Chris

The reason why people started changing thier pop r bucktail to a feather is because it puts more action in it. When the bait is at rest the feathers flare out and if there is a wave action or something the feathers move a bucktail don't. When you pop the bait the feathers contract much like a tail on a bait fish then when its at rest the feathers flare out again. People use feathers because a lot of times it seals the deal.

I will post the conditions you guess the pattern that would win. Its early spring water temp is in the 50's you are fishing a cove that has weeds rocks laydowns standing timber and a creek that comes into it. The standing timber sits in the middle of the back of the cove. Where the cove forms a fork on the left fork runs the creek channel. As you look down the cove on the left side is the deeper where the channel runs and dumps off into the main lake. On the right side or shallow side of the cove there are several small finger coves. The left side in the channel is about 12 ft deep center of the cove is 20ft deep the shallow side is about 5 to 7ft deep. You crank the channel and catch a fish pushing 5lbs. You fish the laydowns and small coves on the shallow side and catch keepers. You fish the rock on the mouth of the cove and catch keepers. You fish the standing timber and catch keepers there also. Now you want to narrow down your pattern which one would win? A) Stick with the channel because if there is one big fish there might be more and you might have stumbled onto a wintering hole. Fish the shallow side where the laydowns are because you know the bass should be moving up into staging areas and those shallow coves might be where they will spawn. C) Fish the rock in the mouth of the cove because the rock will hold heat and the fish might be more active. D) Fish the standing timber because the bass will be able to move up and down the timber as the water temp rises. Now remember you caught fish in all four places there isn't a right or wrong answer but I will tell you where I fished and what won.

beef up you weight use a 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz if your fishing a trap deep use braid if you can so that you can feel strikes.

I'll tell you what there is a kids bass club out where I live that Gary sends 3 boxes of free baits to. You can dog him if you want but to be honest he is not a bad guy and more giving than you know.

If I have a bass that comes up from some sort of cover or bottom structure and rolls on my bait and dosn't get the hook I then burn my bait back and fish a drop bait. The reason why is the bass is using the cover or structure as a ambush point and will go back to his home after the miss. If the bass is following behind my bait or if I can tell that the fish tracked my bait from a distance I might twitch my spinnerbait to make my blades smack together and continue reeling at the same pace or just continue reeling. If he is tracking the bait it will follow the bait and try another swipe at it. If the bass is coming up from cover they are ambushing it not tracking it so pay attention this will let you know what your next move should be.

Plastics! Soft jerbaits, senko, tubes, worms, topwater early, rattletraps, carolina rig

In Florida you can lift up FLOATING weeds and find crawfish and grass shrimp too.

Welcome! ;D

I prefished a tournament today on a lake that was stained. I caught all my fish shallow on crankbaits, jig, and a spinnerbait. All of them where right tight to the shore on out to 5 ft off the bank. The main pattern was where two forms of cover or stucture meet. In this case where wood and rock met. I looked for places that had at least 4ft depth up against shore or places that had a drop near by. Clear water go deep or places where deep water and shallow water meet. I fished a tournament last month that was in clear water lake. What I did was I looked on the map and marked places where the deep water runs the closest to shore. I looked for coves or points that has deeper water on one side of it.

Oxbow's, backwater, sloughs, whatever you want to call them all fish about the same. Fish the bank! This is when you break out the jigs and tubes and hammer any wood you can find. A slough is nothing different than a lake but on a smaller scale. Fish are easier to find and catch. Spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits can be killers when fished shallow. Most of the time the fish never leave the bank unless the water comes up fast. Fish are very predictable. Sometimes your bigger fish will move into these backwater areas. When the river is muddy the backwater areas are the first to clear up because of a lack of current. When conditions turn south because of muddy water or high water those slough's are the first place I head to.

I use pork in cold water and strike king 3x trailers or zoom super chunks when its warm. The 3x float and are garlic scent.

Well, I guess the first thing I will note is we all have options. Some love to use senko's some yum dingers whatever floats your boat. To be honest for me I catch more fish on a senko. The last tournament I fished I went through 3 bags of them. I guess I could have used something else but why change when its working. People can grip all they want for the price of a lure and you have the option to buy something other than Gary's products. The fact is if the bass are on a senko I don't care what you throw they are not going to hit it like a senko. Other days you can make the same case for another style of stick worm. $6 or $7 for something that could help me win a tournament isn't much considering I loose more money than that in the hard baits I loose. Every year someone comes out with something new that works. Then everyone pitches a fit about the price (me included). Then you start fishing against someone who just took you entry fee to the bank because you where to proud to get the lure he was using. You can only do that so long before you break down and buy it. Then when you have a working relationship with the lure you begin to understand why it works. In shallow water I would say 3 ft or less it don't matter what style you use. When you get out in the deeper water the fall rate of a senko makes all the difference. It takes less time to hit the bottom. This means that you can fish faster and cover an area. In a tournament time is money and the faster you can fish a spot thoroughly the more water you can cover. This bait will help you do that. The other baits on the market will do the same thing but you got to slow down way down to fish it. In 12 ft of water I don't have time to wait.

Manns company makes a walking weedless bait called a ghost and a smaller one called a goblin. Strike king make a popping frog also scumfrom makes one, snag proof makes many different styles of weedless lures so your not stuck just using a frog all the time. I had a jitterbug style lure one time that was weedless.

Chrome blue back rattletrap, green pumpkin senko, chrome blue back jerkbait, watermellon tube, crystal shad bass assassin, 4 inch mellon cuttail worm, rapala, spook puppy, 1/8, 1/4 oz spinnerbait

Ahhhhhhhhh Florida fishing oh the memories. Gosh I need to move back. Well you already aswered your own question in one respect. In florida water a two foot difference in depth will draw fish. A creek channel is structure thats different than the rest of the lake. The channel is a highway to deep water and can be followed to shallow spawning areas and feeding areas. Sometimes you might have stumps on either side of the channel. I would use a carolina rig or a worm.

Low_Budget_Hookers and all this time I thought that was what my livewell was for. lol

In my part of the country in Illinois June. I know this because I had a tournament on a lake and when I went into the river the surface was like a mat thick with them.

None (they both got issues) Spook or prop?

braid wood crankbaits or plastic

Here is something I do even though I own 2 depth finders. Watch the bank more important watch the trees that are in the water. Pay attention to the angle that the trees are laying in the water. This will tell you how much of a drop off you have next to the bank. Now you look at the thickness of the trunk of the tree and look on the bank for the same size trunk and figure out how tall they are. Now you know how far the laydown comes out and about what depth your looking at. If all you have is a temp gage drop it down and watch the temp. When you get to a depth where its the same for a extended period of time ( like at one ft its 90 degrees, 2 ft 89 degrees, 4 ft 87 degrees, 5ft 85, 8ft 85, 10 ft 83) The depth where you have the same temp from my example 5ft to 8ft deep is the thermocline.

When I fish channels I try to look for something different. I look for channel bends or where the channel swings close to the shore or points anything different. This will narrow down your search for fish. Bass will use different parts of the channel throughout the day. Early morning they might be on the edge or on a flat next to the channel. Later in the day they might be suspended out on the edge or somewhere either above the channel or along the side of the channel. When you develop your game plan use your depth finder to figure out what part of the channel they are using durring the time of day your fishing it. On flats try a carolina rig you can work the area fast and cover water. When they get on the edge of the channel position your boat out in the channel and bring your crankbait so that it dumps off into the channel. If they are suspended up use the right crankbait to reach that depth. If the fish are hanging down in the channel on the edge use a jig and work it down to them. You can use a worm in the same way. When you narrow down what depth they are hanging at on the channel then you can position your boat parallel and crank down to them. Make sure you give your bait enough room to reach the depth they are hanging at. A countdown bait can work great in this situation. If your talking 20ft depth then you need to get more creative with your crankbaits because most crankbaits don't go any deeper than 16ft deep. What I do is rig them on a carolina rig (light one). this will help you break the 20ft mark or you can put a worm weight on your line then tie onto your crankbait.

"willow flies" do you mean may flies?

Use a senko or that style bait. You want to have the bait fall so when it hits the green snott grass it lays flat not nose down. This will help prevent your bait coming back covered in the stuff.

Evinrude old school or young school?

I am still alive I just been fishing