Felix77

What did you end up doing to catch them?

So here are the conditions I was faced with on the water today ... Water 58 degrees Water clarity: In excess of 6 feet Structure: Rocky Bottom (not chunk) sparse weeds. Wind was rocking us around. Causing 1-2 foot waves for a majority of the day. Bluebird skies (was dark, dreary and raining yesterday. Today the complete opposite) Fishing for SMB in this large cove. FYI - Known in the past to have very good Smallies. Before I share how/what I did I am curious what you all would do if you were stuck in this situation. In other words I could not go elsewhere. Thanks

Definitely going to give these a try considering I have a bunch to work through. I will update the group once I have a chance to try them out with these tweaks. Thanks for the tips!!!

My all time favorite go-to bait for a pond is a 1/16oz Mojo Rig with a finesse worm of some type. It's a numbers presentation that rarely seems to miss. Great in all kinds of situations even around wood/brush with some practice. A Green Pumpkin-ish color. Kudos to Glenn for introducing me to this rig. It is rigged all the time for me now!

Ouch ... I just went to TW and read the reviews. The exact same complaints that I have. Not good.

Since I have them I will try the side hookset on them. I need to check out the reviews to see what others are saying. Maybe I don't such as much as I thought.

Bait looks awesome ... here's my thoughts. 1 - The different color acts as an attractor right where the hook is (as mentioned above) 2 - It is also an easy indicator to determine the center of the bait for easy rigging. 3 - The uniform shape tapering off on either end ensures a parallel shimmy all the way down. 4 - Maybe? the center is made of a different material encouraging more of a wiggle on the way down? Can't wait to try them!

I use a 6'6" MH Spinning rod with 10lb Braid. Should be solid enough to set the hook on them. That is what puzzles me. This new hook goes through the heavy weeds perfectly but when the bite occurs it seems to slip right through their mouth.

I have had decent success with the wacky worm in open water/sparse cover situations. As a result I decided to try wacky worming with a weedless wacky hook to get it in places I wouldn't dare cast an open hook before. I went out fishing and for over an hour I tried fishing the weedless wacky hook the whole time. VMC Ike Approved in 1/0 with a 5 inch senko. In about that time I had about 6 strikes and zero hook ups. The last fish I brought all the way to the bank just to have it come off. The hook and keeper firmly in place so the fish was just holding on. It feels like I am pulling the lure right out of their mouth and the hook is not even coming close to getting them. Maybe I need a bigger hook? Maybe a different hook? Am I doing something wrong? Thoughts?

Wow ... two threads going on about how bad Berkley Vanish is ... As I commented in the other one I switched from Vanish to InvizX and never looked back! http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/119646-berkley-vanishsmh/

I switched to Seaguar InvizX from Berkley Vanish and never looked back. Had a lot of problems with Vanish similar to those described above. Not as bad but bad enough to warrant a change.

Congrats buddy! Nice fish.

If there is too much vegetation then the spinnerbait would be out of the question for me. The Colorado blades would get too many weeds on each cast. I would go with a junebug UV Speed Worm or Black Curly Tail Ol' Monster. Texas Rigged and swim it up, in, around and through the cover.

I was up in Sacandaga killing Smallies with a Swim Jig. I used a 3/8oz Bluegill Pattern Strike King Pro Model Swim Jig with a Skinny Dipper (Bad Shad Green) trailer. The way I fished it was pretty simple. I cast the lure out. Begin my retrieve right away. Slowly retrieving it with a twitch/pause here and there. You need to vary the retrieve speed to see what they are willing to bite on that day. Don't forget the twitches and pauses. Is generally right after the twitch or pause that I would get the strike. On occasion I would treat it like a traditional jig and let it sink to the bottom. Jerk it up and begin my retrieve. Good luck!

I will be out on Saturday and it looks like it is going to be a full day of rain. When fishing in rain do you do anything different from a tactics/technique perspective? I have heard two extreme schools of thought ... finesse all the way vs. they will be more aggressive (aka power and more power). Looking for your thoughts on how you handle fishing in the rain.

IMO brand loyalty goes hand in hand with confidence. With that being said I have my brand preferences which vary by bait. Hawgs - Zoom Finesse Worm - Strike King/Megastrike Senko - Yamamoto Grubs - Zoom Fat Albert Frog - Strike King Finesse Tubes - Gitzit Flipping Tubes - Megastrike etc. With that being said I challenge my favorites all the time when I "fun fish" (non tournament). I am not afraid to change if something new clearly works better. For tournaments if all about my confidence baits!

Awesome fish ... wow!

Uni to Uni for me. Trying the tape thing on a baitcaster though.

Absolutely right Glenn. When I referred to payment I was referring to those "premium listings" offered by the Search Engines. Usually some type of pay per click/keyword combination. To organically move to the top Glenn is absolutely spot on!

Having the site up and running is the first part of the equation. The other parts include (some were already mentioned) Search Engine Optimization - Ensure your site is easy for search engines to find. Things like meta tags, page names and consistent content is key here. Search Engine ratings - The more optimized the site the better chances of moving up the ranks without paying. To ultimately get the prime spots on top you need to pay. Keep content relevant and fresh - Search engines take into consideration the activity of the content on your site. Keeping this fresh and "new" helps keep them up in the ranks as well. Someone suggested youtube videos. I would also suggest a main page which you update periodically to ensure that at least that page is being considered "fresh content". Other social media outlets - Facebook for example has done a ton for my businesses to help spread the word about it. If you truly have a good product then you will be shocked as to how fast it will get forwarded, friended etc. That kind of marketing is the wave of the future. FB is ahead of the curve in this regard. Old school advertising - We have numerous local newspapers which offer free 1-2 sentence posts about something you offer. If you have those opportunities put your name out there. Chances are they also have a website and it also gets posted up there. Another thing of value is referrals from other sites. It's not much but every bit counts. Site referrals - Mentioned in brief above but anytime you can get another site to refer to your site it helps as well. After everything I said ... if you don't offer a quality product/service and quality customer service it will not work. Make that a priority and you will be surprised how far the good ol' word-of-mouth will take you above all these other suggestions. Good luck!

Good man ... not even crashing into a tree was going to stop you from landing that fish. LOL Nice Vid

Congrats ... I have post ***.

I had some success fishing these weightless as a topwater bait. 4/0 EWG hook. They buzz along the surface nicely.

Thanks guys. I will try lighter weights and a slow lift n place retrieve to see if I can make the drop shot work in these conditions. I will also have the other techniques in my back pocket.

I was trying to fish a drop shot in rocky waters of less than 10 feet. It seemed like I got hung up on every cast. I was using a 1/4 oz drop shot weight. I would cast it out and try dragging and hopping it back to me. Was I wrong to consider this technique?