The Bait monkey is going to have his way with me

[casts_by_fly]

In another thread earlier today I told someone they didn’t need a new rod and apologies to the bait monkey in one swoop. In fact, I said “please forgive me bait monkey, I'll do double duty next time”. The monkey heard that and said “hold my beer”. 
 

my schedule has been tight lately so when the stars aligned I took an afternoon trip to my favorite local lake. I haven’t fished it this year and was curious where it was in the cycle. It’s a natural lake and in the hills so it’s usually cooler than the others around. That was incorrect tonight. While the lake Sunday was 59-61 and the big lake around is at 59, this one was 66 degrees. Going down the bank it was a mix of bass and bluegill on beds. It was a spinnerbait kind of day (overcast, light breeze, etc) so I started there but after seeing how much grass was already up and that the bass were on beds I gave up on it after 15 minutes and one pickerel. I had to take a work call so I plodded around the lake watching live scope while on the call and saw nothing anywhere (not surprising, the bass here relate to the grass). I hate bed fishing, so I decided to throw a wacky senko along the bluegill beds and hard cover looking for post spawn ears. I managed two bass that way but I hate fishing like that so I needed something else. 
 

Cue the monkey. Every year I pick a thing or two that I want to try and/or fish a lot more and get good at. After watching a bunch of 

Tyler Berger I decided to try a magdraft this year. I only went with the 6” since I had rods to handle it. I had just watched his lake break where bass were around beds and it turned out some were eating a magdraft pretty well. Turns out they were doing that here too. I landed 3 plus a bonus musky plus had that many more knock it sideways and not hook up.  These were definitely post spawn fish as a 19” fish was only 3-08. In two months that fish will be a pound heavier here. The musky was a clean 20” fish. I had another 40+” musky watch my lure go by disinterested. 
 

I have to say, fishing a magdraft is a lot of fun. I’ve fished big keitechs and other soft swim baits before but the MD is just different. In the super clear water up here (it was 5’+tonight) I can see it working well.  I might have to grab one or two more now, maybe some other high end soft swim baits, a glide or two and a rod to handle them.  I can see how people get addicted to this. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Good story, good bass, and good photos. All good!

[softwateronly]

@casts_by_flyNext you need the magdraft freestyle and some 8/0 (3/8 & 3/4oz) beast hooks.  You can bang it through the cover when they won't come up in the column for it.  A heavy jig rod is usually all you need and for me it seems to extend the magdraft bite well into June.

 

scott  

[casts_by_fly]

3 hours ago, softwateronly said:

@casts_by_flyNext you need the magdraft freestyle and some 8/0 (3/8 & 3/4oz) beast hooks.  You can bang it through the cover when they won't come up in the column for it.  A heavy jig rod is usually all you need and for me it seems to extend the magdraft bite well into June.

 

scott  

funny enough, I’ve been chatting with someone else here about just that. I have the hooks already so just need to grab a couple freestyles. 

[Swamp Girl]

I used the Rapala Crush City swimbait last night for the first time, hooked to an Owner underspin. I rigged it so that I could safely cast into heavy cover, i.e. with the hook tight to the back of the lure. I cast with impunity. It's not as big as your Magdraft, but as the weeds thicken, it'll let you reach bass no mattter where they are. I don't think I hooked a single weed and here's where I was casting:

 

[GreenPig]

Excellent. May I suggest a Spro KGB Glide.

[casts_by_fly]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I used the Rapala Crush City swimbait last night for the first time, hooked to an Owner underspin. I rigged it so that I could safely cast into heavy cover, i.e. with the hook tight to the back of the lure. I cast with impunity. It's not as big as your Magdraft, but as the weeds thicken, it'll let you reach bass no mattter where they are. I don't think I hooked a single weed and here's where I was casting:

 

which size were you throwing?  I have some 4” on the way but they are more for FFS open water ‘sight’ fishing. 
 

if you don’t already have some, grab a pack of yamamoto dshads and some owner light twist lock weighted hooks.  Rig them texposed and then hide the hook point. You can put them anywhere so long as you don’t let it swing around a branch a couple times and they should fish really well in that type of water. Especially with the spawn coming up soon for you.  

this is the type of pondweed that I get a lot of. This is broadleaf and was in early April last year. It fills in more with coontail, curly pondweed, and pads. It’s 8’ deep there. A buzz bait over the top is a good choice but anything else has to be pretty weedless to get through it. 

[Swamp Girl]

I don't target spawning bass. I assume I catch some, but not intentionally. That photo looks like the bogs I fish. Feet of weeds with inches of water on top. Thanks for the lure suggestion!

[MIbassyaker]

3 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

this is the type of pondweed that I get a lot of. This is broadleaf and was in early April last year. It fills in more with coontail, curly pondweed, and pads. It’s 8’ deep there. A buzz bait over the top is a good choice but anything else has to be pretty weedless to get through it. 

Looks exactly like the type we have in the natural lakes here  -- P. perfoliatus.  Known regionally as "cabbage." The stuff can reach the surface in 15' of water, and bass could be hanging around at any depth.

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I don't target spawning bass. I assume I catch some, but not intentionally. That photo looks like the bogs I fish. Feet of weeds with inches of water on top. Thanks for the lure suggestion!

same. I don’t target them on the beds. When I said sight fishing I meant forward facing sonar ‘sight’. 

13 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Looks exactly like the type we have in the natural lakes here  -- P. perfoliatus.  Known regionally as "cabbage." The stuff can reach the surface in 15' of water, and bass could be hanging around at any depth.

most every lake here has it. We also get the curly leaf variety which is actually worse for motoring through because of the quantity of leaves. Then we get coontail and milfoil. And then nyads which are thin and wispy and just make a mess of everything. 

[Swamp Girl]

@casts_by_fly: I can't even see their beds. I'm too low in my canoe. However,  the tandem canoe on my pond is an 85-pound beast and it's  so stable I stood in it to take the swamp photos and to cast a few times over grass and bushes.

[txchaser]

Monkey wanted me to tell you that now you also need:

6" Optimum Boom Boom 

6" 6th Sense Whale

Underspin and regular versions of the hooks in multiple weights.

 

Eventually you'll need a bigger rod, and 8" versions of all of the above too. 

 

[casts_by_fly]

9 hours ago, txchaser said:

Monkey wanted me to tell you that now you also need:

6" Optimum Boom Boom 

6" 6th Sense Whale

Underspin and regular versions of the hooks in multiple weights.

 

Eventually you'll need a bigger rod, and 8" versions of all of the above too. 

 

 

Thanks for that.  Do they make underspins appropriate for 6" swimbaits (like a freestyle as an example)?  I've never looked for them that big.  I fish underspins on 2-4" all the time.

 

Thanks for those.  Both look pretty tasty.

 

New rods are fun, but that's not one for this year I don't think.  I'm going to stick to the 6" range for now.

 

[PhishLI]

On 5/21/2024 at 6:26 AM, casts_by_fly said:

Do they make underspins appropriate for 6" swimbaits (like a freestyle as an example)? 

Owner Beast Flashy Swimmer with CPS 2pk | Tackle Warehouse

 

There's also a 6/0 3/8oz in the standard Flashy swimmer that'll work is slim bodies.

Owner Flashy Swimmer with CPS 2pk | Tackle Warehouse

[casts_by_fly]

ah, I do have some of those in the box, but not in the beast sizes.  They are 3/0-5/0 and under a quarter ounce.  I should have realized they make them bigger.