Chris

When I lived in the south cover mainly because it held more fish but if structure was available it always held a better fish. Up north structure is the way to go.

[moved] [link=http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1142911013/0]Fishing Tackle[/link] [move by] Chris.

you may want to try the lurecraft senko mold, I know it's a lot cheaper and you will probably recieve it two days after your order. it's a new mold, so, no I haven't tried it. It does say fully round mold which is something new for lurecraft. Heck I may try one of the molds just so when I'm pouring I can pour more sticks at a time. This mold has a pour hole on top and a small hole on the bottom. This mold is a cylinder in shape and you would need to cut the mold in half or just on one side to get the senko out of the mold. The mold is a pain to use and you will pour over 50 just to get the hang of it. Most of the time you need to heat the plastic more to prevent an air pocket. You also need to plug up the small vent hole otherwise your plastic will pour out the bottom and cause a hollow senko. You need to tilt the mold to pour and pour slow with a fine stream.

I used photo chromic line for years which is a red/orange hue. In some water you can not see the line, it does disappear (pre fluorocarbon). How does Cajun red disappear? Water filters out certain colors more quickly than others. The color red is the first color to be completely filtered. This means that once the line goes under water, it starts to become invisible to fish in as little as 3 ft of water. Why is red a good color for lures? because your dealing with a difference in the amount of red. For example you take a white piece of paper and put a small dot of red on it and next to it make a 2" square of solid red and look at it from across the room. Which are you going to see better? If you take all the colors from white to black and put it on a scale red should be the center color. Red is not considered light or dark. Red is the one color that you should use if you have some visibility in the water and you don't know what to use. If you paint a lure all red with a marker in dirty water it might appear dark in clear water it might appear red or a dull red/gray. The amount of light that can reflect off of a bait makes the color that can be seen. You also need to consider what is in the water making the water the color that it is. Like if you have an algae bloom the water might appear green and this will also alter the color that the lure will appear. This is the color factor that most people miss.

http://www.del-mart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=282 here are some better pictures

http://bassresource.com/fishing/crankbait_making.html http://bassresource.com/fishing/crankbait_making_2.html http://bassresource.com/fishing/lure_making.html

Been told people have caught bass with carolina rig and some with crank-bait Sounds like they where fishing points.

If it was me I would swim a jig 1/4 oz white with a zoom swim chunk or a twin tail grub for a trailer. I would count it down and just a steady reel back to the bank. Early in the season and late when the water gets cold I do well with it. When you get a strike wait for the second tap because the bass tend to stop the bait then they will take it all the way. If you set on the first tap your going to get frustrated. The other option is a countdown bait like a rattletrap or a countdown rapala. With heavy wind you need to use something that you can stay in contact with and when the bass are cold you are not going to feel much of a bite. A slow roll spinnerbait is another good option.

I would dropshot with a minnow imitation of some sort. Just walk it down with the current and pausing it while you shake it. This tactic mimics a river minnow perfect. After you get a bunch of line out reel it back in and walk it back again. (walking is when you lift your rod bringing the weight off the bottom and letting fall back to the bottom. Each time you do it the bait sweeps farther down the river.)

Take the right fork and watch out for the iron rebar marking the channel under the RR bridge. Flip a electric blue jig (w/ rattle)with matching trailer or a black spinnerbait and fish tight to the edge of the weeds and bank. The left bank tends to hold more fish. There was an uprooted tree on the left side that I stuck a 5 lb bass out of.

The angle of the line from the reel to the first guide and how the line tappers through the guides and how slick the guides are helps distance also. On spinning rods the size of the guides and how far up the first guide is helps also. How far the guide is from the blank allowing the coils of line to flow through the guides without slapping the blank.

Welcome to the forum!

If the fish are locked on beds they might just ride it out or stage nearby. If they are in the process of they might stage nearby or drop back to deeper water or hang out in some thick cover. The factors that would cause them to move in pre spawn is if the food source moves or a rapid change in Temp or conditions. If they where locked on beds a rapid change in conditions, or fishing pressure. They might still be in the area but not relating to the spawning flats or the beds. Sometimes they will build the bed and if conditions change they will abandon the bed until conditions are more favorable or might change to another bedding location all together. Female bass don't need to stay with the same partner and if conditions change they might find a better looking bass to hang with. I have pulled 2 different large females off the same nest before.

Let me add something else that you might not be factoring in. It takes about 10 years for a lake to produce a 10 lb bass in Florida. If conditions are right it will take less time. A bass in Florida might spawn in the 1st or second year of growth. A bass in Canada might take 2 to 3 years to reach a spawning age. It also might take 20 years or more to reach 10 lbs. The growth rate is not the same.

Also in your post your talking about salmon and trout which are a fragile species compared to bass. I know that in Florida for many years many bodies of water didn't have a stocking program that many states and the minimum size limit was 12" with I think a 10 fish creel limit. In later years they developed some slot limits and smaller creel limits to help promote larger fish. It wasn't developed for fish populations. Florida doesn't have a state wide stocking program like other states because many of the bodies of water are self sustaining. The main factor is the growth rate and great spawning grounds, food source, and cover that help with fry mortality rate. When a bass gets big in Florida it is the top predator. Just about every pond, creek, ditch and mud hole in Florida has bass and many have trophy fish.

way ahead of ya

The way it was told to me was that a bass's eyes will be locked into the postion that it was when it saw your lure is there any truth to it I have no idea.

It means they deleted their profile and it will show up as an exmember. They might need to either build a new profile or go under a new name.

Yeah if a member is banned he or she is gone, seeya, don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

Lurecraft has a small kit that cost $36.99 it also shows everything you will need. lurecraft.com Stamina has a kits also for spinnerbaits. staminainc.com Are you building from scratch?

http://staminainc.com/

another bed fishing thread

I am going to move this up because it will answer some of the post cropping up enjoy

what temps are you talking and give a general idea of what the water has to offer.

Speed reel a small wood crankbait that runs 3'. That Lucky Craft 1.5 RC works also. I have seen fish drop down before just to nab it. Don't cast to their head cast beyond them and bring them to bass. The other options listed are great answers and have worked for me also.