Bluebasser86

It's the little orange, hair looking things right in the center of the picture. I wouldn't eat wormy fish, but I'm not a big fan of fish in general so take that for what it's worth.

8.1 is what I use for buzzbaits and I'd have no issues using it for ploppers, but I like to use braid for plopper and mono for buzzbaits so I don't fish them on the same rod.

Nice find! Those little spots and that missing eye aren't anything I'd worry about too much. I've replaced my Megabass 110 hooks with Owner ST36 #6 trebles and had very good success.

Gold, copper or painted in stained to dirty water or cloudy conditions. Silver in clear water with sunny conditions That's my very simplified breakdown of what blades I choose but the bass don't always follow the rules.

Booyah makes the best bang for your buck frog IMO.

Yeah my bad, it's Savage Gear. With that bait, I get more bites on the 5.25" version. It's the only smaller glide I've ever really liked.

I'm glad someone caught it ?. I use that line a lot, especially at work because nobody ever realizes I'm poking fun at them.

It's not easy but not as taxing as muskie fishing. I make a lot of shorter cast with swimbaits for bass instead of bombing cast like with muskie fishing and they don't have near the resistance or require as much effort to work them in most cases.

Yikes, >$100 for a channel cat rod? I guess the ones I'm targeting aren't that sophisticated ? These right here get it done for me all day and I just go down to the Mart and pick them off the shelf. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ugly-Stik-7-US-Lite-Pro-Spinning-Rod-One-Piece-Rod/792501473?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=319&adid=22222222277792501473_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=aud-1651068664946:pla-294505072980&wl5=9023835&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=792501473&wl13=319&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=CjwKCAjw2OiaBhBSEiwAh2ZSP_IaiaA-vdDAD0Wl-ODGdxoZGiIHGAEkrIVp6Ra5qHXUTGHbXBcEbhoCIc0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is no joke right here. It's awful to fish until a fish just absolutely crushes it like every single one does, then you never want to put it down. OP, if you're strictly fishing from the bank, I'd skip the A-rig.

I've had really good success for smallmouth with the River2Sea Gear Glide in the 5.25" model in the Chartreuse Flash color. They have a few new colors that I'd check out also like Chartreuse/White, Ghost Bone, and Ghost Gizzard. I burn it really fast and they react very violently to it. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Savage_Gear_Glide_Swimmer/descpage-SGGS.html

When the bait pauses and you throw a little slack into the line it will continue around if it glides good. You can kind of see the cadence on how to do it in this video I took last Sunday. The first fish I had follow it in this video I really made the bait 180 on the fish but I was drifting at it too fast and I think my shadow spooked it.

Welcome! @Toby Kittle which "east lake", do you fish?

Water temps here are in the high 50's and they are feeding. Slow moving baits are not the answer and neither are small baits. My best producing baits the last couple weeks have been a 1/2 or 3/4oz double willowleaf War Eagle spinnerbait with a whole 4.75" Rage Swimmer for a trailer, burning a 5/8oz trap, or a 7 3/4" glide bait.

There's been several topics on this and it seems there's a pretty mixed group that support them, some that are very against them, and some that are indifferent. I'm in the group that supports them, for certain baits. I've removed the split rings on a majority of my treble hooked baits, instead opting to use a small snap. This allows me to change baits quickly without changing the weight (action/balance), of the bait in a measurable amount. I don't do it because I'm lazy, it's efficient and I have 100% caught fish I wouldn't have if I wasn't using a snap because I'll change a bait for just a few casts that I wouldn't have if I had to retie instead. I still retie just as often, if not more, and I've never had a snap open on me. I would not use snaps for much other than treble hooked baits like jerkbaits, lipless and lipped crankbaits, and a select few topwaters though. They work fine with some other baits, just a personal preference.

If I'm not fishing during the winter, I'm often walking the banks. Winter is primetime lure hunting months as long as there's no snow on the ground.

Might be a real solid bait for your first find, sure look like Katsuage outbarb hooks to me.

Sorry to hear about your mom. It's a weird feeling when we have to take care of those that took care of us at one point in our lives. My mom always works guilt trips, drives me crazy. I've gotten to where I call her out on it since I've gotten older. Fishing is my therapy, 100% no doubt about it. The stresses of daily life combined with the stresses of work really wear me down. Thankfully, my wife is understanding and knows there is a big difference between when I get to go and when I don't.

The bone plopper has a lot of rash, just can't tell because of the color. It's pretty rare I find a bait that is battle scarred but I did find a Megabass Popmax KO that was really chewed up Monday. I'll have to post a picture of it.

A strike king swimming shiner on a 1/4oz jighead is one of my favorite smallmouth baits.

With my cutbait in lakes, I'm rarely using any weight. I do what I call "bass fishing for catfish". It's just casting a chunk of cutbait along likely areas and fishing it back very slowly along the bottom like a plastic worm. Super effective along weedlines and rocky banks where weighted rigs get mucked up or snagged. You have to be ready though as the strikes are violent and the fish speed off amazingly fast a lot of the time.

It sounds like you're using it for something it should be good for with lipless cranks. I'd try it with walking topwaters also.

You need to make sure there's no water in it first, but a little bit of epoxy in the hole will fix it, just make sure it doesn't get inside the bait and glue your rattles in place if it's a rattling bait.

I like small shops, but they're hard to find around here. Last time I checked one out, selection was limited and what they had was WAY overpriced, like $9 for a Bandit crank and $6 for a pack of Zman plastics.

I'll argue the complete opposite of what has been suggested. When a fish hits a frog and it disappears, where did it go? Did the fish grab it with it's hands? No, it pulled it down with it's mouth. Can you tell the difference between a fish that has a frog by the legs or has it fully in it's mouth by waiting or feeling? Again, no, but that fish sure can spit your frog out or bury you way down in the grass, making it way more difficult to get a good hookset and more difficult to get them back out because now your line is angling around several pieces of grass. A fish strikes, there's a split second I'm looking for my frog, if I don't see it, I'm swinging. Watch some of the pros that are really good frog fishermen, none of them are counting to 3 before swinging. I feel like this is an outdated train of thought, just like the idea that you have to let fish have a big plastic worm longer to give them time to get it in their mouth. Of course, none of this matters if you don't have the right gear either.