Shad_Master

All of the above is good information, but just a word of warning -- if you have never fished for Small Mouth, get ready for some of the best action on the water. Pound for pound these suckers will make your eyes light up -- good luck and give us a report when you get back.

Not as much as fried foods or pastry : There is nothing wrong with using live bait, but the challenge is to catch 'em on artificals. Not to say that live bait is not a challenge, but figuring out the patterns and the behavior makes it more interesting for me.

Like RW said, but don't wait for the lightening. If your rods start vibrating throw them down and hide in the rod locker 'til it's safe to come out

Okay, so why am I losing so many fish on a crank bait?

On the other hand, if this pond is handy and you are catching fish, it can be a great place to practice your techniques so that when you do get to the pond/lake with bigger fish you will have more confidence and make a better impression on 'em . There is a small pond near my home that I use for just this type of experimenting and it has paid off when I fish bigger waters.

Okay, here's a follow-up on my earlier post. I know that Crank Baits, Spinners and to some extent buzz baits produce a reaction bite and I have noticed that I have a more difficult time getting the hook set in these situations. Today I had what looked like a solid 2#er hit my crank bait but threw it before I could get 'er in. I fought her for about 5-10 seconds before she got off. I have also had this problem at other times and with spinners (I know, use a trailer hook :), but I am wondering if there is something in the hookset itself that I am missing. Advice???

Decided to join in on the "what's your favorite..." bandwagon and post this question. What is your favorite technique for catching bass? I probably do more soft plastic fishing than anything else, but my most fun seems to come from having a big 'ole hawg hit a crank bait. What is your favorite: soft plastic, spinner, buzz bait, topwater, crank, c-rig...?

I would try the drop shot, it couldn't hurt

A couple of questions: Who all fishes this lake? Are there a lot of people fishing during the day? If so, they may be shut down from the pressure (pressure would be multiplied due to the small area of the lake). I, too have a small "lake" that I fish every evening that I can and I have found that on some days the bank is almost shoulder to shoulder and nobody is catching anything. Other times the fish are just about jumping on the bank to hit the lure. If the problem is pressure, you may find that a drop shot will work. This was the case on my "lake" on Memorial day when everybody and their dog (literally) was out fishing. Nobody was hitting anything and I managed to pull about 5 or 6 in on a drop shot. That sent a lot of them packing and things eventually settled back down.

Thanks for the replies. First of all, Mudpuppy, NO, I don't, but it sounds like and STD . As for the grass on the lure, I can tell you I have been testing this out and found that fish will bite if the there is a small amount of grass/moss/gorilla snot on the hooks. See my upcomming post in another section.

I anticipate the usual jokes about when it outlasts the Twinkies - but I'm talking about grass on your treble hooks. I was casting a Rat-L Trap last night and caught several nice fish and a few dinks, but I began to think about the grass that was getting hung on the trebles. A couple of times, I had a fish bump the bait w/o getting hooked and threw back into the same area right away, but each time there was grass on the hooks (gorilla snot, not coontail, et.) and I wondered if this would keep the fish from striking? What do you think?

What Raul said!!

I have a boat, but it has been in dry dock all season with mechanical problems of one sort or another. I am still able to get it out and use the trolling motor, but spend most evenings at the local pond fishing from the bank (and I have the mosquito bites to prove it). The biggest advantage to fishing from a boat is that you can cover more water and take advantage of changing conditions. I do recommend joining a club. I have been in a club for 3 years now and have fished as a non-boater most of the time. I learn a lot from the back seat and don't have to worry about fighting the wind that always seems to blow here in Nebraska. But I am looking forward to getting my boat up and running and plan to make the switch next year if it is.

Oh contrare! Fishing is like sex, the worst I ever had was wonderful! The catchin may be lousy, but that is a different topic.

Thanks, I think. I'm pretty sure it isn't the battery. I put in new connections earlier this year and even tried hooking it up to the trolling motor battery and got the same result.

I have an '88 Mercury - 45 HP that I was able to get started first time out this year, but was not running right. Took it in for a check and was told that it needed a switch box. Installed the switch box myself and now when I turn the key the motor only clicks. Just talked to a mechanic that suggested that I try "rotating the bendix by hand" just to see if this would let it try to start. Don't know what the heck he's talking about. Can anyone point me in the direction of a website or other resource that might help me understand what this is. He seemed to think that by doing this it would save me a repair cost -- pretty good recommendation considering I called him to schedule an appointment for repair.

You have to think of it like this. When we are out on the bank or in a boat and looking down in the water, the light is behind us and we see a dark world. The fish are in the water and looking up toward the "light" and can pick up the shadows more easily. Fish have more ability to pick up light than we do and will be able to "see" better than we do because the "dark" is behind them. Now darker baits will cause a more distinct outline because of the contrast, but this is not to say that black is better than, say, pumpkin in the same context, but darker is easier for the fish to see. You also have to consider that fish hone in on "food" through their lateral lines and smell as well as sight, but sight is the predominant sense that fish use to feed.

There is a lake near me that it dynomite! in the spring, but drops off quickly in the summer and into the fall. When fishing there you can see shad floating all over the surface. The general thought is that there are so many shad in the water that fish don't have to chase a bait to get fed. On the other hand, I have fished at Lake of the Ozarks in the fall for white bass. We find a windblown cove where the shad are schooled up and throw our in-line spinners into the school and retrieve them out. The school will be so packed that you can feel your bait bumping the shad in the school. Right after you stop feeling the bump, get ready. It seems like the bass keep them corralled up in the cove and knock off the ones that try to escape. Another thought is that I have caught LMB's and Spots on wacky rigged worms by jigging them in the schools of baitfish at Table Rock. Usually the bass are holding just under the schools waiting for one to drop out.

I tried that technique from In-Fisherman this weekend and it really does work . It took me a while to perform the process and the fish was out of the water for quite a while, but I was surprised at how easy the hook came out once I got it done. The fish swam off, but then came back up to the top and laid there on his side, I was afraid he was dying, but after several minutes he took off again ;D. I am now a believer in this technique and feel that it is better than cutting the line or the hook.

For me it wouldn't be the where or the what, but the who. My dream trip would be day on the lake, any lake, with one of the BASS Pro's: Rick Clunn, Denny Brauer, Gerald Swindle...

You might try using a larger hook. If you are using a 1/0 or 2/0 for instance, try using a 3/0 or 4/0. Also, gut hooking just happens and there is really no way to prevent it. Last year, I caught one of the biggest fish of my life when he hit my LF Ring Fry as soon as it hit the water, but he was gut hooked and bleeding like crazy while I was trying to get a picture if him. Leaving the hook in is 10 times better than trying to get it out in these cases. Carrying wire cutters and cutting the hook is a good practice.

I think the fish will chase these things for a long way. When this starts happening, try killing the retrieve about half-way back and let it fall for a short distance, this may produce a strike. Most likely the reason the fish are striking at the end is because you are doing something different right then that causes the reaction. I have never had this happen, but did have a small mouth jump out of the water and hit a crank bait one night as I was lifting it up. That will make your heart jump.

I had my first experience with a guide on Table Rock about 6 years ago. My family couldn't get there until late June and when we arrived, the guy at the bait store told me rather matter of factly that the bass were suspended at 30 feet. My initial reaction was how in the **** am I going to find any fish out in 30' of water. The guide picked us up and we headed out to deep water and then he stopped right in the middle of the lake. We were about 4 or 5 miles from the nearest shore. The next thing I knew, he started rigging our tackle (he supplied) and was putting the sinker below the bait (drop shot, but I didn't know it at the time). I thought this guy is nuts. The depth finder read 70' and he began letting the line out until he reached 30' and then marked the line. He was keying on schools of bait fish that he could see on his depth finder. Well, we caught a boat load of spots and large mouth that day and I was convinced that I would never fish a large body of water again on a casual basis without a guide. By the way his name is Pete Wenners and his website if hookedonbass.com, if you ever want to look him up. I have booked him on two other occasions and we have always caught fish.

Don't get too hung up on SLOW, try different presentations. Sometimes the fish want Senko's moving. They were originally intended to be a soft jerk bait, but are really versatile. I usually watch my line until I am sure the bait has hit bottom. Then I jig it a couple of times and let it fall again. If I am pretty sure there are fish in the area, then I will reel in and re-cast. If I am searching for fish, I will let it hit bottom and then crawl it for 10' to 20' as I jig it again. Earlier this year, I was reeling in a Senko and had a fish chase it down. On the next cast the same thing happened. So I started throwing it like a crank bait and hit 6 or 7 nice bass off a spawing flat. Other times, especially if the wind is up, I will fish them like a floater and the fish will come up and bust 'em. You just have to experiment.

The ramp shows can be funny as all get out. Last year, during a tournament, there were four guys (looked like high school, maybe college) trying to launch a boat. After about 5 attempts to back the trailer down, they decided that it would be easier to unhook the boat and walk it down. They managed to get it unhooked on the ramp and then tried to hold it back while it was rolling down. The trailer ended up sideways on the ramp (almost headed down bow first) before they got it stopped. somehow they finally managed to get it in the water and then tried to pull the trailer up the ramp back to the truck. This show as certainly worth the price of admission. ;D