wademaster1

Rapala Shad Raps have been super good to me so far this spring......

6'6" Pfleuger President combo has served me well for largemouth....in the rivers I tend to tote something a little smaller....

I've caught lots of smallies on inline spinners...Panther Martin all gold has been my best producer....also, the Strike King mini king has been good to me, it's not inline though....

That sucks....but always remember....it could be a lot worse......

I've been seeing them caught and been catching them on everything, especially in ponds.....spinnerbaits, cranks, plastic worms and lizards, and even topwater......

I agree with this......if they're hot, fish the cool spots....if they're cool, fish the warm areas....

I'm aware of that, but what I'm saying is doesn't the rig have to have a weight to make it texas rigged? How is it a texas rig if it has no weight?

What's. t-rigged weightless ?

There are better lures for different situations...right now I'm loving the cranks

Sounds to me like the fish are hitting the part of the bait that the hook is not in....basically, you're setting the hook and the fish are hanging on for a second before letting go

Fish it like you would anything else....hit that structure hard with cranks....folks are catching bass on everything under the sun right now....you can't go wrong

I fish year round....

Spinnerbaits, grubs....

Crankbaits around structure and/or rock......they're there!!! I tore the fish up yesterday with 3 different Rapala cranks....

Yep, guaranteed....

Ummmm, count the number of hooks on each line.....don't go over three

Oh yeah, I forgot that I caught a buddy's popper in the back of my leg....BOTH trebles!! hahahaha

I think baits are pretty much interchangable for the two species....I go a tad smaller for the river smallies though...

Scariest time I've had yet is when a friend of mine cocked back to cast a big plastic worm.....I was on the other end of the boat facing the opposite direction when i felt something cold and damp in the bend of my arm (opposite side of your elbow).....about the time i looked down at it he launched it and about a 2/0 hook dug into the soft and tender skin in that area....didn't go very deep but i thought i was gonna have to hit the hospital up.....i pulled it out and kept casting!! HAHAHA

Cold weather: Midday Normal weather: The first and last couple hours of daylight each day

Be patient.....bigger baits will help.....like previously stated, work a likely area for a little while before moving on.....also, with the bigger bait you're likely to catch less fish, but more quality fish...

I think fish are conditioned to at least some degree.....but they still feed on their natural prey items, right? This means to me one thing. Use something that they can't distinguish as fake or alarming. Just because they're conditioned/spooked doesn't mean they're going to starve because of their past experiences.

Hmmmm. Plastics, crank baits, and even topwater has produced bass in ponds for me already this year. I'm not sure what you've got going on there with those baits/methods. Bass are visual predators....move your bait as naturally as you can to entice the bass into biting....my rule of thumb is the colder the water, the slower I work the bait.

Use anything you have confidence in.....anything can catch fish from the bank if its what the fish wants

I've caught several fish with only one eye, they still hunt effectively.......as for the size/condition of the fish, it could be a number of things