Mr.Lamy

Well guess what?.................They didn't just follow the bait today Thanks to y'all and your tips I not only landed fish, but I landed three that range from 16" to 18",(not sure of their weights because I can't find my scales), I also landed 4 or 5 others that were not keepers. I changed my line from 10# mono to 12#florocarbon that is so hard to see, I can barely see it. Then I went with a weighted plastic jerk bait that more or less ressembles the bait fish I've been seeing. I'm not sure the name of it but I have to pick up some more today because the fish tore up the last two I had this morning and when I do I will post here what they are. I also hooked up on one with a weightless watermelon/char lizard rigged weedless, It looked and felt like a nice fish but he was able to spit the hook out before I could land him. :-[

The waters I've been fishing are pretty clear with about four foot visability. Many times on the retrieval I can see the bass following the bait, but if I slow down they take off and if I speed up they take off, if I keep it the same they will follow it almost to me and then disappear. I'll pitch the same bait out there again and sometimes they will follow it again and sometimes they won't, but usually if I pitch it out there more than twice and they haven't hit it, they will just ignore it from there on out, no matter how many ways I change up the retrieval. Am I doing something wrong or are the fish just being finicky or skitsh? Is there anything I can do to turn these bait followers into bait biters?

I've just started using these, I haven't caught anything with them yet, but they seem like they should be an awesome bait. One of the places I fish has alot floating grass, so I will rig the bait weedless, pitch on top of the grass and then start twitching it accross the top of the grass with the tip of my rod, stopping for a little bit at any open places in the grass and again when it finally comes completely off the grass. My question is this, are these baits also effective in open shallow water? I ask because I was watching a fishing show the other where two anglers were competeing head to head and one of them referred to the Horny Toad as a buzz bait, but I didn't get a chance to see how he was using it. If it is effective in open shallow water, how should I retrieve it? Slow steady retrieve, tickling it occasionally with the rod tip? Or little short jerks with a pause in between?

After reading this thread last night I went out and bought some snap swivels and tried them out today. I didn't catch anything, not even a strike. But that doesn't tell me much because I've been racking up zero's almost everytime out this past month and I've been tying directly to the bait until today. It did make it easier to switch baits and it didn't seem to hinder anything except for the a couple of the top waters I tried, and it did change the way the senko sank, so I didn't use it for that. Not sure if I will continue to use them, once the fish start cooperating again I will probably keep the snap swivel on one of my rods and tie directly to the bait with the others so I can get a better idea of how they compare.

Thanks for the reply Flyrod. That goes to show you how green I am, I've got these big light stands that I used to use when I was night fishin for trout in salt water because trout are drawn to the light. So I set these monsters up one night to try for Bass, needless to say I didn't get a single bite :'( I'll check into this UV lighting you mentioned, because I like to fish at night. Thanks Again Michael

I was just reading a thread in the "Fishing Tackle" forum, about night fishing and I have a few questions now. When night fishing for Bass, is it the norm to be fishing in total darkness, except for maybe a head lamp or light that you turn on only if you need to retie or something? If so, then why is this? Are Bass not like other fish, are they not attracted to the light? If fishing in total darkness, what baits would you use? I'm assuming you would have to rely more on noise to attract the Bass than you would sight, unless Bass have real good night vision. Thanks in advance

Thanks everyone for the replies, pic's and links I do appreciate it. RebBasser; I live in Victoria, I have a brother that lives in San Antonio. I've been catching most of my Bass with a Lit'l Fish, made by Creme. I really like these little rubber fish but found that I have better luck with them if I use a smaller jig head than the one that is supplied. I've also been doing real good with a small crappie spinner with a red and white jig on it, or sometimes a black and white jig. I tried the Carolina Rig today and was pleasantly suprised. First cast, I went to reel in the slack and I just kept getting more slack, it was moving towards me so fast that I almost couldn't get it reeled in fast enough to set the hook. It still was not a keeper but it was the largest one so far that I landed 13 1/2" I found a 12' flat bottom Jon boat today that I am picking up tomorrow so I'm betting I'll be catching some larger Bass real soon as there are several places that I am unable to reach from the bank but look like they should be real good. Thanks again for all the replies.

Thanks for the reply, and yes I've read the beginners section, learned a great deal by the way, but there were no pic's showing the proper way to rig the baits I mentioned. I didn't figure I was really doing any good because every thing I caught was undersized. I was thinking that the only reason I couldn't catch a keeper was because I am a beginner, I've been catching these little ones from day one. One reason I'm able to catch so many of these little ones is because these lakes are really over grown so there is a lot of cover and most of it is reachable even from the bank. Plus I do not just sit in one place, I'm constantly walking around the edges.

Man am I glad I found this place cause I've got a million questions. The first one is; Is there a place on the net that has "pictures" of the correct way to rig different baits? Right now I'm mainly interested in soft plastic's, like the correct way to rig a tube, But also I'm not 100% sure on the rigging of the jig & pig either. Up until 4 weeks ago I hadn't been fishing at all for at least 10 years, I haven't been fresh water fishing for probably 25 years. Up until 4 weeks ago I had never fished Bass. I'm fishing small ponds and lakes in south Texas and of course it's extremely hot so I've only been able to catch fish in the mornings for an hour or so around sunrise and then for about an hour or so around sun down. I go every day (bank fishing) and I generally catch 6 or 7 in the mornings and then the same in the evenings. They have all been small mouth Bass and they have all only been 12 or 13 inches, (have yet to catch a keeper). As I said, I have a million questions, and I can't possibly list all of them in one post, so I figured I would start at the beginning and make sure that I'm rigging my bait right. Thanks in Advance