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Gave the Ned rig my first honest try this week and managed to haul a half dozen small bass and one large one out of two heavily pressured ponds. I guess I'm sold. I am having a hard time feeling the strikes though. I'm using a light setup on 4lb line but more often then not I only realize there's a fish on when I go to retrieve.
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Apr 1, 2021 16:04
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 21:00 |
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Yeah the clear 4# mono I put on the reel was a mistake. drat near impossible to see, and if there's any wind or surface disturbance forget about it. That, a cheapish, shortish rod, and the 1/15 oz jighead make a pretty small window between slack line and actively dragging it.
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Apr 1, 2021 18:54
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I just threw some 8lb spiderwire ultracast braid on my UL setup. I think its 2lb mono equivalent diameter, casts better than the 4lb mono I had on there before, and I can actually see it. I put a short 6lb flouro leader on it and I've been happily throwing 1/16th lures into all the local trees.
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Apr 11, 2021 22:57
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Got a half dozen bass this morning on a drop shot. I was initially using some huge nightcrawlers and kept pulling in little bluegills that weren't even as long as the worms. Switched over to a PB & J hula stik and the bass started hitting. I've been having good luck pretty much throwing anything as long as it's that color. Prior to this year I fished by trying everything in the tacklebox and catching very little. It's nice to start gaining confidence in a few techniques (Ned and DS) and see how I can make them work for mixed conditions. I also opened up my nicest spinning reel to clean and lube. Based on what I saw inside I'm not sure it was necessary, and it was certainly stressful when the pack of drag washers scattered all over the counter. Is this something I actually need to be doing? I always had reels that were cheap enough to replace rather than maintain.
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Apr 16, 2021 22:20
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Yeah I was thinking the maintenance would be a yearly thing but now I'm thinking it's a never-again thing. Texas/Carolina-rigged senkos used to be the only soft plastic I fished, but for whatever reason it never worked for me like the other two are this year. Wacky rigging I could never get to work, but I think it mostly came down to poorly matched line and rod.
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Apr 17, 2021 00:28
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I had an exciting one today. Took my canoe out to a new city reservoir. I was throwing the ned on my light setup and on the third cast I had reeled in to the boat and was reaching for the bait as it was coming out of the water when a ~3lb bass came up out of the muddy deep, smashed the bait up into the air and scared the poo poo out of me. I didn't even have to reel, just lifted the rod and grabbed the fish by the lip and into the boat.
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Apr 19, 2021 01:44
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I've had the most consistent success with the Ned rig this year. I've had about equal success with a finesse TRD and a hula stick. Today my one catch was a small guy caught on a 1/15 oz head with a hula stick reeled in swimbait style.
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Apr 21, 2021 02:32
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Had a fun morning on another new (to me) reservoir. Initially I planned on drop-shotting some nightcrawlers, but after losing the first rig almost immediately, realized I'd left almost all my terminal tackle at home. All I had left was my trusty ned-rigged rod. I put the rest of the worms on the Ned head and pulled in a half-dozen in the 0.5 - 3 lb range. Really nice time. I still can't get over how light they hit on that bait. I end up paying such rapt attention to the line that I can't do the other things I usually do while fishing (get stoned, browse farmersonly.com)
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Apr 30, 2021 16:40
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The only topwater bait I've caught a fish on was on the first cast of a buzz bait early in the morning on a private pond that hadn't seen a fisherman in probably 7 years. Otherwise every frog, super spook variation or other floating bait has been fruitless for me. For some reason I've caught only catfish on spinnerbaits/beetlespins and caught nothing on chatterbaits, which I'm reluctant to use since they're expensive and the easist lure for me to lose to snags.
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May 13, 2021 02:00
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Had to jump into ankle-deep water this morning to grab a nice bass that had spit my jig out right as I was pulling it from the water. I was able to grab it before it got away but then I wondered if it was worth it since I threw it back in the water 15 seconds later.
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May 15, 2021 16:18
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Nice looking fish! What did you catch it on?
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Jun 5, 2021 01:51
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What's the general wisdom regarding storm fronts moving through? Elsa is passing by and I can't remember if fishing is supposed to be better/worse before/after a weather system. Edit specifically as it relates to LMB, sorry VVV ihop fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Jul 9, 2021 |
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Jul 9, 2021 00:43
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I've got a couple crankbaits that I really don't want to lose to a snag, so I took some wire cutters and snipped the front two hooks off each treble. I haven't noticed any change in fish-catching ability or any increase in missed-strikes.
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Aug 11, 2021 11:57
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OniPanda posted:
That's cool. How much do you think you're spending per rod and how difficult is it?
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Aug 11, 2021 18:29
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Hekk posted:I’ve been fishing in rocky shallow parts of the very northern part of the Mississippi. I caught 7 or 8 smallmouth the other evening over the course of 30-45 minutes just casting plastic Ned rigs. Being rocky though, I am finding I lose a bunch of lures. I usually do the twitch-twitch-hop slow retrieve with the Ned, but if I find myself getting hung up on rocks or weeds I'll start slow swimming it back, just fast enough to keep it off the bottom, and still do pretty well. That's such a versatile lure. A lot of times I find that if they're not hitting it off the bottom, they'll hit it swimming. LMB anyway. I find the hula Stix, with the little tails on them, and light light jigs works best.
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Aug 12, 2021 12:04
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Jonny 290 posted:Thanks folks, now time to stop buying crap.... I'm not sure you understand the hobby you've gotten into.
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Aug 24, 2021 00:39
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I'm right handed and have to shop around a tiny bit to find baitcasters that are left-hand crank. I had a similar if not stupider debate with my father a week ago. He bought his first baitcaster reel and didn't want to buy a new rod so he just threw it on his now upside down spinning rod. I told him you couldn't do that and he asked why and the only argument I had was that it looks dumb. Is there an actual reason you shouldn't do that?
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Aug 25, 2021 15:08
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TIL that you CAN actually catch fish trolling a crankbait behind a canoe. Also learned that if I'm going to fish something with treble hooks I better have a net or some lip grips handy, and that I should pay more attention to the condition of the terminal end of my line.
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Sep 4, 2021 02:35
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I had 2 (now 4 on the way) of my favorite crankbait. I've changed one of them to single hooks and that's the one I usually use. Yesterday I had the stock treble one and when I caught the fish somehow the rear treble came up through its bottom lip, made it too scary to grab by the lip. In the 2 seconds while I tried to figure out what to do it thrashed, broke the line and took the lure with it. Killing, or possibly killing, a fish always feels lovely and after that I just packed up and called it a day.
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Sep 4, 2021 11:22
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That looks like a very large tail for such a sleek body. Nice catch!
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Nov 22, 2021 04:10
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It sounds like it might have too much line on it, and also the guy at the shop may have spooled it backwards for you. Was this a dedicated fishing store or a big box sports store? If the latter then yeah it sounds like maybe he over-spooled it, possibly backwards. The line has it's own memory from the original spool it was on. If you try to spool it onto your new reel in the opposite direction it's going to fight that, by tangling itself all the time. To tell if you've got too much line on, look at the sidewalls of the spool. You should be able to see a tiny bit, maybe 1/16-1/8 inch of the side of the spool sitting above your line. If your line is bulging over the sides of the spool you've got too much. As for possibly being spooled backwards, I'm sure somebody here has a clever solution but I'd probably just unspool it directly into the trash and buy a new 150 yd spool of 8lb mono, or splurge on some ~20lb braid, and watch a youtube video on how to spool new line on a spinning reel. edit: 8lb braid would work too but that spool will hold a lot of it, and there's downsides to having an underfilled spool as well.
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Jan 27, 2022 17:44
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They are nice looking fish. I've got a few perch-colored crankbaits that have never been fished, I just think they look pretty.
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Jan 30, 2022 14:46
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I'm going to be traveling through Florida with a fishing kayak with NO fishfinder for a few days next month and I'd like to catch a peacock bass. Is this realistically possible for a complete stranger to the area?
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Mar 19, 2022 19:04
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Yeah if it were me I would spend the money on a nicer bass/trout rod then get the cheapest catfishing broomstick at Walmart. It’s not like the catfish rod needs to do anything besides ‘not break’. Wore the paint off a mini Rat L Trap on a local river today. It’s one of the lures I wanted to gain confidence with this year and it’s becoming one of my favorites. Managed to pull in 3 bass & 3 nice bluegills with really pretty coloring.
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Jun 2, 2022 01:18
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Man I am trying and trying to make a chatterbait work for me but it's just not clicking. There's lots of wood, laydowns and small dead branches in all the water near me. Where there isn't wood there's thick grass with thicker algae. Fishing slow and close to the bottom leads to way more snags than the other lures I use. I have yet to find a lure that will come through the grass with coating itself in algae. Putting a fat, flat trailer on helps a bit with the snags but I feel that type of plastic doesn't work as well (for me) as a swimbait type. Keeping it up above the wood/grass feels like too-fast of a retrieve for the hot lazy fish around here. Hangups aside, I also just don't feel like I get the bites on the CB that I do on spinnerbaits/crankbaits. I'll keep trying, if only because the fish I have caught on the CB were on the larger size of what I get, but it feels like I'm just not quite getting some important detail.
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Jun 25, 2022 21:37
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I've found that bouncing chatterbaits off rocks dulls their hooks especially bad, I make sure to check mine often and keep a small file handy to sharpen. It bothers me that green pumpkin is the most productive color for me when it is by far the most boring-looking. I don't even understand how fish can see it, it looks more the color of the grody bottom and the muddy stained water than any bait animal I've seen.
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Jun 28, 2022 03:30
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I read somewhere that rubbing your hands on stainless steel will remove the smell of prepped foods. I don't know if there's anything to it or if it's just in my head but I think it works, for garlic smell at least. I even bought a piece of steel shaped like a bar of soap for that express purpose. I now just use the blade of whatever knife I'm rinsing in the sink, and the steel soap bar has moved to my fishing crate and gets used before handling baits, because hopefully fish fall for the same placebo I do, but not after handling fish, because I like the smell. For whatever reason that smell makes me feel things like NATURE, HEALTHY, GOOD.
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Jul 15, 2022 01:01
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Similar to all the dumb outdoor sports, the number of pieces of equipment you need is always at least one more than you currently own. I only own 4 or 5 rods nice enough that I'd actually use, another 4 or 5 that I'll lend to kids and family. I really only need 2 or 3 more rod-types and once I own those I'm quite sure I'll consider my collection complete. I usually fish from a kayak or sometimes a bank. If I'm in the boat I'll bring 3 rods, on foot only 1 or two. More than that is much too big a hassle to handle. Either way I try to limit what I bring with me to the pre-rigged rods and only maybe 1 or 2 or zero alternative baits. If I bring too many options I quickly decide I haven't caught a fish because I'm using the wrong lure. Repeat every 15 minutes, and I end up spending all my time changing lures, retying knots, and generally growing way too desperate and frustrated to ever catch anything.
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Sep 6, 2022 04:15
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Took my kayak out to a new reservoir today. Deep cold clear water and windy, which was causing me to make all kinds of awkward casts as the boat got spun around. One of those awkward casts snagged my favorite spinning rod out of the crate behind me and tossed it just out of reach in front of me. I got to spend the next 10 seconds or so watching it slowly sink as I tried to swat at it with the rod in my hand and decide how likely death -by-hypothermia would be if I dove in after it (likely!). Reason won out and I figure it sank in at least 20 feet of water. I tried tying on some sinkers and trebles to go after it but I lost them to snags pretty quickly and with the wind and the panic of the situation who knows if I was anywhere near it. I marked the spot on my phone, and I suppose I could come back with my sonar and a big rear end magnet but I'm not sure there's a point. It will cost a fair chunk of change to replace, plus there's a bit of sentimental attachment, but it's also a long drive and a long paddle just to get back to *about* where I dropped it. I'll probably just replace it and maybe invest in some rod floats and leashes.
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Oct 27, 2022 21:04
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The 2 times I've reeled in a bowfin I was sure I was pulling up a snagged log until I made eye contact then they go effing berserk.
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Feb 4, 2023 05:13
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YMMV I'm sure, but my local Walmart has some rod/reel combos on clearance right now for stupid cheap. Cast or spinning, Lew's, Daiwa and Ugly Sticks reduced from $55-$99 down to $11 or $13. They're not even spooled so you don't even have to waste time there. That's cheaper than half the lures I've got, and I consider those semi-disposable, so I grabbed one of each to hand to anyone I think might break/lose one. It's hard not to scoop up them all and figure out later what to do with them.
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Feb 8, 2023 02:52
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That's some nice gear there. Here I thought I was fancy with the new vanford 3000 reel and tatula elite rod I got this year. I'm very happy with both, though I was immediately surprised by how small and light the reel is compared to other 3000 size reels and kind of wish I had gotten a 4000 or maybe even the 5000 for a little more versatility on the coast. The rod I got is ML and again I am impressed with how light it is. The whole setup feels very light and delicate in my hand but I'm very satisfied with how both rod and reel seem to firm up when hooked on to a decent fish. This is the first year I've been fishing frequently from before the spawn to whatever we're at now. I usually give up around October because once it starts to cool off here I completely lose the bass until the trees start flowering again. This year it was fun to observe the bass in my local lakes and ponds return from wherever they hide all winter and start clearing beds. For a week or so I could toss a Ned rig or drop shot out and if it was near a bed it would get hit almost instantly. Now they're starting to move out and I'm excited to try a bunch of crankbaits I picked up over the winter.
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Apr 23, 2023 04:28
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Fish can tell the quality of gear you are using and will respect nicer stuff this is a science fact. I also have more fun fishing nicer gear, even if I'm getting skunked.
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May 30, 2023 19:47
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That or good job getting your lure back from the tree it was snagged in.
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Aug 2, 2023 02:48
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Charlie Brewer slider jigs with a 2 inch soft plastic is weedless and will catch any kind of fish in the water. Chatterbait flashback mini with a similar size plastic works well for me if you want something a bit more active.
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Aug 29, 2023 18:28
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Rated PG-34 posted:What’s a decent way to transport one piece fishing rods in an SUV? I’m thinking of getting a couple bungies that I’ll tie from the roof grab handles. Some people mount a PVC pipe with caps on the end on their roof, long enough to slide the rods into. I just slide rod sleeves on them and shove them inside the car. Is there a reason you can't just put them in the car?
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Nov 20, 2023 13:49
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Hauled my PB bass out of a local pond today. Park by my house, I do most of my fishing there. Mostly I go to try out new lures, occasionally catch a bass or crappie, but nothing over 2 lbs. Prior to this year I couldn't get a thing from September until March but I've started to figure them out. I got my first vision 110 jerkbait a while ago and caught a few fish on it. Today I threw it out and felt it load up heavy, but it wasn't fighting hard so I figured I got another pound-and-a-halfer with 3lbs of weeds attached. When the fish surfaced and I saw it I changed from yay I got a fish to oh poo poo I'm going to lose my $25 lure. It didn't fight too hard all the way in and I was able to lip it. I was hollering like a crazy person but I don't think anyone else was around. It had swallowed the whole lure and the back treble was buried way at the back of its tongue. I was totally unprepared and didn't have any pliers or grips so I had to stick my whole hand, up to the wrist, into it's mouth, WITH 3 sets of treble hooks to free it. I thought for sure we were going to end up in an urgent care, attached to each other. I didn't have my scale either, of course, but it was at least an inch longer than my 22" hand paddle. The Internet tells me a healthy 23" fish should be well over 7lbs so that's what I'm going with.
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Dec 2, 2023 00:29
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Large mouth bass.
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Dec 2, 2023 03:09
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That otter is after your fish bro
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Dec 9, 2023 02:58
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 21:00 |
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Southern Cassowary posted:god drat the vision 110 is really that good What color lure and what color of water? I just got my first 110s this year and I really like fishing them. Besides the effectiveness, I'm enjoying jerkbait fishing in general. The cadence feels like a nice middle ground between the chuck-and-wind of a crankbait and fully working a walking bait. The strikes also feel more violent than the usual CB bite for me. I'm a real sucker for lures that look pretty and these are going to cost me so much money. Question for the thread in general: Suppose you're at a spot you've caught fish in before and you're throwing a presentation you're reasonably confident in, but it's been 20 minutes with no bites. Relocating isn't really an option for whatever reason. Would you try a different color of the same lure or switch to an entirely different presentation?
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Dec 16, 2023 00:01
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