Cgolf

That is pretty much what I read. In theory as long as the blades are rotating and the skirt is doing its thing, the bass should be targeting them and not looking at the wire. I have burned spinnerbaits back during a hot bite and of course gotten bit, just that this lake usually doesn't have those conditions often. The thing that always get me is they say a spinnerbait isn't all that natural and we don't want to give them a chance to see the wire. Then they suspend reality, pun intended, and fish jerkbaits with a pause of 10+ seconds that generally have 3 treble hooks hanging off them, which in know way can look natural. Even the profile of a jerkbait is off compared to even a perch of the same size, something else about that bait is triggering the fish and they ignore the unnatural cues. I don't think we will ever understand a bass or even worse a musky.

I 100% agree, I was just surprised he was more dismissive of the low and slow approach many use on clear water, with pointed comments on why I wouldn't work well, but I did know going in he loves the reaction bites. Part of me wonders if I should fish crazy fast like he does till I figure the fish location and then slow down, especially on my home lake where I fish it once or twice a month for 2-3 hours to be off the lake before the recreational boaters clog the water and the ramp. For clarity, the water I vaca fish is semi clear, when the wind doesn't stir up the pollen, etc you can see a white red eye shad on bottom in roughly 12 fow. It's not the clearest lake I have fished, but miles better than the green water of my home lake.

I fished them as slow as I could this year. We got hit with 3 cold fronts in a week and winds got up to 22 with gusts over 30 multiple days and the largies were in the middle of the spawn. I drifted over the reed beds, trolling motor was useless at that point, until I felt the water was unsafe. I just made sure to keep the blades spinning was my goal and took advantage of the less windy days. The cool thing was seeing a PB class largie bump my spin off a nest. While I would love a new PB, I am honestly glad she didn't hit if she was getting ready to spawn. I think fishing the 1/4 ounce spins is a good thing for me as it forces me to reel slower to keep them down. Doesn't take much speed for those to run high in the water column.

Seth Feider spoke at a fishing show I was at before the pandemic and he talked about how quickly he would fish a jerkbait under certain conditions. He had a rod with him as a prop, and I was stunned because that was so different from my style. Last year when the jerkbait bite was on I tried a 6th sense hyper jerk and figured what the heck since hyper is in the name. I caught fish on that bait working it pretty much as fast as I could. Had I not been to that seminar I probably would never have fished the bait that fast. I still tend to retrieve on the slow side, but I do mix in some faster retrieves now and then.

I respect the heck out of KVD and on vaca was reading his second book and got to the spinnerbait section. His statement was for clear water to run them high and fast to get bit in clear water, because a lower and slower approach wouldn't get bit because the bait just doesn't look natural. At the point I was reading this chapter I had my clear water spinnerbait bite dialed in reeling it back slow in the bottom 3rd of the 6ish fow I was casting in and many bites came on or just after a pause. I tried high and fast some with no luck. So KVD loves to fish fast, do you think he truly believes low and slow in clear water is no good, or is he writing it from the perspective that if they aren't hitting it at the speed I want to retrieve it, I will find bass that will? He is set in the way he fishes, so he likely writes from that perspective, because he probably doesn't want to use the low and slow retrieve because it isn't efficient. I have learned a lot from his books and this is the first thing I have found to be opposite of my experiences. I am sure there are more, because as much as I want to go faster, my brain forces me to be methodical and hit as many targets as possible even when searching for active fish. It would be incredible to fish with KVD on the waters I frequent to see how he would attack the same cover, guessing it would be a lot faster skipping many of the targets I would hit. I would learn a ton! Hope that makes sense

From another thread I think they are using the EWG hooks which I have heard the Zman baits don't hold well. My guess is the back half is maybe getting balled up on the hook not the front part sliding. @Ohioguy25 If what I stated above is what is happening, could you rig the front part of the bait, add a bait button (think that is what they are called) to the hook and then rig the back half. Then push the bait button up against the back half of the bait to hopefully limit the amount it slides. It might cause too much resistance screwing up the hookset, but may be worth a try. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Bait_Button_Dispenser/descpage-BBUTTD.html

Have you tried the non floating versions? I haven't fished Zman baits in a long time. I would sell off my stash of them, but not worth the shipping to deal with it at this point. I use salted baits like the skinny Anglers Choice Wart hawg cut in half or 1/2 dingers, or other salted TRD type baits. I fish this the most in a river so I doubt the Zman baits stood up in the current. Also I would think the baits swim differently with the Zman a little tail up which may appear unnatural to fish.

I haven’t had that luck. I don’t boat flip fish with them which helps, but do have to adjust them from time to time. This batch of the other brand were just really trashed, but could be bent back. It just seemed off for that brand was why I mentioned it. Now the strike kings I have left made out of like rebar, obviously not but a way thicker wire, I could probably boat flip a musky and not bend them.

Size 3 and 4

So far this year I have caught fish on some of the spinnerbaits I have made. Last week I fished a N WI lake that saw high winds, rain, and 3 cold fronts push through, yeh me. To top it off I saw numerous fish bump lures out of the way including a PB sized largie and a fish with a tail sore which leads me to believe they were spawning on top of everything else. the bait below was made on the 1/4 Barlows frame. I was worried about their durability because they were super easy to bend to form. Also got the serrated willows from Barlows. Blade sizes were 3/4 and the beads are glass from my fly tying supplies. The skirt is a dirty jigs Purple haze. The blades appear to have a little less lift than standard willows allowing me to run it a bit lower than other spins in this weight range. Retrieve was on the slow side with pauses during the retrieve. I managed 41 fish on the bait in the picture. It held up really well. It still was running true despite the slight bend I just noticed in the picture. when fished side by side with a war eagle this bait came out ahead, despite the wire being a bit thicker. I will be making more of these including a few as gifts, and unfortunately I don’t do the Fishmas thing;) Also question about current Hummdinger spins, may start topic on tackle page, the ones I got this year got bent to crap super fast. I haven’t seen this before with their baits. Could be the spawning fish were more aggressive, but I was pretty disappointed. I know with light wire spins like them and war eagles retuning them is expected, but this was way worse than the normal retuning.

I go with a jig that bumps the bottom and does hang up from time to time. Yes I will lose some jigs for sure. Chasing smallies it seems you get more bites bumping bottom and I have caught numerous fish after popping a bait loose off a snag. Picking the right weight depends on the current and whether your using a salted non buoyant Ned or something like Zman baits can impact your jig choice. There really isn’t an easy answer. Some of the non buoyant salted Ned baits are pretty heavy, so I use a 1/16 ounce jig and it casts as far as I need it on the river I fish. When I fish a crawbug on the same system a 3/16 slider head is the right weight for that bait. so in your case it sound like a 3/16 is the weight to stick with. Sometimes reeling slower helps you feel the snags better/faster and doesn’t wedge them in there as good allowing you to save a few more jigs.

This is a one off password and Glenn doesn’t have me CC info, at least I hope he doesn’t.

This is good. It must have been activated today as I got a pop up to set it up. Glad it was a real thing because I stupidly trusted the site and set it up. Glad I was ok in letting my guard down this once. Shows how even super anal people about security get caught and trust a known:)

This made me laugh. I know I have backed the brakes off too much when I get a hard back lash and the lure momentum almost pulls the rod out of my hands. This happens most often when casting into strong winds, small light aluminum boat that doesn't track well going with the wind where I could really get long casts, forces me to follow weedlines going into the wind.

I do like the low limit card idea. It was painful for us, not because of any money lost, there was zero, but because we each only have one credit and one debit card. So not having a credit card for 5 days was a little rough. The other thought I had was just get a prepaid card and just go to a store or gas station to use the remainder of the card up the after the order, but that isn't foolproof because I don't think stores charge the card instantly.

Glenn I respect the heck out of this site and what you have going, and I now except the quirks too. I am curious why you are so dismissive though of people that had their cards hacked after shopping at TW. As I said before many of us have been solid TW customers for years and I still wear one of their t shirts at least once a week lol. All I am saying what happened and that I will take a wait and see approach. I think some others are there too. We had 2 cards hit, mine on Black Friday and my wife’s during the 25 days sale using the virtual card thankfully. Mine we got the dreaded email from TW, so that was likely the source, but my bank had shut the card down well before that. My wife’s was very close to the time we ordered from TW. We didn’t press the card holder to see if it was the virtual number that was attempted to be used, we probably should have. I will say the other charges around those purchases are places we regularly use the card at and haven’t seen any issues since. We have probably been both lucky and careful over the years, knock on wood, because these are the only times we have ever had an issue. In my case and maybe others we are hesitant to try again regardless of the success of others. My budget was more limited last year and my only 2 TW orders potentially/likely had issues.

That and the whole thing with the color red and some thinking it is only good to a certain depth. Red blood will be a certain shade of grey at some depth and in theory red baits would be the same shade of grey still being effective. You can't think fish only eat injured fish at the depths that they see blood as red;) While many scents say they are made with real stuff, we can only use comparative data to figure out which they like and don't like better. In the wild getting solid comparative data is tough though because there are so many variables. For example on that river even though I have fished it 16 years and never had a smallie hit a plastic that hard it is possible they would have hit a beer can that hard that day. I just need the fish to show back up for more data, even my trusty Bandit 100 couldn't buy a bite.

You won't from me. I base all my comments on what I encounter in the field chasing bass. When in the boat it is nice having a second person in the boat. Especially when testing things like scent or different baits. That is where I gave my father in law a war eagle spinnerbait like the one I had been catching bass on and watched him out fish me 3 to 1 when I switched back to my old strike kings for a while. It was eye opening and we were drifting so position in the boat didn't matter. Same guy didn't catch a bass for the first hour of a trip while I was whacking them, I gave him some scent and had had his first hit in 5 casts and first fish in 5 minutes after using it, that was all he changed. I am never bothered if people don't agree because we all catch them different ways, as evidenced by the lure choices of the top pros at any event, rarely the same lure or even style of lure. I learn a lot reading stuff others write on here and even take notes in some cases to apply to my own fishing.

Well of course that is true, I also haven't figured out those things with my wife of almost 25 years yet. The good news with bass is we can detect patterns with baits, locations, etc, my wife zero patterns;)

I do agree that scent isn’t at the top of the list, but reading the Keith Jones book it does matter some, and in clear water I have seen it really matter during a tough bite All I know is I have been fishing this river stretch for 18 years, I can’t believe it’s been that long, and these are the two hardest hits I have ever had on a plastic. I fish a crawbug a lot in the past and they never nailed them like this. Could have been a fluke, but I will put some more time out there next week. Hoping I see similar results. It could have been a total coincidence today too, but time will tell. That maxscent worm everyone wanted was intriguing, because it had to do something with the scent and smallies, because that worm was similar to many on the market already. Only thing I wonder is if it is a mean mouth bass. That would explain the hyper aggression. I have seen more largies lately maybe they are mixing due to limited spawning areas. I admit I am biased on scents though going back to crappie nibbles almost 2t years ago, but I use the back seaters in my boat as test subjects from time to time to show scent can make a difference. It helps remind me that I am not wasting my money;) hopefully I didn’t ramble too much. I hate writing a thought vs chatting about it.

This morning I used shrimp scent and had a river smallie hit a plastic harder than I have ever had a fish hit a plastic. Also had another hit that was just as hard, but somehow didn’t hook up. Reminds me of the jerkbait bites where they must be trying to kill it and almost knock the rod out of your hands. Next spot for me to try it is for largies on lakes. This does make some sense since the Kietech baits have a squid scent to them and everyone seems to like them. If you like fishing with scent and have some extra cash when in a store pick up a saltwater scent in your favorite brand and see what happens. Early returns for me are good.

Yeh we have a lot of yellow perch in our waters. I think that is why firetiger cranks are good for us regardless of water clarity. In fact that morning I saw a beautiful 11-13” yellow perch in 2 feet of water. I am getting addicted to those wide willows I first encountered them when someone on here suggested that I try the War Eagle finesse spin. They turn over very nicely.

If you have a lot of inline spinners these might work. You may also be able to find tubes like that in a craft store or amazon too. https://www.fishusa.com/Amish-Outfitters-Crankbait-Bag https://www.fishusa.com/Amish-Outfitters-Tube-Caddies?quantity=1&L-Model1=9164

I don't think it is the case of having a closed mind, I am just waiting till you get them on the water and report back. You have always seemed like a straight shooter to me, so your field test will tell me if I need to add another ned bait to my box. I probably have over a thousand Ned baits in various brands and styles so I need it to be different for me to justify purchasing it. Also my wife is slowing the bait monkey down so she has room for clothes in the closet;) Thanks for mentioning the Shad Shape worm as that has been on my list to try as a Ned bait. Since I hate drop shotting, I have been catching quality fish with drop shot baits on a Ned head. I bought some shad shape worms years ago but never tried them. Doube thanks as I just realized I hadn't even packed them for our clear water lake adventures. I love our week chasing largemouth and smallmouth in clear water, the fish make so much more sense then the featureless weedy green water I regularly fish locally.

So other than the name on the bag why would I use these over cut Zinkerz, Robo Ned’s, or any of the other stick baits I have cut in half and used very successfully over the years? I totally agree with Toxic that the standup ability of some baits is way over rated. I fish Ned rigs in current a lot and they never have a chance to properly stand up because the current will knock them over. I bet the loyal GY customer base will buy them, unless I am missing something unique I will use up the near lifetime supply of Ned baits I have. Some of the colors do look cool though…