MIbassyaker

Thanks for this -- I just ordered one myself.

What I mean is: I didn't catch anything because, unlike you, I didn't go. In any case, we have ice most places except the river, and I have no spare time anyway. The last time I was able to get out was October 20th. I am done until Spring -- at least until March, probably more like mid-late April. The moral is: Take the opportunities you get because, at some point, you may stop getting them.

Congrats -- that's more than I caught today, and probably more than I will catch between now and April.

Yeah, I don't know anybody who ice-fishes for bass, although bass are not uncommon as a by-catch for those out for perch, crappie, pike, walleye, and such. However, the Michigan master angler database lists qualifying bass entries (22" largemouth, 21" smallmouth) occasionally caught through the ice in winter on live bait. So maybe bass anglers should be out there on the ice? I dunno...I've always felt the discomfort and crushing boredom of ice fishing entirely defeats the purpose of fishing as recreation...

Seems to me unless safety and personal health is a concern, the true answer to this question is always "yes" whenever you're not totally sure it's a "no". You should at least go check out those ponds and find out. Bring some tackle and a rod in case there is still open water.

Knowing Bass is an exceptional book, well worth reading and owning as a reference. It's the definitive source for information bass physiology, perceptual abilities, learning, and strike response to lure characteristics based on experiments at the Berkley Fish Research Lab. In fact, many times when you see some factoid about a lure experiment cited in a magazine, the original source is this book. Is the book worth $100, though? I don't know about that. But ask yourself this: how many times that amount over the last few years have you spent on lures and gear you didn't get much use out of? Or haven't gotten around to using at all??

This is my pick too. The 6'8" M-XF Avid X is my favorite rod of those I own. It is just perfect for flukes, senkos, and other weightless or lightly-weighted plastics, but handles shakyheads, neds, sliders, grubs, tubes, paddletails, and small topwaters and jerkbaits like a champ as well.

Put the In-Fisherman Largemouth and Smallmouth guides on your list for an in-depth survey of fish, location, and presentation fundamentals. They're old, but information is rock-solid, and they have something of a Northern perspective which you might appreciate given your location. They're still in print, but you can often find used copies for dirt cheap. For techniques, have a look at Kevin Van Dam's books, Secrets of a Champion and Bass Strategies.

Yes, and yes!

Nice!! What a great way to end the season!

I got a lot of mileage out of the slender pointer 97MR in "ghost sunfish" early in the season....and then it got bitten off, and I had to scour ebay for a replacement... Other producers for me this year: Green bass: --Bladed jigs: (1) Jackhammer in "Brett's Bluegill" + GP Yamamoto Zako; (2) Siebert Fogy GP/Purple + SK blade minnow --Paddletail swimbaits: 1/8oz Mustad weighted Power lock hook + (1) GP rage swimmer, or (2) Biospawn Exoswim --Topwater: (1) Black 3/8oz Cavitron buzzbait; (2) Booyah Pad crasher "Cricket Frog"; (3) Megabass PopMax "mat frog" --5" GP Hula Grub on a 1/4oz Title Shot Jig --Texas rigged Zoom speed worm --5" Senko & Berkley General stick worms --shakyhead/Finesse worms: (1) Zoom trick worm in GP; (2) Biospawn plasmatail; (3) 6" Roboworm Brown Bass: --1/4 double indiana copper War Eagle spinnerbait --4" keitech swing impact + 1/8oz owner brush head --stick worms: 4" SK ocho and 4" senko --grubs: (1) Yamamoto 5" grub + 1/8oz owner brush head + (2) 4" SK rage menace + 1/8oz Slider head --topwater: (1) whopper Plopper 75 in perch; (2) 1/4oz Booyah Boss Pop

I grew up in Northern MN. I enjoy going back to visit July-August, but that's about it. As much as the locals in southern MI complain about the winters here, they have no idea.

Bummer! I kept looking around here this season for a report on your impending Brown Bass Beatdown on Lake X! My season is basically over too. I may get another chance to sneak out to the riverbank for an hour but even that seems unlikely until....(shudder) March. Maybe April. For my part, I was busier than usual this summer and based on my logs fished only about 2/3 as many hours as the last few years. Bought a new kayak but ultimately didn't get to use it much. However, for the 4th straight year, I improved my overall rate of fish caught per hour, while hitting a greater number of different individual bodies of water (or in the case of rivers and connected waterways, individual sections) than I think I ever have in one season (22), including 5 places I had never fished before. No PB of any species, though.

And there's also the matter of whether the features we think make a bait "look" like a crappie are the same features bass are keying in on if/when they register crappie as prey. Profile, brightness, reflectance, contrast, and general countershading (dark back/light belly) for instance, may do just as much (or more) of the heavy lifting in bass' ability to distinguish prey from non-prey than color, or more complex visual patterns. Moreover, when an angler changes lure colors and sees an increase or decrease in strikes, it may not actually be the color change that is making the difference-- it could be subtle change in one or more of those other factors (brightness, contrast, et al.) that we don't really pay attention to or notice (or possibly cannot see at all, at least from our vantage point above the water)

You assume bass preferences are the main factor determining what lure-makers produce. Rather, lure-makers produce more of whatever anglers buy. Berkley labs confronted this dilemma a number of years back when developing a crayfish bait -- they discovered in their own tank experiments that bass showed a reliable preference for baits with no appendages, compared to baits with legs and claws. But they ultimately didn't produce the particular lure design the study showed bass would prefer because they didn't think anybody would buy it. Instead, the research was used to inform their design of a tube bait, a lure design more familiar to anglers. The story is famous enough that it is frequently recounted in books and articles, such as this bassmaster article on crayfish: https://www.bassmaster.com/understanding-bass-forage-crawfish Fast-forward several years and the ned rig is now all the rage... Crappie crankbaits are indeed hard to find -- I run across the bandit one occasionally in stores, but very rarely.

I have the following crankbaits in crappie patterns: --The Bandit posted above, in the 100 series --Livetarget Crappie, flat-sided and lipless --Lucky Craft RTO squarebill

Xanthism? https://www.google.com/search?q=Xanthism+bass&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkq_mBn8zlAhVHC6wKHej3AcsQ_AUIEygD&biw=1366&bih=665

Make that 5 new-to-me bodies of water this year: went to #5 last sunday for 3 hours, caught 1 drop-shotting a roboworm. That will probably be the last outing I'll have time for this year.

I'm reminded of a quote by Rich Zaleski, from his book, Advanced Bass Techniques, that gets at an important distinction: "The paradox is that bass, particularly the largemouth, are among the easiest fish to catch by accident or dumb luck, yet difficult to catch consistently. Once again, the culprit is the fish's adaptability. Because of the species unparalleled flexibility, it sometimes seems any individual bass might be found almost anywhere in a lake and might respond to almost any one technique at any given time. It's why a particular bass-catching pattern is no good beyond the boundaries of the particular environment for which it was developed, and may only be effective for as long as the conditions that precipitated development of the pattern exist." (p.15) I think it's clear modern advances in technology and increased availability of information, while they may have made it easier for an angler --novice or experienced -- to have success at at any given moment moreso than in previous eras -- I'm still not sure it necessarily translates to easier or faster learning, which is more about developing the consistency. I think of learning to fish as being much more about developing the skills to recognize conditions, make appropriate adjustments, select strategies, prioritize targets, as well as honing basic perceptual and motor fishing mechanics, control of retrieve speed and depth, retrieve variations, feeling the bottom and cover elements, detecting strikes, etc., and even mindset skills like simply learning to concentrate and be observant, all of which most certainly still require time on the water to the same degree they always did. Getting "tips and tricks" on a youtube video are great for getting ideas of things to try, but provide no shortcut to real-time practice.

lightly-weighted Plastics in open-water or light-cover situations -- light t-rigged worms, flukes, tubes, grubs, paddle-tailed swimbaits. Also underspins, finesse jigs, smaller (3/16-1/4oz or thereabouts) spinnerbaits and buzzbaits... Probably more a jack-of-all-trades rod than a niche rod -- it should be very competent at many applications (other than heavy-cover) as long as you stay within it's lure-weight rating.

Too many factors to make a blanket judgment. For every change that has made it easier, I can think of changes that have made it harder. Basic information about fishing is more available now than it used to be through social media...but the proliferation of options in tackle and gear, along with general industry marketing efforts, have mostly just added noise and confusion for new anglers. It is probably easier for a new angler to put themselves in position to accidentally catch a bass here and there. But that's not the same as learning to fish, and to be successful with regularity, which requires putting in just as much time on the water as it ever did.

I'll be the 4th one to say I have the 68MXF avid x. It's my favorite spinning rod, perfect for most weightless or lightly-weighted plastics. Also fishes light jerkbaits and topwaters really well. As for hands hurting, I actually find the meaty foregrip makes it my most comfortable spinning rod to hold. In any case, I cannot imagine being unhappy with the Legend x version of this length and power/action.

That bladed jig box looks like something I might need. I won't come close to filling it but, hey, room to grow.

Hmm...not quite as much variety this year as in the past: Largemouth Bass Smallmouth Bass Rock Bass Warmouth Bowfin Northern Pike

I also only fish only a few hours at a time. On the bank maybe an hour or 2. As short as 10-15 min, if that's all the time I have. If I have more than about 2 hours to fish, I almost always fish from a kayak instead of bank fishing...unless it's too cold or windy, and I'm feeling like a wimp. By kayak, I usually fish 2-5 hours, occasionally more but not often.