I had to work for one fish but it was better than none. Tried cut bait off the dock all weekend and I think turtles kept grabbing it, never could hook up 

 

I had two bites under the same dock Saturday but the wind kept ripping me away from it. Today (sunday) was nice and calm 

A humbling day, this little dink decided to try a 4" jerkbait. A 4" jerkbait that quickly afterwards decorated a tree. And then was quickly joined by another one. So I called it a day. First time I've ever caught a fish in that little lake,. Only took four total lure losses in two trips to get it. I know there's bigger fish in there. Gonna be a while before I go back though...hard to look at my Christmas ornaments until I catch something good again.

 

It's been a very challenging two weeks...I did really well the week of the 14th and I think I've had one quality fish since, and 4 or 5 lost jerkbaits, for 4 or 5 different reasons. I guess that's a sign I'm getting more confident and trying them in more places. I have a trip coming up on Friday that I'm very excited about, so it's going to be a good week regardless. 

Got a couple fish 20 inch + on little bream.

Sometimes I get lazy and just like sitting on the dock with a live bait out while I catch bream.

That 2nd fish is probably the skinniest fish for its length I’ve ever caught! 

5 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Got a couple fish 20 inch + on little bream.

Sometimes I get lazy and just like sitting on the dock with a live bait out while I catch bream.

Ohhh boy I need to do that sometime. Live bait fishing can be really fun

 

Awesome fish by the way!

5 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Ohhh boy I need to do that sometime. Live bait fishing can be really fun

 

Awesome fish by the way!

I caught that first fish twice in 10 minutes!

I wouldn't usually hit the same spot twice in one weekend, but I was still a little chapped about losing that big girl on Fri so decided to try my luck there today. Bite was much slower, but first fish of the day on jerkbait was 3lb 5oz so I took that as a good sign.

 

...Which quickly led to more consternation. 45 minutes in and I lost yet another big one on a jump. She was every bit as big as the one I lost Friday. Hurray She threw the lipless, which surprised me as I generally don't lose many fish on a lipless, may have just had her skin hooked or something.

 

Rest of the evening continued to be mostly an exercise in futility but stuck with it. Lost a pretty nice crappie right at the bank, got a couple more bass under 2lb. On the way back I managed to hook into one more nice fish on the lipless. Got off 4 jumps and never came unpinned, dunno what happened with the other one but thems the breaks sometimes. This one came in at 5lb 9oz, a nice consolation for an otherwise frustrating weekend. Ended up with 7 bass total.

 

And of course my at-this-point-obligatory tilapia catch. Ended up with three of them today, I don't think I'll ever begin to make a dent in their population.

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

A humbling day, this little dink decided to try a 4" jerkbait. A 4" jerkbait that quickly afterwards decorated a tree. And then was quickly joined by another one. So I called it a day. First time I've ever caught a fish in that little lake,. Only took four total lure losses in two trips to get it. I know there's bigger fish in there. Gonna be a while before I go back though...hard to look at my Christmas ornaments until I catch something good again.

 

It's been a very challenging two weeks...I did really well the week of the 14th and I think I've had one quality fish since, and 4 or 5 lost jerkbaits, for 4 or 5 different reasons. I guess that's a sign I'm getting more confident and trying them in more places. I have a trip coming up on Friday that I'm very excited about, so it's going to be a good week regardless. 

My God! That’s such a big…hand! ?

 

Sucks about the lost jerkbaits. That adds up to $$$ quick! 

Golden Shiner Jackhammer in dirty water caught some good fish today. I love that Sierra 734c for my moving baits! It just feels so natural! 

Had just a tough weekend of fishing. Never got on a real good bite and the size wasn't there with the bites I got. Saturday was the best day by far. Got about 15, mostly on jerkbaits, these 2 being about as big as they got.

The real heartbreaker was having a fish hammer an 8" Magdraft and somehow not touch the hook, ate it up to the eyeballs.

9 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Had just a tough weekend of fishing. Never got on a real good bite and the size wasn't there with the bites I got. Saturday was the best day by far. Got about 15, mostly on jerkbaits, these 2 being about as big as they got.

The real heartbreaker was having a fish hammer an 8" Magdraft and somehow not touch the hook, ate it up to the eyeballs.

I hope to have a tough day like you when I grow up 

9 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I hope to have a tough day like you when I grow up 

That's what I was thinking ??

9 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I hope to have a tough day like you when I grow up 

Sunday was really rough, started with 2 drum and had to move lakes because it got so windy. Ended up with maybe 10-12 and none would have gone 2 pounds. Had one hit a bladed jig really hard but didn't even touch it either.

2 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

That's what I was thinking ??

Same...I'm just struggling to keep my jerkbaits attached to my line right now. In five days I've lost two to trees, three on rocks, and one to a failed leader line. Not much to show for it, just a bruised ego and a whole lot of self-doubt at waters I thought I knew a little bit about. I miss December, when I couldn't hardly skunk if I tried...

Update: I lost another to a leader failure. We're going back to the double uni, I'm not good enough at knot tying to do an Albright successfully and I'm losing jerkbaits at an unsustainable and frankly angering pace. Back at it tomorrow, hopefully I do more than just littering with extra steps...

6 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Same...I'm just struggling to keep my jerkbaits attached to my line right now. In five days I've lost two to trees, three on rocks, and one to a failed leader line. Not much to show for it, just a bruised ego and a whole lot of self-doubt at waters I thought I knew a little bit about. I miss December, when I couldn't hardly skunk if I tried...

Update: I lost another to a leader failure. We're going back to the double uni, I'm not good enough at knot tying to do an Albright successfully and I'm losing jerkbaits at an unsustainable and frankly angering pace. Back at it tomorrow, hopefully I do more than just littering with extra steps...

Braid to leader? Just one more knot to fail.

 

I run mono or copolymer. Only lost 2 jerkbaits all winter, both due to my negligence with retying and checking my line.

40 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Braid to leader? Just one more knot to fail.

 

I run mono or copolymer. Only lost 2 jerkbaits all winter, both due to my negligence with retying and checking my line.

I’d agree with this.  I’ve never been a fan of braid on moving baits except a frog.  I was using flouro last fall on my dobyns colt. That I was using for jerk baits just because, that’s what line was on it. I use Mono, co-polymer flouro or straight flouro for all moving baits including cranks, jerkbaits, chatter baits, paddle tails, and spinners

9 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Same...I'm just struggling to keep my jerkbaits attached to my line right now. In five days I've lost two to trees, three on rocks, and one to a failed leader line. Not much to show for it, just a bruised ego and a whole lot of self-doubt at waters I thought I knew a little bit about. I miss December, when I couldn't hardly skunk if I tried...

Update: I lost another to a leader failure. We're going back to the double uni, I'm not good enough at knot tying to do an Albright successfully and I'm losing jerkbaits at an unsustainable and frankly angering pace. Back at it tomorrow, hopefully I do more than just littering with extra steps...

 

Double uni is my leader connection knot of choice, properly tied it's more than strong enough for most applications.

7 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Double uni is my leader connection knot of choice, properly tied it's more than strong enough for most applications.

It was my knot of choice until I got a tatula reel with a t wing system, the bulk of the knot would hit the guide every time. The modified Albright knot fixed that, and when I tie it properly it is just as strong. But I can't keep polluting the water like that. I'm now using a Lews that doesn't have the t wing issue. 

 

I typically run a braid to a copolymer leader, usually CXX. Before I started deviating from the double uni...I'd never lost a bait on a fouled cast that I can remember. May just have to suck it up on that tatula and use some big game mono so I don't have to deviate at all from the knots I'm good at

 

Anyway sorry for getting off topic, my next post will have a fish in it

4 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Anyway sorry for getting off topic, my next post will have a fish in it

 

As promised

2.25

2.5

4.6

 

The three best of six fish in 2.5 hours of fishing. Some really cool strikes today, absolutely wonderful. One right next to a boat pier, I was just messing with the jerkbait and a little spotted bass comes up and slams it. Thats better.

 

Now to go move furniture for a friend. Thank you cold front, very cool!

Those are some nice bass, man. Good to see you succeeding after the heartbreak of losing several lures in a row. Keep it up!

3 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

Those are some nice bass, man. Good to see you succeeding after the heartbreak of losing several lures in a row. Keep it up!

Hey thanks

It felt good to do well. Helps when I'm not doubting my knots ?

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

 

As promised

2.25

2.5

4.6

 

The three best of six fish in 2.5 hours of fishing. Some really cool strikes today, absolutely wonderful. One right next to a boat pier, I was just messing with the jerkbait and a little spotted bass comes up and slams it. Thats better.

 

Now to go move furniture for a friend. Thank you cold front, very cool!

Nice man!!

Just a couple little guys from earlier while experimenting with the Owner single replacement hooks on a jerkbait from another thread. Too early to make a verdict, but results so far are positive. First one hit hard on the twitch and got the front hook right in the corner of the mouth, second one grabbed it on the pause and got the middle hook right through the nose.

 

Also the hookup ratio on that 3" Savage Gear pulse tail RTF bluegill (say that five times fast) is proving to be pretty disappointing so far.

40 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

Also the hookup ratio on that 3" Savage Gear pulse tail RTF bluegill (say that five times fast) is proving to be pretty disappointing so far.

Some days I seem to get a lot of little tail pullers with those baits. When they really want them, I've had a pretty good hook up ratio with the 4" version. 

Just now, Bluebasser86 said:

Some days I seem to get a lot of little tail pullers with those baits. When they really want them, I've had a pretty good hook up ratio with the 4" version. 

 

Time will tell, my sample size today was pretty small. Had four good bites, hooked into two of them and both threw it on the jump even with the whole bait deep in their mouth. Four bites is not enough data to say either way, but it was not a promising start.

 

Looks good in the water, though, that iridescence really comes to life in the sun. I do wish it had a bit more secondary action, tail thumps like crazy but the body is pretty static. It reminds me a lot of how the Live Target swimbaits run, but it's getting bit so who am I to judge?

20 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Time will tell, my sample size today was pretty small. Had four good bites, hooked into two of them and both threw it on the jump even with the whole bait deep in their mouth. Four bites is not enough data to say either way, but it was not a promising start.

 

Looks good in the water, though, that iridescence really comes to life in the sun. I do wish it had a bit more secondary action, tail thumps like crazy but the body is pretty static. It reminds me a lot of how the Live Target swimbaits run, but it's getting bit so who am I to judge?

The hook on the 3" is pretty small, not a lot of gap either. If they eat it deep, likely getting the thin skin in the roof of the mouth that tears easily, making it pretty easy for them to toss the bait.

 

It's a very natural swim IMO. A live fish doesn't move it's head very much while swimming, mostly just it's tail.