Chris

Good that saves me typing stuff lol

Switch it up a little. I rarely fish the same lures each time I hit a pond or lake to give the fish a different look. If I was fishing the bottom one day because the wind was calm. The following day I got some wind I change it up and fish cranks or moving baits. If I fish through an area with a crankbait I might make a second pass with a worm or jig.

It depends on where I am fishing and how I am catching them. Some places better than others.

or mark the depth and use a lure that either runs just above the rocks or bearly ticks the top of it.

Rig it on a linders snagless weight or a bottom bouncer. It will keep it out of the rocks.

Painted blades work well in muddy water or low light conditions. The painted blades make the lure appear to be a small school of baitfish. When there is not a lot of light to reflect off the blades painted blades stand out. Glow blades help them stand out a little more. Sometimes I use a combo painted front and chrome or gold back blade. When I was fishing in North Carolina one time I could do no wrong with a double turtle blade both where painted and both did glow.

http://www.lurecraft.com/catalog.cfm/new!!!--finished-lures-and-soft-plastics/6-soft-plastic-dragon-flies:2159 here is an idea

You know that cheap white spinnerbait with the blue head single colo blade? I can't begin to tell you how many bass I have caught on that bait over the years.

He is talking about dropping Rhodium Oil ( or ore) in the water I think. Years ago the Egyptians used it to draw fish to an area. Every now and then someone comes up with a scent with this in it claiming how well it works. Cedar oil is another one. Indians used buck eyes ground up to drug fish if I remember right years ago. http://www.sorcerers-apprentice.co.uk/rhodium.htm

I am more of a well rounded fishermen or what they call a junk fishermen I guess. Stained to dirty water I love power fishing with a jig, crankbait or spinnerbait. In clear water I love using plastics. Least favorite technique drop shotting, or noodling deep water. I can do it just don't have to like doing it.

jig, spinnerbait, crankbait If you want me to be specific: jig- 1/4 oz strike king pro model jig-electric blue (or) black/blue trailer-3x electric blue chuck w/ black and blue jig or electric blue jig 3x trailer black blue flake or green pumpkin w/ black/blue jig Spinnerbait- white or black/blue Zorro short arm aggravator w/ zoom swim chunk or pork Crankbait-Fat CB B.D.S. 1 chartreuse black back

1) buy a temp gage one you can toss over the side of the boat. Mark the temperature and figure out where the thermocline is. quick class/ it is a large span of the same temp where warm and cold water mix. This will weed out most of your docks. 2) find docks that offer the most cover or old docks with lost of cover. a)docks lower to the water surface offer more shade b)docks that guy's put a ton of money into that look like you set up camp on tend to be a condo for bass. c) old docks are better than new, wood is better than metal, tons of pilings is better than a few. d) Look at the length of the dock it tells you how far they needed to go to reach deeper water. This also tells you what the bottom may look like. e) floating docks mean suspending fish so they might not be on the bottom f) fish lights means some else likes to fish too and like to plant cover. 3) I fish pilings like I do standing timber. I make my cast and aim my lure to smack it. You can do this with a crankbait or spinnerbait. While your doing this pay attention you might feel some brush that you can hit with your tube or jig. Keep some distance between you and the dock so you can pick off fish that might be suspended in front of the dock then work your way in with your crankbait. When you get close pitch the pilings with your soft plastics or jig. 4) skipping if you know how do it if not throw a senko as far back as you can the bait will do the rest. 5) covered boat houses can hold a ton of fish bass like corners. (inside of the boathouse and outside) 6) docks that form a "T" or an "L" tend to draw more fish than a straight dock. 7) Depth is key and docks that offer more to the bass will draw more fish. 8) green slimy pilings and foam float docks draw more fish than clean new ones because it draws shad. Hope this helps

Then the term "featureless" might be pushing the envelope. There are places in the hydrilla beds that are taller, shorter, denser, sparser, greener, deeper, shallower, and places where hydrilla merges with another plant. Once feeding bass are located, finding a lure that works is much easier. Roger I agree Bass use weeds the same as rock or brush or stump. It is something different than the bottom that they can relate to and suspend around and if conditions turn sour they can hide in. To a bass the hydrilla is a feature and use it the same way as a drop off bluff or brush pile. More times than not the stuff will thin out and quit growing at a certain depth and form a wall of weeds. (just like a bluff)Sometimes the stuff will top out and fish will be under the canopy. If you take notice of the hydrilla you might realize that it is more than meets the eye the same as a bass does. It is the things that are different that is going to draw fish to one patch or area more so than another. This is what they key on and what you need to also key on.

Usually when a bass nips or follows a live baitfish the baitfish acts and swims different because the baitfish becomes scared and knows it is lunch. If your bait acts like it isn't scared or continues to swim as business as usual the bass looses interest because it isn't acting like live bait.

A drop shot rigged lure because you can put a lot of movement in your bait to draw attention to it while not moving the bait out of the bed.

If I want to get more distance in a cast I usually replace my hooks with hooks that are larger or have thicker wire. This adds weight or I add weight to them either with suspend strips or some sticky tungsten weight putty. Some of my crankbaits and other wood baits I have drilled out and added melted lead in them. Some of my countdown cranks I use not only because I can count them down to whatever depth I wish but because they can cast a mile. For a number of years rigging a lure on a Carolina rig was the only way to add distance or depth to a lure but as I mentioned there are other ways.

They are kinda like this but this is a zipper version I was fishing a few years ago.

i think they look great

Most of the time I just pitch them to targets or holes in grass. Other times I drag them on a Carolina rig or fish them like a regular worm on the bottom. A lizard is going to displace more water than a ribontail and is a better choice around cover or stained water.

Many times when your fishing cover you want the lure and weight to work through the cover as one unit. Sometimes when you don't peg the lure the bait might be hung on something while your weight is on the bottom. I don't use a toothpick unless I ran out of stuff to peg it because you stand a chance of pinching your line and weakening it. I use a needle threader and thread a rubber band to peg the sinker or a rattling Florida rig weight. If you leave a tag piece on the back side of the weight you can remove the rubber band easily with pliers.

1) traps-slow rolled or yo-yo 2) jerks- jerk pause two quick jerks long pause cadence 3) jig-slow roll it or fish it like a Texas rig

Also FYI you can Texas rig it with the lure laying flat like a Mann's ghost minnow but backwards with the hook eye at the tail and use a lead nail weight pushed in the head and get the bait to glide backwards under stuff if you wanted to. When you rig it on a jig head the bait will spiral on the fall like a tube.

I talk about swimming Mr. Wiggly's Jr. but lets expand on why and how a little to add another technique under your belt. With a crankbait like a balsa lure or even a rattle trap what draws strikes is the frantic random movement. It is this nervous movement that catches the bass's attention. The bait is shaking and moving a little left or right then it will correct itself. It makes the bait look like it is running for its life. If you ever watched a shad swimming it has the same frantic swimming action that changes within the water column while maintaining the same swimming direction. Bass are able to pick out the weak and are able to pick out stressed fish and target them based on movement. This is the same stressed and nervous frantic movement that I employ when swimming a wiggly's jerk bait. Growing up in Florida swimming a creme worm was the rule not the exception for many anglers and has accounted for many double digit fish. The basic idea is to make your cast and while pulling the rod to the side you quiver the rod tip. This makes the lower section and tail of the worm swim and wiggle frantically. At the end of your pull you gather line and repeat the process of sweeping the rod to the side while quivering the rod tip. To mix it up you can spook the bait or let it free fall before swimming the lure again. As a soft jerkbait I was very disappointed with Carlson Tackle's Mr. Wiggly and the Jr model. The problem I had was that the lure had a tail section shaped like a baitfish tail. because of this design the tail acted like a rudder and prevented the bait from gliding any distance from side to side when you jerk it. This is why a super fluke has a tail at a different angle it helps cut down on the drag of side to side movement. Other than the tail the wiggly bait has a weight or rattle pocket, raised fin to help keep it weedless and a hook slot. You take the same bait that stinks as a jerkbait and swim it and this bait becomes a powerhouse. Fishing it the same way as the creme worm it gives the bait a awesome nervous frantic movement of a stressed shad. I have found that fishing it on light line spinner and a offset hook works best and the hook helps keel the bait along with a split shot to get it down when needed. When you mix it up between rod sweeps with a jerk and fall tends to seal the deal. This technique works great for clear water and site fishing cruising fish. When done right the Mr. Wiggly bait mimics a nervous or stunned shad perfect.

day-11am-2pm night-11pm-3am

1) build me a fish trap and or a fish seine 2) build me a fire or find stuff for it 3) build a shelter 4) search for food things easy to catch or spear 5) build traps for other critters 6) figure out a way to get clean drinking water 7) skip rocks and be happy