Chris

Any depression, drop, edge next to a feeding flat, or current break should hold a fish. Sometimes you will find spots mixed it with them in the main channel around bridges. In some of the smaller rivers around me we just hop around from deep hole to deep hole catching fish on dropshot rig, tube, small crankbait, small swim bait or grub. Summer time or low water is when I really like to fish for smallmouth because it concentrates the fish.

Moving to that creek arm was a smart move. If you have moving water it is less effected.

Straight worms are easiest poured from the top. If you have a curl tail on the bait it is best to pout the tail then put the mold together then pout the body of the bait.

I heard or read somewhere that all Bass see things in a pixel type form which are tiny squares if you dont know what pixel art looks like. My question is, is this valid? Bass can identify shapes, size, and color in stained to muddy water. Because you have objects in the water that cause the water to become stained or muddy it would be hard for a bass to identify detail of a lure. In clear water bass have more of an acute since of sight. They can pick out more detail and can pinpoint objects at a greater distance. Also do Bass see the full color spectrum as we do or do they only see certain colors while others don't exist to them? Depends on how you look at it. It is hard to give a blanket statement without adding in other variables. Light penetration effects how color is seen also the color of the water and color of the cover effect what color is seen or how the color used has changed by the other colors surrounding it. I'll give you an example. If I use a junebug worm (black,grape,green flake) and I pitch it in a patch of weeds between the three colors one color will be seen the best it would be the grape. If I pitch the same worm into a brush pile a different color will be seen more so than the other colors the green flake. If I fish the same worm in low light the black will be seen the most. The amount of light and the surrounding colors masked the other colors and only one color was the most prevalent. One color was the easiest to be seen. If you fish brown colored water there is a select few colors that can be seen more so than the other colors orange would be one of them. Can bass see a bunch of colors yes but because of there environment and light penetration some colors are seen better than others under certain conditions.

It is real hard to penetrate the hook through the worm into the fish with 8lb line and medium rod on a long cast. You have enough power to impale the hook. I use a 7' MH rod for worming with 14+ mono even higher test with braid. I use a 7' rod because when I set the hook I am able to take up more slack with it. I am able to make a solid connection with the fish. Heavy line helps to battle line stretch (braid does the same thing). This means that on a long cast you still have enough power on the end of the cast to still impale the hook. Straight hooks stink for long cast worm fishing. You will be spending most of your time fixing your worm back on the hook because it slid down on the cast. Will it up your hook up ratio? I say no on a long cast but if you use a straight hook while pitching and flipping it will help tons. Something else to consider is the softness of the worm and the "Texas rig." I always use a medium to soft worm because it tends to have great action and the worm will rip and not get in the way of the hook. The larger the diameter of the worm the larger the hook you will need. What is important is the gap between the point of the hook and the shank of the hook. When a bass grabs a worm when you set the hook you are forcing the hook out of the fish's mouth which in turn makes the worm slide down on the shank of the hook. If you don't have enough gap on the hook the worm will ball up and you don't impale the hook all the way. The fish clamps down on the bait the hook slides through the bait, the bait balls up, and if the hook is not exposed or don't have enough gap you are trying to hook a fish with a blunt object or with not enough hook to keep the fish hooked. I want my hook to either tear out of the worm or still have enough gap to still stick the fish. The "Texas Rig" can hurt you too if not done correctly. (sound strange)? If I am using a large diameter worm or a worm that is not soft enough and I rig the bait center with the hook not exposed sometimes the hook will roll back into the bait or will not penetrate the worm at all on a long cast. "Texas exposed" takes less pressure to pop the hook out of the bait. It is still weedless bit you only have the tip of the hook imbedded in the worm.

You shallow stained side I would fish tight to cover either flipping a jig or bouncing a crankbait or spinnerbait off of any cover I could find. You clear water deep side I would fish it one of two ways. Either with a crankbait fishing it parallel to the bank trying to locate a zone that they are hanging at or pulling off into the deeper water and taking a football jig and walk it down the bluff. You can do the same thing with a jighead worm. Tubes work well also or a swim bait.

frog, flipping tube w/ rattle, buzzbait, paddletail worm, jig, spinnerbait all dark colors,

Color, scent, size, location, first to hit the spot, all play a part. MOOD played the biggest part. If the guy in the front is throwing a 10" worm and if you throw something different in size or shape you will pick up the fish that rejected his 10" worm. First crack at a spot will most of the time pick off the largest fish in a spot. That is not to say that there might be a twin living there also that rejected his worm and might bite yours because it wants something smaller because of it's mood.

I use a jr. scum frog with a trailer and it helps.

How many secrets do fisherman keep? Well, after 2,000 + posts not many. It is like this if I put on a seminar about a lure or tactic for a large group of people you might only retain 10% of what I said. The information is there and complete it is up to you to pick up on it or retain it and use the information in a working environment. What most people do is pick the information apart and forget the rest. A lot of the guys in the top tear retained the most information and was able to pick up on what was said and understood how to apply it to there fishing. You hear a lot of guys say that time on the water is the best teacher. This is very true but what you didn't pick up on was that it takes time on the water and catching a lot of bass to know what a weed feels like or a strike or log. It takes years of fishing to pick up on the light bites. It takes hours upon hours of observing the conditions and fish to figure out what the bass should be doing and what it will take to make them bite. It is the time on the water and the countless bass that you catch in the processes that conditions you to become a better fishermen. This is what makes you become more in tuned to your lures and how to place the lure where you need to in order to draw a bite. This is the biggest secret that fishermen keep.

Sometimes what you are seeing is the baitfish being pushed to the surface. Bass will sometimes crash the bait under the surface and the shad don't have anywhere else to go but up.

If your getting a lot of pick ups and the fish are just dropping the worm scale down. When you switch to a smaller worm or just cut down the worm you are using when they grab the tail they can't help but engulf the whole bait. Panfish will sometimes grab the tail of the worm and run with it and your left thinking it was a bass. You can also try switching to a tube.

I have a few lakes that I fish that have heavy traffic. If you can tuck back out of the traffic you might be able to pick up a few fish. What I found that works for me is to slow way down and dead stick the bait some. In the heavy traffic areas you need to figure out what zone the bass are hanging at. With all the traffic and waves and such bass tend to suspend you might have a 3ft zone depth that the bass might be using. Deep fish are less effected and shallow fish are most effected. Free moving cover tends to hold less bass than cover that is attached to the bottom. The shallow bass will be super tight to cover if you miss by and inch you missed it by a mile. Reaction fishing can be key (bumping the cover or using speed to force a strike). You need to fish methodically and kinda pick it apart. Your deep fish will either be suspended up looking for bait or hugging the bottom. If they are up and you don't see bait on your graph you need to find another spot because they might not be active.

When a bass grabs a jig the first tap he has it and you better set the hook the second tap is the fish spitting it out or trying to crush it. You need to be a line watcher so that you can pick up on any line movement. When I fish a jig I do not have direct contact with the jig until I hop or move it. I do this for several reasons but mainly so that the fish will not feel any tension. This also makes sure that the jig reaches the bottom and don't swing to the boat on the fall. Most of the time I either see the line move or just feel resistance when I pick up on the jig.

Power plant lakes fish a little different from normal lakes. Early this year I was fishing Newton in Illinois early Feb, late Jan with snow on the ground with water temp in the 70's. The fish where pre spawn. The good thing and something to keep in mind is that the closer you get to the discharge area the warmer the water and the closer you get to the intake the cooler the water is. This means that depending on where you are fishing in the lake depends on which stage the fish where in. Early in the season the warm water part of the lake holds tons of fish but later in the year when the warm side reaches water temps in the 90's you can't buy a bite. About mid spring through summer the cold side will hold the most active fish. This time of the year the cold side fishes like a normal lake. You are going to find most of the fish hanging around any deep structure that is close to the bank. The intake area that has the rip rap should hold fish year round. If you are fishing the channel take some time and watch it on your graph and look for places where it swings close to the bank or makes any bends. Any cover that is nearby the channel will hold a fish or two. Any points that are at a steep angle will hold more fish than long tapering points. You should have a large population schooling and chasing shad so keep a topwater lure handy if they blow up close enough to make a cast.

If the lake is normally clear and now it is muddy the bass should be tight to cover because it takes awhile for them to adjust to the muddy conditions. This isn't a bad thing because muddy water bass are easier to catch in my opinion. The main thing to key on is water displacement. You want to use lures that are larger or has a good vibration. Early in the morning I would start off with a buzzbait the switch to either a spinnerbait or crankbait later in the midmorning. Afternoon I would try flipping close to the pads or other vegetation. Most of the fish should stay relatively shallow.

What I look for is places where the deep water meets the shallow water. I try to find places that the transition close to the shore because this is the first place bass will use before they buckle down and seek out summer time locations. Some lakes many bass will stay shallow but move to a close by a drop or deep in cover. Bass love overhead cover like moss and in most lakes you can pick off fish all summer long. When you are looking for deep structure your high percentage places will always be where there is a highway to feeding areas and deep water. Most of the time a good deep structure is just an obstacle that funnels bait. Lure options really depend on depth of the water and your ability to feel the bait or the strike. I use a jigging spoon, heavy spinnerbait with small blades, crankbait, heavy jig, worm, Carolina rig, Carolina rig crankbait, dropshot, jighead worm.

violet purple is my #1 color in that kind of water. Even crankbaits I use purple back lime or chart sides.

Switch to a lighter jig with a smaller trailer and let it fall on slack line. You want to make the pitch then strip out some line and let it fall on slack line so that it falls straight. With the lighter jig with the smaller profile the bass will not spit is as fast also use a scent.

I have smacked the side walls before trying to make the crankbait look like a stunned baitfish. I have also busted a few doing it. I roll cast a lot so that I don't hit the top often.

When I do use a stop and go retrieve it is more of a hesitation than a pause. I do it because it maintains the depth without floating up I also throw in a few jerks and twitches to mix it up. In weed cover or low water wood crankbaits work well for me because I can stop the bait to float it out of the stuff. I do beef up the line to rip the bait out if needed. There is some kinds of weeds like algae (snot grass) that there is no way around it your just going to be picking weeds all day. Most weeds you can just snap the rod and they will break free. There are some lures that search or have an erratic action built in and all you need to do is reel. Wood crankbaits tend to draw more for that reason. When a bass can see the bait or more importantly when a bass can observe the baits action this is when they can determine that the lure is not acting correctly. With any lure that you use in clear water you need to fish the lure and not just cast and reel. This is so important to learn because it will separate you from a lot of fishermen. With any live fish or creature that lives in any lake not one will swim hop or crawl in a straight line or at a constant speed. Live bait acts different when they think they are on the dinner plate of a bass. Live bait runs for it's life and tries to shake the predator by changing directions and speeding up. If your lure runs through the water acting like it don't have a care in the world it does not act like something alive. Bass will run up to a bait to try to spook it and if your bait don't have fear the bass gets bored and figures that it isn't a meal. The way your bait reacts to a bass is what promotes strikes. If a bass is in an ambush position if you bring your bait into their zone and stop it then change directions or speed it up you will force that fish to eat first and think about it being a fake second. Even the old and sick still try to make a last ditch effort to get away they just don't move as fast and make short dashes with long pauses. If you can make a lure appear like it is struggling or trying to get away or act like something alive this is what will put more fish in the boat. When the bass's vision is obstructed by dirty water or heavy cover vibration and water displacement is most important. If you used a stop and go retrieve or an erratic action in muddy water the bass will have a hard time tracking the bait and making a pinpoint attack. The end result is that you will miss a lot of fish because the bass isn't hitting the bait accurately.

I would fish a frog on in the mossy areas. I would rig up a wacky rig worm or a floating worm and fish around the wood cover or fish a watermelon tube and pitch to key parts of the laydowns.

Tie on a deep running crankbait and see if you dig up some grass.

I use a steady retrieve the most in heavy stained water, muddy water, and in cover. When fish visibility is low I want the fish to find my bait by it's steady vibration. In cover a steady retrieve helps prevent my bait from hanging up and the erratic action from the bait making contact with cover puts more action in the bait same as stop and go.

You are going to find that the more you use a crankbait that there is a ton of situations where there isn't a better bait to use. There is a time and place for most lures but there is no better lure for most conditions than a crankbait if used correctly.