Fish'N Impossible

Indains my stomping ground, best I have caught out of there is 6.55..Have seen a few low 7's though. the fish are bigger at Rocky Fork.

Rocky Fork is a creature of it own. the fish you catch will either be 1.5 lbs or 6+ there never seems to be a middle. on the south side of the lake find the creek channel, there is a spot where it swings real close to a rock/sand/shell shoreline right off a point. on the other side of the point there is a bay/flat that is a Bluegill spawning bed. where that creek channle runs up forms a ledge/drop-off. goes from 3' to 7' then dumps to 17'. bounce a jig headed grub or a 7 inch work off the edge and just let it drop, and hold on. other tthan that spot early on about where the no wake zone starts on the West end of the lake, along the South side there is a submerged stump field. thouroghly drag the area with a Carolina rig using a 6" Gator lizard, or a big 4.5' Food chain tube from Powerteam Lures. This is where all the 6+ pound fish get landed almost every year. I caught my PB at Rocky Fork 7.65 off the ledge, she would have been bigger but i caught her in October. If you want me to make some maps for you to give you an idea of where i'm talking about I can just PM me or email me. good luck. Fishnimpoosible@gmail.com

The water temp would make a huge diffrence in the selection of baits for me. On the colder side I would use the Chatterbait, or slow rolled spinnerbaits. On the warmer side the ever faithful Swim jig, and spinner baits (with wind), squarebill crank (no wind).

list of baits by preference Clear water: Jerkbait (suspending), Lipless crankbaits, Shallow crankbaits on shoreline, slow rolled spinner baits, small jigs 3/16 or 1/4 oz. Muddy water: Shallow crankbaits along shoreline (parellel), Lipless crankbaits, Vibrating jigs, Spinnerbaits, and smaller jigs with rattles. Just my preferences in the order I would try them. Tight Lines

weights and hooks are situaltional, I use mainly an 1/8th or 1/4 oz wieght and VMC drop shot hooks. I would recomend PTL (Power Team Lures) JP Hammer shad or any of their line as they have amazing boyancy. and the Venom Lures Drop shot minnow is also a top notch drop shot bait.

Buckeye makes some great rubber skirted jigs. you can get the mop or standard jigs. I'm with Fluke though the best are the blended skirts rubber and silicone.

Suspending Jerkbait on lighter Flouro would be my goto...GS Biwahigai Vision 110 most likely. If that wasn't happening then I would goto the old Flutter spoon..Damiki Vault or Vortex.

Here is an example of an area that serves multiple staging times. They will set up on the outside of the points from ice-off till around 55-60 degrees then they will move up into the channel from 55-65 degrees. and then they will set up beds in the back of the cove and then move back to the channel. If the temperature drops they will recede to the previous area. If the water level changes the fish will push towards the bank for high water, and pullout further from the bank for low water. I have emailed you pictures like these to help you out.

PTL...FTW. By fwr the best shaky head plastics out there. They were pretty much designed for that purpose.

Don't know the depth you have in the water your fishihg, but anything over 8ft some sort of jigging spoon.

yep!!! that is the story for every major lake in Ohio; Indian, St. Mary's, Buckey, ect. They are all just dammed up old swamps/wetlands. Early when the ice first comes in the morning till around 12 focus on mud banks with trees stumps and large wood. The wood holds heat through the night where the rocks cool faster. You look for mud banks because the grass is still dead and although it releases heat it depletes the Oxygen. Around 12 till 5-6 focus first on small rock, it heats faster, then chunk rock. The rock arears should have mud bank wood nearby. for the spawn I will look at my map and give you some areas to check out. most of them are actually little cutbacks along a bank that you have to flip through brush and around trees to get too. Hopefully this gives you a start. Oh ya fish slow, slow, slow. I use a green pumpkin berkley chigger craw, a Zoom speed craw, ar really any green pumpkin craw out there. I will also use a venom 5" Flippn tube in road kill later in the day when it starts to heat up. usually flip with 20lb Floro or 30lb braid. Hope thats a good start. let me know if you have other questions, i fish alot of Ohio water.

OH Ya, Buckey lake baby...lol I am from ohio hit me up through email and I'll help you out with some info. never forget about the floating Island.

to me easiest way to explain this is two things. 1) research the colors that fall in the bass' vision spectrum. 2) look at a white wall in your house (simulates clear water), and stretch out line if you can see it so can they. If a bass can see your line it can look at the lure, as most bass do before biting, see the line and follow that line all the way to the boat with their eyes, and bass can see above the surface of the water so they see you or the boat and dart away. A Bass has amazing vision in clear water too, it has been awhile but I think in clear water they can see upto 100' in a 270 degree arc around them. So in clear water i use transparent lines, or maybe a cool blue nothing bright. These are my opinions and what I believe and may be right or wrong but it wirks for me.

I would think of bulk not length. it is typical to go to smaller baits, as fisherman tend to consider this situaltion as tough, or the fish are lockjawed which says goto smaller finesse style baits. But the fish are not lockjawed hey are just latergic and conserving energy which is diffrent from pressured or under the effects of a front (lock jawed). So me personally would do the 5" flipp"n tube fairly small but a lot of bulk.

The only thing you can do as the angler is alter the path of the bass. By this i mean you set the hook and drop and rod tip, maintaining pressure and feel what the fish is doing (It takes some experience, but you can only get that through time). You can generally learn to feel if the fish is running at you diving away, or moving side to side. If and when you begin to feel less pressure, and line slacking swing your rod tip to one side or the other this swings the fish's head and kills his/her's momentum and changes their direction preventing (or at least minimizing) their ability to get out of the water. thats all the help I can offer, good luck and tight lines.

Blade baits would be my move, like a 1/2oz Damiki Vault. Tie it off in the back hole to limit the flutter (makes it a real tight wobble), and jig it around. Could even slow roll the bait through the schools you think your seeing. Of course there is drop shotting but i would go against the norm and use a "big" profile plastic. The key to cold water is they want to eat the most with the least effort, so give them a big slow meal. example is drop a Venom 5" flipping tube, or a Damiki Hydra. thats just my input, I'm still staring at 9" of Ice...lol

just to let you know i agree with the opinion that you should release fish in a humane and gental manner, but i am going to be a spoiler real quick. The Bass's brain does not possess the section required to feel or sense pain. There brain does allow them to feel temperature, but the sensation of what would class as pain is a foriegn thing to their species. This is not true however for all fish, the general rule of thumb is that fish with scales do not feel pain, whereas fish with skin do. Regaurdless one should release their fish with respect and humane ideals.

Frogging is my niche. i will work a Frog in 45 to 90 degree water doesnt matter. me second is flipping pads and grass with creature baits.

with the C-rig you should reel out the slack and then sweep the hook-set to the side otherwise you will pop the hook out of the mouth because of the larege wieght in front of the leader. With the jig I usually keep a little slack and watch the line versus holding taught and feeling for a tap, but that is a preference. I lower the rod tip, reel down then set hook to the 10 oclock and maintain the tention. That has worked for me but everyone has a style that works for them, you just have to find the one that works for you. Good luck and Tight Lines.

Remember when you were younger and things just weren't going right. You were falling subject to overthinking a situation and your parents would look at you and say "use the KISS method" [Keep It Simple Stupid] Well when the water is cold, pressured, or post frontal ,or any days the fish are lock jawed, you can again use the KISS method.[Keep It Small n Slow].

that is a no. you buy the course and you can only Access the class one time. during the class you can rewind and cover material a second time, but once you complete the course module it is off the library. I kept really thorough notes and went back several times during the course to get the info right.

I did the program a few years back. There was a lot of good information in the program. Not a bad investment if you have some spare cash and time.

You know your a fisherman when.... You fish a tournament on your wedding day cuz the bite was on!

Being "Front ended" out "Nosed" as we call it surprisingly happens way more often in small clubs than money tourneys. Sometimes it is just the learning curve of controlling the boat in currents and wind. Alone you only ever have to worry about the nose and never really consider what the back is doing. Usually just saying something politely resolved the issue.

My partner is the Rage Fisherman, I'm Lucky Lure Larry, have tho have the right lure for the conditions, and my lucky ones always do the trick. Except when that other guy has the lures that's a little more lucky that day.