PhishLI

I know better than to go fishing after my wife makes tacos for dinner, but I was jonesing after missing all these days, so I bucked up and hoped for the best. Quickly popped a decent scrapper on the Zman Pro Crawz, then the bite went dead. Post spawn struggles are par for the course at my ponds during these 2 weeks in June, and it's hit or miss trying to catch a bite window, but I was in it for the long haul. Darkness fell eventually and I was out of ideas, so I tied on a coppertruese finesse TRD and went to work. A mongo yellow perch scooped it up and I was hoping things might finally light up a bit, but like a shot to the gut the gurgling began. I figured my odds were 50/50, but I was unwilling to bet on a bubble and lose, and with cold sweat creeping over me I clinched down to my toes and flew home for dear life and my sacred honor. By some miracle I caught green lights all the way and just made it, barely.

Killin me???

??Awesome!!!

I need my spectacles adjusted!

?? Awesome!!!

Yup.

We're biding our time. Our pressure campaign will continue, gently.? 7 pounda incoming.?

Fantastic! Awesome! Boom! Love it!

Less than 4lbs separates 10th from 1st. Anyone's game. Very interesting final day.

I fished a 6" Trace Monday night. Dried on the rod overnight and put back into the plano early Tuesday morning. Been there ever since. Tail is fine. Not sticky or anything weird.

I like the Owner Bullet Head, but I prefer this one. The hook's point bends down so it stays skin hooked better. Ultra sharp. Great hookups. It's also a fantastic NED head if you have snot algae. A finesse TRD stands up just fine rigged on it. Decoy VJ-36 Decibo Darter Offset Jig Head - Tackle Warehouse

Cayuga Lake, Texas...

Just crazy. Avena 29-6 now.

Some of it comes down to people in that culture simply wanting to be seen catching a big fish on a collector class big bait. I have swimbaits galore, but I never post catches on the big FB swimbait pages, but many guys there live for it. That's cool for them, it's their club. Whatever makes them happy.

Low production mostly hand-made anything takes more time and costs more to make, so you'll pay more. When it's from a famous or hot-right-now maker you'll pay even more if you want it while the buzz is high. If things like that don't appeal to you, that's OK. There's an entire subculture of swimbaiters that only want to catch fish on big baits. The big bait bite can be pretty intense, and doing anything that juices one's anticipation is sort of addictive.

This is me when my gut tells me I should, which is more often than not. I may bounce a bit until I feel it, but once I do, I'll camp out. This has really paid off in these places. I believe part of this is that lure entry simulates other fish feeding, and over a period of time fish will be drawn closer to the action which is within my range.

The frog is a good idea but mix in something like a Keitech Noisy Flapper Toad rigged on an unweighted 6/0 Berkeley Fusion swim bait hook, and one on a weighted swimbait hook as long as it's a screwlock type. Both come through the junk cleanly because of this bait's sleek nose shape, and even unweighted, it casts like a bullet. When they won't come up for a frog, they may come up for something just under the surface, and when they won't come up even a little, slowing down might be the ticket. Fish it fast sometimes like a buzzbait. It has no blades to get fouled up. But also creep it very slowly like a swimbait where the legs are barely kicking. It's a compact and very eatable presentation that has been the ticket for me many times over the years in the intensely choked out waters where I fish.

30lb for the weeds and 50lb for the pads. No problem. Go straight 15lb Big Game mono for topwater treble baits where you can avoid getting ran into the pads,

I couldn't say as they're not a feature in my county. There are large muskrats in my local spots, but they don't seem to have much impact. I'd be worried about otters though. They just showed up close to my brother's house in a very good mill pond which is part a river system. He found one floating on its back eating a bass like we'd eat corn on the cob. I'm glad they're not here. Yes, as long as the lake is fertile and supports large populations of bait fish. All of your fish look well fed, so I imagine that food isn't an issue. Just like anywhere else, but even more so with airborne fishers hovering over super shallow water, it'll come down to time, place, and presentation. The bigger survivors of this ever-present threat know to lock down in cover and rarely chase on calm or bright days. Cover in the form of heavy ripple might motivate them sometimes, maybe, but darkness and low light will open up very aggressive yet short feeding windows where bigger fish are concerned. This always seems to be about 40 minutes here. They gorge, then they're gone. You just need to be there when.

There's ultra-fine dust here on horizonal outside surfaces. Anything I've touched has had it. Feels the like super fine baby powder that I wanted to wash off quickly.

Yes, a few actually, and they all have a few things in common. They're less than a mile from the coast, with some quite close, and they're loaded with bait. Because they're near the salt, a bunch of Osprey, Cormorants, Pelican-ish flying machines, humongous turtles, and Stork-like creatures are constantly culling out juveniles and less wary fish. Poachers, as much as I truly despise these sneaky bastids, do the same. What we're left with, when one can put things together, are decent fish on average. It's rarely a dinkfest, and some really big bass and pickerel swim in all of them. Forever bigs. Ones you'll never forget, and more so because in most cases you've really had to grind it out to find them.

Your situation occurred not because of the line, but because your brakes were set too low, and your thumb was off the spool while the lure was in flight. That's the only way your line could've gotten that loose so deep into the spool. If you had the limpest line of all spooled on, which is braid, a loop would've been thrown up, then it would've wrapped around itself once and locked the spool which would've probably sheared the terminal knot. The memory of .018" diameter line doesn't mean squat when you're throwing a 2 1/2 oz bait and when "you" are calibrated to the setup and it's tuned correctly. You're not throwing a jerkbait here where line memory overcomes the lure's resistance in the water. Once nylon mono gets wet, coils are not part of the equation with heavier baits. Many people throw big baits using fluoro which is typically harder and stiffer than BG or other mono by quite a bit. Don't get spun out by conflicting information and a few random hyperbolic comments. What happened was your error because the reel, rod, and big baits are all still brand new to you. The line had little to do with it. Guaranteed you would've blown up a $35 200 yd roll of any other "better" plastic line just the same. Figure out your brake settings for the conditions you're in and keep your thumb in contact with the spool.

So, no payola and grimy backroom deals? How boring?

Last year it was held in August, and it was a smashfest too. Sick lake!

It doesn't have to though. Through trial and error, you should come to understand where your brake settings need to be to keep this from occurring. I mostly fish at night, and I'm often ripping high arc casts, but I know where my settings have to be whether it's calm or windy. I don't need to shine a light to change those settings or make a production out of doing so. I simply count the clicks on the dial either up or down. If I'm chucking a bait directly into the wind which is wind catching by nature, like a large plastic swim bait, I'll just stay heavy on my thumb throughout the cast. By doing this, other than having to pull out a few loose loops occasionally, I haven't wrecked a spool in years. If you put your mind to it, blowups don't have to be a regular feature of your fishing.