Staff Sergeant--USMC

On windy days, my first priority is to fish on wind blown banks! Bait fish are blown to these banks and the bass will follow. I was fishing this past weekend at Douglas Lake in East, TN; we had 25+ MPH winds and I fished entirely on wind blown points. Every time I went out, I caught fish using a spinnerbait! Hope this helps!

Well, as far as summer patterns go; what are some keys to fishing bass that are in the summer pattern?

Well.....I did pretty dag on good this weekend!! The first morning (Saturday) I caught 6 that morning off of topwater and my favorite Spinnerbait! Couldn't fish all day because it was a family camping trip (courtsey of me and my PONTOON) so I had to go out tooling around with my wife and her family during the day. Had to do the whole boat riding, tubing, swimming deal. I took my son out that evening and I caught 2. Only fished for about an hour and a half before I got the call that I needed to run the wifeys sister and mom to the dock! > Between gettin my evening trip cut short and battling against 25 mph winds; in a 21.7' Suntracker Fishing Barge Pontoon; with a small Motor Guide 54 lbs thrust trolling motor, I still had a blast!!!!! I got up at 0500 (5:00 am) on Sunday and planned on burning up the water, wouldn't you know it---WIND!!!!!! > I said screw it and went back to bed!!! ;D The wind had calmed down around noon, I hit the water, threw some trusty white spinnerbaits off main points that had plenty of weeds in the water and caught 5 with in a matter of an hour!!! The wind never completly calmed down, the lowest it got was to about 15 mph, but I fished on those wind blown points off the main channels and did really good, IMO! The wind picked up to about 30 MPH and cut my fishing short. I know that I've rambled on, but I just wanted to report that because of the folks here at this site who helped me out and gave me advice; I was able to formulate a stratagey, was able to make changes in my fishing plans as the conditions changed, and was able to have some pretty good sucess! So thank you to all that threw out some info and advice to this rookie!!!!!

Sooooooooo...... What you're saying is that mabey I should actually do some reading before asking sooooo many DANG questions!? :-? ;D ;D ;D

Well HOOOOAH there big SARGE!!!!! ;D Yep, there goes the neighborhood, the Marines have landed!!! I like your signature, Iraq was such a great place :, Fallujah to be exact, back in 2004! Sounds to me that an Army Of One is outnumbered by a bunch of Uncle Sams Misguided Children!!!!! Poor Soul!!!! ;D ;D ;D Great to hear from a "Brother In Arms"

Outstanding Info "SHIPMATE"!!!!! I'll be camping down past the d**n in Flat Creek and usually do fairly well fishing those points on the oposite end of the POWER HOUSE (or whatever it is). Seen the weeds in the water today and got really excited!!! Also, thank you for your service SIR; both my Dad and Uncle were in the Navy. My dad calls me a "Sea Going Bail Hop", I call him a "Squid" and it's all in good fun!! ;D My uncle was a Corpsman and was stationed with the Marines pretty much his entire time in.

Outstanding!!!! Thank you soooo much for the info!!!! Hopefully, I'll do good, if so, I'll post some pics to show yall! Again, thank you very much for the info!

Thanks Killer!!! I see that you are also a KY boy...... I'm from Harlan County, KY----back in the Mountains of South East KY!!!!! 8-)

Thanks Yall, Your show of appreciation and your help means more to me than you can ever imagine! Most all Military folks don't want nothing from anyone, except mabey a simple thank you! You guys rock!!!

Outstanding! Thanks

OUT-FREAKING-STANDING!!!!!!! Thanks gents for the info, my questions are awnsered!!!!!!!!

b HMMMM........ East TN lakes huh? As a matter of fact I'm in Knoxville and will be heading to Douglas this weekend, got any pointers for fishing Douglas this time of year?

Like to hear yalls Key Points to Locating Post Spawn Bass. I'm in need of some clarification and some good pointers, Thanks in advance!!!!

Thanks skillet, it's all "clear as mud now" ;D

That'll work thanks yall for pointing me in the right direction!

Do you Carolina rig or texas rig your plastics? Also, have you ever tried using the shaky head worm on Douglas?

Got it!!!! Thanks, Looks like the ole Staff Sergeant is gonna be stopping by the Bass Pro Shop on his way to the lake this weekend!!! ;D

Ok, I'm confused with gear ratios..... I know what they are and how to read them, my question is what gear ratios should I be using for different types of lures? Say like, if I'm gonna have a crankbait reel, what should the ratio be, what size rod should I use? Same for other baits as well, what rod and REEL gear ratio should I use for the various classifications of lures? Thanks in advance!

Ok, well I'm a novice on most lures except texas rigged plastics and spinnerbaits; BUUUTTTT I'm a complete moron when it comes to crankbaits...... I would love to be able to fish these lures but I have no clue how to tell how deep a particular crankbait will dive or even how to select the appropriate color! I would imagine that I should us a color that matches the baitfish in the area, but why would you do that when there is soooo many different and sometimes funky colors that crankbaits come in!? Anybody care to hook a lowly rookie up with some good info!? :-? ;D

Well.......here I go with showing my ignorance ;D but when you say jerk bait, are you talking about zara spooks, devil horses, etc.... :-?

I wear a $15.00 pair of Wally World Specials (WAL-MART) and they do just fine for me. I have Oakley Sunglasses, but they aren't polarized though.

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to fishing topwater; so therfore I got a question. I've heard that you should really only fish topwater baits in the early morning and late evening....is this true or is it just during the extreme heat of the summer. I've seen on here where folks are excited about fishing the post spawn w/ topwater baits....do you fish them all day during this time. I obviously know that if the bass aren't hitting topwater baits that I should switch to another bait (that's pretty much the deal w/ any bait though); I'm just in great need of some know how on fishing with top water lures. I guess the basics is what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance!

If you are refering to the Kevin Van Dam video, I purchased it from Bass Pro Shops. I got it and 2 other DVDs by Kevin Van Dam (Pitching to Heavy Hitters and also Stratagies for Changing Conditions). I got all 3 DVD's for around $10.00. If you buy each one individually the cost $10.00 each. All 3 videos are great with ALLOT of valueable info. I've learned sooooo much from each of them that it isn't even funny! Definately one of the best investments I've made! If you're not near a BPS, you should be able to order it online.

Welcome Aboard from a fellow newbie to this site. I'll sit back and let the veterans school you up! ;D