QUIENYO

Is that at PCL? I went for the first time this past Wednesday. Not the best place to shore fish with all the weeds. I did get a few decent (2-3#) with a scum frog in the inlet just past the marina. Either way, nice fish for PCL if thats where you got him.

I enjoy catching them all. I'd be lying though if I said I didn't get frustrated if I'm catching more than two or three "dinks" in a row. Just by throwing the larger baits, I'm sure we are all targeting the biggest we can hope for. For me, anything over three pounds makes me smile though and take a picture. Kind of funny considering my PB is only a bit larger than three pounds.

BAM! There you go. That is good stuff right there.

That's a great looking fish. Looks like he gave you a good grass fight!

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

One tip I follow is that when a crayfish moves, it makes two quick movements as an escape instict, then sort of freezes. So after the jig hits bottom, let it sit for 15 to 20 seconds, then give your rod tip two short taps before a slow retrieve for a few seconds. Then let the jig sit for 15 seconds, then repeat the two taps/tugs of the rod tip and repeat the process back to the boat/shore. There is a good video in the video section that does a much better job of explaining that I could ever do. Good luck

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Over the course of this summer I'm going to step out of my comfort zone with my jig set up. I have a spool of 17lb floro and a spool of 15lb yo zuri, I think I'll run both through my current set up. I also plan on picking up a highspeed reel, so that may change things as well. But the first thing I plan on trying is to sharpen up my jig hooks. Thanks again fellas.

What RW said X2.

I agree, see below.

I'm throwing a Northstar 5/8 Hippy, alien head in brown and green. I generally "crack the whip" with my hook sets. Between what Zona says in the video and your comments Jeff, I think I may start looking had high speed reels. The slow reel-in seems to create times when the fish can out-swim my line, thereby creating a slacked line. It seems that this is when they tend to toss the jig. Now if I could just get my wife to see things my way. Anyone want to sell me a 201E7?

Thanks for the feedback. I use a 7'6" older Allstar platinum rod with my jigs so I think I'm good with the rod. I'm currently throwing with an older Abu C3 round reel, with a 5.3-1 ratio spooled with 50# braid. I must not be setting the hook as hard as I think I am. I don't have any problem feeling the bite, the problem begins after I've set the the hook and have a fish on. The closer I get the fish to shore, the higher the probability that the fish will jump and toss the hook. I'll bet my landing ratio is about 60-70%. I seem to always lose them near shore. I guess I'll try to rip some lips and see if that helps. Just to clarify, I'm not comparing missed strikes, I'm talking about after the fish is on line and getting reeled in. Even with my perceived bad hook-sets, I still consider the jig my confidence lure. I'm just trying to tighten things up a bit.

I noticed that of the more common lures I fish with, the jig gets tossed way more often than the others. Its probably not fair to compare hookup rates to a lure with treble hooks, but the TX rigged plastics seem to be more reliable. My initial thought is that the trailers leave less hook exposed, thereby allowing a feisty large mouth to more easily toss the jig. The other thing I considered was that the jigs I throw (most are 1/2 oz.) are targeting larger Bass. Larger Bass have been around a bit longer and maybe have learned a few tricks of the trade. If the trailer idea or the old wise Bass is not the cause, then it looks like it is operator error on my part. Is this just the cost of doing business with the jig? Is there a common mistake that I'm making here? Any suggestions, comments or criticisms are welcomed. Thanks, Nathan

Rather than start a new thread, I'll piggy back this one. Sorry ksfisher. The last few outings I notice that a lot of bass will come up and sort of go through the motions of taking the frog. They don't take the frog under, but they come up from behind and sort of mouth the tail end, then swim off. Is this the equivalent of fish following a bait, but not taking it? I've heard that means you are using the right bait, just change the color. So when the bass do this with the scum frog, should I change to another color or chalk it up to more of a defensive gesture for bedding bass? Or just bass being bass.

I could split hairs here and say that I never overtly blamed the line and that I was simply making an observation that the line broke. But those that got after me were on target,I was blaming the line. I'm still a pretty inexperienced fisherman and after reading many of the comments, I obviously had been spoiled by the 50# braid on my 51e. So now I can look at some nets or change my approach in how I lip a bass. I thank you guys that commented for setting me straight. This is how I learn, from experience, good and bad. Now I can't wait to tie scum frogs to my reels with braid. . I'm still going to try and burn through this stuff. Again, hopefully I learn to love it because it will save me some money since I still have two spools.

I know of a pond in southern Arizona where you can pick one up cheap. Besides my now obvious gaff in using one with six pound test, I liked it. I had four strikes with it in about 35 minutes.

I thought I was ready to move on, but not just yet. For some reason Yo Zuri was put on this earth to test me. This morning I hit the local pond and threw a Scum frog tied directly to my line. After a few missed hook sets, I got to watch a four pounder stalk the motionless frog as I had reeled it to within ten feet of shore. She set up beneath and a bit behing the frog and as I gave it a slight twitch, she hammered it. Determined not to miss the hook set I let her run with it before I burried the hook. After a short fight, I had lifted her out of the water and grabbed the 6lb Ultra Soft about 18 inches from her mouth. As I reached with my other hand to lip her, the line snapped. She landed at the waters edge and flopped away with my frog and about six inches of the Yo Zuri line. I'm done.

Well then, it sounds like the problem rests with me. I guess I'll burn through the rest of the Yo Zuri that I have, and maybe, just maybe I will figure out the error of my ways before I exhaust the remaining line. If I don't, then so be it; I'l buy some high dollar Fireline to make the memory go away(literally and figuratively). Thanks for everyone's .02.

Roadwarrior, forgive my ignorance, what is trolling the line?

I've got nothing against leaders. I've used flouro leaders in the past. I just feel like its more effort that it's worth. I'm not having too much trouble landing fish with strait braid, so I'm hesitant to change things up, especially when it over complicates my set up. I go with the double uni when i do use a leader, but that is a rare occasion.

Im not a big fan of using leaders. I think I'll see if I can trade with a buddy who is a true believer for some soft plastics. I'm pretty frustrated with the product. I was hoping someone would tell me it was operator error and I could make a correction. Oh well.

From all the reviews I have read, this stuff is supposed to be like magic in spinning reels. That is why I bought the 6&8 lb test. If it had performed at even an acceptable level, I would have bought a heavier test for use in my casting reels. I mean the stuff is cheap. Help me out with the direction of spooling. The first time I spooled it I had the yo Zuri spool flat on the floor in front of me with a piece of plastic through the center and my feet applying even presure on both ends of the plastic. The line was feeding from the side closest to my chair. When I re-spooled, I turned the spool 180 and was feeding line from the side of the spool farthest from my chair. Please tell me I mucked it up and if I spool in some other fashion that this stuff will morph into the best line I've ever used. In all seriousness, the stuff is so cheap compared to braid that I would love to use it in everything. But I don't do well with equipment that causes more hassle that it's worth.

I'm confused about the rave reviews that everyone seems to have concerning the Yo-Zuri Hybrid and the Ultra Soft version. I went out and bought 600yds of 8lb test of the ultra soft and 600yds of 6lb test of the standard. I put it on two spinning reels that I had grown tired of having line memory issues with. Its been three months and am trying to give away the remaining +/- 800yds. I have never had more line pukes or memory issues with a spinning set up as I have with both types of Yo-Zuri. I thought after re-spooling both reels a few weeks ago that maybe I had fed the line in the wrong rotation from the Yo-Zuri spool. I re-spooled with the reverse rotation three weeks ago. No change. Each time I brought one of the spinning set-ups, I ended up cutting the line multiple times each outing. I'm done with Yo-Zuri. Has anyone else had these issues with a spinning set-up?

Thanks. I guess I was just a little surprised how fragile a seemingly healthy LM is. Totally OK with the dead fish though. I'm not planning on losing any sleep. To be honest, if it wasn't a golf course pond, I would have gutted and cleaned her and had a fish fry.

Man, I was pounding the cover all afternoon and right at sun down finally got the bite I was looking for. Set the hook and the fight was on. My little half ounce Jig and craw trailer finally paid off. Once I got the LM in my hand I saw that she ate the Jig. I repeatedly stuck my hand in this fatty's mouth trying as best I could to extricate the hook. It took so long that I put the fish back in the water to keep it alive. After a few long sweeping motions with my rod, the LM showed some signs of life. I got her out and again furiously attempted to free her of the hook before she died. I finally looked at her gills from the outside and saw my hook was firmly planted through one of her gills. After some hard work with my pliers on the outside, I finally freed the hook. Thinking she was good to go, I tossed her out into the pond with the hope she would swim away. No luck, she just drifted out farther, doing a slow death roll and resting belly up. I got my shoes wet trying to get to her with my rod. I hoped I could pull her through the water and help revive her. Again, no luck. I just couldn't reach her. I am pretty upset that she seemed to die so easily. She was the largest LM I had caught from this pond. A healthy 3.5 pounder, and now she is dead. What happened? I can't imagine she died from being out of the water too long, I've had other fish out much longer. I've never hooked a LM so deep that the hook goes through the gills. Is there any immediate action drill or other procedure that needs to be taken when a LM is hooked through the gills? Needless to say, from now on when a fish eats a hook, the first thing I plan on doing is checking the gills.

I get that its a bad idea. I agree the guy is a dip ***** for clearly violating the law. So fine the heck out of the violator and put that revenue to good use. If the fine is great enough, that should serve as a great enough deterrent. I just find it amazing that so many folks want to unring the bell of the weight of the unlicensed fish. The fisherman was the unlicensed one. In some ways I think it lessens the previous record. Just my .02.