jb_adams

LOL. You win! No, that's just the sign that you are a serious BassResource.com addict! My wife would agree with that! After years, she finally got me off the off-road forums only to exchange it for a fishing forum!

That's as funny as the "bass with teeth" dream! These are all actual events for me. It's TRUE! - when your wife thinks you're having an affair with your fishing buddy because you text message each other and email each other all day (discussing baits, planning trips, etc) - when your 6yr old ask, "why do you ALWAYS want to go fishing?" - when you have more lake pictures, bass pictures, and pictures of your fishing buddy's fish than you do of your wife - when you are willing to put your house up as collateral to buy that dream dream bass boat with the 250hp motor - when you spend over $200 a month in baits, loose 1/4 of them and replace them next month while adding to your ever growing plastic collection of "never fished plastics" - when your wife wants you to go Christmas shopping with her, you highly object because you want to go fishing. Then she mentions the local BPS store & you're like a hound in the back of a truck ready to go, tail waiving and panting like a dog! (that will happen this weekend for me!) and finally.... - when your monthly subscription of BASSMASTER arrives, your wife yells, "Honey, your porn arrived today in the mail"

I thought I was the only one...

I think I have posted my opinion of CLEAR Zara Spook Jr. and Zara Puppies here all Summer and now into the Fall. I prefer clear on all types of water because as someone mentioned, it's harder for the fish to determine the profile and what is actually making all of the rucus up top. It's VERY effective in clear water if worked just fast enough where the bass doesn't get a good look at it. A med. quick, tug-tug-tug-tug will walk the dog but do not let it settle for a long time. I'll let it settle for no more than 1-2 seconds and then walk it again. In muddy water, I'll slow it down to a slower retrieve and vary the action. The more erratic it is, the more believable it is. My favorite colors are clear, bone white, baby bass, and that dark minnow color someone posted above. By the way, the smaller Lucky Craft Sammys have MUCH better action and they are easier to walk the dog too. I will be adding a small "puppy size" Sammy to my arsenal next spring. Oh and the issue about the hooks, thank you for mentioning two split rings. I've lost more bass and some good ones too because they managed to shake off. I'll have to do this on my current baits.

I don't think my electronics are good enough to see the bait fall. I'll have to rely on feel.

That sounds great but the fish are very high up in the water column. I can't let it hit bottom. I have to figure out a way to countdown to the right depth and swim it in front of them. They are not on the bottom. I'm trying to figure out how to c-rig any type crank and know what depth it will be because it won't touch bottom in 80ft unless I wait for a while for it to sink. If the fish are suspended at 30ft in 80ft of water, fishing on the bottom is pointless. Besides, From what I've read, bass can't survive below 60 or 70ft because of limited oxygen. Now if it was 30-40ft deep and they were on or near the bottom.....your idea sounds ideal. So how can I count down and keep it in the strike zone?

I've found the bass off deep water humps and structure in the middle of the lake or near deep channels. I'll be giving it another try this weekend and I'm looking for new tactics. Has anyone ever used swimbaits for fish suspened below schools or just hanging tight to structure around 30-40ft down? Do you simply throw it out, count down and slowly swim it with a slight twitch? Maybe a vertical jig with tightline? Also, is it worth the effort of c-rigging a crankbait? The bait will never touch bottom and the weight is only to get the smaller crank (DD14 size) down to 30-40ft. I've heard of this technique before for smallmouth but it's for fish on the bottom. These fish aren't on the bottom, they are hanging tight near drops and humps. I just need to get down to them. Any other ideas?

I hope someone takes me serious and will try the Renegade worms. They can be a go-to lure on tough bite days. If' they are biting any plastic, they will definately inhale these things. Must be the slightly sweet scent they have. Jimeez79, I'm not laughing. I'm right there with ya! The Renegades are my "kid" lure and they are still good ones. Especially for catching numbers. I've caught 2-3lb bass on these little jewels too.

That's the way my partner feels. He's got a soft heart and doesn't like to see anything die or get hurt for the sake of catching a fish. He feel's it's not only cheating but just wrong to use live bait and then to release the fish that's caught. I on the other hand do not see an issue with it. Each person has their own view and I respect his. So I will use live bait when he's not around! ;D

When I was a kid, I used to watch Hank Parker on TV. I bought a Hank Parker Classic spinnerbait with my allowance. One day in a big creek and the second cast, a good bass hit it and I set the hook. The bass hung up on something and I lost my bait and the bass. It really made me mad that I lost that bait since my allowance paid for that bait. Ever sense then, I've lost many baits from the bank and every time, I get the same feeling. Now, when I fish from a boat. It's even worse! NOTHING sucks worse than throwing a new War Eagle spinnerbait in your favorite color & on the 5th cast, the line snaps and the bait goes flying 50 yards away and sinks in about 60ft of water. I guess I should have re-spooled with 15lb line because that 10lb YoZuri has made me loose about 3 War Eagles in the last two months. By the way, I'm going to invest in a good magnet to retrieve dropped baits and gear. Sounds logical anyay! ;D So....my sympathy to you sir for fishing cranks from the bank. They are not cheap and you can hang them up pretty often.

Renegade Worms! I can't find them on the internet or I'd post a link. You can find them on the bottom shelf at Wal-Mart for about $1.00 a bag. They are made by Luck E Strike USA in Casseville, MO. Here is a pic: If you have murky or stained water. Use the little 6" finesse style black worm with the pink curly tail (Black Fire). I promise you'll catch plenty of hungry fish with this one rigged c-rig, t-rig, shakey head, whatever! When I was growing up, we called it a "firetail" worm and it was the staple of young anglers for creek fishing or pond hopping. These worms have a really sweet smell to them much like candy. I think this scent is one reason they are such a good bait. I always have a bag of these. Lately, the "Motor Oil" color has been great on a shakey head.

I took a small tripod with me on the last trip. I had it all set up read for action. Too bad there was no action! :'( I may do this again. I've got a Canon A85 with the self timer. The problem is making sure you it's in focus on you before taking the picture. You need to aim the camera at something close to where you will be so when you push the button and get into position, you and the bass will be in focus instead of out of focus. Practicing is a great idea. Your camera should have a self timer on it. If not, take a picture of the bass next to something like your reel, tackle bag or something to establish a sense of scale.

OUCH! I'm nervous enough throwing one from a boat! I'd keep that one in the box unless you know there is not a chance of snagging it on a tree or something underwater as a fish takes off with it. Davis, I fish all year long. This year, I may actually try to experiment with drop shot more and try some new techniques for catching fish in deeper water. Why? Determination! I want to learn more about bass fishing and knowing how to catch them in the winter can help catch them in the spring, summer, and fall during cold fronts.

AHhhhh!! I see now...never thought about it like that. I thought I was somewhat stalking or trying to sneak up on the group of bass. That adds a different perspective. Thanks!

Hang with it Red! The old saying goes...."A day spent fishing is better than a day at work". I took a whole day off (paid vacation) last week and fished my local lake from sun-up to almost sun-down. I even ate lunch on the water. My lake has experienced an algae bloom and I believe it's caused the bass to go into a fall bite early and shut down early too. For about two weeks, me and my partner were finding fish and catching some good fish too. Now, it's hard to find fish and when you do, they won't bite anything. I've finally found fish on off-shore humps, structure in the middle of the lake in 60-80ft of water (suspended at 30ft) and it's just impossible to fish a c-rig in something like that. When they are suspended, you have to countdown and know how much like to feed a jig, dropshot, or something of that nature. When you have to fish like that, it's for tournament money and not for fun in my opinion. By the way, be carefull throwing crankbaits and other expensive baits from the shoreline. Those Rapalas X-Raps are $7 a pop and you don't want to snag one on a stump if you can't retrieve it. From a boat, you can get it back, from the shore, you've lost another bait. Stick with plastics. Your catch rate will be higher and you tackle box will stay full longer. I bank fished for a long time and I hated loosing a spinnerbait, crankbait, etc. Now I fish from a boat and I still loose baits but most of the time, I can get a bait back when fishing from a boat. If you're having a lot of trouble catching any fish, try a finesse worm on a shakey head. Motor oil is a great color for stained or clear water. Sometimes muddy water too. I've been getting a lot of nibbles on this lately.

Every time I throw past a school or retrieve a bait through, below, or even near a school, they panic and flee like a bass was chasing them. Just last week, I was trying to throw a Kastmaster spoon past the school and everytime the bait would fly overhead, the school would disperse or move erratically away. How do you over come that?

My lake was almost emerald green about a month ago. It's still green now. We have submerged trees all over the lake. EVERY tree is covered in thick masses of this algae. I've even seen it on the boat ramps. Tire tracks from trailers were visible. Boats left in the water have this stuff covered on the props, hull and anything in the water. Old trot lines or dock lines are covered. Even rocks and silt are covered in this stuff. I've seen a shallow silt bed with turtles in it and the turtles had it on their backs. When I say everywhere.....I mean everywhere. Yep, this stuff makes a nice goo on your bait. You have to burn a crankbait to get it off and sometimes you still have to pick it off with your hand. I'd say fishing has been VERY tough this summer and fall. There was a two week pattern where I was on fish. We were catching limits and after that...nothing. I've seen schools and schools of shad in the back of coves during mid-day with the sun blaring but no bass. They were in deeper water at the mouth of the cove or about halfway back. I'd say this has definately effected fishing. The good news is, the bass do seem healthy. Every one I've seen in the last month has had a decent belly on it. They look like they have been actively feeding.

George....you know too much! ;D Thanks for the input. I don't recall seeing the lake this way last year. There is so much algae build up on everything. It should die off this winter. Do you think it will return next year?

Someone stated here that my lake (Beaver Lake, AR) is experiencing an algae bloom. So, I looked it up on the net and Wikipedia describes it as a rapid increase of algae in the water system which turns the water green or red and depletes oxygen supply from the water. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_bloom This explains why I have not seen very many shallow water bass this summer. The only time I saw bass consistently in shallow water was early spring. After that, it varied and now the bass are definately not in shallow water depending on which location of the lake you are on. Some friends of mine have caught fish all in shallow water over the past few weeks but that water has been very oxygenated and had less algae. I would call these "algae free pockets". There are not a lot of bass concentrated in these pockets. This makes fishing on a lake as big as mine that much harder. You have to preselect places to target based on terrain and the chance of it not having algae enriched water. There are a ton of trees along the shoreline on this lake. They were left for fishing when the lake was formed and they can offer great structure fishing. Now the trees are COVERED with large amounts of green algae. By large amounts, I mean really large amounts. An old trot line about 1/16" thick has about 1-2" of algae on it. A tree limb 4" in diameter now looks double that with algae. So, has anyone ever experienced this on their lake and how did the lake do the following spring? Did the algae bloom return? My guess is yes. This makes bass fishing a lot harder because most of the bass stay very tight to deep water no matter what the shad population is doing.

OK, here's the scoop (I'll try to make it as short as possible) ;D FYI, my lake has depths up to 140ft and the water clarity was about 14-18ft today. Here is the "Readers Digest" short version. You name it, I probably tried it. Main lake points, back of coves, channels, docks, mouth of coves, shallow water, deep water, etc. The only place I could actually locate fish on the graph was early as the sun rose (suspended at 20ft in 50-60ft of water) and later in the day I finally learned they were in the middle of the lake on large humps, drop-offs, etc. It's hard to get a bite from a bass in 80-90ft of water when they are about 30ft down. Only thing I didn't try was vertical jigging with spoons. I may try that later. By that time I was tired and ready to go home. Here is a map that indicates where I fished. Here's the detailed breakdown: Indian Creek just as the sun come up - Water temp: 61.2 - Air Temp: low 50's - Fog rolling across water, winds less than 4mph - Barometric Pressure - falling at 29.9 and later steady at 30.2 - Third day of a cold front with sunny skies and rising temperatures with wind picking up as the day progressed up to 8mph. BEAUTIFUL fishing weather! 6:15 As I got to Indian Creek about halfway back, I started at the mouth of a small cove off of the main channel. Bass jumped on occasion so I knew they were feeding. The mouth was around 60ft deep. Got one good bite on a Norman Rootbear crank in 55ft over the tops of trees and the line broke as I set the hook. It was definately a bite and not a tree. 7:00 Began to troll back into the cove to check for shallow feeding bass. Water clarity up to 15ft and sometimes 18ft. If you look straight down, you can see the bottom (that clear enough for you murky water guys!) ;D 8-10AM Continued to try smaller spinnerbaits, smaller cranks, DD22, jigs, and suspended jerkbait, and wacky rig senko. NO bites! 10:30AM Water was so calm, I could see shad feeding on surface so I tried swiming spoons (Kastmaster...close enough). The water was so clear and the shad were so spooky, if I cast way beyond the school, they'd panic and swim off as the spoon was cast overhead. THAT'S CLEAR WATER!!! Welcome to my world.....so for you guys that say, "throw a spoon in the middle of a school of shad"...tried it, didn't work. Tried several schools, same thing, they'd see the spoon and then panic. If I got a bait within 30ft of the school, they'd flee in a hurry. 11:00, left the cove and headed deeper into Indian Creek to explore and look for other areas. Went into smaller cove, fished Spot Remover with finesse worm (Motor Oil.....what a great color). Got some bites but realized it was just baby bass and bluegill nipping at the worm. Some of those were good bites but no hookset. They'd bite the tail end of the worm. Flipped jigs in docks, laydowns, logs, trees, rock piles, bluffs, etc. No fish on graph, too shallow at 20-30ft. 11:30 Fished at the mouth of the cove near deaper water and shade. Since the water was so clear and the sun was out, I thought shade might offer shallow bass. Only yearlings and nothing of reasonable size. 12:00 Headed out of Indian Creek and stopped for lunch on the way. Nothing like eating your lunch on the water on a beautiful Fall day. Especially when you could be stuck at work, instead you're outside fishing on your day off! Around 1:00 Headed back to dock and loaded up boat. Time to head to the next launch site. Around 1:30 or 2:00, launch from new ramp and headed over to the Cliffty area. 2:00 Flipped jigs into docks, flipped shad raps into docks, finesse worm, etc, no bites 3:00 Rode around trying to locate fish in groups or pockets with sonar. 3:30 Found fish off of a point but where they were suspened about 20ft down in 80ft of water near a drop/channel Used several cranbaits and never got a bite. Should have tried the vertical jigging spoon or "Little George". 4:00 Fished a boat dock, groups of cedar trees, large rock piles, etc. No bites. 5:00 loaded up boat and headed home. I just uploaded a pic of the bass rig. She's not much, but don't let that little motor fool you. That's a 55hp Yamaha on the back of a flat bottom boat! She'll run around 30mph in rough water and 35mph in smooth water. Doesn't turn on a dime but it got me all over the lake today!

OK, here's the scoop (I'll try to make it as short as possible) ;D FYI, my lake has depths up to 140ft and the water clarity was about 14-18ft today. Here is the "Readers Digest" short version. You name it, I probably tried it. Main lake points, back of coves, channels, docks, mouth of coves, shallow water, deep water, etc. The only place I could actually locate fish on the graph was early as the sun rose (suspended at 20ft in 50-60ft of water) and later in the day I finally learned they were in the middle of the lake on large humps, drop-offs, etc. It's hard to get a bite from a bass in 80-90ft of water when they are about 30ft down. Only thing I didn't try was vertical jigging with spoons. I may try that later. By that time I was tired and ready to go home. Here is a map that indicates where I fished. Here's the detailed breakdown: Indian Creek just as the sun come up - Water temp: 61.2 - Air Temp: low 50's - Fog rolling across water, winds less than 4mph - Barometric Pressure - falling at 29.9 and later steady at 30.2 - Third day of a cold front with sunny skies and rising temperatures with wind picking up as the day progressed up to 8mph. BEAUTIFUL fishing weather! 6:15 As I got to Indian Creek about halfway back, I started at the mouth of a small cove off of the main channel. Bass jumped on occasion so I knew they were feeding. The mouth was around 60ft deep. Got one good bite on a Norman Rootbear crank in 55ft over the tops of trees and the line broke as I set the hook. It was definately a bite and not a tree. 7:00 Began to troll back into the cove to check for shallow feeding bass. Water clarity up to 15ft and sometimes 18ft. If you look straight down, you can see the bottom (that clear enough for you murky water guys!) ;D 8-10AM Continued to try smaller spinnerbaits, smaller cranks, DD22, jigs, and suspended jerkbait, and wacky rig senko. NO bites! 10:30AM Water was so calm, I could see shad feeding on surface so I tried swiming spoons (Kastmaster...close enough). The water was so clear and the shad were so spooky, if I cast way beyond the school, they'd panic and swim off as the spoon was cast overhead. THAT'S CLEAR WATER!!! Welcome to my world.....so for you guys that say, "throw a spoon in the middle of a school of shad"...tried it, didn't work. Tried several schools, same thing, they'd see the spoon and then panic. If I got a bait within 30ft of the school, they'd flee in a hurry. 11:00, left the cove and headed deeper into Indian Creek to explore and look for other areas. Went into smaller cove, fished Spot Remover with finesse worm (Motor Oil.....what a great color). Got some bites but realized it was just baby bass and bluegill nipping at the worm. Some of those were good bites but no hookset. They'd bite the tail end of the worm. Flipped jigs in docks, laydowns, logs, trees, rock piles, bluffs, etc. No fish on graph, too shallow at 20-30ft. 11:30 Fished at the mouth of the cove near deaper water and shade. Since the water was so clear and the sun was out, I thought shade might offer shallow bass. Only yearlings and nothing of reasonable size. 12:00 Headed out of Indian Creek and stopped for lunch on the way. Nothing like eating your lunch on the water on a beautiful Fall day. Especially when you could be stuck at work, instead you're outside fishing on your day off! Around 1:00 Headed back to dock and loaded up boat. Time to head to the next launch site. Around 1:30 or 2:00, launch from new ramp and headed over to the Cliffty area. 2:00 Flipped jigs into docks, flipped shad raps into docks, finesse worm, etc, no bites 3:00 Rode around trying to locate fish in groups or pockets with sonar. 3:30 Found fish off of a point but where they were suspened about 20ft down in 80ft of water near a drop/channel Used several cranbaits and never got a bite. Should have tried the vertical jigging spoon or "Little George". 4:00 Fished a boat dock, groups of cedar trees, large rock piles, etc. No bites. 5:00 loaded up boat and headed home. I just uploaded a pic of the bass rig. She's not much, but don't let that little motor fool you. That's a 55hp Yamaha on the back of a flat bottom boat! She'll run around 30mph in rough water and 35mph in smooth water. Doesn't turn on a dime but it got me all over the lake today!

Hahahahaha.....I was thinking the same thing! They have a Bassmasters Youth program you know. They get books in the mail every month and they can earn credits every month so they can learn "walk the dog", jig fishing, etc. It's pretty cool. My partner's son is signed up for it. CONGRATS MAN!!

I for one believe that a man needs his time away from his wife or girlfriend. It's MAN TIME when I'm fishing. I LOVE the outdoors, the smell of fall leaves in the air, the smell of mosquito spray in the summer, the sounds of croaking frogs, locusts singing in the trees.....peace and scerenity!!! Not, "haha...you missed the fish". "Ha ha...my fish is bigger than yours". "Baby, will you get this fish off my hook". "baby will you put another bait on mine, I'm not catching any fish. I want one like you've got".....etc. etc. Get the point? Besides, I have a hard enough time trying to get my son interested in it. This summer, he wanted to go and we did several times. Now, he's always asking me "why do you want to go fishing all the time?" Maybe when he's older (6yrs old now) he'll want to go with me more often. By the way T-Rig, your daughter is one cute gal! The scenery behind her looks beautiful!

OK, here's the scoop (I'll try to make it as short as possible) ;D FYI, my lake has depths up to 140ft and the water clarity was about 14-18ft today. Here is the "Readers Digest" short version. You name it, I probably tried it. Main lake points, back of coves, channels, docks, mouth of coves, shallow water, deep water, etc. The only place I could actually locate fish on the graph was early as the sun rose (suspended at 20ft in 50-60ft of water) and later in the day I finally learned they were in the middle of the lake on large humps, drop-offs, etc. It's hard to get a bite from a bass in 80-90ft of water when they are about 30ft down. Only thing I didn't try was vertical jigging with spoons. I may try that later. By that time I was tired and ready to go home. Here is a map that indicates where I fished. Here's the detailed breakdown: Indian Creek just as the sun come up - Water temp: 61.2 - Air Temp: low 50's - Fog rolling across water, winds less than 4mph - Barometric Pressure - falling at 29.9 and later steady at 30.2 - Third day of a cold front with sunny skies and rising temperatures with wind picking up as the day progressed up to 8mph. BEAUTIFUL fishing weather! 6:15 As I got to Indian Creek about halfway back, I started at the mouth of a small cove off of the main channel. Bass jumped on occasion so I knew they were feeding. The mouth was around 60ft deep. Got one good bite on a Norman Rootbear crank in 55ft over the tops of trees and the line broke as I set the hook. It was definately a bite and not a tree. 7:00 Began to troll back into the cove to check for shallow feeding bass. Water clarity up to 15ft and sometimes 18ft. If you look straight down, you can see the bottom (that clear enough for you murky water guys!) ;D 8-10AM Continued to try smaller spinnerbaits, smaller cranks, DD22, jigs, and suspended jerkbait, and wacky rig senko. NO bites! 10:30AM Water was so calm, I could see shad feeding on surface so I tried swiming spoons (Kastmaster...close enough). The water was so clear and the shad were so spooky, if I cast way beyond the school, they'd panic and swim off as the spoon was cast overhead. THAT'S CLEAR WATER!!! Welcome to my world.....so for you guys that say, "throw a spoon in the middle of a school of shad"...tried it, didn't work. Tried several schools, same thing, they'd see the spoon and then panic. If I got a bait within 30ft of the school, they'd flee in a hurry. 11:00, left the cove and headed deeper into Indian Creek to explore and look for other areas. Went into smaller cove, fished Spot Remover with finesse worm (Motor Oil.....what a great color). Got some bites but realized it was just baby bass and bluegill nipping at the worm. Some of those were good bites but no hookset. They'd bite the tail end of the worm. Flipped jigs in docks, laydowns, logs, trees, rock piles, bluffs, etc. No fish on graph, too shallow at 20-30ft. 11:30 Fished at the mouth of the cove near deaper water and shade. Since the water was so clear and the sun was out, I thought shade might offer shallow bass. Only yearlings and nothing of reasonable size. 12:00 Headed out of Indian Creek and stopped for lunch on the way. Nothing like eating your lunch on the water on a beautiful Fall day. Especially when you could be stuck at work, instead you're outside fishing on your day off! Around 1:00 Headed back to dock and loaded up boat. Time to head to the next launch site. Around 1:30 or 2:00, launch from new ramp and headed over to the Cliffty area. 2:00 Flipped jigs into docks, flipped shad raps into docks, finesse worm, etc, no bites 3:00 Rode around trying to locate fish in groups or pockets with sonar. 3:30 Found fish off of a point but where they were suspened about 20ft down in 80ft of water near a drop/channel Used several cranbaits and never got a bite. Should have tried the vertical jigging spoon or "Little George". 4:00 Fished a boat dock, groups of cedar trees, large rock piles, etc. No bites. 5:00 loaded up boat and headed home. ***EDIT*** I just uploaded a pic of the bass rig. She's not much, but don't let that little motor fool you. That's a 55hp Yamaha on the back of a flat bottom boat! She'll run around 30mph in rough water and 35mph in smooth water. Doesn't turn on a dime but it got me all over the lake today!

On clear water, color matters. They'll bite green pumpkin with red flek but when the sun comes up, they stop. Change to a green pumpkin with black flek (no flash like red does) and the bite is on again. Topwater color in clear water matters too. Clear topwater baits or bone white gets the bite. Darker baby bass and flashy / shiny baits most of the time doesn't unless the topwater bite is a school of feeding bass or they are just really aggressive. About 90% of the time, clear spooks/sammys get the job done even on blue bird skys. Clear water has a lot more light penetration and the bass can determine what the bait is a lot faster in clear water.