A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
https://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/
This is probably the most relevant information you've ever copied and pasted, good call.2Salty wrote:If you're new to Z-Man soft plastics, know that Z-Man recommends not to store their ElaZtech products with other types of soft plastics...
Deep and faster presentation? If the fish are picking it up off the bottom, then it gets there faster. Sometimes I think the larger and faster rise and drop works too. Depends on what the fish want. The jig heads I use keep the shad tail pointed up and I have had days where I caught two to one on someone fishing a standard jig that just lays flat. Every day is different and I just try to figure out the pattern. Sometimes I win, sometimes the fish does.With soft plastics what's the advantage of using jig heads vs. extra-wide gap hooks (un-weighted or weighted)?
Well, agree on everything but the Pro Cure. That's an angler catcher but never seemed to help catch a fish. My cousin laughed his butt off at me using it in lower LA on gold spoon. Technique such as precise cast, presentation and retrieve works with hard baits. Glommed on Pro cure didn't do squat.EddieJoe wrote:silverking wrote:I've tried the Z-Man lures a few times and caught fish on them, but that material is so rubbery it's more trouble than it's worth for me to thread on to a jig head. No denying they work, though.
Don't use Gulp!
A few anecdotes...
Gulp! was tested at the FSU Marine Lab in St. Teresa. I interviewed the Berkley designer one time and like Coke, he wouldn't divulge the secret ingredient, but fairly certain it's menhaden oil.
DOA shrimp are infused with aquaculture-raised grass shrimp, so they do have some scent in addition to life-like action. But as Mark Nichols, DOA president, likes to say, "fish them slower than evolution!"
Pro-Cure Bait Gels are made with real crushed baits. They have a new Pinfish flavor out now, but the shrimp and mullet gels are very effective for adding real scent to standard plastic jigs and plugs. It stays on several minutes before it needs to be re-applied.
Yeah, ok. Sounds just like the Flats Class show done down in the marsh. "C.A. , I always put on the Pro-Cure for that edge". Product placement is rampant on fishing shows and everyone is selling their sponsors products, and I get that. But, I find it useless.silverking wrote:LA fish are absolutely stupid and totally skew any scientific analysis.
Can't quantify with lab results, but I have had more than a few trout and reds pound a lure with a liberal trace of Pro-Cure. Coincidence? Maybe. But when it's the real McCoy laced along the flanks of a soft or hard plastic fake, what does it hurt to add a little juice, besides the wallet. And a bottle of P-C goes a long ways.
Oh, I forgot to comment that LA fish seem about as canny as Florida fish, except there are more of them and fewer anglers. Sometimes they will eat anything thrown within ten yards of their nose, other times they reject most any artificial bait, scented or not. This makes for 50-75 slot and bigger redfish days and some right around 15. But always better than Florida. And the bag is five fish 16-27, one fish can be over slot. That's real generous, and it's rare (in fact can't remember a day) when we didn't catch a full bag limit, never using live bait.silverking wrote:LA fish are absolutely stupid and totally skew any scientific analysis.
Can't quantify with lab results, but I have had more than a few trout and reds pound a lure with a liberal trace of Pro-Cure. Coincidence? Maybe. But when it's the real McCoy laced along the flanks of a soft or hard plastic fake, what does it hurt to add a little juice, besides the wallet. And a bottle of P-C goes a long ways.