MichaelCopeland

Howdy Ben and welcome aboard! Like @A-Jay said there's a ton of useful info here and, like you, I had no faith in artificial baits/lures til I joined here back in July. Thanks to the awesome folks on here I've gained much confidence in them. Read as many of the articles as you can. A lot of your questions may be answered in them. If not, don't hesitate to ask any of us. Someone on here is bound to know the answer or at the very least get you pointed in the right direction. Good luck and tight lines! ?

I've got a 3 of the SK red eye shad. Can't remember the colors. 2 are brand new, giving to me by one of my bosses. 1 is a pearl/white kinda color and 1 is a craw kinda color. The third one I actually caught in the smaller pond by my house yesterday with a Rat-L-Trap...lol. That thing must've been in that pond for quite some time. It's slightly faded the eyes look like they have cataracts, the split rings were so rusted that the one you tie the line to just broke right off and the hooks are rusted really bad too. I figure I can put new split rings and hooks on it and it will work just fine. I thinks it's a sexy shad color. Thinking about giving them a try tomorrow.

Yeah if the drop shot is working for you, I'd continue to throw it. You may also want to throw some fast moving baits as well as the bass will get a lot more active and even feed in frenzies at times to gorge themselves for the winter coming up. Lipless crankbaits, squarebills, diving cranks, spinnerbaits, chatter baits, buzzbaits, poppers, spooks, hollow body frogs anything you can cover alot of water with fast. Use the drop shot, Texas rig, Carolina rig, jigs, wacky rigs and other slower presentations when the fast paced bite slows down or stops to more thoroughly work an area.

That's a tough question. Just knowing that the baits/lures that I already have has its purpose. I just haven't found alot of them out yet. One thing I would do is, for the ones that work for me, get a couple brighter and natural colors to use when the darker ones aren't working. For instance junebug red and red bug colors of the Zoom Ol' Monsters has worked very well for me and the black and blue and the white chatter baits have done well also. However they aren't producing that well right now and I think if I added a couple different colors of them to my tackle box I might start having some success with them again. Just to give a little bit of a different look. Same baits just different color may attract more bites. Especially since I fish the same two ponds almost everyday. I'm sure there's a few I need to add to my arsenal that I don't have at the moment. Just gotta figure out which ones to add. I know I need to add some mid depth baits to my tacklebox, I just don't know which ones to get. I still have tons of learning to do though. I'll get around to them eventually.

Another first and yes another dink. The big uns have been tough to find here lately, heck even the dinks have been too. Guess they are a little easier to find though. After trying the Rat-L-Trap again, an Echo 1.75, the chatter bait, spinnerbait, pitchin' and flippin' a craw fatty, and hopping a shaky head bait fish super fluke and getting skunked. I finally tried a wacky rig. Tied on a Gammy 2/O(I think that's the size maybe a #2) octopus hook and wacky rigging a cotton candy Zoom Centipede and threw it out a few times by the tree I always fish by at some point at the smaller pond, no luck. Was heading back around to get to the entrance/exit side of the pond and halfway there my girlfriend called. Talked to her for a sec and when we hung up I noticed the pump for the pond right in front of me. I've fished around it before and hadn't had any luck, but I've always felt like that would be a good spot for bass to hold to with all the pipes and stuff coming from it and running across the bottom or at least near the bottom of the pond. So I flipped the wacky rigged centipede right next to the pump and waited as it slowly fell towards the bottom. After a couple seconds or so the line went almost tight and this little fella hit it good. Heck I thought it was a pretty good sized one with the resistance it gave me. Not today, as I got him to the surface he was flipping and flopping around and I was like that little guy had some fight in him to be so small. Anyways it's a first and I'm happy I didn't get completely skunked. That was the only one I caught though. Gonna try it again tomorrow. Hoping to find the big uns again. ?

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

Gotta be this one of my PB 4lber! ?

Ok I know I said I wouldn't post any more pics of dinks, but I have to make exceptions when it comes to firsts. Been having a bit of a harder time locating the bass in the ponds here by the house the last couple days. Still haven't really found them. I've been fishing the smaller pond because it has more accessible bank to fish from. I'd say I'm able to fish about 75-85% of that pond. I figure the bass have been in the 15-25% I can't really get to easily or without a boat/kayak. Anyways yesterday afternoon I was throwing an RT379 Rat-L-Trap covering as much of the pond as I could. Finally I was about to call it quits when I just bombed it out in the middle about 30 or 40 yards, I was using my spinning gear. I was burning it back and had just started reeling, about 3 or 4 turns of the handle, when this little guy hit it pretty hard. I thought it was gonna be bigger than it was because of how hard it was hit. I didn't give him any slack and just continuously reeled him in, didn't want to take a chance of losing him. Got him to the bank, took pics, unhooked him and let him go. The only thing to brag about is I finally caught a bass on a bait that is mass produced where I work and thought it was pretty awesome. My first Rat-L-Trap bass! Guess when it comes to firsts it doesn't matter if it's a dink or a hawg or anywhere in between. A first is a first and requires recognition, in my opinion anyways. ?

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

Howdy and welcome aboard! ?

Howdy Steve and welcome aboard! ?

Texas rig a Zoom Ol' Monster 10.5" worm weightless and weedless. Adjust the spool tensioner knob and the braking system of your Kast King Assassin reel to increase your distance.

Well I bought some Berkley Havoc watermelon candy craw fatties to use for trailers on my chatter baits until I can get some more sprayed grass sweet beavers. Not impressed with them so far. Put one on my white chatter bait and went fishing this morning, no bites. So I put one of my new bait fish colored super flukes on it, still no bites. Now I'm not impressed with the new super flukes either. Came home to get a few things done around here that needed done. Afterwards I changed out my white chatter bait and tied on the black and blue one, put the craw fatty on for a trailer. Went fishing again this afternoon and still no bites. Now I'm frustrated with the craw fatties. Even though I wasn't impressed with the new super flukes either I said what the heck and put one on my black and blue chatter bait anyways. First cast about 40' out(I know that's not major distance but it is far for me at the moment as I'm still learning my new baitcaster). As soon as it hit the water this about 3lb big girl chomps it down. I'm really loving my new baitcaster because I was able to set that hook from that distance with no problem at all. She put up a little bit of a fight and kinda jumped too even though I had my rod tip down. Got her reeled in, took pics, unhooked her and set her free. She was the only thing I caught today but she was pic worthy. ?

I spooled mine up like the way @Glenn talked about in a video I watched. The only things I didn't do was use scotch tape or any tape for that matter and I don't have the spooling machine thing he used. I don't have the holes in my spool so it was a little tricky getting it started but once I did I manually turned the spool in the direction it would turn to reel in a few times making sure to keep it as tight as I could. Once I had enough wraps to start reeling the handle I put a pencil through the line spool hole and held it between my feet with the line coming off the spool from the back side of the spool. Worked pretty good for me. Here is the video I watched

Thank you. I'll check and see. I called him yesterday and yeah I could order just one but the shipping would actually cost more than the jig. So hopefully one of the local tackle shops has some of his jigs. Probably cost more for the jig than his cost but not as much as cost plus shipping.

Thank you @Catt! Can I order just one to see how I like it? My funds are pretty limited at the moment. I'm gonna order a bladed jig from Siebert Outdoors here soon.

Getting low on sprayed grass sweet beavers. So went to Wally World a little while ago to get some. Well either they were out or don't have em at this one in Pineville so I picked up a few other things. Got some Berkley Havoc 4" Craw Fatties Bobby Lane design watermelon candy color. Was the closest thing I could find in color to the sweet beavers. Grabbed a bag of Zoom Salty Super Flukes in bait fish color and a 3/8oz Booyah pearl white/snow white shad buzzbait. Gonna try them out here in a little bit.

Sending prayers for all in Irma's path. Please everyone evacuate if at all possible and get to safety. I've never heard of what's going on down there with the water getting sucked out or whatever you wanna call it. I'm hearing once the eye passes through the storm surge that comes with it will bring all that water back and then some. Very devastating. Please everyone stay safe. Your things can be replaced you can not!

Where can I find some of those Terry Oldham Trailer Hitch Jigs?

Backlashes, birdnests and overruns are the main things I've been focused on preventing with my baitcaster. Adjusting the spool tensioner knob and the MCS braking system to each bait/lure I tie on. Distance isn't really the greatest, I can cast a good 25-30' or so with no problems. As I get used to it and thumbing the spool I'll eventually get more confidence and back the MCS and spool tensioner knob off a little at a time for increased distance. I wanna get better with my accuracy first though. It's still fun learning to use it and a bit of a challenge but I like a good challenge hence me learning to bass fish...lol. ?

Definitely gonna give that a try next time out. Thanks for the advice. Haven't heard of the Evergreen jackhammer. I'll have to look into them. Not sure they're in stores around here but will check. I really wanna try a Siebert Outdoors bladed jig.

Yeah I like that about my baitcaster too. I have a 6'10" MH/F Lew's American Hero Speed Stick combo with a 7.1:1 Lew's American Hero Laser reel. I love it and want to learn how to use everything I use on my spinning gear with it. Spinning gear is a M/F 6'6" Lew's Carbon Speed Stick combo with a 6.2:1 Lew's SG300 Speed Spool. I love it too. I alternate them each time I go out fishing.

Will do. What kind of rod are you using to skip with? Baitcaster or spinning gear? I only use my spinning gear at the moment for skipping. Haven't tried it yet with my baitcaster, still getting used to it. I am getting a little better at pitching with it though. Getting decent distance but gotta get better with my accuracy still. It's easier with my spinning gear for now with distance and accuracy.

I haven't tried any light weight or weightless rigs on my MH/F baitcaster yet, but when I do try them I will treat it like changing any bait/lure on it. Adjust the spool tensioner knob and the braking system(Magnetic Control System) my reel has to accommodate to bait/lure I'm using.

That would be awesome to do some fishing together. I'm sure we could help each other out on some things. I skip jigs sometimes. Still gotta work on that some more. I have found that Arkie head jigs skip really well. As far as the trailer staying on they seem to work ok for that too. Just haven't had near the success with jigs that I have with chatter baits or bladed jigs as they are called also. Really wanting to try a Siebert Outdoors bladed jig. Just with my limited funds, I'm hoping there's not a minimum order that would cost more than I can afford at one time. Heard lots of good things about their jigs and bladed jigs.