ClackerBuzz

a slow dragged soft plastic of ur choice is hard to beat. some guys like senkos, some lizards. just grab whats on sale http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/13845-guaranteed-to-catch-bass/ of course there are plenty of other exciting lures to become addicted too

Dr. Ruth-aider

x2. the only time you'll catch me doing 5 mph under the speed limit is in deer infested areas (ur road goes from having a field on both sides to a tunnel of trees). the other greatest thing that has saved me from hitting tons of deer: honking the horn. deer react quickly to sound. i'll go for the horn equally as fast as, if not faster than, my foot goes for the brake. yes sometimes they just stare with that blank look but by far the majority of the time a horn gets their @#$ moving quickly. you can spook smart deer by just stepping on a twig in the woods. the horn spooks the smart ones and the dumb ones follow. the problem comes when there are all dumb ones in the line of fire another tip: where there is one deer, there is many. they travel in packs so the rest of the herd can be 1/2 mile down the road. basically i almost hit one lone deer, got my heart rate down and car speed up only to almost slam into the rest of the herd 1/2 mile ahead. so if you see a deer don't let ur guard down till ur out of the woods bc there are more around

its hard to beat a weightless soft plastic of ur choice. of course its not as exciting as other baits. but that's my go to when all else fails (and actually i start with it often b/c it's so stealth you catch those big girls off guard). http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/13845-guaranteed-to-catch-bass/

experiment with the length of the pause to find out what the fish want that day.

great advice. pm me ur address Grizzn. i'll send you a generic 4 oz 8" Hudd (Reaction strike). Take a few hours to play and learn how to blast/cast it. If ur not used to casing 4 oz lures by far the fastest way to lose one is a backlash. second fastest is a snag so get a lure knocker. third fastest pike. i only tinkered w/ swimbaits last year but i learned a lot and i'm coming back this season in full force (biggest mistake besides backlashing was reeling too fast. gotta reel s-l-o-w. even dead stick a Hudd). they cost more but i ordered more 2 oz lures b/c you can cast them so much easier ie 7" slammer, 200 S wave, Triple trout, Hardgills. many are jointed but the noise will come in handy June-Aug when my water dirties up from algae blooms. why cast a 4 oz 8" BBZ1 floater when you can cast a 2oz 7" Slammer.

jig fishing is 100x's more productive and versatile than frog fishing. focus on getting a nice MH jig rod. you can easily toss frog on it during a hot summer bite.

this. 5" senko wacky rigged has a nice fall rate and action for finicky bass

i've seen you mention baby diaper color before kent. are you still getting them online?

imo most guys don't need to change out hooks. they are just wasting money feeding expensive trebles to stumps. i would however change them out of i was a semi-pro angler....or if i lived in Texas. or if the lure had extremely cheap trebles. SK hooks are plenty good for the average angler. just food for thought

I'm under the firm belief that all public employees should have to wait tables for 3 months as a prerequisite. you'll truly learn hospitality after trying to pay ur rent based on tips generated solely from being humble and courteous.

they are great for open water but first i'd reach for a spro poppin' frog in the conditions ur describing http://www.***.com/Spro_Dean_Rojas_Bronzeye_Poppin_Frog/descpage-SPBPF.html

i also give props to the guys jamming hooks into their skin on purpose to educate us. ouch

I love the SDJ. it's great for beginners using fluoro b/c you cinch it upward (opposite direction of the eye on hook) so you can't burn it as easily and you can take your time making sure your wraps lay nicely. it's also great for lures 5-8" b/c you don't have to waste ablot of line using a hoop like with a palomar. now that my fluoro knot tying skills are up to par i'm back to the palomar for lures smaller than 4" and use the SDJ for larger lures to save line.

"Better not show that one to Diane"

i know people have alot of rules like clockwise or label up etc for loading line onto reels (spinning or bc). I reel 5-10 handle revolution and flip the spool b/c coils start to form. just keep repeating (skip to 1:50) but really my life has been heaven after switching to all braid

i'm sure you'll get alot of suggestions for lures so i'll give ya a suggestion for technique: fish fast and loud if they are aggressive. fish low and slow if not.

x2. take enough line off so 1/8" of ur spool is exposed and it won't 'jump' off anymore. no need to spend extra cash on conditioner...unless you want

a 6 lb bass looked on unhappyly as his foot long Subway special got away.

there are guys here far better at ledge fishing than me but i can give you a tip that changed everything for me. most guys troll parallel to the shoreline and cast a 45 deg angle. don't do this. you'll miss many depths and many angles. instead troll rainbows. most everyone does this around points but forget about it along a featureless shoreline. doesn't matter the lure. trolling a rainbow shape means you'll be casting parallel from both directions, perpendicular, and every angle within 180 deg. and you'll be covering many depth levels. lure choice doesn't matter. works well with spinnerbaits, jigs, crankbaits, c rig, a rig etc etc etc. make sure to note the direction and depth when you get bit.

way to young to pass. rip

I hate line memory so I'd return it and get the fluoro. red label is good stuff. the cxx memory isn't as bad as mono but it's close enough to make make my skin craw. spinning or bc set up? if ur on a budget i'd use braid with a cxx leader (or yes even a mono leader b/c the braid will eliminate the memory issue and correct the sensitivity/stretch issues). all ur rod set up's will become twice as versatile b/c you can simply remove the leader and fish straight braid in heavy cover ('heavy' being relative to the lb braid you have on that particular set up). ie my drop shot rod is 10 lb braid to 6 or 8lb leader but i can remove the leader and fish straight braid if around rocks/weeds; or if i'm shore fishing in chunk rock and want to be able to bend out a light wire hook to get my slider jig back). braid can be expensive and there's no need to fill ur whole spool with it. if ur really on a budge use 100 ft of braid w/ 6-8ft mono leader; back fill all ur spools with 10-20lb mono. over 3 seasons i've experimented with braid to mono, braid to fluoro, and braid to copoly. in the end i prefer braid to mono or copoly simply b/c their knots are more forgiving.

bottom bounce a 3/4oz jig FAST to cover lots of water. you'll feel lots of muddy sediment bottom areas. work them fast but SLOW down once you feel rock. soak ur jig in rocky areas. better yet get a backlash and pick it out. after ur done fixing ur backlash and finally make contact with ur jig you'll probably get bite. that water is cold so don't work ur reaction lures (spinnerbaits, traps, cranks) in the middle/top of water column. make sure you are keeping constant bottom contact with them. a reaction bite is just that...you need to slam into something to get a reaction out of them. most guys just burn a spinnerbait mid water column when they should be slow rolling them on the bottom. esp in cold water temps if a semi fast jerkbait retrieve isn't working you need to slow wayyyy down to give them time to rise for it. painfully slow cold water jerkbait retrieve (or jig retrieve, or X retrieve):

I have a 598 and wish i had bought lowrance b/c there are no maps of my home waters. lowrance has the option to create contour maps of ur home lakes with Insight Genesis

I hear bass will follow a Hudd up to the boat just to give you a fin bump respect