BlakeMolone

Jerkbait, Ned rig, marabou jig, underspin, and a powerbait minnow under a float on a steep windy bank if I get really desperate.

I hate to be in the jighead minnow crowd but it was probably a 2 or 3 inch smelt powerbait minnow on a jighead, caught tons of bass, trout, perch, crappie, and bluegill caught on the thing. There is a ridiculously pressured small city lake near me with clear water and I caught three three pounders in like 10 minutes using the two inch power minnows under a float and letting the wind blow it around. I was sold on em after that 😂 Marabou jigs and the lc pointer 65 were also way up there for me. Do you use many non stick worm baits on the Ned? I’ve been really liking the trd bugz. I do wish zman made a trd bigger than the micro but a bit smaller than the finesse trd.

That top jig is awesome, well they all are but that one looks like it could imitate just about anything a bass once to eat with the right trailer on it!

I bought a shimano nexave for 40 bucks the other day, I think they are normally like 50 or 60 bucks. So far it seems like an incredible reel for the price.

For what it’s worth I’ve flown with line and reels a ton and they never even look at them. In my experience as long as you don’t have liquids with you TSA could care less.

3 inch power minnow, cut down to size if needed. Cheap, looks great, and you get the powerbait scent.

I appreciate the kind words, I’m a newb though and only post the ones that turn out decent 😂 There are some great tiers and bait makers here though!

I use olive, white, black and whatever other random color or commotion of colors I have on hand. They catch all the trout species, and all the bass species, I haven’t found a particular color that outshines the rest. One I really like though is a light brown top with a cream bottom, very natural and a fantastic fish catcher. Cream is just an off white color, basically what we would call “bone” I like it better than straight up bright white in a lot of cases. Nimrods tackle on eBay has great prices on marabou.

Also if your collars are messy at first or if they are longer than you would like them to be you can tie in a piece of saddle hackle, wrap it around the collar, pull the fibers back and then finish off the collar. It gives the jig “gills” and makes it look really cool as well as covering up your mess 😂 I’ve personally found the dang collar on a marabou jig very hard to master, it takes a special touch, luckily even the messiest of marabou jigs will catch giant trout, bass, walleye and everything else.

1/8th marabou is my go to for bass, here’s one I tied on Sunday, olive on top, ginger on bottom with some hackle feathers sticking out to make a tail.

I like the magic craw or green pumpkin with blue interference as it’s sometimes called. A step up from the basic green pumpkin! Just find a few colors that look like something you would buy and use on a jig that’s made and get creative with it.

Now that I’m in Utah a hair/feather jig, a small jerkbait, and some sort of plastic on a jighead catch close to 100% of my smallies, largemouth, and trout. Will be experimenting more with tiny poppers and micro bladed jigs and spinnerbaits I’ve been making this winter.

A summer craw rage menace with a 3/0 ewg or flipping hook and a 1/4 or 5/16th ounce weight or a sweet beaver in some kind of green pumpkin or black with a 4/0 ewg or flipping hook and those same bullet weights are what I would use for flipping. A 7 inch red shad or tequila sunrise powerworm on a 1/8th or 3/16th ounce bullet weight and a 3/0 or 4/0 worm hook for slow dragging around wood, rock, vegetation or literally anything, especially post spawn and through the summer. Realistically those baits would have done everything I needed a Texas rig to do out in Oklahoma.

Curious if you have a favorite source for finecut skirt material? I’ve been using living rubbers fine cut silicone and have been perfectly happy with it but have been thinking about trying some others.

Sorry must have forgot to reply! It’s the TRD bugz. I’ve added a weed guard and tied in a wire keeper. It’s actually been surprisingly difficult to make a jig this small that I’m happy with with the currently available molds. Finally to the point where I’m satisfied and ready to get them in front of some fish!