Bankbeater

I figure I can get used to the color if the rod or reels works properly and has what I am looking for.

The fish don't care how much you've spent.

I can't think of a bait that I wouldn't try on a bluebird sky day.

My two best jigs in clear water are black/blue and green pumpkin. I start out with the 1/8 size instead of 3/8 because I figure I will just be tying on the 1/8 on eventually anyway. I like a small craw trailer that closely matches the color of the jig skirt.

Yesterday went out and hit some ponds. This bass nailed a pop-r, but the topwater bite was all done by 8 AM when the sunlight came over the trees and hit the water. Bass was 4-06 lb.

The spot. Find the fish then figure out what they are biting.

Probably spooks. I inherited a bunch of them when my dad passed away, but I really learned how to fish with them about 3 years ago.

Nice going! Fishing with jigs is addictive.

I’ll be fishing alone most of the time. If I do take someone fishing it’s usually to show them how to fish, and what a typical day is like. On those days I don’t mind not catching.

Mine was on a jitterbug in about 15 to 20 FOW.

Zara spooks, poppers, and jitterbugs. I like to work them between weed mats on the surface.

Looks like a warmouth to me.

The first thing I do is try and see what baits the other anglers are fishing with. After that I find a bait that is different, and then go down in size.

Those are two nice bass right there.

I got home from work and my Father's day gifts were waiting for me.

I'm getting so I always wear a buff. Even when I have on a wide brim hat. I don't do the gloves. The eczema on my hands doesn't like it.

A Mann's baby one minus worked slow over and around vegetation. If the dinks won't hit that I throw a 2" Rapala floating minnow at them.

I would hold off fishing until the bone heals. One little accident and you'll be back at the doctor's office.

I always start fishing the vegetation first, especially in hot weather. Cover for bait fish, shade, and oxygen. When the bite dies in the vegetation, I start looking for shade over deep water.

During the year I will wipe down and clean as needed, or after fishing in snot slop. Once a year, usually in January, the reels get broken down and get a thorough cleaning.

Unless I'm punching, I like to downsize when it gets hot. Finesse plastic worms, smaller sized creature baits on t-rigs, and 1/8 oz jig and craws I can pull through the weeds easily.

T-rig Jig and craw Weightless Moving bait. This can be topwater, spinnerbait, lipless, or shallow crankbait.

Nope.

The pop-r is the only topwater I have that has feathers on it. Sometimes the bass want it and sometimes they don't.

I was off on Friday so I decided to hit some nearby ponds this weekend. 6/11/21 Hot, no breeze until around 8 AM, bright and sunny all day. I started off at a pond that was about 4-1/2 acres, and has matted vegetation forming on one end, and lilypads on the other end. I was carrying 3 rigs fishing with a pop-r, weightless 6" worm, and t-rigged speed craw. I made it about 1/4 way around when I caught a small bass working the pop-r around the mats on the surface. I worked those mats some more and backed up to rework the mats I had already passed. I made it around to the lilypads without any more bites, and traded the 6" worm for a 4" Stik-o, and the speed craw for a Rage craw. Small bass number 2 hit the Stik-o when I tossed it along the outside edge of the lilypads. I worked the lilypads back around to my starting point without any bites. Pond number 2 is almost the same as pond 1, but I walked around it with no bites at all. Pond 3 is about 12 acres, no vegetation, except for lilypads, very hard to walk around and the water is usually muddy. I only stayed an hour, and only fished down 1 side. I was fishing with a plastic worm, and the rage craw. I had one bite by a willow tree that pulled one of the claws off of the Rage craw, but that was it. I did manage to foul some old line and pulled out 2 rusty spinnerbaits. After that I headed home. 6/12/21 The weather Saturday was just like Friday. I started out on a pond that is around 6 acres, and is starting to fill up with milfoil and coontail mats. This pond goes down to around four feet and is flat across the bottom. One side has trees growing next the the water so that side is full of brush, but hard to get to by foot. The dam has rip rap on it and that is where I fished for about 3 hours. I was rigged up the same as the day before with a t-rigged craw, weightless plastic worm, and a pop-r. Fishing was much better than Friday. I got a small bass on my first cast with the pop-r. I ended up with 3 bass on the pop-r and missing 2 more before the sun hit the water. The bass didn't want the craw, so I stuck with fishing the worm. I got maybe 3 or 4 bites on the worm, but couldn't hook any of them. I took off the worm and put on a 3" Stik-o which got me bass number 4. After that I headed over to a lake that is around 30 acres in size. This lake has some timber just below the surface, water willows growing along the edges, some milfoil in it, and is maybe 1/4 of the way covered in lilpads. I walked down the dam fishing a t-rigged craw, and a 4" worm on a split shot rig. Bites along the outside edge of the water willows were fast and furious. The bass would hit the bait hard, but drop it immediately. I ended up catching 2 small bass with the plastic worm on the split shot rig. I went home hoping next weekend is cooler.