Dorado

Keltonz, congrats on that PB! Beautiful fish! As a shore angler myself, do you feel like tying your hook 2' above the dropshot weight is the bare minimal length since it's not a vertical presentation being on shore and all. I think I've been tying my hook too close to the weight from drop shotting from shore. I fish in 6-8 ft average depth of water.

Darren - How do you like your Native Ultimate 12?

I love Native kayaks! I own a Native Ultimate FX15t (tandem) and it was one of the greatest decisions I've ever made. They are top quality and are sooooo easy to customize due to the rail system. You can buy screwballs that attach to the rails and possibilities are endless. I have a transducer, attached to a screwball, that runs off the side and the fishfinder is attached to a screwball too. Rode holders attach to screwballs too, along with a GoPro arm too. It's such an addicting hobby. You can customize a Native with less $$$ than a Hobie too (I'm going to loose some friends with this comment ) Don't worry either............I'm not sponsored either by native haha. It's just what happens when you deliver quality products. Hobie has a cult following......I get it. The Slayer looks sweet! I'm a very happy Native customer and I often convert my tandem to a solo in minutes.

Why do you remove the split rings before attaching a snap? I've always just attached my snap directly to the split ring, but I'm curious if you've found it helped.

So, a white ice Zoom Super Fluke Jr is one of my favorites (day and night). That's already a part of my rotation. 2017 YTD PB came off one mated with a white chatterbait - at night. White has been the color for me at night bc of that contrast point that some mentioned earlier today.

I laughed at myself this morning when I was analyzing all that went wrong from last night. I tied it in the dark and obviously wasn't paying attention. Should've adapted earlier when I didn't land that 2.5 - 3 bounder (estimate). Road Runner makes a 1/4 oz with 1/0 hook that should improve things. I think I was using a 1/8 with #1 size or 1/16 oz with #4 hook last night.

I hear you man. These light action rods help me cast these light lures but my tradeoff is lack of solid hooking power. I do need a larger hook gap. See below. This little lure has been so consistent though!

Desperately need advice. Went out last night and hooked into 4 nice bass who all threw the hooks. It was frustrating. Was using a small roadrunner underspin with a 3" white grub. Medium light power, fast action Fenwick HMG rod with 8 lb PowerPro braid and 6 lb P-Line Fluroclear leader Any recommendations to greater success on landing these fish? Better jig type perhaps?

One word 'tube'. Weightless. Worked for me in NM, Co, and Az.

I'll take a stab. TX rig should be utilized when vegetation is present because of the weedless attributes with that rig. Shakey head excels under docks and rip-rap, rocky areas where baitfish like to hide and eat off the rocks. Excels in clear water, similar to conditions where the ned rig shines. Personally, the ponds I fish often have a lot of weeds and vegetation on the bottom so my shakey heads pick up too much debris - so I TX-rig almost 100% of my soft plastics. The experts will add more detail, but this is for my own simple mind

With my experience with snaps, Palomar knot has been flawless. When you use a Palomar knot on larger cranks, especially, you use a lot of line (not a huge deal), but you use considerably less when you tie directly to a snap and you can rotate various cranks all day and only tie ONCE. Very convenient and a time saver.

I agree with Dink. I also noticed the same experimentation on the water and leave the rings be. I use snaps exclusively on cranks and like that I only have to tie one solid Palomar knot. . I'll use the rapala knot on smaller, finesse hardbaits, like twitchbaits and on spoons. I HATE snap swivels.

Some great responses here. Big fan of SK 1.5 square bills and Mann's baby one-minus. However, there is one crankbait that I have yet to be skunked with and I'm 7-0 with this lure. It's a LiveTarget Threadfin squarebill (baitball series). It's not cheap, but the baitball scheme seems to get the bass to chase. I can work it very slow and resemble a wake bait with the tip up OR burn it, deflecting off obstructions, with short pauses.

Fly fishing is my other passion and I won't even discuss how many fly boxes I have. And I only fly fish the Southwest too

I've read some of your previous posts regarding this rig and I'm very eager to try it out this spring. Fishing from shore, I'm not trusting the drop shot method because of the angles working against me no matter how long my leader is. Drop shot works more effectively when I'm fishing vertically from my yak. The highly pressued bass I pursue will likely fall victim to this type of finesse fishing....plus I have tons of 4.5" Roboworms and Zoom finesse worms to accommodate. Love those Gama Roboworm hooks too!!!

I mostly bank fish these days and was wondering when you would choose split shot Rig over the wacky ? I've never tried the split shot technique before.

Sounds about right haha. Those Japanese companies get all innovative and crazy on us and that was starting to be my poison until this nice little intervention thread haha

That's a great story!

Great example and idea. I dig this.

But those Jackall Pompadours or Megabass PopMax though..........the withdrawals now haha

Welcome! I live in Phoenix and fish once a week. Early 30s and father of a two year old and one on the way! PM me of you ever want to hit the waters. I have a kayak too and have been doing well at Lake Pleasant lately. You'll enjoy the site. Solid folks

It sure is fun! It's like a hobby on its own. I just can't tell my wife that adding more shoes to her extensive shoe collection is also a hobby ! Until tomorrow haha. Jk I'm disciplined when I need to.... it's like getting back in shape or a diet ..... do I want to? H{+$ no! But if it's going to make a positive difference than I'm good with the sacrifices.

Said just about everybody on this forum Listen, I had a deep realization this morning that I am actually handicapping my progress embarking this exciting new endeavor of being a bass angler. I'm constantly keeping up with the 'Benjamin's' or convincing myself that this new lure/soft plastic that I read somebody's reviews on (especially soft plastics :/ - thanks Crappies) will be the answer to my riddle. For example, nice try Al Lindner.......you almost had me with the new Storm GT360 yesterday........don't worry, you're still my icon. What's the irony here? I said that last week when I picked up some new Reins bubbling shaker. I said that the week before when I almost pulled the trigger on a couple of the 60+ colored cranks Norman offers. The week before that, my insecurity drove me to the extreme of picking up more Z-Man TRDs that I didn't have the color of. Guess what? I have WAY more brand new, never been opened, packages that keep getting piled on with new impulsive buys haha! (spoiler alert: I have yet to use any of those aforementioned products sad huh) I'm being a little dramatic here, but me cutting myself off from buying any new lures for the rest of this year will force me to: 1) improve on techniques with the unopened toys I already have 2) save $$$ 3) be more grateful of the arsenal of countless combinations I can muster 4) save $$$ again. And who knows.......maybe Woody doesn't have to be replaced by Buzzlightyear every week......what if what's never been opened yet is the golden ticket to all these waters all along? Sorry marketers, I just ruined your day I know I know. Don't worry though.........plenty other fish in the sea haha. This was not intended to be a rant, actually sharing a huge personal flaw that I need to curb; but more of a way to get this off my chest and bring some humor to the end of a stressful workday. Tight lines!

A swimbait hook or weighted belly hook will help maintain that even keel. In other words, swimming those back "weightless" will create those issues invariably.

I can't get there yet. For example, I have so much confidence in the day with a black and blue jig, but have been so discouraged using that same lure at night. Guess I need to trust the process and not let the night mode affect my technique and concentration.