Ohio Dave

I tie my own: great way to pass a snowy winter night minnow patterns are great as are worm patterns and all sorts of generic hair jigs

there will always be some bass that do not go deep: look for over-hangs and thick mats that you can punch through. also consider a bit of after dark fishing as there are times the big boys will sneak back to the shallows as the water cools just a bit. I don't get a chance to do the after dark stuff too often but surface popping types worked for me I am heading out tomorrow afternoon/ evening depending on how big the to-do list is. We were hit pretty hard by the storms and have clean up to do yet and I have to try to float my mower through the yard before lions start moving into the tall areas LOL never had so much water this late in the summer I fished over in Angola In last weekend but stayed close to shore as the winds were pretty bad and boat traffic very heavy: got a few micro sized fish but nothing I would mention in public

I love the gills on the fly rod. I will tie up 1/64 jig head and maribu little buggers (most colors seem to work most of the time) poppers are fun when they are really feeding hard and aggressive (the big ones don't have this mode too often) The San Juan worm pattern is very fun too you can adapt those patters to a rod and reel with a tiny casting bobber and work well but you will have to fuss a bit more with the depth

good for you bud!! and a big thanks for the contest, my son never sits still long enough to post something but was glad for the chance.

I took my son to a local res that I don't hit too often but it was his idea. he is not the most patient boy and so after an hour without a bite we were loading up it was too early in the day for that place. water is so clear there and the fish spook near shore very easily. A couple hours later may have been a much different story I was thinking of hitting Castalia ponds but wanted to hear some input on how other guys might deal with the heavy rain we have gotten her (about 8 inches in he last few days) and the temps swining up and down (80's to 60's)

here in the flat part of ohio we have had rain nearly every day for the last couple of weeks. I have a question for you all: if I were to go to a timber and weedy pond that has fishable water from a couple of feet down to I am guessing around 20 or so but its hard to tell and I don't have finder on my little jon boat plus the pond has a bunch of rain with temps swinging crazy what is the best stratagy: stay shallow? look for the little bit of deep water, push into the timber field? (water is between 2-6 through most of the woods) first baits?? I have tossed a frenzy craw (weightless) and lip-less crank baits with a load of good luck but never really faced a weather pattern like this

Great idea, my 12 year old son wants to guess his baseball number (#3) I used to fly fish often and there was a forum that hosted a few older guys who often tied up pan fish flies and would send them on to young folks to fish on the condition that they wrote a little post (it was fine to post under their parent's tag) about how they did. fun conversation with the young person and kept interest in the sport too well done sir David

sounds pretty interesting, toss up a pic if you can for us imagination challenged folks lol

two words: "swag bag" load up and share my fishy brother. I have been lucky enough to get a trade show pass (not part of this hobby but another interest) enjoy, talk, and look for the free bar pass LOL

Not me: I am up in the flat part of the state. If there were no bills or other places for the coin I would have a big lake grade bass boat. as it stands I want to get into a 17 ish foot aluminum to be able to hit central Ohio and Northern Indiana. Loads of decent lakes that fish much better from a boat than where I am right now

without a bass boat I have never bothered to even try fishing any of the damed streams. I had to go to Columbus the other day and passed at least five ranger camanche boats heading either north or south. Most cost more than my second house lol I would guess its pretty darn hard to learn those bodies from the shores

awe, don't think that way. I am sure that a conversation about specific lakes or techniques that work well in our little state will spark fellow bucks to chime in Let me kick one off: with almost no natural lakes or ponds in Ohio other than the big one: which type is more productive in general: the borrow pit ponds, damed up stream lakes, or the raised resivoirs I have not been lucky enough to fish many of the damed up streams but those seem like they would be very productive and challenging. I fished and still do fish the other two types a great deal.

nice muskie, Leesville in eastern Ohio has some nice ones as does a couple of the bigger central area lakes (names escape me as I don't muskie fish) I was at my brother's house in Angola In. this weekend. He lives on Turkey lake which is a water ski haven. I took a large number of small fish in the island area in front of his place but nothing close to a keeper. I had my son out in the john boat, he was fishing a jointed rapula and I had a t-rig worm made by a local company that I like a great deal. I was catching fish pretty steady and my boy just one. He demanded that I switch rods with him. I picked up three fish in about five minutes then he asked to go back in. He is just a little short on patients yet to listen to dad's advice on how to work lures. He caught a bunch more when he was younger and would actually listen lol

There is a league very close to me and I was all set to join up but they changed to pre set teams. Being boat-less and a wife who sees no value in me having a boat I am out of luck. I think it would be fun as a boat owner or co to have luck of the draw to find a new partner for the afternoon to fish with and could easily live either way as everyone against each other or best five of the boat thats the trouble of living in the flat part of Northern Ohio just not a lot of bass league action

good luck

Thanks for the advice and sorry again to ask here but until very recently the conversation seemed focused on a reel that interested me too. As for Abu friend (and I do mean that) I think he made a good point about selling a reel too soon before giving it a fair shake. Maybe there is history that I don't know about which brought out some tempers I think I will keep an eye out for someone needing to get rid of a 50 e or that rod with a lot of motivation otherwise I think I will put that on Santa's list from my kids or wife LOL I do a little consoulting work that gets a extra check the Mrs is not looking for so many I can sneak a spare 300 or so from there too thanks again guys

Hey guys: hope this is not a big hi-jak of the thread: I don't fish baitcasters too often until recently (born and raised a spinning reel guy) but bought an okay johnny morris reel which really does cast better and farther than my spinning reel (never would have believed it) anyway, I was reading reviews from bass warehouse about this Shimano Chronarch 50e reel some of which bashed and called out shamano for dumbing down the reel and making it the same as another model with a different wrapper so what is up with those comments?? and if I were to get this reel to fish soft plastics (light weight stuff) what rod should I pair it with. I am a teacher so you have to keep me on the best bang for the buck budget

I don't fish any where near a pro level but do catch fish nearly every time out and even in decently pressured places. I stick to the basic colors for worms black, natural, red and purple. I think that size and action will be better served areas to focus on than ten shades of grey lol I am sure there are cases which a particular color will out do the rest. I was talking with a fellow Ohio fishermen earlier today about a timber filled pond that I love to fish. there, black baits seem to do much better than the rest. I rarely start with black, even there but often find myself onto that color if I can not get fish I know where they are to bite

you can shore fish that pond but to get to the timber you need to drag along a flat bottom and trolling motor. too many tight spots that would prevent a rower its fun there for sure. The state has a slot limit to 15 inches which normally means a good number of small fish to be had but yesterday I only caught one smaller fish I wish I was more sound with crank baits as I doubt those fish see many hard baits and it could be a killer you do need to be super patient as you can look at ten lay downs three will have water no deeper than a foot or so max and not generally be worth casting to. The next group will look exactly the same but have one end or side that the water is 3-5 feet deep on and there is a stack of bass sitting below. I wish I had a buck for every bad looking log I ran up on to rest against to fish other timber only to see the bass scatter off to where I should have been sitting LOL conditions shift through the years there so its tough to construct your own little map of good logs verses the ones to sit off of

hit the Castalia state pond with all the timber stands this morning: Near Sandusky if you are not familiar. I was dragging two-three pounders out of the grass and wood until about 9 or so then could not find another bite/ My little john boat is perfect for that body but my old cheapy trolling motor can not handle the weed mats for crud those fish are so adapt to living there that they all seem to know to drill themselves into the weeds as soon as they are hooked. I had to go in to the brush after about half the fish but loads of fun

Weather sure is weird: the north coast forecast was for a 20% chance of rain yesterday and a high of 75. It topped out here at 59 and rained. thats not a small miss the cold front pushed the bass off the beds or the ones done farther off anyway. I could not buy a bite last time out from shore. days before they were crushing the yum crawl so bad that two girls nearly swallowed the jig completely some Sundays work for me too but not this weekend: I teach high school and still have graduation parties to attend.

I live near Fremont, but do not know about Knox lake a massive head cold has kept in home most of the week. my son has travel baseball and that is the only reason I am leaving the house at all. hard to believe one guy can make that much snot LOL darn cold here too. I am not used to 58 as high in June. My brother lives on a lake in Angola In and said the gills are biting like crazy right now and is taking some really big fish for the table I sure would not turn my nose up to a plate of those if you are heading west toward me and want a cranky 40 something to fish with, drop me a note

I have lost a daughter and a dad and neither is easy to take. dad loved to fish but always put it on the back burner to make sure there was food on the table. After he retired he was able to fish a lot more often and called often to ask how my fishing was going or how my son was doing with what ever sport the season was going on. bottom line: the pain fads but there will always be those times where you say, I am going to call dad to... and that gut wrencher is there again for a few moments. I am not much about dreams: remember that you control them so obviously he is still very much on your mind. Celebrate his life and your time together but also remember that you have to go on (as hard as that is somedays). My dad would want me to put family first then go fish when I can and that is exactly what I do. That is my advice to you as well: if you are blessed/lucky enough to still have other family then put them first on your list. if its just you then you need to be the top of that list. carry on brother

Thanks again guys: I am fine with uni knots as I also fly fish. I shore fish 70-80% of the time as I am limited to a small john boat. In north central Ohio there are plenty of places that great bass can be caught from shore. the floating braid is great for low stretch but as there is almost always some wind to a lot of wind, the floating braid catching that wind drags me to shore in a heart beat and I can't have that. I guess for now I am going to stay with mono and live with the extra stretch.

Despite living in the middle of the northern part of our state I don't get to the big lake (erie that is) I only own a very old john boat for tiny water I shore fish the resivors and pits pretty often. Bass are still split between being on the beds and just finishing. lots of great places to fish is you are patient and friendly enough to ask permission from local owners. Sadly not too many of my friends fish: loads of golfers and lord knows what but few get up on rainy mornings to stand in the mud and hope for a fish you intend to let right back into the water