Shad_Master

I don't know about depleting the O2, but it is a major bass attractor -- great place for throwing your scum frog

There is so much "stuff" in the water, I can't understand how bass or other fish have time or are inclined to pay much attention to it. I know they can see it, but they also see line in the water that someone broke off, weeds, moss, etc., etc., etc. In my humble opinion, too much time is spent worrying about this. I have caught small mouth bass in 3-4' of crystal clear water on 30# power pro line and watched them track down the lure and eat it. Probably the reason fish hit line where it enters the water is because of the displacement being created. If I understand the problem, it is fish can see your line and won't hit the lure -- if so, how to you explain translucent or clear cranks/top waters?

KenDammit28, my question is how do the cows keep track of who's turn it is to lie down. Cows aren't really that smart you know, they could get confused and throw the whole weather pattern off :

For those times when I'm not catching anything: It's still beats working or mowning the lawn

I have also noticed that LMB vary in actual color from lake to lake -- in one lake near here the bass have a yellow tint to them and in another they are really blue. Is this caused by what they are eating? or by the chemical make up of the water? or some other reason?

I didn't mean to imply that aren't fish in the skinny water, I was just making the observation that they do tend to pull out deeper when the water heats up. A lot of time this is due to disolved oxygen and if the weeds are dying out on the banks the water gets stale. Nights and early morning are the best times for bank fishing during the "dog days", but I will always be out looking for the brush piles on the channel breaks if I am fishing in the middle of the day.

Since you are "just starting out", I guessing that you are doing most of your fishing from the banks -- this makes it tougher this time of year, because the fish are holding out in deeper water. Actually, things should start picking up again in the next few weeks as Fall starts to make it's arrival. This will trigger the fish to start feeding more often and will pull them up to the shallows. The only "poor" fisherman, is one who has spent all his $$'s on the bait monkey

A couple of years ago I was fishing a pond that was overpopulated with bass -- the owner had asked that people help him clean some out. Standing almost shoulder to shoulder with a buddy we were both throwing spinner baits along the same grass edge. He was gitting bit on every cast with a white spinner bait, I was getting nothing on a chartruse one. Same retrieve, same angle, same size bait -- different color.

I don't have river current around here, but have to contend with the wind current frequently. One thing I do is attach a split shot or two 2-3' above the Senko -- kind of a mini C-rig and let the Senko just drift around. Works good under these conditions, not sure it will be the same in the river, but you might give it a try.

For our club events, the rule is that the non-boater has controll over the water for half or the fishing day and is supposed to be able to call the location. This doesn't always work, but it is the rule.

One thing I have done in a similar situation is try a Senko or Lake Fork Ring Fy -- fish it on top of the muck like a frog (this will sometimes draw a strike from under neath) and when you get to the edge of the hole, just let it drop (let out some line so that it falls straight). This way you get the best of both presentations and can increase your bite ratio.

Ever heard the old say: Pray for rain ! ? I just remember the old story about the country preacher addressing the congregation by saying: "Bothers and sisters, yall know we are here to pray for rain -- what I want to know is - where are your umbarellas?" Sorry, just couldn't resist.

It seems the wind never stops blowing here in NE. You just try to adapt to it if you can -- white caps on the lake are usually a sign that it ain't gonna work.

One thing that can turn fish off after a rain is if there is "too much" in flow to a small body of water. Two stories: 1) Recently fished a tournament where the fish were reported to be biting everything (1700 to 1900 acre lake, which is big by standards around here). On the way down to pre-fish we drove through thunder and lightening storm. We found all the spots and even managed to stick a few fish, but certainly did not live up to the hype. The following day, T-Day, winning fish were caught on mud flats next to steep banks with crawdad holes in them in 6" to 2' of water. None came from brush piles in 12' to 20' of water as had been predicted based on the previous week's temperatures in the 100's. 2) After a two to three year drought, this area was blessed with 5"-6" of rain over the last couple of weeks. There is a silt dam near here with an over flow pool that feeds into a main lake. After the rain stopped on Sunday, I went by there and the water was rushing through the tube. Fish were jumping out of the water and going crazy -- but would't hardly bite any kind of worm, grub, etc. My theory is that there was so much forage in this overflow that the fish didn't need to bite anything that looked even slightly different. Don't know if this helps the discussion, but just though I would add my $.02

I have heard this debated, maybe on this forum, that the net can injure the fish. But IMO there is no more harm from being in the net as opposed to flopping around on the carpet of the boat or banging off the console. When I go tournament fishing the rule is "net 'em all and sort 'em out later".

You are right, it does happen earlier in the year in different parts of the country -- up here, Mid-west, we sometimes don't have ice-out until mid to late April which means the spawn may not get started until May or June (makes for a short season) :'(. As to the issue of "spooking" the fish, I don't know that there is any real answer to this. Obviously the shallower they are the more spooked they are likely to be, but my experience is that a good trolling motor doesn't bother them as much as banging hatches or dropping tackleboxes, etc. in the boat.

This past memorial day, I had some "honey-do's" that had to be done and didn't get a chance to get over to the lake until later in the afternoon. I didn't take my boat, 'cause I figured the lake would be crowded -- to my surprise, the crowd was on the bank. It looked like a Coke commercial as bank fisher's lined the entire lake, only three empty trailers in the parking lot - but no room to fish anyway. So I left and went to another fishing spot. Later that week I did go back over and talked to some of the other bank fishers that frequent this lake. The story was that the DNR showed up about 11:00 and worked all the way around from three different starting points and were writing tickets right and left. One guy reportedly got a ticket for $1,700 for no license and a bucket full of illegal fish. This hasn't slowed the number of people that I see stringing 10" bass on a lake where the keeper limit is 21", but things were sure a lot different on the 4th of July.

The note at the bottom of the screen said that it is illegal in some states to have the hooks on both lures. The skitter-pop was to get their attention and also pose as a float. This discussion has also come up in regards to using a jig in place of the sinker for C-rigs. Not sure what the regulations are around here, but do know a few guys who use jigs on a C-rig.

One thing I think happens this time of year is that fish get caught a lot and end up with lots of holes in ther lips making it easier for the hook to pull out. Just a theory.

There will probably be guys argue with you that it was not the same fish, but I have had similar experiences where I am convinced I have caught the same fish from the same spot at the same time of day. This raises an interesting question about pre-fishing before a tournament. Conventional wisdom is the if you catch 'em the day before, you won't catch 'em on tournament day. I think this makes a lot of guys pass up productive spots and miss out on opportunities that might be there.

SimonSays, this is why I was saying I would have to think about it some more -- it seems the trick there was keeping slight tension on the line to make the fish pull back and then lowering the rod to get ready for the hookset -- now if you were using GULP! you wouldn't have to worry about them spitting it out

I was watching a video this morning before work and Scott Rook was talking about catching "big bass". When explaining about the hookset, he described feeling the bite and then raising the rod to keep tension on until the fish pulled back and then lowering the rod and putting the hammer to her. There was film of him doing this and it seemed like it took a long time, but worked. I will have to think about this one some more before trying it.

Thanks for the condolensces guys -- I have been fishing since Ole Shep was a pup and this was a first for me. BTW, it was the surgical tubing that I was using (tan stuff). I have tried using the "free swinging method" and alway had more trouble with hang-up's this way. Maybe I need to give it another try.

Fished a tournament this past weekend and managed to catch a fish on my second cast on a buzz bait (caught him on the trailer hook) -- about 6 casts later, I had one hit the buzz bait and was bringing him in when he came off. Looked at the bait and the trailer hook was gone. I had put the tubing over the eye of the trailer hook and then put it over the point of the main hook before taking off. Has anyone ever had this happen -- BTW WHAT HAPPENED!?!

huskertko, I remember reading a quote from the guy that started the aerobics craze back in the 80's -- he advocated that people who couldn't find any other time to run to go out on their lunch break -- he said, "honest sweat doesn't stink".