BigSkyBasser

The pike are weird when the water is warm. I usually catch them on soft plastics and chatterbaits during the summer and early fall, then switch to jerkbaits in the middle to late fall. Let me know if you're ever in Montana. I could probably get you your first Northern with relative ease.

I've almost had this happen before! That is crazy.

Glad you found bass fishing! I think the fish are feeding more actively during high pressure systems in the river you're fishing for some reason. It may have to do with weather consistency more than anything. Have you tried fishing when it's been cloudy/overcast for a couple of days first? If the weather changes, the bite will often slow down for a day or two, then pick back up as long as weather stabilizes, but the smallmouth are probably moving either up or down in the water column and therefore the bite is changing. River smallies generally don't move much from my experience. Also, I too dabble with live crawdads and have caught some excellent smallies doing so. I recently read suggestions that the claws work best when removed, but personally I've always left them on and don't seem to have any issues. Let the fish tell you what they want. Hope this helps!

Not great. Was limited to shoreline fishing. Caught a couple dinks and some hammer-handles. Still one of my favorite lakes in the Northwest though. We'll be back for revenge!

I kind of wondered this as well. I was planning to attend with family too, I may end up flying solo down there though. It will also be my March birthday trip!

I've found 50% of my best fishing spots via Google Earth. Here, most of our rivers and reservoirs create some epic flood waters during the spring that have proven amazing, and you would never know they were there during any other time of the year without sat images. Found this pretty little creek that turned out to be a trophy holding slough for hidden largies and Northern Pike.

Watched it happen to the boat next to us at a weigh in one time, and they lost their kicker. My buddy told me that it was likely because of the older style live wells like Rangers often had which were black and dark, so when you opened the hatch and they saw light, they'd launch for it. Never confirmed it myself, but it made sense.

The first real cooldown after summer seems to kill the bite here for a day or two, but after that you can generally find some of the best fall fishing around. I like to make long casts with suspending jerkbaits using a fairly long pause (5-10 seconds.) This should help you find active fish that may not be feeding off the bottom if they're not eating live bait. I went out to a pond last Friday that had already started to turn over, and the Largemouth and trout were destroying my Vision 110. But before I tied that on, I was getting skunked alternating between a drop shop and a wacky rigged senko.

No matter what you do, it needs to stand out from everyone else and their mother trying to get a Youtube famous fishing channel. I.E.quality footage over quantity. My favorite example is Ndyakangler. This guy doesn't do anything crazy, but his footage is incredible and he's always hammering the crap out of huge smallmouth. Plus he has some of the best topwater videos on all of Youtube.

Always have braid on all reels and then use a flouro or mono leader depending on the technique. It makes your set ups vastly more versatile if you don't want to or can't have 30+ combos all spooled differently. Currently spooling my baitcast combos with 30 lb braid and either flouro or mono leaders for jerk baits, swimbaits, and top water.

Spending 4 days on Lake Coeur d’Alene near Kidd Island Bay. Super shallow there and fishing has been pretty dead as of last night and this morning throwing EVERYTHING. Looking for some decent shore fishing spots to take the fiancee and my Mom. Would also be happy to meet up and fish with someone!

Saranac Lake area near the Adirondacks is perfect. It's going to be absolutely beautiful soon, plus the fishing for bass is incredible!!! I stayed at Osgood Pond with my family and fishing out of a canoe caught my standing PB of 6 lbs for a largemouth.

I took a Z Man craw and tore the claws off and worked it like a popper. It caught more than a frog or a spook.

I use a method that is less popular for drop shotting but has helped me remedy the exact issue you're experiencing. After losing myriads of fish using a 7' ML drop shot rod with 10lb power pro slick and 6lb flouro leader, I switched to a 7' M rod with 10lb braid and an 8-10lb flouro leader. With this set up I was able to abandon the need to reel set so now when I have a bite I will drive the hook home like it's a T rigged senko. This has increased my hook up and fish landing ratio enormously and just gives you more muscle with a drop shot and sacrifices very little sensitivity. The main drawback I've noticed is a loss of bait action that you achieve with lighter line and rod.

I used to swear solely by fishing texas rigged Zman lizards and craws with a double pegged tungsten bullet weight because those baits all float and it looks like an extremely aggressive presentation. This does work extremely well in any color and will often prevent you from having to work a bed extensively to get bit. Another technique that I learned while fishing Lake Mead last year is to get a keitech or eco pro swimbait hooked weedless and cast it past the bed, then slowly bring it back towards the bed. If the fish is acting finicky you can cast and swim it by the bed several times first, but usually the first time you drop it straight on the bed the male will destroy it. Another benefit of casting past/around the bed is that you can sometimes get a bonus fish if the female is hiding nearby and ambushes the swimbait.

The first bass I ever caught was on a beetle spin. They are the magic kid lure and the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread.

I fish gin clear lakes and rivers almost exclusively. The natural bite will be whatever matches the bottom color (which is usually oxblood, green pumpkin, or watermelon.) I always recommend fishing a new lake with a do nothing finesse bait such as a wacky rigged senko or drop shot with a roboworm. If that isn't working I usually have a few confidence colors such as Morning Dawn that seem to work really well regardless of conditions, but you can also make this determination yourself if you can identify bait fish present in that lake.

Now Montanans also have to buy an AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species) stamp for $2 in additional to regular and tribal access licenses. Get them asap!

As it was said before. Wacky rigged and weightless worms such as senkos, yum dingers, etc will help you find fish in numbers and this works from early season through post spawn and fall bites.

Walmart practically just let you steal from Yamamoto. Some of the bait shops up by the lake sell those for $8.49 a pack!

I fish a shakey head on a 7 FT Medium Power fast action rod. My line is 10 lb power pro braid to an 8 lb p line leader tied with the alberto knot. I haven't had a break off in long enough to remember a specific time. Could you tell where the line snapped at? It could have been fraying due to rocks by less likely unless your waters have quaga mussel issues. I have a rule to check by leader vitality every 5-10 casts or after a larger fish catch.

I like Ajay's approach. I would document this and let other local anglers know to watch out for him to the point where you could effectively ostracize him from the scene. I think shaming in this instance is the only way to get their attention. Maybe if they realize how much every else thinks that they're being a D***K they would be more inclined to respect space on the water.

I also am looking at a portable fish finder like the deeper or ibobber but I did purchase an Orvis Stream Thermometer on amazon for $12 and it works great. I just have it attached to some coil and throw it out with ease. And you're absolutely right, bass often will eat baits that have no resemblance to their local diet depending on the conditions. I think starting a new body of water with your confidence bait will make for a more enjoyable day anytime. Where I live crankbaits have a very short season and would not be reliable for finding fish like in other areas.

I usually walk around a good portion of the body of water before I start fishing and try to make observations regarding it's ecology that the fish might key in on. This includes checking for primary cover whether its wood, vegetation, rock, or submersed man made objects. Then I will take the water temperature to try and help me decide what stage the fish are in. And if possible I try to see if I can find any dead carcasses of baitfish or crawdads to help determine the colors that would work and what kinds of forage the bass have access to. My starting bait is usually a finesse presentation like a drop shot, shakey head, or wacky rigged worm. But this is just a preference of mine based on comfort and confidence and may not be the most efficient way to find fish on a new body of water.

Yes if there is sufficient rocky material or sand etc to make a bed. We were catching fish that were doing this while in lake Mead on ledges anywhere from 5-18 ft of water last year that then dropped off to 50 ft of water on the other side of the ledge.