scaleface

Its getting close to toad time . Even though the water here is still cold ,the days are getting longer . I caught one bass in the grass with a Stanley Ribbett and had a half dozen more hit it but they didnt take it in their mouths . Next week or two I expect to start catching some .

I have a friend who will throw at the same piece of cover twenty times or more and catches giants doing it . I never have had strikes doing that .

Pike are ornery because they got all them teeth but no tooth brush .

Have you tried fishing any of the small Mo Conservation Dept lakes away from the city . Theres a bunch of them throughout the state . Thats what I've been doing successfully . The ones I fish are not overpressured but they are a hundred miles from st Louis .

I've been three times in the past four weeks . The water temp is the same now as it was four weeks ago due to cool weather . I try to keep track of the bass I catch and in three outing I have caught approximately 80 bass , all but one on a spinnerbait . Water in the low 50's warming up in the afternoon and muddy . Nothing big , one four lber but lots of chunky two lbers . Flooded shoreline brush is where most are at and cast have to be low trajectory or pitched into the pockets . I have seen and talked to several other boats catching very little . They are not getting the lures deep enough in the brush . I lost the lure that was doing so well . 1/2 ounce with a #5 gold willow leaf main blade.The skirt , I guess, could be called chartreuse shad, just a little chartreuse in it . I went to assemble a couple more but am out of that blade . I'll have to order some blades .

Twice yesterday , I saw the swirl of a bass that turned on a spinnerbait in a tree and both fish followed it out then hit . I rarely see bass in stained water and right now the water is stained to muddy .

I almost always start at the oustside then work my way in .Sometimes though the boat is line up just right to make that perfect presentation inside , then I'll take advantage of it ..

I went decades without being stuck , then did it in three succesive years . One was a snagged crankbait came flying back , one there was a treble hook sticking outside a tacklebox that I didnt see and one trying to get a fish unhooked from a crankbait . I bought a set of fish grips that get used on fish caught with treble hooks . Single hooks I still lip them .

I use to do a lot of catfishing . On hot summer nights I would catch shad with a throw net . Then knock the daylights out of channel cats and blues . I would get back to the boat ramp early in the morning and be gross and sticky all over . I'd back the trailer in , load the boat then strip off and take a bath in the lake . I used ivory soap because it floated . Put my gross sticky clothes back on and go home .

I forgot "Fish Grips" .

The surface water temp can change a lot in the course of a day .In stained water It could very well be 48 in the morning and 60 in the afternoon . The fishing typically picks up in the shallows in the afternoon .Just keep on keepin on . Usually I will find a pattern either on points or cuts . What I mean by points is the bank contour jutting out , the mouths of coves , the tips of laydown trees , vegetation sticking out. Any thing that is jutting out in the water. Its usually easier to fish these "points" because a cast can be made past and retrieved to the high percentage area . A cut is the opposite . Inside a cove , the part of the laydown next to the bank , pockets in brush or vegetation . Pitching is an easy way to get the bait in there . I've been pitching spinnerbaits in a lot of such places , right now . Keep putting the bait in likely places to figure out where the bass are at . Right now with cool nights the fish may be in the cuts during the morning then move on the points in the afternoon .This is spinnerbait weather in the midwest . Keep putting them next to cover , pay attention to where the hits come from and try to put a pattern together . I'm using a half ounce bait with a gold willow leaf main blade and a silver colorado secondary blade . I'm a better fisherman with a half ounce bait than a quarter ounce one because its easier to put the bait where I want .

I have two pocket knives at all times . A Leatherman multi tool on my belt . My tackle organizer has hemostats , needle nose pliers and side cutters .

That Timber Tiger has one crazy paint job .

Most of the time bass can be caught shallow , especially this time of year . Spinnerbaits are hot right now . Precise casting sometime is needed . Ive been pitching them a lot into pockets and cuts along flooded brush . The hits are easy to detect . There is just something on it . Just pull back and the fish is hooked . Bottom bouncing baits like Texas rigas are more difficult .Put them in cover where the bass hangout . Lift up and let fall . If you feel the slightest tap as it falls , thats a bite . If you feel a tap when lifting , that is usually a limb or something . Half the time I feel nothing . I'm lifting the bait and its not moving . This is a difficult one to decide on whether to set the hook or not . If it feels weird at all set the hook . It might be a leaf , fishing line or a five lb bass . If you use a timid hook set and it is a fish , that one usually doesnt get hooked good . Everyone is guilty of that at some time . Make sure its a good solid hookset . Also watch the line as it enters the water . Look for movement . If it seems like the bait is taking too long to hit bottom a bass may have it and moving toward you . Practice .

Channel cats are not that bad but eels , those things are slimy. I'll never try to grab another one .

I take a microfiber towel . I just wipe my hands off . I'm not washing my hands up to 100 times in a day .

Soft plastics prices have skyrocketed .Glad I'm not in the market . I still have some Riverside Big Claws , Mister Twister craws , Guido Bugs and others . I'm pretty much out but the Larew Salt Craw is a good one and so were the super inexpensive Renegades from Wal-Mart .

I use to use 5 inch Kalins a lot on Carolina and Texas rigs . They had a color called Witches Brew , which was a darker brown with a chartreuse tail that I had good luck with . Purples worked good too . Also used a Riverside 5 inch grub a lot in various colors . One way I used them was as a top water . I Texas rigged them with a 1/8th ounce weight and held the rod tip high . I could buzz them around cover and kill it . Caught a lot of River smallmouths that way .

Never been to Clear lake . Been to Wappapello twice . Its a shallow lake . I didnt tear them up but caught bass . I liked the way it fished .What I mean by that is I was comfortable fishing it whereas deep clear lakes I am not .

endeavor to persevere!

Another old lure that I still carry but havent used in a few years is the Dalton Special .I just acquired a new one and the only reason I havent used it is because of the chara algae in the lake I fish most makes it impossible to use any treble hook lure shallow . Back in the 90's I forced myself to use a top water for at least one hour every time I went fishing . The Dalton Special was the bait that caught the most fish .

Love this movie and this scene .

I need to fine tune my toad fishing . Got into it last year and made great strides but still missed too many fish . I'm always working on my casting . I guess I'm okay but not the same level as Glenn .

that orange one in the middle . Does that have an orange insert in it . I think I have that one . Dont remember the name .There is something written on the bottom . I have that one on the far right also .

Just looked at mine . Its a Terminator . It has titanium arms .