bigbill

I think in freshwater called deadsticking but in saltwater it's called jigging.

I purchased the Swiss army camp ponchos for me and my son's. It's cheap from cheaper than dirt.

I mainly fish from shore. Knowing the bottom structure and layout does tell us how and where to fish it. Using a cast out hummingbird fish finder with a wrist watch reader is a big help in the smaller places were I fish with no tool maps. Once I know we're the flats, the deeper holes, the channels and points are I'm good to pick out my lure selection to fish it. Fishing from shore is only fishing it backwards from a boat. We just need to figure when the fish are closer to the shoreline. Understanding there movements and low light conditions is the key to success, well two of them anyway. I prefer to stand in one spot and fan cast the whole area. I do not cast my casts close to each other when fan casting. I skip around with my casts not to disturb too much water in one area so I don't spook the fish. I try to make soft casts too I don't let my lure crash the water. When walking up to the shoreline walking softly is the key. Do not step on any rocks. It sends vibrations into the water alarming the fish. Be very stealthy, handle your tackle very quietly. Put your tackle box down very softly. Do not make any noise at all. If your fishing in the dark make sure you organize your tackle box. Use a small lite. I like to use locking snap swivels to change lures out very quickly too. In the dark I use five rods with five lures on them. I usually don't switch lures if the sky is starting to light up to twilite as it approaches. I'm so stealthy and quiet it's like I'm not even there. My PB of 10#lbs. Was caught two feet from shore at a drop off when I casted parallel to the shoreline. She hit my lure as it ripped out from the weeds into the open channel. She was there the whole time I was fishing there. I didn't spook her. In the dark I'm extra quiet and stealthy. I fish at one spot that has a low bridge on top of a man made dam on both sides of it. I have rocky points, a channel with slow moving water. Flats, submerged weeds.surface weeds at one spot, Lilly pads if I cast far enough. All on one side of the low bridge. The other side were limited to a short channel that's surrounded by thick weeds at the end if it. Making short casts to the weeds edge does catch bass. But the other side has different ways to approach fishing it. The channel is 10' deep in front of me. I have a thick weedline parallel to the channel on my right with submerged weeds going into the flats. On the left side of the channel there is surface weeds but the area is deeper. The 10' deep channel goes out as far as I can cast. It stays at the 10' depth it averages. My point is the portable fish finder maps the area. It tells me I can throw my 10' depth lures parallel to the weedline on my right. Every body of water in this area where I fish at has a man made dam on it. My point is I have everything you would find fishing from a boat when fishing from shore. Knowing the exact bottom structure tells us how to fish it. Bb

In the changing light conditions the basses eyes adjust quicker, sooner than the baitfish eyes thus making them easy prey. This is why the bass put on the feed bag early in the morning and In the evenings when the light conditions change. During the noon time the bite increases too when the plants give off plankton the baitfish come out of hiding to eat the bass turn on to eat them. I been told that after it gets dark and everything settles down on the body of water around 10pm/11pm the bass turn on again. I never tried fishing at this time yet. Usually at this time in the summer I'm on the menu for the bugs to feast. From a boat you can track the basses movements. From the shore we need to time there movements so we know when to fish for them. Early morning fishing in the dark there close to the shoreline ambushing the baitfish. Then as it gets lighter they move to deeper cover. In the low light conditions I can catch them when they move from the shallow into the channel towards the thick cover. It's all about the timing when there moving. I found using a hummingbird portable cast out fish finder with the wrist watch reader will tell you the bottom structure besides were the fish are at too. It's a great tool to have when the smaller bodies of water have no tool maps to go by. Fishing isn't rocket science it's understanding the bottom structure and layout of the place. If your fishing a new body of water using live minnows will tell you what is there. I was doing this till I learned how to present lures better.

I try to stay within the specs of the rods ratings. I'm not sure if we can feel the lighter stuff on the heavier spec rod. The lures once came with the line test recommendation for the best lure action. I don't see that anymore on the lure boxes.

I have a jointed rapala countdown in blue with a yellow bottom it's around 5" long. One day I tried lowering it to the bottom and bringing it 8" off the bottom and jigging it. I found a honey hole where there is a bass there every time I jig that spot with my jointed rapala countdown. Has anyone ever tried jogging with a jointed rapala?

Sorry for the dumb question but if you really like a rod and reel would you buy extra new ones??

It's very offensive at times I agree. Now does it sway me from buying it you bet it does. I don't buy anything that's called a racy sexist name. Sorry that's just me. There is so much good stuff on the market today that's named with good clean product names we can buy instead. Sometimes we have to say enough is enough and respect and stand up for our better halves too. You can kid and joke at it but it hurts people inside weTher we realize it or not. I have not made my misses mad enough to weTher I had to sleep with one eye open nor will I ever go there. I respect her too much to go there. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I find bass in just about any size body of water from smaller ponds to drainage containment areas in building complexes too. I've witnessed the bass growing at a new complex through the many years from drinks to 3lbers. While practicing catch and release. I'm thinking the ducks move the bass eggs from place to place. Otherwise I have no clue how the panfish and bass get there. These smaller ponds are my favorite places to fish at. Where fishing most of the time were the fish have never seen a hook yet. There is one place where I do not fish. It has turtles there during the summer months but this body of water doesn't freeze in the wintertime there is no ice over. This raises the question about the quality of the water and is there something in it that causes it not to freeze. I don't eat fresh caught fish from too many places. Most of our lakes on the western side of the state have PCB's from the GE Plant in Mass. Plus everywhere is a high level of mercury too.

Is it possible to actually wear out fishing rods? Have you ever worn out a fishing rod? Can it lose its tention, action and power setting through heavy use? How often do you replace your fishing rods?

Right now there are sales and clearances going on.

Remember honing your different presentations with each lure at one body of water you will find it also works at any body of water too. I find fishing to be a challenge and when we stay focused, motivated, determined we will catch fish. In the very beginning of all of our bass fishing experiences up to even today were all still learning. We never stop learning. I love going out and throwing different lures and presentations till I get action. It's fun. Bill Btw, When we leave one body of water where we honed our skills and got our education and knowledge at, what we have learned goes with us. Don't forget to take notes and write everything down. What your catches are so you can see if your improving or not. Which lures work better and which presentation caught the most fish and at what time of day it was. Sometimes as we advance more on a tough day having notes allows us to get back to basics. We need a refresh to get back on track

Fishing from shore I throw a variety of different lures, colors and sizes till I get action. I also fan cast the whole area when I can too. I don't do fan casting in order, by casting next to my last cast I jump around with my fan casting. This way I'm not spooking every fish. I try to make the softest cast I can make when the lure hits the water too. Now I never rush to fish, I take my time and execute every presentation exactly correct every time. Our presentation has to be a picture perfect one, let's say an Oscar winning one every time. That's the difference between success and failure. Stay focused and motivated that's another key to success. 1. Reading the clarity of the water. Clear water, Smaller lures, natural colors fished faster. Stained water, Medium sized lures, a combination of natural colors, brighter colors fished slower. Muddy water, Large sized lures, brightest colors fished the slowest. Lures having a rattle is a plus in any water condition. A shot of bass scent helps too. I do not pump gas before I go fishing. I wash my hands with big orange before every outing. I use polarized glasses so I can watch for short strikes behind my lures. Some fishermen wash there hands with scent while they fish. Just a little will do. On my first cast I load up my topwater lure with scent and make the longest cast I can make. This raises the basses instinct that food is in the area. The rattle in your lure backs up the scent by ringing the dinner bell. In my many years of throwing lures, each lure will catch fish at one time or another. It's up to us to figure out which lure will catch fish right at the time were fishing. I throw a variety of lures. We're like a baseball pitcher throwing different pitches, but we're looking for that first strike. Then the fish told us what lure they want and at what speed/presentation they want it at. I throw crankbaits and use a slow reel, my topwater lures I use a walk the dog presentation or a one, two, three twitch and a pause, then repeat it exactly until ready to cast again. With spinnerbaits I reel it fast enough were we can see it just below the surface. Then I may try a slower speed were we can't see it so it's below the sight line. Out of our sight but more in the zone where the bass are. Example of my variety of the lures I throw, Topwater spook Crankbait 3' to 4' deep(bomber model A redcraw) Crankbait 10' deep (rebel big claw crawfish) Rapala f7 original floater blue or black Spinner bait silver blade, white skirt(Mann's classic) Inline spinner mepps Anglia #3 silver, Brown tail Crankbait 3' to 4' deep (bomber model A Baby bass) Carolina rigged senko 1/8oz weight 20" leader. Panther Martin #4/#6 spin fly silver blade, yellow/Orange tail. Strike king inline spinner #3 silver, black tail. Spinner bait gold Colorado, hot chartreuse skirt(Mann's classic) Joe's fly 1/4oz bass, firetiger apache. Crankbait, 3' to 4'deep (bomber model A silver flash) Joe's fly 1/4oz bass, blackgnat. Mepps Anglia #3 gold blade, Gray tail. Jig n pig, 3/8oz football head, green pumpkin with pork trailer, hopped on bottom. Carolina rigged brush hog 1/8oz from shore. Mister Twister top prop, slowly reeled on top, or a 1,2,3 rip n pause. When nothing is happening on a slow or tough day I use this time to practice and focus on my presentations to hone them picture perfect. Sooner or later a fish will interrupt you. Just remember what you did to make it strike and repeat it. Don't forget the scent, and pics of your catches. Try fishing at the evenings till dark. They turn on around dusk. They also turn on before dawn too. Anytime of day is for fishing too. Throw cranks and spinnerbaits. I lived in Jersey too at onetime near Paramus. Bigbill If I were you I'd read every article here and watch every fishing video you can watch here and on you tube. Hammer them by reading and watching them all winter till the ice is off. Then it's time to go out and try what you have learned. It's not luck in catching fish it's skill.

Here we go my favorite rod was a Shakespeare black beauty for many decades. And some Southbends, cheaper Wal-Mart quantums etc. That kept me happy, happy fishing for many years. Even today I'm happy happy with some of them. Then I been hearing rumors that I need to step up the quality of my rods. I admit I thought the guy's we're wrong at first but having problems with hook setting long before there were power options on some of my older discontinued rods I thinks it was an eye opener to look at the more expensive bass rods. My search began. I purchased a Berkley lightening rod heavy, vengenance rodmed, a quantum kvd med tour rod med/hvy, a Berkley shock rod, a lews xhvy/xfast, all crankbait rods. The vengeance, the shock rod and lews really feel great. The others are a different feel that I'm not use to yet but being new to a slight better in quality rods they felt ok too. I was interested in the lews spinning rods too after seeing and feeling there SG Graphite Speed Stick spinning rod. I just purchased four of them in different lengths and actions. These lews spinning rods list for $99 and they were half price on sale. So I upgraded at bargain prices. I believe I'll be very happy with the less rods. Now matching up the lews spinning rods with the US Reel super caster spinning reels. I'm trying the US Reel super caster baitcaster reels on some of my baitcasting rods too for cranks, spinnerbaits and jigs too. Life is good for now. The only fishing shirt I have is a Wal-Mart FLW Tour shirt. I do wear my lucky panther Martin hat most of the time. Do you wear your proven lucky clothes most of the time? I know it's skill that catches fish but I am superstitious too.

I find that I cast farther using softer copolymer line. The stiffer the line the less distance I can cast. Fishing from shore the distance in casting matters.

Great report goose I never expect anything less from you. I know goose from other forums. Bigbill

I use all the different line tests on all my rod setups mainly because the lures run better with the lighter line test. Meaning I use 6# & 8# on two of my lighter setups anyway..(spinning)

I been throwing a 3/8 oz spinner bait with ease using a US Reel 600 super caster bait caster reel on a med action 5'6" rod. I been wondering if I switched to a 5'6" light action rod with 6lb test for the lighter lures. I use a 5'6" spinning outfit with 6lb test for the lighter lures now. I also have one of those micro baitcasters for crappies which is an update to the older open metal baitcasters that's eons old. It's impossible to cast with the 1" grubs. It could be me. I have tiny micro lures too. But I'd like to try a US reel baitcaster super caster using the smaller 1/8 to 1/4oz lures. But I really doubt if it will cast the 1/8oz stuff.

If I was freshwater fishing I would of dunked them in the water asap. Go with power aid. I drank coke and diet coke 24/7 for 50 years. I just had prostate cancer and there not sure what causes it. I drink only water, plain water now. I can turn back the abuse I did to my body but I may get a few more years before go to the next life. I just hope they have fishing.

I ordered one to try it. Yes it did cost more than my $1.40 Chinese bait caster reel with out the shipping. Right now those reels are between $29 to $70. Since then I purchased us reel baitcasters, quantum red code baitcasters, and some lews rods too. I've moved up a tad equipment wise. I figured out I can't take my $$ with me when I leave this earth and why leave it for someone else to spend. I'm spending some now. The lews rods are really nice too. I'm not cheap when it comes to lures that's were my money goes. I enjoy throwing lures.

Ya I know. No problem.... Bigbill

I just went with the lews SG spinning rods that are 6'6" & 7'0" for shore fishing. I also use 5'6" & 6' spinning rods too as well as bait casters in all lengths too.

These are much better than what I been using in the past.

My dealer let me try out two of his full auto guns. At his local gun club at the outdoor range. We were shooting at the 75yard berm. No people or animals were hurt in anyway during this test fire. I think I'm politically correct now from now on I will watch my wording so no one gets the wrong impression of me. Kidding.........

Does anyone use the Matt Lures? Bluegills? Swimbaits? I'm looking for a decent looking plastic bluegill swim bait any ideas?