scaleface

I fish water with that little visibility " green tint " most of the time , minus the vegetation . Thats normal in Northern Missouri .I dont necessarily go bright and noisy . I use rattleless cranks more times than not.. The bass know the bait is there and rattles are not needed. I also like cranks that have a tighter wiggle. Yellow , bluegill , perch , gold foil are good colors .Some good cranks are tight wiggling Rebel Wee R's and Deep Wee R's , Rapala Fat Raps , Shad Raps , and particularly Rogers shallow diving Big Jims . Spinnerbaits are so popular here that the bite dies in spring but a lot of anglers keep throwing them trying to force bass to eat them With spinnerbaits I go smaller with less visibility . A single gold # 4 willowleaf blade and yellow "not chartreuse" skirt is a good bait after the bite gets tough due to fishing pressure .Top waters are good , particularly buzzbaits in bad weather.A Bomber Long A with silver flash insert is good choice for bigger fish . All jigs and soft plastics work.. Night time fishing is often great in summer. Secret weapon. Heddon Perch colored Bayou Boogie "rattleless" of course.

You are correct. Let me rephrase and say I consider Buzz baits are very snag resistant .

Yep. I consider buzzbaits weedless or snagless , whatever. I like to jump stumps with them .

I prefer casting when possible because the further from the fish the less chance of spooking them. I rarely flip, pitching I can do from a further distance and be very accurate.Some places have to pitched or flipped. If I screw up the boat positioning and the wind blows me in , I'll pitch then . I dont like hitting the trolling motor switch close to the cover . I pitch some on just about every outing .

Make each cast serve a purpose. Best advice I ever got.

Bleeding from the gills and its likely a goner . I often have to release non keeper fish knowing that they are not going to make it but thats the law .

I doubt its a white bass . Never heard of them in ponds unless someone released it there. Now their cousins the yellow bass thrive in less turbulent waters .I'd say a yellow bass .

R apala R ebel R ogers

Anytime bass are following your lures or missing top waters .... then you are close to catching them. Last week I had bass missing a floating minnow , they were missing it on purpose. A switch to a small buzzbait was all it took to start catching them .

I think to be a pro fisherman you have to be able to sell fishing products. The competition is fierce . Marketing might give you an edge .

It could honestly be anything . Large spinnerbaits one day , small spinnerbaits the next day , crankbaits the day after that ....

I caught a bunch of bass last week that were so close to being keepers , that I need to go back because they probably are now .

I never use trailers unless I remove the skirt .

I missed that spinner in the cup at first glance. ^^

A lot of extraordinary anglers use binoculars .

My most successful soft plastic for on top of thick vegetation is the Riverside Top Gun now being called Yum Swurm .

I dont know the make of this popper but it is a fish catcher. The hook hanger pulled out of the rear , so I put the dressed treble in the front position and it still catches them .

I usually rig it the old fashioned way , bury the hook in the worm. But i will run it through and back in several times to make a channel for the hook to go through. I dont wait to set the hook. I reel down take up the slack then set as soon as i detect a strike. As Paul Elias once said " A bass doesn't have hands, its in his mouth. Set the hook . "

Here in missouri an east wind means there is some unusual weather going on. Some of the scariest storms come from the east but they are rare . I was beached on a mississippi river island during one of those storms.

Call it learning , conditioning , accustomed too whatever. Bass know that after barge waves slam up against the rip rap banks on the mississippi river that a feeding opportunity exist and they become active. They react positively or negatively to a lot of different things.

The question is what season is the best . I would pick fall. It just seems like every year I get on a really good fall crankbait bite.

I tend to fish lipless cranks a lot post spawn and early summer. I like to use them for suspended fish off points or bounce them off the bottom of same points .

Double the distance where a white bait disappears because the light has to travel to the source and reflect back. Bass know their environment so well that its amazing how well they detect baits . I remember a day a bass charged and slammed my rattleless crankbait from about ten yards away when there was about about two foot of visibility . I'm guessing the vibrations of the lure and the jingle of the hooks were sufficient for the fish to hone in on , until it got close enough to see it .

I try to keep real good spots a secret. Sometimes I wont even fish them if another boat is close enough to see. I've lost quite a few spots like that. I once told a co-worker how I was catching channel cats at the reservoir . I explained the type of structure I was looking for , how to find it and the bait . Never did tell him the exact locations. Next thing I know him and all his "game hog " friends were fishing my best spot .

I hold the fishin pole different than almost everybody. I grasp the rod in front of the reel with the string running between my thumb and index finger chest high when using "feel" baits. Its right for me even though I hardly see anyone else doing it . Those that I have seen doing it this way are pretty good worm fishermen .