bigbill

I like alone no talking when I'm in the zone.

I show up at 4am but I had a close encounter with a bear at my car. There I was in the open road fishing off a low bridge. In the dark I stayed fishing. I kept an eye on the bushes near the car. Maybe a fisherman left some fish were we park I don't know but it was busy. I have a 400lb bear in my back yard.

That's as funny as my 13" pickerel on a 12"culprit black shad colored worm. Funny he bit the head and hook. What was he thinking?

Nice. I find that most of the smaller places are unfished. I find them when riding my motorcycles on the country roads. One spot is a 4' Deep swamp with stumps it has so far yielded dinks to 3lbers and 12" to a 29" chain pickerel. There has to be larger bass there. There are so many unfished small bodies of water.

We anchor the boat were the weeds drop off. Where u can't see them. And cast into the weeds using a split shot rig with a 12" leader and a black 6" plastic worm. Fish it very very very slow moving it around 10" at a time. Watch your line closely for movement. You need 12/14lb test. The fish grabs the worm and will bury itself in the weeds when u set the hook. When you pull it up under the ball of weeds is the bass. It's slow fishing but can be very successful.

I was going out at 4:00am. Fishing till around 9am. But the key to shore fishing when the place is quiet and calm is being stealthy and very, very quiet. Walk softly, don't step on rocks or roots sticking out of the ground. This can send vibrations into the water. It's the basses alarm system. There not dumb. I find the bass are close to the shoreline feeding on eels, frogs, baitfish. I don't use a baitcaster at this time because of the click when the spool locks in. I'm quiet as a ghost like I'm not there. I close my bail by hand. I stress about making no noise. In the dark it's topwater. Depending how deep the water is I use shallow and deeper crankbaits. Spinnerbaits, inline spinners, rapalas, then as the sunlight arrives I switch to a c rig plastics and follow the bass deeper to there daylight haunts. I fish a 9/10' droppoffs. Using a hummingbird cast out fish finder shows me the depths, holes, flats, transision points. Then I know what depth cranks I can use to stay away from the bottom or bump the bottom. Shore fishing isn't that hard. It's all about location, location. Once you find a area that has Rocky points, a sand bar, deeper areas you figure out what bait works for that area. I like a bait that has a rattle, sends out vibration plus I add a scent and choosing the right color means success. I use rattles in my plastics too. Fishing a new spot can be tough but that's were the fun is I find it's a challenge as to what bait and color matched to the correct presentation means success. Change baits and colors till you get action. Best tip ever. Say a take a spook. I walk the dog. Cast it out till the ripples disappear. I do a 1 rip, 2 rip, 3rd rip, then pause. Make every rip the same length. Make each pause equal time wise. Make the timing on this presentation slow not too fast. The bass time when to hit it. Mostly on the pause so your timing and speed is very important. I use floating cranks over submerged weeds this way too. Just go out and practice this the bass will let u know when it's right. With any presentation don't rush it, don't go too fast. Relax and make every presentation a award winning presentation. No flaws the bass look for flaws. The better we get with presentations the more fish we catch. Shore fishing = picking the correct pattern = matching it with the correct presentation = SUCCESS. It's skill that catches fish not luck. Bill

Congrats. Hope for a speedy recovery. My back pain is so bad. Spinal stenosis plus three lower discs. They won't operate. I'm on morphine now. Still in pain. I'm getting injections in the discs. Luckily I can fish with a chair nearby. Nothing is stopping me from fishing.

Slice zucchini squash into cubes. Fry in butter till tender. Drain off the water, add more butter and scrambled eggs. Add salt, n pepper season to taste. It's so good. All these green beans. Make a tomato sauce. Add four sticks of pepperoni sliced thin. Let it simmer till tender. Then lightly boil the green beans. U can cut the longer ones in half. Don't over cook the beans. Now put the beans in the sauce. Serve with garlic bread. It's so good. Tomatoes so many.... Get some pumpernickel bread, put mayo on both sides. Now slices of tomato on it. Salt to your taste. It's so good. Don't waste the fresh veggies. All the trimmings go to the deer.

If we're renting a boat here for the day it's p&j sandwiches. Or salami and cheese because the salami could be bait too. We were trout fishing once. Two boats near each other one used corn while we used Velveeta cheese. We compared our fish ours were bigger. You have to be lightening fast with cheese you get one very fast bite. I personally don't use corn. Thirty years ago we chummed with cream corn that we ran through the blender again and fished with cheese. I don't think it's legal anymore. Great camping breakfast, Fry English muffins I a pat of butter till toasted. Fry sausage patties, scrambled eggs with cheese. Put the sandwich together. It tastes so good in the fresh air.

Your amount of catch will pick up with your increase of knowledge here. A was averaging 9 minimum per outing. But more on other trips. The more baits and presentations we learn the more bass we catch. I would hammer the how too videos all winter. Before we had videos here. I would be glued to watching infisherman, Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, dime store fisherman, hank Parker, Jerry McKinnis etc. Now you guys have the ultimate one stop video learning here. I watch the videos here too now. "Refresh" Dream it, watch it then go out and live it. Bass fishing is awesome.

I been married for 41 years. We have different interests. But we do spend time together. When the bass call to me she knows I'm answering that call. Lol. When my two sons come over to visit they take me fishing. It's a bond that started when they were 6yo I took them fishing. It's in our DNA. Panfishing is one thing. But that first topwater action with old bucket mouth will get you hooked in fishing. My son's are pushing 40yo and we still fish together often. Try a panfishing tournament with your buddies or family. It's a blast. Who catches the most fish wins. We are near each other. When one misses a bite the other one casts in the same spot and catches the fish. Bobbers are flying everywhere. I never laughed so hard in my life. Try it. Take a kid fishing.

Nothing wrong with the old school stuff it still works. I use more older stuff than new. Twilight it's the sky starting to light u p. It's my favorite time to fish before the rooster crows.

Mainly alone @ 4am.

Looks like Mike is giving us the business with these sales, sounds great Mike I'll stop by too. Don't pass up supporting a sponcer. Plus Mike has some awesome quality baits. Time to stock up. I like being ahead with my supply. I can replace anything I lose on that trip. For going out the next morning that's a big plus. I get more time to sleep than running to the store. Think about it. Plan ahead. Plus Mike's quality can't be found in stores. Thanks Mike. Stop wishing and start fishing. It's skill that catches fish.

Colors in low light, cloudy, twilight conditions before dark as the light go away I use chartruese colors. From sunny to early evening conditions again when the bite shuts down go chartruese. There eyes are adjusting to the change in light conditions. The basses eyes change faster than the bait fishes eyes to the change in the light conditions. This causes the early evening frenzy. As it goes from twilight to almost dark as a kid I put on a 6" uncle Josh white pork strip on a hook. I casted it out and seen it being pulled in every direction. This told me that white colors may work too. My point is break the rules, breakout of the norm, try different colors. One color may catch a few while another color could load the boat. Don't miss out on learning something new. Test the bass they just might teach us.

Most people I see shore fishing are looking for a meal. They could get food stamps??? How do they eat a 2" long sunfish?

I think they go fishing once catch nothing and give up. I was a trout fisherman all my life. Bass fishing trips were limited. When my son broke his leg on the dirt bike everyone took him fishing lounge chair and all. We got hooked on bass fishing. The rest is history. At $50++ for live bait per week I started trying lures more using two rod setups. Soon the lure rod out fished the live bait rod. The bass wanted something that looks alive and moving. My live bait money went towards buying lures. I bought anything and everything just to see if it worked. I believe most try fishing but when they catch nothing they give up. Just get a dozen night crawlers a bobber a #8 hook a affordable rod setup at a tag or garage sale and try fishing. Even panfishing will get u hooked.

candlewood lake Lake zoar Lake quasapaug Lake linnaola Housatonic river. Above the Cornwall covered bridge. You go over the covered bridge from rt7 there's a left turn near the railroad tracks. This will follow the river and turn into a dirt road. There's bass fishing and great northern pike in that area too. Candlewood fish the stumps. It's on the map. Jimmy Houston caught his first double digit bass there. He has family on the lake and fishes here once a year. My PB #10lbs was caught in a small body of water with a man made dam in western ct.

Joesfly 1/4oz bass spinfly size in firetiger apache. It's a blend of chartruese glo colors.

Welcome to one of the best bass educational forums on the internet. This is the place to talk bass fishing. Plus there are articles and videos on every bait for bass fishing. Seasonal tips for bass fishing. Plus we have a awesome group of gals and guys who are willing to share there knowledge too. Get your favorite soda and sit, relax and look over this forum.

It's time to learn them about maintenance anyway.

In my subaru I fold the back seat down and put them in from the trunk on an angle.

For me personally each lure can require a different line test to keep the action and the motion of the lure at its best. Plus heavier line test can affect the lures running depth. My topwater setup, jig setup and Carolina rig setup require the strongest test line.

Here's a few senkos hot colors I talk about that are harder to find. Yamamoto senkos red red flake #009 Bass pro shops stik o worm. Amber red flake. Gambler ACE Electric Blue (I see these)

Bomber FAT A size 05 shallow. Discontinued Bomber model A size 05 shallow Bomber shallow A Norman Thin N Norman Fat Boy With any floating crankbaits by adjusting your speed it can run shallower. Any floating hard bait can be used topwater by getting jiggy with it over submerged weeds over the open pockets. The bomber shallow A has a round bill