MIbassyaker

Little creek brownie... That's all I got for now -- maybe something "bassier" on Monday...

I use trailers on chatterbaits but not spinnerbaits. I like most any fluke or minnow-style trailer; whatever looks good or I happen to have on hand, usually Yamamoto zako, Strike King Blade Minnow, Zoom Super fluke. For a stockier profile, a rage menace rigged vertically.

Mister Twister sells the Phenom Worm in a terrific color i don't really see anywhere else: Grape with blue flake and a white tail:

I always find it funny how insecure so many Southerners seem to be about spinning tackle. Spinning is pretty standard up here for most casual fishing regardless of species, from panfish and perch to bass or walleye, even catfish, pike or steelhead. If anything, it is the baitcaster that is specialized and exotic.

Well, drop shot is out for me, since it's illegal in rivers here due to regulations against snagging salmon and trout....and almost all my smallmouth fishing is done in rivers. And then there's the problem of downed wood everywhere -- I'm going to lose anything with an open hook other than topwater in about 5 casts, unless i'm throwing it where there aren't any fish. So: 1. weightless texas-rigged stick worm (rather than wacky) 2. slider head + worm, or other small plastic (rather than an open hook ned) 3. stupid-rigged tube

It's less about the reel than the rod - a typical casting rod of medium or medium-heavy power won't load up well enough on lures that light to cast very effectively even if the reel can handle it. Get a medium-light spinning rod and you can sling around rapala floaters and rooster-tails with decent distance easily.

I always had a terrible time getting buzzbaits to hook up until I tried a 3/8oz cavitron. Now it is usually what I use. I'm convinced the bend in the wire made the difference, as the hook rides lower in the water. And let's just say I'm a skirt man -- I've never had much success with plastic bodies on the hook of any buzzbait. I find it just makes them sink, and I have to retrieve faster, and wind up with more missed hookups (and fewer strikes most of the time). Your mileage may vary, but that's what I've experienced. Maybe i'm doing it wrong.

I'm shooting for 1 more day on the water with the kayak. If weather holds up it will be next monday or tuesday, and afternoon for sure. After that, I may get out for a few bank trips here and there, but that will be it.

Thank you -- I don't believe I have ever seen this in action. Will it give a side-to-side motion with a straight-tailed bait then as well?

I don't understand what you mean by this, Tom -- a worm or grub certainly swims on a steady retrieve regardless of the shape of the head. What would I notice that a dart head does differently?

I've always used ball-heads for this, mainly because that's what the tackle shop had. Is there an advantage of a darthead over a ballhead?

You will probably want something specific to your area -- I found this ID document for southern Florida; https://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.edu/upload/documents/33_AquaticPlantIdentifier.pdf A few that I have found useful: -Texas A&M University: https://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/ -Iowa DNR sideshow: https://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/fish/research/AquaticPlantID2.pdf -Michigan DNR ID sheet: https://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/egle/Documents/Programs/WRD/ANC/common-aquatic-plants-michigan.pdf?rev=516b7eea06ee4cf7abc58745b146fd9a For bass specifically, the In-FIsherman largemouth bass handbook has good information about vegetation types, and you can get used copies cheaply online -- it's been in-print for about 30 years

It's hard to rule out a milfoil, but that looks like coontail to me too. It very often has a bushy "Christmas tree" appearance underwater. In clear lakes here, deep coontail is often the last green vegetation at the end of the year once the other stuff has died back.

"He who battles monsters, should take care that he does not himself become a monster. And when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” --Friedrich Nietzsche

I'm starting to think @gimruis was repeatedly locked in a room as a child and forced to watch the musical Hair...

*record scratch* Hold on, old on, lemme get this straight....you had a perfectly ordinary fishing day???

Had I responded to AJay's post earlier this year, I probably would have said a chatterbait, a buzzbait, or a texas-rigged creature. I would have been wrong. It was a Duo Realis Pencil 100 in "Ghost Minnow": 4.59lb:

I don't know if I'm done for the year, but things don't look good given my current work/life to-do list. I also don't know that I had a "goal", but every year I try to check out a few new places and visit more-familiar places in times of the season I haven't been before. I fished 30 days for an average of 4.17 hours/trip, and caught 233 bass, for an average of 1.86/hour -- a number that says very little about how I fished, but says a lot about where and when I fished, which is why I keep track of it. I didn't get skunked, although I had a couple close calls. In those 30 trips, I visited 20 natural lakes, 5 distinct sections of three rivers, one gravel pit lake, and one river bayou. Most I visited only once; three I visited twice. Three trips took me to a new place I had never fished (one lake, and two river sections). Seven other times I went to a familiar place during a different month of season than I've previously visited.

Booyah has colorado single-spins in more-or-less traditional skirt/blade colors for a good price.

Lake "Somewhere", Barry County, MI: This was a month ago -- need to remind myself to take a pic here sometime during Fall Colors.

I have never understood the logic of "dark colors at night". It's night! It's already dark! And if anything, baitfish and other forage tend to be paler, not darker, in low-visibility water.

Holy smokes what a bunch of chunks you have tangled with this year! Congrats on a terrific summer! What will happen on next year's installment of Bassin' with Crickety? Is there an 8lber in there? We may find out...

My brother moved to Portland, OR just a couple years ago and all I can think about watching your reports is "how can I turn a family visit into a fishing trip"? It's a long way from MI and I have only flown, not driven, but he would be totally into it if we could plan properly....gonna figure it out eventually!