BigBassLoveSenkos

Where is this?

I caught 2 on a vision jr before we figured out that the larger bass were on the bottom yikes I wouldn't even try putting into a pit without 4wd, a good solid bank and, a gradual slope into the water unless there were 12 pounders jumping all around busting baitfish.

With those strong SW winds yesterday, I really wanted to hit Geist or Morse, but felt the same way as @IndianaFinesse. So my dad and I dropped the nitro into a gravel pit that i found on google maps. There isn't a ramp there, so had to wing it. Was definitely a high risk, high reward situation. We lost count. They ate everything. Swim jig with a keitech impact fat was killer. Must not be any pressure on that pit and before you ask where, I'm not tellin!! how do you fish a chatterbait? Do you rip it thru grass like a lipless, bounce it, steady retrieve? I have zero confidence in those mainly bc I don't know how to work the retrieve. thx

@frosty - Rock Bass

speaking of ripbaits...

100% agree with you. In early March I'll fish a ripbait with a varying pause duration and a long pause of 30 seconds or more, and they will almost always hit it on the long pause. But on a windy June afternoon, you cant jerk the lure fast enough back to the boat. Ripbaits are probably my favorite year-round clear water bait. If the wind is blowing, I'll have one ready.

Ive been using the duo realis gfx 80 and 90 spybaits for a couple years now. They will definitely work in low-light super clear water when the bite is shut off. They are actually a really good late summer lure to use. For me, learning how to fish them was all about timing the bait down to the right depth. Grass is not your friend with these baits bc you can't really rip them out like a lipless due to the light line you need to use with these. The gfx 80 is perfect for spinning tack even a ML baitcaster setup with 6 or 8# FC. The 90 is really good for M baitcasting setups with 10-12# FC. $.02 I watched some of that St Clair tourney this past weekend from on ESPN and it seemed like everyone was throwing a dropshot. A couple of the leaders only had 2 rods out on their decks, a dropshot and a shakey head. There were some beautiful brown bass caught up there last weekend for sure.

Be careful bud, jig making and skirt tying can take your fishing addiction to a whole new level. Trust me, I know. I'd definitely be interested in picking up some of those. Are you painting the jig heads? What style baitkeepers are you incorporating in them? Also, how much more would it cost to swap out the owners for trokars? Thanks!

I've never been a fan of anything berkley before except for maybe powerworms, but I've gotta admit, the dredgers are nice. They are smaller than comparable cranks that run at the same depths. The dredger that runs to 25.5 feet is smaller than a 6xd (which runs at 17 feet). Plus, they get down to the bottom in a hurry. The color of the dredger below is irish gold and its been producing well for me.... \ @IndianaOutdoorsno worries bud, I didn't know until somebody told me as well

Nice smallie @IndianaOutdoors! Looks like about a 3.5 to 4 pounder, probably felt like a 6# largemouth. I caught one about that size a couple nights ago on a berkley dredger on the bottom of a gravel pit, pic below.. So did you release it or keep it? I only ask bc laying a fish down on the ground like that can be harmful to the fish as it usually results in the removal of much of the fish's slime coat. When released, this can be really hard on fish. If you kept the fish, then no worries, they fry up perfectly fine without a slime coat

next time your froggin, try burning a Gambler EZ swimmer on a 4/0 or 5/0 twistlock Qwner Beast hook across the pads. so much fun and fewer missed hooksets

The problem with senkos is once I start catching them that way, I won't put that rod down. probably need to start leaving it in the rod locker until I cycle thru the others I hate retying Do some recon on google maps for gravel pits with some sort of public access. There are lots of pits around indy that were mined back in the day for gravel to build 465 with. Less time driving, more time fishing

Dude is deadly with a buzzbait. Made me a believer Not to mention the 6xd-choking crappie and those jerkbait-eating pumpkinseeds

TBH, I haven't figured out how to winch it out, so I kind of have to muscle it out. It has taken me as little as 2 mins and as much as 5 or 6 mins to get the trailer out of the garage. I've never used a pulley before, so this never even occurred to me until now. Since my winch is mounted on the front of the left side of the garage, where would I want to install the pulley? Thank you for suggesting this btw, I'm over getting sweaty when taking it out of the garage. This is an awesome idea. I bought the AC powered winch to plug up in the garage, but if I had to do it all over again I'd get the DC one and mount it on the front of the truck instead. To the OP, consider this method instead of mine bc this method will get you both in and out of the garage, and you'd have the winch available to use anywhere your truck is.

Here you go: Winch

max (pressure taken when tires are cool)

I'm also in the "tandem axle trailer that barely fits into garage diagonally" club. If my nitro trailer were another 4 inches it wouldn't even fit. It only takes me 3 or 4 mins to get it into the garage tho. I bought one of those motorized winches from harbour freight and mounted it on top of the cinder-block foundation of the garage (in my garage the foundation comes up to about 4'). Trim down a few inches off the ground, back it into a corner, then winch it over into place.

I fished a Dredger down several breaks earlier this week and was very impressed. Pros: They get to depth in a hurry and run extremely well. The largest Dredger is the size of a 6XD that dives to 10XD depths (25.5), which is especially nice when the situation is more finesse. Cons: Color selection doesn't completely suck, but I really wish it were available in some sort of ghost pattern.

has anyone been on lake cicott (off hwy 24) lately? I read that they have a new ramp this year. I've never fished it but pass it when i goto shafer and it looks like it could be a good lake. It's usually full of pads.

I'm in Indy too. Take my Nitro out a couple times a week. Hit me up if either of you ever wanna get out on Geist or Morse and we can try to make it happen.

take a flippin stick with you. there are giants in that lake. a buddy caught an 8.5 in patoka last week flipping timber. it's not the best lake for grass but I hear it's a little better this year than it has been.

Nice!

How are you rigging your trick worms?

Since the process of officially weighing and verifying a state record bass could lead to the death of the bass, I wouldn't even bother reporting it. I'd rather take some pics with it, then safely release it back to its habitat so I could catch it again next year. And since I wouldn't report it, you all would have no idea where my honey hole was!!

Sounds like you had a sh!++y day During tournaments, I usually treat my livewell to keep the water from fouling due to both that and fish urine. I got out Saturday evening right at sunset and caught 15 on 30 or 40 casts with a rico popper. Was a blast! Got out again yesterday afternoon and they were slamming my new magabass jerkbait. Once the sun got behind the trees, I was able to keep catching them with a neko rig. I spent less than 5 hours fishing this entire weekend but caught somewhere between 60 and 70 total bass. Spring fishing is the best!