scaleface

Yes , those times when it rises rapidly the bass will stay put for a couple of days before heading shallow . When Mark Twain floods it also turns muddy .The back of creeks will not hold fish unless it stays flooded for a long period . I fish close to the areas that held fish and follow the structure or cover shallow . Newly flooded points ,humps, ditches, pond dams , saddles , tree lines... The exact same type of structure that are good at lower levels and the same lures .

My home lake is a flood control lake meaning it floods often and fast . Initially the bass dont move up in fast rising water for a day or two , then they go shallow . Flooded brushy points are good places .

I use to buy jigs a dozen a card and still have some of those guys . Colors were limited black , brown living rubber with a hint of color . They were inexpensive and buying a couple of cards was no big deal , twenty dollars would cover it .I get sticker shock when I see todays jig prices but the skirts are much prettier . I have replaced skirts using those good looking silicone ones but have not seen an increase in success, maybe due to the low water visibility in the places I fish .

Went today and it could very well be my final outing of the year . The bass were biting , somewhere , but they had me stumped . Ended up with 7 total and 1 over 15 inches . I ran out of daylight .. The shad and bass were not in the creeks , the main lake had schools of deep shad everywhere . I tried fishing deep but just did not get on the right spot . These short days really handicap a person .

I would fish different spots . Bass are a very hardy fish , I,'e caught them everywhere . Culverts in irrigation ditches are some of the best place I ever fished .

I know a texas rig is not a jig but I fish them exactly the same way . I've been in the back of the boat with bank beaters quite a few times and had success throwing worms , lizards and craws . One guy in particular got mad at me for catching the fish he didnt .

Black with a hint of chartreuse or blue .

This , I fished Table Rock a couple f times with Jigging spoons and that was the advice the locals gave me .

A hundred or so bass or a hundred or so crankbaits ?

...Paul Elias stated a person was letting a fish run with the bait . The co angler asked him what he was doing and he replied "im letting him run with it . " The other man said " A fish doesnt have hands , its in his mouth , set the hook. " Ive used that line on my uncle , often , to no avail . LOL

I'm an angler and enjoy catching fish . A lot of times when I'm bass fishing I end up fishing for some other species that are biting well . I particularly like carp and cat fishing .

VMC hooks . The short section where the eye is , does not lie on a straight plane with the shank and the point . Draw an imaginary straight line away from it and it points directly to the point . What does this do ? soft plastics can be rigged perfectly straight and thus causing less line twist .I bury the hook with these . I only use EWG's on tubes and fat baits and I skin hook them .

Theres a few hand carved baits here .

^^^ Thats how I do it . Drop the rod , reel in the slack and hit em hard . Sometimes you have to duck the flying dinks .

Like Bluebasser , there are so many catfish around here that sometimes I target them with crankbaits . A few weeks back I caught a dozen or lifting and dropping a Red Eyed Shad while fishing for white bass .

North of the deepest area are a couple of small points and a small hump . Theres not a lot of structure and its a shallow lake .I would search that area out .

I dont have a photo of my personal best . Heres photos of my two biggest combined in an outing , caught just minutes apart .

...or vice versa .

I use a 7 foot med hvy fast tip rod . The line has changed numerous times over the year and will will probably change again . Right now its 17 lb test blue fluorescent Trilene XL . Its only .015 in diameter limp , castable and strong . I like that visibility and it is suppose to disappear quickly under the water . I dont know if it does or not but I'll take the manufacturers word for it and I have good luck with it in the stained to muddy waters that I fish .

I havent fished clear water a lot . From what I understand clear water anglers use a lot of baits that dont move a lot of water and are quiet like a Shad Rap . Shad Raps work well in dingy water too , I just dont like casting them . The Crankin rap has a tight action but its noisy. The FatRap has a tight action with no rattles and its balsa wood body is much quieter when the hooks rattle against it than a hollow plastic bait . I know they are quieter because I do a lot of fishing is an aluminum jon boat which amplifies the sound . Plastic crankbaits are noiser than wood even without rattles . One of my favorite ways to fish is with lipless baits on deep points . I can hear a Red Eyed shad sinking , it goes click , click , click...I can actually hear bass hitting lipless baits when I pause them even the Silent Red Eyes .

Sounds like the bass just are not committing very well . If your on fish and getting bites try something different . I'm in northern Missouri and having good success on crankbaits still .

Is the water you fish extremely clear ? Crankbaits have been my top lure for the past few years . No secret , just try to make every cast count . No random casting . It could appear that I'm fishing open water or randomly casting at times but I am always targeting something . Cover , structure , fish or simply a depth .-

Bagleys use to make a striper sized Natural shad It looked real . I bought that thing hoping to catch a big bass because they often had huge shad in their gullet . I was determined to catch a trophy bass on it and threw it so much the lip fell out . LOL , never did catch a fish on it .