Preytorien

Hope it turns on soon up here in IN. My B-O-B is sitting in the tackle box, patiently waiting for Mr. Bigmouth to come take a bite of him.

There were quite a few bluegill all gathered on this bank, so as many of you have mentioned, they probably were keeping tabs on them for their next meal. Oddly enough though they wouldn't do much in the way of chasing the bluegill, but assaulted my Siebert jig that I dropped in front of them. I guess they like to keep their food sources close......like me.....Wendy's is only a 1/4 mile from my house.

Tonight I fished a small pond near my house. The water is pretty clear, and it's got an abundance of small fish for the bass to feed on. While fishing, I noticed a couple of bass that just sort of hovered in one area, sometimes patroling back and forth, the same movements I'd seen during spawn. So, that begs the question, do bass spawn more than once a year? If not, what were these bass doing?

The cork handle looks nice, and while the improvements are probably valid, it still mostly looks like the previous Crucial, even the graphics look identical. But hey, I have the previous and it's the best rod I've ever owned so it can't be a bad thing!

I agree, I've found that it's pretty effective to keep the bait close enough to the surface that you can see it. Sometimes the fish will strike at it to "stun" the fluke, then come back to finish it off. When they do their first strike I stop reeling and let the bait sink. 9 times out of 10 that's when they come back and crush it. It's a fun way to fish. Need to have polarized glasses though, that helps to see the bait better.

I've been using these with great results.....size 4/0 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Gamakatsu-5pk-Round-Bend-Offset-Hook-Red/16776506

I concur, this is my best producing color too

I'm usually rigging them on an EWG hook but from the advice of a fellow member here the other day I've been using a straight shank worm hook. Since the worm hook will exit the back of the fluke at an angle it gives me a lot better hook up ratio.As mentioned in this thread by others, dabbling it through shallow grass is deadly. I use braid so it sinks very slowly and a med-heavy rod to winch em out of cover well

So I've been having great success on a new-to-me technique, I'm sure you've all done it or heard of it before. I use an unweighted fluke, or in my case a SK Caffeine Shad, and bring it through grass/weeds with some erratic twitches. Man, this has been really working for me. I've had some great outings lately with it. There are some spectacular blowups on it, like a frog or spook. I'm new to the technique and even newer to the nuances of the technique and rigging. What time of year does this rig shine? Any other tips you could give me?

Hmm....that's very interesting, I never thought of that. I've been using the EWG for most all of my fluke and craw rigs. The hook point basically lies perpendicular to the back of the fluke, so it'd make sense a worm hook would exit the back at an angle, which probably would increase hookup ratio. Great advice, I'm going tonight to buy some Gama worm hooks, I'll go with 4/0 on your recommendation. If nothing else then I have even more high-quality worm hooks, but I'll be you've hit the nail on the head. Thanks brother!

I'd have to say my most consistent summer pond producers..... Weeds = frogs, seems to work best in mornings and evenings, although I'll throw em' anytime for good measure Open water and parallel to the bank = weightless soft plastic, namely a Senko. Seems to be my only consistent producer this time of year in small body hot water scenarios

I'll try the texpose option. I'm using braid, so I don't have any stretch in the line. Hopefully I can get this worked out, I have a feeling these fish don't get a lot of pressure, and these flukes were driving them crazy yesterday.

So tonight was infuriating. I found what lure/color the fish wanted, which happened to be a fluke type bait - Strike King Caffeine Shad - walked on the surface, with a few sub-surface twitches. The problem was, I missed 3 fish (of course the biggest 3) because the fish took it, but upon hookset, the hook didn't penetrate through the plastic enough to get a good puncture. I retrieved the bait after losing the fish and saw that it never exposed enough to get a hookset. What happened there? I can't recall ever missing fish because of this, I'm using a 3/0 wide gap hook, rigged weightless. The rod has plenty of backbone, it's a Crucial Med-Hvy/Fast action.

That's a good quote. I like it.

Another option for next time is to use a product called Permethrin. It's a clothing soak/spray. You put it on your CLOTHES only (not your skin) and it repels ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes for 6 weeks from the time of application. That includes 1 wash per week. I have about 4 fishing outfits I cycle and all are treated. I have yet this year to find any bug of any kind on me or my clothes - no mosquitoes, no ticks, nothing..... Might give it a try. They sell it at my local Wally World in the camping section. I have seen it at Dicks and Gander Mtn. too.

Agreed, I've always been a PP guy and even have used Slick 8 on my spinning reels. I went to 832 and never looked back.

I'm thinking of mounting a Humminbird 140c on my inflatable boat. Wondering if anyone has one of these, and if so, what's your opinion of them -vs- a standard fishfinder like a Lowrance X-4? I'm looking for something pretty basic. I fish pretty shallow lakes/ponds and I'm more looking for something to show me depth, temp, and bottom contour. I am looking to stay pretty inexpensive too, but if the 140c really offers that much more ability, I'll be willing to pay more for it. Also, for my use is it imperative to have a color screen?

Great looking hound, I'm sure she'll want to be on every trip with you from now on. Every time you start getting your gear out, she'll know it's time to go have fun!

I'd never heard of one until this thread. Are they in Indiana?

So its that time of year where I tend to start throwing more and more texas rigged worms, craws, and lizards. My problem is that I've never been able to rig it so that the plastic doesn't slip all the way down the hook. I've even hooked it so that the eye is buried a few millimeters into the plastic, still it slips. Any tips or great methods for preventing this? So far all I've done is buy the Owner TwistLock hooks, is that what you'd suggest I keep doing?

This is what I do as well. I'll target the shallows with a frog, buzzbait, or spook, sometimes even a senko. Once I determine they're not there, I'll switch to a shakeyhead, or texas rig, sometimes a carolina rig too in deeper water.

Hey whatever works. I've done my fair share of sharpie modifications. I use a sharpie to color the end of my faded braid black, I've never seen any less fish from it. I also had a gold floating Rapala minnow that I used a sharpie on to mark little spots all over it, kind of looks like a trout.....that thing flat out CATCHES bluegills and bass in our local river. I think your frog will probably do just fine. Sounds like you may be a future lure-maker in the works

I would think it could work, especially low-light conditions such as dawn/dusk or an overcast day. Throw it around some grass or weeds and let Mr. Bass tell you he's hungry!

I've done this, just more at the edge of a mat of grass.....you're correct sir, it's KILLER

Yesterday, I stopped on my way home from work at a little fishing hole I frequent. It's pretty small, but was stocked at one time with bass/bluegill/catfish, and has maintained a decent growth increase ever since. I can pretty regularly pull out 3-4lb bass with an occasional 5lb-er, but it's not common. For such a small pond it's pretty impressive that the fish can grow to that size, and maintain it. I've met and maintained a great relationship with a gentleman who maintains the pond's landscape and tends to the water quality, he's somewhat entrusted me to assisting him when I can. Yesterday, I get there for just a few minutes of fun fishing and immediately notice a group of four boys, probably 12-13yrs old. Now these weren't the serious-fishing type boys some of you currently have as offspring, these were kids who looked like they found a couple of poles in one of their dad's garages, back in the corner, wiped the cobwebs off of them and decided to go fish at the pond, they didn't have that look of seriousness and true interest of fishing. They had just pulled a decent size (est. 5lb-er) and had been holding it out for some time. They were laughing and taking pictures wasting precious time. They were clear around the other side of the pond, and I started that way thinking maybe they had a hook buried too deep, but as I got closer and saw the kids laughing and taking pictures, I knew they were just screwing around. By time I got there, they decided to finally put the fish back in the water, and just heaved it out as far as they could go. Then I saw it.....the fish didn't recover. It lay motionless on the top of the water, making an almost indescernable twitch as it died from their carelessness. My heart sank knowing the outcome. Make no mistake, I've killed fish, this year being particularly bad, but never because I intentionally kept the fish out of the water too long, especially to play with it and take 300 photos of it, subsequently chucking it 20ft into the water, all while laughing with my buddies. So, I said something to the boys. In a not-so-friendly manner I reminded them that they had just killed a living organism, and one that was several years old, here in Indiana it takes them a while to get 5lbs. I reminded them that large bass tend to produce healthy offspring, which would've ensured our fishing hole to keep good fish for many years, but that they had just wrecked that process for that fish. I reminded them that the sole process, once the fish is landed, is to quickly remove hooks/lures, snap a quick photo, then get the fish in the water as soon as possible. I said those things, then....I might've put the fear of God in them at the end there before I left.... I was really disappointed, that might've been THE biggest fish in there, or one of the biggest, and several boys' irresponsibility cost our fishing hole a great fish - a matriarch/patriarch of the bass population. I appreciate those of you who teach your sons and daughters great conservation and catch-and-release skills, thereby ensuring a great future for our sport. I just wish someone could've taught these boys like you have. As I read in a previous post the other day.....it's crazy the connection we all have to these "little green fish" we to aggresively pursue, yet while maintaining our utmost respect for them.