deep

Good job. Lotsa hardware you got there on that jig though! Swimming a jig is very different from pitching/ flipping a jig, which again is very different from fishing a jig horizontally. P.S. Try a bigger paddletail on your swim jig and see if you get more bites. An RI skinny dipper (not the little dipper, not the big dipper) is perfect for a 1/4 oz swim jig.

Sorry

73rd anniversary of the Battle of Midway. P.S. tomorrow is the 6th of June.

What are yours?

Cavitron buzzbait, 1/4 oz size. I never ever caught a buzzbait fish until last month- and I've been trying for almost 4 years. Now I can't keep bass- admittedly dinks- off the buzzbait. Spinbait 90. Destroying, not searching! Catching bass, bluegills and crappies right where they should be. Sort of confirmation of my understanding of structure and seasonal patterns. Sammy. Ok, so this is an honorable mention since I've caught tons of fish on walking lures before (the Rapala walker and the Spook); never tried a Sammy before. Catching fish on this in low 50s water this year. That's a new one for me. I think I have over a hundred bass on my Sammy now. Here's the funny part though. I tacked each of these baits on different TW orders just to get free shipping!

Derps too-fiddy. I've never caught them good on it, neither caught anything over 3# either. But man, it's like they HAVE to come up, take a look at it, and follow it back. Which is all right with me; I just go after them with other baits once I find them. Leave them bait thieves alone lol.

Hawg!

WTG Blue. Thanks for sharing.

Wore them out today AND left them biting. Doesn't happen often to me. Sneaked out of work early to fish for about three hours in the afternoon/ evening. Started in the lower third in a spot where a pile of boulders lead into the creek channel. I managed to stick a couple of small keepers on a swim jig right away, and then nothing. Fished a couple of similar looking spots, and caught nothing there either. Not part of the pattern I guess. Went over with a light T-rig and a jerkbait with zero luck. Junk fished a few points and some funnels with deep water access with the swim jig, the buzzbait, the Pointer and a Sammy. Caught one here, and one there, all except two on the swim jig and the buzzbait. They just didn't want a stop and go retrieve. Figured that out when I caught one on the Pointer when I was swimming it back. They didn't want the Sammy either. Lots of blowups, and exactly one fish caught. My theory is that largemouth bass have- well- rather large mouths. If they want a bait, they will eat it. Stuck with the buzzer and the swim jig after that. The real problem was location, as usual. They were stacked on steep steep dropoffs, probably because the water level is falling. I don't like fishing one-dimensional breaks, but hey, if that's where they are, that's where I'll fish. Wore them out after that. Lots of non- and barely legal keepers, with a few 14-15 inchers and a couple of solid 2 pounders. I probably had a 9-10 pound limit. Must have caught 25-30 fish- I lost count after ten or so. It was raining on and off most of the time- called it a day after a flash or two of lightning in the distance. Winds were from the east! I never do well with an east wind. Today was different I guess. Gear: Light T-rig/ Pointer/ Swim jig: 7'6" Helium3 2.5 power, Curado I, 12# Tatsu Buzzbait/ Sammy: 7'6" BPS cranking stick 2 power, Curado G, 55# Samurai with 12# Siege leader

If so, this is the first one I've ever caught! Coolest thing that happened to me in a long, long time. (Yes, I get excited over little things.) 1/4 oz Cavitron.

GYCB 5" DT grub, RI smallie beaver, Rage Craw, Super Pork Frog.

Stupid me! I thought the two newer ones were supposed to be larger than the one already released lol. What's the point of a tiny rat bait anyway?

Frog fishing is always fun!

Bugs the hell out of me. Nowadays they are even making swimbait rods without foregrips! Kinda debating if I want to install a foregrip on the 893 NRX.

This is how I feel bites on bottom bumpers. I hardly ever palm the reel. One more reason I don't like spinning gear- difficult to keep a finger on/ hold the line.

Shoulda gotten some PBR lol. No, seriously, that's my favorite cheap brew. If any of you are lager fans, try this Chinese beer called Tsingtao.

Why?

Saw a question about this rod on the flea market subforum. I have this rod, in the 7'6" casting version. Lure ratings are 3/16 oz to 7/8 oz. IMO, the ratings are accurate, although it shines with baits in the 1/2 oz range. I have fished upto 3/4 oz on it in light cover. The stated action is fast, and I think that's fairly accurate too. It's definitely slower than my extra-fast Loomis. Very very sensitive rod, absolute weight is probably what you'd expect in a $250 stick. Fairly well-balanced. I fish this with either 12# Tatsu or 55# braid and leader (I tend to switch my reels around from rod to rod). I love it for 3/8 oz jigs and plastics with 1/4 or 3/8 oz weights. The action is perfect for jigs. Over the years, I've come to appreciate a slightly slower blank for jigs fished on long casts. It is a versatile rod. When I'm not fishing bottom bumpers, I fish jerkbaits, swim jigs and topwaters on it. Worked well so far.

Perfection! I'm easy to please though.

I guess it's post-spawn/ summer in the northern half of the country now. Even in post-spawn, I do find some shallow fish. Look for bluegill beds. Also an incoming creek dumping water if the inflow is cooler (all sorts of soft breaks including color, temperature and oxygen). One post-spawn/ summer location that always seems to work (for me) are steeper banks, especially if there's a shade line in afternoon. If there are some laydowns you can reach, try a rat swimbait around those (PB and morning wood are the two I like) when the sun is out- positions the fish better. Don't wake it, twitch and walk-the-dog the bait. They will come up for a big bait even in the middle of the day. (I learnt this from Speed first.) Southern Trout Eaters has some good footage on Nezummas (and Slammers too).

If it's anything like the Curado I, it'd be an awesome reel. The Citica G I thought was ordinary (good, but nothing great)- in contrast to the Curado G which was- and is- outstanding, especially for the price I bought them for. Not too worried about the price tag. Who pays full retail anyway? Got my Curado I for $100 shipped, very lightly used. Pretty sure I'll be able to find a Citica I for under a hundred bucks if and when I want one.

Does anyone fish the spybait 80 or the 80GFix on non-BFS casting gear? (I don't have a spinning/BFS combo.) Wonder if a medium power cranking rod would load up enough with the G-Fix? Also, 12# Tatsu is the line I got, which I understand has the diameter of most 8# lines. I got myself the 90 size and fished it on a MH rod yesterday. Worked great and caught a few fish, but it felt like I had to retrieve it pretty fast. I tried the 2-3 seconds per reel handle turn thing, and it kept hitting/ snagging the bottom. Thanks guys.

Well, what size *spinning* reel does he use?

Y'all keep arguing. I'll keep fishing my low-end Citicas and Curados and Cardiffs.