einscodek

Alot of nice topwaters mentioned.. but if you really did have only 1 topwater and needed to catch fish in almost all situations on the surface I'd think you would want a hollow-body frog..

Yea Fall for me is also a bit of a hit or miss at times.. and with the cold fronts moving in and thru and all.. you sometimes misjudge the effects. I have limited time to fish for only a few hours each outing so I need to really strategize and get right the first go on what the fish are doing on the day and time of day.. and fall is the worst season for that.. seems like day to day they are just preferring different locations and different bites. Still, I take it as more of a tougher challenge.. and enjoy the scenery as well.

Fishing IS my break. I will NEVER take a break from my BREAK.. Ask my wife.. she tries to force me..

I love the flexibility of a spinnerbait for customization and imo it catches bigger fish When I was younger I had no idea why fish would hit it and so I never used it properly nor used it much at all Nowadays with a whole lotta age, some wisdom, and some understanding.. its definitely in my repetoir I wouldnt go out with one..

I know some guys back in Pa whom I used to fish with who are near psychics when it comes to fish bite sensitivity on Ugly Stiks.. you get good with what you got..

Alot of answers would be correct for this.. because no one action could efficiently cover all .. any one chosen would be great for one or two at the risk of losing a bite or hookset on the others

Really depends if there was lots of rain.. only a little bit of rain and water clarity is also largely unaffected.. I'm out there next day or day after lots of rain and the water temperature drops alot (> 5 degrees) .. esp if mud is in the picture.. I'll skip 2 days (excluding the storm day where I may try real hard to get out there)

10" bass or 1 year old bass can spawn.. stunting is a real phenomenon

Survival of the fittest is one thing (those 10" bass survie) .. to become bigger in that pond would mean being able to eat big bluegill and 10" bass.. and out-competing a mob of 10" bass eating the newly spawned bluegills. So say you had 1 or 2 bass bigger than 17" in there.. and someone caught them for dinner, well now you got nothin in there now which can get bigger nor eat more 10" fish to allow forage for lesser bass to get bigger.. stunting. Certain size bass require X# of pounds of forage every year.. if you cant take out big bluegill and other 10" bass, yer only forage that year is largely new spawn.. and that only lasts so long Check out bassresource's latest post about this: http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/bass-on-bass.html

Nice rod.. now go nail some fish and enjoy!

If yer talkin about the microsecond bite where a bass inhales and spits out almost immediately.. good luck.. often times you can feel it but like I said if you have any slack on a rod dip on any part of yer retrieve.. good luck.. supersensitive rod aint helpin on that. If you know how to keep slack out.. you dont need a "super-sensitive rod"..most will feel the small bites just fine. Also I've seen guys hooksetting every few seconds feelin those "micro bites" and makin a fool outa themselves.. Now that said I've got a pair of $200+ supersensitive rods I wouldn't part with because of that and other things like weight etc but I still say I also have enuf sensitivity I need to on my glass rods as well.. that's just me.. and I catch plenty of big fish on all my rods.. even pulled a few big ones outa the water on the cheap ultralights my kids use as well.. we're talkin modern rods here not comparing todays rods to those from 20 years ago.. You want supersensitive.. go ahead and fork over the $$$ for it (thats what the fishin industry wants you to do) maybe in your mind it will make a difference and give you confidence in yer fishin which imo is the most important.

Yea without much else to go on, I'd say there may be too many 10 in bass in there and not enough small bluegill they can take down. Crowded 10" bass cant take on adult bluegill (tho I'm sure they try) but they can take down baby bluegill. Problem is there probably aint enuf to go around for all the 10 inch bass. IF this is the case, you'd want to start keeping the 10 in fish to reduce the bass population a bit to allow them to grow to say 17" where they can take out more of the bigger bluegill and reach for the 20+" potentials. In a lake which is not pressured, assuming you know what yer doing, its hard to believe you haven't taken some of the giants in there.. its a bit alarming all yer gettin is 10in fish.. cause that small.. thats why it may be a high probability they are stunted..

Alot of times, I dont even look at the lure and go by just feel and rhythm.. often am staring at the lil baitfish in the water swimmin around or the beautiful trees outlining a quiet lake.. rays of sunlight peeking thru distant clouds.. or how the dawn or dusk sky looks like a divine watercolor painted by the great fisherman Himself for all of us to enjoy..

I think sensitivity is a luxury.. its great to set the hook on a micro-bite but unless u got tight line all the time, a supersensitive rod just isnt going to give u magic I'd just pair the functionality of a rod with its proper lure, have a light enuf rod not to wear ya out all day, and have ultra sensitivity as a luxury..

Definitely quality.. I dont even go after the small or average ones anymore..doesnt do much for me.. But tell ya what, when a small one hits my big baits, I'll still take it.. no skunk.. and then focuses me for really going for the big-uns. Still a day isnt good unless I catch a 20" fish.. and when I catch a 20", I toss on my monster baits and go for the the grand slam the rest of the day.. an even bigger one..I know they are in my lake.. one demolished my big topwater and ripped it away. I have a wanted poster for that gal!

No confidence? You gotta know when to throw spinnerbaits esp when the place you go is pressured by spinnerbait-psychos. Where you got pressure, its even more important to use them right and at the right time else you lose confidence. The place I fish everyone and their grandma throws em so I put them away until the time is right. For example, last trip I went, I was doin some fish throwin' topwater frogs & stickbait.. then the wind started kickin up and the current shifted.. then the rains started in light and got heavier.. what lttle topwater bite .. now gone I put that topwater away and went to the feeder creek area where the wind was blowin up the creek meanwhile the rain causing the creek to flow current into the lake.. perfect. The waves and rain robbed me of the topwater my fav but disguises me so I went fishin subsurface with a white/chartruse spinnerbait willow leaves bream trailer.. nailed a nice big 20" 4lb'der after a few casts in the storm .. 4lbs is nice for up here in the north. Waves crashin and rain droppin late in the day low light dont let the fish concentrate on a crazy lookin spinnerbait.. nice visible colors floating by and blades flashin.. slam! Fish dont get a chance to scrutinize. Earlier on, I kept those spinnerbaits in the box.. when conditions present themselves, toss them out there.. trust me they nail fish when the time is right.. and its fall season.. its spinnerbait season buddy! Gotta also know what kind of spinnerbait combos to use as well (the blades, skirts, trailer) Also, I've never nailed spinnerbait fish on steady retrieves..maybe someone else has but I NEVER did.. One of my favorite things to do is bangin them off structures .. many times, it gets nailed right after..

Phenix has a lifetime warranty but you need to pay a replacement fee and shipping.. so I suggest really takin care of them as the warranty is essentially getting a discount on a new replacement.. but I am really impressed with their new M1 and recon 2s. Picked the M1 over the Dobyns. Personally I don't know what the big deal is with Dobyns they aint magic.. I see everyone recommending them like a fad or something. Dont get me wrong they are good handlin rods but there are alot of great rods out there to choose from and guess what I used to catch fish as much as I do now in the past on Ugly sticks. Yea yea bring on the snicker..

I wear 2 fanny bags and a fly fishing tackle box on my waist for quick access and changes. Works well on boat or when I'm on shore or hitting some waterway I drive by and am curious about..

I think they are assuming the feeder creeks usually in the NW or N. I think you can find action there albeit smaller bass there and an occasional big fish. I am usually stalkin after the bigger ones having become bored w/ catching small fish all the time so I hit the heavy weeds. There its hit or miss but at least some will be there..smallest one I caught in the weeds was 15" and the largest was 19". The other game in town is to locate the suspended bigger fish and somehow coax them into a mid-water or deepwater bite. That I have been miserably unsuccessful in this year having just found them on my last trip suspended off bottom.

When in doubt, fish the weeds

None to be found on the feeder creeks. Had an awesome Spring and Early Summer smashin lots of 20in+ bass in the shallows but the bunch is gone and since them I've been like Rambo stalking them in the weeds pickin them off one by one but the pickoffs been in the 17- 19in range so I've alway wanted to find out where they all went (the big boys > 20") as a lot.. hard to imagine they are all in the weeds. They got to eat alot.. they big!

Erase everything shallower than 12ft on that screen and yes.. Is that perch? Do schools of perch stack up the water column like that? I thought theyd be all bottom

dont have screenshot but there is some separation but i dunno if perch maybe dont bunch up as much since there isnt alot of perch in this reservoir but the perch is fairly big.. I accidnetally caught one in the spring and it was 13-14 inches..