Chris

That bait is made of foam and should float. Are you using a snap swivel or fluorocarbon line with this bait? There is also a lead strip in the middle of the bait that you can bend the nose up which will force the bait to push to the top when you move it.

The first thing you need to do is look at how the cover is positioned. If it is a laydown or tree top look at which direction the branches are. You want the forks to point to you not away from you. Try to run your lure with the limbs. I find that with weeds and wood cover a wooden crankbait is a lot easier to get through the cover than a plastic bait. They both will work but you will have less problems with a wood bait. One trick I do sometimes it turn the line tie eye of the wooden bait and it will shoot under the dock and pop back around the pilings then shoot back under it. (If you feel like tinkering some) If your fishing standing timber a coffin bill works great for a reaction strike because the lip will glance off of the standing timber and shoot away from the trunk. This looks like a baitfish trying to get away. In most cases I use a square bill or a round bill bait for laydowns and rock banks. A square bill has a kick out point on it that helps prevent the bait from hanging. A wooden bait tends to back out of cover when you stop reeling that helps to get your bait unstuck. When I fish a bait down a log or through the tree tops I use a steady retrieve. By doing this I stay in contact with my lure and know when it is about to get stuck or come in contact with something. You will feel the line feel like its running across something when it gets close either let it ram it or stop and let it float up. When you get hung up on rocks I try to either try a bow and arrow technique or just run over to the other side of my lure and jerk it in the other direction. Most of my lures that I use in heavy cover are tuned perfectly straight. This prevents many hang-ups. I also use a triple grip hook on the front hook. I find that it helps prevent some hang-ups. Some people use a short shank front hook which does the same thing. Round body lures tend to hang less than a flat sided bait because the body of the lure helps shield the hook but if its tuned right and you hit the cover dead on a flat sided bait can get through the stuff too. If a flat sided bait turns sideways to go over cover it will hang. The drawback with a triple grip hook is if a bass makes a swipe at your lure that style hook will miss those kinds of strikes. A round bend hook does the trick for them.

Upgrade your bait size this will weed out some of your smaller fish. Next find some stained to slightly muddy water this will push the fish shallow and narrow down the areas the fish will use. To narrow your search more locate key areas that are unique to the surrounding areas. Use a two step approach first find the prime areas then fish them in the prime times of the day. Make sure your in the right areas slowing down and really fishing hard kinda picking it apart in the morning, afternoon and late afternoon. I try to breeze through the areas in the morning as I try to put together a limit then in the afternoon go back through the areas with a fine tooth comb. The stained water helps cover up angler mistakes.

The most difficult thing is figuring out what will it take to make the fish bite not locating them. Locating them is the easy part. Also no matter how pretty your lure is if its not in the right place or worked the right way its not going to do you any good. Making the cast and fishing helps figure out what they want then you refine your patten. Then you expand and find the right areas that would hold fish. We are both on the right track.

1) The right knot and line for the job 2) Making the perfect cast 3) The right lure for the job 4) locating the right areas to hold fish 5) boat positioning, and lure presentation

Good topic ;D

This is a good topic ;D

To make it suspend you need to get yourself a bucket of water like what Whittler said and do some tinkering. You can use suspend dots, there is a tungsten putty that works great, or just plain old solder wrapped around the front treble hook all three can be removed and will not mess up your bait. Tinker with it until it suspends the way you want. If you stick the weight in the front it will add depth.

Better late than never ;D

3 pounds or under if its skinny.

Welcome to the forum! ;D

A original Rapala minnow. This bait is balsa and will be easy to fish around hydrilla. It is also silent and mimics a baitfish well.

You did say you where fishing right? "I followed him down the creek for an hour and spanked him." then "He followed me for the next hour and I still beat his tail." I figured that I would yank your chain for a sec Its important in clear water but in dirty water shadows come into play with spooking fish and noise.

When the water drops the fish move out to deeper water when the water comes up they move up to the new flooded shore cover.

Weakness....none sorry ;D

Fish the outside edge with a jigging spoon or a jighead worm. If you can graph fish using the upper portion of the tree then you can tackle them with a crankbait or spinnerbait or count down a jig to swim by them. You could jig a rattletrap or drop a tube.(just other options)

Welcome to the forum! ;D

Your wife sounds like mine. ;D

I fish slow because its the only gear I have lol. I have a tendency to strain the water for fish. The way I look at it if I am the only one fishing an area slow then I am fishing different from others. I use it as a way to deal with fishing pressure. If the bite is on then I speed up my lure not my boat. Sometimes I cast repeatedly to a object to get strikes. I try to fish efficiently with no wasted casts. Which means I put the bait where I need it the first time. If it takes letting my worm or jig soak for 10 minutes to get a strike and I know the bite is slow then thats what I do.

I will also add that a flat sided bait has more flash than a round body bait.

If you take a Bill Norman baby little N right out of the box it has a high pitch vibration to it. If you replace the back hook to a hook 3 sizes bigger the bait has a thump that wasn't there the first time. The larger hook makes the bait almost act like its a jointed lure and changes the vibration to a lower pitch thump. Any lure that has a high pitch vibration to it works well in stained to clear water but because of the high pitch of the vibration the noise doesn't travel as far under water as a low pitch. Lures that have a wide action to it also has a thump and can be heard at a greater distance. Large lures just by their size and water displacement also can be heard at a greater distance. Lures that hunt displaces more water because its drifting from side to side. Lures that hunt also have more triggering qualities. Its like bouncing a lure off the bottom or off of a tree but with this lure it has a erratic action built in. Remember when someone posted that you need to hit something to get strikes with lures? This is what I was talking about I maybe running my lure at a do nothing retrieve but my lure is doing more than nothing. Its darting and ducking around and all I am doing is reeling it in. You can take any lure and cast it a few times and know what kind of vibration it has and apply it to the situation it fits under. Lures that thump is for places that visibility is limited. Tight action high pitch vibrating lures work better in water that the fish can see it. The style of lip helps figure out which bait will be the best lure for the cover you are fishing or depth. Color for some isn't important but for me I have seen when it made all the difference in the world. I am just weird Hope this helps you out. ;D

Thats because Rapala bought them.

When weeds are growing and are green they produce oxygen and when they die they consume oxygen. Fish move away from areas that have less oxygen and the decaying plants also change the alkalinity of the water and make it more acidic. Fish move to areas that have more disolved oxygen and places less acidic.

When you are using braid don't use a regular palomar knot because it will slip out. Double the line and pass it through the eye of the hook and do an overhand knot then do another overhand knot then pass the lure through the loop. Its called a double palomar knot and will not slip. On mono make sure you wet the line before you tighten it because you will burn the line and weaken the knot. Check your hook eye because sometimes the eye is not closed all the way and the knot will slip out.

The hook tail, Gatortail, and paddletail, I like to hop the bait to let the worm free fall. In cover I like to yo yo it in the cover sometimes shaking it on the bottom. I lift my rod to about a 12 o'clock position and drop it to about a 10 o'clock position. I reel up my slack as I drop my rod. After when I pitch the worm into cover I strip off another 3 to 4 ft of line to make sure the bait falls straight down and don't swim to my under line tension. Straight tail worms I like to spook them or swim them. When you spook them your rod is positioned down to the water and you jerk and pause the retrieve. When you swim a worm what I do is let the bait fall to the bottom and then I drag my rod to the side while shaking the tip. The head of the worm will run straight and the tail will swim. You almost shiver the rod as you pull it. Ribbontail worms I like to shake on the bottom as I pull them short distances. Sometimes I shake them in place or quiver them.