Phelptwan

Probably; Damiki Vault in Chrome or Blue Blue/Chrome Rat-L-Trap Stunna in Shad Fillet Bluegill colored 3xd Bluegill colored Frittside Red JackHammer Wack Rig

Last year we had no significant ice and a ridiculous weed coverage come spring. It was the worst spring jerkbait bite I've ever had. Pretty sure they were related, but I'm not smart enough to know why.

Changes by the year, but I'd say; 1. Wacky Rig 2. Rat-L-Trap 3. Frog 4. Jerkbait 5. bladed jig They move around pretty regularly depending on the conditions for the year. Last year was weird because we didn't have a real freeze and had a BOATLOAD more grass than usual.

Rip it through the top of grass. Speed is dependent on grass height.

Was out with a buddy this year throwing 3xd and 5xd's. He hooked up with a fish and I went to reel in my 3xd as fast as I could on a 5.0 reel. While doing this I hooked up with a fish. I thought to myself, hrm, lets give that another go and repeated things. I decided to throw the 3xd on a 8.2 reel and kept catching fish burning it as fast as I could. It was a ton of fun.

You should give the Shimano FlashBoost popper a try. It fishes a lot like the PopX, but there's times when you kill it in the water and fish just go wild. It's my clear water go to while the popx/popmax are my stained/dirty water baits.

Noticed the same thing with a number of their other items as well.

PopMax is getting fished on a 6'10" Expride MH, Metanium 8.1, with 40lb braid and a 17lb P-Line CXX Leader. The P-Line CXX is pretty much the stiffest floating line I could find, and it helps a great deal from getting the hooks tangled in the line. I really only have about 10-12" of leader. PopX is actually getting fished with the Baby PopX on a BFS setup; Megabass P5 F1-63x, Aldebaran BFS 8.1, 10lb Daiwa J-Braid, 7lb Maxima? Leader

That bird is much better at holding onto that bass than I am, and I have thumbs.

You can buy a '24 Vanford from JDM sites for right around $200 right now. Alternately, if you see '20 Vanford's in stock they are sitting around 165-170 from JDM sites. Digitaka, Asian Fishing Portal, JapanLureShop.

I've fished in some pretty ridiculous conditions. I've even been surprised by some storms and ran her up and powerpoled down and just kept on fishing (put some in the livewell during that event) while others trailered their boats and waited out the storm.

Any links?

Digitaka, AFP, and JapanLureShop are killing my wallet this year.

From what I've read the BF70 = Salmandura Air TW (CDM Reel), and the PX BF70 = Alphas Air TW. Due to the weak Yen, either could be had from JDM sites for cheaper right now (quite a bit). If you are really looking though, you might consider the Aldebaran BFS as well. After comparing quite a few at this point, I definitely consider the Aldebaran a better reel than the Alphas Air TW for ~$15 more.

A lot of that is due to returns that had seriously damaged shipping containers. They can't sell the rod as new anymore (even though it's probably fine) because the shipping container was utterly destroyed on delivery.

I use them all the time, because it seems nobody likes them and they get put on the sale rack constantly.

I use Japan Lure Shop, Asian Portal Fishing, and Digitaka pretty much exclusively now. I occasionally buy things on Amazon.jp as well, but it's gotta be a really good deal.

I've gotten fakes a number of times, but Amazon's always taken care of it. I make sure not to buy line from 3rd party sellers though at this point.

Open Water - Pop, let set, pop, let set, rinse repeat. Around docks - Pop pop pop pretty much as fast as I can get it out under/away from the dock. Around brush/laydowns - Pop pop, set, pop pop set. I generally start there, but generally vary it up if it doesn't work and let the fish tell me. I also don't fish poppers unless I see/hear bluegill snapping at the surface.

Boxes for Depth, boxes for rattles/silent, then color in the boxes. Ones I don't end up liking or using get thrown into the "here's the baits I don't like box". I honestly could probably cull the vast majority at this point and just keep Stunna's and Vision 110's and 110 Jr's. Right now the ones I commonly use are in 6th Sense Jerkbait Chambers, but the foam is wearing out pretty quick and I feel I'm going to need to replace them soon with something different. Maybe time to try out the new plano Jerkbait boxes.

I personally hate them. I know it's anecdotal but wacky rigging is my bread and butter and I rarely lose fish when I'm doing it. I tried a Trokar (I think) for several weeks in the summer and I lost more fish than I care to recall, and the ones I did catch the hook always fell right out as soon as I lipped it or got it in the boat. Went back to the Gamakatsu's and all was well.

For some reason I can't imagine that lasting long around the more toothy critters in my waters.

Gunna have to give a nod to the Stunna as well. It's the first jerkbait I grab now. Which is sad considering how much money I have in 110's.

How do you keep the o-rings from break? My only gripe with this type of keeper is how many of them I lose to the o-rings snapping.

I've got a lot of Siebert's now, but the middle blade seems to come off pretty often on them. Sharp teeth fish seem to like them just as much as bass. I've found the Shimano's to be very tough though.