Pumpkin Lizard

Fellow nutmegger Alex Wetherell made a spreadsheet and you can download it. Based on the data it looks like this benefits the anglers at the bottom more than the ones at the top.

Mostly a rhetorical question. Seems like being an Elite Series guy would be kind of marketable within the industry, guiding, social media, seminars, etc. Of course some of these guys have families and real life expenses too.

There are elite series guys sleeping in their trucks for sure. The turnover rate at that level is insane. I don’t think people realize how hard to mouth some of these guys are. As an observer who wants to see the best competition possible, I would prefer the most professional field possible. What we have now is the equivalent of having your favorite NFL players working at Dick’s so that they can afford to play ball. On the other hand the Elite Series guys have 8-9 events a year. That’s 8-9 weeks. What are they doing the rest of the year?

I would spend it all on Magnum Pumpkin Lizards.

I just don't get BASS here. Now that anglers don't have that $45k expense sponsors will have all the more reason to reduce funding. This would be a great thing if the BASS suddenly had increased revenue streams from the additional FOX coverage they are getting and that was what subsidized an elimination of or reduction in entry fees. Instead the message seems to be that anglers now have to go find the revenue themselves instead. Guess everybody better get serious about YouTubing. Seems like a potential disaster to me. Does anyone here know anything about the details of BASS's tv deal? Is BASS buying time on FOX or is FOX actually paying for the content? Also I thought I saw something about General Tire pulling out of the BPT is there anything to that?

So the anglers had a meeting in New York and they asked for this. Be careful what you wish for!

it’s more like they robbed Peter to pay Paul.

They definitely won’t like that.

Good advice. I’m as hardcore as it gets with fly fishing, except when it’s at not. It’s such a visual experience for me, you take that out of it and it just doesn’t hold my interest for more than a few hours.

Their costs have been reduced by $45k can’t be that bad.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bass-elites-pay-103024.html Looks like winnings have been restructured a little from 11th and beyond.

I’m not really imitating shad with the jig, I’m usually using a Rage Bug on a VMC rugby jig dragged on the bottom.

I tried the Freeloader’s cousin “The Mayor” Sunday night. I bought the bigger size. I was headed to a lake where I was running into some wipers and I thought it would be good and it was. It swims like a small Magdraft paired on the VMC Boxer Jig. Good tail action and that wobble. Results were a lost LM that was easily 4, and a few others. Also a mess of wipers. I burned through half the package. My only beef is that after a few fish they really don’t stay rigged in place well. It outfished the Rat L Trap and the 25 dollar Jerkbait I was also using.

I live in Missouri too but on the other side. I fish around KC and in the Northwest. I got back into bass fishing recently and there was an interesting learning curve for me because most of the places I bass fished in the past didn't have shad. For a while I was still not getting much because I was using the wrong presentations or using the wrong sized baits. Once I started trying to figure out and find the shad and the baits, I started finding active feeders and my luck improved. When I can't do that, I'm fishing creature baits on rugby jigs or shad imitation on a jig. It's been tough at times late this summer and this fall because it's always sunny and we haven't had many overcast days. Most of the best action can be in the morning or in the evening, but by jigging through the day I find them and they are in fact exactly where you usually expect them to be. So many of the lakes and ponds I fish seem literally infested with shad and carp. I think with so many shad being available the fish are also just really well fed, and it's probably harder to attract and trigger fish that have such easy access to food all around them.

https://www.bassresource.com/

nm

It's fairly popular outside of Michigan. The reason for the heavy leader isn't just for the strikes and the chance at a bigger fish. It's really hard to turn over a big air resistant fly on a fine diameter tippet.

There was a soft plastic lipless crankbait that Mann's used to make. That thing was money.

This is true. Once browns get to 13-14 inches they start needing food like crawdads and things with a spinal cord. The streamers I use for big trout are big swimbait size. Almost always articulated. I think they work better than conventional tackle too. Honestly I wonder if a frog would do the trick and then you don't need the bobber. When I lived in Wisconsin I knew a guy who fished the same spring creek region as me and he kept a fish every now and then to in part to see what they were eating. He usually kept 13-14 inchers and he almost always found mouse remains in the stomach. In nearby Iowa we could fish 12 months a year and the trout he caught would have mouse even in the dead of winter. It's not just a novelty. There is a fairly famous creek in Iowa loaded with wild browns that I fly fished all winter. The browns would stack up under the bridge in winter and I watched a 14-15 incher eating another fish, likely a trout that was easily 9 inches. It was almost like watching a snake eat something big.

I bet a ned would slay. It looks almost exactly like a mop fly which is intended to imitate a crane fly larvae. Which gives me an idea. I bet a mop fly tied on a Ned jig would be tremendous for almost anything with fins.

A brown trout will literally hit anything a bass will go for. Jointed Rapalas in particular. They are super carnivorous. Almost nothing beats a silver Phoebe. It's a cheat code if you are gear fishing for trout.

Yeah. I don't fish with any sort of electronics right now. I actually use it on the VMC Boxer jig not the hybrid. I fish it deep, shallow. I do a rolling, shaking retrieve and it works. I hop it and it works. It's durable, I love it. When I see pods of shad I'll cast into it and it works. The other Crush City product I like is the Ned BLT. It seems to outfish the TRD for me. I have a TRD in identical colors. If Jacob Wheeler made those then he really is a savant.

Yup. First keeper bass I ever caught was in '90s on purple mister twister with a lead head. There isn't much new under the sun. Can't wait for the next trend which will be finesse jitterbug topwater fishing.

Yes. Lately I have been using the Crush City Freeloader on a VMC Hybrid jig.

After many years of epic fishing, my personal childhood bass pond growing up inevitably became overpopulated with stunted bass. They were much smaller than 13 inches. You could throw a bare 1/0 hook into the water and catch 9 inch bass with ease. Still a few broke through and grew large. We fixed the problem by transplanting some Pike from the Housatonic which couldn’t reproduce. I would say there is not enough information here to answer your question.