Life is good. After 8 months of tossing Senkos, and catching nothing, I think I FINALLY figured it out. It was a slow learning curve but once I "got it" I'm slaying them. The last 2 outings I've caught more and bigger fish than I've ever caught in my life. The problem was I almost never felt the "tap, tap". What I found out was that I missed the hookset when the line was "heavy".

Anyway, I think I got it now. I've been catching boat loads of fish with 4 and 5 inch Senkos. It took me 8 months to figure out plastics but I have not caught a bass on anything else.

Now for the question.

1.) I've stuck with one thing until I mastered it or I believe I'm at least proficient at it. Plastics. Now it's time to move on to something different. What would you guys recomend my next lure be? Jigs????

2.)Also, I caught a bunch of bass yesterday and I was so pumped that I had to take a pic to send to my daughter. She is visiting my brother in California for a few weeks. I don't know if it's alright to do this but I did. I put all the bass on one of those metal stringers. I did it carefully and kept them in the livewell until I took the pic. Actually a couple of pix to be honest. I then put them back in the livewell for a few minutes before releasing them. They all swam away and looked good and healthy. Didn't seem to hurt them a bit but I was wondering if that's hard on them.

3.) One other thing. As I was finishing the day, I broke my line on the pole I was using. I had Proline flourocarbon line on it. Rather than retying, I grabbed another pole that was already rigged. It had the same pound line but in Mono. I found the mono to be much stiffer and it retained the memory of being wound on the spool. I didn't like it at all. Is it just my imagination or is Flourocarbon that much better than mono??? It seems stronger, thinner and it seems to me I can keep in touch with my worm better with that. It doesn't curl up on the water like mono did.

Nice fish.

Some mono is better than others but it all has memory issues.  Also, if the line is old I would think the memory problem would be more pronounced.

fluoro is great line, strong,near invisible, abrasion resistant etc. etc.

but you will get random breakoffs if you do not retie every fish!

and probably after so many casts.

unless you fish in Crystal clear lakes i would switch to braid for soft plastics, it is idiot proof, get some kitchen sheers to cut it, tighten your drag all the way down so it will not budge, never have to play a fish again just horse it in

you also can start experimenting with other soft plastics, brush hogs,trick worms,fat ikas  if you've had success with senkos you'll have success with these

fluoro is great line, strong,near invisible, abrasion resistant etc. etc.

but you will get random breakoffs if you do not retie every fish!

and probably after so many casts.

unless you fish in Crystal clear lakes i would switch to braid for soft plastics, it is idiot proof, get some kitchen sheers to cut it, tighten your drag all the way down so it will not budge, never have to play a fish again just horse it in

you also can start experimenting with other soft plastics, brush hogs,trick worms,fat ikas if you've had success with senkos you'll have success with these

Why do you tighten your drag all the way down with braid ????????????

Basschump,

All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

You have finally beat the slump!!!! I'm so glad you are finally catching them!!!! You have really progressed since the last I spoke with you!!!!

Ummmm,,,,,, I kinda like playing a fish to be honest. I know I'll probably miss a few more fish than most of you guys that just horse 'em in but I enjoy the fight.

Most of the lakes I fish are pretty clear. Not crystal clear but clear enough that I try and use a line that is clear.

Most of my rods have 12 pound Proline flourocarbon on them except a baitcaster that I now have thanks to frogtog. It's got 30 pound braid on it. I'm going to start using that more now that I'm actually catching a few. Toss a jig around in the dollar pads and reeds. A new experience for me. Should be interesting.

Hey Nitro.

Yup. Things have changed quite a bit in the last week or so and I have guys like you, frogtog, fishstick and many more to thank for what successes I've had.

It's been great fun and I'm looking forward to my daughter coming back home so we can get her on a few fish. If she caught a 4 or 5 pounder, she would be talking about that for years to come I'm sure. If I can make that happen, I'll be sure to post a pic. Proud papa stuff don't ya know!!!!!!

That would be sweet!!! When I was a child my dad took me out fishing and he mainly focused on catfishing but I enjoyed it alot because the fishing may be slow but when you hook into one it is usually a decent sized. My largest catfish was a 38.0lb blue cat when I was 14. So I know if she cacthes a large bass then she will be happy!!!