Spankey

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Across the country all rivers are not created equal (they can’t be). I’m not an expert by a long shot on bass behavior. I don’t think a rattling bait spooks them. Might make them shy away from a bait but maybe tomorrow that same bait they may take. I believe this happens all the time. They sort of survive on instinct. Can’t think of anything I use that covers more water better than a crankbait. But other baits probe the water better.

I’m glad you had a good time. I’ve never been to a baby shower or bridal shower but had my arm twisted to go to events that I had no desire to go to. The other dudes there have been decent guys. Some fish, some hunt, some golf. It’s all good. The party didn’t start at 6:00 in the AM. I would have gotten in a few hours of fishing in. Been home before noon. I’ve had to make that clear a few times over the years. Just those few hours makes that party less miserable.

Here in the NE we have been getting our share of rains. Lake and river has been in some degree of stain. A cool night here and there is not a fall spark here. After the holiday I see we are getting hot again (90’s). Might still be weeks out. Loosing sunlight but not much of a water temp drop. The first couple of weeks in October over the years have gotten me my bigger River Smallies. Hope it holds true this season. Cottons, Rapalas and Rat-L-Traps and worms. Blues don’t work well for me through out the season. Clearer fall water and blue patterned baits draw some attention.

Crankbait fishing is a big part of my fishing on the river and the lake. I have confidence baits that both rattle and don’t in squarebills and rounded lips. I believe majority of my fish have been caught on a rattling crankbait. Rattling by a wider margin. My waters are stained more than they are clear and most likely my reason for throwing rattling by a wider margin.

That’s great to hear. I have not had any experience with academy but I was super shocked with an order from TW. An over $50.00 order. Was told it would be shipped from two locations by the 29th. The stuff from GA I got in two days. Heck it usually was 10 days and I never really complained about that before because I’m never in a big rush for anything. But this fast is great.

I fall right in there with you guys. I’m sure you’re about like I am and feel. That you are an accomplished fisherman on your local scale but don’t know how you’d be on a new and strange bodies of water. But most likely would do ok by just applying everything you know and pull off some fish. I feel the pro’s have fished so much that they excel in getting that extra couple of bites when things seem to totally turn off. I’m probably not saying that correctly but that’s what I see these guys doing. Pro’s have days where they struggle but it looks like at the next Tourney they flip it around. Almost impossible to compare yourself to a pro but don’t sell yourself short on your skill and ability. Fishing hard and not giving up and keep hanging in there will get you fish. I wish I would have had the resources to pursue fishing as a way of life. Or at least been able to try. I’d love to fish with Greg Hackney and Mark Zona. Have them give me the biggest humbling experience ever and call me anything they wanted to.

Done the truck sleeping thing while fishing on the Chesapeake Bay a couple of times. Others were doing the same thing. Once I stopped at a local Wally World to take care business and plugged in my charger. I straightened up some tackle in the parking lot and grabbed some dinner within walking distance. Than went back to the ramp. I’m ok doing this for one night. But not multiple days. Sleeping in the truck is not that comfortable. The one ramp has campsites. I may look into that the next time I want to fish that area.

Thanks for sharing that.

For me that’s when I have to really slow things down and fish soft plastics. Fish a bit deeper. I’ll do this before I make I make the location change.

I’m one to get kidney stones. Have not had many issues the last couple of years. But I drink more water these days than ever before. Not sure if it does any good or not but if I drink a coffee or an iced tea I chase it with a water. I have to stay away from Gatorade, doesn’t agree with my system. If I do drink it I have to cut it 50/50 with water.

I’ve never used it on my bass lure blades. Why? I don’t know. But I’ve been doing it to blades on my trout lures for years. I had heard of the tooth paste trick moons ago but I use Scotch Brite.

I’m pretty much a creature of habit with many of my bait colors. On a very productive bait of mine I bought it in Goby. Base color is basically Green Pumpkin w/ larger gold and purple flecks. I’ve been setting on it and have been reluctant to use it. As of late the bite has been off and was time to work with this color. On the river smallies it has been less productive (but works), but is being taken by bluegill, sunfish, and rockbass. Some have been nice size. Why does it seem the smallies are less attracted to the gold and purple fleck and the panfish are more attracted. If I were to fish this bait tomorrow my results could flip flop. I think the bait is well designed for most fresh water fish. It can be rigged many ways and you can’t fish it wrong.

Could make one out of PVC. Variety of cap options. Multiple diameters.

Tom you are correct also. I’m sure there are a lot of us throwing things we like and sometime throw them for too long before switching up. I like switching up baits but admittedly I think I don’t do it quick enough.

I think I’m going to agree with this. It’s been a tuff bite for me all season. I’ve been catching bass but just not catching many of those respectable fish. Not PB fish just plain respectable fish. Crankbait fishing is almost in the toilet over the last few weeks. I’ve been fishing soft plastics for the most part as of lately. On the river I don’t fish many big plastics, mostly a finesse style of baits. If a lite T rig bite stops, switching to a slider of the same bait sometime things pick back up again, change to a drop shot/split shot rig or jig rig it. I’m seeing this now on some of my preferred (bass preferred) soft plastic. I’m throwing pumpkinseed, green pumpkin, green pumpkin water melon laminate and black. No particular color results are pretty much the same.

I’m usually solo and most of my outings are not more than 8 hours. Unless a road-trip. Waters Fruit Cups Raisins Turkey Sandwich Oatmeal Cookies

They loved it. I was sort of lead to believe they had fished before. I didn’t pick up on that at all, a kid(s) a lot of times sing like canaries. I heard nothing of the sort of prior fishing. They were smart enough to know what fishing is. I had a good time with them. At first I felt bad about catching that big cattie, wanted the whole day to be about the kids. If by chance they hooked it it would not have turned out well. Would have gotten ugly. Probably would have lost that St. Croix rod and Shimano reel. They liked the diner. That was a plus. You can get breakfast there 24/7.

I don’t really set out to fish for catfish. I’m usually good for a couple a year though caught on my bass baits. They will slam a crankbait like a freight train. Not necessarily a firetiger pattern either in a stained water condition. Majority in clearer water on natural colors. I caught one yesterday 29.5” 12 pound channel. Fishing a finesse rigged PowerWorm on 6 lb. test. What a fight. Can see you getting pulled around some.

Nice pics and great fishing. We fish water that is quite a bit different. I have an addiction to fishing crankbaits and the patterns center around bluegills, shad and herring. Lake forage. Can usually make something happen with them. You have a top water haven.

Thanks for the response. They were good kids. Not really blindsided by any means, family members that I only see a couple of times a year. At the diner we got to talking about them asking to be taken fishing at home. They are near tidal water. I like the sound of that. My niece and nephew are pretty easy going. All the kids have to do is ask their mom and dad. For awhile I felt bad about catching the monster. But that should be a learning experience also. I was praying that I do loose it. I wanted them to see it. That’s what I care about the most, whether they learned something or not. And hope they don’t stop wanting to go.

I never had any doubts about the drag on the NASCI reels. While bass fishing yesterday with a finesse worm set up I hooked into a 29 1/2”, 12 lb. Channel Catfish. That fish was all fight and gave the NASCI drag a workout. St. Croix 6’10” ML XFast Shimano NASCI 2500 SunLine 6 lb. SuperNatural Mono Gamagatsu 1/0 Light Wire worm hook 4” Berkley PowerWorm I let the drag do its job, tried not to do anything stupid, let the fish get tired. I wasn’t to sure how the rod was gonna hold up when the fish got its way under the boat.

Pretty often. I’m anal as heck about my line. I fish mono, good mono but I generally strip myself back to a tie knot so that I’m not taking the spool all the way down. After 2 or 3 outings on my setups I use the most. My crankbait rods get replaced the most often. Used the hardest. I buy my line in bulk. Cheaper and easier all the way around.

Sorry for being so long winded. They were good kids. They way of the world these day is kids don’t touch things like we use to. Maybe not all kids. Most of us here were fishing at a real young age.

When asked or approached about taking a kid(s) fishing or just a curious adult friend male or female as to what I’m doing out there on the water, I’m up for doing it. I put on a good show, generally don’t care if I get a line wet, I bring everything they need, put on a bit of an on the water classroom first, try to see if they are green as grass or not. I try to be a guide. Most times I’m told they fished before blah blah blah only to find out they never touched a rod or reel. But there is nothing wrong with that. Wanting to be there is the most important. How long their attention span is the next thing. Yesterday I had my sister-in-laws twin grandsons out. 9 year olds. Well behaved, respectful, listened and teachable. Weather cooperated but recent weather and water conditions has the normal bite off for a variety of panfish. Had my bases covered with live bait, I didn’t them to get skunked. Them catching is important for them to keep an interest. They caught about 25 fish apiece. A few large bluegill, sunfish, white perch and bream in the mix. I could not get them to bait a hook with that livebait. I tried like heck. They would touch it, would give it to me to put it on but they had no interest in doing it. I could not get them to un hook fish. I have all the tools for those smaller hook and showed them how to use them. I have them use Aberdeen and cricket hooks. Makes hook removal simple and easy. Fish don’t get injured. I didn’t want to press this lack of trying with them. Thought if I overpush it, maybe they would get turned off. They clearly were having a good time. I had them fish some soft plastics. The Bass are there and I wanted to see them hook one. My thought with soft plastic worms is you pretty much can’t fish them wrong. It took awhile but they started to catch on. They didn’t grasp on too well about fishing a tighter line but they finally got it. Got them to rig weedless. I fish with them awhile figured they would copy what I was doing. They did catch on to hopping, sliding and shakey worming and maintaining a tighter line. They were worn out and wanted to take a break and get into the snacks. I continued to fish on a bit longer with a worm. As much as I would rather have seen them keep catching them, in my head I wanted them to see a bass caught to show them what else is there for them. On about my third solo cast I had a solid hookup, what I perceived was to be a sizable greenie. A minute or so into the fight I had my doubts about a huge green fish. Acted more like a catfish. I had a full 10 minute fight on 6 lb. test and landed a 29 1/2” 12 pound channel cat. Finessed rigged PowerWorm. I wish they would have landed it. They could not have handled it. They would have lost my rod. I was speechless and dumbfounded. I never expected anything like that. Those kids were amazed, and so was I. They got to see a big fish. I tried to get them to touch it, hold it, unhook him and let him go but they wanted no parts of it. They wanted to leave after all that. Thought maybe that would spark them up. They wanted to roll. I guess they seen enough. We went to the Diner for lunch. I wasn’t sure how good a time they had. I had my doubts because they didn’t like to handle bait or fish. They had a great time and kept thanking me for taking them. They thanked me for landing that catfish. They never seen anything like that before.