Bluebasser86

I had white bass blowing up all over around my boat almost everywhere I went Friday morning. Managed to catch a whopping 2 of them and neither one was bigger than 8". Not sure what they wanted, but it wasn't anything I was offering them.

You can use them, but they'll damage the line a bit so you're going to break your line occasionally. Check for egg sinkers, they work in a pinch if you can't find bullet weights.

This is very true. A poorly presented live bait is just as ineffective as a poorly presented lure. There's times live bait might be much more productive, but there's times when lures are going to be way more productive. Fish buried in heavy cover, going to be hard to get a live bait to them. Fish that are schooling and biting quickly, live bait works, but a lure can be presented much faster and without constant rebaiting so it's much more efficient. When fish are scattered and you can let a bait sit and soak, being able to cover more water with a lure is going to be a big advantage. Keeping live bait alive and lively is not always easy either. There's times during the winter I know I could go net some shad and free line them in the same places I'm fishing a jerkbait or shakyhead and catch way more fish, but just the hassle of dealing with them isn't worth it most days.

Big cool snaps during the summer months rarely produce good fishing in my experience. It always sucks because I get so hyped up to go out in the nice weather, then get beat down by the bad fishing almost every time. It's highly unlikely your lake turned over from that minor of a temperature drop though.

Article about a muskie attack, picture shows a walleye, fine reporting if I do say so.

Infections are common during the warm weather months when bacteria is more prevalent and prone to thrive when it takes hold. Fish will often get infections from small injuries received during the spawn from rubbing on each other or hard bottom substrate while making nest, even fighting predators off from their nest. The stresses of spawning make it more difficult to fight infections so the infections grow. That fish actually looks to be healing up pretty well from an infection.

I think everyone but me was out there today from all the FB pictures and post I've seen today.

I still carry a bunch of grubs and use them fairly often. A 4" Yamamoto or Kalin's grub on a 1/8-1/4oz head and just reeled in slowly is a deadly way to catch them, especially in clear, cooler water.

Even adult bluegill can survive on the smallest organisms. An adult bass requires larger prey items to survive effectively. There aren't many places a bluegill can survive that a bass can't if there is the proper forage available.

I have 3 Revros and have been really happy with them. I've used nothing between them and the Tatula to compare but they're excellent reels for the money.

Find a bolt the appropriate length and width to fit in a drill and put a nut and washer up to the head of the bolt. Put you spool on the bolt, bolt into the drill, tighten the nut/washer combo down to the top of the spool and fire it up.

We wore them out pretty good at Beaver Lake in Arkansas one day on a 1/16oz Ned in 40' of water. Took a long time, maybe close to a minute, for it to sink. Fishing an underwater bluff I'd found and fish were stacked on it. A lot of drops the bait never made it to the bottom, but they wanted that slow fall. I tried a jigging spoon, drop shot, and tube also and they wouldn't touch any of them.

I'm guessing the OP is fishing one of the ultra clear residential ponds in Florida where getting bit on anything but live bait is pretty difficult. I don't have any issue using live bait and do it myself on occasion, but it isn't my preferred method.

No telling if they're actually using 1/2oz baits either. If it wasn't for the fact that I use so few different sizes of weights, I'd have no idea what I'm using most of the time. Might just be easier for them to say they're using 1/2oz because they don't remember or maybe they don't feel like explaining why they're using a different size.

I start shallow and only go deep if I don't find them there.

Learn this technique. I never leave a hook in a fish's throat.

Welcome!

It's from Parks and Rec, the whole bit was hilarious.

I've got a couple dozen of the regular size and the Jrs and they perform great. The only thing I don't care for is the Trokar hooks on the full sized version.

I use a composite rod with 12lb mono. Fluoro has a lot of stretch also. Sharp hooks and the long rod negates the line stretching.

The friction ring most likely. I believe a lot of guys were removing it completely and using it without it. I switched to Daiwa and it fixed the problem.

During the coldest months, even large bass feed on tiny invertebrates. Aquatic bugs of all kinds are on the menu, many of which are the larval stage of flying insects we see later when the temps warm. I caught a 20" bass fishing for trout a couple years ago on a 1/80th ounce micro jig under a bobber while fishing for trout. They'll gorge on mayflies too.

I've got a bunch of plastic making materials that I've barely used. I told myself I was going to do it but I never have time. I've got the molds, microwave, plastics, glitter, softener, measuring cups, injectors, barely used any of it. Couple dozen lead molds, 2 melting pots, chunks and sheets of lead scattered everywhere, all kinds of random tools, 3 3700 boxes of hooks and inserts and 2 big boxes of 1000 packs of hooks, and who knows how many things of paint. Another table with 2 vises, skirt material all over the place, tons of tools, lots of different kinds of wire all over. I have plenty of other stuff I'd like still.

I still use Pointers, Staysees, and Slender Pointers a lot. I haven't been a big fan of any of their other hard baits though. They work, but not so great to justify the premium price to me. They discontinued a lot of popular baits too it seems like in their squarebill lineup. I do have a 2.0 in their Bull Bream color that is one of my favorite squarebills.

The empty seats are weird, but I do love how loud the crack of the bat is when they get ahold of one.