Team9nine

Passing storms here today - rain, wind and heavy clouds interrupted by calm and a hot sun. The airport reported nearly 3/4 of an inch of rain this afternoon, but we escaped with somewhat less than that. That’s now 2” of rain in the past 3 days, and today was the first day the ponds showed a noticeable increase in volume, though still low. I started out with wacky on a spot that had cleared quite a bit with all this extra rainfall, and was able to land 8 before a round of storms drove me off. A couple hours later, I was back at another location and throwing a swimbait, initially under some cloud cover, but that eventually went away. Still, I was able to add another 16 bass to the day’s tally bringing my total to 24.

Went out midday under a good breeze but clearing skies. High temp was just 85, but dewpoint of 70 made it somewhat miserable. Only managed two on a swimbait - probably in part because I’ve been pressuring them a bit much with it lately. After dinner, the breeze was gone, but the clouds rolled in as the next storm front approached. Headed back to yesterday's location and threw wacky worm again, and was able to pick up 15 more fish and salvage the day. This fish is from the first trip (sunny skies and sun hat). …And here’s a few from the evening trip.

Showed up at a micro lake this afternoon only to get sent back to the truck 10 minutes later - lol. A very thin line of storms passing through. The water was much more stained than I expected, so I ran home and grabbed a murky water outfit while the rain passed. Back at the lake, I decided to stick with the finesse gear I originally brought to begin with based on catching 2 small bass in that first 10 minutes. Was probably the right call as I proceeded to catch 20 more fish on 2 full passes, all on wacky worms. Best on the day was this 4-1/2 pound class fish, but the others were pretty spunky 14”-16” for the most part. Lots of rain in the forecast over the next few days, actually storming again as I write this, but hoping for an opening or two to get out again.

Interesting day - Got a quick trip in before a massive frontal line moved into the area. The trip started sunny and hot, with temps rising to 86 degrees and light breeze…then the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, and things started looking bad. Then the wall cloud moved in, the downdraft winds kicked in with top gusts to 70 mph, and I got my butt out of there, just getting to the truck seconds before the wall of rain could be seen just down the street approaching fast. That first trip resulted in 13 bass on swimbaits. The storm blew through; the rain lasted for 5 hours, and temps dropped to 68 degrees. After it cleared, I threw on a jacket, grabbed the swimbait rod again and hit another spot - lol. Picked up 7 this time bringing my total to 20 on the day. Temps rise back to the low 90s tomorrow with a 40% chance of storms, then a bunch of rain in the forecast starting tomorrow night through Monday, so trips might be limited for a while.

I would say its more likely they are within 2-3 feet of the bottom based on my catches and techniques, especially if there is something to relate to.

My first answer would be ‘No,’ I don’t think they do. Technically, if they swam off the flat or over the breakline, they would be holding at about the same depth, so the suspension would be in relation to that feature, but how far out and over anything specific is likely just random occurrence. In smaller waters that don’t have the depth of quarries and pits, its likely they go to or near the bottom which makes them a bit easier to target, but overall, studies show bass don’t make big depth changes on a daily basis.

It’s generally a bad idea to stock crappies in these smaller bodies of water as they tend to overpopulate really easily, then stunt out. I rarely find a pond where that has happened, but surprisingly, it seems like every pond always has a random crappie or two in it. One I’ve been hitting this past week, I hadn’t run into a crappie in over 5 years of fishing it…then this week, I suddenly catch 2 big ones (~15”) out of nowhere, both on swimbaits. Might be time to bring out the crappie gear for a trip or two and see if I’m overlooking a population of big fish.

In these smaller bodies of water, it literally only takes a bass a matter of seconds to swim into or out of a feeding area. Timing can be everything in regards to getting a shot at a bigger fish. My guess is that the big bass simply moved out into open water and suspended. Why? Anybody's guess…I don’t try and understand the whys near as much as simply understanding the fact they do. As for targeting them (suspended bass), short of having a boat and Livescope, I’d either throw big topwaters/glides/swimbaits that might get their attention in the clear water, or something slow sinking like a Senko, or wacky worm that might drop slowly enough in front of them to trigger a bite - or just focus on the shallower flats and breaklines and just hope the timing falls into place. The night bite is historically a great big bass window of time in quarry lakes.

A baker’s dozen today tossing a slightly larger and heavier swimbait today at a couple more stained ponds. Lots of Chara at these two locations, which came up in recent threads. You’ll notice it in both pictures. About the only thing that has survived treatment in these ponds other than the water primrose.

Been using the Diamond Back Worm (4”) from Cash Custom Lures for drop-shotting for over a decade now. Definitely my favorite - incredible color selection.

Inverse correlation - “Warm air is less dense and has a lower pressure associated with it. As the sun heats the ground, the air near the ground warms. Remember, heat is less dense than cold air so the warm air will rise. This rising motion creates a natural vacuum lowering the air pressure at the Earth's surface.” The above copy/pasted from one of many such explanations on the web. The hotter the temperature, the more noticeable the disparity, which is probably why you’re picking up on it now.

This ^^

The short answer these days is you simply can’t batch all lines together as “mono” and “fluoro” and make blanket statements. Fluoro technology has improved enough these days that it is very easy to find fluoro that has better knot strength and better abrasion resistance than many “monos”, and the reverse is also true. You also have to make sure when comparing line types that you are looking at “wet” test results, as fluoro absorbs very little if any moisture (depending on purity/formulation), and therefore many of its properties change very little between wet and dry states. Meanwhile, most all nylon lines absorb quite a bit of moisture, relatively speaking. After doing so, tensile strength weakens considerably, as does abrasion resistance, while elasticity increases a bunch.

The weather forecast actually called for “smoky skies” today, which is exactly what we had for most of the day. Sitting well off the back side of a low pressure system in between fronts, so temps were much cooler today (high 75) with a NW breeze at about 10-12 mph. We’re also in a moderate drought, about 6.5” behind normal precip amounts for this time of year. You’ll notice the low water in one of the pics, which all the micro lakes are suffering from at the moment. Anyway, had intentionally let the “numbers” lake rest over the weekend. These small bodies of water can only take a couple days of repeated pressure unless you constantly change presentations. Went with the spinning rod and a Dark Sleeper given the conditions, and ended the afternoon with 35 bass. The pictures are pretty representative of the size fish roaming around in this location. Water is clear, treated, and the grass is growing, so the habitat is shrinking in this particular spot.

Crazy winds out there today. Sustained at 25-30 with gusts as high as 40. Managed 18 bites on a rather slow day of fishing, mostly on swim jig. Good news - I got a 4 pound fish. Bad news - I dumped an even larger one when conditions forced me to set to my weak side…it was pretty pathetic in hindsight - lol. Had her stuck long enough for her to come up and wallow. Had no idea it was that big until she did, then the hook went flying. Today’s lesson - pay better attention, especially to your hookset positioning. You win some; you lose some

Pretty much. On our rivers, the fish (quality fish included) seem to react positively to a combination of rising water combined with increasing stain. How fast that combination happens depends on which river (and how big), but also on how heavy the rainfall. Wait too long though, and everything gets blown out and you miss the key bite window. Not enough rain, and things just never ‘get right’ for a shot at an epic bite. On small rivers, or after a “frog strangling” downpour, it can happen really fast, to the point where you really need to be out there while the last raindrops are still falling. But other times, with just a good steady hours long rainfall, or patchy ‘on and off’ showers all day, it might take half a day, or even a day or two, for the river to rise enough and the stained water to make its way through the system. In that regard, ‘where’ the rain falls can also directly affect all this. Either way, the storm system is often long gone when the bite finally peaks. Just have to test individual waters and closely track the variables until you get it all dialed in.

Honestly, most days I don’t think the trailer matters much. It provides bulk, color, action and profile, but they seem to either be in the mood for a swim jig or they aren’t. @A-Jay has covered the basic shapes and profiles I use, but many days I do just as good on one not shown, a standard pork chunk (Zoom Salty Chunk). I have no doubt your craw style baits will work just fine, too. I pretty much just base trailer length on how well the whole package looks to me. On minimal action trailers like craws or chunks, longer can often be better if you’re looking to maximize action. Trailers with built-in action can usually be more compact. Just my $0.02

A couple uneventful fishing days for the most part. Yesterday with highs near 90, I waited until the last hour to hit a couple lakes with topwater. And while I managed a dozen bites, nothing was worth pulling the camera out for. Today, a small line of storms passed through early this morning, before clearing out. Hot sunshine ran us up to near 90 degree highs and produced some severe storm cells. One quick pass before they moved through under growing clouds, 30 mph winds and rumbling thunder produced 7 or 8 bass on a vibrating jig. After the storms passed, skies quickly cleared, so I made another pass on the lake, this time with a swim jig, and picked off half a dozen more (pics below). More rain chances again tomorrow, so hoping for a better bite if the cloudy skies will hang around for a while.

THIS ^^

Never used YZH, but since its a fluoro hybrid, I could certainly see that. Its the mostly nylon based lines that have the inherent length of service issues, largely due to their high water absorption tendencies.

Another Zebco 202 user here, a combo with a 6' rod that was long for the time. I thought it was great coming up from a cane pole

At least a couple years or more, unless you have a bad backlash or retie a ton and the spool gets too low - much better life than mono/copolys

Wife said if they went in the washer one more time, they weren't coming back Only option was to cut them off and use them as shorts, which is actually working out well now that its summer and our highs are running in the mid 80s to low 90s.

The problem is, the giants aren’t always crushing it in the rain, and often you’re left looking like a soaking wet fool ? Your river example is a timing issue, not a weather/rain issue. Happens here all the time. I’d rather dodge and time the rain as best as possible, staying mostly dry. Nothing worse than a soaking wet boat and tackle that has to be meticulously dried properly to avoid a ton of rusted hooks or mold in every carpeted compartment.

Today’s report, Part 2: Around 8 o’clock this evening we had good cloud cover back, still no wind, but the start of cooling temps. Got an idea in my head, so grabbed a rod and set it up for fishing a topwater, a Splash-It in particular. Been a while since I’ve thrown a popper, but was reminded how much fun they are tonight. The trip ended when I lost the bait to a snapping turtle about one hour in, but not before landing 10 chunky bass, topped by a 4.5 pounder. Luckily, I’ve got a couple more duplicate baits hanging new in their package on the garage wall, so I’ll be pulling them out soon to check out that bite at a couple more spots with any luck, before the storms and rain arrive later this weekend.