Fat Ika

Last year, I used the mini max on a Dobyns 735 CB Glass with straight 12# Yozuri Hybrid copoly. No snap issues. This year, I've been using the mini max on a Powell Endurance 7'2" medium glass spinning rod with straight 20 # braid or 20# braid-10# Yozuri Hybrid leader. Drag set fairly light, no issues with bass, until getting a 30" pike hitting/landing about 5 yards away from my position. Could be braid users maybe?

This is funny. I just went on BR to ask how to do this. My 1.5 Decoys came in 3 days ago. First 2 attempts were a disaster. Warped 2 Decoy 1.5s on 2 different attempts. I'll have to try these out. I'm not sure what pound rating is the correct size? 26, 33, or 60 #?

Thanks for sharing. What plastic is that?

Both outings I've used this bait, 1 fish and done. 1 double hook cracked on the first fish on 2 separate outings. Using 15# braid to 10# copoly with a Dobyns Champ 733 spinning.....more like most company's medium light/medium light plus. No issues with other blades with double hooks. I'm guessing it's the Ryugi teflon coated hooks. Sure might have less issues with straight nylon line. Will try swapping to another double hook. Anybody have experience with this blade?

Structure, baitfish, season, light intensity, wind, water clarity, water temp. Incomplete examples of personal opinions. Lipless - Stained water, grass that easy to rip (not throwing a lipless in something like tobacco cabbage, but milfoil/coontail allows for grass ripping trebles. Rock/hard bottom. Times of spring and fall when keyed in on small baitfish and/or chatterbait/spinnerbait is not getting bit in the right conditions. Blade Bait - Some gin clear waters I fish, there's windy/low light situations where a lipless is far less effective for me than a blade bait. Usually just play it safe with a spinnerbait or swim jig around wood. Spinnerbait plays more for me in slightly colder water than a chatterbait. Personally do not like using squarebills unless fishing hard bottom/rock.

I prefer glass/composite with chatterbaits/spinnerbaits and depending on the rod series/line/application/type of swim jig, prefer med/hvy-hvy graphite rods for swim jigs. Used to throw a lot of chatterbaits on the old tatula xt glass medium 7'. Handled a couple 40" chatterbait muskie and pike no problem.

Barometric pressure has been fairly consistent with power fishing vs finesse fishing for me over the past 5 years. Prior to that, for 20+ years I looked at mostly season, night temps, warm/cold trends, wind, wind direction, water clarity etc. I definitely catch more fish, larger fish, and a more consistent moving bait/bigger profile bite with dropping pressure trends. For the most part, in north midwest, especially in the spring & fall, warm fronts with wind/overcast/pre-storm systems, obviously........ basically a given the pressure is dropping or still trending lower than average. Since I exclusively bank fish and rent boats, checking the pressure helps me pack light & commit to whatever is prepped.

I have spinal injuries that limit big bait fishing. Best glides I've found for each weight 3/4 oz Deps Slides Swimmer 115 - Prefer the reeling action and manual action vs similar sized jointed claws. 1.2 Oz Pistol Pete - Great bait. Tons of confidence when throwing this. 1.5 Oz Jerry Rago Cha Cha Glide - The most balanced/easiest glide bait to use around $20. Better than most mass produced glides. Actually, could be my favorite non-custom glide.

I have a similar situation at 1 body of water in Northern Illinois. I'd imagine you're experiencing rollercoaster of spring fronts in NJ with similar seasons. On warm fronts/low pressure trends/decent wind, varying cadences with a swim jig and even burning a swim jig has produced for me........like you said, when the suns up you can truck a swim jig through the grass and get aggressive reactions. I think the same with the weedless swimbait and fluke as well. The swim jig just seems to cover water a little quicker with easier hooksets.

Does well in cover. I burn they over and through topped out grass in the summer without issues. Prefer mid size rage bug or trimmed regular rage bug for maintaining lift in higher water columns and bass assassin 3.5" boss shiner for a paddle tail option. The boss shiner paddle tails are fairly durable and I like the 3.5" for 1/4 DG finesse swim jigs.

Second the Luke Clausen compact pitching. Use for sparse vegetation, hard bottom, wood. Like the Scott Canterbury Compact Flippin' Jig for moderate to heavy veggies. Xzone Adrenaline craw or mid rage bug for more action, RI smallie beaver for compact subtle action, Yamamoto flappin hog for bulkier profile.

Dense short/fat plastics like the ika and scat, definitely get big bites and work in clear water, high sun, calmer, high pressure situations. Sure other plastics like a senko and various baits without secondary appendages will probably get the job done in these situations, but imo experience scats/ikas get bigger bites and cast a mile in those situations. Think the fishing industry understands that a huge percentage of fishermen are bank anglers, looking to cast as far as possible in certain scenarios. The industry biz side probably recognizes that bank anglers also don't have to think about boat equipment/boat maintenance, can allocate more thought/time/money into overthinking and how they attack bank fishing. I bank fish 1/2 the time and rent boats 1/2 the time. Could be all just opinion of myself and ignorance. I've got 4 different colors of scat's, ika's, tanuki's, shizumi mushi's. Ssshhh......I think my waters are safe from more mushi's.

I've used the toad thumper. Nice soft body. Pretty easy to walk. I'm a terrible frog fishermen. Last year, fished it on 30# Sunline Xplasma with an ALX Enox BMJ. Sparse to moderate grass/lily pad areas. Gets smashed, but couldn't hookup....... that's on me. I don't prematurely swing, usually reacting maybe too late, along drag slightly too lose on some occasions. I forget if I experimented with bending the hooks out to any degree or not. This year, will be trying a Kaden 715 and Champ 763....aiming for a slightly slower tip with more backbone, if that's possible.

Ernest Hemingway: “Anyone can be a fisherman in May.” "Anybody in Northern Illinois can be a moving-bait bass fisherman in April 2023" said, this weird mouth breather. This past weekend was probably silly in Northern IL. Can't fish for more than 30 min at a time, so took advantage of the low pressure mornings after our first solid warm front of 2023. Nothing big, but that's fine as I'm recovering from insulting a few old spine injuries. Had to rep Dirty Jigs while fishing MB Uoze swim jig, huh? 1/4 oz Uoze with 3.8 Keitech, Dobyns Extreme 734 with 14# Samurai Flouro. 3/8 Mini Max w/ 3.5 spunk shad, on spinning with straight 15 # JBraid 8 and 7'2" Powell Endurance glass. Bassman spinnerbait/4.5 spunk shad on Dobyns Champ 735 CB glass. Mini max definitely produced numbers and seemed to do cleanup before leaving spots.

They could come in handy for appropriately sized baits you'd like to get a certain paused presentation/sink rate out of.

Welcome Carlos! Excited for you! You've done your correct diligence on the rod research hehe ?

It's good in Northern burbs. Certain small waters where producing in late feb/early March. Ice-out this year was better bank fishing than usual. For my spots, some decent bass were reachable from the bank due to the high water from melts and snows/rains. Mid March slowed down with lowered water levels and cold fronts. Late March/early April is already on fire. I can barely fish for more than 1 hour/couple times a week due to some disabling injuries. I'm sure for the people that can commit to a couple hours minimum in waters with a decent bass population, it's probably a slamfest. Have you been fishing historically productive waters, and what techniques have you been using, under what conditions?

Can never resist an exclusive TW GP/blue color. Nice to see hog farmer adding a sunfish color. Bucca nacho's size is more appealing to me. Dense plastics are an addiction. Reups on a favorite dropshot plastic. New DG tactical mini underspin. I prefer this style keeper, bite gap, and underspin arm length vs the coolbaits underspin. Hopefully they add a 2/0 or 3/0 hook to the mini lineup and come out with a non-mini version for 3.8 plus paddletails.

Finally tried out the 4" savage gear rtf bluegill.

Just threw it for the first time yesterday. High pressure day, 8-10 mph winds, blue skies, and mildly stained water. Threw the stained Wagasaki and got 4 small bass, 4 big crappie and a small pike in less than an hour. The bait still in fairly good condition after all those and perfectly fish able still. Hook is still sticky. Was throwing a 3.8 on another setup with a guppy head. 1 missed bite, no landed fish..... but I generally wouldn't expect to have a good day with a 3.8 at that body of water for until 1 more week of increased night temps with a lower pressure day.

Greenfish tackle swimball jighead - good heavier gauge gauge/larger hook gap option with a great keeper OutKast tackle goldeneye - Lots of weight/hook size combos, gammy hook, big eyes. DG Tactical finesse - Nice lead/wire keeper combo with 30 line tie Gamakatsu round jighead - Best price value. More ideal for bottom contact due to neck position, but does just fine swimming above the bottom

Calm sunny day, clear water, moderate cover/vegetation - Dobyns Champ 764 spinning with a 4000 Vanford Calm day, any water clarity light conditions, heavy cover - Dobyns Champ 734 with 21 Zillion SV Obviously many more countless scenarios, but couldn't help thinking of a few situations If had to pick one without knowing any part of the fishing situation, Dobyns Champ 733 with a 21 Zillion SV

Thanks bud. That's a beast you got on the float n fly! I was running floats side by side with the dropshot early, but my confidence always ends up leaning to the buoyant dropshot. See OutKast's new offering coming out? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Outkast_Float_N_Fly_Hair_Jig_2pk/descpage-OFNFH.html

Late Feb early March was good from the bank with the ice-out-high water and little warm fronts. All dropshotting a 5" jerk shad. This last dropping barometric pressure trend/front started the swim jig bite for me. This year the 3/16 uoze gold blade dark profile Warm fronts/pre-storms in late March/early April, always bring small swim jig/paddletail confidence for me. End of last storm system produced the first muddy water spinnerbait bite. Looks like the forecast for the rest of April, if it holds true, is going to produce a solid pre-spawn bite.

Nice. Thanks for sharing.