[Spider Crack]

I dragged this hawg out of a submerged tree: 7lbs 4oz. Was pulling a Rapala DT6 through structure when I paused to adjust the rudder on my Native Mariner (turned out to be a good, if inadvertent, strategy!). Felt a tap on the line, and quickly tightened up to find I was hooked up with a very angry bass. Longest LMB fight I can recall - felt like it took a full 5min to get her to the boat. Inhaled the lure w/both trebles embedded, but hooks came out easily. Fish swam off in good health.


Caught/missed several fish early on a buzzbait, so hoped it was gonna be a buzzbait kinda day. but once sun came out, that bite was pretty slow and no big fish. Eventually realized there were fish in shallow water right up against the bank in the shade line, and I caught numerous fish by finding relatively deep water close to the shaded bank. That's how I caught the big fish -- ca. 2:30pm with bright sun still overhead. I'd cast/flip the DT6 as close to the bank as I could -- the tighter I placed the lure to cover/bank, the greater my odds of getting a hit.


That first big fish (7lbs 4oz) jumped three times -- came completely out of the water. Fish had more energy than any big bass I've caught in a long time. Just would not come to boat. My Mariner Propel was critical in landing this fish -- just started pedaling backwards to get fish out of submerged timber. Otherwise, the fish was just pulling me into the structure. At first fish wouldn't budge, and peeled out a lot of line trying to fight way back. Once fish turned and headed toward open water, I knew i had her if the hooks held. She inhaled the lure on a pause -- really worried she was gonna be seriously injured, but hooks popped right out. big mouth helped, was able to stick my whole hand in her mouth to access the hooks.


I lost the DT6 about 30min later when a big fish wrapped me up on submerged timber. lure glanced off a limb, and fish hit it immediately afterwards. Started peeling out line against a stiff drag (had tightened it up after that first big fish). But it happened so quickly I didn't have time to lock the drag down quickly enough. The line tightened up, saw a huge boil in the water, then 20lb leader snapped above the knot. The fishing gods give and they away take away. Just grateful i got the first big one to the boat.

FYI -- joel

 

[jerry condrey]

That's a very nice fish! Amazing how easy those treble hooks can come loose. I believe I have lost more fish on those than on say, worm hooks!

 

[Spider Crack]

I upgraded the front hook on that DT6 to a Mustad #2 short shank triple grip and the rear hook to a VMC Sureset hook -- forget exact size, but prob a #4. On big cranks (DT20) upgrade to #1 triple grip on front, #2 on rear. noticeably reduces the number of thrown cranks for me. BTW i learned to do that based on NCAngler discussions about this issue (i.e., too many thrown cranks).

BUT in this case I think the critical issue was that the bass hit the lure on an unplanned (!) pause -- and just inhaled the lure completely. Still didn't trust the hookup so was hesitant to lock down the drag at first. I just left the drag loose, then lightly thumbed the spool to increase pressure as I back-pedaled the fish out of the structure.

That's a very nice fish! Amazing how easy those treble hooks can come loose. I believe I have lost more fish on those than on say, worm hooks!

 

[Nat's Dad]

What colors do you like in the DT series?

 

[Spider Crack]

i use any of the patterns with chartreuse. but think color choice just depends on forage base and water conditions. chartreuse-based patterns are what i use mainly, so that's what i catch most of my fish on.

What colors do you like in the DT series?

 

[Nat's Dad]

Do the DT's have rattles in them?

 

[Spider Crack]

no, silent. the DT6 seems to work when my bigger DTs and "louder" square-bills don't seem as effective. sometimes that smaller profile and fairly aggressive initial dive of the DT6 seems to be the ticket. have also scaled back recently from a KVD 2.5 to a 1.5, and the smaller size some days seems to encourage more bites. if i'm fishing very deep water near the bank on a bright day (like yesterday), i will often swap the DT6 out with a DT10 -- sometimes seems the fish are just sitting deeper and like that aggressive initial dive away from bank/structure. some days fish don't care, but seems like a lot of bites yesterday came after glancing off structure or immediately after a pause. it's sort of a game figuring it out on any given day, guess that keeps it fun?!

Do the DT's have rattles in them?

 

[Nat's Dad]

Norman's Deep Baby N seems to catch way more fish than it should and on days when nothing else is working well. Give it a try sometime. I'd be interested in your evaluation. It needs lighter line to work right. I used to fish with a guy a lot before he moved out of state that was a rep for a tackle company and fished a lot of national bass tours and he claimed the Baby N was a well kept secret of the pros. He and another person I fish with use them as a go to bait often and for small bait it will interest really big bass for some odd reason that the Little N which I used on a off for years with little luck just does not seem to in my experience. Rainbow Trout and Parrot are hot colors among others .I've had good luck with Bagley's bigger cranks ---- DB-II, DB-III and Deep diving Bang-O-Lure I picked up some of the DT's last years after seeing your posts but have not had them long enough to get a feel for them yet.

What line brand / test are you cranking with?

I'm not a fan of rattles.

 

[Abert43]

Awesome hawg!!

 

[Spider Crack]

i use 15lb power pro. lack of line stretch w/braid is a problem, but with a fast action rod, those triple grip trebles and a light drag setting, I don't lose many fish to bad/shallow hookups. i'm after big fish, and 15lb is about as light as i wanna go and still have chance to drag hawgs outta timber. i like the quiet cranks, too. i esp like the rapalas because 1. they typically (not always) run true right out of the box (really, really dislike cheaper cranks that require a lot of tuning), and 2. i think the balsa wood in the DT series really gives them a great wobble. only prob with balsa is that the lips sometimes pull out of the bodies -- haven't had much of a problem except with the FAT squarebills, and I've pretty much stopped buying them for that reason. FYI --- joel

 

[Nat's Dad]

Are you tying the braid directly to the lure or using a leader? I've been throwing 40 pound green braid Power Pro ( no leader ) for a couple of years now and love it. Have not broken a single fish off either. This is mainly big topwaters, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, texas rigged worms, jig and pigs and Rattle Traps. I'm going to get a spool of 15 and put some on my spinning rigs and maybe some on a summer deep crankbait rod. This would be to replace 8, (mostly 10), 12 pound Trilene XL green mono I normally use.

Forgot to mention...........the #9 Shad Rap is a deadly crank....... and also runs about 12-13 feet trolled on 12 pound mono putting it in the kill zone for most Piedmont bass lakes in hot weather July August September. Once you hook up on a trolled fish, I like to stop the boat and throw back to the same spot with a Carolina rigged Sluggo and see how many are in the school.

You really got that lake figured out for big fish cranking.

 

[Spider Crack]

i use a 20lb flouro leader, in part for abrasion resistance, in part 'cause in a yak i store rods vertically and it can be a real pain when braid wraps up around the rod tip.

fished again yesterday. no big 'uns -- biggest ca. 3lbs. picked up fish on cranks throughout day, but really started to hammer fish once i put down the cranks and picked up the drop shot w/a wacky-style 4" senko-type plastic. found fish stacked up on a point, and they wouldn't touch a crank. sometimes you have live to crank another day.

 

[bustman]

i was out there myself, my biggest was 4.2lbs all mine caught on buzz bait and senkos. buzz bait worked good all day. all fish caught was on points, if you caught one on a point i would catch five or more off the same point.. did lose a hog though jumped out of water several times last time jumped buzz bait came zipping by my head...it would have been my personal best, guessing round 8 or more it was a nice fish, had to set there and gather my thoughts for a while,wondering what happened,but had fun while it lasted.. thats why its called fishing..think i spotted you on a rock pile, i never made it past half way the lake yesterday...did get greeted by NCWild life and a warning ticket didnt have my wallet with me..and fishing lic. was in my wallet....

 

[Spider Crack]

sorry i missed you, bustman. i really, really hate to lose a big fish, know that feeling all too well. saw a young guy lose a very big fish yesterday -- at least 6lbs but could easily have been 8 or more -- right at the boat apparently because of failed knot. just nothin' to do but keep fishing (and tie better knots!). i couldn't get a whiff on a buzzbait yesterday! good to hear you found some willing to play. i regret waiting so long to switch to plastics yesterday, but the dropshot presentation worked really well once i figured that out. bite was incredibly light & tricky -- typically only way i knew i had a bite was that suddenly i couldn't feel my weight. so just had to set the hook anytime something felt different ("swings are free"), and was very surprised how often it resulted in a hookup.

 

[SurfRider]

i was out there myself, my biggest was 4.2lbs all mine caught on buzz bait and senkos. buzz bait worked good all day. all fish caught was on points, if you caught one on a point i would catch five or more off the same point.. did lose a hog though jumped out of water several times last time jumped buzz bait came zipping by my head...it would have been my personal best, guessing round 8 or more it was a nice fish, had to set there and gather my thoughts for a while,wondering what happened,but had fun while it lasted.. thats why its called fishing..think i spotted you on a rock pile, i never made it past half way the lake yesterday...did get greeted by NCWild life and a warning ticket didnt have my wallet with me..and fishing lic. was in my wallet....

If it was Forrest, he's pretty cool about stuff if you're polite and on the up and up about things. Sounds like you guys had fun... one of these days, Joel, I'm gonna make it back out to that neck of the woods, just been fishing close to home this last season.

 

[haroldn212]

Hi guys, new here. What lake are you talking about?

Harold

 

[SurfRider]

Hi guys, new here. What lake are you talking about?

Harold

It's like Fight Club. First rule of Fight Club is that you never talk about Fight Club.

It's just a small munincipal lake that gets too crowded too easily, and so many of those who fish there have asked us not to advertise it on public forums. When people are evasive about their little spots, it's nothing personal; that's the reason. Some of the river kayakers have to be the same way. For me, one of the guys out there told me if I ever named it on a public internet forum he would push me out of my boat and if I lived, he'd never speak to me again. There were several expletives in there as well.

Keep using the forums and get to know some of the guys a bit, you may find people willing to give up pearls here and there through PM's eventually. Please don't take it personally.

 

[haroldn212]

Thanks, I full well understand. There's nothing worse than to pull up on your favorite spot and run into a crowd.

 

[Fish_Fiend]

Very, very well said.



Gene - Red》X《 - Asheboro

 

[Bleedingblue]

Thanks, I full well understand. There's nothing worse than to pull up on your favorite spot and run into a crowd.

While you won't get a spot on every report, I would recommend to pay attention to baits and techniques used. Most of the Piedmont lakes fish pretty similar, so what works one place will apply to others. As for places to go, Randleman is tough to beat. Also, there are good reports on High Rock, Tuckertown, Badin, and Lucas. Get out there and fish and share your experiences, the more you give the more you'll get.