Bankbeater

If the bass are swimming off with it I would let them have it a little longer before setting the hook, also I would cast back into the area where you first got the bite. Sometimes a bass will swim off with the bait if there are other bass in the area.

Maybe, I've been told I have a hard head.

To keep healthy and stay out of trouble.

I ended up getting skunked yesterday, but finding this Megabass topwater took some of the sting out of it.

This year it has been: Yum Dinger Zoom Finesse Worm Spinnerbait Swimjig Crankbait

In 2023 I fished with a lot of baits that caught one or two bass, but only a few baits that worked consistently all year. All of my largest bass were caught in the spring, and most of them were on either a spinnerbait or a swim jig. The bass were back in the dead lily pads and the dead eelgrass. A 4" Yum Dinger and a Zoom Finesse worm were my top baits for numbers this year during the summer. I fished them weightless or on a split shot rig around vegetation after the sun started hitting the water. The topwater bite was non-existent all spring around here. Finally, in July, the bite picked up with a buzzbait by casting out past floating weed mats and then running the bait over the top of the mat. When the temps started cooling down in the fall the spinnerbait and swim jig bite picked back up again only this time the bass were around rip rap and rock. Shallow running crankbaits and wake baits worked all year, but they just didn't produce the numbers that they had in past years. I fished these mostly around vegetation out in the shallow flats.

The lakes I fish have a lot of snags in them. When I'm fishing from the bank I'll cast out a spinnerbait or a topwater bait out maybe 20 or 25 yards. Most of the time I'm pitching at a target so I rarely cast farther than about 30 to 35 feet.

Nice bass!

So far this year, I have fished around 20 different ponds and small lakes. They range in size from about 55 acres down to 2.5 acres, and most are around 15 to 25 miles away. This is the water I fish most of the time when I don't have a lot of free time on the weekends.

It's part knowing the water you are fishing, part experience and trusting your gut, and part luck. When all three are present you can't go wrong. Remove one and you might as well go home.

I have three Tatula CT100H reels and one SLX 150. All of them have been good and are dependable.

It's been a good year for numbers, but not for size. This one weighed in at 5.75 lb and was caught back in February.

I use the Lazer Eye spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits quite a bit. They seem to hold up pretty well. I started fishing with The Egg a few years ago and was really surprised how well it caught bass.

I realized that I learned something that I practice about every time I go fishing, and that is just because they angler in front of you didn't catch anything in a spot does not mean the bass aren't there.

The free rig has been around for a while, but it never had a name. Years ago I heard of guys fishing free rigs with crankbaits, to get the bait down near the bottom, and keep it down there.

Snow doesn't bother me as long as I don't have to shovel it or drive in it.

Most of the bass I caught in November were around submerged vegetation. They were either in shallow water or in shallow water that was near deeper water. It seemed the thing that made them bite was the wind. If the wind was blowing I got bites.

My PB was caught locally. Maybe 20 miles or so from home. I think to break that I will need to either do a lot more fishing or fish someplace where the pressure is not so intense.

A rainy day during the summer months means it's time to fish a buzzbait.

After each trip, everything gets taken down into the basement for storage until the next trip. Rods get stored vertically in a holder. In the winter I remove the reels from the rods for cleaning. Once everything is cleaned I put the reels back on. Around here you never know when you'll get a warm winter day.

I learned about the rate of the fall, that sometimes it's not the bait but the presentation turning off the bite, and that bass fishing in the winter is an actual thing,

I start off by pitching a craw around wood, exposed brush, and submerged grass. If that doesn't work I start going finesse with some Dingers and finesse worms on a split shot rig, or weightless depending on the wind.

I have a couple of baitcasting rigs that are nearly the same. I put the iced-up one back in the car and while it is thawing back out, I use the second rig. This will work fishing from the bank, but not from a boat. Also, this works better on sunny days.

Cold weather with a light drizzle doesn't bother me. When we get a hard rain this time of year I will go fishing if the rain is off and on. Add some wind to the hard rain and I don't even consider going out.

Good video. A lot of good info and history.