bigbill

Pound for pound it's the river fish that fight the hardest. After all there swimming 24/7 with no break. To me they hit the hardest too. They even tail walk too. On the small ponds and lakes it's the smallest for sure with there lightening fast strikes. But the bigger gals being LMB will give my lure a tour of a small pond before I can land them. It's usually a slow dragged out fight My best fights and battles has been with the larger 25" to 30" chain pickerel. It makes me want to go northern pike and Muskie fishing.

Weeds love it or hate them there not going away anytime soon till the fall. Don't let the weeds stop us from fishing. There are some unique, weird looking lures that still produce bass. I have no clue what they look like to the fish but again they work. 1. Mepps Timber Doodle You can successfully use this over and threw structure. Reel it very slow over weeds letting it fall into the weed pockets. Or just move it slow over the submerged weeds. Example, The two of us were fishing together one with live minnows and me with the tumbler doodle size 0 in silver, white split tail grub trailer. We stayed neck and neck pulling out fish together. I would drop it into the weed pockets and pull up a bass on every cast. At one point I out fished the live bait in the thick weeds. It's the flash plus the movement of the lifelike trailer. 2. Mister Twister Top Prop This is another awesome weedless lure too. I can reel it slowly just fast enough so the prop will turn and churn the water. It use my 1, 2, 3 pause presentation. Or reel, then pause and repeat. On the pause This lure goes kind of vertical but don't get nervous it's ok and topwater strike a do happen when it's paused. Just make sure you have the trailer hook on it. I can't say enough about this lure its awesome even in the early mornings and late evenings too. 3. Plastic Worms Either rigged with a very small split shot or not but you need it rigged weedless with the point of the hook a tad inside the body of the plastic worm. Using a floating worm is a plus too. You can use all the other plastics too in topwater presentations. 4. Floating Crankbaits We can use any floating crankbait in a topwater situation over submerged weeds. If it has a rattle that's a plus too. We can stop it over the deeper weed pockets and twitch it ringing the dinner bell. 5. Spinnerbaits Holding your rod tip up letting the spinner bait blade slap the topwater while reeling it very slow is the best presentation over surface weeds. Over submerged weeds you still need to go slow. The Carolina or Indiana blade will make this "pluck" or "pop" noise when it slaps the water attracting fish. Over submerged weeds we can also use smaller inline spinners and spin flys too. Just adjust your reel speed to keep it above the weeds but as close to them as you can get. This is what I do with weed fishing. So what's your favorite presentation and pattern for weed fishing? We can fish in the middle of summer with success without fighting the weeds. Post what you do too. There are more patterns I'm sure that I haven't tried yet that I'd like to hear about too. I'm always looking for learning new things too. Let's talk about weed fishing. I'm not a pro but I do take my bass fishing seriously.

Exactly my plastics come up cut in half like a knife was used. I find when the turtles are active there are no bass. The last snapper I caught was the size of the 15" tire on my jeep. He was clawing up the bottom as I reeled him in. I let him go, I moved to another spot and the same turtle hit again. Let him go. But I noticed the catfishing was on after that. They were hitting inline spinners and night crawlers too. They liked the panther Martin spin fly with the yellow blade with the black dots with a shot of scent of course. We reeled it slow close to the bottom. Catfish taste awesome gutted and slow rolled over a wood fire .

Ok what works for me is the old 1, 2, 3, pause, then repeat etc. With propbaits, poppers(rebel popr) s and spooks. The spooks will automatically walk the dog for you with the 1, 2, 3, pause action. But each one two three action must be even and exactly equal and exactly the same distance. The fish look for flaws in our presentations so they will follow like a torpedo boat making a practice run but won't strike. Try using scents and wash your hands before going fishing. Work on your presentations till you get them exactly correct. As you practice the fish will interrupt you when you got it down right. One more trick is don't cast into the fish I like to cast past them and bring the lures past them but not exactly where they might be located at this way we don't spook them. Fish gentle and stealthy don't cast hard into the water. Try early mornings and late evenings when fishing from shore too

I use a smaller 1/8oz spinner bait with a single silver blade with the larger or full size blue glimmer skirt. Then I use the mister twister 2" split double tail grub as a trailer, with a trailer hook. Then some yum shad scent and I'm good To go. I like the Colorado or Indiana blades better. Sometimes I. Go up one size in blade size for more thump. This seems to be the hot setup from shore but you need yo trim the grubs body to fit the hook on the spinner bait and put it on straight so the spinner bait doesn't spin. My stained water to slightly muddy water is the same setup except for a gold Colorado or Indiana blade With a chartreuse skirt, with a mister twister 2" split double tail grub trailer with a trailer hook. I like the larger sized blade for more thump in stained water. If you can't change the blade sometimes I borrow one from a larger spinner bait. Or just try it as is. If you can't find the 2" split double tail trailers them go with the 4" ones and trim them to fit the hook but leave the split double tail to size. Don't forget the yum shad scent. Now how you use it is very important. I try a slow reel above the sight line first. After a few casts I will slow up so it's below the sight line like in there face approach. Reel it just fast enough to keep the blade thumping. Holding the rod tip up and slow reeling the spinner bait will allow the blade to be out of the water slapping the water right and left as we reel it. This is the topwater presentation for over weeds. It's topwater action at its finest. There's something about that blade slapping that attracts fish. Even when my Joe's fly bass size blade slaps the water on the cast it calls fish. It's the cup of the blade that does this noise as it hits the water. My deepest thanks to Glenn here for advise on spinnerbaits I finally got the hang of it. People can guide you but it takes time to figure out a setup that works for your situation. Don't give up the fish will let you know when you get it right.

Over the past few years I did add the more expensive lures to my tackle box like the high roller lures just to try a few out. They did catch fish. I did notice the movement and balance was spot on. They seem to run perfect. But so does my $1 producers lure too. I mainly look for a difference in color and size when I try a different lure. I try to keep it cheap too incase I lose it someday.

It's funny how I try a new pattern and on the very first cast it lands a fish and a few more after that too. In every body of water when I first tried senko's they worked too. I used the electric blue flake mainly because the electric blue flake worms work good too. So far my success has been with the Amber flake, the red shad and the electric blue flake senko. I haven't tried the other colors yet. I'm not sure if there is a time to use them or not. I do throw them after the sun is up after 8am.I figure once its lighter out the bass go to deeper cover.

I like the senko' s from shore on a light 1/8oz Carolina rig, along with split shot rigged worms. I just let them fall or twitch them and let the ticker call the fish in. I tend to stay and dwell on what works too, but sooner or later I move on to practice another new pattern and presentation. It's fun to fool the fish all over again with something new and different. I'm hooked on crankbaits. But I try to learn new baits too. You can probably take one lure and figure out ten different presentations with it. Overall we need to learn how to master every pattern and presentation. It's funny I went trout and bass fishing on a lake were we rented boats boats in 1973. There I used this new set up called a split shot worm rig. I find it also funny that every few years it gets reinvented all over again but it's still called a split shot rig. My cousin learned about it in field & stream back then and he showed me. The plastic worm was a creme worm back then. This rig still works today everywhere I try it.

I use everything in the spring. As it gets hotter l use topwater but i start to use more plastics fished deeper. The fall is like the spring lure wise. The latest I ever fished was near thanks giving in the light snow using a yum money maker swimbait. I gave it a twitch presentation like a dying minnow. Read the articles here over and over.

I love Wal-Mart fishing equipment sales. I stock up on what I use. I been eyeing new fishing rods lately and nothing is priced between $5 to $19 anymore. I guess my next new rod I'm going to dig deep in my pocket to get it. Everything is like $30 to $100. I still say the most important thing is the reel and the line.

I went into a local mom & pop tackle shop and I look at his clearance section for marked down lures and fishing stuff. I purchased an orange spook type lure marked the producers. It's a dull orange plastic. I never thought it would ever work for just one dollar. I gave it a shot of scent and caught 4 back to back bass on it. I went back and grabbed the green one too. Even the cheap lures catch fish too. I seen a big box of the producers at Dicks Sporting Goods a few years back on clearance too. I guess we never know?

I seen some fish with mepps inline spinners at around 10pm when we were leaving one night. As we left these two guys said your not waiting till they turn on? Once the bugs stop biting I may try night fishing at 10pm. I've done the 3:30am till dawn thing. But never the whole night.

I just found the 7.1 ratio baitcasters at, www.fishandsave.com

The heavy rain is bad because it washes up the bacteria from the bottom this is when I find the bass tight lipped most of the time. A light rain and when it pauses is much better for the fish to bite. If I see deer on the move with other wild animals I know the fish are going to bite during the overcast and the light rain. Even though I can't see the moon I'll bet this has something to do with the animals moving and the fish biting. I caught from shore 19 bass from one spot fan casting the whole area with a joesfly bass size 1/4oz In firetiger apache in the low light. On the way home at another hot spot I caught three, smallies that we're 2 1/2 to 3lbers. I never seen smallies at this place too. So if we link the moon phased with a weather front it just maybe great fishing I have some new awesome small ponds to fish at but I can't post them here incase they know we're I'm fishing. I do have some that follow me. You know how others are they tell one guy then the whole area knows my spot.

I had arms like Popeye from logging for 30 years. I picked up a spinning reel that has a 6.3 ratio to burn spinnerbaits but it tires me out. I really don't enjoy fishing with it. Are the higher crankbait ratios any easier to crank?

My personal goals of 2013 are, Beat prostate cancer. If not I hope they have fishing there. To lose 120lbs. I lost 60lbs already and I'm off some meds already. To help and teach people fish with lures. Buy up all the fishing equipment I can afford. Go fishing 24/7 once I get the ok to fish again. I'm going to try to wear out my reels this year. I'm going to fish more plastics too. Get a row boat for the smaller places. Look for a new motorcycle with room for a telescopic fishing rod. My last one had room under the seat for a rod, reel, lures. Take kids fishing To change things that I can and do not sweat about the stuff I can't change. Tell my family and friends I love them.

I just came from a doctor visit and passed by one of my hotter spots to fish. Since we're hammered with rain just about everyday it could be a plus. The water levels are higher so the nasty weeds are submerged now. I'm thinking to use topwater lures, spinnerbaits, shallow cranks, swimbaits and plastic worms. I didn't have my polarized glasses with me so I'm not sure how submerged the weeds really are. But the overall situation I think I can fish it with success. Health wise I have a few days till I can fish.... Most of the time by mid summer the weeds are over grown. It takes me a few trips use larger lures with big hooks to clear a path to use lures. With all the rain were having its not killing the bugs that bite us I guess they have scuba gear? The bugs at really bad at night.

Shoot paper targets or soda cans. Let the little guys live as long as they can there on the bottom of the food chain anyway. I do preach what I talk too. I was tracking a bear in the snow and seen her cub zig sagging the sows tracks so not wanting to kill both I backed out of there. The very next year I got a bear. I saved a cub and it's mother.

I been using Excalibur silver thread copolymer line for many years. But a tighter Budget I figure it was time to switch to a cheaper copolymer line another affordable brand. My point is not all the copolymer lines are the same too I been having problems keeping my knots tight too. I think it's time to switch back to what works in the past for me I found out the hassle just isn't worth saving the $$$' . Now I'd like to try the hydrocarbon line but do I use leaders or spool it? Does it have no stretch like copolymer?

Lure colors change in the water too the blues look Brown in the water under certain conditions.

Well I tried to get away with the cheap trout fishing reels and the bass wrecked all my reels in a few months. I fish everyday for a few hours 7 days a week, till I get burned out so my fishing stuff takes a beating. I figure I'm up to at least 500 casts per trip if not more. I started testing out the 3 & 4 ball bearing spinning reels and most of them are in use today. But as I moved up into the quality reels with more ball bearings I find them needing break in time. With my bait casters I started off with a $12 Shakespeare reel. It even had adjustable brakes. It was on super clearance. My baitcasters today are $100 reels on average and were on sale too. I figure if your on a tight budget being a youngster you can start out with a decent reel that's on sale. You don't need the top shelf stuff right away. I still have my first quality reels from 1970 and today there antiques. I seen my DAM Quick spinning reels in an antique shop while on vacation. I took them off there rods And put them in my old fishing stuff box.

I hunt bears, I don't do anything it's my wits against there smarts. I use one lure at a time. If I fool the fish I win. Even getting there attention I'm ok. If it's a hookup I win. Yes I was bitten by the four blade spinnerbaits at first but they sit in my tackle box now. When winning money is on the line it changes the whole game. I fish for the fun, but a new state record fish could mean $1,000,000 is on the line I try not to think about the money.

We were all against the lures from Japan at first too. I find that emailing companies about there products doesn't work too. Companies in general. McDonald's was very arrogant towards me when I told them about offering a Angus burger in the cheddar Melt. They told me they don't listen to there customers. Well a few months later the cheddar melt is on the dollar menu. Go figure. I emailed BPS about there discontinuing the XPS Topnocker. I think they said the sales were down. I said if you don't show some who are new at topwater lures how to use it, it will fall off in sales. Again it's that big ball bearing rattle along with the Orange bottom. To this day it's the hottest topwater lure I have ever used.

I do a ritual when I get dressed for fishing and load the car with my tackle everything has to be perfect or I can't fish. I'm sorry that's me. If I forget something the trip is over. Maybe that's my confidence.

The baitmate selection of scents did work. The bass, the garlic, the crawfish, live bait and the live worm & crawler when I tried them. I'm still stuck on the baitmate original bass scent today. When that doesn't work on my shad type lures the garlic scent is my go to. Maybe one scent won't work all the time. After all we don't eat ketchup at every meal. Maybe using one flavor scent everyday 24/7 will turn off the fish if they have been caught before. I dont have all the answers if I did it wouldn't be called fishing. But don't forget the garlic scent to. I do this; I use shad, bass and live bait scents on my minnowbaits and topwater lures. I use garlic as my go to scent. I use crawfish scents on my crawfish crankbaits. I use the worm/crawler scents on my plastics. In most cases I match the scent to the lure I'm using.