Hook2Jaw

I'll be wrapping some up as soon as this stomach flu passes! You did a great job.

Same here. It's currently my favorite deep water rig.

Raingear, rod building kit and a stick, a Nocqua 12v 10ah to power my fish finder, an anchor wizard to make offshore fishing a bit easier. Forgot the Daiwa Tatula 100 6.3:1, it's gonna be used on the custom stick I'm building for jerkbaits and target casting in lighter cover.

Yes. It's a Mustad Heavy Wire Ultra Point.

I'll have to read up on Mike Hart.

Man, it has been so long since I installed it. I have the old style transducer recess, I'm not sure if your boat has the Guardian system. If it does, you'd probably have to machine a way to install a different transducer in there. The Guardian only likes Lowrance mounting, from what I understand. If your boat doesn't have the Guardian transducer system, 60 bucks grabs a Berleypro transducer cover that'll work for the transducer that comes with the unit. Make sure the model numbers match up.

My Humminbird Helix 7 MSI GPS G3 NAV is an awesome unit and sits on my Hobie PA14. I don't think any other company has side imaging that is as good as Humminbirds.

@WRB, it is arguable that Mike Long is the most famous angler from California.

I'm quite aware of that. Fiancee is a public defender. Also pretty aware that a jury here isn't going to convict me for protecting my property.

After having stuff stolen off of my carport to the tune of a couple grand and feeling the anger that caused in me, I would shoot a man or woman stealing from me, yes. Not sure on where I'd hit in the moment, been a while since I shot something with a gun. What would you prefer I do? They won't hear me asking if they're armed.

Got 200 pounds between a Labrador and a Newfoundland mix in the back yard, you won't hear the gunshot through the dogs. I can't stand a thief.

My vote goes to something I wish I had discovered earlier. That's a BOSS Gary Klein Original Flipping Jig. I pitch and cast these, they come through cover exceptionally well, they rock a razor of a Mustad hook on them. The paint holds up to banging them on everything. They're 5.99/4 and for 3.50 you end up with 5 BOSS skirts to match to your forage. That's $2.37 for 1/4-5/8oz jigs.

Had a bass scoot off when my braid landed on top the water after I made a cast way past her. Fish aren't line shy? I disagree. They don't get big by not being cautious and paranoid, I feel like half their brain says EAT and the other half is devoted to RUN. I use braid for pitching, punching, and frogging. Everything else is either mono, fluoro, copoly, or leadered with one of those.

Nice! I wonder how you ended up this way.

I hear of people who are right handed using left handed casting reels all the time so they use their rod with their strong arm, don't have to switch hands after the cast and all that mess, etc. I cast and hold my reel in my left hand. I shoot left handed. I'm pretty good at doing both of those things and they're the only things I do seamlessly with my left hand. I'm a righty. My mother is a lefty. My guess is when she and dad split, I got sent home with BB guns and fishing rods and reels and she ended up showing me how she used them.

I use a 7'1" Medium Fast spinning rod for all my 4-5" stick worm work. Around cover I use 12# fluoro on the end of 12# braid and in open water I like 8-10# fluoro, depending on clarity.

I don't think you can go wrong with either choice, but I will say the 16 BOSS jigs I just slid skirts on are a quality product and at the price I paid per each, I probably won't be spending money elsewhere.

They're not bad spinnerbaits, I own a few. I can just snap together components and end up with one of equal or better quality for 2.70.

Is it possible to punch the eye wider on a regular jig head to enable a blade to slip in? I've also complicated cutting spinnerbait wires to get blades on.

I wanted to be able to use those, and I imagine if I looked through each and every one, I would have found a quality bait. Every single one I touched had play in the head/wire connection.

Dude is a talent. That's all I can say about that. Yeah, I'm planning to start building my own soon after seeing how much BOSS jigs and skirts saves me. I can make jigs and spinnerbaits with quality components for an average of 2.50.

I've never caught a fish on a buzz bait and I don't have any faith in spinnerbaits either.

How do you guys think spotted bass stack up against the brown and green?

I have to let the three local ponds I have access to rest -- when I first started on them, it was action packed. Now I cycle through them, and I'll only fish one once a week, tops. My local PFA is heavily pressured. For years a weightless Senko would work well, but now I'm forced to drop shot. Let it rest or give them a different presentation.

I am but a fledgling in both numbers and big bass fishing. I have had days where I have caught quantity as well as quality, but it has all been done in smaller waters I have figured out in the ripest of conditions. As a pond and river fisherman, branching into lakes has been difficult and it's more difficult to disengage from my habits and comfort zone and target fish that are more displaced and concentrated by season. I've been skunked several times by spotted and largemouth bass on my closest lake. I look forward and hope this thread becomes an eye opening experience for me. I would like to be capable of finding the most prime locations for both that singular giant bite and a couple really good bites. All of y'all successful guys get in here and teach us squeakers how to do it! Thanks for what's already been said, @WRB, @A-Jay, and @Team9nine.