Felix77

Ticking the tops of grass is where I get my best bites. When I have caught smallies on a chatterbait it was slow rolling it over rocky flats. The new Strike King Rage Blade is awesome for this.

I use Frog Toggs from WalMart. Work great and it's cheap!

From a yak I like throwing a baby brush hog. 3/8oz at least. I work from the outside weed edge and in.

I just screwed up a spool trying to do this without a specialized tool. Needless to say I am out a reel until the replacement spool comes in. I also just purchased that Hedgehog pin removal tool so I don't screw up another one. The pin is all jacked up. Learn from my mistake and either leave it alone and work around it OR get a tool which does the job nicely.

Awesome ... My avitar has my all time smallest largemouth. I think it measured around 4-5 inches. Caught on a 3 inch Senko.

So ... let me get this straight ... Someone catches a lunker on a bait you don't have. You go buy said bait. NOPE ... never happened to me. LOL Seriously - At least you know it attracts fish in that body of water but don't forget that there are other variables at work here. Time of day, weather and the way they were fishing it for starters. Fish it and see if you can replicate the result. Have fun!

I posted an update. I used this worm all weekend and caught more fish drop shotting than any other time combined. This certainly was a part of the equation to get me over the hump. Thank you!!!

Update: I dedicated the entire weekend to fishing the drop shot. Taking the tips from this post I was able to catch a bunch of bass. In brief here is what I did which made the difference for me ... 1 - Leader length. My lengths were too short. I lengthened to about a foot. 2 - Weight - I was using too light a weight. I up'd it to 1/4 oz - 3/8oz based on depth. This ensured that #1 - I can clearly feel the weight, #2 - allowed me to lose slack in the line when I reeled it tight. 3 - Presentation - Having lost the slack I can tell that I am working the worm and not the weight. Dragging the weight when i am ready to move the lure. 4 - hook set - There is "none". When I went out on friday each time I thought I got a bite I would go to "set the hook". I lost more than I caught. I watched a video on the drop shot and remembered the reel and put pressure method. The next 2 days I missed just one. The bite was really tough. I would feel pressure and not a "tick" on the line most of the time. Thanks to ALL who posted. Oh and by the way ... I used the small Power Worm dipped in chartreuse dye. Caught ALL my fish on that.

When I want to drift slowly I close up my grappling anchor and just drop it down in the closed position. Slows my drift right down.

InvizX is the way I go. Tried P-Line and had a lot of break off's. I think it was their fluoroclear. That was 8lb test.

I think it did. When I fun fish I use a spinning reel mainly and I find it very inefficient at some presentations. Things like spinnerbaits, crankbaits, spooks etc. take just a bit more time to do with spinning setups. The ability to thumb the spool, chuck and wind I end up getting more casts out using baitcasters. I still prefer spinning for finesse presentations. Things like wacky rig, weightless senko, mojo rig, tubes etc. Tried baitcasters with them and found the feel lacking compared to my spinning setup.

NFL - New York Giants MLB - NY Yankees (loosely ... don't follow the sport much. I was born near the stadium) NBA - Miami Heat (because of my little girls who are passionate about basketball. Again don't follow much otherwise) NHL - nope College - nada

I have never fished for bass in a river system before. I hear that things are "different". I will have my 1st opportunity the weekend after next. Any advice? Tips? FWIW ... It appears to be a relatively stained/dirty river. At least the parts that I can observe.

8lb Fluoro

Roboworm, dreamshot, zoom finesse worm

Picked up a pack at BassPro today. I will let you know how it works out.

Never thought of that. Will definitely have to give that a try.

Last year my goal was to learn the drop shot. It was overpowered by the mojo rig which has been very successful for me. To date I have had marginal success on the drop shot and I am wondering how the people on this forum fish the drop shot. My general approach with the drop shot is to fish a weight heavy enough to keep bottom contact and drag/twitch the lure back. 3/16oz in 10 FOW or less for example. My weight is generally between 6 - 12" long. I feel like I should killing them on this technique and for some reason it isn't happening. Just looking for some ideas. Thanks

Thanks for all the replies. This is a 2 year old Nitro Z-6. He bought it brand new. I just hope things work out for him.

I sold my canoe this season for a kayak. Thus far this year I have used my kayak more this one year than the total amount of times I fished out of the canoe. I just didn't like it.

If they are aggressive topwater, lipless CB's, Square bills that nip the tip. If they are semi-aggressive/reactive on the bottom - baby brush hog, beaver type bait If they are picky ... , mojo rig, senko.

Guys, One boater had quite the experience this past weekend which ended up as damage to the underside of his boat. Saturday he went through his "checklist" at the hotel when we returned and saw some bends in the gel-coat on the underside of the boat. After consulting the seniors in our club which includes a reputable dealer we decided it was ok to fish on it the next day. The next day ends with his boat practically sinking on the run back to the launch. He swears that there was no impact of any kind besides the running up and around waves. No rock, no shoals, no submerged timber ... His co-anglers (day 1 and day 2) agreed. Day 1 was a little rough but not rough enough to be dangerous. 2 footers and a good amount of wind at most. 6-10mph Day 2 was much lighter than the 1st day. 4-6 mph. The pictures tell the rest of the story. Question to this forum ... have you ever heard of a Gel Coat failure from typical usage of a bass boat like this? What could have caused this if him and/or his co-anglers didn't noticeably feel an impact.

Banjo Minnows ... When learning how to fish a fluke I came across their instructional videos. They were very informative on the different ways to fish a fluke. https://banjominnowstore.com/Techniques.aspx After seeing the videos I caved in and bought a few packs of the small yellow perch and some weights. https://www.banjominnowstore.com/Store/p-326-006-4-perch.aspx What do you know ... it caught fish.

I currently use a 6x reel for my cranking. Most people use a 5:1 reel. I am torn about making the purchase. Looking for opinions either way with regards to the benefit of a 5x reel for crankbaits. (suare bills and otherwise) Note that I have a single 7' M rod which I use for all my cranking. I also use it for jerkbaits. As a co angler I try to limit it to one.

I do. To mustad hooks of the same size. The wide short shank.