Big Bass Chaser

X2

I have used them and like them, if you are going to wacky or nose hook go with the smaller size, if you are going to texas rig it, go with the bigger size. I have both sizes for both applications.

I'm willing to bet that's a northern strain largemouth, and to catch a northern in Ohio (where it snows and freezes) at 10+ lbs is just amazing, bravo.

1. I spend the night before on the couch next to my wife, getting my rods and gear ready for the following morning. I also prepare water and food and put that in my backpack. 2. I try to sleep early but invariably my wife keeps me up later than I want to be. 3. I wake around 4:30am, load the car, and drive to the lake I'm fishing that day (getting there around 5:30). 4. As I don't have a boat and all the lakes are hike-in only, I begin my hike (or sometimes bike) in which takes anywhere between 10 minutes and 45 minutes. 5. If I am at the lake while the light is still low, I will fish a buzzbait or popper, otherwise I usually start by burning a crank or spinnerbait searching for a reaction bite. 6. As the sun climbs I start fishing deeper and looking for cover. I usually switch to a slower bait (senko, dropshot, jig) before mid-day. 7. As the light begins to fade I will start throwing the crank again. 8. When I start to have trouble seeing my lure I know it's time to hike/bike out. I might start early if I am in for a very hairy hike out. 9. Get back to the car, usually tired as heck from billygoating up and down steep rocky hills to access the water all day. 10. Examine myself for ticks, change into comfortable clothes (I tend to wear heavy-duty clothes for hiking/sliding/climbing necessary), think about the fish I caught that day. Some pics of my day : Hike in: Lake view : Good fish for my lakes:

Huh? How do you run the line through the slot again? As in wrap it around the weight? Or?

River 2 Sea w/ Larry Dahlberg of Hunt for Big Fish fame is about to release basically the same thing. I hope it's durable.

If the water is that stained, I would throw an XCalibur 1 knocker 3/4oz, a BIG colorado bladed spinnerbait, 1 oz football head jig w/ rattles and a big craw trailer, maybe buzzbaits if they are busting a lot. Just something that is either going to displace a lot of water, send off massive vibrations, or knock/rattle hard against the bottom where it's at all rocky.

Dropshot a finesse worm, seems to work everywhere. Maybe a 8-12" T-rigged curly tailed worm vertically next to vertical cover? How deep is the lake and what kind of bottom? The pond closest to my house has bass, I've seen them, but they are so super pressured I don't bother, hopefully that's not the case for you.

I'm interested in what most people's personal best was caught on, as I suspect it's the jig or something very similar. My personal best (7.8oz) was caught punching mats with a punch rig in the Sacramento Delta last summer.

Fished some of my favorite lakes in Marin on Sunday. Landed 16 (four dinks), missed 3. Here are the kicker fish : Bass (weighed in at 3lbs 12 oz) : The blood is from the hook that was in his snout, a lot of blood for a tiny hole. Wild Rainbow Trout (about 3 lbs) : Yes, that is a 3/4 oz jig with a 4" Crazy Legs Chigger Craw trailer in it's mouth.

Big-O, I know that Mexican gangs are holding up bass fishermen on Lake Fork for their gear/boats. While I'm sure it has the beneficial effect of lowering the fishing pressure lately, how do you avoid getting shot at?

Gobig, While I'd like to fish the deep divers, I'm landlocked and it's usually (although not always) a possibility. I tend to not throw baits that dive below 10' although once in a while I've thrown the DD22 with no success. Both WRB and you mention fishing points (and then secondary points), which I should be but haven't targeted lately. I will be putting everyone's suggestions to work this weekend, if I do well I'll come back and add a link to my fishing report to this thread. Thanks.

Yeah, I am often reluctant to fish the deep divers there. I am probably guilty of not throwing enough swimbaits, I will try some of the smaller paddletails again. Regarding C/T rigging, I've never really commited to C-rigging over a long period of time (month) but it's probably worth trying again, especially in the finesse variety. Regardless of what the original DFG plant was, Alpine and Nicasio are currently Florida-strain (we've debated this very subject in the Marin Bass Club), with only Kent being Northern. Verified by measuring jaw to eye alignment. To the shad, maybe they are there, but I have NEVER heard of anyone seeing bait balls or bass pushing shad into coves. All this topwater talk! I really haven't put my time in with the very top of the water column and now that you mention, I am going to again. I have a couple of walk-the-dog baits and frogs that I'm going to give a try (in addtion to the previously mentioned buzz and wake baits).

Fish all three (from shore), Alpine hasn't been stocked with trout for at least a decade or more and the other two never have to my knowledge. Above those lakes, Bon Tempe is stocked regularly although I rarely if ever fish there. One plus is that some stocker trout washed down from Bon Tempe and holdovers do live in Alpine and Kent. I will give the big wake baits a try, up to now I've been reluctant to throw something that isn't fast if it isn't a jig or plastic in such clear water. I've thrown a 6" bbz swimbait in trout color but I've yet to get a bite. Last summer I did well around dusk and into early night on the crank and I will give that a try again. Tried C-rigging a 4" chigger craw for no bites the other day, will have to try the big T-rigged worms as I've never given them a chance. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I hadn't thrown any non-natural colors (chart) because of the water clarity being 10 feet or greater, but it might just trigger them. I have a crank almost exactly as you describe, deeper diver with chart sides and a blue/purple back, I'll have to give it a try. Regarding cranking super deep 20+, I've been reluctant to do that but I will give it a try. I do have a DD22 in sexy shad that I never use.

I fish the Lagunitas chain of lakes (not that far above sea level) in Marin and there are no shad to be had. Most of the lakes are southern strain around here too. The spawn (believe it or not) started in a hot week at the end of Feb, shut down during all the rain, then some have been spawning every warm spell since. I think most have spawned at this point, but I'm not sure. Most my crank fish are coming in 6' of water or less, none over 3 lbs this year.

Just for background, I'm fishing in at least 10' of visibility, rocky reservoirs in anywhere from 4' to 50' of water. I've spent the past month or so trying not to throw anything but cranks, wanting to learn all about them and how to make bass bite them. The lakes I fish have no shad, but they do have bluegill, crappie, and crayfish in numbers. It seems that while I can catch numbers on the crank, I cannot catch bigger fish even when I fish very close to heavy cover. Lately it seems most of the fish are holding tight to wood with a specific kind of weed growth on it in 3'-15' of water and want a slow fluttering fall of a weightless plastic rather than a crank. I've mainly thrown lipless cranks so that I could cover the entire water column by counting down after I cast. I have also thrown medium divers with square bills trying to bang it off of cover to generate the reaction strike. How do I trigger the bigger fish to bite the crank or in general where they aren't used to chasing open water fish will I not get big bites on a crank?

Thanks guys.

I have two less than a year old Curado 200E reels which did not come with spare spools. I'd like to have spools with different size/strength/type of line on them and Shimano sure doesn't make it easy to find spare spools (probably as a marketing ploy to get you to buy more reels). Does anyone know a good source for the spare spools?

Having a good, not great year. Caught 4 largemouth over 4 lbs (largest going 4.7), caught 3 smallmouth over 3 lbs (largest going 5.5). Have caught serious numbers of 1-2lb fish thanks to a bud letting me fish private water once. I missed my chance at the DDs on beds locally, but there is always next year or night fishing. I have a feeling I'm going to get a DD fish this year though, or at very least beat my PB of 7.5.

Buddy of mine and I fished a lake in Marin for a total of 8 fish. Here are our best and we're going back tomorrow before the rains hits town: 5lb 5oz (buddy) - the fish had a FAT belly, saw it when it flipped completely out of the water landing on it's back. 4lb 7oz (mine) - this girl would not quit, she kept making runs, but only started when she saw the shore.

How is that not HIGHLY illegal?

I threw everything at them the other day, only thing that produced a bite was a speed trap.

LOL... the Tail less Grub!!! I get those for free when the arms rip off a grub, haha.

What about a snowboard store end-of-season sale. You can get the very top of the line cold/wet weather gear for chump change.