Hook2Jaw

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! My hat is off to everyone and I've thrown my likes out! The help is much appreciated. I can't tag right now because BR seems to be having some issues, but, WRB and Hammer 4, why are you guys suggesting I drop the leader? I've tried my S-Waver with straight 20# CXX Copolymer and can't cast that thick line for anything. I've had no issues with backlashing and I can huck my 168s about 40 yards with the braid to leader combination. Are your suggestions simply for the sudden stop of the braid on an overrun to prevent me from snapping off mid cast and losing an Andrew Jackson plus a Lincoln?

I've got a little change in my pocket going jingalingaling. I caught an itty bitty buck bass on the swimbait rod and reel setup I got last Christmas this past weekend, and lost a 7 shortly after. Both fish took 5 hours of fishing, but that big stick and big reel feel a whole lot lighter now that I have some faith in the technique. For guidelines as to what baits I can throw, I'm using a Daiwa Lexa WN-300 spooled with 40# braid to 30# big game. It's on a Daiwa DXSB 8' H rated 2-8oz, which is wrong. I feel like I can't throw more than 3oz on this stick, anything above that will overload it. So keep that in mind with the recommendations, please. Baits on my radar are the Huddleston 68 Weedless Special in ROF12, the Spro BBZ-1 4" Shad in Fast Sink, the Spro BBZ-1 6" in Fast Sink, and the Mike Bucca Bull Shad 5" and 6" in fast sink. Also, for recommendations, I'll be throwing these in 8' of water off a dock, and the bottom is stumpy. Should I go with slow sinks or even floating for the trebles to avoid losing them? Anyway, suggest me some baits that aren't Roman Mother's, please and thank ya. I'd like to keep the baits under 60 bucks.

I've had quite a couple days where I can switch my jerkbait colors when I'm absolutely burning and line whistling through the air slashing them and start to catch fish after fish, whereas before, on a different colored offering, I can't buy half as many bites. I think color, even at high speeds, matters quite a bit.

I use a twin set of Daiwa Fuego 2500D-XHs on a 6'10" Medium Light Fast and a 7'1" Medium Fast for my finesse needs. The 2500 series reel is a perfect match to the 7'1", but if you're going to be throwing baits lighter than a Senko I would seriously consider the larger spool of a 2500 or, as others have said, a 3000 Tatula LT. I wish I had opted for a 3000 for my MLF. I think the larger spool would throw my Ned and drop shots a bit farther. That's my reasoning behind you possibly wanting a 3000 for weightless Texas rigged craws.

Cheap line connoisseur here, and I can count how many times I've broken off this year on one hand. That's not an exaggeration, that's not bragging, it's just the truth. I've broken fish off twice this year, both times on 12# Berkley Big Game. I fixed that problem by switching to the exact same thing, I had just let the line get a little old. I use Kastking Superpower Braid for all my braided line needs, Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon for all my leader and mainline fluorocarbon needs, and Berkley Big Game for all my monofilament needs. I remedy the casting distance being hindered by an often exaggerated amount of memory on the Berkley Vanish by spooling it correctly and applying KVD Line and Lure pretty liberally during spooling and every so often while fishing or after if I note memory. I remedy the underestimated knot strength by tying an improved clinch knot on my finesse leaders, as I've found a Palomar often applies too much friction. For the 14-17# vanish I use for worming and jigging, I tie a good old Palomar. I remedy the breaking strength by setting my drag to 1/3rd of the rated breaking strength via a scale. I've been doing all this stuff for two years, and it's worked well for me. I've used more expensive braids as well as more expensive fluorocarbon, but nothing as nice as Tatsu and the like.

I would rat hole another 100 bucks and look into a Feelfree Moken 12.5 v2.

Recently started to gain confidence in flukes, stick worms are my normal get bit bait. I throw mine on a 7'1" MF spinning rod with 12# braid to 12# fluoro, and have hated every instance I've put one on less than a 4/0 heavy wire EWG. If I want to wait to get bit, I'll count down a double twitch a stick. Flukes are my walking plugs down low. That heavy hook keeps my fluke dancing from side to side subsurface.

My Daiwa Lexa Type-WN 300 is my favorite reel. I haven't touched many other offerings in that size category, but I can say I am impressed. It casts well and it is buttery smooth. Truly a pleasure to fish.

I've experimented a tad with a more finesse Carolina rig, Pete Thliveros popularized it and has made a lot of money doing so. It's aptly named the Petey Rig, and generally consists of a bullet weight of 1/4oz or less pegged in a static position around 8-10" in front of the hook. Pete did/does damage to prespawn and spawning bass by fishing a fluke behind it. I believe the entire point is to keep the fluke near the bottom while preserving the falling and gliding action of that particular bait. I've caught a few fish using it in both salt and freshwater. I don't see why you can't simply slide your bobber stops down to the hook eye and have a quick Texas rig should you be limited to only a few rods. I don't like the extra terminal tackle involved, the stops tend to grab all the garbage I'm throwing around and if they were close to the bait, they would definitely gum up the action. In a pinch, I don't think there's anything wrong with that method. In a pinch, I wouldn't fray my line by pinching on a split shot. Use pegs or bobber stops.

I run a Humminbird Helix 7 MSI G3, @Choporoz. I have a Berleypro transducer cover and highly recommend it. It's a balanced, space saving, and streamlined method of making the Lowrance ready system into a transducer setup capable of sidescan.

The stability of the PA12 will greatly exceed the Outback. With your high center of gravity and a want for stability, I would go with the PA12. I used to fish from an Outback and never had a balance issue. I now fish from a PA14, and can confidently say I won't ever have a balance issue. There are systems you can add to your roof rack to more easily enable car topping a PA12. If you've got any more questions about the two boats, fire away.

I'm a fan of braid to leader from years of throwing it in the inshore salt as well as really starting my bass fishing hobby with Senkos and YUM Dingers. I like the casting distance to cover more water. The braid doesn't stretch, so it really aids with hook sets at distance. A lot of jig bites happen on the initial fall, and years of watching braid twitch on a stick bait bite gives me an advantage with those right off the top bites, as the braid is a highly visible line. The fluorocarbon is there for the abrasion resistance, the ability to break off should I need to, and because some of the bodies of water I fish are very clear. I don't think there's an incorrect way to go about it. There are advantages to straight fluoro, mono, copoly, straight braid, and braid to leader. I just prefer braid to leader.

I have an absolute load of confidence in fast reeling and slashing with my rod with a jerkbait on the end. I'm talking line whistling jerks. Give it a go! I'm on my way to carpal tunnel one warm water jerkbait fish at a time.

Good lord, I typed out a good many paragraphs, decided that was excessive, then started typing lists and found that was also excessive. Here's a list of brands I use and trust to put fish in the boat, and I just caught three at work in about 20 minutes off two of those brands. YUM and ZOOM handle almost all of my soft plastic needs. I also throw the Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper often. There are tons of great products in those three brands and YUM hardly ever goes over 3 bucks a bag, and BBB and ZOOM keep it under 4 bucks. H2O Xpress, Strike King, BPS XPS, and Berkley handle my hard baits. H2O Squarebills and Jerkbaits are good stuff, and their lipless cranks aren't bad either. Strike King Red Eye Shad are hard to beat. BPS XPS Squarebills do my lifting when I want a silent squarebill. Berkley Diggers and Dredgers handle my deeper cranking. I absolutely love the Berkley Drift Walker for topwater walking, and the Choppo is a success. My frogs are all Booyah, as well as my spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. My jigs and skirts come from BOSS. My swimbait jigheads are from Jann's Netcraft, cheapest per jig I've found and they're on Mustad hooks. I get my shakyheads from Big Bite Baits, cheap, haven't had a problem. I get all my tungsten from Academy, it seems to be good quality and it's not as expensive as some brands. Dropshot hooks from Lunkerhunt, highly impressed, probably their only decent product. I throw original chatterbaits from Z-Man. BPS Magna O'Schaunessey, Magna EWG for plastics on my heavier gear. Wide Superlocks for spinning presentations. Line? Original Power Pro 20# on my finesse rods. 30# when I'm running braid to leader on casting outfits. Frogs get Kastking, 50#, as that rough 4 carrier absolutely saws through everything. Berkley Vanish for Fluorocarbon main line and leader, I just hit it with KVD Line and Lure. Big Game for my topwater rod and my swimbait leader. Oh, and as far as swimbaits go, I haven't been too impressed with Savage Gear. The Huddleston 68 and Matlures Gill, however, have caught me several 4s. I'm just waiting on a big girl before I go to bragging about my swimbait exploits. I don't go THAT cheap when it comes to offerings I need to be that natural. I tried not to write a list and wrote a list. While I'm at it, obligatory shout to the Daiwa Fuego CT and LT. I understand the doing it well for cheap grind. What else you need cheap alternatives for? It's all I've ever researched.

Another vote for the Berkley Half Head. The only gripe I have about them is if I was a Ned aficionado they don't have many different sizes or colors available, but I'm not, so having some 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 in the boat is fine with me.

It's the fastest who gets paid, and the fastest who gets... - Reese Bobby In short, I fish too fast.

My hardbaits have become a mix of H2O and Berkley simply because they come ready to rock with good hardware. I'll take one hooked finger for hundreds of pinned fish. Thanks, man! I'll keep reporting as I figure my 2 hour away lakes out.

I spend a lot of time pitching from my kayak, it's one of my favorite ways to put fish in the boat. On the move, I prefer a 7' MH, and I may be trying a 6'7" MH in the future. Palm your presentation at the reel and sweep your rod out sideways, keeping your presentation low and rely on your thumb as much as your stick to make your shot. I sit in my kayak's chair in the carport and practice this about once a week. I also pitch standing, using a 7'11" Heavy Fast. I'll anchor pole down and pick apart the heavier stuff with the more traditional pitching technique rather than the modified side sweeping pitch when I know I need heavier gear to get them up and out. I use a coffee mug in the carport to practice this. Practice the side armed pitch, Glenn has a good video on it on YouTube. Practice traditional pitching as well, it's all been rather effective for me from a kayak. Leave the frog and bladed jig at home, tie on a jig or Texas rig, and do it all dang day long. You'll figure it out quickly, as I did, I'm betting.

Good deal, @BassNJake. I think I'll tie off to the rail on my kayak if and when I pop one out solo. In the mean time, I'm gonna buy a new boga grip.

I've been transitioning from ponds, rivers, and inshore saltwater and learning a lake that sits 2 hours from me known as Juliette. She's a tough, tough girl. I've experienced 5-10' of clarity, and she DROPS. I'm talking inches to 60' in the span of a cast. My first trip out, I landed one spotted bass cranking a grassline. I landed three nice striped bass trolling the same Berkley Digger 14.5. Still, I felt I never figured out the green bass. I had a lot to learn. My second run to the mean girl produced nada. I focused on a creek arm and several GPS coordinates the Georgia Outdoor News provided. I lost one green bass in that arm in 3 hours of fishing. I had a good friend with me, and we decided to go troll for stripers. I pulled my crank down the riprap along the dam, my rod bowed, and I proceeded to lose a green bass that would have went 5, 6, 7, or 8 pounds. She was a nice fish. I hooked up with her where the riprap met clay and grass, and a light went off in my head. I needed to take a look at a contour map and figure out why the big bass was hooked there. I went home and mapped. A light went off. Juliette is primarily a bowl, and even the creek arms get to 40' deep. The bass I had lost had come off one of the only sloping points that existed on the side of the lake I've been fishing, where most of the water drops to 60-90' deep in a short span. Where the dam and riprap stopped, the lake humps up onto that tapering flat of clay with sparse grass toward the bank. This would be my focus, I decided, and at first light Saturday morning I was pedalling my Hobie toward that point as hard as I could. Here's where the rest of my research paid off: Juliette is a blueback herring lake. Apparently, blueback herring lakes provide for an amazing topwater bite. I had purchased two Berkley Drift Walker 110s, a rather finesse spook with an excellent review on a reputable fishing site. As my kayak sat in 30' of water, I ripped a long cast to the beginning of the grass and started walking my new spook towards me. Magic happened on my first cast. 16 inches of spotted bass creamed my offering and provided one heck of a fight. I'm not used to the fury these little guys have, I'm more accustomed to largemouth willingly sliding into my net. I proceeded to work that lonely point for two more spotted bass around 12" each, and hosted three largies, the biggest going 14". Behind me in open water, the hybrid and striper proceeded to surface beneath a pushed school of herring, so I sped out to them and boated a nice hybrid over 60' of water with that same topwater. Out of the same frothing mess of bait and bass, I hoisted another off topwater. She trashed on my deck and sunk a Fusion 19 to the bone in my pointer finger. I thought my day was ended, as I have never done the braid trick to pop a hook out but on my way in I asked another man in a boat if he had. A few moments later I was unhooked and we fished for those schooling striper and hybrids the rest of the day. I ended the day with 10 more lined bass in between 15-25". I didn't take any pictures as the action was furious when they came up. Now I just need to figure out Lake Juliette's green bass after the topwater bites lull. I hope you all had a good weekend and I hope this has been a good read, bassresource!

@GreenPig, I almost discounted your advice to use a black and blue stick worm considering how clear the water was and my belief that clear water meant natural colors, but now you've said you fish it often and have success. I'll try that black and blue worm now. Any theory why it works there? The herring?

I don't believe your promise.

@J Francho, I'm gonna give it a shot. We've got tons of greenery that gunks up on knots and hook eyes down here in the southeast.

I'm curious about it as well. My guess is knot protection and a deterrent to gathering salad.

Frog it or punch the thickest mess in the mess.