Randall

I have caught spotted bass in 30 to 35 feet of water on it but that was before I learned dropshoting. I think a dropshot or jighead would be a better bait for water that deep. Also Most of the lakes I fish are shallow and around 35 feet deep at the deepest point so I spend almost all my time in less than 20 feet of water and 95% of that time I am less than fifteen feet deep.

I rig them two different ways. My favorite is on a splitshot rig with a 1/32 oz splitshot about one to two feet up 8lb line. I will fish this down to around ten feet. If I go deeper I use a 1/16 oz shot. It takes patience to fish it this deep and slow but it works for the bigger bass as well as smaller ones. The reason I fish this instead of a Carolina rig is because fish spend most of their time suspended near the bottom. The Carolina rig pulls the bait across the bottom under the fish while the splitshot rig comes off the bottom a little in the face of the fish and falls back slowly to the bottom making it an easier target for bigger fish. It also looks more natural. I use a jighead like a 1/16 to 1/8 Spotsticker or Spot Stalker rigged weedless on 10lb line the rest of the time. The reason for this instead of a Texas rig is that a light jighead with a trickworm when jiggled comes off the bottom in a horizonal posture and looks more natural as it moves off the bottom slowly in the face of big suspended fish. I have found that bigger fish in the lakes I fish , like to strike a bait at or above their level and almost never on the bottom so both of these work for me since they present the bait that way.

Musky Inovations makes a bullhead swimbait with a curl tail.

If you find one I may buy some from you. The biggest trickworm style worm I have found so far is eight inches.

GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Works year round and really helps the shallow bite during a hot summer day.

Again with a 10lb bass.

The King Kong with a 9lb 12oz bass.

Roadwarrior read this off another website I had posted on about the size of baits and type of retrieves used to catch big bass. He asked me to post it here. so here it is. Should make a good topic for discussion. Big bass are not the most aggressive or the ones who eat the most. They are the most efficient. As they become older they become even more efficient at what they do. This is how they reach trophy size. They feed under optimum conditions and don't waste energy chasing around bait or swimming long distances to find or catch food. They develop a home range that fills all their needs and live in it without waste of energy. They live on the best structure in the area and the best areas that fill all of their needs. They even move around in a predictable manner taking the best routes from place to place. They even feed on the type of forage that gives them the biggest meal for the least amount of effort. Most of my big fish over ten pounds have been caught on trickworms fished slowly in areas where the structure and area was idea for them to live with out expending a lot of energy to live. I have caught ten pounders on a bunch of different baits but the times I caught them on power baits I feel I hit them in the head with it and got a reaction strike where they moved a few inches up to a couple of feet to strike. The key to keep in mind is that big bass want the biggest meal for the energy expended. That doesn't always mean the biggest bait they can get in their mouth since catching, holding and swallowing a big bait may take more effort from the bass than catching two smaller baits half the size of the big bait. Another thing I have noticed where I live is that big bass have learned to target a soft spined easy to swallow big baitfish like a gizzard shad even though they could also eat bluegill in the same area. I think they have learned that a gizzard shad is easier to catch and swallow than a bluegill. I see many more smaller bass seven pounds and under targeting the bluegill and shad equaly. I also think this is the reason big trout swimbaits work so well out in California for the giant bass. Here in Georgia where I live swimbaits that match the size, profile and swimming action of a gizzard shad work better than the big trout swimbaits even though the trout swimbaits are bigger and the bass are big enough to eat them. I feel the big bass here are more conditoned to eating a four to eight inch bait since that is what they are feeding on most of the time while anything over eight inches resembles something that would take too much effort to swallow since that is true from the experience of the fish since most fish over eight inches are another bony spiny fish that is hard to swallow and catch. If we started stocking easy to catch and swallow 12 inch trout in the same lakes down here the bass would probably start to prefer a 10 to 12 inch swimbait instead of the smaller four to eight inch bait. This is what I have learned while catching big bass in Georgia on Lake Varner which I consider Georgia's best public big bass lake and one of the best in the country. To apply it to NY or anywhere else in the country I think the same principles would apply but the forage and size of baits may change a little depending on what the bass have become conditioned to in that specific body of water.

Thats called a Water Gremlin Bull Shot. Its just a pinch on splitshot shaped like a bullet sinker.

Randall, I'd be interested in buying one of those from you if you make any more. The action of that bait is absolutely awesome! I kept waiting for a hog to explode on that bait during the whole video! Have you thought about adding some weight to make it go a little deeper? The way it is now would probably trigger some killer topwater strikes! I have made a slow sinker as well as the floater in the video. I am working on a fast sinker but it presents a few challenges so far and I am about to run out of free time with spring coming up. I think my slow sinker will run around four to five feet on a slow steady retrieve and will probably be the one I use most.

Being disapointed by the lack of the number of affordable hard swimbaits with good action that had the profile, size and action that resembled large shad. There weren't any I could find. I set out a couple months ago to make and design my own hard swimbait. Here is a video of the swimbait showing its swiming action that I made a couple of days ago. I really just made it in the begining for my own use but may decide to do something as far as selling the bait at a later time. http://media.putfile.com/swimbait-1

I like the Booyah Boogie other than the fact the blade tangles on one of every five casts. That just a lot of wasted time and casts for me. So I would go with a chatterbait or another knockoff.

Let me also add that the shallow water will warm first and bring more fish into the shallow water since the water is warmer. I think the final determining factor of where a bed will be is a combination of things like the fish feeling secure, the water being the right temp, the right type of bottom, the right amount of light etc. It just can't be one factor like heat or light that determines where the bed will be located.

I personally think the amount of light has more to do with it than heat. The water will need to be warm enough for the fish to spawn but some fish spawn in places with real clear water at depths that sunlight does little to warm that depth of water. I read somewhere in someones research that after just a few feet of water sunlight does very little to warm water or objects on the bottom since the rays that warm things are mostly already absorbed in the top layers of the water. So, with this in mind I have to say its not because of the warming powers of the sun.

If you saw one of these things they don't really provide any cover for the bass. They just give the bass something to relate to on the spot. Its more like a landmark for the fish. They work real well IMO because they provide something for the bass to relate to and because crankbaits deflect real well off of the pipes and cause reaction strikes from the bass holding there. But it sits on big fish structure already which is why the fish are there to begin with.

If you are going less than $20 that is hard to do with most of the better swimbaits. But, I throw the lower priced baits some and even have started to make my own hard swimbaits when I thought others were overpriced or not easy to get. The best baits out there for the money are the ABT Titan/Strike King Kong, Reaction Strike Bass Harasser, any Mattlures bait and the Storm Kickin Minnow. A couple of these are in the $25-$30 dollar range but well worth it. I was real impressed with the Kickin Minnow at $3 for the six inch model. They also make a ten inch model for around $5-$6. I really wished they made an eight inch model since it would be the perfect size for me. I also got the new Lake Fork Tackle swimbait a couple of days ago and was impressed with it. Its going to sell for $3 in the small size at Walmart.

Chris, there is a Tracker for sale on Lil'water Bassin (www.lilwaterbassin.com. ) site already rigged. It may be a better deal than either B&B or Bass Pro.

I haven't had a Side Winder but some baits like them with no bill often have one speed that seems to get them moving best. Try speeding it up and slowing it down. After it gets moving side to side then its easier to speed it up and slow it down since it keeps the action better.

Largemouth

Here is even a better example of what I am talking about. I saw this fish in person and it looked huge when I weighed it at 11lbs 14oz. Took the photo and it don't look like the same fish.

The problem with photos is that you cant judge a fish by a photo. I will believe the guy because it can't be proven otherwise. I caught this 13lb fish with two witnesses present when I weighed it. It was close to shape and size of that fish. It was long and solid but not much of a belly that most fish would have to have to get to 13lbs. Most people have never seen a young fish that is around 30 inches long that gets to that weight so most are going to say its a fake or he is lying about the weight. Fish come in all shapes and sizes even 13lb fish.

I think its a little of both. I think big bass occupy the best structure but not always the best cover if it pulls them off the best structure. The reason I think this is that the attractor these fish are in is small and not the heavy type of cover that would offer the best cover. If you were underwater you could easily see the fish in it. There is a brush pile actually a few trees(not far away) from where these fish are always caught that is huge but I always catch smaller fish there in the brush pile. This attractor is on an edge where it drops around eight feet straight down.

Anyone? Yes, no, maybe? Anyone at all? The tail wouldnt mean anything. Alot of tail damage this time of year is from parasitesaccording to a biologist i talked to about it. I caught a six pound male last year at Varner and was told that it would be the equilivent of a world record female. So a male getting that size would be a prety big stretch.

The PVC attractors are shaped like a sea urchin but with fewer spines.LOL. I dont have a photo but I saw Bill Dance marketing something like it one time. Its about three or four feet tall and maybe has ten 2inch pipes running together in the center. I am not sure what t weights it down but it has to be something in the pipes. Theres a guy who lives on the lake who put them out and told me where they were and I can tell when I hit them with a crankbait because they have a unique feel when compared to other things on the bottom of the lake like rocks and brush. They are great to run a crankbait through since you almost never hang in one.

Here she is again from yesterday. Doghouse took her back home and released her after taking a photo.