Nick

Some of the pro's in the last 2 early year FLW's used some swimbaits fished very slowly and kind of deep 15-25 feet, and caught a few big bass with them. Some fellas have used them in both late prespawn and postspawn to catch some big fish and win tourneys, but they are pretty tight lipped about it. The old standy broken back big Rogue has been waked along for years to catch big ones there in April-June. Hate it when they follow and don't eat. I think some of the smaller subtle colored Cali softbaits could be used very effectively to catch a hog there at the right time..

One of my buds has won some big tourneys at Lake Ozark in late fall with a big blade rolled in 45-48 degrees, but that's along way from spinnerbaiting in 32 degrees! Right on, Mr. Ghoti (fish).

Tuckman, be sure you change out your War Eagles often. They tend to break at the line tie. Try Hunter Creek spinnerbaits for a very good price with custom components. Esp. in smallie lakes when there is a chop, I can catch catch them on lots of "average" blades as long as I match the conditions, have a good hook, and the blades spin good. (Oh, and put in in front of the boat!) A buddy of mine was fishing with a Skeet Reese $15 spinnerbait, and I nearly fell off the pedestal when he told me how much it cost. He darned near kept up with my $2.50 ones.

Of all the "pro's"out there, and I've been in the boat with several, I'd pick Fish in the top three for a day of fishing! His show may not do much for many guys who are bent on learning how to catch bass, but for 30 minutes his show is a sometimes fun escape. Anyone names Claude can't be all that serious.

Hold on there! The spiinnerbait gets a whole lot better in mid latitudes above 45, and a lot better than that above 55. Very rarely is it a go-to bait under 42, regardless of how you fish it. Not saying it can't be done, but a spinnerbait below 40, would rarely even see the light of day. In southern climes such as Texas, one doesn't get too many times to fish it under 45 degrees. Let's not trump something up that ain't really the way it most days.

Nothing special about it. Most spinnerbaits are as good as another as long as they twirl and have a good hook and balance.

Can a bass still be caught with all the cold weather? yes What's the water temp? 38-9 by the dam. Is the water falling? yes, it's about 4 feet below power pool now. Pattern? Jerkbaits with longer pauses up to 10 seconds. Most fish are still in the back 1/3 of coves, but do not fish any farther back in a creek where the deepest point is less than 15 feet. No bait, no bass there. Steeper banks are beginning to pay off. The fish have left the flatter pea gravel type banks. Best banks are 20 feet deep below boat when craft is one good cast off the shore. By jerkbait standards the bite is not that light. Strikes are easy to detect for the average angler. Good fish? Some, not spectacular, but 10-15 bass per day is very doable if you have a clue. Probably 3-5 keepers in the mix. (3-5 pounds) Best time of day. Both early and late with the bite getting real tough at mid day.

Lots of cheaper stamped spoons as one travels north. These don't sink very fast, and many weigh in the lighter weight class. Sometimes you can fish these as a casting spoon. They are often shaped about like a daredevle spoon in brass or silver and they will catch fish. Might want to put on a better quality hook, and add a swivel. Basswishes.com has the rights to manufacture the old Dixie Jet spoon which may fit your needs. It was a popular jigging spoon from yesteryear, but don't know if they are producing any as yet. The Johnson sprite is another spoon which may fit your needs, but I'm not sure if they are available either.

Nibbles is on it.

Caught a few herons, ducks, and seagulls, but the weirdest catch was a longnose gar. That's not unusual, but the way it happened was one in a billion. Using a T-rigged worm, I set the hook on a decent strike. A big gar shot out of the water and tail walked across the bow not five feet from me. Wow. But how I caught it was truly weird. The gar had been first caught on a trotline but had broken free at the swivel of the dropper. Somehow my now exposed worm hook caught in the swivel eyelet perfectly for my weirdest catch.

Regular Yo Zuri Hybrid gets a little bit kinky above 10 lb. Otherwise, 2 thumbs up. I must try the soft version when I run out of the 22 miles of other line still stored in my basement.

*those crummy half hitches with braid that was mentioned earlier, * lines that coil like a mean rattlesnake, * the fishing line manufacturers in general for producing lots of crappy lines through the years. Too many reformulations hyped to us that weren't tested thoroughly. *nothing like setting the hook only to shatter a $200 rod.

That sleet is a strong indication to me that a feed was going on. A front coming through with nasty sleet or snow can trigger good shallow activity. Lots of guys in the Ozarks swear by the jerkbait bite in the bad weather in sub 45 degree water. ( or maybe they just want other snglers to go out and suffer with them.)

Just for fun, a little background on the Senko. ...Out of curiosity I asked Gary Y. during the height of the Senko craze how he came up with the fat worm ***.k.a. the Senko. He was weathered off the lake at a Toho trailer park so he had a few minutes. His answer was somewhat startling. He hired a couple of fellows that were good at making making molds for plastics, but didn't know squat about fishing. Gary kept telling them he wanted a thicker worm to experiment with. After a few failed attempts, Gary, exasperated, took out a fatter than normal pen from his pocket and said that he wanted wanted a worm with that kind of shape. So the Senko idea came from Gary's pocket so to speak. Also of note was that the Senko was not an immediate hit with anglers. They didn't start flying off shelves until word got around a couple of years later how deadly they were. He did not go into details about fishing them weightless or who thought of that approach. (And maybe I just forgot to ask.)

Never kept them long enough to get bent. Often though I would stick about 15-20 in one bag. That probably kept them from bending too.

Marty, You're going to turn elbows into jelly! Rascal!

Next time you are out, think of the motion you would use to throw mashed potatoes off a fork. Use the same motion casting overhead.

Yep, in three years of fishing using sophisticated electronics, and watching and listening on the net, seminars, and tv, one can learn what it took us old fellas 30 years (and counting) to learn. Old Virgil Ward, Harold Ensley and the like weren't quite this dialed in their approach to impart knowledge for us to mine, but we old timers probably felt better about learning so many keys to fishing success because we did it ourselves without much help, by the seats of our pants, time on the water, and lots of trial and error. I was darn proud locating that first brushy pile I found on a lake with my tiny Lowrance and the school of bass living there that had never seen a Fliptail plastic worm before. Very satisfying back in the day!

Good stuff, Vinny. Too bad that fellow on video doesn't show the straight retrieve swimming action. George, try this out. Just cut off the Sabertail about an inch north of the legs juncture and thread it on your favorite jig. It's so active that I like a straight and fairly fast retrieve most days. FFO outlet had these Sabertails at a deep discount last week also.

75 degree air temp, sunny day, on a free flowing river in June with a superfluke watching giant smallies waking off the bank like submarines to engulf them. Ah...that hurts so bad!

Both ways work. I put trailers on mine, a small split tail, to add more weight, but keep the sink rate like I like it, but hair jigs, even with a short tail with catch them without a trailer. In colder waters for smallies, it's finding the deeper waters out of the faster current if the water temps are below 50. That's really the key more than the jig itself. In warmer waters, more anglers go to soft plastics or rubber or silicone tied jigs. But hair jigs will work all year long.

Unique swimming action on the Berkley Sabertail creates a very good profile of a minnow's tail on a swim jig. Just cut the back half off and stick it in a little chartreuse dye on the tail section. I had a great day on it last year just as the bass were coming off the beds on Oauchita. Better bring a couple of bags with you cause the often chew it right off.

If the water is dingy on Lake Ozarks as it was last winter, several good fish were caught on dark colored jerkbaits right off the bank in 3-7 feet of water when the water temps were 38-43. The dingy water was the key, and the presentation was quite slow. One of the better anglers told me that he fractured over a dozen jerkbait lips because he casted them too close or on the rocky shorelines. On flowing waters, we catch the heck out of smalies under 45 in waters 2-6 feet. Again it's a water clarity deal when it happens like that. They vacate their deeper 10-15 feet holes then.

Oh yeah, been there.... and don't forget that long and winding Osage to put the monkey wrench on us....

My big Gambler 9-12 for a tourney. My river jet 3 As a guest or co-angler 3-4.