fireandice

Anyone have good luck with the tube bite in fall? I've been hitting pretty good with senko's but I have some tubes that I haven't caught any fish on yet. I'd like to land some just to remind myself that it's possible. I'm gonna try it again. It just seems sort of heavy for the shallow ponds that I fish. I've been catching good fish this fall, but it seems to have a lot to do with a slow fall, like a weightless senko. Maybe I'll hit the local lake and try the tube among the riprap and submerged trees.

Well, I'm not sure where you're fishing, but I'm guessing midwest from your temp. reference. From what I've seen here in KS, probably going to be a slow bite, but fish slow and move around until you find the baitfish that the bass are feeding upon. They're probably going to be on creek channels or points, but try to find those shad or bluegill that they are eating. Maybe go to the windblown shore and see if the shad are anywhere to be found. Just don't plan on them being in the same spots they were in this summer. I believe in the midwest, they are on the move trying to find some wintering food without chasing bait too far.

I haven't had any problems at all with Google Earth. I know that you need a pretty quick processor, decent amount of ram and a high speed connection to do it justice though.

Like mentioned already, but I can't say it enough times... Google Earth------Google Earth-------Google Earth It's awesome. I sometimes go to the Grand Canyon and just fly along the Colorado River to see what I can see.

That's awesome news basspro. I myself love to flyfish for anything with fins. I can't even imagine landing a monster like that on fly tackle. That would be the catch of a lifetime for sure.

Hmmmm.... I've found pitching to be very difficult with a baitcaster and very easy with spinning tackle. Maybe I'm doing it incorrectly with the baitcaster but I always seem to have the lure kind of stop in mid air as the slack line goes out and the spool starts spinning, whereas with spinning tackle, it's all free to go out and I can actually pitch about 20 feet pretty accurately. Now flippin' to me with a baitcaster is very very easy and you can get the trolling motor cranking pretty quick and cover miles of shoreline without missing a laydown or a good spot. Just like was mentioned earlier and keep that line in your free hand. Once you get the amount of line out there that you're going to use, then you can just keep the spool engaged and it's one fluid motion over and over. I can probably make about 20 casts per minute once I get rolling with this and cover tons of bank. This only works well though if the good bite is pretty much on the bank or structure that you're fishing. I caught a bunch of 3-5 lb.ers early this season. Water was cold and surprising to me, the big bass were on the bank almost literally. Almost as soon as the jig hit the shoreline in about 1-3 feet of water, they would hit.

I'm with roadwarrior here I believe. We could offer you several other knots to try and learn, but if you're tying palomar and breaking, then either like he said, your line is crap or you need to make sure that you're tying the palomar correctly. This is a very effective knot. Did you maybe purchase the monofilament from a tackle supply house that had it sitting in the sunlight or on the shelf for 37 years or something? Here's a good knot site. Just make sure that the knot is correct. It doesn't take much to screw one up and lose 40-50% of it's effectiveness. http://www.fish4fun.com/palomarknot.htm

I have to say that one reason that the spinnerbaits don't come in a super variety is probably for the fact that when you're fishing a spinnerbait, the light that's bouncing off of the blades is going to also be the same light (sunlight, moonlight) that is going to show that white or chart. color. Whereas if you're fishing a black color scenario...say low light muddy unclear water, they're probably not going to see a spinners flash, so the dark color and the spinner are somewhat of an off combination. Not saying that it won't catch fish. But let's say you're fishing the dark scenario...then your dark color would play into the visibility for the fish and the vibe from the blade would be the attraction factor instead of the flash. Anyway...just my opinion...don't really have anything to back it up other than what I've been taught about colors and spinners and light levels and such. Hope this helps or makes some sense to someone other than me.

Hey muddy man... Sounds like you stumbled upon a good idea. Can't say that I've ever even heard of a green sluggo myself, but hey, if it catches fish...stick with it. Just because things are always done so similarly in the bassin' world...doesn't mean that you can't veer from the norm and still catch fish. I am reminded of this when I fish with my 14 year old and he'll do something totally out of whack, like a wacky rig when I tell him he needs a t-rig with weight, and then he'll throw on some no-name unpopular color of the wrong size and present it all wrong, and come up with more fish than me...the "educated" one. I'm glad that your little idea worked. Don't ever be afraid to go against what you have been taught...especially by pros on TV throwing the same stuff constantly. Green Pumpkin, Junebug, Watermelon. Go for something wild. Hell I catch more bass on my hometown lake with my favorite little fire and ice culprit worms than I do with any other big name baits that everyone swears by. Happy Fishing!

Hmmmm I guess the bassers could have very well stolen a word from our flyfishing arsenal. I'd never heard a bass fisherman or a baitcaster fisherman use the word palming, but maybe it carries two different definitions :-/. In the flyfishing world though...palming is the simple act of using the exposed rim of a fly reels spool to slow down a fish on a run, kind of like an extra drag, just like thumbing your spool on your baitcaster if the spool were not engaged. Fly reels are usually very smooth and it makes for a really nice tool to slow down a big bonefish or trout that takes your fly and heads for Bermuda in a hurry.

I'm no expert here, but AceHigh seems to have the answer that goes along with my personal experience. I have a very shallow and warm golf course pond that I fish and those fish are very dark green even on the belly with a hint of yellow and blue. On the other hand, my favorite haunt has good depth and is spring fed with plenty of cover and those fish are very light green with a very white belly.

everyone has really good points here and it seems like you're considering most of them. You mention that you tie pretty good knots...I was just curious as to which knot you're using. Definitely need to up to at least 10lb. test for bass though in my opinion. Even guys on TV don't horse a 4lb. fish out of the water usually. I really like the trilene knot since I switched to it for most mono situations. I used to tie only improved clinch knots, but you have to get that knot wet and cinched well, or it will slip enough to pull a short tag end through itself. I have yet to break a trilene or palomar knot since I've started using them. Check out some knot websites and make sure you're tying correctly. This is where time and patience pay off. I'm a fly fisherman and we sometimes land 3-4lb. trout on 2lb. tippet monofilament. The lighter the line you use, the more you have to finesse your fish.

Okay, I just had to sign on tonight to retract my previous statement about my little podunk Wal-Mart. I looked again and they did have some weedless tube inserts. They only had them in two different sizes and styles of weedless, but hey...beggars can't be choosers huh? I got this 5-pak of Arkie 1/4 oz. heads for $1.64. There ya go. Beat that with the bargain bin. I'm going to try and insert them a couple of the ways mentioned, but on the pack it says just to bend the wire up and insert it into the tube first then use it to poke the hole where you'd like it to protrude. This may work but I know that some of you were using the nylon or fiber weed guard and not the wire type...that would complicate things to where you'd have to cut the slit I guess. Anyway, there's my .02.

I usually hang up my bassin' gear here in South Central KS in about later October, and pull out my flyfishing gear and head for our stocked trout stream. Tons of fun. I cannot stress enough how good flyfishing feels. But this year I think I'll give some bucketmouths the opportunity to bite when chilled to beer mug temperatures. Why not, right? ;D Smile, because you're fishing. Hell I forget stuff when I load the car, because I can't wait to get out there. I hope that feeling never fades away.

Augusta, KS I fish Augusta City Lake, El Dorado Lake, Butler Co. fishing lake, Cowley Co. fishing lake, Kingman Co. fishing lake, Sedgewick Co. park(flyfishing for trout), Fall River area, Walnut and Whitewater rivers, area farm ponds, and the pond that is 200 feet from my house on the golf course.(3lb. largemouth's can be caught on anything you can toss in the water.) There's lots of other good water around here that I haven't been on in years, mainly because just recently I'm back into fishing. My sons are all old enough to fish on their own with me now so I can actually get my lures wet again. We have a good time. I usually fish with my 3 boys, and their uncle and we have a good time. Just wish we could afford a boat. :-/

Thanks nwga...I think a lot of us were unclear what you were talking about. I think the tube jig needs a little more marketing time to hit places like Wal-Mart and such. Not knocking Wal-Mart. Even our little podunk Wal-Mart here is very choice for fishing tackle. Prices are good, selection is decent enough to get you by, unless you're into spending tons of dough on Lucky Crafts and such. Funny thing that I remember fishing tubes when they first hit the shelves about 15-20 yrs. ago. But I can't for the life of me remember how we rigged them. I do remember catching lots of fish on the green pumpkin color but we were on a pond that hardly every saw any fisherman also.

I think Raul has some great suggestions there. I had never thought much about trying a spinnerbait at night because I usually associate the spinner blade with sun reflectance. But with a full moon it would reflect and stand out big time...not to mention the vibes picked up through the fishes lateral. I night fished last night and got skunked. I have a hard time with a baitcaster at night. Usually the lure hits the water, and by that point it's too late and my spool is still spinnin'. I'm getting better though. And sometimes when I'm pretty sure that the fish aren't going to be very large, I'll resort to spinning tackle. Thanks Raul

I tried several things last night at my local haunt and came up skunked. Full moon, storm on the horizon...looked like it would be really hot fishing. I tried black/blue 3/8 jig, green pumpkin Brush Hog, my favorite culprit worm, then I even tried a makeshift carolina rig with a floating Strike King Plum worm. I also had a channel cat rig in the water...nothing there either. I was actually starting to be a believer in the Solunar tables, but after last night I'm not real sure. Maybe I was just off of my game or I was fishing where there were no fish, but I usually do well in that spot for all kinds of fish.

Welcome Hula_King... glad you decided to join us. This is looking like a good thread. Too bad I've been busy, it's been raining, and I'm hacked off because I was looking at boats for about a week, then finally realized that I cannot afford anything even close to what I'd like. Guess it's time to hit the banks again and keep dreaming for a while anyway.

How are you guys rigging those tubes? T-rig with a worm weight and fishing them slow off the bottom?

Thanks for the info. Low. I think this guy will quote me pretty cheap, simply because he wants rid of it. He seems a little on the ditzy side, so I'm hoping for cheap. Not that I'm one to take advantage of a neighbor, but it's doing nothing but collecting dust. He was trying to tell me it was heavier duty than the Alumacraft boats that I was looking at because those are aluminum, and this one is "steel." Lol. Oh well. He also tried to tell me that it was wider than a 36". He was measuring the widest part of the boat. We'll see what he comes up with. : If he doesn't come through, I think I might go get that Alumacraft 1644 for $1100.00 with the live well. That would leave me about $1200.00 to spend on either a hot trolling motor or a small outboard and a fish finder. I gotta deck this boat out.

I'm looking at buying a boat from my neighbor because it's leaning up against a fence doing nothing. It's a good used Lowe 1236. The boat is very clean with usual scuffs on the bottom. He also has an Evinrude 9.8hp o/b (year unknown...black in color). Looks to be in great shape in the garage, hanging up, but says he hasn't ran it in about 3 years. Any idea what this combo is worth? He says that he's willing to make me a really good deal since it's just sitting.

Welcome Newbassman, Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. We're all in this together.

I did some of this with my other, yet even more anal hobby...flyfishing. I think we can spend too much time deciphering facts and data. I simply use my camera phone to take pics of good fish. This I can look back on for dates, sizes, times of day, etc. Granted not everyone carries one of these, but all the data can sometimes weigh a guy down. The fishing is never the same two days in a row at any given place. That's part of the whole experience. Experimentation, hypothesis, theory. Just my opinion. I'm sure some don't agree, but seriously guys, do we want to go blind going over data sheets trying to figure out what to use on what lake? Look at the weather, look in your box, take a deep breath and trust all that we've already learned by studying all the ideas here and I think you'll enjoy your fishing trips even more. Flyfishers zen maybe, but read some of the poetic fishing literature. I don't recall too many fishing logs. Log it in memory, smell the air, take it all in, and above all, make one more cast instead of logging info. on a database.

Great stories from everyone. What a good thread. I don't have anything to amazing to tell...other than the odd pet peeves of mine of two of my fishing buddies. One lifetime-long fishing buddy of mine still smokes a joint prior to any fishing outing that we partake in. Says it puts him in sync with the fish. He always outfishes me. I don't partake in his prefish activities. And another good friend of mine, who has flourocarbon veins with fish blood running through them, always brightens my day first thing at work with his predictable phrase"ready to go fishin'?" Always delievered with a huge smile, because he works nights and leaves for the lake at the same time that I'm clocking in. But to fish with this guy is like living on the edge. When he hits the trolling motor, you'd better have your knees bent or you're going over. And when he sets the hook, it's usually not in a fishes mouth, but instead whizzing past your left ear. There's gotta be a whole support group of bass out there with their jaws half ripped off from this guy setting his hook. But we all love to fish. I suppose it's in everyones blood here. Fish on boys...fish on!