On 5/18/2018 at 10:59 AM, dgkasper58 said:

Comes off as of casting it off?

Naw, I just swap out lures is all. I have no confidence in them. Something else always seems to be a better fit for any given circumstance. Last year I forced myself to get better at fishing jigs. Would hit the water with only jigs and make them work. I have been meaning to do the same with spinnerbaits.

Spinners of any sort, chatterbaits, buzzbaits, texas rigs, carolina rigs, jigs, spoons, swimbaits, flukes, lipless crankbaits, frogs. Out of these, I've caught a few on a texas rig but other techniques are much more productive for me than the listed. Note this is only for bass cause some of these work for me with other species, like trout.

I've yet to catch anything on a jig, or a jerk, got a few on a spinner this year, got a couple on a square bill crank, and 1 on a lip less. I havnt found many baits I have complete confidence in yet. 

On 5/18/2018 at 5:47 PM, Kjruiz said:

You sold me. Ever “walk” it?

No. Basically did all the action with the reel handle. 

On 5/19/2018 at 2:21 PM, Bigbruce said:

Didn’t even know what a dep 250 was till now. I can tell you I would cry if I lost one. So after watching a bunch of YouTube videos I’ve ordered the rat. I’ll post up my results after I get it next week. I hope I have great results with it.

Nice. You will like it! Rats are also great if you get rising water conditions. Around cover. Remember bass have no idea how big they are. They will eat a bait up to atound 50% of their size. If it looks good to them and they can get it in their mouths they will try. Look up butch brown and you will see how effective the deps 250 is. But throwing big baits is a whole other category. 

Unfortunately this "fear of losing a bait or getting tangled" keeps many fisherman from catching their pb. Some of the big girls find security in some pretty tight places. 

I  havent thrown a spook for years . I just never had much luck with them . I can half step  them around a stump  but cant get  a fish  to  hit .

On 5/17/2018 at 12:35 PM, Catt said:

Brush Hog!

 

Aint caught a single bass on one!

 

Baby Brush Hog... thousand bass!

 

Confidence Catt...confidence my man. 

Everything. 

6 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

On 5/18/2018 at 5:47 PM, Kjruiz said:

You sold me. Ever “walk” it?

No. Basically did all the action with the reel handle.

Wow, I threw it for the first time today, and man does is look awesome when moving. It caught a few reeds, but I found if I pop it up in the air just a bit it untangles itself and I can resume reeling. Unfortunately the bass where in beds and I did not get any bites, but I have high hopes for this one 

5 hours ago, Drew03cmc said:

Confidence Catt...confidence my man. 

 

I got confidence...in baby brush hogs!

 

Don't own anymore brush hogs...have no intention on buying any!

Yep. I've a lot of baits like that. Senkos are one of them...no confidence. I just don't like throwing them. I'd rather toss a finesse worm or Ned rig. Don't ask me why. For wacky rigging, give me a trick worm or flick shake. 

Medium and Deep Diving Crankbaits .... I would starve to death if I had to feed myself with these lures.

Green Pumpkin colored baits. 

A 3/4 ounce  Black/blue war eagle spinnerbait at night is my favorite bait to throw. But I don’t own a single spinnerbait that is made to throw during the day. I hate them!!!!!

On 5/17/2018 at 8:25 AM, IgotWood said:

Jerk baits, chatter baits, spinner baits, swim baits....I guess moving baits in general are my nemesis. I guess it doesn't help that the two lakes I frequent the most are nearly unfishable due to grass from March to January. But on the rare occasion I fish somewhere else, I have a hard time sticking with these baits because of my lack of confidence in them.

Oh, and FROGS!!! Everyone I know can slay fish on frogs. I've spent entire fishing trips chucking frogs, forcing myself not to try anything else. I've had only two takes on a frog, ever. However, this year I took my first frog fish, and had a couple of bites. So maybe I am finally breaking the curse.

Welcome to the dark side.  We have better cookies!

On 5/20/2018 at 12:13 AM, FishDewd said:

Spinners of any sort, chatterbaits, buzzbaits, texas rigs, carolina rigs, jigs, spoons, swimbaits, flukes, lipless crankbaits, frogs. Out of these, I've caught a few on a texas rig but other techniques are much more productive for me than the listed. Note this is only for bass cause some of these work for me with other species, like trout.

What the hell do you fish with, then?  Lol

4 hours ago, Jaderose said:

Welcome to the dark side.  We have better cookies!

What the hell do you fish with, then?  Lol

Everything else! Topwater poppers, torpedoes, ploppers. I do dabble with frogs but no luck so far. Crankbaits, drop shots, split shots, hi-lo rigs, kentucky rigs, other stuff I come up with. Main reason I don't have luck with the ones I listed is I fish hoghly pressured waters. Those fish have seen pretty much everything. Only way I can get plastics to work is on a texas or wacky rigged dropshot and even thats no guarantee. I just have better luck with it.

jigs and texas rigs. pretty much anything directly on the bottom like crank baits. most of my waters have weedy bottoms and id rathe have a drop shot suspend off the bottom that fish something in them.

Spinnerbaits, chatter baits, jigs, and crankbaits. 

This year a whopper plopper. I hooked up with a ton a really nice fish and boated a few of them last year. So, I bought a rod to dedicate to a plopper to help keep from ripping the trebles out. I’ve thrown it a ton this year and haven’t even had a bite!

Keitech swim baits. I'd never used them before last summer. I read about how effective they are, but never bought any. I was out with a guide who had me tie one on and I got some smallies on them. After the outing, I stopped by a tackle store and bought a package of 6 for 8 bucks. Ouch! Got a few on them the next day and saw how fragile they were. Over the winter, I invested heavily in several different sizes and colors but I haven't had any luck with them the entire spring. 

Worms.  Doesn’t matter if it’s senkos or the curly tail variety.  In 2012 when I got back into fishing and I started fishing the river again in town. I killed them on a weightless Texas riged Gulp crawler by just twitching the rod reel fast and realing in slack. Caught tons of big smallies. We had drought conditions most the summer and the river was the lowest it’s ever been.  Since that time period  I have barley had zero hits on a worm. 

Well... I've never caught anything on a buzz plug, and any form of bass jig..

Targeting smallmouth in tournaments always seems to end in frustration for me. Even during tournaments where they seem to be biting better than largemouth. For example, a few years ago during our year end classic, 3 of the top 4 bags were all or mostly smallmouth. With 23lbs in 1st, 19 lbs in 3rd, and 18lbs in 4th. We were the only one with largemouth and slid nicely into 2nd with 21.9 lbs of them. I think in my entire tournament career, I have cashed with smallmouth 3 times, and have never won with them. I also have caught the biggest smallmouth brought in several times in a tournament, only to get edged out by a largemouth for lunker.

 

As for baits I don't have any confidence in, any brush hog style creature bait or soft plastic lizards...it doesn't matter what size/color/brand, I have ZERO confidence in them, and don't buy or use them. 

On 5/17/2018 at 10:15 AM, DRT said:

In my years of fishing Ive never caught a fish on a spinnerbait. Its kind've embarrassing really. Supposedly spinnerbaits are a bass staple with a lot of people, but ive never had success with them. I mainly do most of my catching on soft plastics. Maybe i should just try to focus more on learning the spinnerbait.

Funny ... I got back into fishing this year and the first bass I land is on a Spinner. 5 pounder. Worst thing that could have happened....

 

Haven't been able to land one on a Spinner since. I went with mastering plastics and do best with T-rigged worms and Rage Tails.

 

I need to dedicate time to spinners.... 

Just goes to show the different fishing styles and bodies of water we fish on...I cant understand not catching on topwater or jigs! I caught around 10 on topwater alone yesterday....But, i cannot buy a bite on crankbaits or chatterbaits and I see that other people crush with them.

Whopper Plopper 130 never gets a sniff.