Team9nine

Plastic crawfish have been around for a long time. You might remember as a kid, the old Snagproof ads with their plastic crawfish that you would put a split shot in the tail segment and it would run backward when retrieved. Dion molded the Guido Bug in 1977, but it didn’t really “get out” until 1981 after Guido’s first Bassmaster Invitational win. But those were both just examples of standard craw baits. Robert Hale created the “craw worm” for Hale’s Lures in the 1970s. It featured a blend of a standard crawfish body combined with a thin plastic worm extension that allowed for easy Texas rigging or threading on a jig head, the first to do so that we know of. They sold to Stanley Lures in the early 1980s, and Stanley trademarked the “craw worm” (2 separate words) in 1983. As such, I’d consider a ‘craw worm’ as a completely different class of baits (craw body combined with elongated worm segment), with Hale’s Craw Worm as the first/original lure vs. traditional soft plastic crawfish (Guido Bug, Critter craw, etc.).

The high price of success - lol… ?

Got out while the cloud cover and sprinkles were still around. Could have used more wind, and some rain to raise the water level a bit would be greatly appreciated - lol. Fish are really wanting to hang shallow in this lake due to the water primrose, but the dropping water level is making that tougher. Still had a fun afternoon catching 15 bass on a mix of swimbaits and swim jigs in just a foot or three of water.

I think they’ve fallen out of popularity enough these days that our “secret” is still safe ?

Stanley/Hale’s Craw Worm (top) or Larew Salt Craw (bottom) are probably the two most popular versions of this bait.

It was a 3 forum posts day, but I’ll save myself the trouble and wrap it up in one post here ? Record cold overnight and a light NE breeze slowed the bite down, as expected. Caught 17, mostly on Ned, but dumped the only good fish hooked (Latest catch pics thread). Bonus was a 10.5” hybrid gill on Ned, which this location has some bruisers (Other Species Latest Catch Pics Thread). And was reminded again that I’m not the only one pressuring these fish (Found lures thread).

People's mental limitations on the depth and speed control of lures and presentations is a huge hindrance to them catching more fish, IMO

Colder temps, less wind, and a few spits of sleet. I figured the bite would slow, but still found over a dozen up shallow like yesterday, and mostly pretty aggressive. Dark Sleeper continued to do most of the work again, like yesterday.

Pretty nasty out - temps dropping to the upper 40s with wind chills in the upper 30s, west wind 20+ mph gusting over 30, heavy cloud cover with light sprinkles every now and then - but the bass were chewing. Picked off 35, and the overall quality was above average for this location. It’s also the only lake I fish with water primrose, and a lot of the bass were hanging around the stuff. Here’s a few…

1982-1992, maybe a few years after. Nixon, Clunn, Brauer, Fritts - those type guys. Not sure about translating to today’s fishing, but that was near the peak of the great specialists and pattern fishermen, IMO.

The first site that came to mind that has all those old Bassmaster videos (Lynn Dollar) is still there with over 500 videos.

The break in the rain turned out to be longer than originally forecast. Should have taken the boat out. Instead, with calm conditions and cloudy skies, I hit a clear water lake and ended up with 29 bass, most from the deep weedline edge or beyond. Didn’t see anything on what appeared to be beds on the first pass around, but reworked one stretch of bank at the end of the trip and saw a few that were just starting to ease back in.

Last nice day before the rain and cooler weather arrives. Partly cloudy, high in the low 80s, and steady winds at 25 mph gusting 35-40 mph - prefrontal. Figured my best bet was returning to the “hot” bank from yesterday, hoping the higher winds would keep things moving and aggressive. Turned out to be the correct call. Picked off 37 bass mostly hiding in and around the growing small pondweed patches and weedline.

I’m pretty much an all fluoro guy on baitcasters, but in this case, I agree with the posters recommending YZH or Big Game. Keep it simple to start, and then consider changing after some experience and time on the water if you feel some aspect of your presentation or efficiency is lacking.

A fourth different body of water today. Started looking for spawners on the calm banks, Found several bass shallow on the inside weedline, but I think they were just sunning. Crazy spooky and never saw one return to where it was resting. As such, made the final turn with just two fish landed. Ended the afternoon with eighteen, so they were stacked and aggressive on just one shoreline stretch. All appeared to be smaller males, so nothing much in the way of size. Another good stretch of cold weather hits us starting Thu. night. Curious to see how this will effect the bite and the spawning process.

Checked the status of several ponds yesterday just a day after a big 2-day cold snap hit the area. One I never saw a single fish. Another had two bass that had started to stake out areas but were not locked and very skittish. The third had multiple bass hanging on beds, but still very skittish, and the biters were cautious, often grabbing the bait only by the tail to move it, and only after repeated attempts and much finessing on my part. Forecast for the end of the month (and end of this week) is for below normal temps, so things may not really heat up until next month. Managed just a handful under the given conditions. Not sure of the game-plan yet for today.

If it suits your style of fishing, and makes you happy, or your life easier, then go for it. I have about an equal number of baitcasters as I do spinning outfits, but the past half dozen years, I’ve probably caught 80% of my bass on spinning tackle. The 25 prior years, those numbers were reversed. I personally don’t see me ever completely giving up baitcasting gear (and lures/techniques), but I certainly wouldn’t stop catching fish if I did ?

Hit the shallowest lake this afternoon knowing that this cold front might have shut it down - but it’s also about the best numbers lake, so it could go either way. Two days ago, everyone was posting pics of their bad sunburns - today, they were complaining about the snow flurries ? Was happy to find a decent bite, catching bass on my first two casts, and 16 in total on a combination of swimbaits and blades. Warming and sunshine the next couple days might refire the sight fishing bite.

This is the lost “art” of jig fishing by guys like Gary Klein and Larry Nixon

“BIG ‘UN!” : The premature exclamatory remark made by an angler, often several times in quick succession, upon hooking any sized bass while in competition or with a camera man in the boat (or friend, in non competitive settings). See also: “Giant”

It’s a lonely island that I stand on ?️ You guys can make up whatever definition you want. It’s 2023 - a lost cause by now

I’m not even going down this rabbit hole…the cause is already lost ?

I can’t figure out how you ended up with what you pictured ? Are you sure you’re tying it correctly? Weaving the braid around a straight piece of leader material? That looks more like an Alberto knot but tied backwards using the leader to do the wraps around a doubled over section of braid. I sometimes use an FG with my crappie outfits, which is 3-4 lb braid to 4-6 pound leader without issues, though as @newapti5 mentioned, it does take a bit more attentiveness and technique in that light of line.

Back to the “green fish grind” today ? Continued warm, dry weather has the weeds up, the water clear, and the males continuing to move in and start setting up nesting areas. Breezy with clouds when I started, so casting the weedline was the best option. Wind died a bit later and the sun came out, and I was able to locate 7 or 8 bass staking out nests. Was able to catch 4 of them, landing 16 total. No signs of bigger females today, and much cooler and windier weather moving in tomorrow through Tuesday will probably knock back the spawning efforts for a while.

A bald eagle standing watch over the river yesterday from above its Volkswagen sized nest.