jb_adams

Thanks! I felt the really muddy water was too much for them due to the lack of settlement with the silt. I went downriver (towards bigger portion of lake towards the dam) and noticed the water eventually becoming murky instead of muddy. By muddy, I mean the color was light brown like flood water and I couldn't see a spinnerbait below 3-4 inches of the surface. I've got a War Eagle Coleslaw spinnerbait Mattfly. That's the one everyone throws around here because they just flat out produce. It's white & chart. with white willow blades. Even though everyone is throwing them, there's a reason for it so I know I'll have one tied on. By blade baits, what did you mean? Spinnerbaits or jiging spoons? A lot of folks say stick to the back of coves in warmer water but after what I saw yesterday, I think I'll try the murky water first in shallow water. I'm fishing in a flat bottom boat and I still can't get back far enough because of floating logs and brush. I think I'll have to re-spool with bigger line too. There is so much brush around, I may have to step up to at least 15lb line just to keep from loosing too many baits.

My home lake is a reservoir lake (Beaver Lake, which is the White River in NW AR). Over the last two months, the lake has risen about 17ft on a 30,000+ acre lake. This lake is traditionally a clear water lake since it's river fed. Now, about 75-80% of the lake is very muddy due to run-off and it's flooded with debris. I have heard there is a mudline/transition between stained muddy water and clear water closer towards the dam. Yesterday, I observed a wide range of water temp. In muddy water with 3-4 inches of visibility, the water temp ranged from 65 in less than 15ft and 62 in 25ft of water. Deeper water was in the upper 50's. I found tons of shad in the back of a deep cove with very little bass activity. This was exactly mid-lake which is usually clear to slightly stained. I believe the oxygen levels may be depleted for the bass's comfort level and they may have migrated to water with more oxygen enriched content which means less stained water with more visibility. I wouldn't think a bass would bed and spawn in very muddy water, that's why I believe they prefer shallow water because more visibility in order to defend their bed. I'm still learning and I may be totally wrong but that just seems logical to me. It's hard to learn how to fish for bass on beds when you can't see a bass in 1ft of water. So I'm think I'm going to fish clearer water and water with visibility up to at least 1-2ft to find oxygen enriched water. I feel I will find more actively feeding bass in slightly cooler shallow water with more visibility and just before they are beginning to spawn. Is this a good strategy?

Works had me very busy lately so I haven't been here in a while. Glad to see our sponsors include Rage Tail! I've seen the video of these in action last fall and I was convinced these would be great baits. I've already played around with one and I can't seem to get the toad to be consistent with the retrieve. It's either belly-side up or belly-side down on the retrieve. Do I need to use a weighted 6/0 hook? I'm currently using the Zoom horney toad style hooks. I've got some dark green frogs with a white belly and I've never seen a frog swimming the backstroke before , so I want my presentation to look natural. (haha) Any advice on this?

I'm the opposite. I have 4 baitcasters now with 3 spinning combos. One of which is an Avid 7'-6 Med Extra fast action spinning rod. It's great for dropshot because I can feel every little tick. I would rather sling a baitcaster than a spinning rod because I can cast further. Before I start a debate, I know that there are some who can cast just as far with spinning, it's my limitation, not against spinning combos. I just prefer the speed and compact size of a baitcaster. Yep, the Avids are awesome. The Lowrider will do you fine too but I'd save up for the Avid. Having that lighter weight rod makes all the difference when it comes to comfort. I can barely tell I'm holding my Avid it's so light.

My partner fishes the Eakins Jig Special and I think he had 3 of them now. He is very loyal to Falcon. All of his rods are Falcon. I own St. Croix Avids & Falcon. Peronally, the Avids are a bit lighter and more sensitive but for the money, you can't tell enough difference to really justify the price for the avearge angler. If you fish more than once a week and you fish all year long, get something like an Avid or better. For the weekend angler, the Lowrider is a good rod. I personally don't like a rod that big in diameter 7 that stiff. The Falcon Cara series is really good too but in the Avid price range. I typically buy Falcon Originals over the Lowrider. My buddy has had two Lowriders break, one on a hookset, right at the eye. Falcon still makes a good rod though.

No I haven't but thanks to you I will now....look to good to not try. Makes a Zoom fluke look like I'm fishing with a piece of cotton rope. Thanks Mr. Baitmonkey!

My experience has been finesse fishing for shakey head and drop shot requires a subtle presentation. Something with a lot of action works sometimes by sight, color, and size relation to natural forage is much more effective. I'll admit, I'll buy a pack if I see one though! ;D

The Vanish Gold is very week in my opinion. Someone mentioned that they liked it. My partner agrees, for some reason it's only the Gold color that was week. We used 10lb line. Lost several good jigs between the two of us. I love Yo-Zuri because it's very soft and very low line-memory. Use Real-Magic often and the line will stay memory free for at least 2-3 weeks. Great knot strength and low vis. I'm wanting to give flouro. another try. I hear they are preferred for crankbaits and can allow the cranks to go deeper than mono/hybrid. Plus the sensitivity picked up from the swith is always worth it. My Avid crankbait rod is very sensitive. I can't imagine how muc more I'll feel with Fireline or Flouro. My buddy just recommended Trilene Pro Grade too. Sounds like it's something worth trying out based on the comments above.

Thanks everyone! I wanted to make sure it wouldn't void my warranty or cause my guides to become chewed/frayed.

Is it safe to use braid line for Fuji Alconite guides? I've got St. Croix Avid and Falcon Original series rods that I would like to try using Fireline Crystal for crankbaits and other baits. A friend of mine told me that braid can eat into the guides. Is that true for line under 20lb test?

When in doubt.....ask at BassResource.com! Thanks!

I haven't found a wide variety of weighted EWG hooks for these new Basstrix type swimbaits. Money Minnow, Bass Magic, etc. are all competitors of Basstrix. I'm thinking I'll have to use a cork-screw type frog hook or a #8-10 Owner hook and add a split shot to the hook to get some weight. Any suggestions? I've been stocking up on these things this winter and can't wait to prove to my fishin' buddy that these things work! ;D

Running depths vary based on line type, size, and how you hold the rod. Hold the rod down at the water and it runs deeper as do all cranbaits vs. holding the rod up. Vary your retrieve depth by varying your rod tip height. As to how deep it will run, I don't think it will go to 15ft but I've never tried it on really light braided or flouro. line. I love the new jointed shad raps. The action is incredible and I've had to take a double-take at my own bait because it looked so real! I use mine on a baitcaster but it's a finesse baitcaster. Sometimes I'll use it on spinning gear but I'm a baitcaster fisherman. My spinning gear get's used 20% of the time. Thus why I am not consistent enough in catching fish! ;D I need to learn to slow down.

Since you're not taking me....I refuse to vote! ;D Afterall, I am your fishing partner. Geez! Anybody wanna help out Jolicious? Pour guy has been off the lake for over a month now due to a shoulder reconstruction and this will be one of his first trips back on the water. He deserves a good trip. Wait a sec, this is the same guy that never lets me fish out of the front of the boat!

Glad I actually used the "SEARCH" bar before posting a new thread! I just picked up a pack this weekend. The local Sportsman's Warehouse had them in stock and one of the workers there led me right to them. I asked if they had any new soft plastic swimbaits (justw wanted to see what they had) and he showed me the Money Minnows. Needless to say I was impressed and he told me he had a lot of luck with them. From what he said, the Basstrix has a better paintjob. I figure the action is worth more than the paint job and I fish gin clear waters. I'm going to order some in the Goby color. I have a VERY good feeling about these in a goby color in clear water. That ghostly grey color is a favorite spinnerbait color for me. I told my partner last year that I was going to fish swimbaits post-spawn because that's how Yellas won the FLW Wal-Mart Open on our lake. He's a jig guy. I'll fish these swimbaits and I might out catch him this year! ;D So I hear everyone just gives a slow steady retrieve. I'm thinking of pausing it or adding a heavier weighted hook and making a yo-yo type retrieve to cover the water column. How do you fish them?

That one looks like it would be hard to get a good hookset. The peg is too long. Raul gave me a source to a wide gap shakey head but it has the cork screw type and not the peg head.

Well, we got on the pond about 3:00 yesterday afternoon after the fog and clouds cleared. What an odd day, fog stretched from Louisiana all the way up North to Michigan. So, I figured with a barometric pressure around 29.87 and falling, just before a cold front, warm at 66 degrees, calm winds, it would be a great afternoon bite. I was wrong. The water was as smooth as glass and calm. In a few hours, we saw maybe two decent size bass bite on top. Here is what we tried: - My Dad religiously threw the split shot finesse worm (great bait for this pond) - I threw two different color X-raps (green shiner & orange/black back) - DT6 craw colored crankbait - Arkie jig (black & blue with black craw trailer) - Shakey head with finesse worm - Buzzbait (yeah, not the best bait for this time of year) I felt sure that a slow bite meant slow presentation. I think my Dad got a few bites on the worm but never got a fish. He caught an 8lb stump though! ;D Here are some words I never thought I'd here my dad say. My Mom called while were fishing and after he said hello, I heard these words, "I'm sitting on a pond fishing". :'( It was a great moment. I took my Dad fishing. It will be a day I'll always remember. Even if we never got a bite. If we had caught a fish, even a small one it would have been an awesome afternoon. We'll try again in the spring when the buzzbait bite is killer. Thanks for the tips. We'll try again next trip! ;D

Well, Christmas Holiday approaches so I am going back to the pond with my Dad if all goes well. The weather forcast is supposed to be low 50's to mid 60's with partly cloudy skies. A cold front is coming in the next day. Should be a good morning for fishing considering moon phases and all. So, with all of the suggestions I got a month ago, these should still work right? I'm thinking I'll need to fish pretty slow. Roadwarrior, I'm throwing a black jig just because you believe in it so much!

I asked LBH what his secret was to catching all those bass you see in his videos. Mainly, how he fished his *** ***. His response was: "wacky, all day, everyday" ;D I tend to agree with him on the "quivering ends" therory. There is something about a wacky rig that gits hit more often than a t-rig senko. ONLY weightless rigs here. Put on on a shakey head and you've got a different animal altogether. That's my other favorite rig for a senko type bait.

Best color is like asking what's your favorite brand boat or do you prefer Chevy or Ford. What works for one person or one situation may or maynot work for someone else. I've seen one angler outfish the other angler with the same color plastic. The old saying, "it's all how you wiggle your worm" is very true. I introduced a friend of mine to spot removers with Tiki sticks one day. He ran out of a color and switched to a bright (very bright) almost neon green colored Tiki stick. We were fishing fairly clear water. I laughed and said, "well they'll see it that's for sure". Guess what, he outfished me using that bright colored worm in clear water. It looked about as natrual as an orange hunting vest in a pile of snow. It went against the rule of "natural colors in clear water". He caught a few more than me on that worm. So, experiment with differnent colors based on forage, clarity, and what the fish are used to seeing. Sometimes they'll bite something that they haven't seen before. What works on one spot in the lake, may not work on the rest of the lake. Same goes for one lake to the other.

Thanks everyone. Evidently, it was for his father (of which was standing at a counter in Bass Pro ready to buy). He ended up buying a Lowrance XOG handheld unit that came preloaded with road, trail, and water charts. It had all the lakes he wanted which are smaller lakes in Arkansas and not main lakes like Ouachita or Bull Shoals. It's suppose to have Hot Spots loaded on it for fishing contour maps. He didn't want a depth finder, just a GPS that he can use in an RV, car, or boat. Got it on sale for about $270. Thanks again guys! My bud was very impressed with how fast and how informative the responses were in only a few hours. I said, "Hey, that's just the guys at BassResource.com. That's the way they are, great guys and know a lot about fishing."

TRUST ME when I say go to Wal-Mart and buy a package of "REGEGADE WORMS". You can find them on the bottom shelf next to the floor usually or towards the bottom. My favorite clear water color is "MOTOR OIL" and the best standby color is BLACK/FIRE. I use these on spot removers all the time and I can feel perch nipping at these worms and the bass just kill them! If there is a fish there, they will hit the spot remover with a finesse size Renegade. They have a very sweet smell to them that makes them very unique. Here is what they look like. Did I mention that they are only about $1.00 a bag! :o

X2 + a Fluke or Wacky Rig I agree that a slow presentation should work. Fluke or wacky is a great slow presentation for sluggish bass. But if I can get them to hit a chatterbait or spinnerbait in a consistent manor, I'd rather fish those because they are a bit faster. I just don't have the patience needed for wacky rigs. I need to learn to have patience though. If I know there are fish around, I have patience but a wacky rig is not my search bait. Too slow. There is something about a free falling chatterbait that offers just enough flash and vibration to be somehwhat subtle and enough to be aggressive enough to get a reaction strike. It's a good bait for 55-60 degree water temps in clear water. Worked for us 2-3 trips in a row. You can always throw an ***! Brent guarrantees a catch or he'll ship you a box of more baits! Right Brent! ;D

You might laugh because I did when my partner tied on a white chatterbait. Similar conditions for temp and clarity. The fish were a bit more sluggish and didn't want to really chase anything. Right now, the forage is mainly shad and a white or mouse color War Eagle spinnerbait slowly rolled similar to a jig will work well too. My partner tied on the chatterbait and outfished me 5 to 1. Throw the chatterbait close to the hydrilla, parallel to the bank and it will swim on the wat down. Work it with a slow twitch and slow yo-yo retrieve along that drop off. You'll catch some. Oh yeah, use white. That bait caught 5-6 fish that day when I caught 2 on a spinnerbait. Slow fishing day and we still caught fish. The longer the bait is in their face, the better your chances. Find something you can fish slow and still cover water well.

A friend of mine is looking for a handheld GPS that has topo maps for lakes. Not just for major lakes within the state but other secondary lakes as well. Lowrance has a few decent looking handheld GPS units. It appears on their website that you can only download about 5 lakes in Arkansas. Does anyone know of another good GPS unit that would have more lakes than just the 4-5 major lakes in the state?