papa smurf

I like to soak mine in lemon juice and drink the beer.

I like to to start with start with spinnerbaits and shallow running cranks in the rain. If that doesn't produce I would us something like a fluke, trickworm, or senko fished slowly.

I like the idea of a fluke too, but I wouldn't rule out other soft plastics either. One thing you may want to try is a sizmic poppin toad. It's a soft plastic frog like a horny toad, but it floats and has a popping head like a topwater popper.

My favorite pattern is to fish a soft plastic frog over and around shallow weeds at night.

I like to try something new fairly often. I try to pick times when I think my new bait will be a good presentation to try to give it the best chance to be successfull. I also like to find an old presentation or two that is somewhat similar and that I think would work under those same conditions to see how it stacks up.

Weeds are my favorite, especially in warm weather.

I occaissionally keep bass to take home and fry. If I plan on cooking fish, I start keeping most of my fish for a few days until I have enough for a fish fry.

I really want to catch a ten pounder, but I would be happier with any fish thats bigger than the biggest fish I have ever caught, which is a little over 7 pounds.

It means to find a type of location (i.e. a type of cover or structure) or a presentation that can be repeated over and over.

I prefer to fish with someone as long as the are willing to fish. What I hate is to take or go with someone who wants to leave after 30 min. because they haven't caught a fish yet.

Fire and Ice has it right. The fertilizer causes an increased algae bloom which feeds the plankton that feeds the baitfish that feed the bass

The temperature of the water that the bass is in probably has something to do with it too. I'm not sure just how much of an effect it would have, but I don't think that a bass in 40 degree water would be able to swim as fast as a bass in 80 degree water.

It depends on the size, depth, layout, water clarity, and bottom composition of the lake. If it is a small lake and the weather stays warm for the next 2-3 weeks I think (not saying that I know for sure) that it could warm up as much as 10 degrees of a little more.

If I'm in an area that I feel is holding bass and that the bass should be active, and I'm not catching a whole lot; I'll change fairly often. If I'm not sure that the bass are there, or if I feel like most of the bass are inactive I tend to stick with the same presentation until I'm more convinced that it's not right.

Here's a couple of questions: Would a guy whose covering a lot of water with a spinnerbait, but whose downsized from a 1/2 or 3/8 oz spinnerbait to a 1/4 or 1/8 oz spinnerbait, be power or finesse fishing. On the other hand, what a about a guy in California whose fishing a 12 inch swimbait for a 20 pound bass so slow he can hardly stand it, be power or finesse fishing.

It doesn't take much fishing to pressure the fish in a 5 acre pond. If the water is clear to stained I would go with finesse presentations that you can slip quietly into the water, and I would definately find a way to fish those other banks. Sometimes all it can take to start catching fish again is to show them the same lure that they are used to seeing but in a place that they are not used to seeing it.

A super fluke in a baby bass pattern.

If it's a public lake, you should try to get your state game and fish department involved. They could probably make some reccomendations that could everyone pointed in the right direction.

Man that just plain sucks! If I were you I would go straight to not only my governer and state legislature but also my representitives in congress. If you can get enough voices together to tell them about not only the economic but also the political implications of their actions you will stand a better chance of being heard.

I voted occasionally. While they usually work best for me during the traditional times, there are some days that bass will hammer a buzzbait even though it's not a low light situation. This seems especially true in the late summer and early fall. They are also one of my favorite lures to fish, so maybe I try them a little more often than most people.

I would think that a suspending jerkbait, jig n pig, and a carolina rig would all be good choices.

I'll fish in the rain, but I view thunder and lightning as a good excuse to sit in the truck and drink beer until it passes.

I'm hopin for 10 but 7 or 8 would be more realistic

Good Question. I could have something to do with water clarity. It seems like bass would be less likely to suspend in dingy water, but this year I haven't caught many fish on the bottom, even in water that had a pretty good stain to it.

My best method of catching postpown bass is to take a rapala jointed minnow and fish it very slowly on the surface. I usually cast it out and wait until all of the ripples dissapear before I begin my retrieve. Then I retrieve it just fast enough to get some action out of the back half for 4-5 feet. Then I deadstick it for 15-30 seconds before I move it again. It takes a lot of patience to fish this way but it can really help with those postspawn females when nothing else seems to be working.