D4u2s0t

the shoreline and points are near impossible on my lake this time of year, because like catt said that's where everyone goes first. early in the season before people are out (many people in my town have summer only homes) they are great. this time of year? good luck. my lake is private so it's certainly not as high pressure as some public lakes. the most boats i've seen fishing on the lake at one time has been maybe 3 or 4 max. but they all go to the obvious spots. and getting to a spot, even if it's the best on the lake, after people have fished it all day is not going to produce. i would look for the deeper structure, as 99% of weekend or occaisional anglers would think it's stupid to fish in the middle of the lake. that's where i catch my biggest fish.

don't forget with live bait many other fish besides bass will bite. it's very possible some blue gills or perch were nibbling the bait, but were too small to swallow the hook.

if you're throwing into heavy cover there's better options than a wacky rig. if you have alot of snags on the bottom of the water, and want to go wacky, just don't let it hit the bottom. but of course when you have an exposed hook you're going to be more likely to get hung up.

yea getting a scale for most people will be a very humbling experience.

it's amazing how many people put up pics of a 2-3 pound fish saying 'it's my pb, i'm guessing it's about 6.5-7 lbs' lol.

I always weigh them hooked at the top of the gills nearest the mouth. Never had one fall off or hurt itself. I don't weigh anything less than 4-5 pounds anymore though. After a while with the scale your guesses become much more accurate. the 3 pounder is no longer 5, and the 5 pounder is no longer 8+ lol.

I always tie direct to the line. I also use 2 poles, and what i'll often do is one one pole i'll have a spinnerbait or crankbait, and on the other pole some type of soft plastic. That way i'm set to easily go either way. For any of the soft plastics, I just pop it off the hook and put a new one on.

what you're going to find is that millions of baits are "good" or "the best". Basically it all comes down to preference, and how much you're willing to spend. I love *** for soft plastics, absolutely can't beat the price and they come scented which is great. Everything I've used has produced fish, my faves are the brush hogs, duper flukes, and ***. If you want to spend a little more, look into the rage tail line, i've been very succesful with them. Downside is they're not cheap, and after a few big fish you'll be replacing them.

I like to use a 4/0 1/8th oz keel weighted ewg hook. it get's rigged "sideways" with the tail pointed up, and make sure you disconnect the tab that connects the tail from the body. these things really move some water! I find it easiest to keep it on top of the water with slower retrieves by holding your pole high, almost straight up and down.

any time i tie one something new, I go to the edge of the dock and throw the bait out a few feet and experiment to see what it does. I find it easier to control the bait on a full cast when you know how it reacts to what you do with the pole. it lets you visualize what's happening when you can't see the bait. plus every bait will be different.

the burners are very durable, but what happens when you catch a fish or get it snagged up is it's easily bent. Make sure that the arms are straight, and like said, if it's running to one side bend the arm a bit to get it to go straight again.

deals can be found, no doubt. I always sort by "ending soonest" and find what no one else bid on. I just got 5 poppers for 99 cents, and 20 crankbaits for 6.99. all brand new.

i recently picked up 50 mustad 4/0 twistlock hooks for 22 dollars on ebay. that's where i get my hooks since they are so expensive. i also picked up 50 gammy 3/0 hooks for around 18 dollars.

I almost always use a 1/8oz keel hook with my plastics. Sometimes i'll use an additional weight, sometimes not, depends what is going on the hook. But I find that it improves cast distance, and when not using additional weights it really brings the baits to life on the fall. At the same time, it's not heavy enough for the baits to sink like a rock, which I like. That being said, i'll use them for a space monkey, fluke, various worms & creature baits, pretty much anything I tie on. I love them for the flukes, I find without a keel hook it likes to spin in circles on a quick retreive. With the keel hook, it swims properly the whole way back, regardless of retreive speed.

Check out aluring baits colors, they're pretty cool!

when it's available to us regular guys i'll be all over the rooster.

while not my kids, i was fishing off the dock today and 2 kids probably about 7 or 8 came down. one of the first things they said was 'if someone tries to take us will you help out' haha. so anyways, my fishing off the dock turned into fixing their tangles, showing them how to put a worm on, and me yelling out 'wait, wait, wait, not yet, not yet, ok go he's on!' and then taking their fish off the hook. first one they caught, they looked at me like 'now what' lol. but to be honest, i had just as much fun not fishing but helping the kids as i would have fishing myself.

notice the trend? almost everyone gave a different answer. what does that mean? there is no best. the one that is best, and catches the most fish, is the one that spends the most time in the water. i like the xrap and also have a few others i use, just got a bunch on ebay that i'll be trying out.

do you think the shads won't be effective any other times before early morning or late evening? of course they will. stop limiting your options because other people say that's the best time to use them. you can fish the shad all day succesfully. that being said, my faves so far are the space monkey. color makes no difference, just pick the one you like. i find them fished best with a 4/0 1/8th ouce keel hook. if you're going weightless, without the weighted hook it didn't get the action it needed.

maybe there's no fish then. Like said, it's pretty hard to fish them wrong. You can pretty much do anything with them and catch fish.

well, it's been my experience that if people do not/have not owned a scale, they have no idea about weight (i was the same way) I saw a guy pull out a 12" bass (doubt it was a pound lol) and he was yelling about how he caught one almost 3 pounds. My first 3 pounder I would have bet was well over 5.

that's what I was going to say. By me, you can pull out a bluegill or perch almost every cast with a nightcrawler. That ends up with my and my buddy going for bass, and mumbling "lil scoundrels got another one'. lol

color is irrevelant... but my bait of choice would be spinnerbait.

color is the least important part of selecting a bait... if one color is working, so will another. many times it's more about confidence, and what we think we 'know' about when to use certain colors that affect our ability to use them.

ever see a bluegill? sharp fins are not a problem.