thediscochef

The grip is very solid, much like the SLX. Just gets a little slick sometimes and makes you wonder if it's going to land where your lure does ? I'm considering some kind of grip tape

I bought one of these for 80 at my local vendor, the 7'1" MF spinning as well as a shimano SLX 7' M-EF. What a rod the tac40 is, today was the first day with it and I'm already in love. I think I like the grip on the SLX better but I prefer the balance and smaller guides of the tac40. I do wish the grip had some form of rubber or foam on it, it feels a little smooth at times. I'm using a daiwa regal 3000 xh with 20lb braid, it fishes like a dream. I have zero buyers remorse.

?? gives a new spin to "Let the wind be your guide(s)" LOL

Thanks LOL I have an Igloo backpack I use in the summer but it gives my upper back fits, which affects my fishing. I like the belt because I can just cruise the shoreline and not worry about carrying anything but my rod. And it doesn't hurt my back.

It served me very well for the few months I had mine. I got an SLX today and $20 off a Tac-40...the Clarus rods are somehow difficult to find within a reasonable drive. I will check again in a few weeks though; I want another one.

High sticking a snag. The area of that pond I fish involves drawing your lure over 6' reeds most of the time, which is a mega pain but lends to great bass fishing - 10 fish in 2 hours is common from the shore. I rarely lose lures or get stuck like that, stiff reeds are easy to deal with if you just lift upward...until the line wraps around something or you get hooked hard. I keep a dowel in my belt for this exact purpose but it was the end of the day and I was being lazy and it cost me. Caught some fun ones before that though.

They aren't talking about them cause they're out catching fish with them LOL! It's about the only rod I've used for the last 3 months. All my personal bests except LMB came on that rod. My only complaint is the lack of grip where the reel screws on, would be nice to have a zebco or tac-40 type grip there. But I loved loved loved the action of that rod for 1/8oz chatterbaits up to 3/8oz. It's also definitely made for braid; the guides are smaller and more frequent. The sensitivity and "tightness" to the rod is also way better than anything else I have. Then again it was also my most expensive rod so I don't have a strong comparison to make against it, nor do I have much gauge for nice rods. I'm going to replace it with a more expensive tac40 I've been looking at; the guides are slightly smaller, it weighs slightly less, and it has that grip in the spot I want it. But I'm definitely going to replace my BPS Tourney Special with at least one Clarus...it's a Darn Fine Rod and something I absolutely want to have back in my lineup.

RIP Clarus Oh well I guess this just means I get to go rod shopping ?‍♂️?‍♂️ Broke off in some reeds and I should know better, I carry a segment of dowel for this exact purpose. But I got in a hurry and it bit me. Cut my hand pretty good when it broke too

This is the only forum I frequent for this exact reason. Just good fishing talk, a very well-mannered userbase.

Bass will often eat anything that looks like their idea of an easy meal. I suspect that it varies from water to water for natural diet reasons. Furthermore being an apex predator tends to make a species a little more daring about their dietary choices. Humans went through a phase like that for a while.

Fair warning, I throw exactly one type of lure 99.5% of the time. So choosing a plastic is basically just about motion and sometimes color which does absolutely make a difference in catch rate. In my situation I'm using little chatterbaits which naturally swim with a side-to-side motion, much like an actual fish. So I tend to use plastics that accentuate or compliment that motion - bass pro split tail stik-o with the fins rigged vertical, zman finesse shadz, bruiser mcminnow. Occasionally I'll throw a 4.5" fat dropshot worm on there or a 3" senko but I only start reverting to creatures/crawz/chunks if I'm not getting anything with the vertical finned baits. Then again, if those aren't getting bit...chances are I'm not catching bass there that day. The only thing I really struggle with is color, but even then, a chartreuse head with any plastic with a pearl color in it has been absolutely smashing it for me all year. Namely KVD Baby Bass, BPS Baitfish, Houdini, and watermelon pearl jam. For elaztech it's more smelt, shiner, blue steel, white lightning, bad shad. Any of that on a chartreuse chatterbait micro will get bit by just about any predator fish that sees it. It's common for me to show up at my usual spots and pull a bass in the first three casts. Occasional watermelon red flake for clearer water. If I'm fishing a place with more sunfish and such I tend to use a ned rig with a trd crawz. A lot of plastics are just too big for the pressured waters I fish so I have to stay at least somewhat compact and subtle, which naturally limits my options (not a bad thing). I don't buy anything bigger than a classic 5" senko. And those get cut in half.

So I think this is a dietary thing in this pond - I went back this morning and caught two more bass. One about 1.2lbs larger, another about a half pound. The big one had the extremely yellow fins, the smaller one was normal colored albeit a little washed from the muddiness of the pond. I also caught a pretty good size white crappie that was washed but not orange. I think that as the bass in this pond age, their diet is probably crayfish heavy, or otherwise varied in a way different than all the other local ponds which leads to the pigment buildup. If this is xanthism, it's not genetic but rather dietary best I can tell.

I catch bass with a goldish sheen regularly, almost everything I catch here has yellow pectoral fins as you can see. The orange in the actual tissue of the above fish is the thing I'm more referring to, it's just way beyond my experienced normal range both for the other bass I caught there that day and the rest of the area.

Note the extremely orange tone to the mouth and fins though, almost no green to them whereas the bass you pictured still has obviously normal pigment in those places. I also posted two different bass - the first three pictures are the yellow one and the last picture is a normal colored bass I caught right beforehand. They're very different in color. I'm not saying I'm convinced it's a genetic anomaly, it's probably more diet related but it's a more abnormal gold than your average bass.

I've caught plenty that had a yellow tinge to them but nothing that stood out that hard before, it just really surprised me

This is what it probably is, the gold in the mouth and on the gillplate is the only thing that has me wondering though. Nothing else that size I've caught this year in similar conditions has had that coloration either. But, it's colder today than it's been.

So I was just out at this pond I've never fished before and pulled out this fish, about 2.5lbs. It's fins and mouth were a noticeable gold color, do y'all think this fish has xanthism? I think it does considering the coloration of the other fish I caught there (pictured as well). Just wanted to see if others thought so as well before I claim to have caught a golden bass.

I love elaztech finesse plastics that are salt and scent free ?‍♂️?

So far the easiest version I've made is with a t-rig worm hook/head, one segment of straw at an angle in the middle, and a small baitholder hook at the tail. Elaztech zinkerz. It does not like superglue so avoid that. I haven't fished it yet. But dangling it produces good action. It's just hard to break away from my usual one lure to test new things ? It takes about 2-3 minutes to rig. Straw first into the worm, then t-rig the worm head. If you already have a leader tied, then you can thread it through the head and the straw, tie the tail hook to the line and hook the worm. I prefer to tie the hook to the leader and then tie the leader to the mainline. Either way works.

if I can get my lure where I want it, I don't worry about what else may be happening. Got my first double-digit drum today in 20mph with gusts to 35. The wind helped me get some distance in the right way; I also credit it for pushing all the baitfish up into the cove.

i'm generally shorebound. I carry a double-sided plano 3449 with just about every type of form factor I like in it - pad crasher mini, whopper plopper 60, a 2-3" baby bass pop-r, a jointed bluegill, big chatterbaits (skirtless), little chatterbaits (skirtless), t-rig tackle, and general jigheads. My belt allows me to carry that, two weights of leader line, braid scissors, regular scissors, clippers, a scale, a small fish grips, and 10-15 totally different plastics. I also have a detachable water bottle holster if needed. Depending on the place I'm fishing, it's 1-3 rods and a landing net+big fish grips. I've also forgotten that belt at home before and had 6 LMB in 45 minutes with a worn out stik-o split tail. All I really need is one spinning combo, one fresh lure, and if I'm careful I can catch plenty. I honestly hardly ever switch out of the 1/8oz chatterbait - it will provoke a strike from just about *any* nearby predator fish that can get the hook in their mouth if I move it how they like it. Chartreuse with a baitfish bass pro split-tail stik-o rigged with the fins vertical tends to be the total killer for me this year. the fins vertical really accentuates the natural swimming motion of the chatterbait. I prefer the baitfish stik-o when it has more pearl and less smoke and glitter. If there's not fish around, though, it doesn't matter what I throw. It's not happening if they aren't there. "I fear the man who has thrown one lure 10,000 times over the man who has thrown 10,000 lures one time." -someone smart

Caught (what I estimate to be...couldn't find my scale or grips ☹?) my first double digit drum off the boat ramp tonight. Wind was a solid 30mph, I casted downwind along the shore and got this beauty. I drove to Dallas from Farmington, NM today and just couldn't go to bed without hooking something. I was only at the lake for 30 minutes and this was the fish I caught.

I usually carry about 10-15 plastics in my belt that vary in color and also presentation. Only two plastics have multiple colors: bass pro split tail stik-o, and zman finesse shadz. Everything else is generally quite different. Sometimes it's a roboworm 4.5" fat straight, sometimes it's the yum 4" dinger, sometimes it's bruiser mcminnow. But I just like the ability to completely change how I'm working the water if my preferred items aren't cutting it. Gonna try some variations on the inurig and chicken rigs next week with some of the stuff I have already and see what happens.

Big game only recently took a back seat to the yo-zuri super braid for me, that stuff is quiet and really strong. Little memory after getting wet. But I have a 330yd spool of big game always handy near my spooler.

Big game is surprisingly great for its price. I preferred it to the super8slick v2 of all things.