BrianMDTX

It’s the Four F holiday. Food. Family. Fall. Football. It’s my favorite holiday. Favorite. Hmmm…that’s Five F’s! 🤣

I think, if I’m really being honest with myself, that “sensitivity” depends on the angler as much, if not more so, than the rod. An experienced angler may detect strikes vs. wood, rocks, grass, etc. with twine on a broomstick vs an inexperienced angler with a high-end rig. As I’ve gained more experience on the water, I’ve come to discover that I can detect the differences better now working a Texas rig on one of my older Aird-X rods then I could 2-3 years ago. Yeah, my Kistler Helium is more sensitive, but how much more does it make me a better angler? I’m sure a little, but maybe not as much as I (did) think it does.

My crankbait rod is a Dobyns Fury 705CB with a Daiwa Tatula 100H spooled with 10 lb. Big Game. On a whim I tied on a Gamakatsu 3/0 EWG and tried it with weightless Texas rigs with 5” Senkos, Neko Machos and Fat IKA’s. All are “heavy” enough to cast well without additional weight, and I found that I had zero issues with hooksets. Granted, it’s a MH power with a MF action, but IMO the MH is not as “heavy” as any of my other MH rods. And yet it did remarkably well.

I spool mono on all my baitcasters except my frog rig. I currently have 15 lb. Sunline Shooter Defier on a Daiwa Fuego on my All ‘Round Fast MHF Lowrider. It’s a great rod for Texas rigs, jigs (I only fish up to 3/8 oz. jigs before trailer) and also pretty good with a chatterbait and trailer. It’s also good with spinnerbaits. It’s a MH, but seems to be a bit less in power than my Kistler Helium MHF. I tried chatterbaits and spinnerbaits on the Helium, but prefer the Lowrider for those.

I’ll say that if I could only fish one power/action in a casting rod, it would be MH/F. Hands down. But as I am not limited, I’d much rather throw crankbaits on a MHMF or a MF, and frogs on a HF. But as I fish Texas rigs and jigs a lot, I use a MHF quite a bit.

@Swamp Girl lol. Six? You’re set! I can’t believe I’ve lost two nets and both in the same pond. The first one I saw go over the side and couldn’t grab it in time. This one I had no clue until I was getting the boat out of the water and was like “Where’s my net?” I used it on the first two bass (not the 8” dink) so it had to be after the second one. Truth be told, this will be better anyway as the handle on the sunken one was rather short. A longer handle will reach farther and keep me from possibly high-sticking a rod.

Just ordered this net from Amazon. It floats, has a longer handle (nice), Black Friday deal and coming today.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Somehow my net went over the side. That’s two in two years. I need one that floats!

I know many of you are getting snow, so I’m not going to complain about 43° this morning. It did warm up later (74° now). But it was slow. Started promising with a 3 lb’er on a Zoom Trick Magnum, but nothing for almost two hours after that until I caught a 1.5 lb. bass on a Rage Bug on a 3/0 EWG TR. That poor bass! Its jaw had been ripped bad previously. Still looked healthy overall but that had to hurt! Caught a dink after that one and that was it.

I just saw Kistler is selling Heliums for $188.88. I. Just. Might…

@Bazoo I began a search several years ago as I was tired of being stuck to the bank, but A- I did not have a lot of storage room in the garage (and didn’t want to hump anything all the way around the house into the backyard); B- I didn’t want anything overly heavy as I’m no longer a spring chicken; and C- I wanted something easily transportable. I eventually settled on an inflatable: a Sea Eagle Packfish7. But truth be told, I had a lot of long-term issues with it tearing seams. But Sea Eagle did me a solid and upgraded me to a Sea Eagle 285fpb, an inflatable pontoon-style boat. I have used it all summer without complaint. It’s built to last, it’s not overly heavy (and with the wheel assy they sell you can pull it easily), it’s easily stored and transported, it has a wooden floor and elevated swivel seat, and it can be powered by either electric trolling or small outboard motors. I have nothing bad to say about it. It slides (inflated) in the bed of my pickup but would fit (deflated) in the trunk of my car. I can carry 5 rigs easily and while I won’t stand in it, others do. I fish a lot of ponds where 75% of the bank is unfishable due to trees and brush, and I get a lot of envious stares from bank anglers. Something like that may be just the ticket for you. When seated it’s extremely stable.

20 lb. braid 6 to 8 lb. mono leader (6’-8’ length) Lefty Kreh leader knot Gave up on a spool full of mono a long time ago.

@casts_by_fly Maryland for sure. I recall many moons ago seeing Jon boats on Loch Raven Reservoir with motors that used to be small gas outboards (up to 6 HP) that had the engine replaced with rewired washing machine motors hooked up to numerous deep-cycle batteries. They’d go pretty darned fast!

If the scent of cats scared bass, my catch count would be zero.

Easy to answer. Ned rigs (collect nothing but algae and leaves) Spinnerbaits (caught one bass in 5 years) Dropshot (just a pain in the butt to me) C-Rig (see dropshot above)

@WRB Which of those colors would you recommend for lightly stained water with bluegill as the dominant baitfish? And what trailer if used?

Now living in Texas and not having access to available hunting lands (plus getting up there), it’s a no-brainer for me. I’m fishing!

I used to be 75% wacky rig and 25% weightless Texas rig. Now it’s the opposite. Haven’t had the success with the WR that much lately. The weightless TR almost always produces. Also lately I have at times added a small 1/8 oz. bullet weight. Certainly not for casting distance. A Senko casts pretty darn far and so easy to skip. It just to try a different sink rate it they’re not biting. But it’s not often.

All good replies. And thanks. Always looking for new methods or improvements to existing ones.

@Catt How do you rig them weightless? Texas rig worm hook, or nose hooked? @A-Jay I fish mostly muddy, muck bottoms. Which of your presentations would you suggest for that?

I have never had much success with paddletail swimbaits, but seeing (lately) how these pond bass are smashing baitfish up close against the bank, I’m thinking it’s likely something I’ve overlooked and underfished in the past. I caught a bass yesterday on a Keitech 2.8” with a 3/0 EWG and a 1/8 oz. bullet weight Texas rigged. What are some good, or better, options for casting right near the bank? I say casting, and not pitching/flipping, as I cannot stand in my boat (they say you can, but I tried twice and both times I almost went into the drink lol). So casting is really the only option. And I had that rigged on a MHF baitcaster. I have baitcasters from MF, MHMF, MHF to HF, and spinning rigs from MLF, MF and MXF. If you have a preference, let me know, and why.

Another tough day yesterday. On the water from 7:30 to 1:30 and boated two bass. The only bites I got all day. I think that Supermoon played a role. Chilly @ 53° degrees when I started out. Needed a jacket. Warmed into the 70s. Cloudy, slight NNW breeze. Only saw a few bass busting baitfish against the bank. The first one was caught on a 2.8” Keitech paddletail swimbait and the last one on a blackberry Mann’s Jelly Worm Texas rig.

Missed it last year. PM sent!

Full clouds, light rain. Slight breeze. Thought it was going to be a great morning. But one missed (dink) bite and one catch. That was it. But the catch was unique. I saw a bass busting baitfish against the bank and cast a TR Senko to the spot. It took it right off the bat then it felt like it was gone. Then it started fighting again but it felt completely different. As I got it near the boat I saw it hooked in the belly. But I saw my Senko up near its mouth. After netting it, I saw it was an old, almost rusted through hook stuck in its belly and my line was threaded through the gap in the eye. As I lifted the bass out of the net, both hooks fell out. So I caught one bass and helped it get rid of an old hook.

I’m in my prime. Like a prime steak. Left on the fire about 8 minutes too long!