Beverly Bassman

Bob, What depth/pattern would smallies be in this late in the year? I normally don't fish much or have luck this late in the season. But I am usually looking for largemouth. This weekend, I may be fishing for smallies. Woud smallies be deep or shallow? Slow moving bait or something faster like a lipless crankbait? Many thanks!

For jigs or Texas rig in heavy vegetation, I either use braid or 17 pound seaguar fluorocarbon, depending on how thick the stuff is and how clear the water is. If I'm using braid, I tie it directly to the lure with a palomar knot. If I'm using fluoro, I tie it with a San Diego Jam knot.

I struggled to get bites yesterday. Despite a forecast of sunny weather, it was cold, gray and raw all afternoon. The smallies did not want anything I threw. Only little ones bit my drop shot. Nothing at all on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, rage craws, jigs, senkos. I fished from tight to shore, all the way out to more than 20 feet. At one point, a big smallie followed my craw pattern DT16 right to the boat, then sat there looking up at me. I thought this might mean "right bait but wrong color". So I tried a bunch of different colors and diving depths, but no luck. Every fall, this happens. It's supposed to be great fishing but it never is for me. I do better in August than I do in October.

I am not part of this competition, so I hesitate to jump into the fray. I don't have a view on whether duplicate fish are being posted. If so, that is a shame. But I will say, that laying big fish on the ground in dirt or grass to photograph them is not a good idea. Check this out on catchphotorelease.com or any site or literature related to safe release of bass. The fish may swim away fine, but it's chance of delayed mortality is greatly increased. The contact with the dirt and ground removes a significant amount of the fish's protective mucous (some call it slime) which keeps bateria at bay. If you are laying a fish down on the ground, it should be placed on a wet towel. And it should not be out of the water more than 30 seconds.

Shane, I never knew the name of that rig with the free swinging weight. I saw Stacy King fishing that on a program that I watch on YouTube call Southwest Outdoors. It's a Texas-based weekly fishing show. I have learned a lot from that show. The host, Barry Stokes, will even respond personally to emails. They had Stacy King as a guest when they fished Table Rock. He was killing it on the same rig you have above. I notice your Curado is left hand retrieve. Are you left handed, or is that your flipping/pitching setup, in case you hook a fish immediately on the fall and don't want to take time to switch hands?

Not sure why I don't get bit on Rage Craws that much. I have sure given them some time this summer/fall. I did best with them pitching them into heavy cover/vegetation. Never got a bit on them in a rocky scenario with a more open bottom. Sunday, I was catching the smallies in 16 to 20 feet of water in a pretty rocky area, right at the edge of where it fell off into 30 feet. They did not seem to want a bait that was actually on the bottom. No bites at all on any jig or texas rig. One thing that might have worked is a swim jig. I don't really have that down but I need to learn. The deep diving crankbait (Rapala DT 16 in craw pattern) and the drop shot with an 18 inch leader got lots of action. I notice that smallies will hit a crankbait that they would have a hard time fitting in their mouth. So I semi foul hooked several of them and they came unhooked. But I landed four on the rapala and six on the drop shot.

I am finding a good smallie bite on the rivers. I caught ten of them in about 16 feet of water. I got the more aggressive fish on a craw patterned deep diving crankbait and then I switched over to a drop shot to get the rest. They did not want rage craws in any color, nor did they want jigs or senkos in any colors. Also no spinnerbait or topwater bite. But they were on the crankbait and the drop shot. I also had four or five fish on that did not get well hooked by the crankbait.

Hit the Merrimack for smallies. Wind was blowing pretty hard but managed 8 fish. Average size was below a pound but at least there was some action.

7 fish today. Best 5 went 8 pounds, so nothing huge. Caught them in heavy cover with 3/8 green pumpkin jig with rage baby craw trailer, 7" smoke senko and black/blue Texas rigged rage craw. Mix of colors and profiles. Best fish (3 pounds) was on the big fat senko. They slam that big thing. Even my most careful pitch sometimes makes a small splash with these things. They are so long and heavy, they land funny in the water. I probably spook some fish, but that bait makes 'em angry. You don't need to worry about tight lines - they jerk the rod out of your hands. I learned about this bait from other people on the water who were using them.

Regarding my question about whether it is worthwhile to take the boat into heavy cover, I was asking a different question thanperhaps what everyone answered. I was wondering how OFTEN it is really the case that bass are holding deep into a field of lilly pads or other vegetation. It takes a lot of time and effort to get back in there to fish it. If I KNOW for sure there are fish there, yes it would be worth it. What I was asking is, whether the odds are good. How often do fish hold in that type of location, deep into the cover? When I fish a new lake or river area that I am not familiar with, and find a deep field of vegetation, I will typically go along the outside weed edge and flip all along the edge, maybe 5 or ten feet into the weeds. I don't go far into the cover unless I see fish back in there or something. I was wondering whether it's a better idea to ALWAYS work all the way back into the vegetation. If I see fish, yes I will go back in. But if I don't actually see fish deep in cover, I don't go deep into the pads. But should I change my approach that I use all the time and start routinely going far into the cover? That is more what I was asking.

Question for Shane and everyone else: when fishing heavy cover, as in large, thick weedbeds, I have usually focused on the outside edge (looking for irregular pockets, etc.). I will flip or pitch maybe 5 or 10 feet into the cover but that's about it. Any more and it's often hard to even get the bait out (texas rig or jig). I sometimes see fish rolling much further back into the weedbed - even further than a full cast. I occasionally work a frog over the top, but if they are buried in the cover, they don't always want to come up top for the frog. Is it worth it to bring the boat deep into the cover so I can flip this stuff? Even my 80 pound Fortrex bogs down in this stuff. I may have to get a push pole. Do you guys think going deep into the weeds to flip is worthwhile, or do you focus mainly on the outside edges of thick weedbeds?

Finally got a few fish on rage craws. 3 smaller fish, biggest was a pound and a half. Shane and others, thank you for all your advice. My bigger fish came on other lures. The hits on the rage craw were kind of tentative, like the fish weren't sure they wanted to eat it. 2 and 3 pounders were slamming my jig and 7" senkos. Overall, rage craws seem below average to me. Have fished them quite a bit now with very mixed results. Not ready to put them in my regular arsenal. I seem to get more and bigger fish out of other baits. I may try some other colors. I have been using bama craw, PB&J and black/blue. That's all I coud get at Dick's. I wasn't really using the craw the way I originally envisioned, With the bright sun, the fish were buried in the cover. I was flipping into thick vegetation. Any bait I would throw would drop straight down and get bit or not. If not, just reel in. The stuff was too thick to work lures horizontally on the bottom. I originally saw the craw as something to use when over a rocky, hard bottom as a crayfish imitator. It did not really work for me in that situation. For flipping into heavy cover, I did get a few fish, but I think there are better choices.

Carlos, Let me tell you, the guys on this forum know a lot about catching bass - big bass in many cases! You can learn a lot here. And they are good guys. Stick around and good luck! As long as you fish for bass, you will never stop learning new ways to find them and catch them. It never gets old.

Nice, Shane! You are a bucketmouth machine! I had no luck again with rage craws last wekend, but I caught some nice fish, including the 4 pounder in my new profile photo, flipping smoke colored 7" senkos (the big cigar sized ones) into heavy weed cover. Fish seem to be moving back shallow now. Those big stick baits are not for numbers but they attract big fish and they seem to make the fish mad. The hits are harder and more violent than with any other bait I have fished. I used heavy braid and 6/0 owner twistlock hooks to pull em out of the cover. I need to get a push pole to get deeper into that cover.

Believe it or not, they actually hold bass tournaments on this 200 acre lake with 12 two-person teams. I do not fish tournaments, but I have gone down there to watch. Half the teams do not weight in a 5-fish limit FOR TWO PEOPLE. This year, the winning team had 12 pounds. I am not saying I could catch a 12 pound limit so easily, but the waters around me are not so easy.

Agree with you that there is a reason why cover is good or not. That is why you cannot pattern. The pattern would have to be so specific that it is not useful. "Fish only docks that are extensive in layout, adjacent to both weeds and deep water". That leaves three docks in the whole lake. The lake where I fish most is a 200 acre natural lake with several 20 foot deep spots. It has about 30 boat docks in the entire lake. I have been fishing this lake for 12 years. Only 3 of the docks EVER hold any fish. There is a reason. Those docks are more extensive, and are closer to deeper water. So what? I see guys who don't know the lake come in and fish all the way around the lake, wasting a lot of time fishing docks that don't hold fish. What good is the pattern? Same thing with lilly pad beds in the same lake. There are several of them that hold fish and the rest don't. They are too shallow, though that is not easy to judge until you have really fished them. So if you happen to come into the lake and catch a fish on a dock or in pads, then you try to pattern that, you will waste tons of time. That is my point. There are reasons why fish do what they do, but the so called rules of thumb are generally not worth much. The old standby that jerk baits work in cooler water - completely useless on lakes I fish. i have tried. I want it to be true. I want to catch fish in that way. I have a box of those lures. I bought an In Fisherman video on how to work jerk baits. I read about them in Homer CIrcle's book. They don't work here in my lakes in 40 to 50 degree water. Drop shoting several different baits DOES worked in that situation, over and over again. It might be due to the forage. Not sure. I hate fishing drop shot but it catches fish. By the way, tubes are another one of those "great" lures that does not work in rocky areas where I fish. A few weeks ago, I spent about three hours fishing a rocky, cliff-like area with 15 foot depth close to shore. It looks like a smallmouth area, but actually, it only holds largemouth (but there are plenty of SM in the lake). Again the rule is that smallmouth should be on the rocks, but they are not. Anyway, I had two spinning rods rigged up with 8 pound fluorocarbon. One with a KVD coffee tube in various colors. One with a yammamoto grub. No bites at all with the tube. Two small fish with the grub. Finally gave in and switchted to the drop shot. Caught 7 fish in 30 minutes. This happens to me over and over again. The conventional wisdom is not much help in catching fish. Trying out different things and finding out what the fish want works better, and trying to learn from that. But it often conflicts with the wisdom. Fishing deep structure is another one. I have spent so many hours driving around my lakes searching out and marking deep structure and looking for baitfish and game fish. I put in two Humminbird side imaging units a couple of years ago for this purpose. I have located all the deep structure that is out there. I will admit, I have caught a few fish that I would not have caught otherwise. But the time spent versus fish caught is very poor. My lakes don't have shad. The bass don't school up in deep water chasing baitfish. That does not happen. Sunny days do not produce a deep bite with any consistency. I would love it if they did. I have spent time on it. Sometimes a few fish on deep diving crankbaits. Never a consistent, hot bite. If it works where you fish, that's great. By the way, we are talking about smaller, fairly highly pressured lakes, in a major metro area. That's all I really have access to unless I want to drive two hours, or fish on the salt water for striped bass. If people fish larger, less pressured lakes that are outside of metro areas, all this is way easier. I vacaction up in northern minnesota at a lake house my in laws own. Catching bass is so easy up there. Any lure you throw, in any location, has a decent chance of catching fish. Not where I live and fish. Bites are hard to come by, and many of the "good" techniques just do not work.

You would think that if points are such a good location or spinnerbaits are such a great lure, that once in a while, I would have some luck with them. It's not as if I can't catch plenty of fish. I catch them other ways. I think I have caught two fish in my life by working a crankbait, spinnerbait or a football jig along a point. In the five or six lakes where I fish, points don't hold fish. I know those lakes as well as anyone who fishes them. I talk to everyone out there. Noboby catches fish on the points. And some of those points do drop off into deep water. Like everything, I think the answer is "it depends". Sometimes points are good, sometimes not. Which means, there is no rule to help you out that much. Figure it out for yourself. That is what I do. Bass use the best cover they have access to. If a point is the best thing they have, they will use it. But if there is better structure or cover, they won't be on the points. I keep detailed notes on my fishing. I do MUCH better on calm days than windy days. And I do fish in the wind. I don't give up. I have tried what KVD says. I go to the windiest shoreline, and fish it ten different ways. Throwing baits into the wind, so they will drift naturally with the current. If I had success with it, I would say so. I don't. Almost never. So what good is the rule? So if I had to make a bunch of rules, based on my fishing experience, here it is: 1) Calm days are best (the more the wind blows, the worse the bite) 2) Late spring is the best time of the year, followed by early summer 3) Partly cloudly days are best - clear sun is the worst 4) Good spots are generally good and unproductive spots are unproductive - it's not worth "patterning" a certain type of cover - on my lakes, a few docks are good and the rest are bad, etc., you actually have to know the "good" spots to catch good numbers of fish - trying to establish a "pattern" will cause you to fish lots of unproductive areas 5) Lilly pads are the best cover, as long as they are near at least 3 ft of water and are not too thick 6) Texas rigged, weightless 5" senkos catch the most fish in shallow cover situations (green or brown in clear water, junebug is best in stained water) 7) Drop shot Gulp products are 2nd most productive, in water from 6 feet to 20 ft 8) Fishing deep water (15' or more) is a waste unless you can see cover and fish on your sonar/side imaging (it takes a long time to find this - often an hour of searching for one fish) 9) In warm weather (but not too hot), think low 80's air temp/high 70's water temp, the crankbait bite sometimes turns on - best success is with deep divers from 10' to 15' near a few well chosen ledges 10) Flipping a jig with a craw trailer into the pads will sometimes catch larger fish, as will flipping an unweighted 7" senko (cigar size) 11) Frogs fished slowly and carefully over vast weed bays will get a few hits in an hour - about one third of those hits will be vigorous enough to take the frog down so you can hook the fish 12) A 3' or 4" grub on a simple open hook jighead will catch a few smaller fish in rocky areas - but it's not that productive 13) The following lures have been a waste of time: spinnerbaits, swimbaits, hard jerkbaits, poppers, jitterbugs, shakey head worms, large power worms, most lizards (unless they have chartreuse tails), sweet beavers, plastic toads, any type of carolina rig I'm sure all of you could make this list and we would see many different lists. It probably depends on region, water body, luck, etc. But any list of fishing advice you see, view it as nothing more than a starting point. Much of it is probably dead wrong for your lakes or rivers. You have to learn how to catch them yourself. Experiment until something works, and keep notes on what does and doesn't work. That's the only thing that has helped me.

Thank you to everyone who replied. The wide ranging answers you gave was kind of the point. These points of wisdom may work for some situations, some of the time. In other cases, not at all. But they work enough to survive as wisdom. It's like all the old wives tales about whether a pregnant lady is going to have a boy or a girl. The wives tales are right half the time, so they survive as predictors. The fact is, some points are good, some not. Sometimes wind or fronts turn on the bite, sometimes not. In some lakes the bass hit a particular lure well, but not others. Deep structure works well in man made reservoirs, but perhaps not so well in mucky natural lakes? You see the point. We all have to find out what works where we fish, and use it. I catch plenty of fish, but those rules I listed have been no help to me. They wasted a lot of my time. In a certain lake, i can throw a spinnerbaits for three hours and catch nothing, but can clean up on other lures. What good is the wisdom? Not much.

Shane: Thank you for the input on Rage Craws. I have been using a smaller hook. The 5/0 hooks that I own look like they would not be usable with a rage craw. They seem too long, almost like the hook would be longer than the body of the craw. But I will give it a try. I have been using a 1/4 oz. weight, rather than 3/8, so I will try upsizing. But otherwise, I am doing what you are saying. It isn't working. I will fish this way for 30 minutes or so with no activity, when I have marked some fish with the Humminbird. I will switch over to a drop shot with a gulp minnow, maybe 12 inches above the weight, or a wacky rigged senko and right away catch a couple of smaller fish. So I know they are down there, but they are not biting the rage craw. I have been hoping to attract the larger fish with this bait. Sick of catching bass less than a pound. Anyway, no luck at all with the Rage Craw. Maybe my retrieve approaches are just not right. I have tried fishing this lure over some rocks in shallow water, so I can see how the lure moves and try to make it look realistic. People on this site will say to forget about senkos or drop shot, because they are "idiot" techniques, and you don't learn how to catch fish with the "real" presentation until you work with them. But every time I try this I get skunked. When I go back to senkos or drop shot, at least I catch something. But no size. This happened two years ago, when I made a concerted effort to work with the Rage Smokin Rooster on a keel weighted swimbait hook. I caught fish on my first two casts with the lure. Then I have gone two years without a single hit on the the bait. I don't know why, but I just don't get bit on any of the Rage product line. I will keep trying. Maybe I am missing something. Anyway, thank you for the help. You are a fantastic fisherman, and you are generous with your advice. We all owe you a debt for the help you offer to us.

Nev, Thank you for the note. What you are suggesting is not at all how I have been fishing craws. Weightless, on top of vegetation, I mean. In that situation, I normally throw a senko, or sometimes a weightless fluke. I have been using the craw with 1/4 ounce weight, on the bottom, mid depth (6 to 12 ft), rocky areas, as a crayfish imitator. It is not getting bit for me in that scenario. I am not looking for a bait to drag over the tops of weeds to fall down in the openings. I have many options for that, if the fish are there. I am finding that fish are a bit deeper and I need to get down to them and trigger bites. I find that a wacky rigged senko or a drop shot will sometimes work in the scenario I mentioned. But the drop shot seems to attract smaller fish and the whacky senko bite has been inconsistent (same for jig/grub). I have had no luck with lizards, so I thought I woud try the craw. So far, it has not worked. Still looking for a good way to catch the deeper fish.

To all the guys having success with the Rage Tail Craw: I am happy for you guys that you are having luck with this bait. I am not. I have fished it extensively on three different bodies of water. Not so much as a single nibble (meanwhile I have caught some fish on senkos, drop shot and a finesse worm). I have used the full size craw, texas rigged on a 2/0 gammakatsu EWG worm hook with a 1/4 oz tungsten weight. I am throwing it in 6 to 15 foot depths, in rocky areas with relatively clean bottoms, and in a few weedy situations. I am working it slowly and somewhat erratically on the bottom. No luck at all. I did try a few different colors. It's trying my patience. Any suggestion?

Here's my Top Ten List of Bass Fishing advice/tips that have never worked for me. In most cases, these tips have not even worked a single time for me. I welcome eveyone's comments. 1) Windy conditions turn on the bite 2) Points are good fishing locations 3) Action picks up right before a front moves in 4) The intersection of several types of vegetation makes a good target 5) Spinnerbaits catch fish 6) After a cold front, downsize baits 7) If a bass blows up on a frog and misses, you can catch it with another lure 8) Fish bite well in the fall because they are fattening up for winter 9) Fishing deep structure is productive (because most people are pounding the banks) 10) If you get bit on one type of cover, that same type of cover will be productive around the lake

Just got off the Sudbury River. One bass 1.5 lbs in 4 hours. Had several swipes at a frog. That's it. Talked to every boat on the river and nobody had more than one fish. Water was 83 degrees and air temp was 93 and it was mostly sunny. Very slow. The water was very stained. I tried a lot of different techniques and locations. They just weren't biting. I have done well at times here, but when it's hot and sunny, I have not caught many fish.

Hit Jenness Pond Sunday morning early. Waste of time. Temp dropped almost 20 degrees overnight. Gale force winds, gray, cold. Nothing would bite. I had to work hard to avoid getting skunked. Finally got a couple of 2 pound pickerel on crankbaits. The wind was terrible in the open water areas. I fished the whole lake, weeds, rock, deep, shallow, LM, SM. Spinnerbaits, jigs, senkos, crankbaits, dropshot. It was the dead sea today. The place has a good reputation, but it didn't work for me. I'm sure the weather was a factor, but it was disappointing.

UNHBass37: I was talking about you. I can tell you're one of the good guys. I have read your posts over the last couple of years. Your love of fishing and your respect of the other fishermen shows through. By the way, I share your ongoing frustration that people like us continue to lose access to fisheries that are made private. We are not the ones causing the problems on the lake, and they should let us fish, as long as we keep the places clean and release all the fish.