gilkeybr

In my version of heaven the fish will be biting on hard jerkbaits every day, and there won't be a piece of weed/grass in sight so you don't have to worry about fouling your bait with junk.

This is the truth. It seemed like yesterday I had my first pack of Keitechs. Now I have an obnoxious box full of them

I will switch, even if the bite is hot, if there is a technique that is more fun/interesting that I want to try. For instance at my honey hole, you will ALWAYS catch fish on the MWF rig and they'll range from 1lb up to 4lb. But at some point, after you've caught 10 or 15 fish, one gets the urge to try something different. This is where, depending on the time of day, i'll try something more exciting. A walking bait in the evening is a fun bait to switch to. Or a fluke or similar soft jerk bait during the day. The last couple times out I have enjoyed experimenting with just a plain keitech swing impact. Previously I had only fished them on a underspin. These are my first occasions to fish it on just a weighted hook

I have had fine luck with them and LMB. I have exclusively used mine as trailers for chatterbaits or on an underspin. I think 3.8" or 4.3" is an ideal size, although I have also caught plenty on the 4.8" Swing Impact Fat in Bluegill Flash. When putting them on an underspin head I like to pick the weight of the head based on the depth I want to run. 1/4oz keeps things pretty shallow. 1/2oz will be closer to 6-8ft in my limited experience at a modest retrieve speed. If I weren't running an underspin I would probably default to a belly weighted hook.

After last night i'll be replacing flukes, which never caught me much, with caffeine shads. Very first cast with a KVD magic caffeine shad and I caught a 3.5lber. Second cast caught another 1.5. This was after a pretty rough day of fishing to that point. Only downside is the KVD CS tore badly on the first fish. I cut 1/4" of the nose off and rerigged. It didn't seem to kill the action.

I have definitely experienced this, where a small fish balls the bait up. Even happened on a pretty decent fish the other night. I do agree thats just part of the deal. But I have noticed similar balling up, even on casts where I don't get a bite. I suspect it must be happening during the cast

Hello, I have been trying, with decent success surprisingly, the Ned rig a fair amount lately. I have run into two problems that are happening often enough to be frustrating: 1) I am breaking the lure retainer off the Shroomz head hooks. I am using specifically the 1/15oz heads and have had most of my failures on the black colored head. I have had the lure retainer break off of 3 black ned heads so far. One broke on the very first fish. Others last 5-6 fish before breaking. I also have packages of the white and green. So far I have only broken one white and no greens (this could be because I have fished them less than the black heads so far). This is frustrating because it results in the TRD sliding off the back of the hook on each cast after its broken. My plan, in order to not have to throw out the hooks, is to use superglue to hold the TRD on for these "used hooks". But I wonder if anyone has experienced this premature failure of the shroomz hooks? 2) This one is more of an annoyance: During casts the TRD will flop around and sometimes rehook itself resulting in it no longer being straight. This doesn't always result in the fish losing interest, but I do think it impacts the number of bites I get. Is there something that can be done to keep the bait from getting rehooked during the cast? Thanks in advance. Never would have thought to try something like the Ned rig until reading this forum and it has been my primary fish catcher so far this year!

One of the most exciting things for me is when sight fishing a bed and you finally get the fish to turn on your bait. That moment of "now i've got your attention" is hard to beat! Also, as someone similarly said already, when swimming a ned rig and your line starts moving sideways or towards you! Reel up into them and hang on (hopefully)

My go to "spot" and location for fishing that I enjoy the most is steep, rocky drop-offs. Try to key in based on shore structure (looking for ledges or steep banks approaching the water). My favorite place to fish, in central Ontario, you can be 50ft off shore and be in 70ft of water. The bass seem to love that severe transition at different times of the year.

Boom: Ned Rig. I had great success this weekend with a 1/15oz head (preferably a dark color, but white also worked) and a tail in a green pattern (New Money or Canada Craw). Tried PB&J TRDs and didn't get as much success. The down side is you will catch numbers, including little fish. Caught more than one 6-8" bass. But also caught a 3.2lber as well as several other respectable fish S-Waver 168. Picked this up last winter in the "I Know It" Color. Got a hit on my very first cast. Nothing like the thrill of seeing that "big" bait glide through the water and seeing the flash of a fishes side come out of the shadows. So sold by the 168 I just got a 200 size in Bluegill pattern. Can't wait to try it some more! Bust: Jigs. Never have gotten even so much as a sniff on a jig. I know this has to do with the times/places i'm throwing them since they clearly work for many people. I need to improve this technique. Shaky Head. Same story as the jig. I don't have the confidence to throw them in good conditions because i'd rather throw something I think is going to work. I need to dedicate some "prime time" to fishing these presentations Flukes. Tried various colors and can't seem to get a positive response from the fish. Have caught a couple, but much less then I would catch in the same span of time with a t-rigged stick bait

I second the fact that the action of the Vision 110 is enticing enough to make me want to jump into the water and bite it. If I were to get one, I would get the 110+1 for the added depth. The nice thing about that lure is its not as strenuous to work as other deep diving jerk baits. I was surprised at how much it floated when using it this weekend. I would definitely call it "slow floating". This is with my GG Threadfin Shad color. I also really like the colors of my 110 in Deadly Black Shad. That was working well this weekend. What I would pass on is the 110 FX. I think the folding bill makes the action too erratic and I sometimes experience the bait cresting the surface! It doesn't seem to maintain depth like I would like

For Famous I would nominate the Rapala Shad Rap and the KVD 1.5. Those seem to universally be supported by everyone! The Wiggle Wart could also be considered for the famous list. Another flavor of the month proposal: Bill Lewis StutterStep. I think spy baits like the Spinbait 80 could make this list also. I don't think its ready to make either list, but I really like fishing my Pompadour Jr. I know they aren't the first of their kind (Heddon Crazy Crawler and Arbogast Jitterbug came before for sure), but they seem to catch fish well The Double Plopper would fall under the "Worst purchases i've ever made" category, in my opinion!

I always wonder how bass handle eating living prey, especially mammals like rats/mice or in this case a mole. That mole has huge claws! If it were alive at the time of the strike, I can only imagine it would do extreme damage to the inside of the bass? When I originally saw this picture with the mole I assumed that the bass was found dead with the mole partially swallowed, but I don't know the whole story. Basically bass are a mystery to me because they eat their prey whole, while it is also alive. Other creatures who may eat their prey whole like snakes, sharks or maybe reptiles in some instances generally have a way of killing them first! Maybe I should have studied biology

Any recommendation on gear to bring, as i'll be space limited for the flight. Swimbaits/Drop shots/Jerk baits/etc?

As someone who sucks at tying leader knots, I hate having to re-tie between lures because it means my leader is always shrinking and eventually i'll have to tie a new one! But for the last 4-5 years I have always gone without snaps/swivels

I will be visiting Rancho Bernardo over the 4th of July week for a family vacation. Wondering if anyone wants to help put a modest northern guy on a potential PB? I am thinking of putting a little box together with lures and bring a reel out with me, then maybe pick up a rod while i'm there. Can anyone offer experience in good options for fishing in that area? Any tips/tricks for a traveler? Thanks Brian

I've had good luck with my 130 in Loon and my 90 in Yellow head in all water clarities. If I didn't already have those two, I would have gotten a 110 in a dark color. Instead I got Perch and Munky Butt. I think it is a perfect middle ground between the two. I do think there are times when a 90 could be "the juice", so i'll keep them around!

I just tried fishing a Zinkerz t-rigged for the first time this weekend. After the first fish I started to struggle to keep the front of the worm up on the eye of the hook. If I were to cast with any "extra" effort, I could see the worm ball up at the base of the hook before it hit the water. Very frustrating! Fortunately the bass seemed to be hanging out only about 15-20ft from shore, so the pitches didn't have to go very far. What options are there to secure the slippery elaztech material to the eye of the hook? Some super glue before the first cast? Or maybe a EWG hook with some type of keeper on it? Thanks Brian

For me I would also consider when I'll be using it: From the bank or on a boat? I sometimes get annoyed with smacking my rod-tip on the ground whilst bank fishing if the rod is too long and i'm using a walking bait. On a boat a 7'0" is no problem, but from shore I prefer a little shorter. Currently really digging my 6'10" Lews MH as a do all rod. It does fall more into the budget segment though

I got mine on Ebay too. I never get too worried about whether an ebay item will be fake or not, could just be naive. I got one in Monkey Butt and one in Perch. Really wanted one in Bone because it seems people swear by that color, but they were all sold out. The perch has caught me plenty already. Still haven't thrown the MB

Decided I would try DS fishing for the first time this weekend. Got a bite on the second cast. Lost my first tungsten DS weight on the second cast... I run straight 30lb braid on all my hardbaits, in an attempt to avoid losing them. Did snap the line on a backlashed cast last week with my brand new Pompadour Jr. Fortunately there was still about 10 yards of line attached to the lure and was able to cast out with a shallow diver and snag the remaining line. Fishing top water often makes lure recovery a bit less dramatic!

I wouldn't replace the hooks on the 130. Those things are pretty darn beefy, in my opinion. The 90 the hooks are fairly light wire, so maybe you could consider changing them, but I would hesitate to add any weight to the 90 and affect how it floats. The 110 really seems to be a perfect middle ground bait. Lands much more "softly" (subjectively) than the 130, but seems to "plop" more happliy than the 90 which can run a little sub-surface depending on the conditions. Wish they would have had the 110s available from the start!