Jig Meister

She's a 'bute Clark

After thinking about this the last few days I have come to the conclusion that no matter where you go, you are going to be hard pressed finding a DD LMB. Sure some places will give you better chances, but really its all a crap shoot. I was looking over Ohio records and the State record is a 13.5# caught from a farm pond. Now over the years I have caught my biggest fish out of larger farm ponds/lakes, and it got me thinking, You probably have just about a good of a chance catching a DD bass where you live as you do anywhere else. I would search out unpressured lakes in your neck of the woods first, before traveling the world for it. Also, take a trip to Lake Biwa, Bass fishing is still new to Japan, and after looking over and researching Lake Biwa, that place probably gives really good chances, but it has only had bass since the 30's (give or take), so who really knows, but a 20+ came out of there.

It has been an overall sweltering summer here in Ohio. I am land locked and have done well, but the last 2 weeks have been hard. Early morning has even shut down where I have been fishing. Going to try again this Saturday and see what happens, another week of 95+ heat, super high humidity and not looks like storms, which we need. That is a monster gill, nice and I bet she sure tasted good

They I've been getting lied to, which doesn't surprise me lol. I was told by a older man I trust (pretty much) that he landed a 10-2 from Lake Erie. Possible, i guess.

Lake Erie was voted #4 for Bass Fishing by BASS. I know of 10#'rs coming out of there. I would try Lake Erie.

Jig.

Not sure if you know this, but a lot of fish carry nasty nasty bacteria on their bodies, and once it gets into your skin/flesh/blood stream can do a lot of damage. No granted this is a Bass and not something else, like a stingray (which causes a anti-healing wound and eventual necrosis if left untreated), but still there is no telling what type of bacteria you have gotten from the fish, or even the water. Go to the doctor, they will lance this if they feel they need too, give you a good multi-spectrum antibiotic, and at worst case, give you a intramuscular injection of antibiotics.

Grubs are probably one of the best overall bassin' lures around. Swim it any way you want, just go with what works best that day. I have had a lot of luck on yo-yo type retrieves as well as straight reeling it in fast or slow. Or fish if like you would a skirted jig. Change jig heads to create different movement. One of the easiest lures to fit a given situation.

I never used to use it until this year. Now it seems to work well. I will have days where I wont get a hit, forgot that I have it, spray it on my jig's and bam, get a few fish. So IDK, if you usually have strong odors on your hands or person, like tobacco, coffee, cologne etc. I would use it. I have been using BANG Garlic, and will use the Crawdad next.

When I was a younger bass fisherman I used to clean house on all type of spinner baits, classic skirted types, rooster tails and I used to use a lot of spinner minnows type crank baits that I don't remember where I got them. Now I find it harder to use them, I stick to the colors that I normally produce with, white's and chartreuse but more often than not I will catch less on those than anything else, I do find now that I catch most fish on spinners when I retrieve then helicopter it down. Also toss that wretched into cover, hit it off of trees and toss it in front of hydrilla beds. Its a reaction strike lure, so you need to shove it in their face. Also, best when use with cloud cover and slight rippled water, if the sky is blue, and the water is like glass, use something else.

Good advice, always watch the line, and feel for the strike

My guess is you are fishing it way to fast. I see people all the time fishing jigs and they are giving too much action. Maybe that works for them, but for myself I usually only get a fish one the first drop, or on a slow drag, sometimes on a double pop, or twitch after the initial sink. Cast it to the location you want, let it sit for maybe 3-10 seconds, raise the rod tip, maybe twitch some, or pop it really fast twice or so, then let is sit (dead stick) for another 3-10 seconds, then drag it a foot or so, feeling the bottom. If that doesn't yield in a strike, or a fish, then reel in, or repeat as desired. I used to fish skirted jigs like I would a normal twister tail jig, and that has never worked for me, only way for me to catch fish, repeatedly is by doing what I just mentioned. Hope that helps, FWIW's it's something to try out.

Well here is some general tips. If you want to go deeper using Fluorocarbon is going to help, it sinks very well and will help get the added depth. Before you start going to crank bait route to get deep, I would check out fishing with jigs, and drop shotting. And maybe use a lip-less crank bait along the way. Those are pretty easy to learn (all 3) and are basic as far as equipment goes. Also, look into plastic worms, T-rigged and Carolina rigged will help get you to the deeper areas.

Try dead sticking the jig, then slowing dragging it. This is what gets my 80% of my fish lately

Found some really old Rapala Floaters in a tackle box that I got from my brother years ago. With other nice Rapala lures, the hooks and rings are all rusty, but the body is still in great shape, hell those floaters and jerk baits from Rapala seem to catch in any condition. what hook size should I go with as replacements, I am not normally a jerk/crank bait fisherman, so I am sort of clueless. Thanks.

There was an episode of river monsters I believe where J.Wade was on a river in the Midwest (maybe) that was heavily populated with Asian Carp (This is the Snake Head episode) and they took off on a special made boat with netting. There were thousands of these carp jumping everywhere out of the water, it was shocking to see, and they were upwards of 40 lbs some of them. So watch your back, they are live ones!

I have always cranked with my left hand. I am right handed. I generally will use both hands to cast long casts, but never take my right hand off the reel/rod. I me, switching hands seems like one too many steps in a process.

I used 3 brands of Jigs only, Northstar, Dirty and Omega. I only use Zoom plastics for trailers, these choices are what I have found to be the best options for me and fill my needs totally. I always match the jig color, so greens with greens, browns with browns. I make mostly two exceptions, White jigs with chartreuse trailers, and black with blue. Sometimes brown with orange if I am fishing a river for smallies. Black and Blue is the most productive color combo I have found. I use either chunks, single or double tail grubs. Pretty basic, but Zoom plastic really have the best overall colors and price can't be beat.

JIg, Spinner, Torpedo or Popper if those dont work, wacky senko.

I've been waiting for a nice set of black jigs, and would rather give my money to NS any day! Can't wait.

I made an effort to fish Senko's the other day, wacky rigged, where I would normally fish a jig. I have played with Wacky rigs rarely, and I thought I would give them an honest chance. Well out of 5 casts, I caught 3, landed 2, and I instinctively let the fish run with the bait, and then set the hook, just very light and it worked best. The ones that got away were due to trying to set the hook too hard. In fact, I have made a conscious effort to set the hook lighter all around with all baits, and it has really paid off.

I love bait casting a lot, I usually am tossing jigs or spinner baits. But when I want to go light with plastics and even some top water's like torpedo s and poppers I will go with spinning. I have caught large fish with both setups, but really it all depends on lure weight to me, I do not rig bait casters to cast light lures, that is what spinning is for to me. I would go above 10/12lb test on spinning, and wont go below 15/17 on a bait caster. just how I like to do things. I am accurate with both

ugly sticks will last a life time, I have had one for over ten years, but the tips are always soooooooo floppy, drives me nuts. I like a good stiff rod.......for fishing.

Check youtube for how-to videos, I am willing to bet you will find just what you are looking for.

All depends, I fish a lot of jigs, so I lose 2-3 a week depending on where I am fishing. Mostly from getting lodged in rocks. I lose my favorite swim jig that has produced for me all year yesterday, broke my heart because they are back order till middle of july! Oh well, nature of the beast I guess. If I am wacky wormin' I will usually get a few lose hooks as well. Usually I average 1-3 a week if I fish everyday, sometimes 0, all depends. Once I get a kayak soon I hope, I am going to my local pond to get a few back that are in a easily reachable tree branch