phisher_d

I've read that too. It almost always ends up killing the fish if you release it after, it pinches their optic nerves or something and then they die a slow death. That was a pretty accepted practice back then though. You're right, times have changed.

Exactly

Sometimes you can overdo it on the shaking. Especially with smallmouths in cold water I have found that they will often bite better when you dedstick it. If you're not getting bites with the shaking, try leaving it alone. It might be the ticket. Hope this helps

Does a drop-shot rig work well in cold water? Slow, subtle, suspended, scented... Seems like the perfect fit. Anyone try this?

For pitching I use a medium-heavy or heavy action graphite rod with 50 lb (12lb diameter) PowerPro. Pitching and flipping are really useful when you want to get a bait into tight spots around heavy cover and have a very quiet entry. These techniques are also beneficial if there is not enough room around you to make a regular cast. Pitching allows you to have a greater distance range than flipping (which restricts your lure to within about 15 feet of the boat, depending on how long your rod is), but I think the two are interchangeable other than that. If you get good at flipping you can do it much faster than pitching. I don't flip much so I don't know what tackle is best suited for it, but I've had no problems using the same stuff I use for pitching. Some reels have a "flippin' switch" which means that when it is on, you engage the reel simply by letting go of the thumb bar instead of having to turn the handle. If you're going to flip a lot, it is definitely a good thing to have, but it's not absolutely necessary. Good Luck. Hope this helps.

1. Spinnerbaits 2. Jig 'n Pigs 3. Tubes

Maybe like someone said before the muddy water made the fish's coloring less vivid and more pale.

Lookin' at that picture, I'd say it's a spot. Just my opinion

1. Jimmy Houston 2. Rick Clunn 3. Roland Martin

I don't really know what a spotted bass looks like, but I'll agree with flechero that the jaw definitely doesn't go past the eye like it would on a normal largemouth.

Wow!!! That's a monster!!! ;D ;D I can't imagine reeling in a smallie that big.

1. KVD 2. Clunn 3. Brauer ;D ;D

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm gonna' stock up on trailer hooks over the winter and as soon as the lakes unfreeze up here I'll definitely be trying this stuff out. Thanks again and happy holidays.

Thanks for the tips guys. What kinds of trailer hooks do you recommend and how do you attach them? If you're using surgical tubing is it better to slip it over the hook eye and then put the hook on or should I just let the hook swing free and then put a piece of tubing on after to keep it on?

I've used spinnerbaits a lot this year and I've found that I've been missing a lot of fish... too many. I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what. I know I could put on a trailer hook but I don't think I'll get as many bites. Maybe I'm setting the hook wrong or something. Any ideas? Thanks in advance... ps. I always try to keep my hooks sharp, so I don't think that's the problem. pss. I've been fishing spinnerbaits on a BPS extreme MH 7-foot rod with powerpro line.

The spinnerbait was my #1 lure this year. I caught tons of fish on it, along with a new pb. For smallmouths I had the best success with chartreuse and watermelon tubes on a 1/8oz tube head. Next year I'm going to work on building my confidence with crankbaits.

I've done well with everything mentioned before, along with topwater poppers.

It depends on conditions and what kind of fish I am fishing for. Most of the time when I'm fishing for smallies, I will be fishing on underwater structure that you can't see without a depthfinder or map, so pre-picking my spots is a big help there. But when I'm largemouth fishing on the other hand, I usually fish near surface cover like weeds or laydowns. Even then I will sometimes pull out a map to find productive looking areas and when I get to them I will look for surface cover nearby. Researching a lake is definitely a big help if you're unfamiliar with it.

Chris wrote a good tube article: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1131171508

I fish tubes in two ways: On the bottom as a crayfish imitation Swimming as a baitfish imitation When I'm fishing a tube on the bottom, I texas rig it either weightless or with a sliding bullet sinker for deeper situations. I use a technique sort of like what RW described in his 3rd paragraph, but I've also had success simply dragging them on bottom back to the boat. If you're doing this with a weightless tube, you have to go vvveerrryyy slow. For bottom hopping I like a 3-3.5 inch tube. My colour choice is usually green, brown, black or some dark colour like that. If you know what the crayfish in your lake look like, you could try to match those colours as well. For swimming a tube, I like light tube head (usually 1/8-1/4oz) on a smaller 2-3 inch tube. I cast that out and let it fall on a slack line, watching the line as it falls. If anything doesn't look right, set the hook. When it gets to the desired depth, I retrieve it back slowly with subtle jerks. The coloder the water, the slower you will probably want to retrieve. If you get a bite and miss the fish, open the bail or put the reel in free spool and let the tube free fall. This makes the bass think it has killed the fish and it will often pick it up a second time. My colour choices for swimming are chartreuse, pearl, white, silver and other light, baitfish type colours. In dingy water I like to add a rattle to my tubes, but in clear water I find that it can sometimes have a negative effect and scare bass away. In that situation I sometimes thread a small piece of sponge onto the shank of the tube head (or into the body of the tube if it is t-rigged) and then squirt some attractant onto it. The sponge holds the scent for a long time. I don't know how much the brand of tubes matters, but I usually just fish BPS tubes because of their ultra-low price. If you are texas-rigging the tube though, you would benifit more from a softer (usually more expensive) tube because it will give you a better hookset. I do most of my tube fishing on spinning gear with 8-10 pound mono or fluorocarbon, but if I'm fishing heavy cover for largemouths, baitcasting and braid are always options. As for rod and reel, the best you can afford. For me, that's not very much, but the added sensitivity and power in an expensive setup is always a plus. Hope this helps

Awesome job Glenn ;D ...and just when we thought it couldn't get any better...

One time I was fishing for pike in a small pedal-boat and I saw a huge smallie jump in the distance. I headed over and on my way it jumped again. I tied on a spinnerbait with a big single colorado blade and started burning it everywhere I saw the fish. This ticked it off so much that it decided that it would try to ram the boat. It was like jaws, v-wake and everything (well, except for the big grey fin). At the last second it turned away. I'd never had a fish do anything like that before. It was kinda scary. ps. I caught it about fifteen minutes later. 3.5 pounds (big one for me anyway)

I use 50 pound (12 pound diameter) Power Pro for most of my jig fishing. If you are using lighter jigs, you would probably want to scale that down a bit but definitely go heavy for jiggin' hope this helps

Sounds like a question for Chris

I would try a fat Ika. I asked a question like yours on this site a while ago and someone suggested it. Next time I went to the pond, I tied one on and it worked like magic. I use small spinnerbaits a lot there too but it might be getting a little cold for them now. Suspending jerkbaits like an x-rap work well this time of year too. just make sure they're not too big. ps. I know what you mean about this being the best time of year to fish the pond. The pond near where I live is completely covered with surface weeds through the whole summer and even weedless lures don't handle it very well.