weknowhowtolive

Tried a carolina rig? I know you said you're fishing from the shore, and I know some quarries have rules about getting in the water, especially privately owned ones, but would the owner let you use a motorless boat (canoe, raft, something like that) or a tube? Might help you get out to that deeper area

I'm looking for a new pole. The two I currently have and use with my baitcasting reel are a Lamiglas Competitor 7' 5 power (MH i guess?) and a Quantom Tour Edition 7' MH. They are both good rods but they have pistol grips and it drives me nuts. So I'm looking for a new rod, nothing too expensive, around the price of these other ones, (i think aorund 50ish) anyone have any recommendations?

So I just got back from my trip to TX. I found out the private lake i was fishing is called Echo Lake and has had some record bass pulled out. Anyway, first day I got out around 2pm, got a few strikes on frogs but missed em, got some strikes on some purple Yum Zellmanders, and also some pumpkin green worms my gramps had. Didnt land anything, that night had no strikes. Sunday I caught a lil bass on the green worm, and then that evening I caught 2 or 3 1-1.5lbers, and a 2-5 on a bloody shad crankbait, dont know what brand. Monday the wind up there got real bad and I didnt have much luck when I could go out, Tuesday and Wed were the same, although I did get some strikes on Zellemanders. Thursday I went out with my uncle and we had a few weak strikes on a mix of baits and I landed a 1.5ish and that was it. Friday morning we went out around 5:45 and I started with a Pop-R and had no luck, while my uncle tossed a Zellemander under docks and started getting strikes so I switched to one and also got strikes. We must have missed 5-6 bass on those before I switched to a red with black specks Senko. I fished it texas and weightless with light twitching and the water pretty much exploded. I dont know if I just need more practice setting hooks hard or if they were hitting the tail, but I missed a bunch before landing a little dink. We were going in for breakfast and about 40 feet from our boathouse when i thought i got hung up and then the line shot right and about a minute later I landed a nice 6lber (about, our scale wouldnt work all week) It was a blast and I wish id got more time to fish, but I learned a lot just from messing around, and I know i need to work on my hook setting.

Holy crap Mattlures! What lake??? My biggest, although I didnt weigh it, was probably around 3.5-4lbs. White spinnerbait through some millfoil.

Its a private lake. I've only fished it a few times and always in October/November. http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/weknowhowtolive/?action=view&current=Lakephoto.jpg

I posted in the Central forum about my upcoming trip to Texas. Its supposed to be hot, and I've figured out what im going to be using, but I'm wondering about presentation, color and depth. I'm figuring the lake will be slightly lower and stained. I'm gunna use some dark tubes, i got some dark CrawBugs which im thinking I'll rig on a stand up jig head, i have some dark senkos, and some frogs and buzzbaits. I'm wondering if the lilypads are going to be productive when its 95 degrees outside, or if the fish will have moved deeper? Should I bother with frogs and tubes in 5-7 feet water or should I move deeper with carolina rigs and the crawbugs? Sorry about the confusing questions haha, i'm new to fishing bass in the summer from a boat.

Hi there, been awhile since I posted. I'm going to be fishing a private lake in Texas from about June 1st through the 5th. I've fished this lake before but never this time of year and I've never fished for bass in Texas this time of the year. The lake is a pretty decent size (ill put an overhead picture at the end of my post) and I've had good luck in the past fishing the banks and island with frogs, and fishing around the docks and outside the weeds with buzzbaits and spinners. I've checked the weather and it looks like its gunna be pretty much around 95 all week, so I was thinking about jigging around the deeper weed beds, and also just carolina rigging some senkos, but does anyone have a better idea? This lake gets very very little pressure as most of the people who live on it are retired and fish mainly for crappie, so I'm pretty sure almost anything will work as long as its the right time of year and I'm going to the right places, I just wanna make sure I've got the right bait and area! Here's the lake if it will help, and thanks for any ideas in advance! http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/weknowhowtolive/?action=view&current=Lakephoto.jpg -edit- I forgot to add, but this is outside of Athens

no no no...fishing for food in this argument. Not in general.

Man I have caught a lot of crappie and that is a NICE one.

I think the "fishing for food" thing is a little bogus because we are talking about bass fishing. A. Bass dont taste very good. Im not really a fish eater, but I've tried most, and bass were not really near the top. B. Its bass fishing. Sure, you can do it with junkie poles and worms, but...how many people who go out and catch 30 bass in a day are doing it on cheap rigs and live bait? Maybe a few but, I doubt it on a private pond. There are easier and better tasting fish that are much more highly populated in easier to access lakes and ponds and rivers.

I have never in my life been hunting. But if I decide to go, on private property...no one needs to tell me "you cant take 5 deer" or "you cant take 20 ducks." Its common sense.

Is there anything you cant catch bluegill on? I've caught them on bread, meat, beads, bee and grasshopper parts...hell, i caught a few on just a hook.

Good post and I think it goes hand it hand with proper fish handling which...sadly, I think very few people practice.

yeah it probably depends lake to lake and state to state. If the average fish on your lake is only 1 or 2 lbs...

In my experience, when a fish comes at your bait but doesnt hit it, its either a size issue, or you are changing your retrieve pattern when they get close. Dont slow down if you see them coming to the bait.

I used to smoke, although I no longer do...but even when I did, i didnt smoke while fishing. My buddy smokes and will finish a smoke and then a few minutes later tie something new or whatever. Can bass smell that? And does it drive them away?

Where are you catching these fish from?

Fishing from the shore or a dock for bluegill and crappie is great for kids because its fun and fast. Hell, when I get bored and im not hitting anything I switch to bluegill :-[ For both I like to use powerbait Crappie Bites, on a small hook for bluegill and on the end of a small crappie jig for crappie.

Ive never bought frogs, i'm wondering what brands people have the best luck with, along with colors.

I tried that on accident....these weeds are thick. Any hook that touches them is staying there, pretty much. Only thing I could really get out of them was a texas rigged senko but i wasnt having much luck with it at the time.

Haha thanks thats what I was hoping someone would say. Last October I was in texas and fished a frog for 3 days and it was the most fun ive ever had fishing. Now...a follow up.....best/favorite brand fog?

Nope, no waders. Not really safe either the way the outcropings are and stuff. I definitely want to try a frog so i will do that next time.

I should had added this is an old quarry so it drops to 80 feet fairly quickly. THere is a little shore along the weed beds and from what i can tell it goes out quite a ways. But wading is out since its a public park with signs that say "no bodily contact with water" Ill try senkos again, though...maybe try some lighter colors

Me and my buddy go to some ponds/mini lakes where there are some normal sized largemouth bass. We've gone about 10 or 15 times in the past year, but he's one of those guys who doesnt wake up on Sunday till about 2PM so we've never gotten out very early. I've finally convinced him to get out earlier and he's willing, but we dont really know what to use from the shore. The vegetation around the shore is pretty thick, so I was thinking about ordering some weedless frogs...we've tried senkos but havent had much luck. I really like spinnerbaits but from the shore they are almost impossible to fish in the areas we are. I see people out there in kayaks and some little rafts and tubes and they always have good luck with spinnerbaits and jigs fishing along the weed beds but we cant get that angle. Any other ideas? (sorry that was all kind of a jumble) Maybe we just suck at fishing?

!Warning, long story! I went to visit my grandparents right outside Athens. They live on a private lake with about 16-20 houses. We had the lake almost to ourselves for 4 days, except for a few guys out in their boats once in awhile. It was my first real bass trip. Day 1 We went out after i got there around 12:30PM. Fished all along the weed beds and reeds with frogs and senkos. Didnt get any bites after about 2-3 hours, so we switched to crappie. Pulled in about 20 or so around 1 lb...nice crappie fishing. Later that day we went back out in the evening, using frogs, senkos and spinnerbaits. No bumps after 2 hours so we went in for dinner. I went back out and did some brim fishing and hooked some nice ones off the dock. Day 2 Went out early with my uncle, god some nice strikes off a small island in the lilly pads with some orange and brown frogs but didnt catch em. Fished for a few hours and went back to crappie fishing. Wind picked up and we went in. Later that afternoon I took the boat out by myself and fished a little cove with crankbaits and spinner baits. No strikes. Around 4PM, the trolling motor was dying after a fresh charge so we went to WalMart and got a brand new battery (this plays an important part later on ). Id forgotten my buzzbaits back in CA, so i picked up 3 or 4. Went out for an hour, I was using frogs again and got a couple strikes, but being impatient and used to crappie and brim i was trying to set the hook too soon. Went in at sundown. Day 3 Went out in the morning around 5AM by myself. Beautiful day, watched the sun come up and was fishing topwaters and frogs in the reeds. Had some real nice blowups close to my top waters but for some reason they werent hitting them directly. Probably my fault. Went in for breakfast around 8. Went out later around 9:15ish after breakfast with gramps and was fishing a black buzzbait across the weed beds. Started getting blowups like crazy. Grampa was using a white spinnerbait, and then switched to a chartruse buzzbait. I hooked up a nice 2 or 3lb largemouth right up on the bank, which up to date was the biggest bass id hooked. Grampa got one about the same size. About 10 minutes later, going around a point, I hooked up and the thing almost jerked the rod out of my hands. My drag went nuts and i had to click it 5 times to get it right. Got it up to the boat...thing was between 6-8 lbs...biggest d**n fish ive ever had on the line. Got it up to the boat, no nets on the lake, thing jumped up right in my grampas face and spit the lure into the boat. Was beautiful. Went out later with my uncle who hooked up about 4 times on a purple frog, caught some nice 1-3 lbers. Day 4 Went out early with my uncle and the outboard wouldnt start, but the trolling motor had a fresh battery and we were only going about 100 yards across the lake, so we just used it. Fished for about 45 minutes, got some blowups on frogs again but didnt stick em. Decided to move. Trolling motor wouldnt start. Checked the connections, fuses everything. Finally we switched to the backup battery. Still nothing. Outboard was still dead. Finally i cut the line and connected the control for the trolling motor directly to the battery. Still nothing. After about half an hour of fiddling around scratching our heads, I picked up the control to check if maybe a wire was loose. Low and behold, we find the On/Off switch. Amazing. Two guys in a tiny boat with backgrounds in electronics. Got back in right before the rain started...turned out the backup battery hadnt been charged and the outboard ran directly to it. Oops. All in all I had an amazing time. Didnt catch a whole lot of bass, and i STILL have yet to even get a bite with a senko, but I was loving the frogs and buzzbaits. (sorry for the long story!)