EastTexasBassin

Lots of great advice in this thread already. Especially Catt's post. The one thing I'll add is to always use a good scent like megastrike or JJ's magic. This will give you a lot more time to set the hook. I've pulled what I thought was a clump of grass half way back to the boat before it pulled back and I realized it was a fish. Bass don't want to spit out a jig that tastes good.

I'm not sure, I think its just a piece of grass. I don't remember seeing it at the time.

Yeah, the baby rage craw on a shakey head has saved the day several times now. It seems to work when nothing else will. Its my new 'in case of emergency' bait. It tends to catch some smaller fish, but so far it hasn't let me down.

It was cold and it was raining pretty hard most of the morning yesterday, but I was determined to catch some fish. I put on my frogg toggs and hit the water. During the rain, my buddy and I caught a bunch of fish on buzzbaits and ragetail shads. The water was about 3 feet higher than usual, which covered an extra 15 feet of the bank in some places. The fish were right up in the grass, and many of them were caught in less than a foot of water. When the rain stopped I was able to pull out my camera and take a picture of this nice little chunk. I didn't weigh her but she was probably between 2 and 3 pounds. I caught her on a watermelon w/ red flake eeliminator fished weightless. For the last couple hours of the day, the fish seemed to just shut down. We went an hour without a single hit, so I started throwing a baby rage craw on a shakey head jig and managed to catch about a dozen dinks. The clouds were absolutely beautiful as they started to clear out and the sun came through.

I keep my jig sizes pretty much the same year round. I usually use a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig with a ragetail lobster or rage craw. In the fall I work my jig a bit faster than I did in the summer, with big sweeps and hops and a few swims. In the winter I bring it to a slow crawl, hopping it up and down over the same branch of a laydown over and over until big mama slams it. Sometimes in the winter, a trailer with less action can be more effective. During those times, I use a zoom super chunk or a gycb flappin hog.

Jigs, buzzbaits and ragetail shads! Buzzbaits and Ragetail Shads first to find the fish, then jigs to 'round up the stragglers.

I fished the BBZ-1 Shad on several trips without a single hit, and then one day it was the only thing I could catch fish on. They were hitting it like crazy. What was the difference? I have no idea... Sometimes it works well for me, and sometimes it doesn't. Thats true with many lures though. As far as the retrieve, I've done best using the slow sink version at a medium to fast steady retrieve. I've never caught a fish jerking it or pausing it.

5 pounds 6 ounces

Caught this one today on a black and blue jig with a junebug Lobster. She wrapped me up in the branches of a laydown right after I set the hook on her, it was very exciting and I was relieved to get her out.

I hit the water with a few packs of Eeliminators today. I've been looking forward to fishing these ever since I saw the video, and I'm glad to share that I wasn't disappointed. This thing is awesome. I caught a bunch of fish with it today and it was incredibly exciting. I was fishing it weightless on a 4/0 EWG- in and around matted grass and moss beds. I was skimming the eeliminator over floating grass, and then bringing it to an extremely slow retrieve in the pockets and around the edges. The action that this bait has at an extremely slow speed is hypnotic. I had 2 colors, white and green pumpkin, but the fish seemed to want the white today. The white was also very easy to see which made it more fun. There weren't any subtle strikes on these baits today, the fish were slamming this bait with a vengeance. I haven't fished it on a c-rig yet, but I plan to try that next time I'm out.

I used to work at Dick's part time (25% discount!) and I was the only associate in the Lodge that knew anything about fishing. The other guys could tell you anything you wanted to know about guns, but ask about the differences between flouro and mono and they would be clueless. I still shop there frequently, and somehow I still end up helping customers whenever I'm there. As mentioned above, many times the associate you encounter in the fishing section actually works in golf, footwear, or some other department. The stores aren't staffed with lots of extra people. When the lodge guy goes to lunch or if he calls in sick, another department sends in a backup person.

It was pouring down pretty hard when I got up yesterday, and as I started packing up my fishing stuff my wife gave me that look. "You're going to go fishing in this??? You're crazy" By the time I got out on the water the rain slowed down quite a bit. It lightly sprinkled on and off throughout the day, and when it was sprinkling the bite was AWESOME! I caught most of my fish on cavitron buzzbaits. I also caught a few on a pop-r, a few on a spro bbz-1 shad, and a few on a ragetail shad. For some reason, I couldn't catch a fish on a jig yesterday. Very strange for me, but the topwater action was a blast. While it was lightly raining, I caught 4 bass on 4 consecutive casts with my cavitron next to this one laydown. Good times!

Yeah, I would up the weight to a 3/4 ounce to start out. It will make it easier to feel whats going on with the bottom. I usually let the wind decide how heavy the weight on my c-rig is. Use whatever weight is necessary to maintain bottom contact and have a good feel of the bottom.

Dangerous words my friend. The daily whisper of the bait monkey!

Using backing to keep it from slipping is a good idea. It also saves line. A uni to uni knot works fine, but no need to ever pull it out and re-tie it. I've never had the line get anywhere close to the backing. Just make it so there's enough braid for a long cast, plus 20 yards or so. I never let a fish 'run' out line or pull drag. To much heavy cover around here to do something silly like that. Crank the drag down and get them to the boat.

My PB (just over 10lbs) was on a t-rigged flappin hog. I can't tell you how many bass over 5lbs I've caught on this little thing t-rigged. You can hop it, drag it, or even dead stick it with an occasional slight twitch. I've even caught fish just swimming it back on a steady retrieve. Works great with a 1/4 oz weight or weightless on a 3/0 EWG. I usually use it as a jig trailer these days, just because when t-rigged its often a one fish bait. They will rip it apart quick! I've gone through 3 to 5 packs in a half day of fishing before, which was up to $35 in plastic. Putting it on a jig also helps to keep the dinks off of it.

Just Texas. 8-)

I caught this fish twice, on separate trips. I'm pretty sure she fell for the same jig each time. This one was easily recognized because of the scar on her lip.

Congrats! It is normal to catch larger fish on jigs. Most of my big fish this year have been on jigs. I stick with craw trailers. My favorites are ragetail lobsters and gycb flappin hogs. You might have a hard time putting down the jig once you start catching a bunch of fatties with it.

They're still full price at the one near my house. Walmart's clearance prices are determined on a store-by-store depending on sell-though. More and more retailers are doing this. Dicks is another one that throws people off. They'll do different sales in different markets. The lures that are on sale or clearance at the one near me are often full price at other locations.

in no particular order... spinnerbaits buzzbaits spro bbz1 shad ragetail shad ragetail toad spro bronzeye frog bass magic soft plastic swimbaits jig n lobster c-rigged lobster jig n flappin hog c-rigged yamamoto kreature senko on a drop shot Mann's -1 roboworm on a shakey head berkley crazy legs chigger craw on a shakey head brush hog weightless and on a shakey head at least those are the main ones...

Happens to me all of the time. Maintenance mode always seems to happen about 15 to 20 minutes after I get home from work.

nice pics and and its always good to spend time with kids. im just dying for my son to get old enough. hes only two. but me and my brother took his son (4) and nephew and brother n laws fishing cant remember age but under 12 and we had a great time. besides using up my minnows lol. was the hotdog bait or lunch lol. My son is only 18 months old, and I'm getting anxious as well. I bought his first rod and reel for him before he was born. Its hanging on his wall, waiting for him. and the hotdog was bait, not lunch

I took my two little nephews, ages 5 and 7, to a pond this morning so they could catch their first fish. They seemed to have a blast, and I did as well. It reminded me of when I was their age, catching bluegill and catfish at this same pond.

I love the RageTail toads. By far my favorite soft plastic topwater bait.