Bazoo

Interesting replies. Thanks all.

I watch Roland Martin and Bill Dance videos sometimes, and I noticed something. Roland will catch a 3 or 4 pound bass and (while he gets excited during the catch) he gives it a quick look and throws it back; like most of us would throw back a dink. Bill takes a bit more time to look over the big ones, but he throws the dinks back like... dinks. I can't blame them, granted the amount of fish they have caught in their lives. I've been trying to get in a routine of looking each one over, big or small. Sometimes I thank them for participating. I often tell the little ones to go back and get big.

Lots of interesting suggestions so far, thanks all for sharing. Since I rarely go on my boat, I don't worry about losing my Leatherman. It did cross my mind though when aboard, but I have pretty tall gunwales so not chance of accidentally knocking them overboard, just dropping them or flipping them out.

Wish I could get my buddies together for a little casting practice. Even if it was just a few minutes before a fishing trip. I haven't practiced in the yard much in the last little while, since I have been fishing nearly daily. Which really is a mistake as I often don't cast for precision when fishing. Though of course sometimes I do. One of the things that helps me to be accurate is to watch my lure as it flies. It helps me to judge distance. Inside of 15 yards, I can sink a spinnerbait in a coffee can, not a cup, a can. I can do it probably half the time, and get real close the other half. I have spurts of hitting it 100% of the time for 4-5 in a row. I can hit a 5 gallon bucket at 25 yards, but only 1:3 or 1:4, and get close all the other times. I have noticed that I get relaxed in the yard and start getting "on". Then when fishing, I am a little less relaxed, and my accuracy suffers.

Howdy Scott, welcome from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Yes, please share more details. Pictures aren't a bad thing either. Here's one I got in the spring that weighed 3lb14oz, it sure made my day!

I improve by practicing... a lot. I often will set up a target in the yard and cast to it for a few minutes several times a day. I have a certain old spinnerbait that I use for the occasion. I practice everything, flipping, shooting, pitching, overhand, sidearm, circle. I don't practice it all at once, but whatever I want to work on at the moment.

I have been thinking about pliers lately. This seemed to fith best in tackle because pliers are used for removing hooks. I actually found a pair of cheapo needle nosed pliers today when bank fishing a local pond. I find myself looking at some of the fishing specific pliers from Bass Pro, and I have had an eye on the Umpqua River Grip scissors like NDyakangler uses. I wonder if they would be more useful than the Leatherman tool I normally use. I carry an original PST tool all the time, and I wouldn't leave it behind if I also carried something else fishing specific, which makes me think perhaps another pair would just be dead weight except for when I'm on the boat. It's a pain to dig the Leatherman out of my pocket when I am on my boat, but bank fishing, it's not much of an issue. What does everyone else use?

That is pretty sweet, thanks for sharing.

Interesting. I am not a pro, but I do practice for accuracy, both when fishing and in the yard. When I'm on, I am pretty good. When I'm tired or irritated, less good for sure.

I'm going to try drop shot on the heavily pressured lake I frequent, just to break things up. I'll probably start with a Zoom Fat Albert Grub as that has worked well for me on both texas and split shot rigs

Thanks for this discussion. I'm going to try drop shot for the first time soon. Horizontal from the bank. It may not be magic but it will break up the routine and might be something they haven't seen. I picked up a few good tricks here, thanks all for sharing.

Being a primarily bank fisherman, I don't use them a lot in summer. Though I will occasionally.

I fish a pond with moss like that... and nothing goes very far in it for me.

Nice, thanks for sharing. I fish the bank most often, and I carry 2-3 rods most often. I've been using a small tackle bag that I sling over my head, but I'm thinking about a backpack so thanks for sharing.

Sorry to hear it. But I am glad that insurance is doing right for you.

I discovered them and have used the heck out of the 1/0 2/0 and 3/0 ever since. In my estimation, they are very serviceable and decent hooks. Not as good as a premium hook of course, but I've had 0 problems with them. I had to cut one once, and it's hard as dagnabit. Some folks think fishing a plastic worm is boring. And here we are talking about the weights.

Yeah, I'm not going truly finesse, but I can cast as light as a weightless Zoom Finesse worm with the rig. The fiberglass zebco rod loads the tip well. I used to throw a lunkerhunt pocket frog and a zoom lizard when the combo was together, with 10lb Big Game line. It was right at the limit. Changing to the Zebco rod and then to 8lb line, I am right where I need to be. I put on a 1/4oz Beetle spin the other day and it was like throwing a brick.

I searched for them, thank you. Whats the best way to purchase them? I didn't find a website. Didn't find a phone number. Found them on ebay though.

That's exactly how I'd be using them if I had a stash!

It looks like it was rattlesnake lures. I found a few sparce pictures online of their 4" worm. You can see the salt in the bag. Thanks everyone.

Nope, not ribbed so deeply. The worm I linked is almost exactly right as far as body shape and rib size. Nosir, not that, but that's a fine looking worm, what variety is that? I did use that brand back then. I'll have to search some and see if I can find what they used to have.

Thank you for your input. It's not the worm pictured, as the body is too finely ribbed.

I appreciate the help all. I'm sure it was not a Zoom U-tail, it is too large and the tail is not the right shape. This worm matches the shape of the body best I remember. It's possible it might have been a 5" worm with the tail extended. But it certainly was a small worm and not a 6"er. The colors I remember were purple body and hot pink/redish tail, watermelon flake. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dry_Creek_5_Ripple_Tail_Worms_20pk/descpage-DCRT.html

I like Berkely Power Worms in watermelon. Zoom finesse and trick worms in watermelon red, white, green pumpkin. All rigged weightless or split shot rigged. Might try a light Carolina rig with a floating worm or lizard worked slow. Colors I would use would be natural: black, white, smoke, watermelon, pumpkin varients. I wouldn't use chartreuse tails. Try soft split rings for a quieter crankbait. Spit'n Image worked slow, with a twitch every 1-2 seconds for topwater.

Twenty years ago I had some 4" worms. I think they were Zoom brand, but I ain't sure now, I remember one thing, they were very salty, with salt chunks on the outside of the worms. They were a ribbon tail worm, thin, about the diameter of a pencil, and had ribs along the body. The tail, when extended was about the same length as the body. Does this ring a bell to anyone? Might as well ask, what 4" curly/ribbontail worms does everyone like?