ClackerBuzz

summer water temps are so high that it can really slow you down. i'm so relieved in the fall b/c the water temps are cooler allowing them to chase again. i can finally get back to chucking and winding....spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, rattletraps, swimjigs etc. there has got to be a a fast moving/horizontal technique that you'd like to learn before the 45 deg and below temps hit and it's back to slow dragging and jerkbaits with 2 min pauses Are you on the bank? if so spinner/chatterbaits would be my first choice

i feel like there is such a long list of lures other than the frog that are more effective in the fall. pretty much everything else in the box it's not that they don't work....just that other things work so much better

I struggle with bait vs bass. this year I heard good advise from Ish Monroe: "When you find bass, you will find bait close by. But when you find bait there won't necessarily be bass." Sounds great but i'm still no closer to figuring it out I work off fish devils approach "Cover plenty of water until you find aggressive fish". Those dinks will give away a good location like no other.

I hear banjos

funny I just saw a video of a guy from Wisconsin that found a pocket of LM in a SM lake. i bet there are a bunch of LM in that lake but nobody ever targets them via punching/frogging the slop. are most guys trolling or fishing deep? the LM might be in very skinny water where others don't venture. https://youtu.be/YyBUx_aM61g

I observed your same observation at a farm pond I used to fish. There was a back corner that was shallow and basically had stagnant water. Bass were never there in the summer bc it was too hot w/ little oxygen (they would position at the deep end where the feeder creek came in). But come late fall and early spring after ice out, below 50 degree water temps, those bass would be warming in that shallow corner b/c it was so much warmer. I'm sure they would move deeper at night but they loved getting a suntan there on cold days.

fyi the Elites are 30% off in their bargain room

try to keep ur casts under 30 ft. a 75 ft cast means you'll be wasting time fighting the pads the whole way back. also try to remove the rod from the equation when it's time to bring ur lure back. point ur rod tip directly at the lure and use a reel retrieve. the rod won't load so the lure gets hung/snagged up far less. this no-rod method also works well when bouncing a buzzbait thru tall lily stalks b/c ur only using a reel and braid.

great video A-Jay. I've always wanted to get into blade baits. I can tell you I would have been bummed they 'didn't work' when I retrieved them like a rattletrap. and even more frustrated when I stroked them like a football jig w/o success. I love jigs so now it should be an easy cross over. Looking forward to trying them.

Styrofoam peanuts that come as packaging. they do sell special foam balls but i forget what they're called

never been there but there are a bunch of threads about it. go to:Northeast Bass Fishing main page. use the search bar at the top right with "This forum" button checked. search Raystown.

i struggled with this over the years. it's evolved to the point where there are only a few variables for me: 1 big water and/or unknown water 2 little water 3 known water. 4 day vs night fishing 5 summer vs spring/fall 1 big water is different for everyone but for me it's 1000+ acres. it requires a chuck and wind approach with fast moving horizontal baits to locate a bass. you're not looking for giants here. ur just looking for aggressive dinks to give away the location of the school. KVD has made an amazing career at it. you can slow down and fish vertical once you've found fish and try to catch big mama. most of the time i'm also looking for weeds to come back on my hooks b/c they hold the quantity and quality bass. a good article was just posted on it: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/catching-fall-bass.html 2 little water is much easier b/c it's like fishing in a barrel. you can start vertical or with a slow n low approach b/c the bass will come to you. i'd rather slow soak a lure right off the bat at a pond or small lake b/c it's easier to catch big mama if the water has been undisturbed. however if slow soaking isn't working i'm quick to work fast and furious. 3 known water is a combination of the two. i'll use past knowledge to incorporate a big and little water approach. i usually already know where the weeds are. it just a matter of finding out what needs to be done to trigger the bass on that particular day. and it easier to anticipate their seasonal movement when you know the body of water. 4 LMB definitely hold under cover during daylight hours. for the most part they will be hiding during blue bird skies when most of us are fishing on the weekends. of course there are exceptions when an 8lb giant will be sitting in 6" of open water but it's rare so don't spend all day casting open shallow water. why not go straight to the cover holding them. weeds are my number one priority. your lake's cover will dictate what else to target. being in a boat/kayak helps a ton here b/c you have much better access to cover. if ur on the bank make sure to target the banks that have deep water access. from dusk till dawn the bass move shallow b/c there are no longer threats from above like bears and birds. night time is the best time to be a bank angler b/c the fish literally come to you. 5 spring and fall are harder times to be a bank angler b/c the bass are still holding deeper. the water temps are better plus the weeds haven't grown in shallow areas. this time sucks to be a bank angler so make sure ur fishing near deep water. otherwise target deeper water from a boat/kayak. an easy way to remember it is in winter the bass are shallow during the day but deep at night. and during the summer they are deep during the day and shallow at night. these concepts literally changed how I fish. to answer ur questions: #1 and 3 i'm definitely looking for weeds b/c LMB bass will take cover during the day. the bright sun will have them holding closer to cover so the strike zone will be smaller. the exception is if there are smallies in the water. they have a huge strike zone even in blue bird skies. if the weed area's are small i'll start slow and vertical. but if you have 300+yd of weeds to cover I'm going to use fast reaction baits to find where a school is hiding in the weeds. #2 the strike zone will be much larger b/c of the clouds. i'd start with reaction lures over the weeds and on edges to find a school and pitch it vertical once located; chatterbaits, spooks, crankbaits etc. . i don't think you mentioned if ur fishing rivers or lakes. rivers are a whole different ball game but with lakes you can quickly eliminate 90% of the water w/ a topo map. only fish the bank areas that have deep water access. however at night you can fish even shallow water areas b/c the bass will move up. ps skip ur next few rods/reels and buy a kayak. getting off the bank will be the greatest decision you make in a season!

there is something called a slot limit. it's the population of fish that dominate a body of water. it sounds counter intuitive but your pond would likely benefit from removing as many 8-10" bass as you can catch in a year. that will open up a whole new bait fish population for the biggest bass to feed on (no more over crowding of small fish). the big bass then have a much better chance of passing on their genes at spawn. big bass keep baitfish in check ie not raiding bass nests during spawn. you should have ur pond electro-shocked to find out ur slot limit and remove what's recommended. instead of paying money to add fish you are removing the overcrowded ones, which corrects the ponds biomass. i'm sure others can expand on this better than me. i found bob's video...35 min of great info. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/bass-fishing-fish-biology.html his site is: http://www.pondboss.com/

I think Megastink nailed it. that would be the area if I was going to buy. there is a good variety of water in that area, big and small. the water gap is beautiful and you can even cross into NJ for fishing. Plattsburgh might be beautiful but is no quick commute from Philly.

I learned to always carry an ultra light/crappie rod for dire times. baitfish might be small but they get the skunk off and pick up the spirits for an hour while i go back to the drawing board. plus learning about bait definitely helps the cause

sounds like you need to get into pond management. search this site and google for 'bob lusk' and/or pond management. i would put a bunch of artificial cover in that pond so they come closer to the shoreline. i bet there is a place where you can get free broken cement or you can build ur own PVC structure/christmas trees etc. just use youtube for artificial bass/crappie structure/habitat/PVC

I fished it 6-7 years ago. i'm hard on myself and think i suck at fishing now so i really sucked back then I took a canoe out while on vacation and caught bluegills, crappie, yellow perch and small bass on ultra light gear. I remember being frustrated b/c weeds kept clinging to my hook (submerged weeds). if i only knew better. def take a jig rod and worm rod. use the jig to quickly find the deepest weeds you can and drag a senko thru them. Or the weed lure of ur choice ie rip a rattle trap or spinnerbait out of them. i've never see a topo map but i doubt the lake is more than 10-15 ft. the water was super clear and there isn't a lot of cover so you can get away with light line in the open water. it shouldn't be hard to find weeds. it seemed overgrown with an invasive species; it's really a shallow overgrown man made resort pond. However the good news is there was no public boat launch so it kept the bucket fishermen away. the southern shore line tappers very slowly. probably bulldozed that way for beach/swimming purpose. i would focus on the northern/ mountain shoreline for best conditions. the homes/docks on the north shore were not developed when I was there but I would still focus on the north shore b/c it is going to provide the coolest temps, underground springs and natural ledges/drop offs. definitely work those docks with a jig, senko, frog at dawn/dusk. if you want to catch better fish definitely take ur kayak. i caught several smaller bass along the southern shoreline on a spinnerbait but i had to cast it directly onto a log b/c of the water clarity. take an ultra light with an in line spinner/Mepps and some crappie lures and there is no way you'll get skunked. write an update after ur trip. i'd like to get back up there and see if there are any big girls. good luck!

it's interesting to read posts like this b/c i'm 100% the opposite. i don't like crankbaits b/c i never know what depth they are running at. and if the wind blows my boat 50 ft i have to tie on a new one b/c i'm now in 14 ft of water instead of 9 ft. i just don't like using them. now jigs, drop shot, T rig...i love'm. it doesn't matter if i'm in 6" or 29 ft of water, i'm always on the bottom making contact and annoying fish. deeper water and windy days just require more weight to stay on bottom. you can use lighter weights in calm conditions and water under 15 ft. spinnerbaits and chatterbaits are the wild card here. they rise in the water column b/c of bigger blades or lighter lead. it just means you have to reel slower and keep ur rod tip down. i like smaller blades and heavier weights so i can reel faster to cover water while still maintaining bottom contact

from bank or boat?

never fished it and google maps isn't bringing it up for me. here's the topo map. i'd stick to the shorelines that have the contour lines stacked close together ie access to deep water. i'd steer clear of the boat ramp side unless it's spawn http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/lakes/penbryn.pdf here's the link i use for my nj topo maps: http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/lakemaps.htm

man i gotta get one of those...and maybe the ladybug boots for good luck. https://youtu.be/KXYpJupNLSA

most guys i know that fish righty were 'taught' that way as a kid.

loose lips sink ships

I'll take 10 min to fan cast 5-8 different locations with the same lure. if i don't get any bites it's time to make a lure/rod change. there are lots of ways to fish a senko: dead stick, slow drag, rip like a jerkbait, hop or pitch into cover like a jig, burn it like a buzzbait topwater etc. i'll experiment with the full spectrum of retrieves but if i don't get a bite it's time to change lure tactics which usually means picking up a drastically different rod (like switching from a senko to a crankbait; or from a spinnerbait to a jig; or from a frog to a drop shot). make sure to think outside the box with all lures ie frog: yes do the usually frog retrieves but also burn it like a buzzbait, pitch it into a hole like a jig, dead stick like it a senko, pop it like a popper, cast it on shore and hop it in the water. dramatic experimentation makes it easier to provoke/figure out the bite or eliminate the lure for the time being (don't forget to try again in 2+hrs or if conditions change like clouds come, or if baitfish start busting). the only exception is visible cover like a tree stump. if you feel like there is a bass there pound the heck out of it from top to bottom till you annoy the big girl into biting