Airman4754

Oh Shasta. The enigma wrapped inside of a conundrum. Fun lake though.

CXX is absolutely ridiculous as far as break strength, but it's not very manageable. As far as strength and usability you're going to be hard pressed to beat Big Game.

Wasted an entire summer on that lure. Thousands of casts, not one fish. I thought I had a bite once, but it was probably a stick.

Here out west it seems like everyone has fallen into two categories; "tournament" and "swim baits." There are guys that aim for 100 fish days and guys that aim for one fish days. I've been doing a lot of both the last few years and here is my educated answer. Throwing big baits, which I define as 6" and over and weighing 2oz or more will make you a better fisherman. It will make you a lot better fisherman actually. When you go to break down water you look for the areas that realistically will hold large fish and you usually only get one cast to make that fish bite so cast and boat placement are extremely critical. With all that said I haven't noticed a difference in fish size in the last two years. Then again our state record would barely get you into a lunker club. I have caught way more 5lb (which is considered a big bass here) and up fish in the last three years than any other period and it's from throwing large baits, but most of them weren't on large baits. I guess what I'm getting at is target bigger fish and you'll catch bigger fish, no matter the bait size.

If you're truly dead sticking like cat fishing then get some Canadian night crawlers, a long sewing needle, a syringe, and a small treble hook. Set it up like a C-rig. Run your leader through the eye of the needle. Thread the needle through the entire worm. Tie on the treble hook, slide the end of the worm over the hook shank, and use the syringe to inject air into the worm. Cast it out there and wait. You'll catch everything in the lake including bass.

I run every technique I have year round. Some more than others, but you just never know until you toss it out there.

That definitely depends on the rod. Like an NRX 894 is rated to 3/4oz but it handles 2oz with relative ease. An Okuma Citrix 7'MH is rated to 1oz, but 1oz on that rod feels like a 5lb dumbbell is hanging from it.

BPS Speed Shads. I can't tell any difference between them in the water. Also, in case you'd like to weed out the dinks the Speed Shads come in a much larger size. The pic is the biggest Speed Shad vs. the largest fat impact.

This high mountain lake near me has good fish, like it's almost impossible to catch a dink. The average fish is a 2lb smallie. So, it's 37 degrees when I launch and the sun is hitting the water. I motor over to a spot I usually do well at. Drop the TM, big fish, big school if 15ft of water. First cast I'm letting my spinnerbait fall down to 15ft range and my line just picks up and starts moving away. I've never seen such a thing in open water so I reel up and it's solid. At least a 4lb smallie. I get him to the boat and didn't even take him out of the water. I just lipped him and popped the hook out. Grabbed my drop shot rod and went to work. I caught three more around 2lbs. Worked a little more around the lake and put three more in the boat. I didn't get a picture of the good one because I thought I was in a school of them that size and wanted to get back to fishing right away. Pretty good Monday.

Braid to fluoro, make sure your braid is wet when you tie your albright and it won't fail.

65lb braid, set it as hard as you can and never worry.

Not much back bone on that one anymore.

Lamiglas Pro-X 735, Lew's Tournament MB 8:3:1, PP 65lb Maxcuatro.

If you can find a used Revo Winch or a Lews Super Duty 5:1 ratio I'd go with that. I can barely even feel 10XD's on my Super Duty. If you aren't throwing magnum cranks the Orra Winch is a great reel at a great price.

For pads I wouldn't use it, but it is great for submerged grass. Adjust your leader length accordingly to keep it higher in the grass. Strikes are like anything else. Sometimes they slam it, sometimes you get a slight tap, sometimes it's just dead weight, and sometimes you'll lose the feel of your weight. I use straight shank hooks on mine and run from 4" lizards all the way up to 12" worms.

Depending on your lake you won't need to leave eight feet. If you have hard cover there will be fish there over the whole summer. If you're going out deeper make it easy and just find the fish with your electronics and use a marker buoy. No matter what fish sllllooooooowwwww. If the wind is too high and you can't hold a spot then move to a place you can. Make the same cast with the same bait a minimum of four times and slow down. If you think you're going slow, slow down more. In deeper water there will be more than one fish there. Make a mental landmark when you hook a fish to your boat position and your cast. Then keep making that same cast, change baits, every four casts. If you are fishing a school then pull your buoy and find them again if things die down. If you're fishing deep structure leave for 30 to 45 minutes so it can reload. Everything outside of pre and post spawn sucks in comparison. You just need to grind it out.

It has to be around 150 bass. I haven't fished much since March though.

I literally own every Ambassador model from the C4 down and I have couple Calcuttas as well. I use the Ambassadors for salmon and steel head, fresh and salt water. I've never taken any of them apart, cleaned them out, etc. Some are over thirty years old. They all still work great. They cast weights up to 3oz and land fish up to 40lbs. I throw glides and swim baits with the Calcuttas. The Abu's will do medium to light swimbait work and magnum crank baits no problem. If you're going to throw slide swimmers and Hudds all the time get a Calcutta.

I throw it on my top water setup which is 65lb braid. It's top water, KISS.

Getting into this time of year if the water is clear and the wind is down throw a spy bait. It's a great search bait. Normally there will be multiple fish per spot, so once you hook the first one keep picking it apart.

Summer is about cover, light penetration, structure, and thermoclines. An example of cover can be as simple as a dock or as crazy as a high mountain lake that I fish often with an algae bloom so thick you can't see through it. The fish never go much deeper than twelve feet regardless of water temp. Water temperature is of course a factor of them moving out deeper, but depending on your geographical location the water temps in mid-summer can vary greatly along with the depth the fish move out to. Off shore structure is tedious, but the easiest. Electronics, patience, and a markey buoy will get you where you need to be. Thermoclines for me are the most common. In a deep canyon lake summer and winter fish just about the same. A point that goes down to 120ft won't be holding fish all over it, they will almost always be within three feet of the first thermocline all across the lake. You can catch the ones out there suspended in open water with a flutter spoon, drop shot, wacky senko on a jig head, etc., but the ones holding to points are a hell of a lot easier.

I run a Tournament MB for swim jigs and it does more than good enough. Any of those three options should be great.

I use Yo-Zuri and CXX.

Yep.

We just ended a five year drought up here. We tossed big swim baits in the summer and caught some great fish. The big fish are condensed. Take advantage of it.