Flippin & Pitchin

Thanks for the offer BC. As the trip nears closer, I'll definantly be in touch.

Pflueger President hands down.

Me and a fishing buddy are making our first out of state trip this spring, and meeting up with his brother in law for a few days of bass fishing. Our choice was Lake Fork, and were planning on being there for about 4 or 5 days. Any advice on what we can expect as fas as the fishing goes? Any certain types of lures/tactics that are a must to be in the tacklebox?

Had a similiar situation on a lake not to long ago. We came up to a spot that was filled with shad, and had bass busting the surface all over. We fished for several minutes and only had caught 1 fish on a spook. We tried everything in our tackle box. Finally my friend pulled out a little Bass Assassin 2" swimbait and rigged it on a small jighead. For some reason with a very slow retrieve the bass demolished them that morning. Next day we went back there expecting more of the same. The shad didn't seem to be in there as thick, and the bass would hardly touch the swimbait. Instead a swimming senko was the ticket.

I did give it a few casts this week, but wasn't able to hook into a fish. Not done trying it, just my partner was catching bass on senkos so I made the switched back. I gave him a pack of space monkeys to try out, and he did pick up a few fish and one good 3 pounder on them. However, stashed in the back of my soft plastics box, was a new pack of RT Shads. Tried them last year, with only a few fish. Decided to throw them out yesterday morning and was nailing bass on them by buzzing it over weeds in a few feet of water. Definantly going to be keeping this bait up towards the top of the box.

Other than a frog, the zara puppy is what I have the most luck with.

I'm headed out of town this weekend for a little fishing. I had picked up a few different plastics, one of which was the Rage Tail Eeliminator. Seems to me that this thing would be dynamite on a C-Rig, or maybe even swimming it right on or below the surface. How do you guys rig these, and how fast do you fish 'em. Also picked up another pack of Space Monkeys. Played with them a little last year, but I'm going to give them another chance.

The main problem I have had is there are not many boats out there with a 25 hp on them in the range I am looking at. Most have a bigger motor. This would not be a problem but several lakes here are a 25 hp max. I am in no hurry and have until late fall before I will really want to be pulling the trigger if I can't find a good deal by then.

I just recently sold my jon boat and I am now looking to swing my profit towards a used alum. bass boat. My friend has a 17 ft. Lowe for sale that is perfect, but he has it priced to high for what I feel it's worth. All I need is at least 16 ft of boat and a 25 horse motor with power trim, along with all the other things that make a bass boat a bass boat. So here's my price range...anything from about $4000-$5000. What have some of you found with or close to with this kind of cash?

ALWAYS...ALWAYS...ALWAYS...ask to be on a piece of property before stepping foot on it. As a landowner let me say first hand there is nothing more frustrating than having a trespasser on your land. I have a few local farm ponds that I am allowed to fish and every spring I give the landowners a call just to make sure that it is still okay to fish there. And if you are allowed to treat the place with respect. Don't leave any trash around. One of the ponds I fish is an absolute honeyhole. I have fished some of the lakes around this area and none of them have ever came close to this little pond. Over the last 4 years between me and 2 friends we have pulled 8 fish over 7 pounds and 2 of those were over 9 and some change. Just finding out if it is public or private land and going up to ask for permission could save you alot of trouble down the road. The worse that could happen is they say no.

I started frog fishing with the 65. I had pretty good luck with it and then I tried out the popper. First time out with it in leopard color I completely killed fish for 2 hours. It is still now my #1 frog and the only time I tie the orginal on is when I am in the really nasty stuff. Also between me and my friend we have had 5 bass over 5 lbs. this past 2 weeks on just the popper alone.

Another question: I notice some of the blades are different colors. Any that you prefer or is just kind of a personal choice?

Fishing 'em slow is one thing I have not been able to do with my tiny strike king. I will have to check me some cavitrons out.

The last few afternoons that I have been out I have thrown a buzzbait out when the sun goes down. The one I have been using is a small Strike King (not sure of the exact model). What are some of the ones you guys use?

For the most part I have always used mono line for my topwater lures usually in 14 lbs. test. When it comes to the rest of my reels, they are usually lined with 12-14# fluro for cranks, spinnerbaits, and all my pitching and flipping. I am curious though, what is the unwritten rule of using which line in each condition. I've never really learned much about lines before, and have so far had decent luck with doing what I described above.

Yea I knew the girth is going to change the weight either up or down, but these fish seemed to be the same as any bass I have pulled out of the larger lakes in this area for this time of year. And to think that yesterday I was getting worried that a big bass may not be pulled out of the pond this year.

I have fallen in love with frog fishing this year. For me after the frog hits the water I will let it sit there for a few seconds. I have had many fish hit the lure without it even moving. If after 3-4 seconds no hit then I just start giving it some slight twitches back towards me and stopping it every so often depending on when I think it feels right to do so. If I am fishing it through slop I usually pop it once then stop and continue to repeat until it's at my feet.

On my first cast last night I had a big blowup on my Spro popper frog. After the battle I hauled in a very nice bass. After a quick picture I went to grab my scale....and it was gone. I did have a tape measure however and the fish hit 22.5 inches. About an hour later I hauled in yet another big bass. Again I put it to the tape and another 22.5 inches. Tonight me and my friend loaded some kayaks into the pond and I heard him let out a yell and looked over and he had a stud of a bass out of the water. Again no scale so we taped it and it was 23 inches. So about what is an approx. weight on these bass. I guessed them to be around 7 lbs. I wouldn't call them fat fish, but they were far from skinny. The last big bass I have the length of in that class was an 18 inch fish that weight 4.9 lbs.

My favorite here lately has been a 4" senko.

I have had similar experiences with the Anaconda and Lizard. I have also thrown the Shad, but not nearly enough to give a review. I have not got a bite off the lizard and have only caught some smaller fish on the 7.5in Anaconda. Maybe the reviews and advertising have caught ME instead of me catching the FISH. I don't own any space monkeys, but you know I still want to try some out and plan on buying a few packs whenever I can. Dang I hate that bait monkey.

What is the current like in the Alabama? fishinfiend-The "chocolate water" you talk about has been something we have always looked for when catfishing after heavy rains. The fresh water running out of the creeks seemed to attract baitfish and that led to cats being there. Had never thrown a lure in this situation though. Mottfia-I sure hope your fall isn't like our summers, as we have had temps in the upper 90's with an index of over 100 for about a week now >, but I am going to have to tie on one of my Spro frogs the next time I head out.

How about frog fishing on these backwaters and creeks?

I have grown up on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Although I have navigated through these waters numerous times, it has all been done catfishing. Here this past year me and a friend have tried our hand at bass fishing these heavy current muddy waters. So far our focus has been on backwaters and creeks in the areas. If we would take a positive on our outings thus far it is that we are catching fish. The negative(if you wish to look at it this way) is that they are all stripers and white bass. Now these are fun and we do not complain when we haul one of these in on the end of our lines, they are not our target. So you river fishing experts, if you would, please share some helpful tactics that are to be put into play when fishing rivers.

I have recently and began using the Spro Bronzeye Frogs and can't say enough good things about them. I start with a Bronzeye Popper and then if that doesnt produce I try the Jr. If neither of these can make a constant bite then I will try a buzz frog of some sort. I can get alot of blowups on these just don't land many of the fish. I always have a soft plastic bait to throw at missed fish and seem to have pretty good luck catching them on the first or second cast.

Find yourself some weeds and throw a swimming senko along or over them and have fun. I love these. For me a Pumpkin color has always worked best.