Skip to content

What would you keep and what would you get rid of?

Featured Replies

Get rid of all of it. Send it to me for proper disposal!

In all seriousness. What do you use? What do you like? What don’t you use? What don’t you like?

  • Super User

I fish from canoes with no electronics on ponds less than 400 acres, so in our Venn diagram, you and I would be two circles that barely touch, however I suggest fishing a little like me:

I rig six rods before I launch. I retire them all for each fishing trip so that the knots are fresh and unlike most bass anglers and I'll cast all six lures. If I had a big boat like yours, I'd have a dozen or more rods rigged and ready to cast. Sometimes I'll just cast a lure once. Other times I'll stick with it. I've caught a lot of bass in my life, so I have good hunches based upon decades of bass catching. You earn those hunches by fishing, so stick with it. The fish will eventually come.

I troll a lot. I troll two rods whenever I'm moving from one casting spot to another. Trolling is my FFS. It has taught me a lot about where off-shore bass hang, plus I'm fishing 99% of the time I'm on the water because I'm trolling...and when I'm trolling, I'm fishing 100% of the time with two lures, so I up my odds. It's exciting when a rod snaps back with a bass. Sometimes, because off-shore bass school, both rods will snap back at the same time and that's a circus.

Be as quiet as possible. With your motor and FFS, you're already churning the water and pulsing sound, so don't clomp around your boat and drop gear on the deck atop those noises. And if you're fishing cover, learn to alight your lure on the water. Plus, there is no cover too thick for bass. Bass can wedge themselves into spots that are more weeds and wood than water. They prefer those spots! For such spots, use soft plastics and skin hook the point of your hook.

Plus, vary your retrieves. When I'm varying my retrieves to determine what bass want that day, I say aloud what I'm doing to help me remember when a bass hits. Once a bass hits, I mostly stick with that retrieve.

Lastly, once you catch bass at a particular place on a particular day, look to repeat that pattern. For example, if you pull a bass from a laydown on a windblown shore, keep casting at laydowns on the windblown shore. However, a pattern can die quickly, as bass are shifty critters, so don't keep repeating the pattern if it stops working.

Your lures are fine. What matters is the wiggle you put in those worms and minnows.

  • Super User
15 hours ago, Checkerfred said:

Any particular reason on the Jerky Js, powebait, snd savages you marked? The spoons I’ve tried and haven’t had any luck

They just didnt pass the initial look test didnt hook me.

  • Super User

I will add one thing: You are likely missing hits. You are missing chances to catch more bass because bass can hit so lightly. There are no shortcuts to detecting hits. You have to experience the great range of how bass can hit a lure. Sometimes it feels like I'm retrieving through slightly thicker water. Other times, I feel nothing, but see my line do something strange, like go slack or move to the side. Other times, I couldn't even describe what I feel. My retrieve just feels ever so slightly different. So, as they say, since hook sets are free, so set away!

I used to take people fishing in northwestern Ontario and whereas we'd begin and end the days with lures, in mid-day, we used leeches. It amazed me how often even experiences anglers would miss a hit on their leech.

  • Super User

As a certified lure hoarder I would keep it all just in case. Now I would only use 5% of it this year but couldn't get rid of anything.

Allen

Get you some 4/0 Gamakatsu offset roundbend worm hooks and take one of those Rage Craws in the top left corner and put on it and throw weightless in shallow areas and either t rig or c rig it for deeper spots, I bet you'll catch something. Also those Berkley paddletails, slap a 1/4 jig head on one, you can get different hook sizes for various jighead weights, and itll look like a little fish swimming. Hard baits are fun and catch fish but I would stick with just a hook and a plastic if youre not experienced

Edit: oh yes, if you accidentally gut hook a fish while fishing a t rig, theres a simple trick to get the hook out with needle nose pliers. Refer to the post on here How to remove a hook from a gut hooked bass

  • Super User
17 minutes ago, Harold H said:

Get you some 4/0 Gamakatsu offset roundbend worm hooks and take one of those Rage Craws in the top left corner and put on it and throw weightless in shallow areas and either t rig or c rig it for deeper spots, I bet you'll catch something. Also those Berkley paddletails, slap a 1/4 jig head on one, you can get different hook sizes for various jighead weights, and itll look like a little fish swimming. Hard baits are fun and catch fish but I would stick with just a hook and a plastic if youre not experienced

I just cleaned out my 2025 tacklebox and noted that 95% of the lures in it were soft plastics. They do catch bass.

Get rid of? I do not understand your question. hammerblows

The Castaic Jerky Js are great baits, I bought two packs a couple years ago and only have a few baits left. I caught at least 75 or so bass from those two packs, which means they are durable and are fish catchers. I'm trying to locate more of them here in Canada but they are hard to find.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Recently Browsing 0

  • No registered users viewing this page.

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.