texanbassangler

Hey, I'm thinking about upgrading my TM to a 55 lb thrust, and I'm wondering what battery I should buy so that I can fish with it all day? Nothing too expensive, just needs to run for a solid 4-5 hours. Thanks

I've never heard of that... doesn't seem like it would make sense though, warm water is less oxygenated, so I would think it would be BETTER in the morning :-??

Thanks, the replies are great. I think a t-rigged worm or a buzzbait it what I'm gonna try next.

In 5 feet of water? It's HOT here, do you think they'd be that active?

I fish this little pond every now and then that has a big clump of reeds in the middle. Half of it is in lily pads and the other half is in open water. It's around 5 or 8 feet deep. How would yall fish it?

Roll your skirt up, reel up the slack, and slam your rod back like a man! lol Seriously, though WHO sets the hook with a 'smooth steady force"? :-? The fish would let it go when it detects a pressure in it's mouth

Certain areas are more likely to hold fish than others. Try to find submerged grass points, any surface vegetation, or structure like rocks or humps. Bass will relate to anything that is 'different". They've even been known to be attracted to where bottom composition changes. It sounds like your bait choice is pretty good, but if you want to, try live bait once; you'll find out if there are fish there. Another common mistake is not working the lure properly, for example fishing a worm too fast. Bass have never seen a real worm going 50 mph, and neither should your lure. On that note, bass are very active in the morning, and most guys are gonna throw a topwater bait, especially in the summer. Since you can see the bait, it's almost impossible to work it wrong and it's a very fun way to fish. If you can find some hydrilla or any other type of submerged weed with about a foot or so of water above the top of the weeds, throw a topwater in and see what happens. Hope this helps

I have a Fishin' Buddy 120 on my Sevylor 12' inflatable and it works great. It twists around, but the Side Imaging is not really like the one on some higher end fish finders. It shows cartoony images of fish and gives you a reading in feet on how far away they are. I've never had any luck using it and turn it off while I'm fishing. It works great, but one word of caution: I use a 30lb motorguide TM on the back of my boat, and it pushes it around pretty fast, but the fishfinder starts to vibrate at top speed. I can only imagine with a smaller boat and a bigger motor like you have, that this effect if going to be much greater, so you may have to pull it up out of the water when moving, especially if you ever put an outboard on it.

I fished there when I was down in FL this spring. There's a bunch of small bass in there, maby a pound at most... I've heard of guys talking of big fish in there, though. Also, from what I'm told there's no gators in the lake, but I could be wrong.

If conditions are right, put them on a buzzbait or a ultra-vibe zoom speedworm. both just require the user to reel, and the strikes are explosive and numerous.

Senko or a t-rigged crawbug bait.

I've had gators go for topwater baits. I've never actually hooked one, but they've held onto it all the way back to the boat! The farther west you go, the less gators you see, but a few lakes around here have them.

Haha, I'll bet Dixon is crowded. You should see Fork this time of year, though. I tried TriggerX and only gar hit them. I was using the "bass" stuff so, I don't know what the deal was. I got them from Sports Authority, and they don't even carry them anymore, so I don't think they were a big hit. Of course, that's just by the "scent'" aspect of them. I'm sure the actual "bait" is just as good as many other lures.

During the spawn, you want a bait with a large profile; to make the bass feel like her nest (or her) is in danger. Therefore, when I'm bed fishing, I typically upgrade to large baits, depending on the size of the fish. Obviously if it's a 2 lb buck, he probably won't go for a brush hog on a jig, but mabey the sow will. (btw, here's a good bed fishing tip: if the buck is super agressive, let him eat it, but don't set the hook, just gently pull it out of his mouth. If the sow is close, she'll think he can't do his job and this infuriates her, so she comes over and inhales it.) Any other time of the year, I'd just fish it t-rigged through the pads or laydowns.

Yeah, that's why I wanna make sure I can get him on some fish. He doesn't go out that much with me or go fishing much at all, so I wanna make sure he'll enjoy it.

So I'm taking my dad out fishing this coming week on a pond. The thing is 50% lily pads, and I assume some bass will be bedding in the pads. I plan on fishing senkos, crawbug baits, and topwater frogs/ buzzbaits in the pads. There's a little cattail island in the middle, and I plan on fishing senkos around it. Theres a mini cove with pads, a stump, and a dock in it, and I plan on fishing spinnerbaits, lippless cranks, and senkos/topwaters on it. I'm gonna look for deep structure or weeds and fish a red eye shad or a senko in it. So how does this plan sound? Should I spend more time fishing bed fish?

Hello, Well, like I mentioned last October, my family's down in Florida for a little vacation. I took our jon boat out on Walsingham Park's 100 acre lake. We caught one fish by the island. It's supposed to be managed by the Fish and Game, but it didn't fish like it. I don't know what we were doing wrong. Anybody here ever fish the lake and can ofer some tips? I'm planning on going out again sometime next week.

It depends on local climate (warm, hot, cool, cold), moon phase, and the particular body of water. I know in a warm (or hot in summer ;D) climate like we have in Texas, I'd never expect to see a bass spawning in that water temperature. Up North, maby. Depends on where yall are. More than likely, they're in the pre-spawn, based on your buddy's account of "agressive behavior". Bass eat themselves silly before spawning, when they won't feed often at all.

Lucky for you, this time of year (and summer) is pretty easy as far as locating catchable bass. Until about mid-May, you'll find bass in the shallows on beds, and they are easily catchable. As they move into the post spawn, look for them around grass flats and any deeper water near the spawning grounds. When hot weather rolls in, look for bass around any aquatic vegetation you can find, the shade any oxygenation they provide draws all kinds of fish here. Weeds also provide ambush points for bass. Remember: bass are preditory fish, and they will almost always ambush your lure. So, any openings in the weeds make good casting targets, as they are ambush points. When the bass are in the pads (lily pads) I'll either throw a topwater frog or a senko, just make sure whatever it is it's weedless. If you learn to be observant and look for subtle differencs in bottom composition, grass or tree type, or water temperature or clarity, you'll also find bass. Anything "unusual" will hold fish. Hope this helps Dalton

Well, with 60 degree water tempurature, the bass will become a little more active. I'd check in the back of creek pockets and other flats for prespawn bass. If you find any, you can't beat a Red Eye Shad thrown at 'em. Unless the moon has been recently or is full, I don't think many will be on beds, and if you do see some bucks fanning out beds, ignore them. They're so caught up in their "business" that they will usually ignore lures. Even prespawn sows will be fussy. But, like I said, if I was there with you, I'd fish the backs of creeks and any grass-laden flat I can find. Good luck and tight lines, Dalton

Thanks, I'll give it some more time. I appreciate it.

I picked up one of these baits in chrome sexy shad color. I took it out today, but didn't catch anything on it. How do yall fish this bait? I was stoppin and goin, but I don't know if that's best. I know it's supposed to shimmy on the fall.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I'm focused in on this one spot that they seem to congregate around. It's the only real cover along this entire pocket, and so I think working that area slowly and methodically will produce results.

There's a cold front that's supposed to come through my side of town on friday. We had some rain today, a cool rain. I figure that, along with the front, and 70 degree conditions prior to the front will cause a pretty rapid cool down of the lake. I've been killin them on senkos, and I figured that I'd continue using them, just to see if I'll get some bites. Am I just spinnin my wheels doin this? I know I gotta fish it slow, but all this rain otta get the mud stirred up, which would make worm or even jig fishin difficult. I'm at a crossroads, can anybody point me in the right direction?

Smaller bass have been known to eat things that are pretty big in relation to their own body size. I would say that more larger bass would be interested in it, however, than smaller bass. Since the water is muddy, try to use a higher visibility color, insert a rattle or use scent or other attractant. I find that Berkeley makes a good bass attractant that can be found in walmart (at least here in Texas) Hope this helps