nwgabassmaster

One would think. : It would be a huge undertaking, depending on the size of the hole that gave way.

How many of you all use a spinnerbait trailer that has a curl tail on it? Thanks, John P.

I haven't come across it nearly as much as some of the other anglers have. I have came across it a couple of times, and I have changed up patterns completely. In the summer, when I have come across this, I have just moved to the nearest channel, and fished there, and I have had great success doing that.

Yeah, I have done it a few times. The most notable instance of this happening was when I was fishing with my bud, Brian, at the Rocky Mountain PFA. All three of the lakes have huge stump fields, with stumps ranging from underwater to several feet above the surface. As usual, he was chucking his Pop-R, and catching bass every once in a while. There was a specific stump, that was on the outside edge of the stumpfield. I was using a Strike King Pro Model jig, with a Zoom Chunk Trailer. He did not think that any bass would hit that jig, because they were hitting on top-waters. I pitched my jig to that stump, and told him that I was going to go "KVD" on his arse. He kinda chuckled, until he saw me set the hook hard on a good fish. I asked for the net, and he ignored me. He had good reason, cause I ticked him off when I lipped the fish..............she was 4 lbs. ;D ;D ;D

Check out the article that I have on the Bass Resource Front Page. "Attacking Wooden Docks" speaks of how I fish a Senko around docks that are on my home lake. I have found that fishing Senkos around docks, wacky-rigged, is one of the most productive ways to fish them, especially during the dead heat of summer.

It's true! It's very addictive. I have the stuff now to start pouring my own lures, and it's very fun! It takes a steady hand. ;D

I like to think that I know a good bit about spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and jigs. :-/ guess that doesn't merit credit in the PS.

The one video that I have loved watching over and over was the BPS video from KVD about flipping and pitching. I watched it several times over and over, learned the information contained in the video, and used it on my already strong jig foundation. The tips that I gathered from it, I feel, helped me hook into my largest bass ever. However, all the tips in the world will not help you when your jaw hits the ground, and your thumb acts like a winch on the spool, when the bass is trying to take drag! :-X :-X :'( :'( ;D This bass looked like Shamoo when she jumped, and a fellow that was walking along where I was fishing said that when she jumped, she looked well over 12 lbs. It's a great video to watch. I give it a 8/10 on my MUST SEE video ranking system.

Utser, not only those things that are wrong, but the Susquehanna River is the most polluted river in the nation right now. I catch a lot of fish with "lice" on them. They look like red little leeches, that are very small. Normally, if I see a bass with them on there, I will use my thumbnail and scrape them off, and release the bass.

As long as there are regulations that govern the catch and harvest of bass, yes, bass fishing will live on for a long time....probably long after my time on this Earth is done with, etc. Those few select people who feel that breaking the law when it comes to bass fishing and harvest are among a small minority, as most bass fisherman do care more about the little green fish than they do their own health, their marriage, or their job. ;D

Windy, to me, is where you can't keep the boat on a certain line for more than a few seconds. That could be, on some lakes, 10 MPH, on others, more. I love fishing in the wind, because of all the reasons that you stated.

In my experience, when we have a late hatch around this time of year, the bite becomes slower than it was before, because the flies that land on the water active the baitfish, and that activates the bass, etc. However, your area might be a little different. So, I would give it a try. I would also try some inline spinners around where you saw the flies at. Might catch some crappies for the table, and might tangle with a decent sized bass.

Senko77........yes, crawfish are a very strong forage in Georgia. Up here in the mountainous region of the state, crawfish are probably the 3rd strongest forage, behind shad and bluegill. Also, they are the preferred forage of choice for bass. If they can get to a crawdad, they will take it over a bluegill. I think that is one reason why I rely on jigs 50% of the time. I know for a fact that on any body of water that I fish, that I will get quality bass on them, and that, more than likely, I can get a decent limit of bass on a jig. So, don't be fooled into thinking that crawfish aren't a strong forage bass in our state, because, I know they are. I have caught enough of them for eating purposes, and for fishing purposes. The best way to know if you will have crawfish in your body of water is if there are ANY rivers or streams coming into the body of water. If those rivers or streams have semi-clear water and rocks..........there will be crawfish there. ;D

With me, if I am fishing a certain area, I am apt to try 3-4 lures until I get a feel for what the bass are biting. One example is that I was fishing the Rocky Mountain PFA with my neighbor, Brian, and I had a Pop-R, a T-rigged finesse worm, a 1/2 oz. white/red spinnerbait with dual gold willow-leaf blades, and a T-rigged NetBait Baby Action Cat. I fished the topwater to begin with, and had some bluegills hitting it. We were fishing one specific bank that had some great looking laydowns. After the topwater, I fished the spinnerbait, and still did not have any decent bites. Next, I fished the finesse worm, and picked up one small bass. So, I knew that they were wanting something that was fished really slow. I switched up to the Baby Action Cat, and immediately started catching quality bass. All of them were over 2 lbs., and I caught 5-6 of them. We went back and fished some spots that we had fished earlier, and I caught more quality bass, all of them being over 2 lbs. Therefore, I fish a certain bait until the bass tell me that they do not want it. It might take 1 hour, might take less.

Interesting question. 1) 1/2 oz. White spinnerbait, with dual nickel willow-leaf blades and a light wire frame. 2) 1/2 oz. Blue/Black jig, with a blue/black trailer. 3) "Clown" colored Smithwick Super Suspending Rogue, with the hooks replaced with red hooks. 4) 6" Arkansas Shiner colored fluke 5) 6" Alewife colored fluke 6) Netbait Baby Paca Craw in Watermelon Pepper 7) Rapala DT10 crankbait in "bluegill" pattern 8) 6 in. Zoom Finesse Worm in Icicle 9) 6 in. Zoom Finesse Worm in Chartreuse Pumpkin 10) 10-12 in. Worm in Black.

I use Hard As Nails to lock in the knots that I tie with my flies, so that they will not come undone. Most times, I use Sharpies. The point allows me to be precise with where I put the color. I use these on spinnerbaits, cranks, jerkbaits, and soft plastics. However, the nail polish is a great idea. I would, once I used the colored polish, go back over with it with the clear polish, to lock the color in and protect it.

Will, a little tip for what you just said..........the bigger bass in the schooling bass will always be at the bottom, waiting to pick off the shad that fall from the smaller bass crashing them above. If you are talking about schooling bass that are being found with the electronics, I would try a white bucktail jig. This is a great search lure, and as it falls, the bigger bass will hit it. It will also let you know what is down there, as I have found that stripers and white bass will school along with black bass.

Try to get the word out as much as you can, try to generate as much interest as you can, and do all of that before the thoughts of creating one enters your mind. It is not as easy as it seems, unless you are near a metropolis of some sort. With the price of gas seemingly going up with Katrina destroying parts of LA and MS, anglers are going to want to fish waters that are close to home, and that won't need to consume large amounts of gas while on the lake. Another thing is that you might want to create a club that does not have a high membership fee, nor a huge entrance fee. The club that I am trying to put together will have a $20 membership fee, that is a yearly fee, and will have a $15 entrance fee with a $5 Big Fish fee, if they want to put that money in the pot.

In my experience, September in Georgia is a time of great transition. The weather goes from the dog days of summer to cooler, less humid days where you can fish comfortably all day long. During the first part of the month, the mainstream summertime patterns will prevail, with a strong topwater bite happening in the mornings and evenings. Big, deep-diving cranks along with the C-rigs in the deep waters will work the best, along with some big spinnerbaits. As the month goes along, I have found that more and more bass will make the transition to staging areas, much like those before the spawn. Look for them to come up shallow, and stay shallow for longer periods of time, but also look for them to be holding on ledges that have deep water access close by. Also, this is the time that docks that are larger and that have more character and brush will really shine. For fishing the docks, I will fish a jig with a trailer, a T-rigged creature bait, or lizard, and I also utilize a wacky-rigged Senko. At the end of September, the temperatures are usually getting a lot cooler, and although humans will feel this, the bass will not feel it as quickly as anglers will think. However, the changing of the seasons does cause the bass to start making their migrations back to the shallows to feed for the winter, and there will be a 2-4 week period where the fishing will be hotter than the summertime temperatures. At the end of the month, I will target shoreline cover, such as brush, laydowns, etc., and fish soft plastics, soft jerkbaits, shallow running cranks, and spinnerbaits. If you notice the bass holding a tad bit deeper, I would still stick with the T-rigged soft plastics and suspending jerkbaits, but I would also change the cranks to match the depth of where the fish are holding.

Those are some good looking bass. Was that second bass on a bed, or was it just that little with that big ole head? That usually means that the fish are malnourished. I have caught bass that were 3-4 lbs, with the head of a 8-9 lbs. bass.

It's not weedless. If you are fishing open cover, it's ok to do that, but if you are wanting to fish it in the cover, you will get hung. All you do is place the hook point back into the plastic.

8 lbs. 6 oz. from a pond that is a little over 3/4 of 1 acre in size. Came on a red/black Kinami Lure Co. Norie's Bug, fished on a 2/0 EWG Gamakatsu hook, with a 3/16 oz. bullet weight. It was fished on a T-rig, and I was swimming the lure over a hydrilla bed, and she came up and nailed it.

I exclusively use the Strike King Pro Model jigs. I am not sure if anyone else uses the feature that comes with this, but I feel that they have a "trailer" keeper system between the rattle and the shank of the hook. I will insert the hook point of the jig's hook about 1/2" into the trailer, and then, I would push the trailer up between the rattle and the hook shank, and it will hold the trailer in place. After about 12-15 bass, I have had to change the trailer. There are a a couple things that I do with the plastic trailers, which are the Zoom Super Chuncks. Sometimes, on the very ends of the legs of the trailer, there are imperfections in the pouring process that will leave small additions. I trim those off, and then, I will cut up the middle of the leg, about 1 in., so that it will look more like the pincers of a crawfish.

Yup, they pass it out like anything else. Studies have been done that show that no drastic effect happens when a bass inahales a soft plastic. I have caught several bass that have had plastics dangling from their lower extremity. If you catch one that does, my suggestion is that you DO NOT assist in the removal of it, cause it could cause more problems. Mom Nature is doing her job so that the bass will pass it on it's own, and that's all the bass really needs, is Mom Nature and time.