parkerg31

Bassmaster has always been my favorite. I have kept every issue since I subscribed three years ago and ALL of them have useful tips. Just a great all around read for someone who just fishes bass.

You can not catch a fish in water where there are no fish. Keep trying, and keep your confidence up. The only think that will make you not catch anything besides lack of fish is lack of confidence. If you use a senko like the gentleman said above, or simply a Texas rigged worm, you will catch bass. Go somewhere where you KNOW there is fish, stay confident, and you will catch fish.

I was out fishing this Sunday at my favorite stretch of river near my house. It was on and off cloudy that day with a 5-10 mph south east wind. It had rained HARD Thursday and Friday so I already came in expecting a muddy water day, which it was. So I go to my favorite muddy water spot, a nice outside bent with some flooded bushes and lay downs in three to five feet right next to the main channel drop off. Last weekend I had a 10lb bag just off that spot. Nothing massive but it shows the spots potential nonetheless. On a day like today this spot is textbook. One would expect the bass to be shallow and on cover on a muddy day like today... but noooo. I only catch one dink off the spot, and then continue for the next two hours to fish every good shallow spot I could think of, and only one fish. I saw a TON of blue hereon around plus shad jumping and took the hint thinking the fish would be feeding on shad, but zero bites shallow, both flipping and power fishing. About an hour later, i'm a little discouraged and my girlfriend has taken to sunbathing. I see another nice looking stump about 60 yards away and I start to troll over to fish it, but in between me and it is a semi steep clay/rock bank on the outside bend. I think what the heck and get out a rattle trap, I mean I might as well i'm passing it anyways. 5 casts and five fish later my whole outlook on dirty water fishing has changed. I catch five in a row on this bank on a trap. These fish must have just been roaming feeding on shad. I catch one more that day on a white tube flipped to a stump. The lesson I want everyone to take from this is one that Ike says all the time, no preconceived notions. I went in with the mindset that the fish would be tight to cover and shallow because the water is dark. They did end up being shallow, but scattered and roaming on a seemingly featureless bank. Once again the fish seem to throw a curve ball from the so called "rules" of bass fishing. Next time any of you are being stumped on a seemingly textbook day, try something completely opposite of whats supposed to work, you just might be surprised.

For some reason the discontinued Xcalibur xcs100 always stood out as my favorite. I caught my first bass over five pounds on one in fire-tiger years ago and ever since then when I couldn't catch a fish that crank did. Before they went out of business I actually went to every tackle store around town and bought every one I could find. Still have five or six left.

I have fished a lot of tournaments in lakes all over Alabama, and from my experience fishing muddy water lakes, a lot of my fish come shallow, as well as many other competitors. My reasoning for this is that in muddy water the bass want cover to relate on so they can ambush prey in those low light conditions. They don't feel comfortable roaming as much... With that being said even though there is cover to relate to deep, the muddy water plus depth makes hunting very difficult due to the low light at those depths. Last year I fished in my High School state championship at Lake Eufaula. On the first day half the field went deep and the other half shallow, with both doing well. That night and second morning a massive windstorm moved through stirring up the already stained water making visibility minimal. At the final weigh in the second day, all top ten boats caught fish shallow in heavy cover because of that muddied up water. Someone even pulled an 8lber out that day. Of course this all can depend nobody can predict fish but that is my 2 cents.

I always direct tie. This is partially due to the fact that the lake near my house is clear so I try to stay natural, and also due to the fact that I trust my 20$ Seaguar over a .50 cent swivel.

what color squarebill was he using?

I have had three 20+ bass days and a 10 bass day on zoom lizards this spring. I have gone through 6 bags in the last two weeks. Also had some luck on the usual shaky head as always.

thanks for all the input!

Hey yall, one of my fishing goals this year is to get good at soft swimbaits. I have come to like the keitech swing impact fats and the classic strike king swimbaits. I was wondering which do yall perfer- weighted hooks or jigheads. What is the purpose and best application for each. Which would work best in the pre spawn and spawn? Thanks in advance