Bluebasser86

I use a 6' 2" Avid for my poppers and hard jerkbaits. It's light so it doesn't fatigue my wrist as fast and I can work my bait without slapping the water. I used to have a 5' 4" Cabela's XML I used for spinnerbaits but it was a pain fighting a big fish on it, literally would torque my wrist so hard with a big fish I quit using it.

That's what I was thinking, treble hooked topwaters and hard jerkbaits would probably work on it pretty well.

The Shimano Compre is a great rod for the money but the Abu rods get good reviews for the most part. St.Croix Premiers a little heavier but they were my first nicer rods and served me well, still fish with a few of them even.

They are very nice reels, especially for that price range. I've been a diehad Shimano fan but I think I'm going to go out on a limb and try a Pfluegar Supreme XT. It's a sweet looking reel and it balances the rod I'm going to put it on perfectly. Plus it comes with a spare spool, I don't understand why the Symetre doesn't come with one anymore. I really like to be able to have floro on one spool and braid on the other but I don't want to spend more money just to get a spare spool. http://www.***.com/Pflueger_Supreme_XT_Spinning_Reel/descpage-PPCRS.html

I had some and was less than thrilled with the results. They have pretty good action on a straight retrieve or when fished like a regular jerkbait but they just didn't catch fish for me.

1.Pitboss 2.Homemade jig 3.Cavitron honorable mention goes to the baby brush hog

Nice fish! A football for sure!

Those were mine, I'll PM you the address you can send them to.

It's possible they might not have been bass. If the shad are there then there's probably lots of different kinds of fish there. There might be a large school of catfish, gar, drum, or any kind of fish that might eat shad. I would probably try the crank like suggested along with a swimbait, flutter spoon, and C-rig. If that doesn't work then I'd probably assume they either are inactive or not bass.

If what you are doing isn't working then you should do something different. May not need to do something different somewhere else, might just need a slight change to flip the switch. How do you normally catch your fish off this hump? If you normally catch them C-rigging then try a deep crank or T-rig. Offshore spots that are productive seem to be productive year after year, but if you keep offering them the same thing every time they might grow wise to it. With the water temps you described I would for sure be checking out any shallow cover also, especially in murky water.

Any idea what type of bass are in it or average size? I'd probably be fishing plastics on a shakeyhead, dropshot, T-rig, C-rig, in that order and in natural colors. Sometimes a burned spinnerbait in bright colors will work well in clear water, especially if there's smallmouth. Topwater can be very effective in deep clear water also. You might look at some of the articles on the site and read up a little on fishing deep clear water also.

Above 50 and below 75 seems to be about the best range around here but I've caught them through the ice and out of a powerplant lake during the summer with water temps in the mid 90's. They have to eat no matter what the water temp is .

Despite extreme temps and to our surprise my friends stepson, Christopher decided to go with us last week. I think it had something to do with me talking to him about the big catfish he'd have a chance to catch at the lake we were going to. We got there really early to try to beat the heat for an hour or so. My second fish of the morning barely made a sound when it sucked down my Cavitron but as you can see by the picture she almost had it swallowed! Shortly after Christopher got a hit dragging a Tiki Stick on a T-rig and caught a pretty sturdy bass. Everyone caught several fish but they were pretty much all small fish. It started to get hot and just about the time the frozen shad in my livewell were starting to get ripe, the fish feeders went off. So I motored over and rigged up a piece of shad on one of my baitrunner rods and cast it to the feeder. I didn't even get the rod handed over before a fish took off. After a pretty good fight on a medium spinning rod, Christopher caught the biggest fish he's ever caught! Didn't weigh it but his biggest fish before this one was a 4lb catfish and it was for sure bigger than that. He caught several more catfish before we got back to bass fishing. It was over 100 degrees by now and we were just getting ready to call it a day when Christopher drug his bait down a sharp drop and hooked his biggest bass of the day. It was probably 3-3.5 pounds and a new PB bass for him! All and all I think he had a pretty successful day and he had big fish bragging rights between the two of them!

Just a word of warning, if that is one of the original carrot sticks they seemed to have a lot of breakage issues. I had one for about a year that broke suddenly on the retrieve while I was yo-yoing a trap, no snag, no fish, just folded in half. I've heard several other guys that have had them break and my wife works at Cabela's and they are apparently one of the most returned rods because of it.

Let me know what you think of that Mojo cranking rod. I'm not digging my Skeet Reese cranking rod and will probably be on the market for a new cranking rod this winter and that one may be an option.

I got an email from an online store selling stradics and curados for 40% off. I've been waiting to get a new spinning reel to put on the LTB rod I bought, the wait may be over .

I've been doing really well with a Decoy Hydratail lately. It has a single hook on top and a spot to rig up a treble on the bottom. It's a little easier for a fish to throw since it's not a line through type bait but they're only $12 so they don't break the bank and are pretty durable. http://www.***.com/Decoy_5_Hydra_Tail_Swimbait/descpage-DHT.html

Wow, where do you start? Almost any bait that sinks or dives can be a bottom fishing bait. This time of year I fish a lot of shakeyheads with a trick worm, 3/8 oz jigs in some kind of dark color, brush hogs, big worms, deep running cranks, yo-yoing traps, slow rolling heavy spinnerbaits, ripping jigging spoons, drop shot rigs, and C-rig if I'm getting desperate. I'd check out some of the articles on here to help you get an idea of where to start and what to try.

I'm not a big fan of using swimming tail worms in heavy cover because of the tendency for the tail to catch on the cover and keep it from getting to the bottom. If I do use a worm something like a Zoom magnum finesse or trick worm or a Rage thumper are my choices. The Thumper is really growing on me becaue the short thick tail puts out the vibration to help them find it in cover but the tail is small and short enough to help keep it from hanging up.

They're one of my go to baits on a shakeyhead too. They glide and settle really well on a shakeyhead and are a very subtle action but still a little bigger profile than a small finesse worm. Even in your 10-12 foot spots I'd be using a 1/2oz weight to help keep contact with the bottom and get an idea of what is down there. I drag my C-rig slowly to give fish a chance to find the source of the noise they're hearing and to help me feel what the bottom is like. I've found some pretty good brushpiles and rockpiles C-rigging.

The right hook is important and so is the right rod. Since you're using an open hook you don't need a big meat stick to drive that hook home but you don't want an ultralite either. I have a 6' 8" M/F spinning rod with 8lb floro I use for wacky rigging and don't miss many fish at all. For a hook I like a 1/0 or 2/0 mosquito hook.

When the king shads first came out I was fishing them for wipers during the winter and killing them. Bad thing was wipers pull like a truck and the plastic hinges could only stand so much abuse. I went through over $100 worth of them in a single day. Last Tuesday I was talking to my wife on the I-phone she got me for my birthday in April (despite my protest because of my mistake track record with phones). Well it was super hot and my hands were sweating so I tried to adjust my grip, slip, plop, almost $500 gone.... Not only did I lose my phone but my wife was mad at me when I got home!

Mine was a Winchester model 100 20 gauge. Shot lots of squirrels, rabbits, quail, and dove with it in between gun jams I don't have it anymore and I really don't miss having all my buddies shooting doves that were flying over while I was still trying to get a jammed shell out.

Small crawfish imitations on a shakeyhead or a weightless fluke have been really good baits for me for smallmouth in slower water areas on rivers. Ripping a hard jerkbait like a 78 pointer can really trigger them sometimes too.

Fishing has been pretty good around here despite 100+ degree temps for the last 2 weeks and water temps in the low 90's. It's way better early and late in the day but they'll bite all day long. I've been doing well with buzzbaits and jigs at night, swimbaits, shakeyheads, jigs, brush hogs, and squarebill cranks during the day.