DinkDreams

Got up about 5:15, got to the pond around 6am. Topwater wasn’t working, I managed to catch one or two on a shaky head and one on a white chatterbait. Walked over to another pond, again topwater not working but since nothing else was working, I threw on a swim jig with a rage swimmer trailer and cast right to the middle of the pond. A solid 2 lber took it on the way down. Next cast, it hit bottom and I reeled about one or two turns and another solid 2 lber hit it. Managed to pick up one or two more on a spinner bait, a couple on a Ned rig with a trd Craw and a Texas rig with a full size rage craw. caught probably 15 or so total but a handful of really small ones and most probably being around a pound to 1.25lb. Was hoping to have more luck on the chatterbait, as I’ve been putting time into learning it but when I first got to the pond, it was pretty windy. As it got later the sun came out with no clouds and the wind mostly died. Not the best moving lure conditions.

I fish mainly ponds and I’ve been killing them this year on white or white/chartreuse. Never has been nor will there ever be a shad in those waters.

I personally do. Even the slight bend helps, and with baits like this I feel like any advantage is a good one. It’s hard enough sometimes to get fish to eat one, I’d like to make my chances as high as possible when I do get a shot.

As far as the tip being in the water, I think the thought behind that is if the fish does jump, it’s going to create less slack because your rod is at an angle below the fish instead of above it. As far as bending your hook out just slightly, it allows you to hook up better because the plastic doesn’t have to compress quite as much. It’s only a couple degrees of bend but it does make a big difference, especially with big chunks of plastic. (It’s really almost a must on any soft bluegill swim baits, as the profile is much taller than a trout or shad style bait)

I use 17lb Sufix Siege mono on a St Croix Victory Musky Rod MH/F with a Shimano Cardiff 300A. Use it for S-wavers, Gantarel, Hudds, HuddGill and 6 and 8 inch Magdraft. I rig the 6 inch freestyle on a 6/0 weighted Beast Hook 1/4 oz.

I’ve also found that I fish better when I get all my “stuff” done before I go. Nothing worse than being out fishing and you can’t stop thinking about how the grass needs cut, the gutters need cleaned and you need to pull weeds. I know @A-Jayhad echoed these sentiments before. I get pretty esoteric about my fishing, much to my wife’s chagrin. I find that a lot of situations you encounter while fishing can parallel other aspects in life if you take the time to actually dive in and think about it. I probably spend 40 hours a week on top of my actual, full time job thinking about fishing and consuming fishing content whether it be on YouTube or this very forum. Fishing is a very big part of my life, and responsible for a lot of the progress I’ve made in my own mental health struggles. You learn a lot from just fishing, whether you catch anything or not. There’s a type of beauty in that.

I’ve been fishing a lot of 6-8 inch swimbait recently with some success. Something to keep in mind-these baits are big. You’re going to get a lot of bass that either don’t fully get it in their mouth or physically can’t eat the whole bait in one go. Sometimes waiting a second or two to set the hook can pay off, but I’ve had days where they’re eating it so good/hitting it so hard that you need to set the hook immediately. As far as hookset “strategy” goes, you don’t have to hit them like a freight train but I will say I’ve had more luck with a “snappy” hookset than a gradual one. Remember - you’re targeting big fish and their mouths can be incredibly hard, not to mention the stretch from monofilament and if they hit it at the end of a long cast you’re gonna want to crack them pretty good. This is where I find the most benefit of using a cutting point like an Owner Beast. They penetrate very easily even at distance and with mono stretch. (I do feel that mono stretch can be a bit overblown, and while the stretch is a factor when using 20lb line it doesn’t stretch as much as you would think it does. That’s a story for a different post) I almost always grind fish as fast as I can (well, as much as the 11lb of drag on a Cardiff can manage) after hookup and haven’t personally found issues. I’ve lost some on treble hooked baits because I’m using what is essentially a musky rod and it’s stiff as all hell.

My method is to check the weather every night, and if I don’t have anything else to do and it’s not going to be thunder storming or 90+ degrees I usually go for a few hours after work. Weekends I usually try to go but lately life has gotten in the way. Oh well.

It’s definitely a stubby gal! That whole pond is like that. Not a lot of fish but the ones you catch are usually fat and short.

Had a great day at a little Indiana farm pond. Caught 2 4 pound bass on topwater, one on the Buzzbait around noon and another on a whopper plopper at night. Great day!

If anyone who fishes ponds thinks “swimbaits will never work”, they’re just wrong. I’ve caught plenty of fish out of small ponds with S Wavers, Hudds, and now to add the Jackall Gantarel (full size)

I’ve said this on other posts but it bears repeating….. I don’t think Megastrike gets me more bites, but I do believe it makes the fish hold onto the bait for a second or two longer which increases my ability to register the strike and set the hook before the fish spits the bait out. If they don’t want to bite a certain plastic, they aren’t going to bite it whether you use a cover scent/ attractant or not. I think it does make a difference once you figure out what they want.

Went out this morning spur of the moment, was up and saw it was cloudy with some wind so I figured perfect conditions. Went out to the pond and caught about a dozen on the new Cavitron buzzbait I picked up. Nothing substantial size wise but a fun couple hours of topwater fishing. Only gripe is it seems like the Cavitrons get all bent up if you so much as look at them weird. But they catch the hell out of fish. The buzzbait bite died shortly thereafter and I was throwing a swim jig around and had the worst backlash of my life. Nothing like respooling a reel on the bank.

Put trailers on and trimmed up the swim jigs. im not a bass but I would eat these

Just in time, my swim jigs and trailers showed up today. 6th sense divine swim jigs, rage swimmers in white and bluegill, and baby menace in white and bluegill. Threw in a pack of black and blue cut r worms after seeing them talked about on here quite a bit.

Used the Owner Wide Gap Plus hooks today and they are incredible for weightless plastics. Super easy to set the hook.

My biggest issue right now with getting a boat is storage. I don’t have the place for a boat. I have considered a kayak, but I will probably wait until wife and I upgrade to an SUV because we both have 4 door cars at the moment.

Watched some of the MLF tourney this past weekend for the first time, and I noticed on almost every catch they showed the angler was penalized with a “fish handling violation” and given a 2 minute penalty. None of the catches looked like anything I haven’t seen millions of times, they looked like pretty standard boat flips to me. So what are the anglers expected to do in MLF when they boat a fish?

I am a bank bound angler, and I usually take my spinning rod, medium baitcaster and mh baitcaster to walk around ponds with.

That makes a lot of sense actually. Huh.

Is the knob being that far extended out on the other side of the handle standard? Seems like it’s just one more thing to catch on something

Ugly Stiks are great rods for the price. I used one until my car door thought it looked tasty and took a bite. In my opinion, they’re pretty whippy but they’re great for just starting out.

Hey all. Been doing a lot of window shopping lately and trying to decide what I want to do as far as my next rod/reel purchase. Current setups: BPS Tourney Qualifier 2 MH/XF with matching reel, 50lb braid. Abu Garcia Vendetta M/F with Shimano SLX, 14lb mono St Croix Triumph MH/F with Shimano Cardiff 300a, 17 lb Sufix Siege Abu Garcia Vendetta ML/F with Johnny Morris Carbonlite 2.0 1000 size, 10 lb Sufix braid I have been looking at different options, and originally considered getting a Dobyns Fury 7’3” MH/F and a Daiwa Tatula. Would it be better to buy a new combo or to just upgrade to a “higher end” rod with the reels I have. I primarily pond fish, so I can only use crank baits a handful of times a year when the grass isn’t overrun so I don’t really have a use for a crankbait rod. I figured the Fury/Tatula combo would become my “all around” combo and I would use the BPS combo almost exclusively for topwater. Any thoughts, suggestions, and input are welcomed and appreciated!

I really like Trilene XT, I use 14# on my baitcasting reels. Also like Sufix Siege 17# for my bigger swimbait rod (up to 3oz baits). I have never had luck with Stren Original.

Belly weighted hooks with blades are an absolute nightmare to fish in thick grass, almost impossible to keep clean and once it gets grass on it your lure doesn’t swim right.