Ratherbfishing

If you've located some fish, try a deep diving suspending jerkbait in bright or very dark colors and fish it painfully slow (on the pause).

I have a young man (12) I take fishing periodically. I haven't taken him to this particular lake for the aforementioned reasons BUT I think I might bring him here and say, "Okay, buddy! Tell me what you think?!" His approach can't be any worse than mine has been. The MOST I've ever caught on this lake is 5 and that was absolutely miraculous. I should have bought a lottery ticket afterwards. Most of the time I come away with 1 bass or get skunked completely. It isn't far but it isn't just a 5 minute drive either so that drive back feels like the "drive of shame." I have a friend who said he USED to do well there but doesn't anymore. The bass there have changed.

I've had it! There is lake not too distant from my house which has bested me so many times that if I catch even three bass, I consider it a minor miracle. I can go to just about any other lake and more or less hold my own but this lake is just...something else. I hear stories from other fishermen who have done well there and I either rolled my eyes or gritted my teeth. When I hear someone mention it, I have to resist the urge to spit on the ground. What pains me the most is that it is relatively close (much closer than other lakes I go to) and it would be nice to not have to drive so far. But this year is going to be different!!!! I am going to study every map I can find, watch my electronics carefully, try different things, and I am not going to let it beat me again!!! (at least not consistently). Anyone else have a lake which is (or has been) their nemesis? Did you ever conquer it? Give up on it? Or just accept it for what it is (and for what you aren't)?

It was an inverse bell-shaped curve for me. Lots in the Spring and fewer in the summer and then lots in the Fall again. I can't quantify how many, really. Not enough because I didn't get to fish as much as I would have liked.

It's a drum with a crappie growing out of its back. : )

true dat. Have sent my share of baits into trees and into orbit above the planet. Not so much anymore but it still happens.

If I were a collector ONLY and a bait caught my eye, I'd purchase it HOWEVER if the price of a bait is going to keep me from using it (and that is my desire) or working it near a potential snag, it wouldn't matter what the bait or the company, no I couldn't bring myself to purchase it. I still remember some of the mid-range crankbaits I've lost on the FIRST cast so that says a little bit about where I'm coming from. Nobody said I wasn't a little weird.

I spend far more time "wishin' I was fishin'" than actually doing it. There are some lakes and rivers in Central Illinois but many of the best ones require a drive of about 2 hours to reach so I don't frequent those as often. But I'd say, between the months of April and November, I fish most Saturdays and some Fridays (all day) and about twice during weekdays (after work) at two neighborhood retention ponds (I know all the bass there by name). In all honesty, I probably wouldn't want to fish every single day but every other day would be doable (if I had the resources). Ideally, after I retire I would like to move either north to Wisconsin OR down to Southern Illinois where there are more opportunities.

I don't know HOW many skirts I've lost over the years because their "rubber band" got all soft and useless. I use tiny zip ties all the time now.

This is how it would play out if I had a garage sale: Item: Tennis Racket (bought new for 50 dollars) still in good shape. Customer: "How much do you want for this racket?" Me: "A dollar" Customer: "Will you take 50 cents?" Me: "Go away" (It's why I don't have garage sales).

Agreed. If a person honks me off, I won't sell them Shinola if I had it coming out of my ears.

I've used a keel-weighted hook with these baits but by-in-large I mostly just Texas-rig them. The bullet weight in the front tends to keep them free of anything but algae. Oh, if the line snags the top of a lilly pad, it's going to pull the bait up to the surface-regardless of the type of bait it is.

I have a 12 year old kiddo whom I indulge with some on-sale items every now and again but not a lot (and he uses his own money too). And I do "hover" around our local Field & Stream for sales but rarely do I buy anything at regular price. I think this winter I've spent 50 or 60 dollars. At this time last year, I probably spent twice that amount so I'm doing pretty good. I DID have an anchor bounce around and break my crankbait rod in my boat last fall so I may have to remedy that.......

You've got "connections." I need to work on that.

Up on Lake of the Woods, Canada we rarely caught largemouth but in one location (off a wind swept point) we found a school (and caught numerous fish on lipless crankbaits). It COULD have also had smallmouth but it didn't seem to. I don't know what it was special/different about that spot except they took a liking to it and seemed to claim it as their own turf. Weird. But I'd agree that largemouth tend to like shallower bays with vegetation and plenty of wood. Any place where water temps are a little higher would probably be a better to place to target largemouth, specifically. But, again, largemouth seem to be where you find them.

baaAAaaaaaaaaaa!!! : )

If ya just want open water, I'm sure there's a parking lot you could hit. ; )

Way to hang in there! Nice, solid smallie! Fishing a jig or a shakey head?

There's a certain irony to "hunting" for bass. Before, I (or, perhaps, you too) might just cast somewhat randomly anywhere and everywhere. The options were infinite-even though we might not catch much. NOW, as we increase in knowledge, those options narrow considerably-as we narrow down a pattern. This is a good thing, of course, but it does cause me to look at everything much differently and, sometimes, can almost paralyze me. But like at work when the paperwork is piling up, when I get anxious, I just pick something up (anything) and start working it. Things usually falls into place. The fun is in figuring them out (and then catching them).

I hadn't realized my mom was a witness in court. : )

If I had to guess, I'd say SOMEONE has the itch to get a new reel. ; )

That's a pretty high gear ratio. Because you'll have speed but less torque, you will probably wear yourself out if casting deep diving crankbaits, and working fishing soft plastics and jigs s l o w l y will be painfully difficult to do. Of course you can use it but it isn't ideal.

I may be wrong but this seems a little more like a winter or summer strategy than an early spring strategy. In April in Tennessee, the bass might (?) be staging for beginning the spawn-depending upon water temps. I am not a pro but if I were going there then, I'd work points which are close to spawning areas and flats with jigs, spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits and suspending jerkbaits-starting shallow and going deeper (as necessary)).

I tend to use a spinnerbait more when the water is dark (or it's low light) and or when there is a lot of cover (especially vegetation) in the water. Conversely, if the water is clear and the fish the bass can get a good look at the bait, I'm more inclined to use a crankbait. This is not a hard and fast rule, however. It's more like 70/30. I also tend to use a crankbait more if the fish are pressured. All this assumes I'm using one of the two choices-which I may not actually use.

I don't often fish with a large variety of other fishermen so it's difficult to know where my weaknesses lay-although I'm sure I have plenty. I tend to get a little sloppy with my casts whereas my one buddy tends to cast right on target-and often catches more fish than me as a result. Or it's one reason why, anyway.