bigbill

I mainly buy cheap polarized sunglasses most of the time after the season is over or the pre spring sale at walmart. They work great for me and last me for many years.

I'm a firm believer that the fish learn our baits when fishing the same spots over and over. I think thats why i see slow times more often lately too unless i throw something new and different. Of course we need to pay attention to the change in the season and weather too. My point is what was a hot bait lastyear may not be as hot this year. Example; I was using a 2' blue rapala, a manns baby 1 crankbait in brown craw, a BPS topnocker color #25 and was knocking them dead the whole summer. The next year it was very slow. So i went to inline spinners like mepps, strikeking and panther martin and things picked up again. There are some lures that keep on working too no matter what like the bps topnocker and the rebel big claw crawfish lure. As you go you will learn what i'm talking about. My point is we know the fish are still there we need to readjust and fish it different so we continue to fool them with lures. Its a challange all the time when were using lures. Don't give your old lures away we do go back to them again over and over. If they worked in the past the'll work again sooner or later.

Finding afordable tackle is tough to do nowadays. A few years back I purchased a few rods and reels to stock up on them i'm sure i'll wear them out sooner or later. I have noticed how expensive this stuff has become too. I have noticed many things that i can pass on to the new guys/kids just starting out. I never paid over $20 for a fishing rod to this day. You need a decent quality reel not an expensive one just a good one. For me its the Fin-nors, Okuma and the Viva's that are priced affordable. I never price shop a fishing rod, i look for one that feels good to me and applies to the fishing i'm doing. I like my worm rod a little stiffer with a heavier line(senko's) 12lb test with a 1/8oz brass weight with a red cajun line leader.(12lb test) My topawter rod is a 6'6" med/hvy action with 12lb or 14lb test. My crankbait rod is a 6' rod med action with 8lb or 10lb test. My spinnerbait rod is a 5'6" rod with 6lb test(1/8oz spinnerbaits) I have a panfish pole that costs me only $5(southbend) I use 4 to 6 rods even fishing from shore. I'm close to the car(disabled) and sometimes switch baits so a different rod setup is needed. If your on a tight budget it pays to shop around and wait for deals. My best time to shop is in the spring before fishing season I get some great deals @ walmart too. I like to put my money into a decent reel, good quality line, lures and a cheap affordable fishing rod. My favorite rod so far is a blackbueaty 6' spinning rod. The 5'6" rods are easier on my back to cast but the 6'6" rods throw baits farther which gives you an edge when fishing from shore. I'm very frugal at times but there is a time when not to be frugal too. Really to be successful at bass fishing we only need good lures and a good quality line. At first i tried to be very cheap and use my trout setup for bass fishing. The rod held up ok but the bass tore up the reel and wore it out. I knew it was time to change my ways when i lost a 3lb bass with my lure one day. The toll of lost fish just got to me so i had to test lines for a while to find whats right for me. I found that silverthread or cabelas pro polymere lines were great because of no stretch and quicker hook sets. Its just my thoughts and experiences threw the past few years.

To go one step further try using something different with the cat. I tried a lazer pointer and it went crazy chasing the red dot. Most of the time it will go after the red dot but sometimes it will take a few "casts" or "flyby's" to get its interest. Sometimes a trying a pause will work, just a tease. The bass are no different. My point is vary our presentations, don't rush to fish, we need to be laid back when we fish and take our time, I think thats the key to success along with motivation. Its funny how similair bass and cats really are. And yes predators are a like. Now when your not fishing just put on a casting plug and play with the cat and hone your skills. Cast past the cat and bring it by it, don't go too close, tease it. I do this when a bass breaks to topwater I cast past it and away from it not to spook it and to get its attention so it will go after my lure. I like to do the samething with my crankbaits too.

Yup don't give up keep on trying.

Cats & Bass are alike. Think about it; Ever play with a cat or a kitten with a ball or string? Sometimes the cat will go after it right away and sometimes it will take 3 or 5 times to make it go after it which brings up a point sometimes it won't play at all and just walks away. Sound similair? Sometimes the bass will strike on the first cast or it may take a few casts to get a strike. Or no action at all. I think there alike in many ways with presentation too sometimes a slow presentation and sometimes a fast presentation or a pause will get action. If you have a cat try it next time you play with it and see what i'm talking about and think about the string or ball as your lure and watch the reaction. Then go fishing and do the same exact thing....

I have purchased many brands of scents to test out. I haven't got any farther than my first 3 brands that give me success. Now my point is do scents really work or not? I fish the same area with my buddies. If i use scents we all catch bass, if i use no scents our success as a group isn't that great. Example; I fishing a damm'd up river so the water is flowing by me at a slow rate. I'm more towards the middle while my buddy is at the dam fishing too. My section of land jets out more into the body of water so i'm almost 1/3rd of the way infront of him. He uses no scents and i'm using scents. So my scent is going straight to his area. I catching bass after bass no matter what lure i'm using its a godd bite and the bass are hungry. All of a sudden my buddy lands a big bass in an area that we haven't caught that many bass there. I figure my scents turned on all the fish in that area. I'm very careful on where i use scents now and how much scent i use too. If the area is crowded i use no scents at all. We have to becareful when using scents. My worry is most people here fish to eat so were losing the bass population at a good rate. With more and more people losing there jobs its only going to get even worse. Think about it the pets(dogs and cats) will be neglected while are fish catch some of the brunt too. #$@% rolls down hill for sure. Which brings up another point I pick up abandon kittens all the time and bring them home and give them a good life. I always find them in pairs(brother & sister). One pair was on the brink of death when i found them. I was on my way home from fishing when i seen a pair of eyes on a rock that jetted out towards the street. It was a little calico female kitten looking to be picked up. I got her and noticed another one in the woods but her wouldn't come to me. I had to rush home and get food to get him. The last pair of kittens were so small they fit in the palm of my hand. Why do people do this i'll never know our local dog pound doesn't kill they find everything homes sooner or later. My 3 dogs were free too that needed homes. My rottie was 70lbs when the owner deceided it was too big to handle, now she is 145lbs. he couldn't find any body that wanted her. My other two are pound dogs. I gave them a second life.

One more if i go fishing during the day which i hardley do i wash my hands with big orange. Your hands has to be scent free at least till i squirt my scents on my lures and handle them inbetween.

This post is about setting your new spinnerbaits up and making changes. I took a 1/8oz white skirt w/colorado blade spinnerbait and changed the skirt and put on a larger spoon and it was working great till a big pickerel ripped it off my line right at the shore. My point is I didn't record my changes. I know what skirt i used but i'm not sure what size blade i changed it too. Record the changes you make to your baits as you go so you have the info to use if it gets lost. BB

YES I do have them. I get dressed exactly the same way everyday, putting my shoes on in the same order, wearing my favorite hat, my same pair of polarized glasses carrying my same tackle boxes with my box of scents. I drive the same roads to get there and setup my tackle in the same order. If i do it exactly the same way i have a good day, if i get out of order i have a bad day... The most important things is getting there at the right time too, it has to be the exact time not late but early is ok. If i'm out of sync i may as well go home its that bad. I just don't feel right and i lose my motivation and the day is lost...

I started off testing scents to see if they really work. I have had people ask me if lures really work as i pull in a 3lb bass even before i could answer them. Then when i recasted out I gave the lure a shot of Baitmate bass scent. Then the same guy asked me if using scents work? Again before i could answer him i reeled in another 3lb bass. He finally said i guess all this stuff works and asked for a shot of scent on his lure. I fish the same place for hours and in the evenings I wait till they turn on as it gets towards darkness. I have thrown lures with scent for hours at this one spot. I would average 5 to 6 good sized bass an outing. Remember i'm fishing from shore. The numbers got higher closer to 9 or 10 fish a night. Then the numbers started falling off for some reason. I figured it was the people who were taking the fish home to eat so the numbers fell off very quickly. I did notice if i use scents most people around me caught fish too. So i slacked off on the amout of scent i used too. I tested Baitmate bass with great results and YUM crawfish and YUM shad with success too. I was using baitmate crawfish scent but i don't see it anymore. I did pick up some riverside crawfish scent and it works good too. I purchased a lot of different brands of scent to try but i'm still using what i started off with in the beginning because it works. I'm convinced that scents do work. I got my son some shrimp scent to use saltwater on the diamond jigs for blues on the party boat. The mate on the boat asked what he was doing with the spray. My son was catching the most fish.

I seen schools of bass fry once being eaten by small pickerel. I put on a small bass lure and picked off the pickerel. I had to help the little guys & gals out just a little. They were getting hammered.

My older brother always took me fishing when i was just 6yo. We hunted and fished always together. We also took our kids fishing and hunting too. His favorite quote was; You have to stay going and sooner or later they will turn on. We always fished from shore too. My brother was an awesome saltwater fisherman too he caught big stripers and blues too. Like anything else you just have to find that honey hole... I lost my brother about 10 years ago but there is still his cigarette smell at my camp after all these years so he is still with us. Even after i wash the place the smell is still there. We had a lot of fun fishing and hunting all these many years... As my health got worse(disabled) I started buy up all the fishing stuff on sales and clearances so i'm stocked up just incase $$ got tight. I can fish for the rest of my life now. We were always out in the spring trout fishing mainly. We caught bass but i never caught on. I was out one night about two hours before the front hit(rain). We were using livebait(worms) and while reeling it in i had a strike. I figured right away to go to lures. I put on a mepps inline and started nailing bass after bass. I thew one to my son and we had doubles after doubles. I was hooked, line and sinker on bass fishing ever since that night in the spring. Then the weeds came...I went insearch of weedless stuff and purchased everything i could find. I found out all this stuff really works when we present it correctly. Using livebait didn't last for long I was spending up to $50 a week on livebait. I started using nothing but lures and used my livebait $$ to support my lure habit. Of course if i had a lure work i purchased many of them just incase they stopped making them. My tackle storage room is more like a tackle shop now. I have rods & reels for just about every kind of fishing there is from trout fishing to Pike fishing plus the lures and fly's to go with it too. I even buy up older plastics that still work too. I tried bass fishing many years ago on a local lake here and we were using a black creme worm that was split shot rigged back in the eary 70's. This setup still works today too.

Try using a scent like YUM. I wash my hands before each trip and use scents all the time. I like the blue rapala 2" with YUM shad scent. Try it topwater, reel it slow try different presentations even with any lure. I will try every lure i have then go back over it again and take my time and try different presentations. Then i get into a practice mode and practice my presentations and a fish will usually interupt me. If its slow i practice.......

One spring day while it was still colder i must have made over 1,000 casts at my favorite spot for nothing. Then my son brings home a humminbird portable fish finder so we go right out to that same spot and the fish finder shows nothing is there over the whole place. I guess i'm fishing too early. I been told the bass are at the north end of the body of water because thats were it gets the most sun so its warmer. I'm jones'n to go fishing as we speak too. I can't wait to make a few casts. I may go out tomorrow just to wet my line and checkout my tackle.

I've pulled out 30" Pickerel out of this place already but i never seen a strike so hard like this one. I fished it from shore and one year watched a fish tearing up the lilly's for months every morning just out of reach. I watched it every day till it came within reach of my cast. This fish was like a torpedo in the water. I finally nailed it and it was a 30 pickerel. But this next fish is on the other side of the place away from that spot. On summer nights I can hear the bass breaking topwater in the dark that sound like us doing body slams. My largest bass so far there is 10lbs. I had one big bass hooked in the weeds but lost it due to its size and the amount of line i had out. I seen the strike topwater. It missed the first strike then turned and hit it again. You can't beat the topwater action and seeing it unfold. But again this one fish we never get to see its always a slacked line pulled up with no lure on it, its just ripped off so violently. My cranks are running around 4' to 6' deep in this spot.

Early mornings and late evenings with a BPS topnocker #25 the bigger one. The small places are the best....no boats is even better...but watch out who you tell about it when you find a new spot. Keep it a secret...

There are many of us who fish this spot and in one area we have all lost lures without ever seeing the fish that does it. The strikes are so violent and quick it tears my lures right off my line. I'm thinking its a large small mouth or a large pickerel thats doing it. The only thing i can change is going to a steel leader and 12lb test or higher. It happens right at day break in the same spot everytime. Now i do see otters around this time too but i'm not sure if its them because it never comes up for air. I think its a fish its too fast to be a snapping turtle too plus i never see the bubbles. What do you think?? I'm going to hunt this thing all spring while its still colder at least till the bass bite is on.

Get your self a humminbird portable fish finder. I mainly fish from shore too(disabled) and i would send my kids out when the ice was on to poke some holes and i'd us a weighted line to figure out the bottom structure, then in the spring i'd know how to fish it. I also find the drop off's and points as well as the flats. I now use the humminbird portable fish finder, the wrist watch and probe that gets casted out. I use a heavy rod with braid to cast out the prob so i can't lose it. I mainly fish in the early hours of the morning just before first light when the larger bass are right at the shore line ambushing the baitfish. You need to be very quiet and stealthy with your tacklebox and tackle. Walk softly too because they can feel the vibrations from your foot steps and don't step on any rocks on the ground they act as speakers that your there too. You can fool them with stealth. Wear dark color clothes too if you can see them they can see you. I wear my hunting camo. I make long casts and bring in my lures very slow so i don't spook them. Polarized glasses are a plus too. You don't need a boat to catch decent sized bass. Once you figure out what works were your fishing your good to go. What works were i fish is; BPS Topnocker color #25 Rapala orginal floater blue 2" Bomber fat A in red apple craw Manns baby 1 brown crawdad Bomber fat A in green craw Senko Red flake carolina rigged with a 1/8oz brass weight. Grubs chartruse color I fish smaller places that weren't fished before(some of them). I get the most action in the smaller places.

Nothing i'm too busy fishing throwing lures to stop. I eat on the way home at 7am or 8am. But i do grab a coffee and donuts on the way there the 24hr gas station one is open before there regular stores are open. For some reason i never get to finish that first coffee. When i hit the water its hammer time...

I read a local tornie guy state there are no bass bigger than 6lbs in my state of CT. Thats the average big bass, nothing bigger. Thats totally wrong. My biggest one so far is 10lbs. and i seen bigger ones too. I'm up at 3:30am everyday and fish everyday to catch any size bass it doesn't matter. I fish till around 3 months its when i get burned out, lack of sleep for some reason. I find the hawg's seem to be closer to shore in the early am ambushing the baitfish. I'm happy to catch anything but if the hawgs want to bite too thats a plus and it makes my day too. I hammer 3 to 4 small places from shore everyday and each place holds large bass. Trust me its not the 5 to 6 lbers making the babies and keeping the popluation up its the bigger gals doing the job there the unsung hero's. I think the big bass thing is overlooked in many states. Some states may have larger bass than others but i think there are double digit bass in every state. I even catch the large pickerel up to 30" what a fight they are too. I like catching any size bass but the larger ones rock. : Its funny they mocked me on a local website when i talked about 10lb bass but then they started catching them 9lbs and up go figure therte really here ain't that something. You need to stay motivated and stay going because sooner or later you will catch one too and maybe more than one. Being disabled i'd like to break the state record for large mouth bass its only 12lb14oz. But i really hope a little kid does it.

Being fairly new at bass fishing when i seen this tool offered used i jumped on it a few years back. Comming from an engineering back ground in a test lab i wanted to test it out really bad to see if it worked. I fished the same place while testing it for a week at the same times. It picked red as a color and red is the only color that worked, the next day it picked green and that was the only color that worked, another day it was brown and again it was the only color that caught fish that day when i tried all the other colors. But somedays every color would work when the bite was on too. Could it work on a tough day I really think so. It could make the difference in putting fish in the boat and $$ in your pocket if your Kevin VanDam too he uses one and has one in his boat. In time we do learn how to fish each place that we fish often. I have noticed that what works at one place doesn't work at another place thats 1 mile away for some reason. I just been wondering if the newer one with the software is just as good or better than the older one. I find that the used combo c lectors are in still new condition and hardley used. I picked up another one thats in new out of the box condition. Some guys forgot that they had one. One guy told me they used it all the time and it worked great but then they never used it anymore for some reason. I already proved it works in my testing. Now nothing can compare to time spent on the water(experience) but it can jump start your bass fishing if your new at it or it can make the difference on a tough day. I'm going to purchase the new selector soon and test it against the older one and see if its as good or better. I was just wondering if anyone had one yet. BB

I have noticed that the big gals perfer sunfish as there main diet. I mainly use lures now and the sunfish lures are my favorite along with the rebel BIG Claw Crawfish lure too. These have been my best producers fopr larger bass so far. When i use the BIG Claw I use the largest one that dives 10' and bounce it off the bottom at first then reel it slow. When is use the sunfish lures it mainly jigging with it near the surface very slow. I have also noticed that fishing in the wee hours of the morning have produced my largest fish. I think these places are pressured really heavy so its better fishing when no one is around stiring things up. You also need to be very stealthy/quiet when fishing too and don't bang your tacklebox around too be very quiet or the game is "off" you'll spook the bigger bass, there smart. Just stay motivated and stay going.... BB Fact; Here all my bigger bass were caught on lures why i'm not sure.

I have to disagree I think all the states have big bass there just not being caught. The big gals don't do the 9am to 5pm like the pro's do. Just try fishing your favorite spot in the low light, early am just before sun up near the shore. try to pick a weed line or rocky point/drop off. The bass supply isn't comming from the 4lb to 6lb bass its the bigger gals keeping the large amounts of little bass comming there 9lbs +. Recently there was a 12lber killed by a weed machine being used to churn up the weeds in a local lake. That should of been a heads up as to whats really out there size wise but most of the local fisherman here didn't give it any thought. There thought is if there not catching them there isn't larger ones out there. I really think its an ego problem. Someday i hope its a little kid that breaks the state record here. The State DEP here with the shock boat can only work in the shallow water so who knows whats out there? These big gals are very smart or they wouldn't be that big. Trust me there out there......and feeding when were sleeping. No matter were you live just fish your local spot and fish it heavy and you will see....I did and fished the same spot for 3 to 4 months everyday till i get burned out. Thats up at 3:30am everyday...its sleep...eat..& fish..eat...sleep again. I love this life... Just go out there and have fun and practice with your lures and presitations and see what happens you will be surprised.

I been trying to figure the fronts out for a while now. I have had a bass feeding frenzy happen hours before the front comes in, during the front while its raining, during the pouring rain while it lets up a tad and after the front has left. So what triggers this frenzy to happen since it can happen at anytime? During the frenzy we had doubles for 15 minutes, I caught 18 bass another time in 3 hours plus other fish too. I have also caught some large pink colored sunfish but its mainly bass after bass no matter what lure i use. It doesn't happen all the time too. My older brother before he passed away would always tell me you have to stay going and all of a sudden they just turn on. I never knew what he ment until it finally happened and the bass bug bit me. No wonder why he always fished in the rain. I just can't seem to nail it down when and how it happens. I know if the PH gets too high they shut down. I'm sure the ones who have experienced this feeding frenzy will agree but not many fisherman have seen this happen. Towards the end of the rain the PH is much higher so they shut down. The rain has stirred everything up by the time its over. The shut down of the bite can last for days after the rain too until the run off calms down and the PH drops back to normal again. Remember i'm fishing from shore and its totally different when your in a boat. I'm fishing small places were no boats are allowed. To pull out many numbers of bass in a small place is just awesome. I have even caught larger smallies too at this time were no smallies are ever caught. The large pink sunfish just kill me i never seen them before. So what can it be that causes this to happen? Is it the moon phase timed during the front? I spent one summer trying to figure this out and was soaked to the bone ever rain storm too.