Most Productive of 2010.

Here in MN, most of our water is now locked underneath 6+ inches of ice.  It's time to reflect on the year that is now in the books and to look forward to what's to come once the water thaws and bass season reopens in May. 

This year, because of my penchant for screwing around with different baits and presentations, I fished a little bit of everything.  Frogs, poppers, cranks, spinnerbaits, plastics, jigs, just about everything.  But one stood out as my top producer this year that really surprised me.

The Lake Fork Ring Fry, was by far my top bait.  I say it surprised me because I've never felt very confident with plastics before.  I've always been a spinnerbait guy.  Always.  Period.  I haven't used the Ring Fry until this year and I think that the pungent scent of the bait (it stinks garlicky good though) and the ribbed body made the difference between this and the other plastics I've fished.

I was able to use it in a variety of ways, but my two most common was as a weightless worm on a 4/0 EWG hook and the other, of course, was wacky rigged.  What really caught my attention with the wacky rig was when I popped it, I could feel the bait vibrate, which was huge for me because the water that I fished the most could be called very stained on its best day.  I think that is also the reason it outfished the Senko.

Another thing I noticed in clearer water is that the fall rate was a little bit slower, but the "wiggle" was a little bit faster compared to the Senko.  I'm not sure how much of a difference that really made, but add the vibration from popping it off the bottom and I've seen fish come from 20 yards away to eat the thing while sight fishing in the spring.

One thing I'm already thinking about for next year is giving this drop shot rig a try with this bait.  I think it would make an interesting combination.