Bluebasser86

Provoke fish;

I would not buy another pair of Costas since their warranty changed. My last pair of glass lense I bought, the rubber on the bridge of the nose fell off completely after a couple years and they will do nothing for me. I believe they were bought out and that's why the change happened.

I can't say that I won't, because I know I will, but spybaits are skating on real thin ice with me. I want them to work, and I know they do, but other than one night of catching white bass one after the other, I'm usually just disappointed with the results, sometimes more than others.

It's pretty unusual for me to go a day without catching something other than a bass. Just a few from this year; 52lbs on a jigging spoon 17+ on a football jig Little trout on a homemade bladed jig Crappie on a 1/2oz spinnerbait. Carp on a Ned. Crappie on a stupid tube. Swinghead Menace walleye Swimming a grub Striper on a Duo Rozante 2 person limit of walleyes on a duo rozante trying to prefish for a bass tournament swimbait sunfish Punching gar Topwater channel cat Ned rig warmouth Ned rig redear

I've paid so little attention to professional fishing the last few years, I don't even know who is sponsored by who anymore except for a few really big names that are plastered all over everything they are sponsored by.

They were super concerned about zebra mussels here and then every lake that got them, the fishing got better, water cleared up, and the bass, especially the smallmouth, got bigger and there was more of them. They're a pain to deal with, probably the biggest impact is the reservoir inlet/outlets, but I'm still waiting for the doomsday that was promised when they eat all the plankton out of the water and all the fry and forage species starve. I've even had adult smallmouth puke up mussel shells in my livewell. Maybe accidentally ingested when they were eating something else off the top of a rock, but interesting to see.

I got some Scotty rod holders and backing plates for my kayak, a Lowrance 7 Ti-2 for my kayak, a new full back seat for the back of my boat, and an Aftco Reaper windproof hoodie.

Anything from keitech that says "real squid scent", on it, don't smell it, just take their word for it, trust me.

Glad you caught it in time. It's been gone over pretty thoroughly here.

Made it out for a few hours on a beautiful last day of the year. My very first cast produced an 18" fish on a Stunna. slowed down a lot from there but I caught 11 or 12 on the jerkbait and a Ned rig. The Ned himself was out there also, snuck a fish out from behind him, on a Ned rig ? Not the most productive trip but 5" of snow and sub zero temps in the forecast this week, wanted to make the best of it.

A golden shiner would have to 5 pounds to have a mouth that size ?

I tried using one for a terminal box and everything in it rusted. I don't put rigged hooks in my terminal box.

It's a pale largemouth

I wouldn't let 2 fish completely sway your way of thinking. It's possible that the fall rate was making a difference that day, but 2 fish isn't exactly a solid bite/pattern.

I have 2 of the Plano Edge plastic boxes that work great and happen to fit just perfectly in my boat storage. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Plano_EDGE_Master_Plastics_Box/descpage-PEP.html

I really like the "tick, tick, tick", of a full sized one knocker Spook, and so do the fish.

Don't fish them then? They're not super popular for no reason but that doesn't mean you have to fish them. I promise you can sell the ones you bought no problem.

Winter bait size selection is the same process as summertime bait size selection for me, let the fish decide. I've caught them on 8" glides in December and Ned rigs in January/February. I prefer to stick to the larger side of the spectrum if possible. Bigger fish seem to be lazy in the winter, so they either want a big bait, or something moving very slow. A big bait moving very slow tends to be my best combination for big, wintertime bass. Of course, big is a relative term. A 300 KVD jerkbait is bigger than a lot of other jerkbaits. The magnum finesse and magnum trick worms I fish on my shakyheads are bigger than the standard worms other people are fishing on their shakyheads. Even when I fish a Ned rig, I prefer to use a Big TRD or Trout Trick in the winter to get a bigger profile and slower fall.

They make XL sized blades. I make mine on a 3/4 or 1oz poison head with an 8/0 hook. This a comparison picture next to a standard 3/8oz bait that I made.

I have some necked down weedguard pins I got from @cadman I believe? One set is small enough that it only takes 1-2 weedguard fibers to fill the hole. It works great for my 1/8oz snootie jig mold. The bigger ones take about 8 weedguard fibers to fill the hole and work really well for my 1/4oz snootie jig heads to make my own version of a Bitsy Bug jig.

I had high hopes as well, but the same results.

Defensive Tactics

I was hoping to be fishing on New Year's Day, but 3.5" of snow are supposed to fall and it's barely supposed to clear 20* with 20+mph winds, so I guess I'm staying home. My long time fishing buddy's birthday is the first week of January and he wants to go on a trip the weekend after, so it looks like my first fishing of the year will be on Table Rock/Taneycomo, which I'm not complaining about.

I tried to put together an unofficial one on Table Rock several years ago and I think 5 or 6 people showed up. Kind of how it usually goes, a bunch of people were interested at first, then they drop off one by one until there's barely enough people left to make worth the trip other than for the fishing.

6' 10" seems like it would be a really long rod for shooting docks. Most bass baits that you'd be shooting under a dock can be skipped easily anyways.