bigbill

Ok all you had your fun poking me. Search, "BEARS HOOT LIKE AN OWL" Get ready for an education. Trust what I tell you it's real.

The neighborhood kids were sneaking into the reservoir at my old house. They were using a gold color lazy ike and killing the bass on it. I'm going to have to paint some up.

Lay downs sticking out of the water? Work a rubber mouse in white or gray off the wood. Like it slipped into the water. Just be ready I find the biggest bass around the cover of lay downs.

My camp is in Rochester,vt right near you.

If a bear comes near me ill find his zipper and take his fur coat.

I see the freshwater otters splashing the fawns trying to get a drink of water at the waters edge while the doe watches while I'm fishing. At first light still at dusk. I see otters all over the place and beavers too no one is trapping here. One beaver is 48" long with his tail.

They do a distinctive hoot. It's Three short hoots, a long hoot. They hoot mountain to mountain because they can't call 1-800-collect. There looking for a mate. I mimic the hoot and can call them right into my camp.

I live in long sleeve camo tee shirts because there super warm. I put on a tee shirt first then the camo long sleeve shirt, then a insulated camo shirt. Then a insulated bib and jacket. If it's that cold I wear the red one piece underwear. Make sure your lower back is protected and covered really good. My worst arthritis is in 12" of my lower back from logging during the winters.

Just be safe and aware of your surroundings. I heard a bear one night hoot. I had one near my car. There was one spotted at a nearby school. I had a bobcat 15' away from me. The bass fishing is awesome. I go anyway. I heard a bass do a body slam.wow.

I was up at 3:30am hit the shore by 4:15 start fishing. I start with top water, poppers, spooks, propbaits, then shallow cranks, then deeper cranks etc. I throw a ritual of different baits. Fishing in the dark the key to success is being stealthy, very stealthy. So quiet it's like your not there. I drive up slowly, close the door on the car slowly, walk up to my spot softly. Put my tackle box down lightly. Handle my rods with no noise. I use spinning reels only. I close the bail after a cast by hand. Any noise out of the norm spooks the big bass near the shoreline. Be very very quiet. My PB of 10# was caught 2' from shore at 5:am. Right at dusk as the sky was lighting up. I caught more bass in numbers in the evenings but the area is too crowded. So I tried the early am. I find the bass are bigger. Plus we get to watch the night turn to day. I watch the big yellow ball come up thinking about Louie Armstrong's what a wonderful world. Night fishing is awesome. I been told after the early evening bite after the place calms down the bass turn on again around 10pm. I never tried it. Now as the night becomes day I run the same baits again. But I then go deeper cranks, Carolina rig senkos. I throw jig and pork trailer on the Rocky point. I have a weedlines that runs parallel to the channel away from me. It's good for a few bass at the transition point. Each area is different just stay focused and motivated.

It's still Jerry Mckinnis in the fishing hole. I watched this fisherman for over 50 years.++++++++++++++++++ Then it's Glenn on you tube.+++++++++++++++++++ Bill Dance+++++++ Hank Parker+++++++++++++ Jimmy Houston++++ Lately I don't watch the shows much I'm on my Ipad what ever it is maybe a iPad notebook? And my kindle. My health is improving but I'm in bed. I'm ok I'll be back.

Bps xps uncle bucks topnocker #1 Spooks Mr twister top prop. Torpedoes Spinnerbaits Hold the rod at 12 o'clock. Reel just fast enough so the spinnerbaits on the surface and the blades are slapping the water left and right. I also use any floating crankbaits. Let them stay on top over submerged weeds reel them fast enough to wiggle. Then I stop them over the open weed pockets and twitch it. Try a original floating rapala. Reel it slow or twitch it. Any floating bait can produce bass in a top water situation.

Heat the old rod tip with a match lightly. Just go near it. It should release from the rod tip. Only cut back to where the rod tip is solid. Use some epoxy to install the new tip. Some new rod tips come with glue too. I keep a assortment of New rod tips on hand.

I think that the line test influences the lure action more than the rod does. With heavier line we get less side to side lure action. If it has a rattle were also cutting down the noise.

Get a replacement tip. Wal-Mart or ebay.

I store them in there original package till there used. I put the used one in a zip loc bag to be reused. I even save the broken plastics too if they can be used as a trailer. Save those little senkos halves too. They still work. I'm not cheap I'm frugal. Don't mix used plastics with new plastics.

Bait colors I'm a color freak, the bass made me this way. Before I got into bass fishing I was a few months a year a trout only guy. We started bass fishing my two sons got into it too. I lived, breathed, ate, slept, dreamed about bass fishing. I was spending $50++ on live bait. I have some new bass lures but never tried them yet. As I reeled in a night crawler it got strikes all the way in. I figured it out the bass want something moving. There telling me that by the strikes. I put on a mepps #3 anglia and started catching bass after bass. I had the mepps bass assortment so I let my son use one too. He used the #3 red white blade while I used the silver blade both are dressed. We caught bass after bass, doubles after doubles. The mepps inline spinner was a amusement ride and all the bass wanted a ride. Blade color didn't matter. I started doing research more and more looking to learn more to feed my hunger for bass fishing. I picked up a Combo-C-lector. You drop a probe in the water and it tells us what color the bass can see. The PH and water temp. Sounds silly but I need to test this out. It chose red and only red worked, another day it chose green when no other color worked, another day any color worked, another day only brown worked. This color tool worked. I tested it in the same exact spot at the same time. I read where KVD Has one in his boat for tough days. Ok I'm hungry to learn more about this color thing. I read some of Dr Loren Hill's ten year research into the bass seeing different colors. The sunlite, the hues in the water, the plankton, the water conditions can change what colors the bass can see at that time. There eyes aren't like ours they don't see all the colors all the time. But other times they do see all the colors at that moment. Water and light conditions is a factor. Clear water Smaller sized baits, natural colors fished faster. Stained water Medium sized baits, brighter colors fished slower. But the clear water baits figure into the stained water or slightly stained water conditions. It's a fine line color and size. Muddy water Larger sized baits, the brightest color fished the slowest. Having a rattle, using scents is a plus. I throw a array of different colors and different types of baits and presentations till I get action. I like buying new and different colored baits just to try them. I noticed the water conditions can change in the water column. When it's a tough bite, change colors. Firetiger could your friend. My point is as I learned more the lures started out fishing the live bait. It's matching the size, color and presentations. Now i noticed fishing in the afternoon I was throwing a joesfly 1/4oz bass size spinner in a silver blade, black tail. I was pulling out bass after bass. Now as evening approached and it became darker(low light) the bite shut down. I'm thinking I know the bass are there. I put on a joesfly in firetiger apache. The blade is a glow chartruse color. I was able to land a few more bass before it got dark. I'm hooked on this color thing it's one more thing in my arsenal. It's just another piece to the puzzle of bass fishing. On a slow day take the time to practice your baits with different presentations. Take the time to hone your skills more. Ask yourself why aren't the bass biting. They can feel the rattle, smell your scent but can't see the color is one reason why. Other reasons can be the weather or the PH.

On salted plastics, senkos, I use nothing on the first cast. If I get a strike and miss it one shot of scent on the second cast is a definite hook up. If your on a tight budget buy the cheapest scent at Wal-Mart. Just to try it.

I use a top water bait with scent first. I cast it out as far as I can throw it to get the attracting out there. I might cast a few different areas to cover the whole area. Just a little will do. Then I throw my ritual of lures all different styles and colors searching for a pattern and presentation on what the bass want. From crankbaits, minnow baits, top water poppers/spooks, inline spinners, spinnerbaits, to a Carolina rig brushogs-plastics, jig n pig, etc. Vary your presentations. It's not the scent alone that catches bass. Read every article here more than once, watch every video, watch what they do and listen to what they say too. Watch how they use the rod to work that certain bait. Using scents is one piece to the puzzle. Remember we never stop learning. Takes notes from every trip. Refresh often to keep the edge. You can be as good as you want to be just stay focused and motivated. Focus on your presentation. It has to be a perfect presentation on every cast. The bass will let you know when we get it right.

Scents work plain and simple. Fact. I fish the same spot for months. The current flows by me slowly. I spray my lures. Plus I give the water a squirt. I noticed the bass fishing picking up more and more. I stopped using scents at one spot because everyone was catching bass. My scents attracted them to the area. I was using the original baitmate bass scent. The bite is usually good. I was up to 9/10 fish per outing. I'm fishing for an hour when I'm in pain. My time fishing is limited from shore. Now one day it was very very slow I couldn't buy a bite. I switched from the original bass scent to the baitmate garlic scent. The bite was on right away. Do scents work? I'm fishing in the evening and using a crankbait. An old man asks me if that lure works? Before I could answer him I pulled in a 3lb bass. He says I guess they do work. I let the bass go, give my crank a shot of scent. He asks me if that juice works? Before I could answer him I pull in another bass. He says I guess the juice works too. He says give me a shot of juice on my spinnerbait. I did but he caught nothing. There was three other guys watching me pull in bass after bass too. The next night all three showed up with new rods/reels and tackle boxes with new lures and scents too. They all caught bass. I feel like a field salesman for fishing equipment. I like to see others catch fish too. Scents cover foul oders. Wash your tackle box and your lures. Keep everything clean from foul oders. Now I wash my hands with big orange hand soap before I go fishing. I touch nothing but my tackle. I don't pump gas when I'm going fishing. The fish can smell ppm in the water. That's really good smelling. You can't fool them with foul smelling lures? Scents work. I match the correct scent to the correct bait. It works for me? But I get dressed the same exact way every morning before I go fishing. I have my lucky that and polarized glasses. Then my skill takes over its our skill that catches fish. I been on this site since it was started some know me and others don't. I'm not going to lie to you. I love bass fishing. While I'm no pro nor claim to be I take my bass fishing as serious as a pro. Retired from an engineering r&d test lab I like to test stuff to see if it works. I use lures only. Only because they out fish live bait if we match the lure color, lure size and the style of lure to the situation. Using the correct presentation helps too. Tip, don't wear bright colored clothes when fishing. If you can see the fish they can see you.

R U going to do this again this year? I been sick the past two years but I'm ready to fish this year.

I purchased decent quality rods and reels for 50% off plus free shipping. A one or two year old new model. In my price range I saved money to buy more lures.

Besides being a class A machine tool builder I spent my last 20 years working for one of the top ten engineering groups in the country as a lead tech in the r&d test lab plus being a welder fabricator. I did it all. I was a blue collar worker in a white collar world with there benefits. I was under the world corporate headquarters payroll. Awesome 401k. I was given full control in picking out what welding machines I wanted. I purchased mostly 500amp welding machines with 100% duty cycle. This way I could run 24/7 on a rush job. I did take all the AWS (American welding society) courses that were paid by the company. They invested money in my education. I earned my keep. I purchased two 5' x 9' acorn welding tables. I did small TIG WELDING up to large structural steel weldments. I build test frames to test there new product designs. It was like running my own company. I'm retired now. I was using 1/4" to 5/16" arc welding rod. My vendor told me no one else uses this big stuff. I told him time is money. I asked him to get me 3/8" rod.

I can use any decent rod and reel to me it's all in the quality of your line, good knots, setting the drag correctly. my personal best of 10lbs was caught with Excalibur silver thread copolymer 8lb test line. I played it very carefully. My cheap south bend rod and quantum spinning reel from Wal-Mart did just fine back then.

Fishing candlewood? There's a map of it that shows where the stumps are(big bass). Jimmy Houston caught his first double digit bass there. I fish from shore in western ct. I'm going to move around more this year. Lake Zoar, and lake lillinoah plus the housatonic river will be my new haunts. Looks like ill be fishing for ice cubes on opening day? The ice is still on, we still have cold and snow falling. We're feeding the starved deer and turkeys. There here day and night.