jomatty

im not following you on the tagged fish. you caught them, tagged them, took the tags out and then released them? this cant be right, please explain what im missing here. there is no doubt i will feel stupid when i hear what im sure was obvious to everyone else. matt

if you are looking for something along the lines of RW's senko post, but for catching smallmouth i would say that the way to almost guarantee catching some is to go to a river and focus on current breaks with yamamoto grubs on a 1/8th oz jighead. this may not always be the best choice, and may not always get the biggest smallie but it will almost always, imo, be good for at least a few fish if there is much any bite to be had. ive been catching em like that since i was 10 years old. i use both a swimming retrieve and fish them like a jig with long slow hops.

jigs are one bait that i do not give them any time with. when i detect a hit i hit em and hit em hard, with a little slack in the line. imo its not like plastics where they will hang on to it for a long time. when i get a hit i lower my rod tip while reeling in most of the slack, but still leaving a slight amount and set it like i mean it. i thin my weedguards but dont shorten them, as i believe shortening them dosent make much difference since it is the stiffness that is important and shortening them dosent help that. some people think it makes them stiffer and hurts hook ups. i dont necesarrily believe that but i dont think it helps any. matt

hey guys im starting to think of winter and need some advice. in the past i have not fished that much in the winter and all of my winter fishing has been confined to large lakes and rivers. this past summer i have discovered some good ponds near my house that i have fished a lot. these ponds are shallow (never deeper than 8-10 ft.), and are absolutely choked with weeds. i generally have caught fish using only frogs (hollow and soft plastic) and weightless plastics. im curious how winter will affect fishing in these small ponds and small ponds in general. will it be next to impossible to fish in the winter? i have tried to fish weighted soft plastics and jigs (from very light split shots all the way to very heavy pegged tungsten) and have had very very little success. there is no open areas under the surface weeds and the weeds cover the entire bottom of the pond. this makes punching through and yo yoing impossible and really seems to make fishing weighted baits unproductive. generally my go to winter bait is a fairly large jig n pig worked painfully slowly, or a c-rig (although like i said i havent done a ton of winter fishing). what would you guys suggest in this particular pond and how does winter usually affect small shallow ponds in general. matt

what is it about the way you fish that leaves you so cut up after every trip? i really am curious. i get my fair share of cuts and what not but most trips are accident free. matt

i was fishing at lake orange on one side of a bush when the electro guys came through. i hear a big commotion on the boat and they had shocked up a 9 lber (huge for this lake) rght on the other side of the flooded bush. i followed them around a little wwhile (since the fishing was pretty shot anyhow), and it was pretty amazing. matt

a pond/lake in the middle of completely uninhabited woods wood, with a small boat, a cabin, and my son would be tough to beat. preferably we would have no time frame on being home. some crappie, catfish, and/or trout would be nice to have for dinner as well. oh yeah and most importantly, no time frame that we have to be back. matt

yowzer this thread is solid gold, thx for the bump.

ive read alot about the patterns that develop on lakes and rivers in the falls but am having trouble catching any fish in the ponds near my house. i keep expecting things to heat up a little any day now and the fishing keeps getting tougher and tougher. these are small weed choked ponds that i usually do well with either frogs, senkos, or fat ikas. the only thing ive gotten so much as a bump on the last few trips has been the senko. any info on what you guys do in ponds in the fall, or if the pattern really changes much like it does in larger bodies of water. matt

ive been wondering about a chatterbait in fall and thinking they may be a good option. seems to have fallen out of favor with the fickle fishing community so no one else may be throwing them. i dont know how crazy i am about them in clear water though (although thats a personal thing based on very little other than a few bad trips)

it certainly dosent always affect all of the fish but it just as certainly can affect some of them. when i fish from the bank with my son i always let him sneak up to the shore and make the first cast and it is amazing how often he hooks up on that first cast

whatever you do, do not tell my son about this

i just started getting into this and it has not been cheap. it seemed like it was gonna be cheap but all the little things add up. a more disciplined person could make some plaster molds, get a gallon of plastic and a couple colors and get going for like 50 bucks. that was my plan. once i got into it though i wanted aluminum molds and a lot more colors, glitters, and a bunch of odds and ends and spent prlly 300-400 bucks. it is fun and my 3 year old son likes it so i dont mind but if you are interested in doing it to save money there are probably better ways to spend your time. matt

i would do a search because ive posted about this and got some good replies. ive been pouring almost to the top in a slow-steady stream and then stopping jsut before the top. after waiting awhile i top it off and this has in large part cured my problem with senkos. make sure your plasic is mixed thouroughly and is very smooth and it should help it to pour smoothly and avoid air pockets. matt

my success rate is roughly the same but i still prefer the morning. something about getting up early, making coffee and heading out before sun up that just feels... i dont know... like a fishing trip should in my mind. i just love the feeling i get, i think its something i remember from childhood, when those rare pre light fishing trips were more exciting than just about anything in the world. plus in the morning you have an entire day ahead of you. in the evening you have all night but i find that i dont catch much for a good while after sunset (could be a confidence thing). anyhow anytime is good for me and i go whenever i can regardless of time and really regardless of chance of catching fish. fish chris- that sounds good but something makes me doubt that the relatively few number of big bass can influence the feeding of the entire bass population. thats just my gut talking and there is nothing remotely scientific to back it up/ matt

when it really gets howlin i try to stick with cranks and spinnerbaits. if its howlin and they want it slow its imo one of the toughest conditions to fish in. i go with a 1 oz c rig or almost equally heavy t rig. i dont mind fishing in the wind but if it is really windy and i cant fish a spin or crank i dont like it too much

a fat ika along the edges of the pads and grass should be good. i like weightless plastics when the bottom is muck. senkos should also be good along the edges. matt

i havent caught many big bass on topwaters with the exception of frogs (soft and hollow) and larger buzz baits. these are baits that i think of as fairly big fish baits. many of my largest fish this summer have come on a bronzeye.

this is incredibly good advice. if you want to catch fish there is no better way imo to consistently get bit. this is what i tell anyone, new to fishing or not, when they tell me they are never catching fish. keep a close eye on your line and let it fall on a slack line and you cant go far wrong. this is what got my young son and wife hooked on fishing (although thet used a wacky rig but same basic idea) good advice RW, matt

the thread talks about split shots so...

im not sure what the safest bet is. the last time i fished a split shot clamped on a mono i broke off a nice bass on the hookset when i was swimming 10 in worms through some heavy grass. since then i tie a leader with a back to back uni and put the splitshot on a braid main line. this is a pain to set up and takes a lot of the versatility out of the ss rig. sometimes i just use braid but for me ss is a finesse technique and i like floro, mono or some sort of hybrid line attached to the bait. matt

if they wanted to make a good, inspirational move they would make it about kerchal but since they want to sell movie tickets they prob. made the right choice. too bad though. in the book his rise through the federation and drive were inspiring but the rest of the book i could do without. hearing about the mickael iaconneli "brand" made me want to vomit. i dont know that book just didnt do much for ike in my view and actually made it seem more likely that he is more often than not playing for the cameras these days. i mean really i get excited when i fish and sometimes think a fish is gonna be bigger than it is but ikes spent 100x the time on the water i have and he really cant ever tell the difference between a 2 lber and a 10 lber. i have a hard time believing it. matt

i use a split shot rig for my young son and he does really well with it. so well in fact that it worked its way up into a part of my arsenal as well. how comforatable are you guys pinching a split shot on mono or floro line. ive broken fish off and it always worries me matt

i would def. try a buzz bait and a soft plastic frog. i usually ignore the rain itself and focus on how it changes the light and water conditions. i mean if its a real gully washer then its gonna make it low light and muddy up the water some. for a regular shower you are usually only dealing with a little lower light conditions. this usually means im at least gonna try a topwater. then im gonna go to a spinnerbait and then if the fish want it slow im gonna try a t-rigged worm that moves some water. matt

i like a fat ika for docks as well. that was something new to me this year and i didnt think of it when i made my first post. when the bite is really tough ill go to a series 150 yam. grub on an 1/8 jighead (whatever weight i can get away with anyhow). one trick with this bait is to take the tail and rough it up a lot. use your finger nails and fingers to rub it until it takes on a whiteish appearance. this bait is a great baitfish immitator and my number one swimmng jig trailer. i swim these around and under docks, as well as fish them like ajig on the bottom. this seems to get bit when nothing else will. it certainly isnt a big fish bait but it, like anything, will catch some decent bass as well. one other question, is what is your most productive spot on docks. i like to skip docks and it seems that a lot of people like to fish under the docks the best. by far the most productive area for me is the outside posts though. not saying i dont catch fish underneath or anywhere else, but i catch more off the two deepest posts on the outside of the end of the dock than anywhere else. how about you guys, matt