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Part of my responsibilities of being Pro-staff with Yamamoto Baits over the last 25 years is to give new baits a real world trial and honestly report back to them my thoughts/concerns/criticisms/complaints and hopefully praise. I have found the easiest way to do this is to go to a body of water I have experience on and a track record of catching fish. Second, I limit myself to only throwing my test bait. Usually I am with my fishing partner who is throwing tried and true offerings and I use him as a control group to see if my test bait does better/worse or equal to his offerings. The place I chose to test out the new Yamamoto 3” Scope Shad was the Rappahonock River here in Virginia. The river has a great biomass and offers an interesting selection of species. In order for a new bait to gain access to my “Don’t leave home without it” section of my tackle, it has had to shine in a memorable way. Currently in this class of baits is the Senko, DShad, Pro Senko, Shad Shape Worm, Zako, California Roll, all in various sizes and colors. To be honest, Yamamoto has opened the floodgates on a lot of new baits that I have not had the chance to put to the test. The 3” Scope Shad earned a spot in my favored baits category. I threw the bait on a custom poured, weedless Ned head, a spinning rod with 6lb mono and a 2500 series reel on a 7ft medium/fast rod. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. I caught Largemouth from squeakers to 4lbs with the total for the day being 40 fish. As for other catches, I was able to catch a 4lb Smallmouth (super bonus on the river), Crappie, hefty Bluegill, and to top it off a Snakehead. All on the same bait. Although I brought other rods, I never picked on up the entire day. I’ll post up pics just to back up my claims. Some of the pics have the bait and some of the pics you can see I am using the same rod/reel even if you can’t see the bait. To be fair, my buddy caught good numbers as well using ZMan Ned’s and baits. Difference being, he didn’t catch a snakehead or smallmouth but he did catch a couple of channel cats.

Got to the lake and they were already five boats at the boat ramp.. this was 40 minutes before sunrise. Managed 14 bass, this was the largest at 20 in long. 4 lb 11 oz. Water temps between 63 and 65. Light North Wind at 8 Miles an hour. It was a good day.

I'm fishing in the evening now that it's cooler in the mornings and not catching nearly as many as the morning bite. My shoulder won't let me cast much so I'm worm fishing mostly. Lots of bait but it's hard to find any fish in it. Thursday the dock pole bite was the ticket and here's the largest.

Found this at Goodwill yesterday with a Shimano pistol grip rod for $5.50. Cleaned it last night and had it out in the yard playing with it today. Works way better than I thought it would. Also grabbed an Abu black max on a Gander Mountain rod for the same price. Not to bad for $11.00.

Just a few hours this morning. Caught three (more like 2-1/2) and lost two. The first was on a squarebill. A true 6” dink. Wasn’t even sure I had a fish on lol. Didn’t get bites/catches on anything other than that A-Jay Special. Caught two. One I had hooked but lightly and it threw the hook. The other I think was pretty good. Most of my catches have been tight to the bank or in wood. I made a bomb cast in open water to get line out to reel it in tight, and as soon as it went under the line took off like a rocket. I was unprepared and by the time I reeled in the slack, it was gone.

I have commented on this topic before, as it is something actually know a little about (as opposed to every other topic, where I just flail around aimlessly). I have a post-graduate academic and research background neuroscience and psychology, with emphasis in cognition and perception, and I teach about psychological and neural mechanisms of color perception at the college level. There are many comments on this thread I would like to respond to, but unfortunately, I don't have time at the moment. Nor do I have time to craft a detailed explanation of color vision, how it works, and what we can reasonably know vs. not know about bass vision from controlled experiments. Suffice to say, there are quite a few misunderstandings in this thread. I am also long-winded and not very good at getting to the point. The shortest, most direct answer to the OP's question is intensity. Even colors that are similar in hue may differ in intensity of reflectance -- how strongly light is reflected from the surface of the lure. Most versions of chartreuse that you find in lures are very highly-reflective -- more so than most versions of white. So even if bass do not distinguish between chartreuse and white, a chartreuse lure may have greater reflectance than a white lure, and therefore may penetrate better than than a typical white in murky water. I say "may" because you don't know until you actually measure reflectance. You also don't actually know if chartreuse-black is better than white-black for attracting strikes on the water in the first place until you control for other factors, like angler confidence and expectations, which is impossible outside of a controlled experiment. Anyway, here are some things I've said about this stuff before:

Note: I took most of the stream and river pics on the way back, not when it was low light. Well, this morning's trip wasn't for sissies. You see, the dang dam broke and one of my beloved swamps is now just a clear, shallow river. I reached it dragging my canoe down a trickle. I had to exit the canoe and drag about a dozen times, going and returning. I felt like I was back in northwestern Ontario, struggling through the bush. Being wet and cold was the hardest part. The air was 48 degrees and the water was 54 degrees, so I had wet feet and pants legs all morning. The river slowly grew in size. And grew. Unfortunately, my beloved swamp was now just a mud field. Going down the little river, I could see the former banks. Even though I was fishing in a very unlargemouthy place, I still caught bass. 52 in all. They were chasing shad, so I used my Yo-Zuri popper to imitate a wounded shad. They were well fed. I caught some bigger ones too. Here are some lipped and gripped. And I put some on the bump board. Once again, my bag was over 16.5 pounds. I am proud of my consistency in very different environments. I was fishing shallow current today, but I do well in swamps and on ponds too. One more to say, "Thanks for paddling down the stream with me! Sorry your feet and rest of you got so cold on the way."

My feelings, as long as it isn't Hot Sauce, don't over think it. ReelX and CorrosionX are excellent products. I use ReelX in all line roller bearings and the large crank stack bearing on crank side cover.

Stuck a nice one this morning before I had to pack it up and go get stuff done. Interesting progression of fish. The bigger one ticked in right at 4lbs, absolutely crushed a walking bait while I was on the phone scheming with @LrgmouthShad. Off to the panhandle, maybe I'll post a smallmouth later

Flat Calm, Blue Bird Skies, super clear water and just about zero wind. But I still poked a few. A-Jay

Chat GPT got pretty darn close! Kinda neat. The actual weight was 8.04 lbs.

I’ve had great days on sunny calm days. I’ve had great days cloudy and windy. I’ve had great days in the rain. Great days in clear water and great days in chocolate milk water. I don’t really get to “pick” when I fish so it I only went on what the weather was doing I’d never fish. can’t catch ‘em from the couch

Depends - as an ex-programmer in a corporate environment, it was the users who pointed out errors to us that we'd have to debug and fix....the end-users WERE our 'testers'.

Bill Murphy author if In Pursuit of Giant Bass wrote about bass color vision using white to get his point over. Bill was a dental tech expert on the color white. As I recall Bill selected same shade of white form several suppliers and painted the exact same model diving crank baits from each paint supplier. Bill trolled every lure documenting catch results and 1 lure out fished all the others, Bill then painted the rest of the lures with the successful white paint suppliers white. All the caught bass equally. Why was one suppliers white different that looked the same to Bill’s trained eye? It turns out under different lighting, UV and Ultra Violet the white was different then the others. We simply don’t know enough about how bass see colors. Tom

Brown trout

I always look forward to your trip reports. They always remind me of wading for redfish, specks and flounder when I was growing up. And I appreciate your spread of quality beverages! Btw how is the still austin? I've wanted to try their stuff but can't find any around me.

Slow day at the forebay but no skunk so I'm happy. first a-rig fish of the year is not a giant. got a couple more of similar size one decent fish probably 16-17" on top water. of course pinned all 3 points of the treble in the mouth with pliers in my car. had to give poor guy the kung-fu grip and run up the bank, still got a hook point in the finger for my troubles.

From Brown Bass Tools https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/211811-brown-bass-tools-~-questions-answers/?do=findComment&comment=2928027 SUNSHINE vs The SMALLMOUTH BASS Back in Chapter II of this deal, I penned the following paragraph . . . “SMALLMOUTH BASS LOVE FEEDING IN THE SUNSHINE - to disregard this statement will lead to many, many, many fishless trips - over and over and over again. Can they be caught on cloudy and or overcast & rainy days? - yes. But if you want to improve your chances of getting bit - At Least Some sunshine will always help.” That was in December 2018. At the time, I believed in that philosophy very strongly as so much of own brown bass results (or lack of) seemed to conclude this was mostly the way to go. Well, after 4 more season on the water and quite a few plus sized brown bass later, I am singing a different tune. Besides some nice smallies, these local lakes are home to big trout, deep water walleye, pike & muskie. About half the water’s I fish regularly have largemouth as well. The green bass seem to populate the skinniest water, perhaps out of self-preservation. And when I get a few LMB, there’s rarely any brown bass mix in with them. This is sort of what discouraged me from even looking for SMB shallow very often. Shallow in these instances means less than 5 feet or so. While First and Last light have been eternally productive, I’ve still slipped my Frabil under plenty of good ones with the sun shinning very brightly; all be it usually deeper than 5 feet. As a retired human, I can pretty much pick & choose when I am and am not on the water. Once I got over my ‘cloudy skies phobia’, there has been at least as many brown tanks on the scale hooked with a decent layer of cloud cover or even no sunshine at all. In fact cloudy might even be better for big bass. Either way, the more it happened the more it made me rethink my approach and in a big man way. As I did, I realized that I needed to adapt my presentations, timing & mostly locations to fit the conditions. The biggest factor has to be that, almost like night fishing, I started finding bigger smallies much shallower than I would have ever believed. So the cloudier it would be, the shallower I would fish. Dark bottom area’s turned out to be just as key as when the sun was shining. Stealth & long casts became even more important. Admittedly, none of this is exactly rocket science. But it has opened both my eyes as well as my own big brown bass fishing opportunities quite a bit. Especially when one considers ALL the cloudy/overcast days I spent on the beach when I could have been yanking on trophies. Frankly, I’m a little embarrassed by the whole thing. #knuckhead But that’s how I learn sometimes. Fish Hard (Rain or Shine) A-Jay

Went out for a few hours on the kayak while the kids were at school and caught 5 in about 4 hours. Water temp was 64-66 depending on location. All my bites came off the first area of cover in coves off the main lake. 3 on a Senko wacky rigged and 2 on a crankbait. The little bass that you catch on cranks always make me laugh! Biggest was 2.1 lbs which is largest I’ve caught at this lake in a few months. I did find a few off shore schools but no fish on a jerkbait or dropshot. I got a few bites on the drop shot but came back without my minnow tail a few times so not sure what was going on there.

Different lake, same outcome - water still in the mid 70s and even the thermocline looked to be intact. A good shot of cool air over the next week should help the bite get fired up a bit, I hope.

Went out today for the last 90 minutes before the sun started setting. I wanted to test out my new Tatula Elite Casting Rod and was hoping to break it in on some strip pit fish. As you can see by the photo today I was throwing a jig. I’ve caught fish on swim jigs and football jigs, but never on a casting/flipping jig. Today was my lucky day as I caught my first ever jig fish, and a decent one at that. I caught it off the end of a laydown. It made a last minute run as it got close enough to shore to see me but I was able to land it. I caught my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th jig fish shortly after that but only one was picture worthy I felt. I’m pretty stoked that jig fishing has finally clicked for me. I’m confident that given the bodies of water that I fish it will be a very useful technique for me going forward. I think the biggest difference for me today versus all the other times I’ve tried the jig, is casting accuracy and being able to thumb the spool to minimize splash.

Another tough morning yesterday of missed strikes, I blew it on all of the nicer fish. I still caught 8 and provided a mild show for the other anglers around, but I had barbs in a few really solid feeling fish. Thankfully I never saw them. Sooner or later I will get them stuck stuck. The common denominator with the lost fish is the vmc trebles I'm using, I got some of those finesse trebles with the slick coating. While they are very sticky, they slip out way too easily. I want to like them but for distance hooking they're just too slick. Back to the gamakatsu short shank ewg trebles I love so much. Off to the panhandle tomorrow to play a show and fish lake Meredith for smallmouths

In the study the bass that were trained to identify white were able to do so most of the time. They did struggle and very often confused black with white. Show me a color filter that demonstrates that. These findings are very interesting to me. I try to resist the temptation to simplify them into easy rules that I can go catch more fish with. It’s not that simple. I also try to resist the urge to dismiss the research because it challenges my long held beliefs about bass. The research humbles me and sparks my curiosity and desire to learn more.

unless we can talk to a bass and understand what they tell us we can only guess what they see. so I will throw the colors that have worked for me.........I'm not Dr. Doolittle....

I have a degree in the Philosophy of Science. All this research shows is how bass preceive colors as seen through human eyes & interpreted by a human brain. Similar does not mean same as!

Nice catch, @ 40 yrs old I've not had a chance to be out fishing for awhile due to work and other responsibilities that come w/ being an adult, however I'm hoping to get out fishing more in 2025 as I'm finding that I'm happiest when pursuing activities that bring me personal joy

Smash that like button!! 🤣

Murphy’s summed up his findings “the more we think we know these green fish they prove us wrong”. Life time later I agree totally! Tom

That's pretty cool that it got that close but at the same time, fishing will never be the same. All my 2 pound fish will be 2 pounds instead of 4. 😂 Gonna have to go find a 1/2 scale ruler now, actually I wonder how it would do without a measurement?

Thanks, friends. Still Austin is quite good - I think the best neat bourbon we had on the table. @AlabamaSpothunter - it's easy to be inspired when you hang with a young man as talented, organized and gracious as Josh.

Nobody puts as much effort into their posts as you do, and it always shows. Awesome trip, fish, locale, food, spirits, and most importantly friends!

The microplastics in me acknowledge and honor the microplastics in you

Tank did pretty good during his annual routine Vet Check Up. I was happy to be his emotional Support Human. A-Jay

Hit up a reservoir yesterday, left my camera in my life jacket so posting today, was a little tired. 38 degrees in the morning so in no hurry to get out. On the water at 10, clear blue skies with a NW “breeze” so I wasn’t too confident. 14’ visibility so I figured they would be in deeper water, searched around a bit and found some in 20’ to 28’. Got the first one after a hr, a small Largemouth, then a couple more small ones. Then got a nice Rainbow but with no net when I got it unhooked it slipped out of my hand before I could get a picture. Then got 2 decent Largemouth, then more small ones so I left them to look for Smallmouths, well that didn’t work out. Wind picked up more and it’s a real pain to fish from the kayak with just a paddle, fishing with the rod in one hand and trying to position with the paddle in my other hand/shoulder. Wound up with 12 fish landed, 10 Largemouths, one Rainbow and a Rock bass. All fish on a drop shot and green pumpkin Max Scent flat worm

Studying the largemouth bass by reading ANYTHING the Doug Hannon wrote or revealed. I’m a rescue diver and I was in the military in the 80’s and applied to him for a camera operator (underwater) he called me later and told me many things but he said he was humbled by my interest in LMB and being in the military looking to pursue other interests. I didn’t get the job but he is my hero when such topics are brought up. He was an incredible Man. (We both lived in Florida.) RIP Doug Hannon.

The brand and type of grease for use on reels is given way too much significance. The single most important thing is to do regular maintenance and keep things clean and lubricated with something appropriate. The feel of a new reel has little to do with the type(s) of grease used. Shimano bantam drag grease works well on both drags and gears. It’s similar to Cals. Personally, I’ve pretty much settled on marine grease for gears, Cals for drags that require it, gear oil for frame bearings, level wind and sliding parts, Lighting Lube or air tool oil for spool bearings. Tsi321 in tuned reel spool bearings. Ps: I’m not giving the OP hell, lol. You’re not doing any harm by tinkering and experimenting but I hate to see you or anyone following stress over this.

We don’t have a clue what colors bass see by dissecting their eye. Color is interpreted by the brain. Experience contradicts that blue disappears in deep water but I have caught bass 50’ deep and the color they would eat was blue neon 4” French fry worm. Tom

I wish the wind were my friend. When I fished from heavier boats, I enjoyed some great fishing in the wind, but in a canoe, the wind is my bully.

Seems like some of you guys use grease for everything. I go by the saying that if it touches use grease, everything else use oil. Mike

When I open up my reels I find something around the house that’s slippery to lubricant them with. Haven’t had any problems so far. 😆

Slow day with cold front moving in, blue skies, cloud arrival delayed, and light winds. Just stuck a few long skinny guys along with 8-10 crappie. Wind blows today, but hoping for a change of scenery on Friday.

My buddy Josh and his sister Nina have hosted the annual Rockport kayak, um, bacchanal for this many years. Through the evening's firepit haze, I got the sense Josh was foreboding the 13 Omen. Nothing could have been further from realized - everyone had a wonderful time. Eight to a dozen kayakers turn out at their extended family digs on Copano Bay. The historic property on Live Oak Point is the highest elevation on the TX coast (sorry, only had winter-trip photos for the gazebo and firepit). There's no way to do this trip justice, but can show off a few photos and talk about a couple of days on the water. Some folks will come and go through the week, may show up early or stay late. We haul kayaks to different grass flats and mud marshes covering about 100 mi of the coast, typical paddle trail for a morning fishing is 8 to 10 mi. We cook or go out for an evening meal, and end the evening at the the firepit with cigars and libations, planning the next day's travel around tides, wind, and a binder of embossed Google Earth charts. Normally, the first organized trip is Wednesday, and the last organized meal is Saturday night shrimp boil. While wind was stiff on the back of the week, Wednesday's light wind was wonderful for sight-fishing. We launched at Cavasso (salt) Creek. Though only 10 minutes from Copano digs, Josh had never fished this spot, and the last time Steve and I fished it was 30 years ago. Parks & Wildlife release gators here they snag in Goose Is SP. Great hard-pack launch, and paddle into the sunrise. I was behind Josh along the grass, sight-fishing his rejects. Prop-tail topwater shrimp cast into the grass caught my first and best red. After doing the math, I caught 5 redfish each morning, though not all in the slot. Great photos of Josh with a fly rod red. My day ended with a small wind knot in my braid, and the knot breaking an over-slot spec right at the boat. All part of the fun, and a great day. Josh's special Cioppino with cod, crab, shrimp, and mussels hit the spot for the evening kick-off dinner - Josh and Nina competing in the kitchen always exceeds our imaginations. Thursday brought us back to my favorite Estes Flats, and a reliable NNE wind for drifting down Trout Bayou. Launching at Palm Harbor, a mile to the turn up Talley Island, and 2 miles to the top of Trout Bayou. My morning began in Aransas Bay, drifting back into the tide pass. Plenty of small trout were slashing. I brought a nice big spec to the boat, but she tore the hook out with a head shake. Began my drifts down Trout Bayou, and landed 3 absolutely 19" reds. I was happy to get one more that measured 20" for my stringer. I ended bringing an over-slot red to the boat. Thought I had him set with 3 solid pulls. But the little slack I had to give him while pulling in drift sock was enough for him to shake the hook. Again, all part of the fun. The group meat haul from Estes. Friday, we took our boats across Port Aransas ferry to fish East Flats on Mustang Is. It was our longest paddle and toughest wind, though with some shelter, and everyone brought home fish. GPS trail for the day. Saturday, another big wind day, we fished Marker 1 trail on Lighthouse Lakes. Josh traveled farther upwind than everybody, and sight-fished a banner day in the mangroves - he deserved his results facing the wind and currents to get that far. The rest of us stayed close in the first 3 lakes, and Andy pulled a couple out of the mangroves. Caught this photo of Stevo crossing back Aransas Channel. Josh's trip-fish 27" red. Josh's shrimp boil gets better every year, decided to spend some electrons on the master at work. Another feast, and easy clean up - we were hungry, not much for leftovers. We also made a good showing sampling the single cask bottles into the last evening, before packing out Sunday morning.

Recently picked up a knob creek 12 at one of my local stores and tried it tonight for the first time, it lives up to the hype. Also my buddy found me the new Jim Beam winter reserve today and I started off with that, its pretty impressive for the money. I'm glad I told him to snag 2 for me! Its got a little of the beam nuttiness but its mostly got a solid cinnamon, clove, nutmeg baking spice thing going on. Plus some vanilla\marshmallow on the finish. Its 6 year old beam that's finished in a toasted barrel..that's a helluva bourbon for $26.

Up in my neck of the woods 50 degrees is when we intentionally start to throw them.

Next time you're in DFW I'll do my best to show you some bites at Roberts! Awesome to meet you man

Stopped Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday at my favorite pond this week with no luck Friday but Tuesday and Wednesday caught a few both days on a jig and an in-line spinner that I just started fishing with again thanks to @bulldog1935 & @Swamp Girl for reminding me of how productive they can be. I’m including the dinky bass here of which I caught 2 on the aforementioned in-line spinner.

Your beard is even more amazing in person ! Next time you’re up this way holler at me , and we’ll get you a walleye .

Steve (Owens) said he was still working with two area Chambers of Commerce. Because they meet only once or twice a month it takes awhile for the negotiations to be completed.

Keep your line tight and never get in a hurry, even when fishing fast.