DinkDreams

I almost always break the bit of plastic, gives it more action. Occasionally (and I mean very occasionally) they want it attached, could have something to do with the lessened action when everything is attached. But I would say 90% of the time spilt the flappers and legs off. You can always put a new one on with the flappers and legs attached and the save original for another day.

Seems like finesse was the name of the game today. Not surprising given the conditions, but a lot of guys were throwing big paddle tails on a jig head today.

That’s absolutely horrible. I’m really sorry for your loss.

That tournament pro qualifier 2 combo is incredible for the price. The medium heavy was my first baitcaster combo and I use it all the time for throwing jigs/TX rigs into brush piles and lay downs. I got mine on sale for $120 but at $90 that’s probably the best price possible for a combo like that. Good find.

X2 LOL

Mosley only 12oz behind Aoki, this day is shaping up to be interesting

Aoki is crushing it today. Love seeing it on the wacky rig too. That rig just straight up works.

I only know there are fish there because I’ve caught a couple. Not sure how many are in there but the couple I’ve caught have been around 1.5-2lbs and look pretty healthy, all things considered. Here’s one I caught yesterday, he blew up on my topwater walking bait and I pitched a finesse jig in and he annihilated it.

There is just enough room between the top of the water and the algae to wake a spinnerbait or a barely sub surface lure. Maybe a foot of water

Hit The Pond today, and wasn’t having as much luck on the jerkbait as I have had recently. Caught a few but not many so I decided to go a little further and check out the other ponds on the property. there are 2 ponds that are about 5 yards separated by a drain. Both ponds are very shallow (roughly 5 feet in the dead middle) and chock full of the awful, mucky algae that can make any lure hang up. I’ve only ever caught fish on topwater out of these ponds, and tried throwing a Texas rig and other “weedless” presentations but they always seems to foul up. This isn’t “let your lipless catch the grass and rip it out” water, it’s “cast into this with a treble hooked lure and pray your line holds up” water. Any recommendations on things to throw here? The couple I’ve caught topwater have been really solid fish, so I think there are a lot of fish in the pond to catch.

I like the 6th Sense Divine Finesse jigs with a zoom twin tail grub. 5/16 is a bit heavy for a “finesse jig” but it’s easy to throw on MH casting rod and is still a smaller profile, ball head, with the “finesse cut” skirt. I pitch them into wood a lot and haven’t had much if any problem with hang ups or losing jigs.

That makes sense! I don’t backlash too often so that doesn’t sound like something “necessary”. Is it more of a “you get what you pay for” situation, where if you have a non dc and a dc reel at the same price point the non dc is going to be “higher quality”? I’m not familiar with the $200-$300 price point so I don’t really know what I’m looking for. thanks for the help!

Looking at casting reels, I noticed that a surprising amount (to me) in the $200~$300 don’t have digital brakes. As someone who has never used a DC reel, I’m thinking my next reel upgrade is going to be the SLX DC. I just found it weird that some “higher end” reels that cost significantly more than the SLX don’t have digital controlled brakes. is there a reason for that? Am I simply overhyping the digital braking systems? Or is there a reason you wouldn’t want it on a higher end reel?

Those HD Goby’s look like smallmouth candy, can’t imagine you’ll have a hard time with those!!

Glad I got a couple when I did then!

Love it!!!

I don’t fish jerkbaits. I don’t like them, I have no confidence in them, and I never feel like I’m doing it right. Until today. Went out to The Pond today and it was an absolutely **** day out. Temp dropping fast, it was 60 yesterday and we’re expecting snow on Saturday. 10-15mph W wind, one of those 48 but feels like 38 days. Sporadic rain, all the fun stuff. My tackle warehouse package finally came in yesterday so I had a Berkley Stunna 112 in Blaze pattern tied on. I absolutely killed it. Caught 5-6 crappie and over a dozen bass in about 3 hours. This jerkbaits is the one that finally gave me some confidence in the lure as a whole. It looks great, with an erratic dart on sharp twitches. It responds really well to light twitching as well, and has a deadly slow nose down sink. The hooks are sticky sharp right out of the box and a couple of the fish I hooked were definitely just swiping at it. This was fished on: Abu Garcia Vendetta rod 7’ M/F Shimano SLX 8.1:1 reel with 14lb trilene xt Someone who knows more about jerkbaits may disagree but this is my new go to confidence jerkbait. Has anyone else tried it out, and what are your thoughts?

Funny enough, I had the experience today that you described in your last paragraph. Killed them on jerkbaits and cranks, couldn’t buy a bite on a Ned rig or shakey head.

I’ve been married for 4 years, and picked up fishing about two years ago and fell in love with it. My wife understands that fishing is my way of “relaxing” and unwinding. She doesn’t have any interest in fishing, but will listen to me drone on about the intricacies. She has her own hobbies that she enjoys. The biggest thing is really the biggest thing in any facet of a relationship, communication. If you can’t properly communicate your desire to fish and your partner can’t properly communicate their reasoning behind why they don’t want you to go, things tend to get messy in a hurry. So my best advice is to create an open dialog where if your partner has a problem with how much you’re fishing, talk about it. Be honest with yourself, are there important things that NEED to be done that you’re avoiding to go fish? Compromise is key, and part of being in a relationship is knowing that you aren’t going to get to do exactly what you want, when you want, as often as you want usually. That’s why you’re in a relationship, you support each other but also reel each other in sometimes when it’s needed. Communicate.

“Power fishing” is pretty broad but usually defined by moving baits, heavier weights, or faster presentations on heavier line. This can be anything from punching mats with big sinkers or jigs, crank baits, spinner baits, chatter baits etc. Most of your reaction bite presentations are considered “power fishing” finesse is arguably more broad because it’s more of a subjective thing. About the only thing people can agree on is finesse is almost always a light line technique (~8 lb test or less) Personally, anything over 1/8 oz I wouldn’t consider “finesse” but some people think anything under 1/4 oz is finesse and some think its a term reserved for things 1/16th oz and under. Exceptions exist of course but that’s my general experience. Most would consider a Texas rig “power fishing” but most also wouldn’t consider it a “faster” presentation. Conversely, an 1/8oz jerkbait may be finesse to some but I wouldn’t personally consider it “finesse fishing”

Yeah, that’s usually how it goes for me too lol. But by god I’m gonna try to power fish first.

I usually go out with one power fishing presentation and one finesse presentation. I’ll hit a spot with my power technique and if I fish it thoroughly with no luck I’ll pick up the spinning rod and make a few casts. If no bites, I move down the bank and repeat.

I’ve used soft plastics (TX rig, Ned, wacky rig, soft swim baits on jig heads) a ton and found success. I just feel that there’s a gaping hole in my angling skills that are essentially the hard bait category as a whole. I’ve yet to catch a fish on a chatterbait, jerkbait, or a lipless even when using them regularly. Could just be a weird quirk of the pond. I’ve noticed a lot of ponds to be more “quirky” when it comes to what they want and don’t. Certain ponds near me I can catch them almost year round on topwater, and being in SW Ohio it’s gets “too cold for topwater” pretty quickly. Other places they won’t touch a bottom contact presentation. Fish are weird!

For reference, I’ve been fishing about a year and a half but I do a ton of research on here and other places. Nothing replaces time on the water, but I have a decent grasp on lure selection based on weather and other factors. also, I almost exclusively fish ponds from the shore, as the lakes around me leave much to be desired as a bank locked angler. I find ponds to be one of the best places to learn new techniques because the fish only have so many places to go, I don’t have to spend time trying to “find the fish”. Ponds come with their own pitfalls of course. Anyone feel one way or the other about ponds vs. lakes, especially as a bank locked angler? Would it be worth trying lakes more to find better bank spots?

Yeah the “weedless” Ned heads from ZMan aren’t very weedless IMO. They won’t get hung up in weeds but you’re dragging some salad back in.