thediscochef

The same plastic but in White Lightning Caught me a personal best LMB and several 5-10lbs blue catfish

I use this Bruiser McMinnow in smoke black purple flake quite a lot. Does particularly well for me on hot days or in clearer than usual conditions. Excellent for a bare lead ned rig or a smoke chrome chatterbait micro.

At this point my only 'new lures' are new colors of 1/8oz chatterbaits, and various plastics I can rig them with that will impart a lot of action. Always looking for new plastic shapes and colors. But thats about it. I have one lure, one technique. If that's not getting bit, I'm better off changing location before changing techniques. My lady doesn't really fish so that's not been an experience yet.

This. I have a 7' BPS Tourney Special and I hate hate hate the guides on it. It's the rod that made me realize I care about the guides on rods. I saw where you don't have an academy nearby but if you can spare an extra 20 to get an H2OExpress tac40, those are great rods. I have the 7'1" MF as well as the Tac40 V 6'10" and throw 1/8oz baits almost exclusively. Both of those rods are outstanding and currently $79.99. I haven't done much with rods between 20 and 60 dollars, but a bit in the 10-20 and 70-100 ranges. If you want something really cheap, the Zebco Slingshots and Hotcasts will do fine with a decent reel. I figured out 1/8oz chatterbaits and 1/16- neds on a slingshot with a shimano fx2500. Not pretty but it will catch fish just fine. That aside, I can second the Daiwa Aird-x and the Shimano Sellus

neat, that led to some interesting googling. I've seen bass with those spots at BPS Dallas before but never caught one. Cool!

That bass fishing starts with location. If there's not fish there, you're not going to catch them. Also that you can use tackle however you want. It's not stupid if it works. Oh and how to tie a double uni knot in the wind reliably

Two of the larger fish I caught today, out of 6 total in about 2 hours of public pond fishing. I've had days of 10 bass in 2 hours at that pond, but the last couple weeks it's been 0, 1, 2. It was refreshing and assuring to get 5 fish above a pound. All caught on a super beat up chatterbait micro, skirtless, with a BPS split-tail stik-o on the back. The one with black spots was new to me, hadn't seen anything like that before. I'm guessing scars from an old injury?

This I feel good when I get a 2 pounder...until I get a 5 pounder. Great fishes bud!!

The number of types of baits I've snapped off in brush and rocks this year alone without getting a single bite has to be at least five Like the cloud nine crankbait I just snapped off in rocks after 2 hours of ownership. RIP my interest in crankbait fishing, 11/16/21 - 11/16/21. We barely knew ye.

I am also shorebound so I feel you. I would probably also point to the head weight...I always use 1/16 or 1/32. As shallow as shorelines tend to be a 1/32 works great for parallel movement, 1/16 if you're casting out a bit deeper. You may just have too quick of a fall on 1/10 or higher, I know I've never caught anything on a ned over 1/16 much as I have tried. So you may be telling yourself the truth ?‍♂️?

That's odd. Have you tried any of Ned's other five retrieves?

I haven't found a place where I can fish alone either, always someone nearby. I would suggest using something like a chatterbait micro or maybe a really small spinnerbait in the stained places; I've found that a ned rig and similar quiet and subtle techniques don't do as well in stained water unless there's some flash or noise with it. The smaller sized lures have done wonders for enticing picky fish, too. Think "Power Finesse" - compact and easy to strike, but also attention-getting. I've not caught anything on a plastic larger than 4 inches in any of my local waters. Always a small plastic trailer. A slower retrieve than those around you will also sometimes help. I prefer the chatterbait micro because it does all of the above AND can give plastics a swimming motion like an actual baitfish. Blending the ned concepts of compact and subtle sizing with just a little bit of noise and flash of a power lure was revolutionary for me. I've not been completely skunked anywhere since; if there's bass they will eventually eat it though my retrieve may require modification for different bodies of water. The goal is to always look like an easier meal than the actual meals nearby. In the clear lake, maybe a Finesse bug from zman on a weedless ned. The flat belly of the bug should help keep you out of the netting but still near the bottom. Hopefully this giant text wall is helpful, I went through the same issues blaming myself for being bad at fishing until I found something that worked for my specific needs. I don't think there's many bad fishermen out there, just people who haven't quite learned their local lake language yet. That usually only comes with time spent on the water and a good amount of frustration. A lot of lures rely on clear water and you have to get a little creative when everything's stained. You got this!

Everywhere I fish always has some eagle claw or zebco packaging trash left around somewhere; there's just so many people in Dallas/Fort Worth it's hard to find clean public access. June's Bassmaster at Ray Roberts left so much litter that I only stopped finding it in late October. Sickening. I'm still pretty salty about how the park was treated during that event. What kind of water are you fishing? Stained, clear? Lots of fishing pressure, or are you the only person? Both of these will affect how I normally choose baits and retrieves

The few times I've gotten off the shore I've brought my shore stuff and been just fine. One plano 3449 double-sided. I have about every lure type I have ever used just in that one box. Whopper plopper, chatterbait, jointed bluegill, rebel popr, pad crasher Jr, TX rig stuff, and live bait beak hooks. I only ever use the chatterbaits tho

Daiwa regal 3000cxh. A ton of reel for the money, always super reliable for me. Love the 6.2:1 ratio. I have three, though now I have migrated to a Fuego 6.2 as my main. I do actually use the high drag rating pretty regularly in one summer spot...blue cats as big as 19lbs, gar even bigger. Both will chase bass tackle in the right conditions.

I think the most important thing I've learned is the concept of confidence baits. Like many other things in life, some lures just speak to some people more than others. Some are good with all of them. It's OK to be a one-lure type, and it's OK to do a lot of different things. And not getting bites doesn't mean you're bad at fishing - there's so many variables at play that you may never fully know why you got skunked a certain day. Just keep doing it.

That sounds like Marling Baits. He also did a ball of wood. I already replied to this thread but: I have a lot of plastics that helped me find out what my confidence plastics are and what properties I want in a plastic. So they weren't wasted, they were learning tools. There's a LOT of them though. Probably less than some others here, but still several times what I can carry in my usual tackle gear. Nowadays I don't really buy something if I don't have a specific use or if I'm not sure it'll have the action I want. The nice thing is - action with my style is extremely predictable, I'm a one-lure Larry and certain features always make my bait act right. I've had the rod and reel bug but I've filled that with three new rods and one new reel this week. Testing them out out-of-town tomorrow morning.

This. I never had luck with a ned doing it the way you see in videos, always with the slow retrieve with a stop in the middle if the lure rises too high in the water. I believe that's kinda how Ned himself retrieves most of the time as well. Soon as I did as Ned suggested in a Dec 2019 article on Zmans website I started catching em. Helps the classic Ned to be in clear water; I started using the zman chatterbait micro with TRDs because I'm in stained water everywhere and I needed some flash and noise but still wanted the compact presentation of the ned. Worked like a charm.

3" swim shads of various types. Caught one bass on it but spent probably a month throwing it. The idea was to emulate their food but I guess I wasn't good enough for them lol I discovered the tiny chatterbait and didn't look back

I've just never used spray, maybe I would catch more if I did but it just gets so messy. I'm working downtown today and I'm gonna be passing right by Academy AND BPS so the struggle is real ? I'm probably gonna stop tho lol

My bait monkey has developed manners now. It's only suggesting plastics with the right action and colors, and tiny chatterbaits. It's the rod, reel, and line monkey that has a grip on me right now. And boy howdy does he have a grip. He's gonna get fed today with another rod probably.

I spent this morning really getting to know this rod. It doesn't need grip tape. It's not going anywhere if you're holding it like a normal human being. The smoothess of the rod's grip just takes some getting used to. I paired it with a Daiwa Fuego 2500xh and now I'm not really missing my broken clarus anymore...

Ah I'm sorry to hear it, I hope you heal soon bud

I lovee Yo-Zuri's hi-vis yellow and also the electric blue - the blue matches my shimano SLX rod almost exactly...looks very cool. It's a bit stiff when you first put it on and the color will stain your hands a bit but it retains the color just fine compared to super8slickv2/big game braid/regular power pro and softens up beautifully. I'm an audio engineer by trade so sound is also important to me. This one sings the right way. I just ordered some Rikimaru red braid to match the Daiwa Fuego I just got, it's 8-carrier which is not my favorite but it had a lot of better-versed reviews than the other red braids I could find. I use a copolymer leader so the braid color is purely vain aesthetic. Might as well give it a shot, right? on a side note, ever get to try that thread idea out?

So I know that this thread is a year old but it saved me a whole bunch of time with my new Fuego - I couldn't figure out that dang retaining washer over the bearings and it was starting to get to me. Mine came with too many washers on it already so I had to remove some to get proper ABS line lay. Thanks very much to the people who spent the time figuring all this out!!! someone should buy you something sometime!