HeavyTwenty

Been trying to learn Lake Lanier. There's been a lot of top water action but whopper plopper, swim baits, flukes weren't working. I located a large school of bait suspended 15-25 ft in 30-35 ft of water being chased by a few bass (counted maybe 5 on sonar). Couldn't get them to bite the drop shot but a 1/2 oz spoon worked (first time using spoons). Caught 4 total; the big spot weighed 5lb8oz. Also went to the Chattahoochee River. The current is deceptive. Going 2.5 miles up river and then 2.5 back felt like 15 miles on a lake. Only caught dink trout. Apparently they stopped stocking 2 months ago but the brown trout naturally reproduce there. Almost flipped the kayak on a hidden rock. No photos of trout because taking a quick photo with current is tough and I heard you need to be very quick if you want the trout to survive.

Weightless or slow falling (1/16 oz bullet weight or maybe a split shot) presentation seems more important than the color or type of worm. Weedless dropshot also seemed to work well.

Just moved to Georgia from Florida. Caught 21 bass (including a few hybrids) yesterday on my kayak. Feels kind of strange looking at a fish finder and jigging a drop shot in 33 ft of water. Caught about 15 after that on top water... missed a lot too. Most within a 2 hour feeding frenzy during the afternoon. I might try a trout trip next.

I only retie fluoro knots if they get snagged on something and I have to jerk them out with a lot of force. Braid knots seem invincible.

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress™-ultimate-jerk-shad-12-oz-floating-jerk-bait?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051#repChildCatSku=024385049 Another good alternative. Sometimes they're on sale for $4. If I remember correctly, they seem to very slowly float in 60F water with 12# fluoro. I think it started very slowly sinking when I used it on 17# fluoro setup. Hooks were medium quality. I had one last like 2 years, then another bend out on the first day.

Pitching from a seated position is never as good compared to standing. Its more of a hybrid pitch-cast, so its less controlled, less accurate, and makes a bigger splash. My old Tarpon 120's seat was literally level with water, made it a pain.

Flu almost always seem to go high, low, then back to high.

Traditional drop shot hooks are thin wired, similar to treble hooks. That allows them to penetrate the bass with low force but bends them if you apply too much force.

H2O CRS Crankbait chartreuse 8.15 Zoom horny toad black 7.13 Megastrike Cavitron Buzzbait 1/2 oz Black/red 7.0 Booyah poppin pad crasher black 6.15 Zoom trick worm junebug dropshot 6.13

I had a bunch of vanish knot failures, so I switched from palomar knot to san diego jam and it seems fine now. I'll probably try something else next time though.

Visited a friend in Baltimore and we went fishing at Loch Raven on a rental boat. It was kind of rough without a depth finder. Had a bite or two shallow, but everything else was 20-30 ft water. No luck with black/blue jig or watermelon/red worms. They seem to only hit shad color baits (drop shot fluke + vertically jigged swim jig). I didn't think they could even see color that deep. I guess deep water bass fishing could be fun with the right gear and technology, but Florida seems simpler. Bass were about 1.5-2.5 lbs.

That's what I encountered as well. For over a year I just used fluoro leader fine (I use about 10-15 ft leader to add a little bit of stretch) because I rarely let the spook pause longer than 2 seconds. But a few days ago the fish would only hit my spook when I let it pause for about 5-10 seconds. When I resumed walking it, the spook would dive under the water.

Seems like "mono" is the way to go. Big Game is only sold in 650yard spool locally (kind of awkward to stick that in my kayak bag)... so I'll probably try Trilene XT. I use leaders for most treblehook lures just for a bit of extra stretch. I don't have many rod/reel combos because I fish off a kayak, so spooling all braid is just simple and easy. Adding a long leader seems to add a little more flexibility to my setups. I use leaders specifically for spooks and jerkbaits because those two lures often get their hooks wrapped around my 15-20lb braid. I sometimes use straight braid to lipless or lipped crankbaits. I'm not really aware of the chemistry behind XT/Big Game... I call them mono because they're sold under the mono section at most stores. I did find it strange that I couldn't find the words mono written anywhere on the packaging. Anyways, I mentioned abrasion resistance because I'll probably be picking up some 20 lb mono for inshore leader as well.

I've run into issues with fluorocarbon sinking whenever I let a spook pause too long, so I want to find a floating leader. Out of Trilene XT, XL, Big Game, I'm leaning towards Trilene XT, since it has the highest abrasion resistance and its memory shouldn't be an issue as a leader. But I was wondering if there was a copolymer line that works better?

Boxing was also awful for years because of the "cold war" between some of the promotion companies. 2017 has been a ridiculously good year for exciting boxing matches, but I think the damage is done. A lot of the top fights are barely pulling any numbers now because only the hardcore fans care now.