First Fish of the Year

Not much, but I'm happy. Except for the fact that I scratched my brand new JDM reel in the process of unhooking the fish.

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage HC-610MR "Master Stroke"
Reel: Shimano Scorpion XT1000
Lure: Jackall Dum Dum Hog 4"

"Bain" Rig

We call it the Texas Rig.

Here's mine with a few mods to it. I hand tie a skirt with thread as tight as possible and thread it onto a hook. It's a pain to get it past the barb because it's tied so tightly. Flares out nice, and catches a lot of fish! I'll probably add a worm rattler in it too.

My Top Lures of 2010

Introducing my top 5 lures of 2010.

These are the top 5 lures I chose for 2010. They were the most producing lures for me in 2010 and in no particular order I present to you my top 5:

1. Jackall Sasuteki Craw 5"
Last year I had so much success after being introduced to the Jackall Sasuteki Craw 4". I've been using different types of craw baits and once I switched to the Sasuteki Craw, I was getting good results; 5 lb, 6 lb, 7lb bass. But for 2010, I decided to upgrade to the 5". I use this lure mainly near tulles and grass or when I want to fish slow. There are many ways I rig this; pictured here is with Zappu's P.D. Chopper, but my favorite is to rig it with a skirt I hand tie to the hook and peg a bullet weight to it. It allows it to be completely weedless and by hand-tying the skirt, it flares out much more.

2. Jackall MC/60 SR
2010 began the year where I fell in love with Hard Baits, and as you can see, 3 of my top 5 are hardbaits (if you consider a spinnerbait a hard bait). There was a full week in October where the crankbait bite was wide open . Five minutes casting this lure resulted in my largest fish of 2010; a beautiful 5lb 1oz fish. I would throw this lure mostly parallel to the shore and it would trigger many strikes.

3. Jackall Bling 55
Continuing that amazing crankbait week in October, I would comb the area with this amazing flatside crank bait made by Jackall. The tight wobbling action surely helped me catch fish when the bite was getting tough, and the internal magneting system enabled me to cast this at VERY long distances. A great addition to this lure is the size of the hooks. The back hook is slightly larger than the middle hook, which helped in short strikes.

4. Jackall Super Eruption Spinnerbait
I got the most vicious strike with this lure for 2010. Fishing about 7:30 at night I made a long cast, and as I was slow rolling this spinnerbait, I had the hardest hit ever that I experienced since bass fishing 2 years ago. This made me fall in love with spinnerbaits and my collection has now grown. I loved burning this near schools of shad and slow rolling it over submerged grass.

5. Jackall Flick Shake 4.8
Lastly, I cannot forget the flick shake worm, which was my best producer of 2009. When the bite got tough, just tie one of these on wacky rigged with a 1/32oz Zappu Inch Wacky Hook. If you upgrade to a 5.8 size worm, I recommend the 1/16oz Zappu Inch Wacky Hook. The hook you use can drastically change your hook up ratio and I found that the Zappu hooks are the best.

Well there you go! These are my best lures of 2010. At the end of 2011, I wonder what lures will be in my top 5.