HeavyDluxe

So, not surprisingly, you all are rock stars. W had a thunderstorm blow over right as I was making my last post so I took the weather-induced pause as an opportunity to follow deep's advice. I watched Fukemaster's jig video and it was really helpful and informative. After the storm blew over, we had some really calm water and low wind. Light was fast running out, but I managed to get out on the dock for a few casts. It was like magic. I varied working the Ika in the short, crawfish like hops (a la the jig video) and larger, senko like draws. I also took advantage of the stillness to really focus on the line behavior. As a result I hooked into four fish in just a couple more than that number of casts. It was really cool to see the way that, after pausing on the bottom, the line would sometime start to move again. So, I short, thanks..

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Had a better day today - not in terms of fish caught, but in terms of casualties. I will watch the jig video as requested. Just to be clear, I -was- already trying to watch the line but just seemed to be missing something. No new revelations here, really, so I suppose I just need some more experience.

Hi, everyone. Getting right to the question: Can someone give a primer on what to watch for on the fall when fishing soft plastics? I know that after lifting, you're generally supposed to let the line go slack so the bait can make a slow, unhindered descent. And, I also know that, in theory, you are supposed to watch the line for signs of a bass having picked up the bait while it was on the way down. As I mentioned in another thread, I picked up my first two packs of GYCB Fat Ikas the other day and started fiddling with them last night. Those things flat catch fish. This afternoon, I got a chance to fish some more and tore them up. Problem is that I tore them up a little too literally. A couple of the bass were deeply gut-hooked. I had no idea they were there until I started to jig up the bait and felt their weight on the line. Neither of those two fish made it (though I did try to follow the gut-hooking instructions that are often posted here). Both were relatively small, a long way out, and it was ridiculously windy today. All of these factors might've contributed to the reason I didn't feel or notice the pickup. Still, I would love to hear from more seasoned angler ps what I *should* be watching for so, perhaps, I won't have it happen again.

Hope this isn't a total threadjack... A mentioned previously, I picked up a couple packs of these yesterday. I did get to fish with them today. By way of a brief review, these things cast a country mile and, from what I can tell, sure seem to generate strikes. A couple struggles /questions: >>> As per the suggestions on this thread, I have been fishing these weightless. The waters I fish tend to have a lot of vegetation. These things don't seem to like weeds. Almost every cast I am getting really hung up - enough to pull the Ika down from the eye of the hook. Any tips on how to work these in the weeds? >>> The other thing that has been a problem is that, while these generate strikes, they haven't really been generating hookups. It seems like, if I barely skin hook the things I get caught up in the weeds but if I dig the hook point in a little more, I wind up having a fish bite, hold on until it gets a view of the dockand then it opens its mouth and sends the bait back at my face at rocket speed. Any tips for rigging (beyond what is already n this thread)? Thanks!

I am grateful for the responses, too... By a happy accident, we were in a DSG that had 4" Ikas in Black/Blue Flake and Watermelon something or other. Picked up both bags. Looking forward to giving these a try while we are here on the lake.

I would make a note here that may be relevant... I am not a biologist, but I would be willing to wager that the potential impact of zebra mussels on lakes in the south might end up being different than on lakes here in the north. For example, tomorrow I am leaving for a lake here in VT in which the critters are very well established. As a new fisherman and non-boater, I can't really comment n the impact on the fishery per se. But what I do know is that this lake freezes over solidly every winter here. That would have a significant impact on vegetation and other microbial life in the lake that would not be the same in a place like Texas. How the different climate will impact the interaction of the mussels with the native ecosystem is above my pay grade to speculate... But it seems wise to caution making too many parallels between how northern lakes have fared and what that means for you down there.

Yes, that is perfectly clear. It is just completely backwards from what I would've expected. Like I said, I thought they'd point the other way to mimic a minnow or craw on retrieve. Learn something new every day. :-). Thanks for the post. Any thoughts re fishing these weightless, sliding weight or pegged? I predominately fish Texas riggged senkos, and until now I have always had the worm weight able to move on the line. I want to experiment with fishing them weightless or with the weight pegged.

Do you guys typically Tex-pose these with the frilly end up towards the hook eye, or down towards the bend? To put it another way, do you insert the hook into the frill end or the pointy end? I'm assuming you'd always want the frills towards trailing the direction of retrieve since it could look like both a baitfish or a craw that way.

Absolutely. 100%.

I'll chime in just for kicks. I actually don't think this is something where the NCAA should've gotten involved. None of the allegations of cover-up resulted in anything approaching an on-field/competitive advantage for Penn State. Sandusky's conduct sure wasn't responsible for bringing in higher-quality recruits. The NCAA exists to enforce competitive fairness and competitive ethics among the member schools and this is an overstep of their bounds forced by their fear that failure to act would have them crucified in the court of public opinion. These were criminal acts perpetrated by a select few people. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and punished severely. The penalties that the NCAA levied that impact Paterno's direct legacy (the vacated wins, for example) are appropriate. Please don't get me wrong... I think what these men did is heinous beyond all degree and I believe there will be full justice for it - if not now, then someday. If the NCAA felt compelled to act, I wish they would've acted in favor of financial and other institutional penalties against Penn State that had less direct impact on student-athletes (if there is such a thing in Div I athletics) who are as much victims as anyone else.

I bought a Pflueger 6935 combo from the local StuffMart... The rod is a Pflueger marked, IM8 graphite rod, medium powered with a MF tip. I love it and the $79 price tag couldn't be beat.

Nice to meet you, UPS. I know the spot, and appreciate the reply. Are there any other places in the area you'd recommend that might work better? I don't want to spend a ton of time driving around when I could be just relaxing, and I'm sure my wife isn't going to love the idea of me taking a lot of family time to go off on a fishing jag. But, if there's someplace within 20-30mins that's worth visiting while we're in the area, then I can probably justify a little excursion.

Hi, everyone... My family is staying for a week on Lake Bomoseen in central Vermont the last week of the month... Last year was really the start of our fishing addiction, and so we just fished from the docks behind the house we rented. Caught a lot of panfish, and I managed to find one 2lb-ish bass and some pickerel in the mornings. If money were no object, we'd rent a boat and hit the water. But, money's always an object. So, we'll likely be confined to fishing from the banks. Anyone here know any good spots you'd recommend that we hit? We're staying in a place over on Rt 30 about halfway between Prospect Point and the Crystal Beach recreation area. If you don't want to reveal your honey holes via reply, feel free to send a PM. I promise to leave your spot pristine and I'll even throw back your lunkers. ;-) ed: We're willing to hit any other waters nearby, too, if that'd be better for us.

I was just getting ready to start a separate thread on something similar. I use mono exclusively (old habits, hard to break, and all that) but am interested in trying a copolymer line based on what I've read here. I fish with spinning gear, so I've read that what I should get is the Yo Zuri Hybrid UltraSoft... Is that right?

Wish I knew your hardware store... I have a President spinning reel combo that I bought as an upgrade at the start of this season. I love it. I just so happened to be in a rather large sports retailer yesterday and was looking to replace the reel on my ultralight rig with a small President. Sadly, they didn't have them in stock, and they were selling for the regular price. 40% off is a wonderful deal.

In the long thread, I might've missed this a reply or two... So, if I'm restating something, just consider this an emphatic +1 to someone else's post. Anyway, I think some of this sense of "I'm not catching, so I must be doing something wrong" mindset is a product of our media-saturated world. We're inundated with TV shows and Youtube videos that compress a day's worth (or more!) of fishing footage into a way less screen time with commercial breaks. It confronts us with a false reality and we are left to think we're all inferior. Moreover, there are real advertising dollars at play here and no one is likely to buy tackle from the show/guy who isn't constantly catching. I don't mean any of this to imply that there aren't people who are incredibly gifted, skilled anglers. Nor do I doubt there are lures/tactics that, used properly, would increase someone's productivity on the water. But, like everything else, we need to be aware that what we see on TV isn't as real as we might think.

Was just out fishing for native brookies with some friends yesterday... Happily, we'll be frying up the fruits of our labor tonight. This is my first year *ever* of trout fishing, so take this with a grain of salt. Assuming you're talking about fishing for trout in rivers, however, here's what we've found works. We fish in a couple stages: First stage uses light spinning tackle (I use ultralight gear), #8 or smaller hooks, a splitshot sinker, and earthworms. Crimp the splitshot on 8 or more inches above the hook and bait with a decent, but only hook-sized, chunk of worm. Pitch the into deep pools and let it sink/settle. An occasional light jig and reel to reposition if there's no action is all that's needed. If there's a lot of current, try to cast upstream from the hole you'd like to explore and let things drift back down naturally. Once the bite slows, onto stage two... still with light tackle, pitch a couple other baits into likely hollows. Small trout jigs or spinners seem to be the norm (but, again, what do I know). The idea seems to be to entice bites from any fish that were spooked by our presence at first or were simply not interested in the worm offerings. I've heard people talk about using eggs and other real baits, but almost everyone we've seen trout fishing is either fishing worms or throwing flies.

Believe it or not, we've actually been targeting sunnies lately. They can be a ton of fun on on light tackle. The methods above sound about right. My 10, 8, and 4 year old and I all fish for them the same way now. We fish 'bobberless' almost exclusively because the big sunnies in our water seem very shy of a float. We use #8 aberdeen hooks right off the StuffMart shelves, and bait them with just about anything we can find. Lately, we've found that they really seem to like chunks of old, beat up Yamamoto Senkos that I've been keeping in the tackle box. We bite off a chunk, cast it out, close the bail and wait for the ticks on the rod. The most fun has been seeing the other things that occasionally come in at the same time - like a couple smaller bass, pickerel, and even a small northern. But, the main attraction has always been the sunnies as they are fun and non-stop once they start feeding. As noted above, we typically find dropoffs a little way from shore - particularly near some sort of cover like lily pads.

Congrat on the nice fish... While I understand the reason bass-targeting anglers dislike pickerel, I can't help having fun then they're on the other end of the line.

Yeah, part of the fun of using reasonable tackle is the sport of getting to play out the fish. I certainly don't have anything to add to the technical advice you've gotten here... But I can tell you that a good rod, good reel with properly set drag, and patience will allow you to boat just about anything that doesn't bolt into stupid heavy cover.

Hi, all... thanks for the continued responses. NorthGA & Bama: Just to clarify, we're already do a lot of baitfishing with small hooks for panfish and the like. Interestingly, we've found that the panfish in our favorite pond will rarely bite anything suspended under a float of any kind. But, they'll bit just about anything we throw in there without one. We've had a ton of fun throwing hooks with nightcrawlers or even chunks of beat up Yamamoto senkos to them weightless or with a small splitshot to push it down. I grew up fishing for salt water weakfish (trout) on bottom rigs with spinning tackle, hooking my finger on the line just above the bail on my spinning rig to detect a bite. We've done similar with the panfish here. A couple follow-up questions, if I could: Are there any other species books for things like perch, panfish, etc similar to the In-Fisherman one you posted for bass? I'm liking that book a lot. Also, I read a thread on here (which I can't seem to find [ed: HERE it is]) where roadwarrior was suggesting an approach for catching more fish... The gist, essentially, was to throw a texas-rigged plastic in one of the standard colors from the bank, parallel to shore, and fan cast from there - working the rig back to shore *very* slowly (like 10 mins between jigs). That prompted me to want to ask about whether or not there's any merit to throwing something like a drop shot rig from shore. The angle's a little weird, admittedly, but it would seem like you ought to be able to keep a plastic mostly stationary by letting the weight settle and shaking the rod tip slightly. Periodically (like every few mins or so) you could drag it a few feet along the bottom. Thoughts? (Thanks, everyone, for the free education)

The pond closest to me has very little cover or structure along the most accessible shore. But, the lily pad patches start about 10 feet off, and the grass beds fill in the gaps and extend beyond it. I've never caught anything parallel casting to the bank, but casting out straight and dragging stuff through has consistently produced. Like others, I don't fish a lot of crank baits, simply because of cost and the likelihood of snags. Plus, I have honestly nevergottena single bass to bite on a crank - either as an adult or as a kid. I am using spinning gear, mainly because I have always just liked the feel of spinning tackle (to say nothing of its versatility). However, I think I a going to buy a bait casting setup (something shortish and MH or heavier), spool it up with braid and dive into the slop a little more aggressively.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I wound up buying the In-Fisherman strategies book that you all suggested, I have been reading it whenever I get the chance on my mobile devices. (ain't technology grand?)

Oops.. I see that the original poster already clarified that. Sorry for the spam.

This thread is fascinating to me... If I read it right, a lot of responders missed the OPs point. I don't think this was another "I could school those pros on my pond, or if they had to fish with mere mortal gear, or whatever". I thought he was just saying that it would be cool to watch some seasoned pros (who have skills) hit our own little, humble ponds and see how they do. I can echo that. We have what I think is a pretty neat little pond in our town, and anytime I spend some time trying I am able to get a bass or two from the bank. No linker pool winners, but good fish in the 2-3lb range. I would love to see what those guys would find and - more importantly - get to learn how they made those choices. As a bank fisher, I'm always a little bummed that most fishing literature nowadays seems to assume the mobility of a boat and the ability to target structure and a specific species. There's a lot to learn. And getting to spend an afternoon with a top-notch pro just pal'in around on my own pond would seem like a cool way to do it.