Bankbeater

Welcome from Missouri.

Most winters we get hit with a cold spell that will freeze the lakes over for maybe a month. The rest of the winter you can fish if you can take the temps and the wind.

I know the lakes to a degree. I've fished a couple of smaller sized lakes since I was a little kid. I can find the creek channels, flats, and the ends of the points, when the water level allows it. Fallen trees, grass lines, and weed beds change from year to year, and that is usually where the bass hang out.

I've found a couple of bandito bugs that I have used as trailers. I have also found a banger crankbait, but I need to put hooks on it. Other than that, no.

This year's round up. Some are beyond saving, but a few look like they are brand new. The topwater that looks like a spook threw me for a while. I finally discovered it is part of a catfishing rig.

I have luck with red crankbaits, but no luck with red lipless crankbaits. If I'm fishing a lipless crankbait then they will need to be orange, or have some orange mixed in. An orange or red vibrating jig with a red or orange trailer is a waste of time. My trailer either needs to be brown or green pumpkin.

I have 8 or 9 that I have found, but I have never used them. Sounds like I need to put on some hooks and give them a try.

Good thoughts and prayers heading your way.

My goals are to have fun, fish a couple of new spots next year, and fish with more ultra light tackle.

Watch your line. If it looks like the bass is coming to the surface to jump, wait until it is about half way out of the water and then set the hook again. You're just wanting to pull hard enough to tip the bass over and break the jump.

I'm going to call it and say my bass season has ended. These are some of the little ones I caught this November.

Cerebral Tackle posted an interview with Houseman. All I'm going to say is wow.

I still have a bunch of the old Zoom small tubes in the 3" size. I Texas rig them and fish them like a jig.

If I fished that rig around here I would hang the jerkbait on a snag, or the weight would get stuck under something. Either way, I'd lose the bait.

Everyone have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Supermarket parking lots are dangerous too.

Most of my purchases are replacement hooks and fishing line. I'll ask for gift cards for my b-day or over the holidays. The cards tend to cover anything that come up unexpectedly. Every once in a great while I will get on a role that will make the bait monkey smile.

Congratulations on the first of many!

On a regular basis, I probably use less that 10% of my baits. I do try to go through the pile a couple times a year and find a bait that I think will work. However, if that bait doesn't work it goes back in the pile when I get back home.

This year's top baits: 1/4 oz. Strike King Swim Jig 6" Weightless straight tail worm 4" Finesse worm on a split shot rig. Weightless Fluke Pop-R

Just beautiful.

I fish with the same crankbaits year round. The only difference is when the water gets cold, I slow up my retrieve. I also don't pause the bait too long. I don't want the bass getting a good look at it.

Most of the time I fish a tube on a Texas rig. If the weight is 1/8 or less then I use spinning, anything heavier I use casting.

The bass I've caught this month have all been around rip rap. If they aren't hitting moving baits then I cast out a Texas rig. All the way down where the rock ends and the bottom of the lake starts.

I went on a lot of trips this past spring and summer with mixed results. I never broke the 4 lb mark, but I did catch a lot of 3 lbers. Now that the fall temps are starting to bounce around the bass fishing will probably slow down a bit.