Bassin_Fin@tic

Excellent small pond bait. One of my go to's for my small pond box. These baits will also catch crappie.

Tough choice!! I use both when conditions are calm and I want a subtle bait. devils horse? yeah i said subtle. theres a lot more to it than ripping it through the water if it is modified right! If I want to rip a bait in waves there are far better choices.

Stanley Ribbits Lucky craft T-splash!! Unweighted trickworm and trickworm with a tiny nail in the rear- Walk the dog with this in the shallows! Modified Devils Horse- The Florida favorite! Guess I might add the baby Koppers frog. It flat out ctaches fish and don't let the size fool you. Plenty of big fish won't hesitate to "toilet bowl swirl" this tiny morsel! The only disadvantage is heavier cover as it won't cause enough disturbance in the grass and such.

Killer fish man. Real skill level to land it as well on the tackle used!

I agree and will add to that. For one I like to use a rattle. Or even a brass weight with a glass bead for extra attraction. As you lift back up through the grass and get stuck a little bit then lightly shake the bait. You will either get a strike as the bait punches through or when you shake as it is stuck in there. I also like a split shot or a mojo rig.(a mojo rig is basicly a carolina rig using a very slender or cylinder weight) of course thats not practical if the grass is extremely thick but it can be very effective running the deeper edge lines where the grass becomes more sparse. Heres a link to a killer grass weight that I like for a mojo rig: (seems i can't get a link to work for whatever reason...) It's called a River2sea Tungsten Carolina Split Sinker.

I Will throw another mystery into this. It seems at some places but not all that i have fished they will absolutely go bannanas on the moon days. Other places it never seems to make a difference at all! Also there are places i fish where you can go out during the absolute best weather conditions and get nothing then go back during an awful blubird high pressure day with little breeze and slay them! Like any of it you never know when or where or what they will be eating and more times than not it makes absolutley no sense at all even though we annalize it to death.

Lift and pause. feel any bumps on the bottom or anything that it gets stuck on a little bit then make sure you lightly shake it in place.

I have seen those baits before! But they were sold at Dick's as a Shaw Grigsby brand exclusive quite a while back. Strange you found them made by Yum. I am out of them now or I would post a pic for comparison. Little sidenote: I didn't care for the bait much at all. What I did do was take the tails off and put them on the back of trickworms then a shakey head. it was gnarly...while it lasted.

Trick worms. Weighted and un weighted walked on the top or sunk and dead sticked,. Tough to beat black or junebug. I fish places like this a lot and the GYCB 6.5 kuttail un weighted is just killer too. If the scum is that bad and you use a texas rig go very light like a 1/16-1/8 weight UNPEGGED. A pegged weight or a shakey head will dig the nose into the stuff. I second stanley ribbits. Cover all the shallows and the holes in the scum if it is floating. Any trees or docks be sure to skip it well under and into them especially on sunny days. If you use cranks then attempt to run a depth along drop offs or structure that is very close to hitting bottom but not quite. Easier said then done but sometimes its a matter of control like holding your rod tip high or just making very short casts as longer casts tend to run the bait deeper. Use your rod to twitch and pause the cranks and make them change direction since they will obviously not be hitting objects on the bottom. Also rattle traps,the obvious,any clear water areas once again try to keep it in that magic zone just off bottom. If you feel it even begin to touch scum or weeds quickly snap your rod tip up and rip it hard. Again you may have to concentrate on very short casts or dowsize to a 1/4 oz.This is a lot better on braid line. Don't hesitate to bust out the spinnerbaits on a windy day. I prefer a col/willow combo with large blades and once again slow roll it near the bottom in that magic zone. It may take a while but once you learn exactly how deep and where the depth changes are this can be killer. You can tell I fish this crap a lot lol. As far as topwaters try poppers on calm days as you can keep them in one spot longer or even cast them into pockets in the junk and work them in place.

For one. Not saying it doesn't work but a wacky generally produces better in clearer waters at least from what Ive seen. No, I don't think theres really too much wrong with the braid if you are fishing stained water.I don't think it's a problem with the fish seeing the line. The biggest problem with the braid especially low lb test is the lack of contact with the bait. I mean in the slightest breeze it blows a huge bow in your line. I find it kind of a pain when fishing light texas rigs or weightless baits. Flouro will increase the sink rate of your bait plus give you more direct contact for a better hookset. If you use a leader go 3-6 feet and in my opinion it never really is a bad thing to use leaders when fishing braid anyways.

Thats the best way to answer this age old and soon to be locked debate Catt! That said. I carry both in a limited few productive colors. Yes they are the same type of profile bait but each has its own attributes good and bad. Bottom line is the whichever way you rig it or use it the fish will tell you which they prefer on that given day. We all know that subtleties can make all the difference.

Spinnerbait just under the surface and bulged. Wake baits. I have had pretty decent luck on a large propbait like a wounded spook. i also like large black worms swam through the junk.

I gotta say. I am in love with the new tiny version! It flat out catches fish if you want some numbers. Walks very well.

Personally I can't catch much of anything on these when worked slowly or methodically or with longer pauses. there are much better baits out there for that. This bait excells when fish very fast and snappy. Sometimes with very hard rips even with very short pauses. many times i fish it with a lot of slack in the line as well and twitch it hard and really get it dancing. Nothing works all the time but if the mood of the fish is right you can have the time of your life fishing these and really trigger some ferocious reaction bites!! If you start getting them while burning spinnerbaits,burning cranks or traps,then it's usually a good bet that you can hammer them on an x-rap pretty well!

Busting a 36 inch plus snook on a Topwater

Bass inhale the worm and since it is soft the entire bait collapses. Thats how you can hook a 7 inch bass on a 10-12 inch worm. Personally I don't like to use oversize hooks or to have the hook to be way back in the body of the bait. It takes action out of the worm then.

All good posts so far. I think Vinny mentioned pegging the weight. If it is pegged or if u use a shakey then the nose will dig down into the crap. Unpegged and as light as you can get away with allows you to "pop" the bait. keep the rod at around the 11:00-12 position,semi slack. Flukes with a small nail weight can be efffective. Instead of using a belly weight,many times I take a lead nail weight and drive it straight through the body of the bait above the hook and use my pliers to clip off each side. The senko is no secret. You live in Fla you really need to try the GYCB 6.5 inch Kuttail. Weightless or with a tiny nail inserted just rear of the hook. Match your color to the water. Most times junebug or black work just splendidly,clear water or bright green algae go with watermelon/red. I fish a few ponds that have algae like this and the Kuttail is a devastating bait. Twitch slow and let it settle but not to long or it will bury. Use a trick worm with a small piece of nail in the rear end. Twitch and work similar to a fluke.

Changed the spelling? I was wondering if ya had a beer or was sippin on some bourbon when you came up with "guaranty"

Right. the trilene xl is great on a spinning reel. personally in my experience 12lb is pushing it and have never found it to cast well regardless of line brand unless it is put on a very large spooled reel.

Rage baby craw. Flat out catches em anywhere anytime don't care who you are. Like it on a shakey a whole lot too!

Wouln't be caught dead without solid black in just about any soft plastic around here in Florida! And that includes flukes. I'm like just about anyone else. I won't touch hunter orange worms or bright yellow. yellow is even supposed to be good in saltwater and I can't bring myself to even attempt it!

Quick sidenote: A bait that conatins salt will also ride the bottom more...

Nice! I've heard that one but still ain't done it!

Only caught two in 25 yrs of living in Ohio but a couple hundred since living in florida and 3 10lb or greater. This isn't a bragging thread,it is saying how I obviously take for granted where I live. That said I am going to miss these ladies when and if I move back to Ohio and am going to greatly appreciate the occasional 3lber! Or I could just take up cartfish and carp fishing again!!!