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Observations and advice? I sometimes fish a farm pond with a healthy bass population. Poppers that I have purchased that are weedless have been successful in raising strikes, but I have failed to hook the fish with hit. I tie, but thought it would be good to start the weedless step with a commercially tied version. Does "weedless" suggest "catch less"?
Rever
Rever,
Got your salt handy?
In our book weedless absolutely does NOT translate to catchless.
We also do lots of local ponds and we tie ALL of our bass bugs weedless....but then we toss INTO all of the garbage spots! Generally we feel that commercial weedless are fine till you NEED weedless. We tie our bugs with wire guards like the weed guards the gear guys use.....double wire hooking over the hook point.
A bass (or any predatory fish) that gleans it's groceries by grab and crush would not even notice your guard with the sudden power of it's jaws. We feel we lose most of these kinds of fish because we cannot move the fly in it's mouth to set the hook while it is crushing it's catch. Our cousin had a huge cow-trough full of catfish when we were kids You could NOT (well, it was danged hard) hold your finger tip in the water and allow them to grab it after a few "strikes".
Besides, you will pester far more fish IN the "weeds" than in the open.
.....lee s.
Your making one of the oldest mistakes in Bass fishing. Your setting the hook when you see the strike! When Bass fishing with a surface lure you wait until you feel the fish on the line before setting the hook, NOT when you see the strike. Good luck!
Lee S,
Where do you get your wire?
Rever
SS wire.....38#....Mason.....single strand......25' roll. Outdoor Pro Shop here has it. Suspect Cabela's, Bass Pro, or general fishing store should do you well.