bigbill

I actually fish a few bodies of water that are fed by the same river. Each place has a manmade dam. The larger lake is where the river comes from that feeds the other two places. There is a few more areas that are along this river too but there on private land. Ok the winter run off moves fish that are stocked into the smaller bodies of water. They stock salmon and trout in the lake and we have trout and salmon all the way down the river and into the smaller bodies of water. Now the lures I use at the smaller bodies of water are pretty much the same. The crankbaits, the topwater, the inline spinners and spinnerbaits pretty much catch fish at all of them. Now in fishing these places for two decades now I notice just like any other place the fish can be off at one spot and two minutes down the road there on? There connected by the same river. Go figure that's fishing. Do the fish learn our lures if we catch and release the same fish over and over? Do they learn my scents? Again I use one brand, one flavor of scent all the time. I'm using a bass attractant. I'm catching nothing when it usually works. One day something was wrong, I'm catching nada. Now I switch to a garlic scent I'm catching fish again. Your talking similarity between places, I'm saying one place can be different and there connected. That's why it's called fishing and not catching. But what we learn bait wise works at any different place we fish. Our knowledge that we learn goes with us.

I work it as it falls, I twitch it.Split shot worm fishing gives me time to eat. Gotta take advantages of the slow times. A couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I'm good till supper.

30" pike? Fish harder. We rode our bicycles to go fishing for many years or we fished in places we could walk too. We were happy to be fishing anywhere.

I like them wacky rigged on a eagle claw weedless hook on a 1/8oz Carolina rig with a 24" leader. But now after seeing Glenn's video on different ways to rig a senko I'm going to try his suggestions next. I been using yamamoto senkos but it's like one senko per fish sometimes. I switched to bps stick o and they last longer but all there colors aren't available. I been using gamblers ace in electric blue and been buying the mister twister comidas. I hope they last longer. The bps stick o in 7 1/4"(big ones) seem to attract the bigger bass who want a holiday dinner not a snack.

Watch eBay too you will never know what you will find there. The two kittens just knocked over one of my wife's prized lamps. After searching through 300 different lamps I found the exact same lamp. I never gave up.

You guys are awesome and your message is getting out there. Keep up the good work it's all the guys who help out here that make this forum one of the best bass fishing forums on the net. Thanks again, bigbill

Guys who do this are deadbeats. You stay calm and go with the flow. My son's live in girlfriend has a 16yo son from another boy friend where his dad wanted nothing to do with the kid. My son has a son with her too. Now the older son is accepted by my son as his own and everything is going great the kids dad wants in the picture. My son does everything with the boy. The orginal dad is asking the boy questions snooping on what's going on? They better hope I never meet this deadbeat dad. Just when things are going awesome for the older boy the orginal dad has to poke his nose in. Right now he stopped paying child support for the older boy too. I know how it feels my dad stopped paying child support for me. If we ever meet my size 11 is going you know where.

I use mainly okuma expoitor, and fin-nor spinning reels. I tried the US REEL SUPERCASTERS and found them really noisy. The gear mesh noise is really bad. There brand new too. They do cast far with ease. I just won't use them on any moving lures.

Before I really learned how to fish for bass here at every new place we used live minnows first. I used minnows to tell me what's there in the small ponds. Now I don't do that anymore. Murky water conditions sends up a flag. Brighter colored lures, larger in size, fished slower, having a rattle inside and using a bass scent is a plus. A slow steady reel, not too fast, slowest in murky, muddy waters. Now I would try, Joesfly 1/4oz bass size in firetiger apache. Mann's 1/4oz spinner bait in chartreuse with Colorado gold blades and a characterised trailer and trailer hook. Any small chartreuse spinner bait will do if the Mann's can be had. Bomber crankbait model A citrus. Adding a shot of yum shad scent is a plus. I wash my hands before going fishing on every trip. I do not handle gas after my hands are clean from all foul oders. I fish a small shallow pond like yours and the small bass are 3lbers now. It's a manmade runoff drainage pond for a mall. The small bass were only 3"/4" at first.

Boy if any fisherman is new to bass fishing or any experienced bass fisherman wants to hone there skills the videos here are for you. Me too. Watching a video is like having a teacher give us a one on one education after school. It's great learning on what bait works like this. The how too's are the best I've seen. I was weened on freshwater fishing and watching fishing tv shows but not much is shown education wise. The videos here get a two thumbs up from me. Now if your not watching the videos I hope your reading the articles here too. If you want to learn about bass fishing, if you want to become a better bass fisherman or just want to stay on top of your game you are at the right place. I have to thank Glenn and all the rest who are willing to give something back to this great sport. Thanks, God bless, bigbill

Be careful when handling hooks, sharp knives etc. We tend to get over confident.

River and stream bass fishing I use crawfish crankbaits like the smaller rebels. There easy to use and they float. I also use spin flys like panther Martin's fly,(tail), Joe's fly short striker and the bass in lines. Or mepps #3 Anglia dressed. Bass in current are always hungry.

No bass fisherman should be without a REBEL "BIG CLAW" CRAWFISH CRANKBAIT in chartreuse dives to 10' it's one of my hottest bass catching lures of all time. Make sure it's the BIG CLAW. Did you know with any floating crankbait that dives let's say 10' we can adjust our line speed to make it run shallower or let it float and use it topwater. Now most of my deeper running lures are for the boat. I mainly shore fish and my deepest depth is 9'/10'.

I'm thinking when you find a rod you like buy two or more. Just incase something happened to the first one.

It depends if you keep salted plastics with your lures in the same box? I try to keep it all seperate in different boxes and In sealed plastic bags. I leave my box open at home so it can dry out. I keep my tackle box shut in the rain. I keep my used wet lures seperate and put them out to dry at home if there really soaked I hang them up.

Oh boy here we go. I throw a ritual of baits and colors till I get action. If nothing happens on my first pass of throwing my ritual of baits I make a second pass while varying my presentations. Remember I'm fishing from shore. Here's my hottest colors. Note, all colors and sizes do work sooner or later. Bomber A, fat A, model A size 05, Baby bass orange bottom Bass orange bottom Redapplecraw best all around color red. Greencraw Browncraw Dark greencraw Citruese Chartreuse blues Chartruese Rapala f7 minnow blue or black Topwater spooks Chartreuse Orange White/bone

I still have all my very first fishing equipment. I have also collected some older stuff too along the way. I have the D.A.M. QUICK Spinning reels and the Garcia UL five star spinning rods too. These were top of the line till you got into the Fenwick rods. I like taking one out on occasion. Memories.

For decades my worming/Carolina rig setup has been an older berkley medium action 6' cherrywood rod with a viva spinning reel. It's backbone is just right and the tip is light enough to feel the slightest tap. I like the 1/8ounce Carolina rig with brushogs/senko, and the split shot rigged worm from shore. I have a new LEWS speed stick spinning rod but I haven't assembled it yet. My very first worm rod from the early 70's is a Garcia three star with a Mitchell 306 reel. I still have it today. I purchased this with a Garcia five star UL 5' spinning trout rod with a 110 D.A.M. Quick spinning reel. All this was purchased with my first income tax return. My point is for you younger guys take good care of the equipment your using today and save it when you replace it. When you get older it becomes antique and collectable. My D.A.M. Quick spinning reel was $30 Back in the early 70's that's like a $100 today. It was expensive back then. I just seen one in an antique shop for $70. Save your old equipment cherish it. When I look at my older equipment I think of the fishing trips with my brother and the memories we had together. That's priceless.

You can get a nice LEWS Spinning or casting rod on eBay. I use mainly Excalibur silver thread copolymer line. Topwater I use 12 to 14 lb test. Crankbaits 8lb to 10lb test. Carolina rig / worm rod 17lb test JIG rod 17lb test. Spinner bait 10lb / 14lb test Inline spinners 8lb / 10lb test Small plastics / spinners 6lb test.

Spinning Reels, Okuma Exiptor FIN-NOR AHAB or FIN-NOR LITE VIVA GLOBE US REEL SUPER CASTERS 180/240 Bait Casters, I don't use that much. Quantum Code Red US REEL SUPER CASTERS HIBDON/HOUSTON

Ditto scissors

Toilet paper/napkins in your glove box with a first aid kit. Bottled water in your car.

By the day, hour and even minute. There are different ways to approach each one. Did the light conditions change? Did the water conditions change? Suppose when the bite shuts down for no reason I go into my attack mode to figure out what's going on. Did the bigger bass come closer to see what the smaller bass are feeding on? Simple just up size your bait. Did the light or water conditions change? Go to larger size brighter colored baits. It's all basic once we learn it. Don't get frustrated, stop and think about your next move. We're all still learning no matter how experienced we are. Bigbill

I think a 6'6" med fast action spinning rod would be perfect. You need to not be quick on the hook set. Timing is the key. I like a second shorter 6' med spinning outfit for smaller lighter baits. Someday s I find myself too quick on the trigger too.

What works today might not work tomorrow. You ask why? What changed from the day before? Sunny or Cloudy? Warmer or Colder? The light conditions and the hues in the water can limit what colors the basses eyes can see. The ph can change and shut them right off. I usually fish everyday at the same spots. I throw a variety of different sizes, colors till I get action. I read the water conditions at the shoreline but as we go farther out and deeper the conditions can change. Again I throw all different colors. But on a slow bite remember firetiger can be your friend. Pick one that has a rattle, give it a shot of scent and cast it out. I admit I'm a color freak. Some days all colors will work. Other days one color only will work. Having a few different colors in your arsenal will do. A brown, a green, a red, firetiger, a firecraw(glo), a chartreuse, a silver, a black, a violet in crankbaits. Just start with a few shallow A bomber 05 cranks. For black or blue a rapala orginal minnow. These are examples. The biggest change I have noticed is year to year fishing the exact same places can be tough with the same lures and scents too. I was using my hottest crank from last year with a plain bass scent. I caught nothing. I changed colors and still nothing. I put on some garlic scent and I caught bass. I feel they learn our lures and the scent were using. We're like a baseball pitcher. We know the bass are there waiting for us to throw the correct bait with the correct presentation. I rotate my lures often too. I change to different styles and sizes/colors. Keep the fish guessing. One presentation I like when using a floating bait is to cast it out till the ripples disappear, pause it. Then I repeat it over and over. The bass are predators like a cat. Now with a toy the cat may jump on it right away. But it may take two or more passes to get it to strike. It's what mood there in. Fan cast the area and try different speeds and presentations till something works. Don't give up or get upset. I use the slow times to practice my presentations with each bait. I challenge myself to how many different presentations can I do with each different bait. A bass will interrupt us when we get it right. It's not luck in fishing it's skill. Bigbill