Team9nine

65 degrees on the central IN reservoirs right now. Guessing you guys should be a couple degrees warmer.

My 'secret trick' is to ignore them and fish elsewhere, assuming they are truly featureless as you say. If they aren't actually featureless, then see A-Jay and Catt's posts. Regardless, I'm not wasting much time on them unless I can quickly eliminate most of the options/water, probably by trolling initially.

You're being overly dramatic An O'Shaughnessy is stronger and will hold a fish better than a round bend in most instances, and on a football head dragging on the cast, probably hook better than a round bend due to design.

Usually, stunted bass populations mean skinny (lighter than normal) bass, a sign of too many bass and not enough food. However, I've seen lakes with nearly all small bass, but fat, and that was usually from overfishing on highly pressured ponds. The larger bass were simply being kept the moment they crossed a legal threshold, or simply removed when caught leaving nothing but smaller bass. In stunted bass populations, you usually see no or few small bass. They all get eaten up. However, keep in mind that bass are not near as prolific in the spawning department as bluegill. Usually it's a period of time in the spring, then done. As such, even high bass populations typically don't create enough young ones to feed everybody for the entire year. Always hard to say what exactly is going on without having an idea of what the entire fish population is like, especially in regards to bluegill and crappie that might be in the lake. This is what I like the most about fishing ponds. Every one is different, and it's always fascinating to fish a new one for all species of fish to try and get an understanding of the biological characteristics of each lake.

"One of the most persistent myths in fishing is that barometric pressure controls the activity of bass and other gamefish. Although many researchers have tried, scientific studies have been unable to demonstrate that such a relationship exists. Every scientific report we’ve seen, in which barometric pressure was studied, reached a similar conclusion: no direct relationship is evident." -Ralph Manns For the full story, see: IF - Barometric pressure and bass Josh Alwine came to a similar conclusion in his recent book (Lunker Lore) after statistical analysis of another set of data: "What the findings indicate first and foremost is that a great many fish are caught across the full spectrum of barometric pressure...stability in weather has far greater impact on catch rates than any normal changes in weather." What is always interesting to me is that the scientific side of the argument says no effect, while it is well noted that most recognized big fish experts (and many other local experts) are convinced there is one (an effect).

The old barometer debate ? Believe the math works out to about 16" or so in extreme examples, less than half that under normal pressure changes. Let's get ready to rummmm-bleeeeee

By definition, once the thermocline is gone, there is no more stratification, which means mixing can occur throughout the entire water column. This really can vary based on temp under the thermocline at the bottom of the lake. As an example, the temps right now at the bottom of our 5 largest reservoirs, which are still all thermoclined, are: 49 deg at 100' 67 deg at 58' 65 deg at 42' 61 deg at 50' 55 deg at 55' Obviously, the lakes with bottom temps in the mid to upper 60s will be "turned over" at much higher surface temps than the ones in the upper 40s and low 50s, and likely at different times.

It should now be "turned over" and have the same characteristics. Two ways to tell. A temp probe is best to confirm, but seeing fish arches all the way down on the bottom is another. The 50 degree mark is a generalization. Different bodies of water have different temps below the thermocline. Whenever the temp is consistent throughout the entire water column, regardless of the exact temp, the lake has turned over.

A few areas in the upper Midwest have similar rules. Makes for interesting tourney strategy. Over here, as long as you immediately release a legal fish after catching, you can keep fishing. It's only if you add that fish to the well that it then counts as one of your limit. If you practice and have an idea of what it will take to be competitive, most guys release the smaller fish early on, trying for quality bites. It will come back and bite you sometimes, though. Always somewhat of a gamble, and no absolute right or wrong way.

I 2nd the Bomber Popper. Those with spinners also came with the bucktail trailer. Those without the bucktail treble/trailer had no spinner.

How deep is deep? Buck Perry stated (defined) deep water is anything greater than 8-10 ft. It works well for nearly all my Midwest waters, so that's what I go with. That said, in winter, we routinely catch all kinds of fish in 30-35' of water here since the thermocline is gone, but we rately catch bass that deep. Seems like 20-22' is about as deep as I ever need to go for largemouth around here.

Because it flat catches fish...? Only a hundred or two bass caught on this one so far...

Did the exact same thing once - watched a brand new wrapped couch go flying out of my truck bed onto the middle of the Interstate in my rear view mirror same basic damage...and I'm still alive to share the story some 15 years later - lol.

For the plastic worm fans, the original "jig worm" We don’t have an exact date of when an angler affixed one of Creme’s, Norton’s or Stembridge’s worms to a jig. But we do know that Ted Green and Gayle Marcus of Mar Lynn Lure Company of Blue Springs, Missouri, purchased Dave Hawks’ Thinga-ma-Jig in 1955. It was a horse-hoof-shaped jig that Hawks’ dressed with a pork-rind eel to catch largemouth bass at Bull Shoals Lake. In 1956, Green and Marcus added one of Norton’s plastic worms to Hawks’ jig, and they named this combo the Skworm-N-Jig. In 1960, Harold Ensley of Overland Park, Kansas, Ensley used use the Skworm-N-Jig to win the World Series of Sports Fishing. -Ned Kehde

Yep - it was equivalent (in my mind) to a 50k signing bonus, above and beyond the publicized perks that were part of the BASS payout makeover. Not certain how many were offered, but certainly more than just Adrian. I think they went after a lot of the younger guys with that offer, hoping the money would sway their decision.

That's the great thing about fishing - doesn't matter who you believe. If it works for you, then keep doing it, whatever "it" is...

I took it as he simply won't drive over the spot/area first, instead preferring to use his mapping to pull up short of the structure and just start fishing.

How many bass do you think this old scraggly stump has been home to over the years?

Per @Burrows suggestion, I'll add the 1984 Knight Spinner Bait to this thread, and keep adding here as I recently picked up a bunch of old wormin' stuff.

Here's the back of the package...it seems to suggest that the top arm hook might also act as a trailer hook when a fish tries to throw your bait and end up stuck by the second hook on the arm.

Anybody happen to remember this little gem of a bait. They were trying to solve a problem that likely wasn't as big as some anglers might have believed. How many people have you heard say they missed a bass on their spinnerbait because the fish hit the blade and not the body? This lure solved that problem. Look closely Found this one buried in a box put in the garage - still new in the package.

We could get do deep into the weeds with this one, and we have touched on it before, so I'll just say, for me: Yes, "finesse" definition/technique has evolved over the years within the angling community... But, for me, I still stick with the old school traditions and ways in regards to what "finesse" is...or isn't.

Because bibs keep you warmer by letting the warmed air circulate over your entire torso (belts/pants naturally cut that air circulation off at the waist), as well as doing a better job at keeping cold air out (like gaps at the waist when you bend over or stretch, or sit down to drive the boat)...plus, I find them more comfortable.

Didn't watch Ike Live, but BASS threw out that money option (50k) to at least a few of the Elite anglers trying to get them to stay on ?

Not a fan of the show, either...