun too. Brown fish ahead.

I might try a 4mm next time. I am new to this style of wacky rigging but I think I get a better hook up ratio and the bait lasts much longer. I caught an absolutely stupid amount of fish with them after the spawn.

Senkos are loaded with tons of salt and the plastic is very soft. Lately I have been using the Crush City Pig Stick with a 5mm crossover ring. I’ve had maybe one pulled off by a sunfish. The pig stick is pretty durable and has a great action when it descends and vibrates a bit when you pull it.

Just keep some hand sanitizer in your vehicle. Wipes it out.

"Commercial Break In Progress"

I think I might take my son fishing up there in August and show him where I went to school and then hit the Housy below Falls Villlage for enormous smallmouth.

I went to school on West Twin Lake. I caught lots of bass in both. East Twin also has Kokanee Salmon. The alewife population grows the bass and the trout pretty big.

The water you are in in that picture screams fluorocarbon to me. Or Braid to Fluorocarbon.

it’s funny. The other day I came to the conclusion that if I just used green pumpkin for every soft plastic but the baitfish ones then that would be all I need.

The slipping causes the line to loosen which allows the line to dig in for sure.

If I want to watch a deep dive on a certain type of bait then the first place I look at is Tactical Bassin. For swimbaits I watched sone good Milliken videos and he gave up some good juice. Marling Baits is hilarious and I really dig his creative process. I can’t stand Randy Blaukat’s “political” videos and he has just made me like FFS and Braid to Fluoro even more. But… his fishing videos and his war stories are decent. Wild Life, this is a guy who lives in the Houston are and fishes for enormous Alligator Gar. Great videos. Finally Bass After Dark Live on Thursday nights has become a weekly ritual. They have great guests and timely topics and do deep dives on things like Crayfish and Shad. The Chat is highly entertaining and even more inappropriate too.

It fixes both issues as far as I know. Because I forgot to do it last season and it spun and dug in on one of mine.

3/16 and 1/4

I love the VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jig Head. And I use it with The Mayor which is made by Crush City. Both are Rapala brands and I am sure they were designed to use with eachother. I like the 4.5 inch version of the Mayor. The corkscrew behind the jig head really locks the soft plastic into place.

not to be pedantic but they eat anything with a spinal cord that they can catch, plus crawdads, crabs etc. I saw a picture last week of a trout that was simultaneously eating and pooping the same snake.

It delivers the same effect as putting on electrical tape. You tie the braid to the moon. The braid just needs something to bite into so that it won’t dig and slip. I usually use mono because I can never find my electrical tape.

Drop shot Squarebills A-Rigs

You mentioned that the braid is digging in on the spool. You need to take the braid off and do one of two things. Either take a strip of electrical tape and wrap it around the spool or put just enough mono or fluoro on the spool to cover the spool. Then you just tie the braid to the backing. That will fix digging and the braid spinning on the spool. Fluoro sinks much better but if you are fishing shallow then it’s probably not a big deal. Braid will have a bow in the line as it sinks. I personally believe that that Fluoro has better sensitivity on slack line but with braid you can see the strike and line movement better on slack line.

I feel the same way about Crappie. At least Rock Bass actually put up a fight however.