Last week I bought a couple of Whopper Plopper 90's (Bone and Munky Butt) and caught a few bass right away so a few days ago I took advantage of Dick's by one, get one half off and picked up a couple of 130's (Bone and Loon).

 

We went out late yesterday and no sooner had we biked to the lagoon and a thunderstorm started rolling in. I got in a few casts but nothing hit on the 130's. But my sand landed a 2.2 pounder on a Zoom Watermelon Trick Worm.

 

We went out mid-morning and it was already hot - 90 degrees with the humidity just under a billion. I fished a bank on one of our favorite lagoons that is a pain to fish. Thick weeds 4 feet tall with very little break and the thicket is 4-6 feet across. It's a pain to cast and even more of a pain to land something. Not to beat a dead horse here, but there is one big gator and two juvenile gators on this lagoon so it's not like we can wade into the thicket.

 

Anyway, tossed the WP Bone 130 and within 3 casts landed a 2.9 pounder after finally getting him up through the weeds. Of course, my son sees that and comes running to fish where I was fishing (I don't really mind, just telling the story) and he landed one just under 2 pounds on another Zoom. We left that lagoon to make our way to another lagoon that offers some shade, but along the way stopped at a smaller lagoon that we had fished only once before. Tossed the 130 again and - BAM - landed a 1.5 pounder. By then it was blazing hot and we decided to head home, at least for a while. I need to buy a bike trailer so we can haul our gear and a cooler full of water. It was brutal out there.

 

I do like the Whopper Ploppers but there are a few drawbacks. The 130's land hard and probably scare fish at times. Not a big deal on a boat where you can cast past your taget zone, but not great when fishing bank to bank. Also, all it takes is a little bit of weeds and you lose the cavitation of the tail. The 90's land light in the target zone but the cavitation does not always engage right away even with a tug. Sometimes you have to tug and go tip up for a few cranks. That being said - I'm getting consistent action on these.

 

Pictures are attached. Yes, I usually wear a glove when putting my thumb into bigger fish. I have soft computer programmer fingers and my thumb tends to get shredded from all of the fishing that we do. What I worry about are open cuts and getting bacteria or parasites in the bloodstream from these smaller, semi stagnant lagoons. Yes, it's a bit paranoid. But every summer I hear about some poor soul in the south being exposed flesh eating bacteria through a cut, scrape, or nasal passage. And yes, my son was lectured about handling the fish body with the glove.

Nice post and nice fish! I don't see an issue using gloves so you will get no grief from me. Our lakes get various algae blooms throughout the summer. Never 100% sure when it is the more toxic type like the blue/green algae. Usually just avoid the algae bloom lakes and fish the others.