CDobber

Congrats...from another bearded PB improvement in the last month (and haven't caught a thing since!)

Read this from the best of bassresource. I read it this morning and found it very helpful..already bent the rivets and drove around town with each of my buzzbaits in hand to 'break them in' a bit more.

I am getting skunked up here in the north as well, with varying presentations/baits/times of the day, and we have been sitting at 75 degrees most days and mid 50's at night. Went to 2 different spots yesterday, full of appealing looking structure and such, and didn't even see a bait fish...and I've been told the 1st location normally holds bass. 2nd point was a breakwall into a lake that I'd never fished before nor read reports about. Gotta keep plugging away and trying different or new things.

Welcome

Welcome from a fellow Madisonite (though further west)

Went to a Cabela's for the first time as I was on the east side of Wisconsin the last few days...found Berkley's Vanish in a much smaller package meant for leaders....25# flouro, so I just put that on my braid, and did the J knot as suggested. I don't know if I like the size of the knot as far as a catch zone for pulling through weeds long term, but not sure its any different than an albright or others, will give it a shot. Size of water ranges from Lake Mendota at 10,000 acres to a former quarry that is probably 10 acres. Shore and from pontoon on lakes. Water clarity between muddy and murky, algae in the water column mainly. Lots of weeds to rip through, especially in quarry. or shore fishing many of the spots I've tried, especially anything not top water. All spinning setup, have never tried a baitcaster. I hope the catch rate goes up...and I agree with you, the 14# wouldn't have made much sense, especially after trying to albright with it (though I had 20#, which isn't much better)....and so many swear by the fluoro on here I thought I'd give it a shot, will compare it long term to tying knots with the braid. Gonna put a 3/O on now though instead of the 1/O at yours and others' suggestions. and continue to try. It was Wingra, and yes to confirm your comments about water clarity, the water clarity is somewhere between murky and muddy on all the locations I've tried from shore or from pontoon. I have been using a 1/8 oz bullet, though I also have 1/4...was going for a slower drop rate as well. Braid is moss green, though the coloring seems to fade quickly and its become a very light green but not yet white and certainly not yellow. Have been trying a drop to the bottom, a few tugs with pauses, a few reels, same tug/pause, and do that a couple more times before reeling in slow to utilize the curly tail on the green pumpkin worm. Will try a finger on the line as suggested, though have been training myself to watch the line much better. Thanks much for everyone that has chimed in...I greatly value your knowledge and experience.

Will have to try some of this stuff out...I am still very much learning and expanding horizons over here. I did actually go to the store the other day looking for a stronger, mono/flouro type leader when I knew I was replacing my steel leader, as I didn't know for sure if a bullet weight would slide nicely on my braid. The ONLY two choices I had at this Farm and Fleet (not exactly a huge department, I know) at 20# or above was Berkeley Fireline Fused Original and a Power Pro 50# braid, too similar to what I have. I opted to try the Fireline, but found it next to impossible to try and do an Albright on it (an unfamiliar knot to me to begin with) as the line did not want to wrap cleanly or tightly enough for my liking. I do have some 3/0 offsets I can try based on your suggestions...I did not get a clear idea of how they were hitting the worm but not hooking as only one or two of the hits even felt strong, and I did not have any bite offs. Thanks all. ***EDIT...I normally use a Palomar knot.

Organization is pretty solid, knot tying is improving and will likely have to do that to switch back and forth with t-rigs and others...but really don't see a need to tie on my braid to each and every lure when I switch every 20 min or so when I'm not getting a bite (which is most of the time with me). I still have only amassed enough stuff that it all fits in a tackle box that has a shoulder strap...much like the backpack concept many shorefishers on here would use.

Just thought of another negative to my question....sure, I could put the swivel on, but then the bullet weight is still there and probably negatively affects any crank, swim or other lure I want to try as bad or more than the swivel would for the T-rig....hmm.....

Guys and Gals: What would happen to the action of a T-rig if there was a snap swivel involved instead of tying the hook straight to the line? I currently have Stealth SpiderWIre 50# test (12# test dia) on and have been experimenting with the T-rig, today being the first day of using it correctly with the bullet weight and no steel leader, snap swivel, etc. I felt very limited today by that and only that method, and it wasn't producing more than nibbles today. I would have preferred to throw on my weedless frog and/or try some other methods today but the time commitment to swap between methods (when I was only at one spot for an hour or two each) wouldn't have warranted it. I was using a 1/0 octopus hook and 7" green pumpkin turtleback worm with curly tail. Would it drop differently? Suspend the worm differently upon retrieval? I suspect one negative will be more weed debris but thought I'd throw it out there...I'm not someone that will carry more than one decent multi-purpose rod and one ultralight on a trip from shore or boat.

It does today for me....4 hours with a (finally) properly set up T-rig, out by 6 AM....3 spots (1 old quarry, 2 north side of a lake, same one I caught the avatar 2 weeks ago)....beautiful, calm weather, quite a few bites but nothing close to a hookset. Was full of confidence heading into the day too.

Ah, that's what I remember reading. Haven't been to either myself, my Dad's PB for smallies was on Little Green Lake, somewhere over 4 lb. He had it stuffed.

I apparently do not.....the boat has only seen 2 fish caught all season on it, and one was by a 5 yr old that wasn't really paying attention. The other was a very tiny perch by me....and the t-rig I had out for 4 hrs from shore today in 3 different spots produced bites but no hooksets.

Nice job!

Mark, your place is up by Green Lake, correct? Just curious....and what's wrong with pontoons out there, 5dollar...some of us fish for bass off of them here in Wisky!

I've been under the working theory that one rod is suitable for bass fishing, and a different rod for pannies....and still work under that premise. I am beginning to see, however, that its much more advantageous to have more than one as the sheer time to switch from a Texas rig to a dropshot setup to a lure setup with a snap swivel is time consuming. Have mine currently set up to do T-rig tomorrow, correctly for the first time, and will be a pain to switch it over to a weedless scum frog when I want to.

A very similar question is what landed me on this site in the first place, last week. For me, I went to a local store with 5 rods in mind to look at (decent amount of research but wasn't exhaustive earlier the same day)...very similar price range, micro wasn't a requirement with me. Abu Garcia Vendetta (they had very few Abu's at all, and no Vendettas) Shimano Compre Shimano Clarus St. Croix Mojo Bass *** They had all the other ones, but on the latter 2, they only come in a 1 piece. I required a 2 piece as its brought in and out of my car frequently, and helps to be compact. The choice was made for me in that the Compre was the only one they had in stock in a 2 piece version (66mh2c). I used the cheap Quantum Optix reel from my original set, and will continue to do so for some time...it was the cheap material in the rod that failed at the connection point. Unlike Arv's comment, mine came in cork though I probably preferred foam, but so far haven't minded it. I was amazed to feel the difference pulling the same line, same lures/t-rigs through the same water at the difference in feel simply from the rod. Whereas before I couldn't necessarily tell a fish from weeds, I most certainly can now...even though I haven't hooked one on the new rod yet (had a bite off of a curly tail Berkeley green pumpkin worm among other nibbles). Its lighter too, and while I haven't for a couple hours straight, I haven't noticed as much torque/fatigue in my left forearm as the older model had. There are quite a few threads on best rods for $100 if you use the search button...it will help you narrow down your choices and give you some user feedback reviews. Didn't read a single bad review on the 13 Omens but couldn't distinguish from their website on the one piece/two piece option and only found ones at the store.

Try this site for ideas in Madison I can't say I've found much success from them, but its largely the amount per session and the time of day that has limited me....and I still have a lot to work on for presentation, color choices, etc.

Lake Wisconsin is big for walleye and sauger. Gills can be had a plenty as well, haven't read too much about bass though. Fished it once a few weeks ago, nary a bite from any of us.

Disappointed to find no other active members in the Madison area to share information with....only other one on the Members Map hasn't checked in for 2 yrs.

Sums it up for me here, though I do get a little frustrated when its multiple times out before I catch anything, and have really only 2 bass over 10" all season, after hours of reading and research over the winter months. At least I got the one in the profile pic to keep me coming back for quite some time, did justify it somewhat.

Welcome...and as previously mentioned...don't give up and keep reading. Sites like this one, lake-link, and such will be helpful as they are to me (though I don't catch many more than you).

Very nice looking haul both nights.

Hello, all. I am still novice when it comes to fishing, especially for bass...but have been reading and researching quite a bit in the last year and am starting to see gains. We bought a 22' pontoon boat last July and figured I should know more about fishing to complement our purchase. Quite by accident (little time, no FF turned on, etc) I caught a 14" smallie last September and needless to say I was hooked about as much as that one was. I do most of my fishing from shore with work and parental constraints, and have found this year to be a struggle to land many bass, from various locations. I know its still a work in progress, and sites like this one will help me sort through the different color combinations, weather conditions and the like that will help me learn bass patterns and tendencies. My profile picture is the reward for some of my time and effort in the last year. While fishing from shore last week (July 24), I caught this 21" near downtown Madison on Lake Wingra. I had been reading the night before more about using top waters/weedless in heavy cover, and had been to a spot the week before that had a lot of lily pad surface structure and weedlines nearby. I went back to the area, casted a weedless scum frog over the top of the lily pads and landed this one around 9:15 AM. I am solely catch and release and could tell the fish was probably fatigued from the reeling, so I quickly measured it and got it back into the water without weighing it, unfortunately. It swam away fine but I didn't want to unduly stress it out and have never weighed a fish. Definitely an experience to bring me back for more, and hopefully I'll land more 1-2 lbs with more frequency by the knowledge gained here.